Page 21 of Dare to Dance
I fisted my hands, looking for something to hit.
Dillon came up beside me. “She’ll come to you.”
“Yeah? How do you know that for sure?”
“Your declaration of love slammed her in the heart. Otherwise, she would’ve been long gone. You got to her. I promise you.”
“He’s right,” Tommy said. “That star shit was something else. I think I even had tears in my eyes.”
“Fuck you,” I said. “It’s not love.” I didn’t care how mushy or less manly I appeared. I would do anything to get answers. Sure, I might have gotten to her some. After all, tears had been flowing down her face. But she’d also gotten to me. I wanted to know her story. I wanted to help. Maybe it was out of guilt, or maybe it was because my heart beat a little faster at the sight of her.
“You keep telling yourself that,” Dillon ribbed.
“I have a feeling she’ll be back,” Tommy said. “She’s hungry for money.”
“Do you know where she lives?” I asked.
“My guess?” Tommy rubbed a hand over his unshaven jaw. “Her and her friend sleep on the streets.”
It was Dillon’s turn to growl. I muttered a curse. Her physical appearance, and that of Norma’s, screamed homeless or at least unhealthy. That made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. If we had a child, then that meant my child was living on the streets. I shouldn’t have let her leave.
“When is your next fight?” The word “fuck” was on repeat in my head.
“Two weeks,” Tommy said. “But that fight doesn’t include Ruby.”
I took the stairs two at a time. Maybe I could still plead with her, grovel, anything to get her to talk.Get a grip, man. Get a fucking grip.Fuck no. I wasn’t about to let our child live on the streets.
I tore through the dingy hallway, up another set of stairs, then out into the crisp, cold night. I scanned the narrow expanse of the dark alley. Nothing. I ran until I reached the street. Again, I came up empty.
“Motherfucker,” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“Kross,” Dillon called before he jogged up to me.
I turned with my hands on my head. Tommy was at Dillon’s side. I stalked up to Tommy and grabbed his collared shirt. “If she shows up here again, I want you to call me.”
He pushed me. “Chill.”
“I’m serious. I’ll kick your ass from here to California if I find out she’s hanging around here and you haven’t called.” Then again, she would probably stay as far away from this place as possible now that she’d seen me.
He snarled. “Both of you are fucked up.”
Dillon stepped in between us as I was about to lunge. “I know you don’t want me on your ass. But you also don’t want Kross either. Now get me my money.”
Tommy marched back down the alley without another word.
“We’ll find her,” Dillon said, turning back to me. “She couldn’t have gone far. Let’s check the area. If we come up empty, then I know some places the homeless hang out.”
The word “homeless” sent a knife-like pain to my heart.
6
Ruby
The streetsof Boston were bustling with businessmen and women who hurried in all directions, probably late for a lunch meeting. They were vastly different from the types of people who roamed the streets at night. I sat cross-legged on a busy sidewalk corner in front of a coffee shop. My cup was at my side as it normally was during the day when I wasn’t dumpster diving for food. A sharply dressed lady dropped a few coins into my till, and they dinged against the other coins.
“Thank you.” I glanced up at the woman, who was already hoofing it down the street.
A siren wailed in the distance. More people hurried by me. I touched my eye, which was healing. Four days had passed since I had gotten my face pummeled by a timid girl who’d turned into a demon. It had also been four days since Kross Maxwell shocked me, angered me, and made me cry.
