Page 22 of Arm Candy Warrior

I turn toward him, standing there awkwardly. I can’t really give him a hug, so instead, I say, “Have a good practice.” It’s lame as fuck, but he doesn’t mind.

He looks at me, a wistful smile on his face. “I guess we’ll do this all again tomorrow?”

“Most definitely,” I say, already eager to get out of the tower again. Thankfully, today went so smoothly there’s no reason why Johnny won’t let me come back.

Oscar gives us a mock salute and then walks toward the boys’ locker rooms. Brawler and I take off in the opposite direction, exiting out the main doors of the school. I should’ve known a sleek black car would already be out there waiting for us. Brawler opens the rear door, and I slide in. I look up just long enough to see Magnum sitting behind the wheel and then look away. When Brawler gets in, Magnum turns. He and Brawler shake hands through the divider before Magnum moves his gaze to me. “I told you he’d be okay.”

I don’t look at him for very long. I don’t even acknowledge he’s said anything because what does he want me to say? He scolded me earlier like a child and now he wants to make nice? I shake my head. I just can’t deal with that right now.

“Where are we headed?” Magnum asks.

“There’s a gym on the edge of town.” I look to Brawler who leans forward, telling Magnum where to go.

As soon as he does, Magnum hits the button to raise the divider. Soon, Brawler and I are in the back of the car…alone. For the first time in too long. We turn toward one another. I reach out, feathering my fingers over his skin. I trace the angel wings on his neck like I’m touching the most sacred parts of him. “I bet these angels kept you safe.”

He cups my face. “I don’t know how anyone got out of there.”

“Magnum dragged me out,” I tell him. “Literally.”

He swallows when I reach for him, my thumb skimming over his pulse point before moving around his neck. His pulse thunders a mile a minute, and his expression darkens. “We’ve got to get out of here, Kyla.” True emotion coats his words. “If we stay, we’re going to end up dead.You’regoing to end up dead.”

His stare is so forceful, it makes me gasp for breath. I hate hurting him, but I can’t do what he’s asking. Not now. “I can’t leave.”

“We need to try.” He grabs my hands in his. “We could do it. I’ll keep you safe. I promise.”

“I can’t leaveyet,” I clarify. I’m all in with Brawler. I have been. If trusting him is the wrong move, then I’ll die by that sword.

“Does it have something to do with this?” He pulls out a small cell phone from his pocket.

I cover it like I don’t want to see the sight of it. “Where’d you get that?”

“You know where I got it,” he says. “I didn’t look through your stuff. Your place was trashed. I went in to salvage what I could and found this. Whoever trashed it must have missed it.”

“Was there a—?”

“A picture?” He opens the small front pocket of his book bag, allowing me to peek inside. I cover my mouth, trying to hold everything inside. “I thought maybe it was important to you.”

“Those are my parents.”

I press down on his book bag, enclosing the picture once again in the zippered pocket. I can’t bear to see their faces right now. The two most important things I own, and Brawler has them. I push the bag back over to him along with the phone. I can’t think of a better person to keep these things safe.

I sit back in the seat and take a deep breath. Turning my head to the side, I eye an unsure Brawler. He’s put his book bag down on the floor and is fully facing me now. “I can’t tell you why,” I start. “But can you keep those two things with you? I can’t take them back to Johnny’s apartment. He can’t know about them.”

“Of course, but whoever’s contact you have in that phone, I’d call them if I were you. They’ve called and texted a bunch.”

My pulse ratchets up. “You read them?”

He shakes his head. “I turned it on to see if it belonged to the person who ransacked your place. That’s all.”

Relief floods me when Brawler doesn’t ask any more questions. “I’ll call them at the gym. If you’ll cover for me.”

He nods, then reaches over to place his hand on my shoulder, squeezing me gently. Despite what his tattoos and badass muscles portray to the world, he’s got such a good heart. Naturally. I’ve been surrounded by all walks of life, and I just might have found the person with the biggest heart in the slums of Rawley Heights.

When the car pulls to a stop, Brawler and I get out. He slips my small cell into his pocket. Instead of waiting in the car, Magnum follows us. My heart rate picks up. Having Magnum join us just means more eyes. I only hope I can get a moment to myself to call my aunt and check in with her. Then, I can give the phone back to Brawler where he can keep it safe for me.

We stride in. One of the trainers we had before straightens. He’d been giving instructions to a lightning quick teenager jabbing the air in front of him, but now he’s focused on us. He hits the other trainer in the chest a couple of times to draw his attention. “No shit,” the guy says, all smiles.

“Don’t tell me Uppercut Princess wants to train in our gym.”

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