Page 68 of Arm Candy Warrior

“Kyla,” Brawler says, piercing me with a look. “I’ve got this. I won’t let anything happen to him, okay? We’ll both call you later.”

He slams the door, and my stomach drops. Mag turns around in the seat. “Did they see you?”

I shrug. His mom definitely saw me, but I doubt she knows who I am. “They were so high; I doubt it matters.” I hold my head in my hands, worry paralyzing me.

Magnum pushes his door open. He gets out, and I glance up when the door to my left opens. He beckons me out, and I follow. He takes me around the back of the car and makes me get in the front seat. Then, he closes the door behind me and gets in on the other side again. After taking a deep breath, he places his hand over mine on the seat. “It’s going to be okay.”

I meet his gaze. His eyes track over my forehead. He reaches out, fingers trailing over the stinging skin there. “She ripped the mask off my face,” I tell him.

Magnum frowns. “Let’s get you home. Johnny called while you were with them, so you need to call him back.”

I slump back in the seat. Magnum rubs circles into my hand with the pad of his thumb as he drives me back to the tower. I can’t believe I thought I’d have a nice night out with my boyfriends. Nothing good ever happens in the Heights.

27

My phone rings while I’m in the shower. I hurry to shut the water off and then dive for it. Magnum told me Johnny called once already. I can’t not answer a second time.

“Johnny?” I ask as soon as I pick it up. My heart is in my throat. It’s all the events of today. I’m stressed. Worried. Furious.

He chuckles. “Hey, babe. I called earlier.” His voice doesn’t betray whether he’s trying to check up on me or not. It’s just conversational.

“I saw.” I swallow, hoping I can say this convincingly. “I was training. I must not have heard it.”

“Training this late?”

I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. “Just making sure I give everyone the best fight.” Here’s to hoping he doesn’t check with Finn and Jax. Or if he does, they’ve seen enough to just go ahead and agree that I was there. We haven’t come out and had any sort of discussion with them, but they know who I’m dating. Hopefully, their alliance is to me and not the Crew.

“That’s my girl.” His words poke me in the chest. Not an hour ago, Oscar had referred to me as ‘our girl’, and even though I was in the heights of pleasure, those words made me warm and fuzzy. In fact, they only added to my excitement. “You okay? You seem out of breath.”

“I was taking a shower, but I didn’t want to miss you. You know how I like to take showers after training,” I say, only trying to drive the point home that he shouldn’t be suspicious. At the same time, I feel like shit for doing it because he has every reason to be suspicious. It’s becoming clearer I’m going to hurt Johnny in more ways than one.

He moans. “Mmm, I miss you.”

“Me too. Tomorrow,” I say. I have two minds about him coming back. I’ve enjoyed the freedom while he’s been gone, but I miss him too. If Johnny were in any other city. If he were born to any other parent, God, he’d be fucking perfect. It’s not fair.

“Actually,” Johnny says, disappointment lacing his voice. “That’s what I called to tell you. I won’t be coming home tomorrow after all.”

I grit my teeth as my heart sinks. “No?”

“I’m sorry, Kyla. We thought we’d be done, but something else came up.”

“But the dinner?”

“We’ll reschedule.”

I sigh, aware Johnny can hear my true disappointment. None of this is an act. I rub the side of my face. My wet hair drips down my back. I usually squeeze it out when I get out of the shower, but I didn’t get the chance. I grab a towel and wrap it around myself before I pad toward my bedroom and lie down on the soft bed.

“You okay?”

“Just bummed,” I tell him.

“Me too. It helps to think about you though.” He takes a deep breath and lets it out. “I want to put your mind at ease about something. I know I fucked up once. I let my privilege work its way into our relationship in the beginning, but I want to let you know the only woman I’m interested in is you. Dad thinks I’m crazy, but he’s respected my wishes.” His voice goes quiet. “I got thinking that you might be worried about that. You know, while I’m gone that I might do something.”

The thought had crossed my mind, and I’m relieved to hear his words. At the same time, I’m holding back from him too. When I finally tell him about Brawler and Oscar, I hope he doesn’t… Well, I hope he doesn’t kill us. If he’s into me as much as he says he is, I’d hope he’d understand. I’d hope he’d give it a chance. Us. Them. Everything.

But I’m asking a lot because this is probably going to be after I murder his father, so he won’t give a rat’s ass about what I’m doing with Brawler and Oscar. He’ll hate me for taking something from him.

I wish I’d been able to keep feelings out of this relationship. I really do.

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