AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, you okay?”
I shake off my thoughts. “Yeah. Come on. Show me what you got.”
She smiles, then nods and starts for me. All smiles are gone as we square up. She’s just like Mom and doesn’t know it. I anticipate her attack because she’s going to come at me just like Mom would have. She leads with her left.
All the women in our family can fight orthodox and southpaw. We’re ambidextrous, we have no dominant side. We can do most things from either side.
Lizzy frowns when I block her, and she quickly shifts to orthodox. I’m expecting that too. I catch her with two body shots. She frowns and shakes it off.
I watch with pride when she starts to dance. I get ready because she’s about to show me who Beth’s girls are.
“Ah,” she yells as she throws a right hook that rocks my head to the side.
My ear is ringing. “Nice,” I say and shake it off and dance back.
In real life, the person fighting her isn’t going to see a baby sister, so I forget all that and take her ass to task. You can hear the force of our blows thunder though the gym over the music.
I don’t get workouts like this with the dolls. Lizzy is matching my skills and challenging me. Even as I taste the metal flavor of my blood in my mouth, I grin and fight.
“Girls, girls,” Elijah bellows right as I rock Lizzy’s head back with an uppercut. “What the hell?”
I bend over and place my hands on my knees to catch my breath. Lizzy sits up from the floor and shakes her head with a little grin. We both laugh.
“Are you two crazy? I could hear you in the laundry room. I thought a thunderstorm was starting outside. I come this way and find it’s you two punching the shit out of each other with smiles on your faces.
“I’ve fucked this up.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I knew I couldn’t raise two girls.”
“Dad, you’ve done great.” I laugh.
“Gah, come, the both of you. I have ice packs and I’ll cook dinner.” He turns and walks off, talking to himself.
I turn to Lizzy and help her up, tugging her into a hug. I hold her tight. “Now that’s my badass sister. You never give up on life. You beat its ass just like that. I love you so much,” I whisper to her.
“I love you too.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. I’m going to see this through for her. She’s the one who never got to know Mom and Dad.
I’m going to finish this. For her.
CHAPTER51
Our Singer
Jace
Gio leansforward from the back seat to slip two hundred-dollar bills into Apollo’s pocket then slaps his cheek. “Thanks, kid.”
“No problem, Gio.”
Apollo drove us home from the wedding. I didn’t drink much, but I know Gio has been planning the chance to have this talk. I figured it would happen tonight.
“Let me ask you something, Apollo. You like working for me and my family?”
“Yeah, you guys are great.”
“Good, good. How do you like working the kitchens and restaurants?”
“They’re where I got my start. They’re great places to learn too. Not just about cooking and how restaurants run. The staff talks a lot because they don’t think anyone’s listening. I hear things.”
