Page 73 of Dare to Dance
“Kross, I need your help,” a voice behind Ruby said.
I diverted my attention to the man with the hard hat. “Be right there.”
He flicked his head then lingered behind Ruby.
Since we were on the topic of love, I was tempted to share my feelings. But the hard hat man was hovering. “I’ll be right back.” I kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t go anywhere.”
She grabbed my hand. “I’m also sorry.”
I could feel my forehead creasing harder than before. “For?”
“Kross,” the hard hat man said again. “We’re on the clock.”
I swallowed hard. Jay had needed to run some errands, so I was in charge. I just hoped he would return quickly. I didn’t want to be interrupted while Raven was there, especially during the paternity test. “Let me answer this guy’s question. Then we can talk.” I kissed her on the lips. “Okay?”
She nodded as fear blanched her face, making her whiter than when she’d walked in. Fear was certainly squeezing my limbs into a tight knot. I didn’t want to leave her, but Jay would have my hide if he returned and the ring wasn’t moved.
I walked over to the hard hat man. “Make it quick,” I barked.
“I need more rope clamps,” he said nicely as though my bite didn’t bother him in the least. “Apparently, some were missing to begin with. I also need rope spacers. Three shit the bed when we were taking the ring down.”
I would have told him not to worry about it, but rope clamps were essential for the boxers’ safety so they didn’t fly out of the ring onto the floor, or worse, into the crowd.
“I’ll check the storage room. Jay usually keeps extra clamps.” I shot a look over my shoulder at Ruby before I reluctantly crossed the gym floor to a small entryway that held two closets. One housed boxing and gym equipment. The other closet stored cleaning supplies. I ducked into the equipment closet, flicked on the light, and searched the shelves for clamps. As I did, my mind tumbled, trying to figure out why Ruby was so frightened.
Because the last time she told you she loved you…“Shut the fuck up,” I said out loud. It wasn’t the thought of me running that had her scared. Something else was going on if she had trekked from Firefly to the gym with only an hour to spare before work—something besides her wanting to tell me she loved me.
I spotted the box of clamps, grabbed them, then dug into a plastic bin and plucked a handful of rope spacers. I jogged back to the hard hat man, who was standing beside the half-assembled ring in the middle of the gym. “If you need anything else, let me know.” Without waiting for him to acknowledge me, I hurried back to Ruby. On my way, Ms. Waters walked in with Raven and a skinny dude in his thirties with a canvas bag strapped across his body.
“Hi, Raven.” My voice carried over the muddled sounds of tools in motion. I wanted to wait until after the paternity results came back to tell Raven that I was her father. I wanted to be one hundred percent sure. Then it dawned on me. Maybe Ruby was worried about the paternity test. Maybe I wasn’t the father. Nah, I was. Looking at Raven as I stood there, I could see she was a Maxwell without a doubt. Besides, Ruby wouldn’t lie about something as big as Raven’s father.
Raven waved her tiny hand as Ms. Waters removed her knitted hat. I glanced back at the daycare room, expecting that Ruby would have emerged when I’d said Raven’s name. Nothing.
While the threesome made their way over, I poked my head in the daycare room. Ruby was gone.What the fuck?I glanced around the gym. No sign of her. Maybe she went to the restroom. I was about to check when Raven ran into the room.
“Hi, Kross.” Raven’s dimple popped out as she beamed up at me. “Ms. Waters told me we’re going to play for a little while.”
“We are.” I waved my hand around. “What do you want to do first? We have dolls, LEGOs, I can read a book to you.”
She stuck her finger in her mouth. “LEGOs.”
Ms. Waters walked in with the skinny dude on her tail.
“Raven.” Ms. Waters pushed up her glasses. “Before we play, let’s allow Mr. Matson to do his job like we talked about.”
Her striking blue eyes were wide. “With the Q-tip?”
“Yeah,” I said. “It doesn’t hurt. It probably tickles.”
“I’m ticklish,” she said so seriously.
“So am I,” I added. “We’ll giggle together.” I crouched down then unzipped her coat. “Let’s get comfortable.”
She shrugged out of her coat. “Do you like my new shirt?” She stuck her hands on her hips and twirled around like a ballerina, showing off her white cotton shirt that had tiny purple flowers on it.
“It’s pretty.” My stomach did some weird flips at how freaking adorable she was and at the thought that she was even my child.
With her ponytail swinging, she dropped down on the mat next to the bookcases, where we stored containers of toys and books.
