He lost that one too.
“Maddi!” Jenna snatches the files from my hands and flips them open. “Did you get them to sign?”
I feel sick. I feel weak.
Tripping out of my heels, I stumble to her bed and sit, and the moment I’m down, I drop my head into my hands and fight against my tears. “Yes. I got them to sign.”
Jackson sits in his chair and merely grins. “Good.”
Bryan
Next Step
Inside Angelo Alesi’s auto shop on the top block of Main Street, I sit on a stool and pat the ears of Twain-the-dog’s stupid brother, Deck, while my friends work.
Mac leans into a soccer-mom SUV, elbow-deep in grease, while Tucker works on a shiny, red street bike. Tucker Morris, as I know him, is also known as Chuck… as in Chuck Norris. Because it rhymes, and everyone that calls him Chuck thinks they’re funny.
He sits on a short stool, his knees are almost as high as his ears, but he’s the eternally happy dude, always smiling, always finding the joke in everything.
As he works, I can’t shake my scowl. “I’ve read the contracts a billion times,” I press. “I asked Soph to explain them to me like I’m four. I asked Jules and Scotch to read them and explain. I asked Jess.” I throw my hands up. “I’ve asked every smart person I know, and no one can find the catch.”
“You didn’t ask me to read,” Tuck smirks. “I’m a little offended.”
“You’re a mechanic,” I drawl. “I don’t need your legal advice.”
“You don’t need anyone’s legal advice,” Mac cuts in. “Kit was in that meeting. Sophia was in that meeting. And me, Ben, Lucy, and Smalls were there. That’s a rounded meeting, Bry. The contracts are legit.”
“There’s gotta be a catch, Mac! There has to be a catch, because I swear to you, her coming to our gym the day after I met her, the day after I belted her boyfriend, and took his car… that ain’t coincidence. They’re looking to mess things up, and I’m gonna figure it out.”
“Maybe she’s simply looking to get close,” Tuck suggests. “Contracts are contracts, business is business. Maybe that shit is legit. And while she’s close, maybe she’ll spit in your lunch or something.”
“Or…” Mac adds with a grin when he peeks over his shoulder. “Maybe Bry is feeling a little put-out because Maddi is the first chick in the world that ain’t tripping over herself to slide into his bed.”
My eyes narrow to slits. “First of all, punk, Maddi? That sounds awfully cozy.”
He chuckles and turns back to work. “She told us to call her Maddi at our meet. Second, she just about shit her pants when Evie told her to get changed and square up. So maybe she had plans to fuck us up, but I swear, she nearly died of fear when Evie told her to spar. So whatever those plans were, they were squashed.”
“No.” I sit low and play with Deck’s dangling ears. “That sounds far too simple. Way too easy. She’s got her claws out, and behind her, Jackson is pulling the strings.”
“She seemed pretty sharp to me,” Mac inserts. “She doesn’t seem like anyone’s puppet. She’s smart enough to do better than that.”
“I mostly agree…” I consider her. I think of the outfit she wore to the tracks – no one’s puppet there – and then the outfit she wore to a business meeting with my family. “She’s smart, she has cajones, and she has the temper to match.”
“Heard she dropped you,” Mac laughs. “Kick to the nads?” He shakes his head. “Low blow.”
“And yet,” Tuck chuckles. “Insanely fucking entertaining. Did you see it on YouTube?”
I turn to my friend and glare. “YouTube? Are you fuckin’ serious?”
He shrugs. “I swear it wasn’t me that filmed it. And I also suggest that, if you look it up, you ignore the fact the account owner’s name mentions fast cars. We’re not the same person.”
“You’re an asshole,” I grunt, then declare, “She has ulterior motives. She must. And I’m gonna make it my business to find out what they are.”
“Aww,” Tuck laughs. “Look at him using family honor as an excuse to chase her down. I had to search for her, guys. It’s for the family. I also had to check her out…and her boobies too. It’s for the good of the family.” He stops working, and turns on his stool to grin. “You’re a regular Robin Hood, Bry. The perfect martyr.”
“So selfless,” Mac agrees. “It must be tough being you.”
“You’re both assholes.” I push off the stool and force Deck to stand rather than lounge on my lap. “I’m going to the gym.”
“Come over to Ben’s tonight,” Mac invites as I walk across the garage. “We’re planning for the tournament, but we’re also discussing his stag party. We’re gonna do it up right.”
I roll my eyes and keep walking. “You guys are too trusting with that tournament. You’ve signed a deal with the devil, but now you’re acting like it’s business as usual.”
“It is business as usual!” Mac shouts. “We have a contract. We have an endorsement deal. It’s not a big fucking deal, Bry, and that one-and-a half-mil sure will look good in your bank account when you win your division.”
I stop by my car with my hand on the door handle. “For me to win, I have to beat Ben. Not exactly how I want to make money.”
“Bet your ass I’m fighting this year,” he counters. “And for me to get that payday, I have to lay Iowa out.” He presses a hand to his heart. “He might have to die, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”
“Nice.” I open the car door, but before I slide in, I stare at the back of the car he’s working on. “You gonna explain to Lyss why you hit her daddy? Why you hurt him?”
“Yeah, I’ll tell her I did it for money!” He laughs. “Then when I buy her something pretty – with money – she’ll understand.”
“I have no clue how we’re friends.”
“Aww,” Tuck chuckles. “Mac and you have been buddies forever. But now Iowa’s here, and you’ve got a new best friend.”
“Iowa’s a decent dude. And he controls my access to Lyss.” Finally, I pause and let out an explosive breath. “I love that little girl like she’s mine. Fuck knows why the universe put that on me, but now it feels like I’m in a divorce and I have to keep sharing her.” I shake my head. “He and Brooke ever break up, I’m probably gonna have to take his side.”
Tuck throws his head back on a loud laugh. “How the tides have changed. Pretty sure I had to listen to you bitch all of last year about how you hated this new dude in town.”
“Yeah, because he was looking at my sister all the damn time.”
“He’s not looking anymore?” Mac asks. “He’s done? That was quick.”
“He’s not done. I’m just more accepting of it.” I tap the roof of my car in lieu of goodbye. “I’ll bring the Camaro in later this week. It needs a good clean out before Friday.”