Page 9 of Unbreakable Thread

“Call me Debbie or Deb, sweetness. This man has had manners since he was a little boy. No matter how many times I’ve told him to call me Debbie, he doesn’t.” She laughs, and I shrug.

It felt wrong to call her by her first name only, knowing her for so long. She reaches for Rainey, fingers closing around her wrist, and pulls her toward the cardboard box where plastic bags fill with groceries. Silver-streaked hair catches the wind, lifting away from her shoulders as she favors her good leg with each step.

“Hi.” A young boy pulls on my shirt. “You have big arms,” he says, looking to be about seven or eight.

“Thanks,” I tell him, giving his arms a slight squeeze. “It seems you work out, too. How much do you bench press?” I tease.

His brown eyes squint. “Umm. I think forty-five, sometimes fifty.”

I whistle. “Forty-five? Dang. That’s impressive for a small guy like you.” I hand him a bag. “Who are you here with? You’re too small to wander off alone.”

He points to the car parked on the side of the street. “My mom is with me. She’s waiting in the car. She lost her job last week, can’t find another one, and we don’t have much food left. My mom’s boyfriend left her.” He shoves his hands into his pockets, rocking on his heels.

“Okay, little guy, let me see how I can help.”

After discussing with Rainey how we could assist her in finding employment, we proposed offering her a position cleaning at the café, my surveillance company, and Carlos’s boxing gym. It overwhelmed the woman with excitement; she hugged Rainey. We spent about two hours helping while Rainey assisted Mrs. Debbie. I checked the place to see what needed fixing, then left two grand in her office.

Rainey’s gaze fixes on something beyond the window as we back out of the driveway. “I told them I could set aside whatever food was left over at closing time. For the kids.” Her eyelids squeeze shut with familiar tension—the telltale sign that she’s being pulled back into her past.

“That’s a good way of saving food… What is it?”

A tear threatens to fall before she catches it and clears her throat. “I’m fine…just a little emotional.”

“About what?”

“The kids… It breaks my heart.”

This is part of the reason, but I know there is more. The way she keeps closing her eyes, like she’s trying to hold something back. It’s the past bleeding into the present. Something older than the kids. Something she hasn’t named yet, maybe not even to herself. A pain that doesn’t come from today.

“Do you want to talk about it? What else is it?”

She waves her hand in the air. “Nothing, I’m fine.”

I stay quiet and drive back to our house. As much as I want her to be open with me, I can’t force her. I’ve been through a hell of a lot where I was so closed off that there were only certain people who could get me to talk. Even then, I couldn’t tell Rainey the truth that we had met in an emotional, heartbreaking way.

“We should go to Carlos’s gym,” she suggests.

My fight is exactly fourteen days from now. Carlos is livid about my lack of training. I can’t summon the strength to care—all I can think about is her—to be close to Rainey. “I’ll work out at my place at the pool house while you swim.” It’s not the same. I need someone to spar with.

“Good. I want you to be ready for this fight you have been preparing for. It seems like a lifetime ago when you were sitting on the balcony porch watching a boxing match, dreaming of one day it would be you.”

I laugh just thinking about that night when she crunched so loudly I couldn’t hear, which led to an argument. “You’re right, tesoro. I’ve been waiting a lifetime for this moment. To have you by my side.” That’s my truth. I’ve been waiting for her to be by my side since the day I went professional. She has always been my reason and will always be the star I reach for. I knew right there and then, when I stared into Sol’s eyes, she would be the person I wanted to fight for, to battle beside in this shitty world. But now, staring at the woman who’s captured my heart completely, I see only fortress walls rising between us, mortared so thick and towering so high that I fear I’ll never find my way inside. The harder I climb, the thicker and taller the walls she’s built. My greatest fear is losing her once again.

The doors to my pool house stand wide open. My fist connects with the leather, sending the bag swinging. I’m mid-combination when she surfaces. I hold the bag still. Just for a second as the water runs off her shoulders. Her emerald swimsuit catches the sunlight when she turns. Then I remember what I’m supposed to be doing. I shift my stance, throw two quick punches, angling for a better view instead of focusing on my form. She steps out of the pool, shaking out the water in her hair, and Daisy sunbathes on a chair.

Throwing another punch, I ignore the blood rushing in my shorts. Rainey bends to get her towel, and the bikini bottom rides higher. Her ass is in perfect display, and all I can think about is having her bent while I…

Nope. Cut that shit out, Max. She’s going through so much. The last thing she needs is for me to screw her all over the house.

Cálmate, estúpido. Calm down, stupid.

I turn, giving her my back, and continue hitting for another twenty minutes. Sweat trickles down my face. I take off my glove to grab a clean towel. My phone has been ringing for the last thirty minutes.

“Hello.”

“Are you alive?”

“Carlos—”