by Emilia Finn
“Taylor’s not my girlfriend!” I follow them into the hall, and just when she thinks she’s escaped, when she thinks she’s free and clear, and my cousin gets a load of Will and makes his way toward us to chat, I grab Cam’s hand and yank her back so hard that she slams against the wall and her breath races out on a pained gasp.
“You son of a bitch,” she growls. “How dare you—”
I reach into her coat, slide my hand over her sinful hip, then I glide my hand into her back pocket and take my wallet. “You’re not as slick as you think you are, Cameron.” I reach around with my other hand, find what I knew I’d find, and tsk as I bring it between us. “And you’re gonna get your ass sent to jail for swiping my mom’s watch. I got this for her for Mother’s Day.”
“I didn’t– I– um…”
“You’re a regular little thug, aren’t ya?” I lean closer when Bry does as I paid him to do today. He steers Will’s attention away from his sister, leads him toward the octagon; catnip for fighters. And Cam hyperventilates under my weight. “I saw you take the watch.”
“I didn’t take that… I didn’t… Jamie, I—”
“I didn’t feel you swipe the wallet, but it was a logical assumption. You’re sure on your feet, you didn’t need to shoulder-barge me unless there was a reason for it.”
“Jamie…”
“Uncle Oz!” I grab my cop-uncle as he tries to pass through the hall, and drag him to a halt beside us.
“What’s up, kid?” Oz smiles for Cam, and somehow manages to completely ignore the way I’m pinning her to the wall.
Unobservant officer of the law, or too-trusting of his not-blood-related-at-all-nephew?
“I met you last year, right?” he asks my unwilling captive.
“Um…” Cam’s voice cracks as she lifts a hand for him to take. “Yes sir. I was the one stopping my brother from killing Sec– err, Jamie.”
“Oh! Yeah, I remember you now.” Oz drops Cam’s hand and takes a single step back. “Seems you guys have picked right up where you left off.”
“Yeah, well…” She clears her throat. “Actually, if you could get him—”
“Uncle Oz, Cam agreed to go out to dinner with me.”
“No shit?” Oz reaches into his breast pocket and takes out a ten-dollar bill. “I said you wouldn’t get the yes. I swore you’d strike out. But a bet’s a bet. Here you go.”
“He didn’t get the yes!” Cam spasms under my weight. “Get off me! I didn’t say yes. In fact, I feel like I’m being violated right now.”
“You didn’t say yes? Really?” Oz snatches his ten back and glares at me. “Fucker. You’re trying to hustle me.”
“She gave me the yes.” I turn and stare into Cam’s eyes. “We were heading out in… Anyone got the time?” I search her eyes. Then Oz’s. “You got a watch?”
“Yeah, I…” Oz brings his hand up to check the time, only for his frown to dig deep into his forehead. “Shit.” He pats his pockets. “I must’ve left my watch at home.”
I turn back to Cam and grin. “Bummer.”
“Brunch.” She nods and looks anywhere but into my eyes. “Okay.”
“See?” I turn back to Oz. “And that ten is almost enough to cover it. Thanks, Pig.” I snatch the bill from between his fingers, then the watch from Cam’s pocket. “These people have been placing bets on me for a whole year. And now I have ten bucks and a date lined up.”
“You’ve…” She pushes me back when I give an inch. It’s more of a gentle push than a shove. A spacer, rather than an escape. “You’ve been talking about me all year?”
“All fuckin’ year,” Oz huffs. “You’d think your name was Juliet Capulet, and he was…” He flicks his wrist. “The dude.”
“The dude,” I scoff. “Your ass knows that dude’s name. But we’re done here anyway.” I clap his shoulder, slip my hand into his coat pocket and drop his watch back where it belongs, then I turn back to Cam and feather the tip of my nose along hers. “You ready to admit you liked kissing me last year?”
“Absolutely not.” She lifts her chin, looks down her nose, and tries once again to flick me off. “I’m not going anywhere with you, by the way.”
“Yes. You are.” I take her hand and drag her away from Oz. “You agreed.”
“I agreed to keep the cops off me, because I accidentally pickpocketed.”
I look back with a laugh, and study those blues. She’s wearing shoes on the rubber mats, but hell, I’m feeling all kinds of friendly. “How does one accidentally pickpocket? Mom?” I stop beside Mom and Aunt Tina talking business on the far side of the room. I reach into my pocket and pull out her watch. “I found this.”
“Oh!” Mom’s eyes widen with surprise as she snatches it from my hand. “Geez, baby. I didn’t even realize it was missing.”
“It’s only been a minute. I saw it come off your wrist.”
“Thank you.” She straps it back on and steps in to press a kiss to my cheek. Moving back, she looks at me and Cam – at our joined hands – and gives a tiny nod. “Guess things are going well.”
“Actually, Mrs. Kincaid, no, they’re really n—”
“Cam?” I yank her in so hard that she smacks against my side and slips under my arm. “Have you met my Aunt Tina?”
“Um…”
I smile for my professional photographer aunt. “Aunt Tina, this is Cameron. Cam, Aunt Tina is Smalls’ mom.”
“Oh!” Cam gasps. “Smalls, as in Evie?”
“That’s my girl.” Tina extends a hand, because it’s polite, but I think Cam has a genuine illness, an inability to not steal, so I intercept their handshake, and instead take Cam’s hand so I have both. I bring it up to my lips, cuddle her tight, and press my lips to her knuckles. “Aunt Tina. You wanna?”
“Already on it.”
She brings up her ever-present camera and takes the picture. Once, twice, three times. She smiles when she likes what she captures, and laughs at one I imagine looks like a cat trying to escape a sprinkler.
“Hold still, Quinn.” I lower her hand, and instead press my lips to the side of her head. I can’t help the way my eyes close at the scent of her delicious shampoo. “Take the fucking picture,” I whisper. “You’ll thank me later.”
“Jamie…” Her voice breaks. “You’re just…” She shakes her head. “You’re scaring me.”
It’s like ice cold water being tossed over my head. Like an arctic blast of air that is a million times more effective than anything else Cam could have said.
Bouncing back from her like she’s made of electricity, I release her completely and lift my hands in surrender. “You’re… What?”
“And now he’s using his ears,” Mom murmurs. “Finally.” She takes my aunt’s hand, and wanders away to leave Cam and I alone.
“Scaring you?” I repeat. “But you’re a thug. You’re not scared of anything.”
“You’re a stranger declaring love,” she chokes out. “And maybe it was fun for a second, maybe it’s a dare, or a challenge, or a ‘let’s pay Cam back for stealing’. It’s something, Jamie. But it’s not real, and I don’t find it all that funny.”
“But…” My heart pounds against my chest. “I’m not trying to be funny. I’m trying to get you to hear me.”
“The irony is, you refuse to hear me. Maybe in your world, it’s perfectly acceptable to behave the way you have been. Maybe girls here fall all over themselves for your attention, and maybe you’re just not used to being told no. But in my world, you’re a creep.”
“I’m not trying to be a creep,” I murmur. “I just… I know.”
Drawing in a deep breath, she only grits her teeth, shakes her head, and turns on her heels to escape. “Goodbye, Jamie.”
My cousin’s head snaps up when Cam rushes toward him and Will. Her eyes remain on her brother, but Will and Bry watch me over her shoulders. She’s talking about me… and it’s not nice things. After a moment of yeses and nos, Cam accepts a hug from Will, then she continues
through the room and into the hall to escape.
“Fucked that up.” Bry wanders toward me with his hands in his pockets and a swagger to his steps. “What did you do?”
“I…” I stare at the doorway leading to the front, like I’m waiting for her to come back, like I’m waiting for her to change her mind and not be scared by what I know to be true. “I didn’t listen to her.”
Considering, Bry rocks back on his heels and nods. “Chick’s appreciate it when we listen.”
“Yeah…” I take a step away from my cousin, but where do I go? What do I say? “Shit, maybe I was being pushy.”
“Ya think?” He laughs. “Marry me, strange girl I’ve never met before. You’ll learn to love me after I tie you to the bed, I swear.”
“Shut up.” I push away and head toward the doors, but then a heavy hand slams down onto my shoulder and almost buckles my knees from the weight. I spin back to find Will standing so close, I see the hair follicles on his jaw. I’ve grown in the last year. He’s still taller, but I’m catching up.
“Where are you going?” he demands in his low, deep timbre.
“I… uh…” I clear my throat. “I actually don’t know.”
“You going to find my sister?” He lifts a sharp brow. “Because she’s not going to the hotel.”
“Um… no.” I frown. “I didn’t mean to upset her, you know? Truly.”
“I’ve been researching you the last twelve months, Kincaid. I’ve learned things about you.”
“You have?” I arch my neck to get a look at the hall Cam disappeared down. She’s gone, and she’s not coming back. Not today, anyway. “What did you learn?”
“No college?”
I bring my eyes back to his and frown. “Didn’t wanna.”
“No aspirations for a good job?”
“No aspirations for a suit and tie,” I counter. “I like my job here in the gym.”
“You teach classes?”
I look to Bry, then back to Will. “We all do. We work for our supper.”
“Chances your gym will go under anytime in the next fifty years?”
“Um…” Is he seriously interested in our business plan? “Doubtful. Unless we all develop a penchant for drugs, gambling, and getting fat – all of us, at the same time – then I think we’re solid.”
“Your family is famous, kid. Your mom and daddy are literally recognizable in the tabloids.”
“Okay. Listen, I’m gonna—”
I attempt to turn away, but he swings me back and leans closer. “Your folks are recognizable, and so are you. To anyone who is a fight fan, we know who you are, Jamie Kincaid. Being that noticeable can be dangerous, ya know?”
“You know who my cousins are. My folks. But I’ve made it a point to keep to myself for the most part.”
“Which is why you have so few press photos on the internet.”
“Yeah, my mom and dad had this crazy idea. Something about not selling their kids to the media for a few extra dollars.” I shrug. “I don’t know what they were thinking. But here we are anyway.”
“You don’t take drugs?”
“Fighting commission frowns on that.”
My mom passes the room and catches my eye for just a moment. She grins, and keeps on going like she doesn’t care if Cam’s mountainous brother kills me.
“And she’d kick my ass if I took a single draw.”
“Alcohol?”
“Dude,” I sigh. “I’m eighteen. I’ve had, I think, two beers in my life. My cousin and I stole them,” I indicate toward Bry, “we sat in his sister’s treehouse, sipped them till they were warm, then we moved on with our lives with the decision that beer tastes like camel piss. Now I’ve gotta go—”
“How many women have you bedded?”
“Motherfucker, I’m not having this discussion with you.” I shove him back so hard that he slams into another fighter and almost ends up in a brawl, then I hustle through the crowded hall and into an equally crowded reception.
I knew in my heart that Cam had already left. I knew my hopes that she’d stay – and not hate me quite as much – were impossible, but I still held on to that scrap of hope. I clung to the shred of light, and prayed she’d be waiting for me. But instead, I catch sight of my sister and Mac in the parking lot with my dad. They’re here, which means weigh-in is coming fast. But since I can weigh-in anytime I want today, I continue through the room and burst into the cold with a squeak on my breath when the wind bites at my cock and sends my balls shriveling up inside my body.
“Jamie!” Heavy footsteps follow me outside. “I’m not done talking to you.”
“Well, I’m done with you.” I wave Will off and continue toward the road. My only plan is to wander town until I find Cam. And then I have to apologize, because I may or may not have terrified her. “I’m not having a pissing match with you, Quinn. Not yet, anyway.”
“Like I said,” he calls out as I keep moving. His bootsteps crunch over gravel and snow as he follows. “I researched you. I had a whole year to do it.”
“And for the first time ever, I left myself wide open. I wanted her to find me. I wanted her to call.”
“Listen.” He grabs my shoulder and spins me back until our breaths come out on white fog and duel in the space between us. “I wanted to tell you that, although you annoy me on principle, I don’t actually have a problem with you looking at her.”
That brings me up breathless. “What?”
“My sister is beautiful.”
“Yes, she is.”
“You’re not the first dude to come knocking on our door, Kincaid. And you sure as hell won’t be the last.”
“Comforting,” I drawl. “It makes my heart warm to hear of all the doorknockers she gets during the year when she forgets my very existence.”
“Your mom and daddy were best friends since they were children.”
I bring my hands up to breathe warm air into my palms. It’s fucking freezing. So freezing that, soon, it won’t be about finding Cam for the sake of talking, but instead because she’ll die of pneumonia. “Yes. My mom was hanging out with my dad and uncles since she was in diapers.”
“And Jimmy decided he was in love?”
I cough out a small laugh. “I think at first he was happy with friendship. She was a baby, after all.”
“I read this article where they were interviewed.”
“My mom and dad?”
He reaches up to flick the snow out of his hair. “They said how they were best friends from the first day. Everyone knew it, so when your mom was six, the boys at school tried to get them apart, beat on them separately. They had to separate them, because together, they put up a good fight.”
“You seriously want to discuss eight-year-old fuckwits right now? We’re standing in the cold, man. Your sister is probably already a popsicle. But you want to talk about the time a bunch of assholes pushed my mom down… when she was six?”
“The article said they kissed that day.”
Gone is my exasperation, and in its place, a warm smile. “My daddy knew what he wanted, so his punk ass kissed a six-year-old. Now they’re married and happy as pigs in mud.”
“Show’s your blood knows loyalty.”
I nod my agreement. “If there’s only one thing my blood knows, it’s loyalty.”
“So you ditched a college education, get a salary from your family’s gym, right? Plus championship winnings.”
My brows draw closer at his inquisition. “I’ve yet to debut, so there are no championship winnings.”
“You got a trust fund?”
“Dude!” I turn away and continue walking into the street. “I don’t get your game, but I’m tapping out. You’d better go back in and step on the scales. Smalls is in there, and she ain’t playing with weigh-in. If you miss it, you miss out on the tournament.”
“I’m just saying!” he calls out. “You seem decent, you have no criminal record, you know loyalty. Your family cherishes privacy. And you ai
n’t broke.”
“What’s your damn point?” I spin back. “What? Where are you going with this?”
He continues forward with hesitant steps, and for the first time since meeting him, my gaze is drawn to his wringing hands. He’s nervous. And shit, the dude I remember from last year just doesn’t match up with this guy.
“If you mention Cam, and me, and money, all in the same sentence,” I warn, “we’re gonna have a problem.”
“You could take care of her,” he chokes out. “You’re still a fucking teenager, barely out of school, your mommy still kisses your forehead, and probably wipes your ass, but if it was needed, you’re in a place that means you could take care of her.”
“Will…” I cast a glance toward my gym, and take a step back in his direction. “I think it’s fairly common knowledge at this point that I hardly know your sister.”
He blows out a snorting breath. “That’s true. You just pick her out of a catalogue and run with it.”
“And yet, there are two things I know for certain about her. One, she’s not for sale. And two, the only person on this planet that means something to her, is you. If she found out about this conversation, it would break her fucking heart.”
“I’m not trying to break her heart, Kincaid.”
“So why are we having this discussion? Why?” I step forward. “You’d risk hurting her. For what?”
“We live in a fucking dump.” He hooks a thumb over his shoulder, like his dump is right behind him. “A fucking dump. We have vermin, and bugs, and draughts, no heating, but we have electric blankets, because Cam paid for them.” His desperate eyes search mine. “I routinely work three jobs. And I have a couple side gigs to prop up the bank.”
“You’re a good brother.”
“Cam works three jobs. Between us, we work two hundred hours a week, and we still barely scrape by.”
“Well… Have you considered moving somewhere where the rent is cheaper?”
“She’s destined for better things!” he snaps. “She’s destined for something else. That’s all I’m saying.”