Page 24 of Arm Candy Warrior

“But I don’t know anything that’s going on. How are your grades? Are you safe? Are you eating? Are you dating? These are things I need to know because I worry.”

“My grades are fine,” I tell her. She has no reason to think otherwise because I was always good at school. Even at the private prep school with all the bitches and jerkoffs. “I’m eating. I’ll send pictures to prove it to you. I’ve found some friends. That’s why I haven’t called you back as much. I’ve been…hanging out with them.” I’ve just redefined ‘hanging out’, but she doesn’t need to know my version of hanging out means almost getting shot.

“Friends?” She perks up at that. My aunt and uncle always tried to get me to be friends with their country club friends’ kids, and I rebelled. They just weren’t my people.

“Yep,” I say, happy to be on a different topic. “Honest to goodness friends.”

She doesn’t say anything for several long moments, but she finally breaks the silence. “I just worry, you know.”

“I know,” I tell her. Not for the first time, I think about how different my aunt and mom are. I don’t know how my mom would’ve acted when I was older, of course, but she let me be my own person when I was younger. She encouraged me to try different things and spread my wings. My aunt is a little steadier. She likes her big house and huge paycheck. She enjoys the cushioned life, which is why I always felt bad for crashing it and ruining everything for her. I was never part of her plan until there wasn’t a choice. “I’m actually at the gym now. I’ll call you in a couple of days, okay?”

“Fine. But a couple,” she says, voice stern.

“Agreed,” I tell her. “Tell everyone hi.”

“Love you,” she says.

I lick my suddenly chapped lips. I’ve said ‘I love you’ to people. I know what it’s supposed to feel like, but saying I love you to someone you owe a lot to never feels good. At least not to me. “Love you, too,” I choke out.

10

Near the end of our training session, Johnny strolls in. He’s wearing a suit, much like he wore yesterday when we went to Candy’s. Because I’m distracted, Finn almost gets a punch in on me, but I parry it at the last possible moment.

It’s a good thing, too, because I’m sure Johnny wouldn’t take well to Finn hitting his girl, even though it would have been my fault entirely and not Finn’s.

“Jeez,” Finn jokes, cracking a smile that beams like the sun. “I thought I had you there for a minute.”

“Good luck,” I tease, smiling back at him with my mouthpiece in, which I know from experience looks more like baring my teeth than an actual smile. In the underground fights, we don’t wear mouthpieces, but training is a different story. There’s no sense in trying to hurt one another while we’re preparing for the actual fight.

I excuse myself from Finn and slip out of the boxing ring. I take my gloves off and remove my headgear. My sweat-dampened hair is plastered to my head. I’m sure I look like something the cat dragged in.

“Look at you.” Johnny’s ice-blue eyes glisten like diamonds as he looks me up and down. “I don’t think I’ve seen you this happy in a while.”

“What can I say? I just like to hit stuff.”

“Stuff.” Finn snorts. “Me, I’m stuff.”

Johnny eyes him, and I step in to introduce them right away, explaining that Finn and Jax own the place…where I’m training…so there’s no reason to want to kill them. I didn’t realize these two owned the gym when Brawler and I were here before, but some of the things they’ve said today, including fighting over who has to clean the toilets next, makes me think they definitely own the place. Two brothers who went into business together, and from what I can tell, have been bickering ever since.

After shaking both their hands, Johnny addresses Brawler. “Glad to see you’re good.”

My big man nods. He’s not happy with Johnny, the Crew, or Oscar for that matter. He thinks everyone should’ve been told about the possibility of things escalating after the fight. To him, it hit a little too close to home, driving the point in that the Crew doesn’t care about anyone but the Crew, innocents be damned.

For a tense-filled moment, I glance between the two, wondering if anything is going to be said that will piss the other off. Luckily, Jax continues to train with Brawler, thereby keeping him preoccupied. Maybe Jax sensed the tension and stepped in before it got worse. Jax and Finn aren’t being obvious or saying anything, but they know who Johnny is. Everyone does.

Johnny slides his arm around me, pulling me closer to him. “I missed you,” he whispers, dropping a kiss to my temple.

I peer down at my sweat-soaked training gear. “Even like this?”

He drags his gaze down me slowly, lighting up every inch of my skin. “Definitely like this.” His breath feathers over my cheek. “I came by to see if you wanted to hang out with me tonight. I’ve got some Crew business, but I thought we could make it a date night too.”

“Is it Candy’s again?” Not that I wouldn’t mind going back, but the way we left things there wasn’t exactly hunky-dory.

He laughs and shakes his head. “No, I think Dunnegan will be happy if he doesn’t see me for a long time. I had to tell him to straighten up his staff requirements after the problem you had and the other girl who was clearly inebriated. The Crew can’t look bad like that.” His gaze darkens, and I can tell he’s retreated from the conversation for the moment. I’m sure the conversation he had with his father today about the strip club didn’t go over well. The Crew is all about appearances, and sloppy employees just aren’t acceptable. Except, in their world, staff isn’t just written up for infractions. Depending on the severity, they could be fired, or much, much worse.

Brawler’s standing entirely too close to me right now to be having this conversation. Even if he was a hundred yards away, it would be too close. The hatred I know he stokes inside him for the Crew makes guilt wrench my stomach. The tips of my ears burn as I guide Johnny farther away from him. “So, where to tonight?”

Johnny grins at me, pressing his fingers into the palm of my hand. “The track.”

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