The Fight for Forever: The Legend Trilogy, Book 3 (Legend Trilogy #3)(9)

Her tears come faster and harder . . . until my finger squeezes the trigger.

I jerk awake before the blast, my nightmare dissipating as soon as I open my eyes to the early morning light. My sudden movement should have woken Scarlett, but she’s still asleep beside me.

Sweat beads on my forehead, and I have to get out of the room. It feels like the walls are closing in. I need more air.

Carefully, I roll off the mattress, slowly letting Scarlett’s weight dip the surface deeper, and hope she doesn’t wake up.

When she doesn’t move, I rush to the door and unbolt it before getting the fuck out of the building as fast as humanly possible. I hit the pavement out front, and Big Mike swings around with a shotgun pointed in my direction.

“Whoa, kid. Some warning would be nice. You almost got some double-aught buckshot to your damn face.”

I pant for fresh air, my heart pounding. “Sorry, man. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

The driver’s door to the SUV opens, and Hal hops out.

“Quiet night, thankfully,” Big Mike says before nodding to Hal. “Neither of us have seen a damned thing.”

I scan the street and the fenced parking lot across the way before looking back to the older men. “Thank you both for sitting out here all night. I should have been the one to do it.”

“Nah, you needed to be there for your woman and Bump,” Big Mike replies. “We held down the fort just fine.”

Throaty exhaust rumbles from the end of the block, and both Hal and Mike instantly look tense and on edge. At least until Big Mike sees the make and model of the muscle car rolling toward us.

Q parks on the side of the road and climbs out with a box of doughnuts and a cardboard tray filled with coffees. “I figured Hal might need provisions.”

“Bring that coffee over here, kid. I’ve needed a refill since about four,” Big Mike says, waving Q in his direction. “You look like you’ve been up all night too.”

Q’s normally slicked-back hair is messed up like he’s been running his hands through it over and over. Knowing my friend like I do, his dad must be right.

I meet him as he walks up the driveway. “What happened?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing else like you’re thinking. No sign of Moses. Locksmith just finished up. I paid him triple to get his ass there and change every lock in the place, and add new dead bolts to the tunnel doors. I don’t know how Moses got inside, but he shouldn’t be able to get in again unless he’s fucking Houdini.”

“Thanks, man. You went above and beyond.”

He holds out the doughnuts. “Nah, that was what needed to happen. Above and beyond is the doughnuts. I got three with pink frosting and sprinkles for Bump. Thought it might help him forget what happened last night.”

I take the box of doughnuts and pass them to Big Mike before giving Q a back-slapping hug. “Thank you. Seriously. Fucking thank you.”

“You’d do the same for me,” Q says with a shrug.

“Absolutely, brother.”

“We gotta talk this out. Break it down. Come up with a plan,” Big Mike says.

I scan the neighborhood again, but I don’t see any unusual vehicles, even though I’m suspicious as hell this morning.

With my hands shoved in the pockets of my sweats, I turn to face him. “I’ll give you the short version, because we’re too exposed to spend hours talking about this here.”

“Short and sweet is all I need,” Big Mike replies.

“Moses wants me to throw the fight.”

“The fuck you will,” Big Mike says, jumping out of his chair. He’s already turning red in the face. “What the hell is he going to do if you don’t?”

“If he doesn’t get his money, which, by the way, he’s jacked up to one point five mil . . . he says he’ll take everything from me.”

A vein throbs in Big Mike’s forehead, and Hal just shakes his head. “That’s a shit deal.”

“I know.”

“Let’s think it through.” Q crosses his arms over his chest. “Moses wants this fight to happen without any problem, so that means he’s not planning to touch you before it.”

“He also said that he could’ve popped me plenty of times,” I add, “but he wants his money first.”

“So you’re safe until the fight,” Q says. “And hopefully Bump and Scarlett are too.”

“I’m not taking chances with them.” I look to Hal. “You’re staying with her everywhere she goes. If she’s in her building, you’re out front where you have a view of the entrance and the side door. Got it?”

Hal nods. “Abso-fucking-lutely, boss. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“What about Bump?” Q glances toward the service station.

“Bump stays with us,” Big Mike says. “He can come to work with me, and he’ll be happy as a pig in shit to watch football all the time and eat Joanie’s cooking. He’ll be safe.”

I think about the suggestion for a few minutes and then agree. “Yeah, I like that. Keeps Bump busy, which is for the best. I don’t want him thinking about what happened last night. Being at the club might freak him out for a while.”

Hal shuffles his feet. “Then we got the kid and the girl covered, but what about you?”