He closed his eyes. He had known this would happen, that he would see Ada again. It was inevitable.
When he opened them and drank her in, however, he realized that what he hadn’t known was just how much it would hurt.
“Good evening, ladies,” Tommy said, welcoming them to the table. “Have a seat.”
Jonny kept his gaze averted from Ada, giving them all a curt nod in greeting.
He could feel Emmaline scrutinizing him, but he refused to give any of them something to comment upon.
“Tough game,” Emmaline said, and Tommy sighed.
“Wasn’t our best,” he said. “But at least it wasn’t a game that meant something to the FA Cup competition.”
“Which we are grateful for,” she said, and Jonny knew her attention was still directed at him. “Especially when I have to live with Rhys.”
They all laughed at that, and Jonny knew that as much as he wanted to stay and drink himself to oblivion, he couldn’t sit here and pretend all was well with Ada sitting across from him.
“I have to go,” he said gruffly. “Goodnight.”
Not wanting to walk through a group of football admirers who sat near the front, he let himself out the back door, taking a deep breath once he hit the outside air of the alley.
When he opened his eyes, it was to find his brother standing in front of him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked Will, no anger in his words as he had now nearly given up any feeling at all.
“I’m here for you. And your woman as well.”
Jonny didn’t care much about the former, but the latter part of that sentence…
“Stay away from her, Will,” he ordered, stepping forward.
“Or else what?”
Jonny dropped his voice to a sinister level. “I’ll remind you of the skills I used back when we used to work together.”
Will looked rather stricken. Jonny had used his fists to do most of the work, but he had never hurt an innocent person. Will wasn’t innocent, but he was his brother. No matter what Jonny’s feelings toward him were, he could never hurt him. But Will didn’t know that.
“You’re going to hurt me again, Jon?”
“When did I ever do that before?” Jonny’s heart hardened at the thought that Will would have created such a narrative about him when it had never actually happened.
“Maybe when you left me to fend for myself?”
Jonny opened his mouth to retort that Will had chosen his own path, but before he could say anything, footsteps sounded from down the alley.
Will looked at him quickly, confusion reigning on his face.
“You need to go,” he said, causing Jonny’s brow to furrow.
“But Will?—”
“Jonny?” came a voice from behind him.
“Fuck,” he muttered as Ada stepped out into the alley. Of all the times to seek him out, why now?
“Get back inside, Ada,” he ordered, but it was too late. All of the men at the end of the alley had seen him – and her. He recognized a few of them. These were Sharpe’s men.
“What did you do?” he bit out toward Will.
