“No!” Salters’ uppercut landed Lucky against the ropes. “Saw her at The Golden Wok.”
Lucky landed a punch to the solar plexus. Salters winced, raising his hands in a defensive posture. “I was picking up takeout when she and Agent Johnson came in.”
So, Lucky also owed Johnson a talking to. Lucky tuned out the “Hit him!” and “shut up and fight!” from outside the ring.
“We talked. They asked me to join them. Nothing waited for me at home but my cat, so I did.”
Lucky landed a right hook.
Salters held his ground. “Lucky, your sister is an interesting woman.”
Not letting up.Left, right, left.“Fuck!” An uppercut came way too close to Lucky’s face. “Watch it! No mouthguard.” Lucky wheezed. He’d gotten too old for this shit five years ago.
Or longer. Next month he’d hit forty. He ducked a whole lot slower than he used to.
Salters delivered a solid hit to Lucky’s shoulder. “We talked nursing, your father’s surgery, what we could about mine and Loretta’s jobs, and I offered to help her study.” Asshat wasn’t even winded.
Lucky punched—hard.
Salters spun out of the way. “We became friends. She told me she was pregnant. She wasn’t showing yet.”
Which earned a “Whoo!” from the audience and a, “What’d he do? Knock up your sister?” Someone high-fived the bastard who really should’ve kept his mouth shut.
“I was disappointed that she had someone else, but that didn’t stop us being friends.”Jab, jab.Salters forced Lucky back. “I wondered about the father, but she and Loretta were tightlipped, and you never mentioned having a nephew or niece on the way, so I figured maybe it wasn’t a good relationship.”
“I didn’t say nothing because it was none of your business.” Lucky swiped the back of his arm across his face, wiping away sweat the best he could with a helmet and gloves on.
Salters ignored the verbal jab and ducked Lucky’s fist. “I told her she could talk to me about anything.” Almost without looking, he landed a solid right to Lucky’s pec.
Ow! “Motherfuck!” Lucky stepped back. That hurt! “Why didn’t you leave her alone if you thought she was involved?”
“Agent Harri… Lucky. We were—are—friends. It took her a while to trust me enough to tell about the baby’s father. Or should I say, fathers. She needs me.” They clenched in the middle of the ring.
“She has us,” Lucky snarled.
Salters lowered his voice, pulling Lucky’s head closer. “And me.”
“What’re they doing? Kissing?” came from outside the ring.
Lucky shot a deserving asshole a go-to-hell glare, bringing his attention back where it belonged. “She had a bad relationship.”
“She has a good one now. I’m not like her boys’ father.” Salters shoved Lucky away.
Lucky stopped. “She told you? She doesn’t talk about that.”
“She did to me.” Salters ran a hand over his helmet. “Look, Lucky, I have no intention of hurting your sister—or anyone else. We’re friends. Good friends, starting to be more, but right now she’s focusing on the baby and her classes.”
What. The. Fuck. “You’re okay with that?”
Footwork put Salters out of Lucky’s reach. “I want her in my life. Lucky, she’s beautiful, smart, funny, and can shoot the balls off a gnat.”
Lucky gave a one-two punch. “Are you saying your balls aren’t any bigger than that?” Damn, but he was tired. He lifted one leaden arm to deliver little more than a love tap.
As before, Salters ignored Lucky’s words. “We like the same music, same restaurants, same movies. I watched her when you and your father were in the hospital, how she cared for her family, how she cared for you. I think I was a little in love with her even back then.”
Another bad part of having Salters posing as a nurse when Lucky gave his dad a piece of his liver. Well, technically, Salterswasa nurse, turned SNB agent.
Lucky found himself in a clench again. Salters got up in his face to say, “Then, to find out what she’s doing for you and Bo? How many people would do that? I am in awe of this woman.”
