Page 53 of A Brother At My Back

“Ask your wife,” Mali said darkly. “Because I’m too much of a dude on the inside to have a clue, either.”

“Good idea,” he answered, then added, “And yeah, you are.”

I glanced at Nik who I expected to be laughing but nope, he was looking at me, his eyes clouded with concern. He didn’t look at all happy with Mali.

“Maybe it would help if I explained from the beginning…” I said.

“It’s really none of my business,” Mali said. “Especially after the crack I just made, but yeah, if you want to talk, I’d listen. I at least owe you that.”

I sighed and leaned my butt against the stairs leading up to the boxing ring in the center of the gym.

“I was just a dumb-ass runaway when I met Lia. We worked the concessions stand together at the rodeo and she was just so much more down-to-earth than me, you know? She really took me under her wing and kept me out of trouble. She was taking pole dancing classes and got the idea to strip from another girl, one of the other cowboy’s girlfriends who was bringing in over two grand a week. When she heard the money was that good stripping it was too much to pass up for a girl who had been as broke as her all of her life. We both had grown up poor, and I have to tell you, money may not buy happiness but it definitely does buy security. It’s really nice not having to worry about where you’re going to sleep every night or where your next meal is going to come from. She was all for stripping, had always been a wild child that way and the bolder of the two of us, but back then she was waiting to turn eighteen so she actually could, you know?”

I sighed, “She was my only friend before andafter Silas… I stayed working the concession stands and then eventually didn’t even do that because he didn’t want me to, but Lia stuck to her plan. She blazed her own trail and ended up at Sugars. She and I never lost touch, even though I kept traveling with Silas and the rodeo. We, I mean Silas and me, happened to be in town with it on Delia’s birthday weekend. He didn’t want me to go out, but Lia talked me into it, and I wanted to spend my best friend’s birthday with her, you know? Then this happened,” I drew a finger along the curve of my cheek and sighed again, sniffing as tears threatened to spill over. I always got emotional talking about how Lia saved my ass.

“Delia stuck by me, let me stay with her at her place, rent free, I might add. She was at the hospital every day, went to every court date with me, and kept me from letting the depression swallow me whole. She got me into pole dancing with her as a means to stay fit and really just as a way to get me out of the apartment at first, but then she was the one who came up with the whole ‘Francesca’ persona and the mask idea. She’s the one that got me into this life, sure, but more importantly, she’s the one who got me out of my old one and kept me from giving up on life altogether. At the time, she gave me a life back when I thought it was over. I can never repay her for all that she’s done for me. Never in a million years.”

Silence fell over the four of us and Mali finally let out a gusty sigh of her own, “Well, shit,” she said on the tail end of it. “Now I really feel like an asshole. Me and my fucking mouth.”

“Pretty sure we keep warning you about that, just sayin’,” Reaver sort of sang out and she scowled at him.

“Shut the fuck up,” she snapped.

“Case in point,” he said and hung his head.

“Yeah, yeah, tell me something I don’t know.”

“Well –“

She cut him off with, “That was rhetorical, Jackass!”

He laughed and I did too, jumping slightly when Nik pressed himself to my back, hands on my hips.

“I get that you’re worried, but you said yourself this isn’t out of the ordinary, eh?”

“I did say that, and it’s not… I just can’t shake the feeling something bad has happened.”

Reaver shrugged and said, “You got a lot going on with your douchebag-ex getting out of the slammer. You sure it’s not just that.”

I shook my head, “That’s just it. I can’t be sure that it’s not just that. Still, I feel better for having said something and I’ll keep trying tonight.”

“That’s all you can do,” Mali said, and she and Reaver exchanged a significant look.

“You have her actual address?” he asked, scrolling through his phone and I swear my insides went liquid with relief – but I didn’t want to get my hopes up just yet.

“Yes,” I said.

“What is it?” he asked and I told him, holding my breath, waiting for him to confirm what I pretty much already knew he was committing to.

“It’s on my way home; I’ll swing by and check things out and call Zeb with what I find out. You guys will be hanging together after this for a while, right?” he asked, an innocent look that wasn’t fooling anyone plastered to his face. He didn’t lie exceptionally well. Either that, or he didn’t care about keeping up appearances, at least not about Nik and I spending time together beyond the scope of him having my back and looking out for Silas.

“Yes,” I said but it was hesitant; suspicious as to why he would even be fishing. I mean, were Nik and I the subject of gossip? Was Nik getting a hard time about me? I mean, going by Mali’s judgment call about me and Lia, it wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to think that he was. I felt bad about that. I felt bad about so many things and was seriously beginning to wonder if there was anything left to feel good about myself for…

“Excellent,” Reaver said and sighed. “I think we’ve done enough for today. Next week?” he asked Nik.

“Same time, same place, thanks, Bro.”

“No problem, keep working on your form and your speed, you need to be faster. You don’t have the size advantage, but no one should be able to top you for speed. Especially judging by the pictures of this asshole.”

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