Page 58 of Beautiful Soldier

It’s a dangerous thing to promise, but if Johnny cares for me like he says he does, he won’t kill the people I care about. If he wants someone to rage at for what’s happened, he can rage at me. He can take his anger out on me. I’m the one who deserves it. I’ll gladly take all the punishment before he even faces the others.

“He doesn’t deserve you. Hell, none of us do, but he claimed you like you were property. He hacked his way into your life, and you know damn well what he did to you in the beginning.” I open my mouth to say something when he cuts me off. “He hurt you, Kyla. Don’t you remember that? The bruises I saw. The bandages I had to apply.” His body shudders in thought as I wince. “I get when you say he doesn’t know any better, but if he decides he wants in on this... You, me, Oscar, Magnum. We’re having words with him. He doesn’t treat you like that. If he does it again, I don’t care who he is, he answers to us.”

The reminder of past Johnny sits like a dead weight in my stomach. It doesn’t change the way I feel about him. I can acknowledge the person he was, but still see the man he is right now. “He doesn’t treat me like that anymore.”

“He beat the shit out of Oscar for touching your wrist. He’s a loose cannon. Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious he offered me up, Kyla? When we were at the meeting, K asked who the best fighter was. He could’ve said anyone. Instead, he said me.”

“Well, you are,” I say, brows pulling together.

“He also knows we’re friends,” he says, disgust at the word lacing his tone. “He should also know that the last thing we would want to do is fight each other.”

I shake my head. I get Brawler’s suspicion. Johnny doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to me. No, I haven’t forgotten the bruising and the physical pain he inflicted, but I’ll maintain that was from a scared boy. Now, he’s a man, coming into his own. He’s not his father’s puppet any longer. He’s not in his father’s shadow, doing as he does. He’ll make his own decisions here on out, and hopefully, that decision will be joining the family I’m trying to build for us. One that will love him for who he is, background scars and all. “I love that you’re concerned,” I tell him. “But I think what happened there was just Johnny falling into a routine. His father asked a question, and he answered truthfully. He didn’t think about the consequences.”

Brawler looks like he wants to argue, but he doesn’t. This fighter has the biggest heart out of everyone I know. He’ll forgive Johnny, eventually. If only because I ask him to, he will.

“Well,” he finally says. “If you’ll stop distracting me. Your phone is in my gym bag. You need to call your aunt before we leave here. I’ve been texting her. I hope that’s okay. I was pretending to be you, but she wants to hear your voice. I figured pretending to be you was better than having her send the police, considering you were gone for a long time.”

I move to my tiptoes to kiss him on the lips. “You’re the best.” I grip his shirt in my hands, tugging him even closer to me. Leaving my phone with Brawler was the best decision I could have made. I knew he would handle it.

I walk out of the office with a weight lifted off my shoulders. Connection is what we all need. A place for us to fit in. To feel like we belong somewhere that’s different than the shitstorm surrounding us.

22

Brawler rocks at texting because for once, the conversation I have with my aunt isn’t strained with accusations about how I’m not talking to them or how they’re worrying about what I’m doing. When I get off the phone with her, I have an actual smile on my face. So different from my normal wave of guilt that plagues me for the rest of the night.

In fact, I’m in such a good mood that I invite everyone over for dinner at my place.

“Um, Princess?”

I turn my head toward Oscar, just knowing by his asshole smirk that he’s two seconds from making me want to slap him. Lovingly, of course. “Yeah?”

“Aren’t you forgetting about Johnny?”

I crack an even bigger smile. “No, in fact, I’m thinking about Johnny and all of us. I’ll make dinner. We’ll watch movies and talk. It’ll be great.”

Brawler gazes at his feet while Oscar still stares at me as if I’ve lost my head. “Johnny isn’t one to have people over.”

“That’s because he’s usually up his dad’s ass. If we want to help him, we have to separate the two. Insert...us.”

“Insertus?” Oscar grins. “That’s your grand plan?” His voice takes on a high-pitched female quality as he says his next words. “Guess what, babe? I found you a new family, and now we can all be together.” He drops his facade. “That’s what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”

I barely contain the laugh bubbling up my throat, but I do. I also step forward and give him a playful shove in the chest. “Yes, asshole. The sooner he finds out he actually likes you guys the better.Ifhe actually likes you guys.”

“Please,” Oscar scoffs. “I’m downright lovable.”

I roll my eyes into the back of my head. Literally. Well, okay, not literally, but I roll them as far as I fucking can. That Drego, always so full of himself. “Then you’ll have no problem winning him over.” I move to peek at Mag. “This is a good idea, right?”

He scratches his scruff. I’m beginning to think he does that when he’s nervous, or thinking, or hell, basically any time. “It could go either way.”

Footsteps approach us, and I glance at Finn who’s come out of the back room with fresh clothes on. They’re about to shut down the gym, and he’s dressed like he’s about to head out for the night. “What could go either way?”

“I’m inviting everyone over to my place for dinner. I’m cooking. You in?”

Finn beams, but Jax speaks up from behind him. “No.”

Finn spins. “What? Why?”

“We’re not going to the tower. Are you fucking crazy?”

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