Page 36 of Unbreakable Thread

Rainey must have told him. He spends a lot of his time chatting with her. “How is she?” I ask instead of answering him.

“She’s hanging in there. Umm…give her time to work things out in her head. She’ll come around. Her sister is flying in to spend time with her after everything that happened.” He grins, talking about Bethany.

Everyone has been telling me she’ll come around. What if she doesn’t?

“Keep an eye on her, will you?” Everyone else is gone. It’s just us left at the gym.

He nods, removing the gloves from his hands and tossing them into his bag. “Yeah, of course. I’m going to the house later.”

I lift one brow at him.

He laughs. “Umm, I offered to help tidy up the place for when her sister arrives.”

“When is she coming?”

“Oh, tonight, late. I’m going to drive her.”

Thank god. I’m thinking of asking her if she would be okay if Johnny drives her around. When she plays music in the car, it’s like she forgets there are cars around her. She dances and sings her heart out.

“All right. Get her home safe.” I take out my wallet and give him a hundred-dollar bill. “Get her something to eat. Yeah? And don’t tell her I gave you money.”

He exhales, and it looks like he’s about to bawl his eyes out. “Okay. I better go then.” Leo pats my back. “See ya.”

He’s walking toward the door when I shout, “Leonardo.”

“Yeah?”

“You fall in love with her, I’ll fuck you up!” I joke. Kind of.

He smiles, a hint of arrogance glimmering in his eyes. “I like the sister, and besides, I’m not looking to fall in love with anyone. I’m just looking for a good time.”

When he disappears into the parking lot, I swing my bag over my shoulder.

“Cabrón. I love the guy, but he’s a bigmouth.” Xander pops gum in his mouth and swings his gym bag over his shoulder. “I’m sorry about you and Rainey. I know you don’t want to hear that things will get better, but they will. After everything you’ve been through, I’m sure you’ll end up working it out.”

“Hope so.”

We walk to our cars. A light breeze hits. “Do you want to get something to eat?” Xander juts his head to the restaurant across from the gym. “They make great milanesa. It’s one of my sister’s favorites.” Before I can ask him about his sister, he shuts it down.

Xander and I toss our overstuffed duffel bags into the trunk of our own cars. We drive across the cracked asphalt to the lit-up restaurant. I’ve been here a few times with Leo and once with Rainey, when she ordered the hot, red enchiladas. She couldn’t stop talking about it for days. I’ve only had their street tacos, double-wrapped in a homemade corn tortilla, topped with all their garnishes. They were amazing.

My raw knuckles fucking throb with each heartbeat, the deep cuts along the ridge of bone pulsing hot and angry when I release my grip from the steering wheel. Rainey always likes to attend to my injuries, her cool fingers working antiseptic into the wounds with gentleness.

My heart aches at the thought of not having her close to me. I built a security company to find her, only to lose her again. And somehow, she still slipped away. It has taken everything in me not to look at her security cameras at her work and the ones outside Rainey’s home. I wouldn’t be surprised if she changes companies. My phone buzzes. A voicemail from the police department—an update on my pop's missing person report. He might be a dick, but he’s still my blood. It’s not like him to leave this long. There was a part of me that dreamed he’d be watching my fight.

It’s been two weeks since I had dinner with Xander. It was nice to keep my mind busy. He opened up more about his family than I expected. Unlike me, he’s very close to his dad, and that’s good to hear. Throughout the week, I’ve been exhausting myself from sunrise to sundown. Going for my morning runs before heading to work, dealing with my promoter and whatever social media nonsense Henry has lined up, then the gym. I’m so tired I crash out. This helps me avoid taking Rainey captive and tying her to our bed. It’s crossed my mind.

I’ve asked Leo how she’s doing every day. He says she’s okay, that she masks the pain in her eyes. He also said she is enrolling at the university, which is great for her. I want her to live her dream, not her mom’s. She can honor her memory by living her dream.

It’s been fourteen days without seeing her face. I click and unclick her name on my server. I wanted to give her space and her privacy. But you know what? Fuck that.

I navigate to the security panel, enter the access code, and the monitor displays a grid of surveillance feeds from around the café. I scan each thumbnail methodically until they catch on her figure, hunched at her desk in her office. With one more click, her image fills my screen. My heart thunders in my chest. Goddamn, she’s beautiful. I wish this were in color so I can see the brown in her eyes and the pink of her soft lips. She needs to upgrade her cameras with color and sound. Bethany walks in with coffee and a plate of cookies — polvorones, Rainey’s favorite lately. She licks her lips, and damn, I wish I were there to lick them for her. I zoom in on her computer and notice the email she’s looking at is for the college she enrolled in. I can’t make out a lot of the words, but something about making a payment. I click out and make some phone calls.

“Max Cano!” a woman shouts from across the burger place I’m at.

I don’t recognize the voice, but I look anyway.

She sprints toward me, a guy following behind her. “Oh. My. Gosh. It is you.”