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“Come on, B. You more than anyone should get it.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“So is a ton of other stuff. But sometimes, I need it.” I needed the release. The pain and distraction.
She was quiet for a long time. “Is that where the bruises came from? Or was that…”
“My old man?”
“Yeah,” she breathed.
“I got my ass handed to me by some meathead the other week. I’m only going to train tonight.”
“Good.”
“Worried about me, Birdie?”
“Always.”
My heart thumped against my rib cage. “Why can’t you sneak out to meet me again?”
“Studying. My father… Max.”
“Yeah, okay.” My jaw clenched. “But I need my Birdie fix before the game Friday.”
“Celeste is working on it. She’s also working on my cover story for after the game…” I swear I heard a hitch in her breath. “There’s something else,” she said.
Why didn’t I like the sound of that?
“Go on.”
“Max, he uh, he wants an introduction with Bryson.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I don’t understand it either, but that’s his price. If I… well, you introduce him to Bryson, he’ll keep our secret.”
“You trust him?”
“Not even a little bit. But I didn’t know what else to do. I don’t want Michael to know about us yet. Not until we…” She trailed off and my insides twisted.
“We have a lot of shit to figure out,” I said, pausing outside Buster’s.
“Yeah. The less people who know right now, the better.”
I ignored the flash of hurt at her words, and said, “Bryson is a friend, but he’s not a good guy, B. You know that.”
The illegal fight ring wasn’t the only thing he was into.
“I know. I don’t like it either, but maybe whatever Max wants will work in our favor.”
“It’ll give you leverage over him too.” I realized. “How old is he again?”
“Sixteen.”
“Fuck.” No way Bryson would want a sixteen-year-old rich kid from across the res sniffing around. But Harleigh was right, it was better than her father.
“Tomorrow night. Bring him by and I’ll make the introduction. But, Birdie, if he screws us over…”
