I’ll sit back, let her sort this out. I’ll wait until she wakes up and feels me in her fucking bones. But until that moment, I’m not going to battle with my brother for her heart.
When she hands it to me, it’ll be her choice.
Mine without question.
“I trust you.” I shrug, trying to play it off like she’s not the center of my world, and I want her to know all of it. “I’m expanding a business opportunity, and we needed a break from LA. Two birds, one stone. You know how it goes.”
Her expression falls with her disappointment, so I can’t help but soften the blow.
“It doesn’t mean I’m not still happy to share it with you.”
“I get that.” She relaxes with the ounce of hope I want her to feel until she’s ready to acknowledge it. “It’s just surprising. A whole other side of you. You do all this in secret because it’s more important to you that people believe you don’t give a shit.”
“I don’t.”
She pins me with her wicked little gaze. “You pretend not to, especially at the shop. But all this…” Her stare moves around the room once more before landing back on me. “You’re running a whole other business outside of Twisted Roses.”
“One where people beat the shit out of each other.”
She shrugs. “Even so. What made you want to?”
Big questions that should probably have easier answers, but I settle on, “I like to fight.”
“That would explain what you do in the ring, Crew,” Echo continues pushing. “But not the rest of it.”
“Why does it matter?”
She glares at me, and I can’t help but wipe my palms over my face because this girl never lets anything go.
“I’m not my brothers, that’s why.” I rake my hair back off my forehead.
“What do they have to do with it?”
“Adam runs the family business, and Rhett’s chasing his holy calling, but at the end of the day, they’re both still tied to him.”
“Your father?”
“Yeah.” I nod. “They might not mind, but that’s not what I wanted. Sure, he helped me out, and considering worse things, he gave me a good life. It’s not like I’m blind to the opportunities he’s afforded me. But my end goal wasn’t to do it to further the Kingsley name. I don’t give a crap about that. I wanted to forge my own path. Do something I enjoyed. And if it failed, at least I’d give a shit.”
Echo watches me, and I swear she picks apart every word looking for the truths and lies.
“It’s—”
“A hobby that happened to work out.”
“That’s not what I was going to say.” She frowns. “It’s impressive, Crew. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
I’m not sure if that’s a slight or a compliment. I’ve given her no reason to think I’m capable of anything other than beating the shit out of people. But for some reason, hearing her doubt cuts a little deeper than I expected.
Just because I don’t want people seeing I’m capable of more than they read on the surface, doesn’t mean I want her to be one of them.
“Come on, Goldie.” I take her hand, and she reluctantly unclenches her arms and laces her fingers through mine so I can guide us out of the warehouse.
“My hair hasn’t been its natural color in years, so why do you still call me Goldie?”
It’s a question she hasn’t asked in a long time, and it drags me back to the vision I met standing in the darkest room in my father’s house. I should have known in that moment there was no escaping her. But I was young and in denial.
Dumb enough to think there would always be time when my father had promised her to Rhett.
