Simon might’ve done it because he thought there was no other way to get rid of someone like Aguda. And to protect me. That, I understood. But if it was true, I could never sell him out to the cops now.
Chapter 30
MAGGIE
This time, as I headed to Eastside Boxing, I actually wanted to see Jay. I could give him the money and be done with him forever. It was wishful thinking—being done with him, because I couldn’t avoid him. Not when I was using the top floor of the gym for dance practice. Not when I couldn’t forget that kiss.
I went a little early so I wouldn’t miss him. He was there, teaching an adult class, all men. They were sparring together in pairs and he was circling the room, yelling at the top of his lungs.
“Harder!” Jay shouted. “Gloves up, Manny.”
I hesitated by the door. I didn’t want to go upstairs because Jay might leave before I could give him the money. But I felt weird standing there watching like a creeper. I shouldered my bag and shifted from foot to foot.
I caught his eye but he quickly looked away. He wouldn’t acknowledge me. Last time he had, outside the diner, he’d looked like he was about to murder someone.
When he moved to the outer edge of the mats, I approached him. He turned away when he saw me coming. I almost laughed. The world had gone topsy turvy if I was the one chasing Jay Thornton.
I grabbed his arm before he could escape. His muscles tensed under my grip. “I’ve got your money,” I said. “Come up when you’re done.”
He scowled. Not at all the reaction I’d been expecting. I let him go.
Upstairs, I knocked on Nico’s door. He answered almost immediately.
“Hey,” he said, smiling.
“Can I come in?” I asked. He pushed the door open and I stepped inside. The apartment was scrubbed clean, it smelled of bleach and lemons. Music played, something old and jazzy.
“Bron’s coming over.” He waved a hand. “She said we had something to celebrate but she complained last time about how messy the place was getting.”
“It looks great.” I dumped my bag on the table. It felt unnaturally heavy, maybe because of all the cash I was carrying. “Perfect for celebrating.”
“Do you know what it’s all about?” Nico opened his fridge and pulled out a bottle of orange juice. I didn’t see one can or bottle of alcohol in there. Bronwyn would be happy.
“I’ve got the money. I’m giving it to Jay as soon as he comes up here.”
His face broke into a wide grin. He started hopping around and I thought maybe he had to go to the bathroom until I realized he was dancing.
“Your brother came through, then?” he said, doing a poorly imitated Michael Jackson spin. I laughed. “Yeah, baby.”
“How did you know?” I asked.
He shrugged. “He said he had a plan, but I never heard if it worked.”
“Do you know anything about it?” Nico shook his head and I sighed. “Ting won’t be on your back anymore,” I said. “No more late night beatdowns from Jay.”
He finally stopped dancing. “He likes me. It wouldn’t have been so bad.”
Yeah, right. No matter what he thought, the important thing was Nico remembering he still owed my brother the money. He wouldn’t have someone hounding him, but it didn’t mean he didn’t have to pay up.
“Well, anyway, I’ve got practicing to do,” I said, going for the door. “Have fun with Bron.”
He said goodbye as I left. Jay was in my practice space, waiting. He stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed over his chest, muscles bulging in his sleeveless shirt. His hair was slick from sweat, and a scowl pulled down his brow.
I rifled through my bag for the envelope, having a mini panic attack when I couldn’t find it at first. Finally, I slipped it out from inside a ballet shoe where I had tucked it for safe keeping.
I held out the envelope. “Thirteen thousand dollars, as promised.”
Jay didn’t move. I didn’t move. The envelope hung in the space between us until my arm began to shake and I lowered it.
I knew things would be awkward between us after the kiss, but I didn’t think it would make Jay like this…whatever this was.
“What’s the problem?” I asked, breaking the silence.
He grabbed the envelope from my hand. He pulled the cash out and counted it before replacing it. “Where did you get this?”
I frowned. What did that matter?
He took a step toward me and I took one back. “Where did you get this?”
My mouth tightened. “That’s none of your business.”
His eyes narrowed.
“I got you the money. Nico doesn’t owe Officer Ting anymore. It’s done.”
He stuffed the envelope in the back pocket of his shorts and then looked at me, his gaze like a winter blizzard. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing.”
“What are you talking about?” My eyes went to his lips, then darted away.
“Don’t think you can screw over Simon Ting,” he said. “It won’t end well.”
“Is it not all there?” I reached around him and yanked the envelope from his pocket, my arm brushing his. My nose filled with his scent of sweat and soap but I ignored it. I’d counted the money three times already, just to make sure, but I would count it in front of him so he couldn’t accuse me of skimping.
He grabbed it back from me. “It’s all there.”
I looked at him in confusion. “Then what’s the problem?”
But he didn’t answer. He gave me one last cold look and left.
I understood why he was angry with me, why he radiated a chill toward me now—I’d rejected him. What I didn’t understand was why he thought I would screw over Ting.
I shed my sweater and shoes and turned on some music. There was no point worrying about it. I’d done what I’d promised—I’d paid off Nico’s debt.
It was over now.
Chapter 31
JAY
I hated that my suspicions turned out to be true. Maggie and Fred Madsen concocted up some scheme to borrow money from Simon, and now she was paying him back with the same money.
It should have blown up in their face, ending with both of them in the hospital. Except Fred had gotten lucky and met with Alonso instead. If Simon had been there, he’d have listened to my suspicions and never lent to him in the first place. But Alonso was stupid, and now Maggie was paying off Nico’s debt with Simon’s own money.
How Fred thought he’d get away with this, I didn’t know. I didn’t care about Fred Madsen. It would be a pleasure to put my fist through his face when I tracked him down. It was Maggie who’d disappointed me.
Her music echoed above me. My whole body tensed, I wanted to go back up there and watch her dance. But I wouldn’t. It wasn’t the same anymore.
I’d thought she was different. Honest and real and good. Better than me, better than everyone I knew. I’d put her on a pedestal, and it turned out she didn’t belong there. She was the same as everyone else. Screwing over Simon and pretending like she had no idea what I was talking about. She wasn’t who I thought she was, and that hurt worse than any rejection.
The gym phone rang and I answered. My next class was stretching on the mats.
“Get over here, now.” It was Simon, back from his mysterious trip. “You have a mess to clean up.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“The deal Alonso made? It was bogus. There is no Fred Madsen.”
Big surprise. “Alonso was supposed to check him out. I told him not to go through with it.”
“You didn’t tell him hard enough. I had Alfonso track down the address and no Fred Madsen ever lived there. Even the landlord’s name was a fake. Fred Madsen—whoever he is—has disappeared.”
I clenched my teeth. Simon was pissed, and that meant we were all screwed.
“Every reference he gave was forged. There is no investment.” Simon’s voice was steel, his anger barely contained. “And now I’m out f
ifty grand and an employee.”
My body went cold. “Alonso?”
“His employment has been terminated.”
I slammed my fist into the table and one of the girls in the class looked up at me. My chest heaved. If Alonso had listened to me, he wouldn’t be dead and I wouldn’t be in this mess.
“Once that’s dealt with, you have work to do. Track down this Fred Madsen right away, whoever he really is. Someone out there thinks they can mess with me. That’s a message that can’t be allowed to get out.”
I hesitated. Now was not the time to push Simon. But, “I have a class.”
The silence on the other end was long. “As soon as you’re done, then. Alfonso can take care of the mess.”
If I had doubted he’d done in Aguda, I didn’t any longer. “Okay.”
“This is your top priority,” he said. “I expect you to fix this.”
“I will.”
“And son,” Simon said. “If that gym gets in the way even a little bit, you’re out of there.”
“I understand.”
The line went dead.
I hung up the phone, breathing deep to keep control. Because I was practically his son, Simon was giving me a chance to fix this. Otherwise, I might have been another body for Alfonso to dispose of.
I had to find Fred Madsen, and my only clue to where he’d gone was upstairs dancing.
Find Fred Madsen, or else Simon would take away the gym.
Find Fred Madsen, and put Maggie in Simon’s crosshairs.
It was my future on the line, or hers.
Chapter 32
MAGGIE
October had disappeared, leaving a drab November in its place. Vegas went from brown to even browner as the grass died, the leaves fell from the park trees, and even the palm trees looked decayed and sad.
I worked at the diner and finished choreographing my audition piece, although I was never satisfied with it. It was good, but not quite there yet. With Nico’s debt paid, and that extra cash from Fraze, I resumed drop-in classes at Fluidity. I barely saw Jay Thornton and I was pretty sure he was avoiding me.
Life was back to normal for me, but not so much for Bronwyn.
“I’m so sick of this,” she said, stuffing a handful of caramel popcorn into her mouth. Bronwyn didn’t drown her sorrows in ice cream or chocolate like most girls, or alcohol like Nico. Bronwyn’s kryptonite was popcorn of every possible flavor.
I reached for some but her hand beat me to it.
“Why do you hold on?” I asked, leaning away so she wouldn’t whack me. I never knew with her.
She’d just gotten out of an hour-long shower that probably sucked the hot water from the whole apartment building. I wouldn’t be able to get clean until morning. But she had good reason. Despite paying off Nico’s debt, he’d sunk into himself these past few weeks. He never left his apartment, and I was pretty sure his main food group was Heineken.
“I don’t know, but I’m done this time.” She slammed the bowl on the table and some of the popcorn jumped. “Done. I can’t sit around and watch him drink himself to death.”
I sighed. I didn’t know what to say or how to help. Nico’s black moods were a mystery. Why she stayed with him was even harder to understand. I was grateful that love had never held me in its grasp so tight that it hurt this much to try and break free.
“I got him an interview at CJ Lynch, did I tell you that?” she said.
I shook my head.
“They need an accountant. I found it in the paper.” She leaned her head against the couch and closed her eyes. “I thought with his debt gone, things would turn around. He wouldn’t go. Didn’t even get out of bed. When I tried to make him, he…”
“He what?”
She opened her eyes but wouldn’t look at me. “Doesn’t matter.”
I put my arm around her. It didn’t feel natural, trying to comfort Bronwyn this way, but she leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder.
“I’ve never understood why people stay with people who aren’t good for them,” I said.
“No, you wouldn’t.”
I didn’t take it as an insult, even if she meant it as one. I didn’t want to understand. Didn’t ever want to be in an unhealthy or toxic relationship. It hadn’t been like that with Hank. It had been wonderful, while it lasted. It just hadn’t turned out to be a forever thing. Even now, months later, I knew I had made the right choice. When I last talked to my mom, she told me he’d moved on and was now dating Ashley Valenti, my friend Stace’s little sister. I was happy for him.
My thoughts turned to Jay and the kiss we’d shared. So brief. So different from kissing Hank. Probably because I hadn’t been expecting it. Not because his lips had tasted salty like potato chips, or because even in that few seconds they seemed more practiced and sure than Hank’s had ever been. Not because of those reasons at all.
I pushed Jay from my mind. He was probably beating someone up right then, either at the gym, or for real. That was all Jay knew how to do, kiss and fight.
Bronwyn raised her head off my shoulder. “I’ve gotta go over there.”
“Where? Not Nico’s?” She didn’t answer. I pulled my arm away. “Bron, you said you were done. Isn’t this where I’m supposed to say you need to cut the cord or something? Should I hide your bike lock key?”
She stood up. I followed her out of the living room and into her bedroom. Bronwyn had painted the exposed brick an off-white color. Her headboard was pale lavender and she had small vases of flowers on her bedside table. A total girly room, except for her black bike helmet sitting on top of the ruffled duvet, covered in little metal spikes.
“You can’t go over there,” I said.
“What if something happens to him? No one will check on him. He’ll be one of those guys…one of those people that sit there for days and days before anyone notices. Then they’ll notice the smell, that’s the only reason they’ll check.”
She was talking crazy. Her hands shook as she pulled off her long sweater and replaced it with a coat.
“I’ll go with you.”
She didn’t say no so I hurried to change from my leggings into some jeans, and then threw on my coat. I didn’t want her to leave without me.
We took a bus to the gym, neither of us speaking the entire ride. It was eight at night on a Sunday but the streets were just as busy as if it were rush hour. The cold was nothing compared to winter in Hillstone, but people huddled against the wind that swept garbage from the streets into pooling corners. I would’ve rather been back at the apartment watching Netflix. When I looked at Bronwyn, at the blank look on her face as if her insides had left her outsides, I knew I was supposed to be there.
At Nico’s, I didn’t go in with her. I could tell as soon as he opened the door and slurred his hello that this was way out of my depth.
“I’ll wait out here,” I said, “but I’ll be here if you need me.”
Bronwyn didn’t respond. Nico had stumbled so she had wrapped her arm around him and was helping him to the bed.
“I can walk myself,” Nico shouted. He pushed Bronwyn away. “You’re not my mother.”
“I’m not going to be your anything if you keep this up,” she said.
Nico shuffled toward the table. He grabbed a bottle and began to swig, looking at Bronwyn out of the corner of his eye the whole time.
“You have to make a choice, Nico,” she said. “Me or the booze?”
I turned away, but the door was still open and I could hear everything. Every insult they hurled at each other, every hateful word. Nico was a mean drunk and Bronwyn wasn’t about to take it lying down.
I went to the window and looked out on the street. I shouldn’t have come, and yet I needed to be there for Bronwyn when this was all over. If only to be beside her, to make sure she got home. So she wouldn’t be alone.
They were screaming now and I desperately wanted to cover my ears. My parents had never been like this. Sometimes they yelled at Fraze and
he yelled back, but it was never this bad. None of my friends’ parents had either, at least not while I was around. This screaming was unbearable. It wasn’t love, it was torture. They were torturing each other and I just wanted them to stop.
There was a loud crash and the sound of something shattering. I spun from the window and ran to Nico’s door. Pieces of glass littered the floor. Bronwyn was frozen, her hands over her mouth. Nico was on the floor, his cheek pressed to the wood.
“What—?” I started, moving toward Nico.
Bronwyn grabbed my arm. Nico groaned. He pushed himself off the floor.
Bronwyn gripped my hand. “I can’t watch you do this anymore,” she said, near tears.
Nico took a step forward and winced. He jumped back, hopping on one foot and swearing.
Bronwyn started to back away.
“Bron, don’t go,” Nico said. He was examining the bottom of his foot. When she didn’t answer, he looked up. “Bron. Baby.”
She kept backing away, taking me with her.
“Bronwyn!” Nico shouted.
“Goodbye, Nico,” she said.
He continued calling her name but didn’t follow. She clutched my hand, pulling me with her until we were outside. And then she broke down. Bronwyn, who was the strongest woman I’d ever met, didn’t stop crying until we made it back to the apartment.
Chapter 33
MAGGIE
I avoided Eastside Boxing and Nico’s apartment. I wanted to practice my audition piece, but I was scared of being near him. Scared he was going to ask me to help him get Bronwyn back. Scared that he’d be so far gone that he wouldn’t. Bronwyn wouldn’t talk about him, wouldn’t let me mention his name, not that I wanted to. She was better off without him. She deserved better. But she wouldn’t listen when I said that. She spent her days biking off to work, biking home, and sleeping. That’s all she did. I tried the tough love approach she’d used on me but it didn’t work. Guess I didn’t have the touch.
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