Page 73 of Unbreakable Thread

I tap my fingers against the steering wheel, watching his front door for movement.

My chest tightens like someone’s wringing out my lungs—Leo’s face—God. One eye is swollen completely shut and bruised. He is walking like he is trying not to breathe too deeply on one side. When he smiles at me, his split lip cracks open again, and he doesn’t even flinch. I have to grip the car door.

“What the hell happened?”

Each step he takes toward me comes with a wince, and his shoulders hunch forward as if bracing against invisible blows. Gently, I lay a hand on his shoulder.

“Why did you do that?” I frown. “Why did you fight?”

He sighs. “You’re going to hate me.”

“No, you’re talking nonsense. I could never. Come on, get in the car.”

On the way to the OB-GYN, Leo explains that he had wanted to fight on a whim and, after the first fight, realized he had made the wrong decision. I’m so close to rear-ending the car in front of me when he says Max fought his second fight.

“Jeez, you almost killed us,” Leo grumbles.

I grumble right back, adding an eye roll. “So, is Max okay? Is he hurt?” I ask at the stoplight.

“Yes. His pretty little face is just fine. Although his knuckles are in bad shape.”

My chest expands with a large exhale. I was so worried when I got home last night. I took a hot shower and tried to read a book, but my mind kept drifting to the guys. Then Lana called to check up on me. She had left when she saw me walk in the opposite direction. When I told her I had broken the windows, she burst out laughing, then insisted on checking whether I had glass on me, but I told her I was fine. And thank God the cops didn’t show up. How embarrassing if they had.

Jealousy can make you do crazy shit. I know it’s a stupid move.

“I’m glad it all went well.”

From the corner of my eye, Leo tenses up. “Umm, something happened.”

I speed down the parking lot, tires screeching against the asphalt as I veer between two yellow lines. The car lurches forward when I slam on the brakes, my knuckles white against the steering wheel as I kill the engine in a vacant spot near the back entrance.

“What happened?” My heart is racing wildly.

He tells me word for word, and I have a need to shake him. I lift a hand when he’s about to say something. I need a moment—a moment to pray. Max can’t get involved again. The last time, they had him fight two guys in the ring. Daniel will take advantage, and who knows what can happen in a year? It’s dangerous.

“Maybe there’s another way?” I suggest, although I know there isn’t.

“I don’t think there is. I just don’t know how it will work out fighting for the Underground and WBC. If the WBC finds out, he will be disqualified. Illegal fights are not permitted.”

I check in at the front desk, then wait to be called. My mind is still on the fights Max now has to take at the warehouse to help Leo. He’s always been a kind and unselfish person. He’s risking everything he’s dreamed of to help a young man who he sees as a brother. As much as I hate the idea of Max fighting at the warehouse, I know he’s doing it for a good reason. I just wish there were another way. I grin when a mother walks in with her newborn. My heart melts at the precious baby. I can’t wait until I get to hold mine.

A couple of kids stare at Leo’s face in horror. I probably should have left him at home to rest. He elbows my side gently. “Can we talk about the smashed windows?”

I groan. Of course, he has to mention it. “He didn’t tell you why?”

His brows connect. “No, he was too busy scolding me. He said something about Annette…and you being jealous.”

The asshole is enjoying this, isn’t he? Like Max is not a jealous man. “I was having dinner, and I saw him and Annette. I was angry that, of all people, he would be with her. It felt like a slap to the face. After smashing his windows, he said Carlos had set up dinner plans and didn’t show.” I laugh. “It doesn’t surprise me. It’s like the pieces are starting to fall into place.” Besides being worried about Max and Leo, I kept thinking of everything Carlos had told me and what Max had mentioned. Carlos had obviously set them up. What makes Annette so much better than others? Is it because she’s athletic? Is it the fame they would have if they were a couple? I don’t understand.

“What do you mean?” Leo cocks his head. “What pieces?”

I’d said more than I should have. I wave a hand at him. “Ahh, nothing.”

Leo leans closer as more patients file into the waiting room. “Nuh, uh, uh. You have to tell me now,” he whispers. “What did Carlos tell you?”

I look down at my hands in my lap. The waiting room hums around us. The soft flip of magazine pages, a toddler murmuring to a stuffed animal two chairs down, the receptionist’s keyboard clicking in a steady rhythm.

His name has been living there for months. Carlos. Every time I thought I was getting somewhere—therapy, school, the baby giving me something to hold on to. His evil voice would find me. You’re his trigger. You’re holding him back. If you love him, let him go. I carry those words like scripture. Built my whole decision around them.