Malo - Page 42

“I guess it’s a good idea for us to clear the air,” she remarks. “Since, you know… well, with everything that’s going on.”

“Exactly,” I agree. “I… if you need anyone to talk to about anything, I’m more than happy to listen.”

“Trust me, I’ve done more than enough talking about it already,” she replies, shaking her head slightly, a smile crossing her lips. “I think I’m ready to actually take some action, you know?”

“Oh, yeah?” I ask, cocking my head to the side with interest. “What kind?”

“You know how to fight, right?” she wonders aloud, and I laugh.

“I think I’m the last person who should ever be getting into any kind of physical fight,” I retort. “I’m more of a thinker than a fighter.”

She grins. “We’re going to need to do something about that, then,” she says, looking me up and down. “You’ve got a good build for it. You should try some training.”

“Some training?” I ask, sounding surprised—though I suppose it shouldn’t come as that much of a shock to me. I mean, after all, we are in the beginning of this all-out war, and no matter how much I might want to pretend it’s not happening, I need to be prepared to take on whatever comes my way. Maybe if I’d been able to put up more of a fight when they took me in the first place, I wouldn’t have made such an easy target for them.

“Yeah, Bella and I used to do a little together before she… well, you know,” she remarks.

I smile. I’ve heard through the grapevine the news of Bella’s pregnancy, and I’m so happy for her, though it gives me even more reason to want to learn how to protect myself and the people around me.

“I could show you a few things, if you want,” she offers.

I nod at once. “That sounds great. But you better not kick my ass too badly. I’m an academic, not a fighter.”

“You can be both,” she assures me, and I can already see her eyes lighting up at the thought of it. “Come down later today, okay? We can get an idea of where you’re at.”

“That sounds like you’re going to kick my ass,” I protest.

She laughs and shakes her head. “I promise, we’ll start slow,” she tells me. “You’ll pick it up quickly, it’s a lot easier than you think. I promise.”

“I’m going to make you stick to that,” I warn her. “I don’t want to end up covered in bruises.”

“Don’t worry,” she replies, as she grabs herself a drink from the fridge. “It’ll do you good. You’ll feel better, knowing you have some knowledge of how to defend yourself.”

“I hope so,” I reply, but honestly, I know this isn’t exactly about being able to fight better. This is about forming a bond with Harley, deepening my connection with her, making some real friends in this place. I don’t know how long this war is going to last, how long I can expect to be in this place, and if I’m going to stay, then I want to make sure I have people on my side, people I know I can rely on and talk to.

And, after what Harley’s been through, I know she’s better equipped than most to guide me through a survival course in taking down the cartel.

CHAPTER 31

MALO

Itrudge down to the training rooms in search of Maria.

It’s been a day since the meeting in the war room, and I have been working with the guys to do what I can in preparation for the inevitable first attack from Las Rosas Negras. Maria’s intel associating us with the Italians must have really turned up the heat for them to hit the Cafarellis. It’s only a matter of time until they strike us too, and when it happens, we have to be ready for it. I don’t know exactly what to expect, but the adrenaline has been pumping through me since last night, and I feel as though I’m just starting to come down from that high.

I don’t know exactly where Maria’s gotten to. I spotted her with Bella and Harley earlier in the day, and I’m glad to see that she seems to be settling into the place, making some friends. I know Bella and Harley will look out for her, just the same way they’ve always looked out for each other. Even though Harley has been pretty closed-off since she returned, Bella is the only person she’ll actually open up to, and Bella seems happy enough to take on that responsibility.

Though that might all be changing now that she’s pregnant. It’s not like anyone had to tell me, now that her baby bump is starting to show beneath her flowy shirts, it’s obvious she’s a few months along, and it throws a whole new set of problems at our feet. We’re keeping her well and truly on lockdown, there’s no telling what the cartel would do if they found out about the pregnancy, how they might use that against us. It’s not just Bella we have to worry about now, but her baby, too, and fuck knows what will happen if this war drags on long enough that she has to give birth in the midst of it. She’ll be birthing her kid into the middle of a battle.

It’s strange to think about the next generation of Kings coming into the world like that. Hard not to think about my own childhood, the mess I had to get through to end up here, all the shit I had to endure to come out the other side in something resembling one piece. Orphaned when I was a child, I tried to make my own way in the world, but I was so young, I found myself stuck on street corners, begging for money and food, desperate for someone to show a little kindness to me and lift me out of the poverty I’d grown up in. My parents hadn’t been rich, and any money they’d left behind was used for their funeral expenses, leaving me with nothing.

I’d been stuck in foster care, but it hadn’t taken me long to run away. To what, exactly, I hadn’t been sure, but I knew I couldn’t stick around there. I had always been independent like that, even to my detriment—even when I probably should have sat my ass down and let myself live out my life under the safety of the foster system.

But I’ve always had that rebellious streak in me, the one that pushes up against the confines of what the world says is right for me, and it’s just as present now as it’s ever been.

I brush those thoughts aside as I reach the training room, where, to my surprise, I find Harley and Maria in the middle of sparring. I can’t help but grin as I watch Maria wipe away the beads of sweat from her forehead, her eyes focused as Harley ducks and dives away from her shots.

“You’re doing really well,” Harley tells her, slightly out of breath. “You just need to drive with a little more force with your right hand—look, like this…”