“Oops, sorry.” She grabbed the bowl. “Salt and vinegar. I guess I didn’t mix the flavoring good enough.” She expertly tossed the popcorn inside the bowl without spilling a piece.
Turning on the movie, I ate the rest in between sips of water. The next handful wasn’t as strong.
“Nope, not this one,” Bronwyn said. She grabbed the remote.
“What’s wrong with Elf?” I asked.
“I hate Will Ferrell.”
I laughed. “Why?”
“Don’t know, just do. I can’t watch him in anything.”
“Okay then.”
To my surprise, she settled on The Nativity Story. “Gotta get my religious fix in,” she said. “Right, church girl?”
I squirmed. “I haven’t gone to church since I came here.” It wasn’t that I had lost my faith, I just hadn’t made time for it. With Sunday diner shifts and no preacher father breathing down my neck, it’d been easy to skip. Now I felt guilty.
Bronwyn gave me a wry smile. I was so happy to see it, I didn’t care that she was mocking me. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I won’t tell.”
“Who, God, or my dad?”
“Either or.”
“Well, thanks for that, but maybe you should be more worried about your immortal soul than mine.” I grinned and stuffed more popcorn in my mouth.
She paused the movie. “I will, when it’s necessary.”
Maybe it wasn’t necessary, for her. She’d put up with Nico for so long it practically made her a saint in my book.
She grew quiet. I waited.
“I got him a Christmas present, a while ago.” She looked at me. “Do you think I should give it to him?”
“That depends. How expensive was it?”
She sorta smiled. “I still love him, you know.”
“I know.”
“When do you think that will stop?”
I sighed. “I think that’s up to you.”
She threw a piece of popcorn at me. “Not the answer I wanted, Hale.”
“It’s the only one you’re gonna get.” I threw a whole handful at her. She gasped then immediately began snatching the popcorn on her lap and eating it.
“You waste one kernel and I will murder you,” she said.
I laughed. “Then I guess you better start worrying about that soul of yours after all.”
Chapter 36
JAY
At work, McCrary was needling me even worse than usual about buying the gym. “I won’t be around forever, you know.”
“So I just gotta wait out the clock.”
“Oh, is that how it is?” he asked, though he knew I didn’t mean it. “I can always give the gym to the Girl Guides, you know. They could use a new clubhouse. Maybe they’ll make you their new den mother.”
“Get off my back, old man,” I said. “I’m working on it.”
He slapped a paper down on the front desk. “You’re taking too long.” His face softened. “I don’t want to sell it to some random eejit who won’t love it like you do, or tear it down and turn it into another strip mall.”
Bergin was warming up my class and I needed to get over there, but I hesitated. McCrary deserved to know the truth. Not about the money, or Simon, because he knew about both. But what was really holding me back. I lowered my voice. “I can’t run this place. I don’t know how.”
McCrary scoffed. “Son, you’re the best teacher I’ve ever met.”
The compliment meant a lot, but I’d embarrass us both if I said so. “Not that. I have no clue how to run a business, and this gym is a business.”
His mouth worked.
“I know you’ve tried to teach me, and I’m grateful, but if I take over now, Eastside Boxing will fold in less than a year.”
“Then whaddya gonna do?”
“I’m working on it.” Simon was more of a problem than me learning how to run a business any day. I could read books for the one problem, but there was no Quitting Your Psycho Boss/Pseudo-Father For Dummies for the other.
A cop car pulled up in front of the gym and Simon climbed out. Speak of the devil. I tensed. Simon never came to see me here. But there he was, adjusting his uniform as he stepped onto the sidewalk.
“What’s he doing here?” McCrary asked.
I met Simon at the door, blocking him from McCrary’s view. The old man wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut, which would only get us both in trouble.
“What do you need?” I asked. “I have a class in a couple of minutes.”
“Everyone needs to leave.”
“Everything okay here, son?” McCrary said, standing beside me.
I wanted to push him back. He wasn’t helping. “Everything’s fine.”
Simon narrowed his eyes at McCrary. “Get everyone out of here. Now.”
McCrary bristled. “Excuse me? This is my gym, you can’t go about—”
Simon yelled over him. “For your safety, I’m evacuating the premises. Everyone grab your things and leave now.”
“What’s going on?” I asked. Simon started herding Bergin and the students to the door, ignoring their questions and complaints. He was in full-out cop mode, something I rarely saw anymore.
“What is this?” McCrary asked me, but I didn’t know any more than he did.
Bergin followed the last student out. Simon peered down the street before closing the front door. He turned. “We had a tip-off at the precinct.”
“A tip-off about what?” McCrary demanded, pacing back and forth, cracking his knuckles.
“A gang of armed and highly dangerous men have been targeting specific sites. I believe this gym will be next.”
“Why here?” McCrary asked. Simon didn’t respond. “Fine. Let’s go then.”
“Jason is staying with me,” Simon replied.
McCrary looked around. “Who’s Jason?”
I shot him a look. He was doing it on purpose, trying to get under Simon’s skin, but now was not the time.
“Just go,” I said to him. “I’ll be fine.”
McCrary pulled me aside where Simon couldn’t hear him. “I don’t know what shady thing he’s got going on, but you shouldn’t hang around for it.”
“I have to.”
McCrary shook his head. “That man is trouble. It’s better to be a coward for a minute than dead the rest of your life.”
“I’m not scared of some gang,” I snapped.
“Not what I’m talking about.” He squeezed my shoulder before he left.
With McCrary gone, I turned back to Simon. “What’s really going on?”
Simon’s lips tightened. “It’s like I said. We got a tip-off. They’ve already ransacked Pearl of China.”
I started flipping off the lights. “Are they going after you, or me? Or both? And who is it?”
“Aguda’s gang, under new management, and they’re after me. We need to hurry. I don’t know if they’ll go to my house, your apartment, or come here first. I wanted to get this place clear of civilians, just in case.”
I grabbed my bag and hurried to the front of the gym. “Why are they after you?” But I knew why.
Simon put his hand on my shoulder. He had to reach to do it. “Aguda never would have left you alone, and a conviction would never stick. He needed to be taken out. I thought I covered my tracks, but they must have found a connection.”
“What did you tell the other cops?” They could protect Simon if they knew he was being targeted, but he’d never be able to explain why.
“A couple of units are chasing them down as we speak. It’s a slim chance they’ll be caught, though—these guys are sloppy, but we both know how useless cops can be.”
The door opened. We both turned. Simon drew his gun.
Bronwyn froze inside the gym, instinctively putting her hands in the air. A gift bag hung from one finger. “What—”
“Get out of here, now,” I said.
She didn’t listen but went for the stairs. “I’ve gotta see Nico.”
&
nbsp; “Grab her,” Simon said, but he didn’t need to. I already had her by the arm and was dragging her to the door.
“What are you doing?” she shrieked. “Get off me.”
“Stop struggling,” I said through gritted teeth. “Nico’s not here. You need to leave. You’re in danger if you stay here.”
She scoffed, but stopped fighting. I hustled her back to the front of the gym. Simon was near the glass wall, staring out into the street. His gun dangled in his grip.
A car slowed down on the street, the windows rolled down. Faces, then hands holding guns.
“Get down!” Simon dropped as the sound of gunfire and exploding glass erupted all around us.
I pulled Bronwyn to the floor, covering her with my body. Glass rained down on our heads like pricking snowflakes.
In seconds, it was over. Tires screeched away and then silence.
I didn’t move, and neither did Bronwyn. Until Simon groaned.
“Jason,” he called. His voice sounded weak.
I lifted myself off Bronwyn, about to ask her if she was okay when my eyes went to her face. Her stare was blank.
“Bronwyn?” I scanned her body but saw nothing. “Bronwyn!” I put my ear near her mouth. No breath. And then I saw it, the blood pooling under her head. The gift bag had fallen near her outstretched hand.
“Jason,” Simon repeated.
I scrambled to my feet and away from Bronwyn’s glassy eyes. Maggie’s friend, Nico’s girlfriend. Dead. Picking my way over the glass, I made my way to Simon.
His hands were pressed to his side, blood soaked his fingers. “Call 911.”
I already had my phone out.
Chapter 37
MAGGIE
A chill in the night air pierced my sweater and I hurried inside the apartment, shopping bags balanced in both arms. Bronwyn wasn’t home, which I hoped was a good sign. She seemed to be getting better every day, less depressed, closer to her normal self. When she came home last night and told me I smelled like a frat boy’s bathroom, I knew she was almost there. I wouldn’t worry so much about her when I went home for Christmas in a week.
I dumped my bags on the bed, then perused my Christmas purchases. A planner with a black leather cover for my dad—he wanted a new one every year. A collection of Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals for my mom. For Bronwyn, I found a black and white photograph of the London blitz during World War II. It was of a woman drinking tea and sitting on a pile of rubble. The picture was a little sad, but there was also something hopeful about it. As if ordinary life can go on even when everything gets destroyed. I thought it would go nicely with her collection.
Fraze had been a little harder to buy for, but I’d finally decided on a cheap silver money clip with a note attached that said, “For all your newfound cash.” I would never turn my brother in, but I wanted him to know I knew what he’d done.
I also wanted him to know how much trouble he’d put me in, but that wasn’t something you put in a Christmas card. Not that I had anywhere to send it at this point.
Worry gnawed at my insides. What if Simon found out that I knew Frasier? Would Jay tell him? What would Simon do?
That last question had my stomach roiling. My mind conjured up images of answering a knock at the door and Simon jumping me, or one of his goons I’d seen at the gym with Jay. Or Jay himself.
I’d open the door, and Jay would be standing there. He’d grab me, pull me close, his lips would meet mine, his hands in my hair…
I shoved that image away. What was I thinking? I didn’t want that and neither did he anymore.
My phone rang and I answered. “Hello?”
The voice on the other line was intelligible. My heart began to race.
“Who is this?” I asked.
“Nico… it… It’s Nico.”
I let out a breath. For a second, I’d been worried it was Fraze, that somehow Simon had found him.
“What’s wrong?” I stared at my ankle. It looked swollen after I’d hobbled on it all day.
“Just come,” Nico said in between sobs. “Please.”
I slipped off the bed. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“No. Bronwyn. She…”
I froze. And then I moved into action. “Are you at home?”
He choked out a yes.
“I’ll be right there.” I hung up the phone, threw on my coat and shoes, then limped down to the street, leaving my crutches behind. I didn’t want them getting in my way.
A cab took me to Eastside Boxing and I gnawed on my fingernails the entire way. What had happened? Why hadn’t Bronwyn called? I hoped against hope it was something minor, but Nico’s hysterical sobbing suggested otherwise. I urged the cab driver to hurry.
The gym was surrounded by police cars, lights flashing. A small crowd had gathered, as well as some news cameras. I exited the cab on shaky legs. The entire front glass wall of the gym was gone, jagged edges sticking up around the sills.
I tried to get inside but a policeman held me back. “I’m sorry, ma’am. No one can go inside right now.”
“But my friends… I think they’re inside.”
The look he gave me almost stopped my heart.
I spun away from him, searching for a sign of Nico, or even Jay. Someone I knew who could tell me what happened. All I saw were brown uniforms, strangers, and blinding lights.
A familiar voice penetrated the fog around my brain and I stumbled toward it, ignoring my throbbing ankle.
“Jay?”
He had his arms folded across his chest as he spoke to a policeman. He turned toward me as I came close.
“Maggie? What are you doing here?”
“Nico called. What happened?”
The policeman stepped up before Jay could answer. “Lieutenant Hopkins, ma’am. You should go home. We—”
“Where’s Bronwyn?” I wasn’t interested in going home, or listening to whatever brush-off Hopkins was going to feed me.
The emotionless mask that had been Jay’s face fell away. He shook his head, his eyes full of sorrow.
“I’m sorry, Maggie.”
No. I didn’t want to believe it.
Nico pushed through the crowd of police. He fell on me, clutching me, sobbing into my shoulder. Tears pooled in my eyes—I couldn’t stop them—but I wouldn’t let myself break down. I stood stock still while Nico hung off me, crying and muttering Bronwyn’s name.
The cop said something low to Jay and then walked away. Jay stood there, never taking his eyes off me.
“What happened?” My voice wasn’t very loud but Jay must have heard because he came closer.
“Drive-by.”
Even with Nico holding onto me, his hot tears soaking my coat, I still felt icy all over. Drive-bys weren’t real things, they only happened in the movies, between gangs. Not a boxing gym and my best friend.
“Bronwyn came to see Nico,” Jay said. Nico moaned.
“But why?” Why would someone shoot up a boxing gym? “Have they caught the person who did it?”
Jay shook his head. “They’re working on it.”
Nico let go of me and a cop pulled him aside, probably for questioning.
A cold wind blew open my coat and I shivered. I shifted toward Jay and his body heat. “You were there?”
“Yeah.” He zipped up my coat, his hands lingering. I barely noticed. “So was Simon. They’ve taken him to the hospital.”
My eyes shifted to his. He gripped my coat. “Were they after Simon?”
“Yeah.”
“So Bronwyn—”
“She wasn’t supposed to be there. I tried to get her to leave, before…” His voice trailed off.
My lips trembled, then my whole body. Instead of anchoring me, keeping me still, he let go of me.
“I’m sorry, Maggie.”
It was the second time Jay had apologized. But it wasn’t his fault. It was Ting’s.
Right now, it didn’t matter whose fault it was, because Bronwyn was dead.
Later, after Nico had calmed down and Jay disappeared, I went back to the apartment. Bronwyn’s apartment. Everything about the place was her, from the framed vintage photographs on the walls to the rows of popcorn flavorings in the cupboard. I stood in her doorway, staring at the girlie purple comforter. My eyes moved to a small bookshelf full of CDs. I hesitated, as if I wasn’t allowed to go in. As if Bronwyn might come home at any moment and catch me going through her stuff.
But she wasn’t coming home. Ever.
I went to the bookshelf and checked out the CD titles. Metallica, Guns ‘N Roses, Nirvana, Bon Jovi. Some band called The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. This was so Bronwyn. Girlie on one side, total boss on the other. Yet at the same time, I felt like I barely knew her. She had been my best friend here in Vegas, but we’d never spoken of her family. I didn’t know about her other boyfriends or if she’d gone to college. I thought I had time.
Time was a cruel trick. I’d had weeks of nothing but time—sitting on my butt and letting my ankle heal so I could get a new job and resume dancing. Now time had been yanked away from me, from Nico, but mostly from Bronwyn. It was gone and she was gone and I could never get either back.
Time took my tears.
Chapter 38
MAGGIE
Bronwyn’s family, who had moved away from Hillstone a few years ago, appeared in Vegas and took her. They were having the funeral and burying her somewhere in South Carolina, so they could be close to her. I wouldn’t be able to attend. I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye.
They took her things, leaving behind the furniture, the dishes, the photographs on the walls. And me.
I wanted to go home. The apartment without Bronwyn was unbearable. I wanted to see my parents and have Christmas and forget about everything else. But before I could do that, I had to see Nico. Bronwyn would want me to.
It took five minutes of incessant knocking before he finally answered.
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