Page 9 of Knockout Queen

Whatever the reasoning was for Cole defecting, he lost everything. That’s what the four of them are in for when we finally leave. Mag doesn’t speak to his mom, a relationship he might be able to salvage only if he isn’t involved in the Crew. But the others? Unless they’re coming with us, Oscar and Brawler will have to leave their moms. Oscar might not be able to control what his mother does, but I don’t see Brawler leaving his mom, ever.

I place my hand on Mag’s, which is stretched over my knee. “Is there a secure phone Brawler can use? He has to check in at home.”

Cole perks up. “How’s your mom doing, Mack?”

Brawler rubs the back of his neck. His skin is blotchy red, embarrassment creeping up. His mom is a sore spot for him, but also a sense of responsibility and love. “Living off depression medication.”

Cole slumps forward a little, a different light in his eyes as he stares at nothing. It sounds as if Brawler’s brother, Manning and Cole were pretty close friends once upon a time. So much so that Brawler remembers Cole.

“That phone in the kitchen is safe,” Mag says, looking past me to Brawler. “Let me know if she needs anything.”

Without Johnny, Mag flows easily into the leadership position. It’s as if we’re our own Crew here, and he’s the one getting shit done.

Brawler gets up, and Oscar takes his place next to me on the sofa. As the night progresses, he seems to be getting stronger and stronger. Cole’s gaze bounces between us. He furrows his brows like he’s trying to make out what’s going on. He knows I’m Johnny’s girlfriend, so I bet he’s probably wondering why Magnum is freely touching me and why Oscar is sitting about as close as he can get.

It’s probably not the smartest idea to do this in front of him, but there’s just something about this cabin that makes the other world feel like a lifetime away.

My heart skips a beat in my chest. Johnny should be here. “Listen,” I say, eyeing Cole and leaning forward. “I get you’re putting your life on the line by being straight with us. You’ve helped us in the past, and I appreciate that. I need to know what happened to Johnny. I need to find him. I need to know if he’s alive, what the plans are for him. I need to get him back.” My voice cracks, and I clear it and look away. Oscar sneaks his arm around my back for support. “I know you’re not a bad guy, you’re just scared. We are, too, because our friend is gone, and we need him back.”

“I wish I could help you,” Cole says after a moment. The first time we met him, he was kind of cocky. He had the total gang vibe going on. The earrings in his ears, the badass attitude. Now, though, he looks like a lost soul, not knowing what to do. “I don’t know where Johnny is, and if I did, I would tell you. Johnny’s my brother. He always will be, even though I doubt he’d say the same for me.”

“You’d be surprised,” I say, thinking of how far he’s come. “He was injured. Shot,” I clarify. “Do you at least know if he’s okay?”

“I don’t know anything about him. At all.” He stares straight at me. “I swear I would tell you if I did.”

“I’ll get you out of the Heights,” I tell him. “I’ll give you some money to get away. You can move to the East Coast and start over again. I—”

“I really don’t know,” Cole says, interrupting me.

“But you know something,” Mag says. “You knew The Ring was about to get shot up, which means you know who did it. Was it the Dragons? Or was it Gregory’s guys? And how do you know so much about Gregory if you’re a part of a different gang?”

Cole drops his head. His shoulders slump forward as if he’s been carrying on a bravado he can’t quite keep up anymore, which is saying something, because he didn’t look like he’d been carrying anything. Behind us, Brawler walks up to the back of the couch as Cole starts talking. “I’m not high enough up to know anything useful. I was only brought here because I’m from the Heights. The Dragons don’t care about me. I’m low-level scum.” He gazes at his cousin. “If they cared, you know they wouldn’t bring me back here to potentially get murdered by my old crew.”

I get his scared, lost look now. This poor guy has nothing. He’s affiliated with people who don’t give a shit about him. I move across to sit next to him on the coffee table. Mag sighs when I grab Oscar’s knife and cut through the zip ties around Cole’s wrists. “If you hurt her, I’ll kill you,” Mag seethes.

Cole ignores his cousin’s harsh words, pulling his hands in front of him and rubbing the bright red lines that are criss-crossing over them. I slide back onto the couch.

“Thanks,” Cole says. He runs his now free hand through his closely shorn hair. “What I do know is that Gregory has it out for Big Daddy K. He asked the Dragons for help and somehow got them on his side. I don’t know the particulars, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Gregory is making a play for the Crew and has told the Dragons they can have some of the territory. That’s the only way I see our guys getting involved, but either way, we’re here.”

“Did the Dragons take Johnny?”

Cole shrugs. “I don’t know anything. I wish I did. Everything I heard was second-hand or said in passing. I’m here for one reason only, and that’s as backup in case they need to know something about the Heights that I might know. I found out about your recruit by accident. I figured you’d be the one to look the scene over, so that’s why I showed up.” Cole fixes Mag with a stare that says so much more than words. He misses his cousin. I get it. His whole family may as well be dead to him because when he defected, he lost everything here. Hell, it might even be worse than what I went through. At least my parentsweredead. They weren’t physically here to see me and vice versa. But knowing the people you love are still here, but you just can’t get to them? That has to be another level of grief. Of loneliness.

And trust me, I know about being lonely.

“What about tonight?” Mag asks.

Damn. He’s like a dog with a bone. He’s not giving his cousin an inch.

“There was a lot of activity, so I knew something was going down. You know me, I kind of lingered in a bunch of places to hear what I could hear. I knew it had to be big, and I was worried you might be mixed up in it. As soon as I found out what the plan was, I called you. Did you get out in time?”

Mag shakes his head. “No, dude. We were caught in the middle of it.”

Cole’s lips thin. “I tried.”

“We know,” I tell him. “We appreciate it. It all happened too fast. There was just no way.”

Cole gives me a small smile. I don’t know what the others think about him right now, but I feel for him. He sits up straighter. “I know you’re worried about Johnny. If I had to guess, they won’t kill him. They’d use him as a bartering tool. Johnny’s a big target, but ultimately...” He swings his gaze back over to Magnum. “...You know it’s Big Daddy K that they really want. If they kill Johnny, they still have to kill K anyway. Maybe they’re trying to get him out of hiding. Maybe they’re trying to shake him up, get him to make a stupid mistake.”

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