Page 50 of Knockout Queen

“I’m glad to hear it,” K says, looking coolly at me. Johnny’s remaining quiet through this whole exchange, but his hand in mine is steady and sure, almost like he’s waiting for the moment he has to pull me out of the way. Johnny’s father’s gaze lowers and catches on the ring on my right hand. He doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t react. His lack of reaction makes me think he’s known about it the whole time. “I’d like you to take more of an active role in our Crew, Kyla. If you’re going to be Johnny’s girl,” he says, his stare still lingering on the ring, “...it’s only a matter of time.”

“Is there something beyond fighting you’d like me to do?” I ask, not sure what he’s getting at. I thought I was a part of the Crew.

“Fighting was a good start, but realistically, how long can you do that for?” He shifts on the sofa, uncrossing his leg and crossing it the other way. “As soon as your looks diminish, no one will want to watch you fight anymore.”

“Dad—”

K holds up a hand. “I know she has many years left of that. Possibly.” He waves his hand like he’s not quite sure when I’ll get ugly.

Dick.

“However, you know as well as me that if she’s with you, she’s with you, Johnny. Through everything. You can’t keep secrets in this life. You’ve obviously dragged her into this and won’t let her go despite my attempts to get you to see reason, so I have a proposition for you both.”

Nerves skitter over my skin like nails dragging over a chalkboard. Everything he says lights an emergency caution light inside me.

“You can have your Kyla...in whatever way you want. First, I want you to find Gregory and put a bullet through his head. Once you do that, you move into second in command. Second, Kyla needs to move back into the tower. You need to be here, and since you won’t relax without her near, I have to make this a condition. Third, you tell her about the inner workings of the Crew and ensure her secrecy.” K bores his gaze into his son. “You know what happens to people who talk.”

Neither Johnny nor myself say anything, and the longer the time draws out, the deeper the flush of anger carves out onto K’s skin.

“Is that not worthy of gratitude?”

Johnny shakes himself out of whatever stony silence he was in and stands. “I’m very grateful you finally see how serious I am about her.”

“I should think so,” K says flippantly. “You gave her your mother’s ring after all.”

A gasp parts my lips.

K’s eyes round. “Oh, you didn’t know?” He lifts his gaze to Johnny’s. “I should say a great deal of information needs to be shared with Miss Samson, son. We have to make sure she has the stomach for it.”

Johnny nods and reaches back for my hand. I place my grip in his and get to my feet. “I’ll make sure she’s aware,” Johnny says with a cool, even voice.

We start to walk from the room. Part of me wonders what all the dramatics were about. I already know the Crew are a bunch of thugs who don’t care about human life, but part of me also wonders if it’s worse than I even think it is. For the sake of anyone who crosses their paths, I hope not.

“Oh, son,” K calls out. “Please do hurry up and find Gregory. This rebellion is getting tedious.”

Johnny doesn’t bother answering. He holds the door to the suite open for me and then we head across the hall into his own place. No one else is around. Brawler could be torching the race track right now for all I know. Maybe that’s why Magnum didn’t stick around because he went to deal with that. Oscar, of course, would’ve wanted to go to make sure his mother wasn’t there. Yet, here Johnny and I are, dealing with that traitorous bastard.

Johnny walks into the apartment calmly, locking the door behind his back, but when I turn to face him, his eyes are nothing but calm. Embers burn in the center of his irises until I can almost feel heat wafting off him in treacherous rays. “Do you see what I mean, Kyla? Do you understand why I keep resisting you being with them, too? How are you going to be able to do that, huh? Even if I wanted to, in my father’s eyes, you’re mine. You’re ours. The Crew’s. He won’t understand. You think it would be hard for Oscar or Brawler to tell their mom’s what we’re doing? Imagine telling him that. Imagine what he’ll do if he thinks I’m in a relationship with three other guys.”

“You’re not fucking them,” I say.

“Do you think he’ll care about that?” he grinds out.

I stare down at the ring, suddenly heavy on my finger. “Why didn’t you tell me this was your mother’s?”

Some of the anger lifts from him. “I wanted to, but as soon as I gave it to you, Oscar jumped in with his nonsense.” He peers away. “The moment was lost.”

“It wasn’t lost,” I say, moving closer. He freezes, staring at me with needy eyes. “I want to know about it.”

Johnny licks his lips. He lingers over different areas of my body, heating me up until my skin pricks with nervous energy. He reaches for my hand and brings it up, much like he’s done a hundred different times. He brings my knuckles right to his lips, kissing the ring. “This was my mother’s ring. It was given to her by her parents when she graduated high school. She hadn’t met my father yet, and it was the only thing she owned when she came into the Crew.”

“It’s beautiful, Johnny,” I say, eyeing the sparkly stones as he kisses the ring again.

“I’m scared,” he says.

I step forward, right into his embrace.

“I don’t want what happened to her to happen to you. I couldn’t bear it. I’m not sure my father knows what to do with a love like this. Or if he even loves at all. He doesn’t understand it. I see that now. If he did, he would want you as far away from here as possible. He would want you far away from the tower. Far away from me. He certainly wouldn’t want me telling you the Crew’s secrets.”

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