Xavier Cold (Hard Knocks #2) (10 page)

Our love—it’s unbreakable.

T
here’s not much shelter from the brutal Detroit winter under a freeway bridge, but it’s the best place I can find to sleep without being harassed by the cops all night long.

It’s been a month since I packed all my shit into one tiny bag and split from Grandmother’s house. The beatings were becoming too severe, and if I stayed, I would’ve ended up really hurting the old lady—or worse, killing her. At fifteen, I’m already twice her size, so all it would’ve taken was me losing my head and hitting her back harder than I’d meant to, and my ass would’ve been locked up.

So, I decided taking my chances out here on the streets is a much better option.

Footsteps crunch along the gravel, and I pull the only blanket I own around me even tighter to keep the person from trying to snatch it from me. I really don’t feel like fighting over this thing again tonight.

The steps grow closer, and a flashlight shines right in my face, blinding me. I hold my hand up to shield my eyes as I squint.

“What do you want?” I ask in the roughest voice possible to try to scare whoever it is.

“Holy shit! Xavier? Is that you?” A voice that sounds vaguely familiar sounds excited to discover he actually knows who I am.

Still doesn’t mean I trust them.

“Yeah. What of it?”

“Damn, man, I thought you were dead. It’s me—Cole,” the voice says.

But I still can’t see the person because of the light.

“Cole?”

“Yeah. Oh, shit. Sorry.”

He cuts the flashlight off, and soon, my eyes adjust back to the darkness.

Standing there is Cole Parker, a scrawny black kid with braids who used to sit with me at lunch from time to time. Beside him is Malakai Johnson, mostly known as Kai around the neighborhood. Kai and Cole are both in my grade, but Kai is a well-known troublemaker who runs with a local gang, and Cole is more laid-back. I never even knew the two of them were friends.

“What the hell are you guys doing here?” I ask, my voice groggy. “Don’t you two have someplace to be?”

I don’t want them here. I don’t want them asking any questions about how I ended up here. That’s something I don’t want to discuss with anybody.

Kai shrugs. “Home? What home? If you call that shithole foster house where I live a home, then you can fucking keep it. If there wasn’t already a rap sheet a mile long attached to my name—shit, man—I’d be right out here, next to you.”

I nod but then direct my attention back to Cole.

“I have a pretty good home, but I’m a rebel, and I like to break the rules.”

Kai shoves Cole’s shoulder. “You’re trippin’. You’re spoiled.”

Cole doesn’t argue. He only laughs in response. He shoves his hands deep into his front pockets. “You really don’t have any other place to go?”

I frown and shake my head. “No.”

“Is your family searching for you?”

“Definitely not.” I sigh. “The only person I’ve got is me.”

Cole whips his head in Kai’s direction and says, “You should take him to Bishop.”

Kai raises his dark eyebrows but turns his attention to me. “Slingin’ ain’t for everybody, but I know a guy who is looking to expand his crew. Once you’re in, you won’t be sleeping under bridges anymore.”

I glance up at the concrete pillars holding up the freeway where cars have been zooming over me all night long. While selling dope has never been on the top of my priority list, a warm place to stay is something I would be willing to sell my soul for right now.

“I’m in. How soon can I meet this Bishop guy?”

“Shit. I can take you to him right now,” Kai says with a smile. “Bishop is my older cousin.”

I shove myself up from the ground, and my cold, stiff legs take a minute to stretch out. Once the blood is flowing through them and I feel like I can walk without falling over, I stuff my blanket into my backpack. “Let’s go.”

I might be jumping into fire, but at this point, I really don’t give a fuck.

My eyes snap open, and I gasp. It takes a moment for me to figure out that it was just a dream because it’d felt so real. While reliving one of the lowest points in my life wasn’t exactly a nightmare, it’s not something I like to dream about.

I
haven’t dreamed about that night in so long, and I have no idea what brought it on tonight, but I’ll take those dreams over the nightmares any day.

Anna’s head is resting on my shoulder as she lies on top of me on the floor of the living room. There wasn’t anywhere I could bear to sleep in this place but in the spot in the corner where I always slept when I was a kid.

She stirs and lifts her head. “You all right?”

My hand strokes her hair. “Yeah, I’m good. Go back to sleep.”

Anna’s breathing evens out, and I fight the urge to hop up and begin doing push-ups to stop myself from thinking about the times that haunt me.

I
stand outside Quinn’s car, hesitant to leave Xavier alone. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me? Designing a wedding invitation shouldn’t take too long.”

“That’s totally a chick thing. Go have fun,” he says.

“What are you going to do all afternoon?” There’s no way I can hide the worry in my voice.

Xavier slides his index finger under my chin. “No frowning. I’ll be fine. Besides, I’m going to go check out Cole’s gym.”

I smile and poke at his chiseled abs beneath his tight T-shirt. “Don’t want these to get all soft, huh?”

A wicked grin spreads across his face. “Hell no. My girl seems to like them, so I need to keep her happy.”

I bite my lower lip. “They are pretty damn sexy, but I would love you with or without them.”

That earns me a genuine smile.

“You’d better go before I stop you from leaving.”

A familiar tingle erupts in my belly, and I can’t help myself from asking, “How would you plan on doing that?”

He leans in and presses his warm lips to the sensitive flesh below my ear. “I have my ways.”

I inhale deeply, attempting to keep my body from going into overdrive. The spiciness of his cologne mixed with a scent that is one hundred percent all Xavier flow through my senses, making my mouth water.

He pulls back, takes in my face, and then chuckles. “See?”

I shake my head at his amusement of his ability to turn me on so quickly. “On that note, I’m leaving.” I open the car door. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

He kisses me. “Be careful, beautiful. You have any problems, call me.”

“I will.”

Warmth spreads over me as I buckle in, and Quinn backs the Honda out of the driveway. I love how protective he is over me. It’s a complete turn-on, even during the times when he takes it too far and I explode at him for being so reckless. It’s a good feeling to know he cares so much about me.

“Damn, Anna.” Quinn’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts. “He’s got it so bad for you.”

My cheeks tingle as my mouth spreads into a smile. “The feeling is mutual. I can’t seem to get enough of him.”

She laughs. “And to think, it wasn’t that long ago when I had to threaten you to get a pair of lady nuggets when it came to X.”

“I can’t believe it was ever so hard to come out with how I really felt about him.”

She shrugs. “You didn’t want to get hurt. On top of that, you’d never been around someone like Xavier. Uncle Simon made sure to keep guys like that far away from you.”

I tense at the mention of Father’s name, and while I don’t agree with how he treated me or the way my family back home expected me to live my life, I do miss them.

“Has Aunt Dee heard from Father?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s been on the receiving end of his wrath ever since he came to Atlanta. He’s so pissed at X. He blames X for your rebellion and not coming back home.”

“That’s absurd. Xavier isn’t the only reason I don’t plan on going back.”

She nods as she stops at a red light. “I know that, but you know Uncle Simon needs someone to blame for why you aren’t going back home.”

“Nothing is ever his fault. He doesn’t see a thing wrong with how he treated me. I mean, who in their right mind tries to force their daughter into marrying a man she doesn’t love just because it fits their plan for how they want the world to perceive their family?”

She presses on the gas pedal, and the car moves again. “The whole Jorge thing was completely fucked up. It never seemed like you ever really liked him.”

The relationship I had with Jorge is nothing like the one I have with Xavier. Jorge felt more like a friend, someone I enjoyed being around. I didn’t long for him with every inch of my being when I was away from him. It’s the complete opposite of how I feel about Xavier. When I’m not with him, he’s always on my mind. They’re two totally different feelings.

“I don’t think I ever loved Jorge—at least, not in the way you should love the person you’re going to marry. Being with Xavier has opened up my eyes to a lot of things.”

Quinn giggles and then suggestively wiggles her eyebrows. “I bet. That man is sex on a stick. I can only imagine what he’s like in the bedroom. He’s probably all primal and demanding.”

I nudge her arm. “Quinn! Oh my God, I can’t believe you just said that.”

“What? It’s true, isn’t it?”

Heat creeps up my neck and then spreads into my cheeks. I know I’m blushing something fierce.

Quinn flicks her eyes in my direction before she squeals. “I knew it. I knew having sex with a known bad boy would change everything for you.”

“It’s changed
everything
,” I say. “Being with him, I feel things I didn’t know was possible. He’s so intense and a bit scary sometimes, but I find comfort in him. I feel like he could protect me from the world.”

Visions of what happened last night flash through my head. I want to tell Quinn about Kai and the whole situation, but she’s already worried. If I tell her, knowing her, she wouldn’t take me back to Xavier. She’d demand I stay with her and Aunt Dee, which wouldn’t be a possibility for me because Xavier wouldn’t stay there, and I couldn’t be without him. So, I keep it to myself.

I need a change of subject, so I don’t rattle on too much and let things slip. “So, this wedding . . . do you have your colors picked out?”

Quinn instantly begins firing out all the things she’s planning to do. It’s nice to see her so excited and, above all else, happy.

I
park my bike on the sidewalk outside of Tough’s Gym. The three-story brick building towers over me, and aside from appearing even more run-down than the last time I saw it, it looks exactly the same—rough.

No one would ever figure a world-class wrestling training facility rested behind these walls. Some of the finest athletes who have ever trained to be in the ring came from this gym, including me. This place taught me that hard work and discipline combined with strength could get you far in this business. I owe Cole’s father a world of thanks for allowing me to train here practically for free.

I swing my leg off my bike and adjust the waistband of my sweatpants. I stand outside the front door, staring up at the place where I used to spend every waking hour when I was a kid, wondering what it’s going to be like inside.

I take a deep breath and push open the door.

The stairwell is dark, dingy, and covered in tattered posters of wrestlers who went pro. I smile when I get to the top landing and spot a fairly new poster of me hanging beside the door.

“You know that ugly motherfucker?”

I turn and find Cole sitting just down the hall in a single chair with a cell phone in his hands. He pops up from the chair and walks in my direction, wearing a huge smile.

I clasp my hand in his and then nod to the poster. “Yeah, I might’ve seen this guy a time or two.”

He laughs. “It’s good to see you, X.”

“You, too. I see you’ve cleaned up a bit.” I nod to the fade on the top of his head that’s replaced the braids he used to wear.

“Can’t say the same for you. What’s up with all this long hair? I thought you weren’t going to do that.”

I push my hair back from my face. “I know, but once I started growing it, I liked it.”

Cole smiles. “I can hear Dad now, saying,
I told you to grow your hair out
.”

We both laugh, remembering all the times his dad would get on my case about my nearly bald scalp.

“He was right. It does add dramatics to the ring and exaggerates movements,” I admit.

“He was known to be right from time to time. Come on in. Check out what I’ve done to the place.”

Cole opens the door, and I follow him through.

Fresh gray paint covers the walls and the old wooden floor, causing the red on the ring ropes and punching bags to pop. A few guys are here training, but none of them notice me because they are so fixated on what they’re doing.

“Wow,” I say as I throw my hands on my hips and continue to look around. “You’ve cleaned this place up.”

“It’s amazing what a little paint and scrubbing will do. Dad never had time for all that. He was too focused on training.”

I turn to my friend, and I see pride in his eyes. “You did good. Frank would’ve been real proud.”