Tyson kicks me again. “I’m tired of the moping. What the hell got between the two of you?”
“She doesn’t want me to go to that fight next weekend. She’s pretty sure I’m going to end up dead if I go, and I know she’s going to be killed if I don’t.”
Tyson gets his own snack out of the machine. “You know the family she has backing her. You could go with her and leave this end of the shit behind. You know Noah is unstable at best, and it’s only gotten worse over the last couple of months.”
“You should watch what you say.”
Tyson gestures to the otherwise empty gym. “There’s nobody here to listen, and I know you do a sweep for any bugs when you get here. You’re paranoid, and you’re going to go as batshit insane as Noah if you keep it up.”
“I didn’t come here for a lecture.”
“Sure, but you came here for something, and it doesn’t seem like you’re getting it. So, maybe you should go see Jade and tell her that you’re ready to be done with this shit and want her family to help you. They just might be willing to do it if you ask nice enough.”
“I’m not going to go running to the Lyndes to solve my problem. Do you know how weak that makes us look?”
“Us?” Tyson gestures to the gym as if there’s an army of Rinaldos standing in front of us. “There is no us. There’s only Noah and his group of expendables. And you know he’s going to kill you the moment you stop being useful to him. On top of that, he’s now got something to keep you under his control more than he already did.”
“No. If I do this for him, then Jade is going to be safe. She can stay out of this, and I don’t have to worry about her at all.”
“You can’t believe that.”
“I don’t.”
There’s no way that this ends with this one fight. Noah is going to dangle Jade’s life over my head until I die. He’s going to make sure I know he has someone to control me with. He knows my loyalty is waning.
“Fine. I’ll go speak with Jade, but I doubt it’s going to go over well.”
“Don’t make it sound like you’re doing this for me. You want to go see her, but you’re too scared of someone caring for you that you feel like you need permission to go see her.” Tyson finishes his chocolate bar and grabs his crutches.
I flip him off before grabbing my things and heading out of the gym.
He might be right, but that doesn’t mean things are going to change between me and Jade.
She’s still mad at me, and I still don’t know if I can give her what she wants.
Jade looksat me as I open the door. It’s like she’s seeing a ghost. Or perhaps she wishes she was.
It’s not the look of excitement I hoped for, but more one of quiet resignation, like she knows I’m not going to leave until I say what I have to.
Though, what I have to say, I still don’t know.
She brushes by me into our apartment. “Look, I only came here to get the rest of my things, and then I’m going to leave. And I don’t want you to try and stop me, not that I think you will because that means you’d have to want this to work out between the two of us.”
I swallow hard, fighting past the words I know I should say, but they’re not the ones she wants to hear. And if they’re not the ones she wants to hear, then I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.
Jade looks over her shoulder for just a moment before continuing down the hall. She doesn’t say another word.
If I want her, and I do, so much, I know I’m going to have to fight for her. Fight for myself. For the future and all the things I’ve been thinking about with her.
But how am I supposed to fight when no matter what I do, someone is going to die?
I follow her into the bedroom, pushing open the door wider and leaning against the wall. “Can we talk? I was going to come see you, but I wanted to get cleaned up first.”
She looks at my damp hair before stepping into the closet and pulling out some clothes. “Talk, then.”
I didn’t think she was going to let me get this far. I didn’t know what I was going to say to her first, or where I should start in trying to figure this out.
Jade whips around with an armful of clothing. “If you really don’t have anything to say, then do you mind leaving me alone so I can pack?”
