The First Last Boy(35)

The crowd cheered.

"C'mon, Ryan! Slide him to right," Juvante called out.

A girl in the group yelled, "Take that jab!"

Someone else said, "Get away from the column!"

We wove our way back toward each other and I landed a one-two at Bobby's  jaw. He wrapped his arms around my sides. The referred rushed forward.  "Break clean, break clean," he yelled.

We broke and Bobby launched himself at me. I hit him with another series  of jabs one after another and he staggered, dropping to one knee. The  people who'd bet on him screamed his name, telling him to get his ass  up. Bobby rose and shook his head, trying to clear away the sting.

I blocked out the sound of the crowd and focused on taking Bobby out of  the fight. The third time he dropped and tried to stand back up, he kept  staggering and falling. The referee waved his hands, indicating that  I'd won, and the crowd erupted with cheers before they surged forward,  slapping me on the back.

I pushed forward and extended my hand to Bobby. He was leaning on  another guy for help walking out but gave me a lopsided grin and shook  my hand. Juvante and another guy started divvying up money, then we all  headed our separate ways.

"Your take." Juvante laughed as he handed me the cash. I folded it and  shoved it in my pocket. "Man, I need to forget about the Marines and  manage fights. Can you imagine what we'd clear if you could do a few  fights a day?"

Once in the car, I leaned back in the seat. After the adrenaline rush  left and the fight high wore off, it always left me feeling sluggish for  a little while. "You stick with the Marines. There's no future in the  fights."

"Yeah, uh huh. You mean there's no future with Tana in it."

"Don't start. One week, that's all I can do this and then I'm with Chanos."

Juvante thought for a second. "I don't mean to sound like a girl, but  I'm worried about you going back in this time. Got a bad feeling that  you won't make it out alive."         

     



 





Chapter Twenty-Three

TANA



At two o'clock in the afternoon, Mom opened her eyes. My world, the one  that had gone dark the day my mom had been shot suddenly filled with  light. I'd wept until my makeup was a smeared mess and I had no more  tears left. For half an hour, we'd been able to sit and talk to her.  Though she'd been groggy and a little slow to respond, she'd known who  we were and had been able to follow the conversation. If all went well  and he saw improvement, the doctor had said she should be able to come  home possibly in a week.

On the way home, Mark and I celebrated by stopping for milkshakes and  fries. He was still talking about all the things he wanted to tell Mom  as I pulled the Charger into the driveway behind Brooklyn's car.

"Hey! Want some fries?" Digging my house key out of my purse, I noticed  Brooklyn wasn't smiling, though she was trying hard to put one on. I  pushed open the front door and Mark barreled through. "I'll be right  in," I said, then turned to Brooklyn. "What's wrong?"

"It's about Ryan."

I grabbed her arm. "Oh my God. He was going to fight. Did something  happen to him? Is he hurt?" My heart pounded. I started back down the  steps to the car. I had to get to him.

"Ow. No." She rubbed her arm. "I don't know if I should even tell you  this and I don't even know if it's true. My brother heard something."

A premonition welled up inside of me. I didn't want to know but I had to know. "Tell me."

"Gabe said that your mom's shooting...she wasn't the target. You were."

Someone had wanted to kill me? My legs couldn't hold me up any longer. I  sank onto the top step and clutched my purse to my chest like a shield.  "But who'd want to shoot me?"

"Chanos."

"Chanos? I only saw him at the garage. Ryan knows the guy, but why would he want to shoot me?"

"Rumor is that the shooting was retaliation for his brothers taking his drugs."

Fear raced up and down my spine like a mouse running from a cat. "Your  brother has to be mistaken. Ryan would have told me. He wouldn't have  kept something like this from me." The minute I said the words, I knew  that I was wrong. "I have to go see him. I need him to look me in the  eye and tell me that he didn't know the person who did this." I put my  hand up to my trembling lips.

"I'm sorry, Tana."

"Could you stay with Mark?"

"No problem."

I jumped back into the Charger and took off, barely able to see through  the tears, barely able to breathe. Please, let it be a mistake. Please  don't let Ryan have known and kept it from me. Please.







RYAN



Abraham hadn't said two words to me since I'd walked in this morning  after he'd seen my scraped knuckles. Finally, when I couldn't take the  silence any longer, I threw down the rag and walked away from the Taurus  I'd been working on. Pushing open the door of his office, I said, "Go  ahead and say it."

Swiveling around in his chair, he stared through the window across the  parking lot for a second. I knew he'd talk once he gathered his  thoughts, so I waited. He turned back to face me and his dark eyes  searched my face before he said softly, "I don't have anything to say.  Is there something you want to say to me?"

"I'm only doing them for a week." I rubbed the back of my knuckles. "And  it's not that I wanted to do it. Tana used her college money to pay the  hospital. I can't let her give up college. It's her dream."

Abraham blinked. "I wasn't asking about the fighting."

"Well, then what?"

He leaned back. "Your friend Chanos came to see me after you left yesterday."

My face tightened. "He's not my friend."

"He sure talked like he was. Telling me that I didn't have to worry  about security, that his crew was going to make sure the garage was off  limits."

Shit.

He rose and hit my arm with the back of his hand. "SB. Southtown Brothers. That's him, too?"

I nodded.

"I thought so." His eyes sparked with what looked like disappointment. "You said you were out."

"I was."

"Are you back in?"

"Not yet."

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "When?"

"Saturday."

"You're making a mistake."

"No. This is me paying for past mistakes so Chanos won't hurt...forget  it." I swallowed hard and began unzipping my overalls. "I understand.  You don't want me around."         

     



 

"You take those overalls off, son, and you're fired."

I stopped. "You're not firing me?"

"For what? Being part of something you don't want to be a part of? Do  you think you're the only man who ever crossed a line to protect someone  he loved?" He looked out through the open garage doors at the sound of a  car pulling up in front of the garage.

I'd know that engine anywhere. I walked out into the bay in time to see  Tana climb from the Charger. A tearful Tana. She slammed the door behind  her and crossed her arms giving me the hardest look she'd ever given  me. "Brooklyn told me something but I'm asking you to tell me the rumors  are lies. Please tell me that you didn't know who was behind my  mother's shooting."

I started toward her, knowing the end of us was here, knowing I had to let her go but I hadn't thought it would come this soon.

She backed away with her hand up. "Stop. Answer me. Do you know who shot my mother?"

"I have a pretty good idea."

"Did you know before they shot her that it was going to happen?"

"What?"

"Did you?"

I could feel the burn spread through my body that she would think that  way. Folding my arms across my chest, I stared at her, letting her think  what she wanted.

"You knew things about my mother getting hurt that you didn't share. You  probably didn't tell the detectives working on the case either."

"They never would have pinned it on him."

"And you know this because of your days on the street, right? Good old,  Ryan. Keeping everyone at arm's length. You should have told me. How am I  supposed to ever trust you again?"

I'd known the break between us had to happen but I hadn't expected to  feel like I was being ripped in two. "What do you want me to say, Tana?"

"You knew about it." She said it like she was in shock, then captured a  strand of hair and put it behind her ear. Her T-shirt raised a little  and I could see the mark where my lips had been on her abdomen. "You  have so many secrets, Ryan. I don't think I can handle knowing that you  kept information about my mom's shooting from me." I let her work though  it in her mind for a few minutes, then she demanded, "I need some  answers about everything from what happened with my mom to why you're  fighting for money."

I debated for half a second then decided to at least give her this so  that maybe someday she would realize that it wasn't that I hadn't cared.  I didn't ever want her to think she wasn't enough. "It's for your  college tuition."