The Fight for Forever Read online

  By the time we reach Scarlett’s apartment, something occurs to me.

  “He doesn’t know about the mob,” I whisper to myself.

  “What?” Scarlett says from beside me.

  I glance at Bump to make sure he can’t hear us, but he’s on the floor of the living room, letting Roux cover him with welcoming doggy kisses.

  “I’ll go outside with them so the dog can take a walk,” Hal offers, and I nod. As soon as the door closes, I meet Scarlett’s gaze once more.

  “Moses didn’t mention the mob.”

  After my meeting with Creighton, I filled her in on where everything stood, so my mentioning the mob is not a surprise to her.

  “That’s a good sign, right?”

  I nod slowly, my confidence rising again. “Moses loves being the smartest guy in the room. He craves it. Even back in the day, he never missed an opportunity to show off how sharp he was. If he knew the mob was on to him, he’d have thrown that in my face and taunted me about being smarter than all of us. But he didn’t. He doesn’t know.”

  “Oh, thank God.” Scarlett releases a breath with her palm pressed to her chest. “If he doesn’t know . . . then that means there’s still a good chance they can find him and—”

  “Take care of him before the fight. Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m praying for, ladybug. Because I don’t know what the fuck else to do otherwise.”

  She comes to me and wraps both of her arms around my waist. “We’ll figure it out. He’s not going to hurt us, no matter what he says. We won’t give him the chance, Gabe. I trust you.”

  I press a kiss to the crown of her head. “You’re right. We’ve got this. There’s no other alternative I can live with.”

  “I wish he’d just take the money,” she whispers.

  Instead of my ego brushing her off, I say the one thing I never thought would come out of my mouth. “If I get a chance to talk him into it, I’ll do it. You have my word.”

  Thirty

  Legend

  While Scarlett’s getting Bump settled, I pull out my phone to call Creighton Karas.

  When a billionaire tells you that he’s going to take care of something, and that something pops up in the form of a prepaid cell phone in your woman’s bag, the billionaire has some explaining to do.

  Shockingly, he answers. “Hello, Legend. What can I do for you this Sunday evening, when I normally wouldn’t answer calls from anyone?”

  “Apologies for interrupting your weekend.”

  “I assume it’s important.”

  I sit down at Scarlett’s kitchen table, the prepaid cell in my hand. “Moses is still alive.”

  “Yes, he is. Did you expect otherwise?”

  My eyes narrow on Scarlett’s wall of salt and pepper shakers, like they could substitute for Karas somehow. “I thought you said you were going to have him taken care of?”

  “I did. And I meant it.”

  I shake my head, and my knee bounces underneath her tablecloth. “Anytime soon? Because he made sure to get in my head today.”

  “What happened?” Karas asks, his tone still conversational, like this doesn’t stress him out in the least.

  “We were at a carnival. He dropped a prepaid cell in Scarlett’s purse. Wanted me to know that he can still get to me—or her or Bump—anytime he wants.”

  “Ah . . . he must be getting worried that you’re not going to play his game.”

  I shrug, even though Karas can’t see me. “Apparently. But I’ve got less than three weeks left until this fight, and if you want your money back, then I need him out of my head. Out of the fucking city. Out of the fucking picture.”

  “Are you giving me orders, Legend?”

  I hear the warning tone underlying his words.

  “I’m just asking if you’ve got a plan, and if you do, what’s the timeline on it? Because I need to know my people are safe.” I tap my finger so hard on the tabletop that I’m probably leaving pockmarks in the wood. “You said we were friends, Crey. So you gotta understand that my people are my whole goddamned life. They’re all that matters. I need this covered, or I’ll cover it myself.”

  Karas is silent for several seconds. “There’s a plan. It’s in motion. I’ll make a call and give you an update when I get it. But for now, business as usual. You work. You train. You go home to Ms. Priest. Forget about Moses.”

  I stare skyward, from his lips to God’s ears. “You make it sound like it’s easy.”

  Something clinks over the phone line, and it sounds like Karas is pouring himself a drink.

  “It is. Focus on what’s important. Don’t get distracted. Have a good night, Legend. I’ll be in touch.”

  The call ends, and I’m left sitting at Scarlett’s kitchen table without any more answers than I had before I dialed his number.

  Do I trust Karas? His father is Dominic Casso, who was the head of the Casso crime family for the last twenty or so years. Do I have the choice to do anything but trust him?

  I think of my other options.

  Eduardo, Q’s PI buddy, refused to look into Moses. I don’t have another PI who’s even crazier, so that leaves me and Q doing the legwork. But it’s my problem, not Q’s, and he’s got enough on his plate right now with running the club without much help from me because of all the hours I’m putting in at the gym.

  So that leaves me. Hunting Moses. On my own. While trying to train, keeping Scarlett safe, and making sure I spend time with Bump. On top of all that, I don’t have a damn clue where to start.

  I lower my phone to the table as Scarlett walks into the room.

  “Everything okay?” she asks with a crease forming between her eyebrows. “You look—”

  “Like I’m wrestling with a problem I don’t know how to solve?”

  “Yeah,” she whispers. “What can I do to help?”

  I glance over her shoulder toward the living room, listening for sounds of Bump.

  “He’s all settled into his pillow-and-blanket fort with Roux. I gave him a flashlight and a notebook, and I think he’s planning his career as a rock star.”

  That brings a weak smile to my face, but I don’t reply immediately.

  Scarlett pulls out the chair adjacent to mine, sits down, and covers my hand with hers. “You can tell me anything. I assume this is about the cell phone and the call.”

  My jaw rocks as I contemplate what to share. I want to be honest, but I don’t want to frighten her when Karas assured me everything is fine.

  “Yeah. I just called Karas to find out what the hell is going on. He said he’ll look into it and give me an update.” I drop my chin and shake my head. “I hate waiting and wondering. There’s too much at stake.”

  I wait a few beats before I raise my head, because I can’t imagine the look on her face is going to be excited. When I do meet her gaze, those gray eyes are contemplative.

  “What can I do? Do we need to hire someone else to find him? Because I can pay for that, Gabriel. There’s literally nothing I wouldn’t give to make this man go away so we can go back to living our lives without looking over our shoulders every day.”

  Her offer is generous, just like Scarlett always is, but her concern is like a blow to my chest, knocking the air from my lungs. I hate that my bullshit has spilled over to affect her life. It’s the one thing I never wanted to happen.

  “I can go after Moses myself,” I say quietly.

  Scarlett’s spine goes stick straight. “What?”

  “That’s the only other play I’ve got right now if I don’t think Karas can pull it off.”

  Her jaw tenses, and she stares at me as she takes several long, slow breaths without speaking.

  “You don’t like that idea.”

  “Should I?”

  I shake my head and stare at the centerpiece that she’s perfectly arranged in the middle of the table. “No. Because I don’t know what’ll happen. Fuck, I really wanted to believe that Karas had this under control.”

  Scarlett reaches ou
t to cover my hand with hers. “Did he say they didn’t have it under control?”

  “No. He just said it’s in motion, and he’d give me an update when he got one.”

  She tangles her fingers with mine. “I know that relying on other people isn’t your favorite thing, but sometimes we all have to. Let’s think about it rationally. If you set out to find and handle Moses yourself, something else in your life is going to suffer—like your training.”

  “Or my time with you. Or Bump. Or my time at the club,” I add.

  Scarlett swallows. “Whatever you decide to do, I will support you, but I also think that you should give it another week. Keep training. We’ll all stay vigilant. If a billionaire and the mob can’t bring Moses down, then we’ll find bigger guns together, okay?”

  Hearing her refer to Creighton Karas and the Casso family as something less than the biggest guns around tugs at the corner of my mouth. She’s doing a hell of a job calming me down and wrapping her head around this completely foreign world I’ve dragged her into.

  “Okay. We give it another week, and then if nothing changes, we’ll talk about those big guns.” I lift her hand to my mouth and press a kiss to her knuckles.

  “Good. It’s all going to work out, Gabe. I have faith. You should too.”

  Later, as I lie in bed listening to the sound of Scarlett’s even breathing next to me, I work on searching for my faith. It’s been a long damn time since I believed in anything or anyone but myself and Q, but times are changing, and so am I.

  Then again, maybe faith is like trouble, and it finds you.

  Thirty-One

  Scarlett

  As we ride out to Jersey the Sunday after the carnival, Bump tells me all about Big Mike and Joanie, and Q’s three sisters and their families.

  From what I’ve been able to commit to memory, Big Mike was born in Puerto Rico and came to the States with his parents when he was young. Joanie was the first child her parents gave birth to in America. They met in high school, and Big Mike proposed the day after graduation. Joanie’s parents wanted her to marry a doctor or a lawyer, not a guy who worked at his parents’ scrapyard, but Joanie couldn’t be talked out of her love for Mike.

  They got married that summer, and Dani, their oldest daughter, was born nine months later, followed by Carrie, Zoe, and then Q.

  It’s hard for me to imagine the reserved Q growing up with three older sisters who apparently liked to dress him up in makeup, wigs, and jewelry, but I have to admit it makes me like him a little more. He’s Gabriel’s best friend, but he and I haven’t really broken the ice since the day we met—except for when he agreed Gabe should move into the city.

  I’m not sure if he’s waiting for me to decide if this is more than I can handle and bolt, or if there’s something else I did to piss him off. Either way, he’s supposed to be at this family barbecue we’re attending.

  A family barbecue. I still can’t believe this will be my first ever.

  As excited as I am about it, I’m a little worried about all the women. I’ve met Zoe and adore her, but her older sisters and mom are supposedly very protective of Gabe, according to Bump. He told me that they liked that he didn’t date because women always caused problems. They also advised Bump to stay single for as long as possible, because no woman could ever be good enough for him.

  In Bump’s case, I have to agree. But I’m hopeful I pass whatever test they have to see if I’m good enough for Gabriel. I know how much this family means to him, and I’d never want to cause problems.

  Thankfully, since the carnival, we’ve had a whole seven days of life that seemed relatively normal. No more cell phones that weren’t supposed to be there ringing in my purse. No more signs of Lucy, which did surprise me a little because I definitely don’t think I’ve seen or heard the last of her.

  Things at Curated are going better than ever, and we’re selling out faster than before. We’re even discussing opening on Saturday for the general public as well. The demand is so high that we had to stay open an extra two hours on Friday, and still sent almost fifty people home who didn’t make it into the line before we closed it. It’s a good problem to have, I suppose, so I’ll roll with it. Our new warehouse space is officially organized, making our restocking quicker and easier, which means that we really could support the extra day open.

  Last night, I talked Gabriel into letting me make an appearance at the club with Monroe and Kelsey. Attendance has been up every night, and it was amazing to see the dance floor packed with people having an incredible time. Legend is truly on its way to becoming everything Gabriel had dreamed of.

  Harlow is officially trying to get knocked up, so she stayed home with Jimmy, and we sent them text messages all night asking if they’d made a baby yet. I’m pretty sure she wants to kill all of us today, but she’ll forgive us eventually.

  Gabriel’s training is going well, at least from what I can tell. He comes home exhausted, and I have a food service preparing meals to fit his specialized diet so all he has to do is pop them in the microwave and devour. His muscles are even more defined now than they were before, and I’m secretly excited that we’re heading into the last two weeks before the fight, because the workouts are going to slow in intensity so he’s not as depleted at night. But the man has been running all over Manhattan with his training partners, working on cardio.

  I know next to nothing about fighting, but apparently part of his coach’s game plan is to make sure that Gabriel is able to fight hard and fast for the full three rounds without tiring. They don’t think Bodhi will have that kind of stamina and will be exhausted by the end of the second round, since he’s never had a fight that lasted any longer than that. From Gabriel’s comments about the training plan, it’s a solid one. Although, I get the sense that he wants to take Bodhi out in the first round, so he takes fewer chances with everything that’s riding on this fight.

  As much as I loved watching those old videos on YouTube before, I’m not entirely sure how I’ll feel about watching someone try to punch Gabriel in the face right in front of me.

  I can do this. He’ll be fine.

  That’s what I keep telling myself, anyway. Like I told Gabriel last Sunday, we have to have faith.

  Practicing what I preach, I’ve spent a few extra minutes each day letting the universe know exactly what I’m putting my faith in. I believe in hard work. Staying the course. And Gabriel.

  One thing is going extremely well, however, and that’s the tickets for the fight. They sold out almost as soon as they were offered for sale, and that has Gabriel breathing easier.

  Now if we would just get the word that Moses is out of the picture, we could all relax. Creighton called with an update a few days ago, but it wasn’t exactly what Gabriel wanted to hear. Moses is still alive, but the mob knows where he is, and they’ve given their word that they won’t let him get near any of us. Every time he moves, they’re on him.

  It’s something, at least, but we’re not sure why they haven’t whacked him. There has to be a legitimate reason. According to Gabriel, he thinks that they want Moses alive to use him to their advantage, or to take a fall for some mob-related crime later. He says that’s how they work, so I have to take his word for it.

  Considering that I’m not used to being in a position where I’m waiting to find out whether some bad guy is still alive or has met his maker, I don’t have a problem with them babysitting him and making sure he can’t hurt us.

  To me, that’s like finding a spider inside your house and using a piece of paper and a glass to trap and remove it rather than squashing it. I’m pretty sure Gabriel and I have differing opinions on how to deal with spiders, though. Which is fine.

  Stop worrying about everything, Good Scarlett hisses in my brain. You’re going to this family barbecue, and you need your head in the game. Time to impress the only family Gabriel really has.

  The reminder comes at just the right moment, because we’re passing the service station and slowing down to
turn into the driveway of the white house at the other end of the long green fence that conceals the scrapyard from the road.

  “We’re here! Time for football!” Bump claps from the back, and Roux shoves her head between the two seats in the middle where Gabriel and I sit.

  Bump has been staying at Big Mike and Joanie’s about half the week, and the other half with Gabriel and me. It’s been a bit of an adjustment, but I know it’s exactly as it needs to be. Even with the mob babysitting Moses, neither Gabriel, Q, nor Big Mike feel comfortable letting Bump go back to his apartment alone at night.

  The front door of the house flies open as soon as Hal puts the SUV in park, and a girl who looks to be about middle school or early high school age stands there waiting.

  “It’s Melanie! I’ve missed her! She’s going to be so happy to see you, Roux. You know that, girl?”

  Thanks to Bump, I now know who she is. Q’s oldest sister’s daughter.

  We all climb out of the SUV, and an older woman joins the girl in the doorway.

  “You’re just in time. Mike has only started devouring the guacamole. You might be able to get some before he finishes it,” the older woman calls.

  Gabriel holds my hand as we head up the walk, and Roux slides by us and dodges right between the two women, making her way into the house. The younger girl giggles as Roux’s tail slaps her leg.

  “Bump! I brought my Xbox so we can play after Grandpa’s game is over. Aunt Zoe set up a giant screen in the backyard so we can watch outside, and the players will be as big as you!”

  “No way! As big as me?” Bump high-fives her, but the girl’s smile disappears when she sees me, and a look of apprehension sneaks over her features.

  Wait. What’d I do? I hope I didn’t mess up this family barbecue thing already. Did I?

  “Joanie and Mel, this is Scarlett. Scarlett, meet Joanie, Q’s mom, and Melanie, his niece.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. Thank you so much for inviting us today.” I hold out my hand, but Joanie ignores it and wraps me in a hug.