Page 91 of Knockout Queen

“Whose gun was it?”

This hurts to say, but I shrug anyway. “I have no idea.”

My hands shake, and the policemen in the interrogation room bring me water and granola bars. To them, I’m Johnny Rocket’s little girlfriend who got herself in too deep.

They’re not wrong, but I will punch anyone who actually dares say something likelittle girlfriend.

The police let me go, and Johnny waits for me with open arms. As soon as I spy him near the door, I pick up the pace, throwing my arms around him. I close my eyes and take in the moment. Neither one of us has anything dangling over our heads. We could literally do nothing right now. We could go to dinner. We could skip town. No one’s going to be calling Johnny back for an important meeting. He’s all mine.

“You okay?” he asks.

“Better than okay,” I whisper against his chest.

He squeezes me tighter, but a man clearing their throat pierces my Crew-free bubble. I turn to find Detective Reynolds staring back at us. His jaw clenches as he looks me up and down. I’m not sure what my face looks like, but people have been doing that to me all day, so it must be bad. “I hear I was wrong about you killing that little girl.”

Jesus. I almost forgot about that. Johnny winds his arms around me from behind, and I lean back against him for support. “I tried to tell you.”

He nods to the far side of the room where Jacob emerges from a doorway laughing with uniformed cops. “And I know why your evidence went missing and why I was blocked from looking into you.”

I just stare at him. If he’s trying to apologize… Well, one, I don’t care, and two, he’s doing a terrible job of it.

Johnny kisses my temple. When Reynolds doesn’t say anything for a while, he asks, “You ready to go, babe?”

“Yeah,” I croak out. Right before I leave, Reynolds nods at me, and I guess that’s as good as I’m going to get. It’s a relief only because that’s one more thing I don’t have to take with me into my new life.

Johnny steers me toward the door. We walk outside, and I swear I’ve never breathed air as sweet as this even if it does smell like the Heights. I smile up at him. “What do two people do who’re starting a new life?”

He chuckles. “They go see your other boyfriends before one boyfriend gets his dick chopped off.” I laugh, but he gives me a look. “Seriously. I’m not kidding.” He brings his phone out and gives it to me. I scroll through the latest texts.

Brawler: What’s happening?

Brawler: Is she okay?

Drego: Why is it taking so long?

Brawler: A response would be nice.

Drego: I swear to fuck, we’re going to be eating fillet o’ dick if I don’t get a response in .2 seconds.

I hand it back to him, trying to stifle the laugh bubbling up my throat. “You didn’t respond back?”

“I’m not his bitch.” He shoves his phone back in his pocket, and I shake my head. These guys are going to be a handful.

Nothing I can’t handle though.

We walk around the side of the building and out onto the sidewalk. I’m about to ask Johnny where we’re going, but up ahead, I spy the familiar black car with two perfect specimens of men leaning against it. It seems like ages since I’ve seen Oscar and Brawler, and even when I did see them, we were a little busy. I squeeze Johnny’s hip and take off at a run. My face hurts again from smiling so much, but I barrel right into Brawler who picks me up and twirls me around like a princess. It’s some actual fairy tale shit, but I love every moment.

As soon as Brawler sets me down, Oscar hugs me from behind. For a blissful few moments, I’m in an Oscar-Brawler sandwich. Oscar nips at my ear. “I’m glad you came out, I was about to march my ass in there.”

“Great idea. Then we’d have to explain why the hell you knew we were all there.”

“If someone had just thought to send a short text,” Oscar throws at Johnny. “I wouldn’t have had to make such desperate plans.”

I cup Oscar’s cheek and give him a loud, smacking kiss on his jawline. “No need to worry. I’m right here.”

Brawler glances between Oscar and Johnny. “You’re sure you’re signing up for this shit?”

I give him a smirk. “Are you kidding me? We just fought the greatest fight and won. What’s waiting for us on the other side is…our prize.”

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