Read Online Fight by London Casey, Ana W. Fawkes - Free Book Online Page B

sign. ”
    “ Do
you trust him? ”
    “ Do
you? ”
    I smiled. “ I don ’ t
know. ”
    “ Yeah,
well, we ’ re going to be
seeing him tomorrow anyway. ”
    “ Oh? ”
    “ I
have to fight Harlan. ”
    I heard the words and froze for a
few seconds. “ Wait. You
have to fight Harlan? ”
    “ Yeah.
When I was there the first time, he suggested it. He wants to see me fight. I
figured it would only be fair. Plus, I haven ’ t
had a fight since …”
    I saw Tripp turn his head.
    I reached for his arm. “ Hey. What happened? ”
    He pulled away. “ Nothing. It doesn ’ t really matter. ”
    He started to move toward the door
and I scrambled to do anything to keep him near me. My brain ran fast.
    “ Beer? ” I called out.
    “ What? ”
    “ You
and me. Beer. I mean, let ’ s
get something to drink. Beer and pizza? Something to eat? It ’ s almost the end of the day
anyway, right? We can hang out, have a couple drinks, maybe talk? ”
    “ Now
you want to talk? ”
    “ If
it breaks up this tension, ” I said. “ I hate this,
Tripp. I know you don ’ t
want to be here. Neither do I. So … you can ask me anything. ”
    “ Did
you ever fuck anyone else in the MC? ” he asked, so quick and bold, as though it had been burning in his mind for a
while.
    “ No, ” I said. “ I ’ m
not that kind of person, Tripp. I haven ’ t
been with … I ’ m not that kind of person. ”
    Tripp didn ’ t make a move, didn't change his expression. “ I have one more question. ”
    “ Okay. ”
    “ Plain
or pepperoni? ”
    I smiled. “ Pepperoni works for me. ”
    And a side of you, Tripp.
     

13.
     
    (Tripp)
     
    I threw the crust into the box and
let out a groan. I was full. We sat on the floor, my back against the wall,
Winter across from me, legs bent, hugging her knees. There was a pizza and a
half gone and we were well into our second six pack.
    “ You
can ’ t waste the crust, ” she said.
    “ Like
fuck I can ’ t, ” I said.
    “ You
must have grown up with parents and money. ”
    “ You
grew up on the street? ”
    “ Close
enough. ”
    I took a swig of beer. Seven in and
my mind was well beyond thinking logical. The most important thing was that I
knew where the gun was. Just in case anything happened.
    “ Tell
me about it, ” I said. “ You want to be an open book
tonight, right? ”
    “ Yeah,
right, ” Winter said. “ I don ’ t know. My father was the one who tried to raise
me. My mother left long before I could remember her. At one point my father
tried to convince me she was dead because I guess it ’ s easier to believe a parent is dead rather than
believe that they just abandoned you. ”
    “ Did
that work for you? ”
    “ No.
I knew the truth. My mother was this phantom and my father never let it go. He
was a drunk. He lost jobs every week. We had no electricity. Got kicked out of apartments
and houses. There were times when he ’ d
wake me up in the middle of the night and we ’ d
have to leave to avoid paying the rent. ”
    “ What
happened to him? ”
    “ What
makes you think something happened? ”
    “ I
can see it in those blue eyes, darling, ” I said.
    Those fucking blue eyes.
    They were staring right at me. They
were big, beautiful, and goddammit, they deserved something so much better than
all this happening.
    “ He
was stabbed to death when I was sixteen. ”
    “ Christ. ”
    “ He
got involved with gambling and had some serious debts. He thought he could work
cards to make things right. He owed a lot and was killed. Then I found out he
was going to offer me as payment. My … innocence. ”
    “ Fucking
asshole, ” I muttered.
    “ So
be it, ” Winter said. “ So I was on my own. I survived.
I moved around. I tried not to trust anyone. I made a friend, Angie. She was a
stripper and bartender. I started out behind the bar. Then there was a night
the owner of the club begged me to help out when he was short a girl. So I took
a few shots of whiskey and got up