Uppercut Princess: A Dark High School Romance (The Heights Crew Book 1)

by E. M. Moore

  “You’re a great fighter,” I tell him, thinking back on how well he did today. He definitely fits in there.

  His voice drops. “You’ve barely seen me fight.”

  “I saw enough. Plus, I’ve seen you train, so that’s more than enough.”

  I squirm under Brawler’s scrutiny. Finally, he asks, “Where did you learn how to fight?”

  “Gyms,” I tell him.

  “Why?”

  I swallow. That hits a little too close to home. I can’t have that. “Didn’t peg you as the anti-feminist type,” I deadpan.

  He huffs out a short laugh. “I’m not. Just curious.”

  “Because I fucking like it,” I tell him.

  He holds his hands up, one still clutching the glass of water, rivulets of sweat dripping from the glass. “It just…it feels like more when you fight. That’s all.” When I don’t say anything in response, he says, “I hope Rocket lets you fight again. People have been asking me about you. They want to see you out there.”

  “Maybe if you told him that, he’d let me,” I say, a spark of hope building inside.

  “I already have.” He stares at the new coffee table. “I get wanting to fight. The need you feel sometimes. I’ll see what I can do, but I won’t be able to change his mind if he’s already made it up. No one can.”

  He doesn’t look convinced that he can help me, but I won’t let that deter my good mood. “When are the next fights?” If I can’t be in it, I can at least watch them.

  “Tonight.”

  A burst of energy moves through my tired limbs. “Are you fighting?”

  He shakes his head. “Not tonight. Next time.”

  “I’ll help you train,” I offer. “I’m a good partner.”

  His mouth twitches in amusement, and I realize we’ve had the longest conversation we’ve ever had. Brawler might actually be opening up to me. And me to him. Maybe we don’t just have the crazy physical attraction to one another.

  He finishes off his water, and I get up to take both empty glasses to the kitchen sink. When he hands his to me, his fingers slide over mine.

  I gasp at the contact. Every cell in my body is focusing on the parts where we touch until it’s all I’m aware of. Brawler and I have a connection. One we can’t pursue because of who's claimed me. Well, that and because I won’t be sticking around the Heights after I’ve murdered Big Daddy K, so it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters but what I came here to do, I tell myself.

  I stand in front of him for a moment then make my feet move. While I’m setting the glasses in the sink, Brawler’s cell phone pings. A moment later, he says, “Rocket’s on his way up.”

  I close my eyes, allowing myself a brief moment where I can feel however I want and not have to second guess everything. I underestimated how hard it would be to have to act a certain way and not get caught up in it. The only thing is, with Brawler, I’m not acting. With Oscar, I’m not acting.

  With Johnny, I have such conflicting emotions that I can’t quite separate them yet.

  17

  Johnny walks in while I’m still standing at the kitchen sink. I let him and Brawler greet one another and then I walk around the island to the main living room. Johnny’s dressed in a suit that hugs his body. He looks like…a man. I know that’s odd to say, but I don’t usually see guys Johnny’s age dressed in suits and looking like they can pull it off. He can. He so can. While I’m taking him in, he turns toward me. His crystal blue eyes catch on me. After a moment, he calls out behind him, “You can leave Brawler. I’ve got Kyla now.”

  I meet Brawler’s gaze over Johnny’s shoulder and hold it. Regret teems at the surface of his sapphire eyes, only getting more intense as he takes Johnny and I in. He swallows then leaves without a word.

  I want to go running after him. He has to know we feel something for one another no matter how dumb it is. I can tell myself all day I shouldn’t start anything with him, but the pull is too much. It’s only a matter of time before I give in.

  Johnny continues, oblivious to what’s just transpired between me and his fight organizer. “Put on a dress, babe. We’re headed to a fancy dinner before we hit the fights tonight.”

  “Yeah?” I ask, not masking the true excitement bubbling up inside me at the mention of watching the fights tonight. It’s where I belong.

  “Yeah,” he says, tangling his fingers in mine for a moment. “I hope you like steak.” I do love steak, but he completely misread which part of his statement made me happy.

  I squeeze his hand and then move past him to search the closet in my room, which now brims with the different outfits Johnny bought me. His little bribe for making the shopkeepers keep their mouths shut about his transgression. Though, I’m sure they don’t see it as his transgression. I was the one who went looking for them. Girls like me aren’t supposed to do that. I’m the prize. I’m the one who gets to enjoy the jealous looks of others because I’m living the “good life” while actually never being free to enjoy that good life.

  I’m jealous of them, and they’re jealous of me.

  I walk out with a midnight blue sequined dress on that barely covers my ass. Seriously, it’s the best dress in that closet as far as coverage goes. I tried two on before this that had a dipped neck that reached my belly button. This one, at least, has a high back and long sleeves that cover up the scrape on my back even if it is too short.

  Johnny’s too busy talking to Magnum when I first appear. I just stand there, waiting for them to notice and also trying to hear the muted words of their conversation. Johnny looks up, and then does a double-take. He captures my gaze, following me appreciatively as I move forward.

  Magnum turns to see what’s caught Johnny’s attention. I try not to focus on him, but his reaction catches my eye. His jaw ticks. His stare captures mine, holding it, and the copper scruff on his face moves as his jaw tightens.

  I’m not used to being looked at in this way. Guys at the prep school I went to knew I didn’t have any real money, so they never gave me the time of day. I was just a relation to the ones who had money. To them, I begged for scraps off my aunt and uncle, even though I knew my aunt and uncle would do anything for me if I needed it.

  Worse than that, I was just my aunt’s niece. It was my aunt who married into the wealthy family. His family never got over why he chose my aunt over one of the prim and proper girls attached with a hefty bank account. Apparently, for some people, it’s still like we’re living in the 1800s

  A part of me feels like I belong more in this life. Maybe not the whole gang aspect, but the having to work to get something. Not using the good ol’ boy network to make connections. It’s all about climbing the ladder here, and I get that. Every day is a fight, and we already know how much I enjoy fighting.

  As charming as ever, Johnny moves to pick my hand up and brushes a soft kiss over my knuckles. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thank you,” I tell him, cheeks heating.

  Over his shoulder, Magnum blatantly stares at us. Heat envelops me under his inspection. He must think what Brawler thought of me. How can someone treat me like he did at the dress store, and I still stand here in front of him with this dress on as if I’m trying to impress him?

  I wiggle my fingers out of Johnny’s grip. Doing what I’m doing right now actually goes against everything I believe in, but I’m caught. I have to be here, standing in front of Johnny like this, trying to impress him. I have to stay in his good favor, so I will, no matter what it makes me look like. “There’s just one problem,” I tell him. “I don’t have the right kind of shoes to go with the dress.”

  A pout pulls his lips into a frown. His stare drags down the length of me until he gets to my bare feet, which I wiggle around, showing off my lack of shoes. He moves forward, and I still. Before I know it, he has me pulled into his arms—one arm in the crook of my knee and the other around my shoulders. He plucks me easily off the ground and turns. “I’ll take care of this,” he promises.

  His
cologne fills my nostrils. It’s a musky scent that’s not all together bad. In fact, it’s pleasing. He went all out for tonight. We catch one another’s gaze, and I smile up at him as a draft hits my backside when Magnum opens the door for us. “I’m pretty sure everyone can see my ass,” I tell him, laughing. “This dress is short.”

  Johnny cocks a grin. “No one will be looking at your ass. Not unless they want to die.”

  A heavy mask falls over his face. I blink up at him, but he’s deadly serious. He’s not messing around. For everyone’s sake, I hope we don’t run into someone bold enough to check out my ass.

  Johnny moves into the open elevator, and we step inside. He adjusts me in his grip, and I say, “You don’t have to carry me. I can walk.”

  “On these shitty floors? Fuck no.”

  Magnum gets in and immediately faces the other way. With Johnny openly gawking at me and Magnum doing everything in his power not to look at me, I’m feeling the confines of the elevator. The walls push in on us as we descend to the lobby level. When the doors open, the extra room is a relief.

  A couple of people mill around in the small lobby when we pass through, and Johnny’s right. As soon as they notice it’s him, they look the other way. He has a magical gift of repelling people. Or instilling fear in people. Or both.

  Magnum holds the door to the car open as we approach. Johnny leans over to set my feet inside first, and then I maneuver in, having to pull my dress down once I get situated. Johnny peeks in. “Give me one second.”

  I sit there as the driver’s side door opens. The divider between the front and the back is actually open, so I catch Magnum’s hard brown eyes in the rearview mirror. He doesn’t let up until Johnny slides in next to me.

  “Lynette’s going to meet us at the restaurant with a pair of shoes.”

  “Lynette? From the dress store?”

  Johnny nods. “What’s your size? I need to text her, so she can pick out the perfect pair.”

  I tell him, and he types it out on his phone and then puts it away. He rests his hand on my leg, his pinky sneaking under the hem of my dress just barely. I may not be looking at it, but it’s my entire focus. I close my eyes, hoping he doesn’t move it any further up. Hoping he doesn’t try anything tonight. I’m entirely too conflicted about him. To distract him, I start a conversation. “Will your dad be at the fights tonight?”

  Johnny shrugs. “He hardly goes to the fights anymore. He has other business ventures he’s interested in. He lets me take care of this aspect.”

  Pride lights his eyes, and I look down. So much for thinking I’d have easy access to the guy I’m really here for. “That’s cool.”

  “The fights bring in the most money right now, you know. I’ve done a lot to grow the business.”

  I steel myself, then move closer to him. “I bet you have,” I say.

  He squeezes my leg until it’s almost painful, but I don’t move. I just sit there with an adoring gaze turned toward him.

  It doesn’t take us long to get to the restaurant, and when we do, a knock on the door pulls Johnny’s attention away from me. He shoves the door open, and Lynette comes into view, two pairs of heels dangling from her fingers. One black and one silver. “I didn’t know what color dress you’d chosen, but black or silver go with almost anything.” Up front, Magnum turns the lights on in the back so Lynette doesn’t have to squint to try to see me any longer. “Ahh, I think the silver pair then,” she says.

  Johnny grabs both pairs. “We’ll take both.” As soon as she steps back, he closes the door on her.

  Magnum gets out of the car, closing the front door behind him, leaving us alone.

  “Let me see,” Johnny says, motioning for me to put my foot in his lap.

  I turn in the seat, pulling my foot up to place on his thigh. His hand starts at my thigh, smoothing over my knee and down my calf to the arch of my foot. He then picks up the silver shoe and places it on my foot. He does the same with the other leg until I wiggle my feet, admiring the heels I’m wearing. I’ve never worn anything but sensible half inch heels that went with my private school uniform.

  “Maybe he was right,” Johnny says, voice throaty and full of want.

  “About?”

  “Waiting,” he says. “I can’t think of anyone I’ve wanted more than you.” He spreads my legs, moving his hands up my leg until he gets to my mid-thigh.

  My heart stammers as his thumbs press into my skin there. He’s got a full view of my panties because my dress rolled up when he moved my legs apart. He edges a little closer until I snap my knees shut and move my legs off him, putting them firmly on the ground with my dress back down over my thighs. I draw in a shaky breath.

  I’m turned on. And I’m mad that I’m turned on.

  “You’re right,” Johnny says. “Bad idea. My balls are so fucking blue right now.”

  I know what he means.

  But unlike me, he’ll just fuck someone else.

  He arranges himself in his pants and then throws the door open. A strong hand grips it, opening it farther. Johnny gets out, and I scoot over after him, the leather of the seats rubbing against my bare thighs. Before I emerge, I take a deep breath.

  We walk through the crowded restaurant. Johnny turns heads. How he got all the power and good looks isn’t fair. A lot of evil things are wrapped up in pretty paper. The sky before a storm is beautiful, but it brings wreckage and destruction. That’s what Johnny Rocket does.

  Johnny orders food for me like I’m incapable of doing it myself and then we settle in. I try to talk to him about what he does, but he keeps getting distracted by his phone. If I were really his girlfriend, I’d be chucking that thing in the fucking corner. You don’t bring a girl out on a fancy date and then not talk to her. Not appreciate the way she dressed up for you.

  Instead, I keep my mouth shut and eat while he does business. He was right about the steak. It’s delicious. It almost melts in my mouth. It’s been a while since I’ve had food this fancy. Truth be told, I never used to enjoy it all that much when it was surrounded by my aunt and uncle’s polished friends. But because I’m being ignored right now, I just eat whatever and however I want.

  Eventually, Johnny does put the cell phone down. “I’m sorry,” he says, cringing. “I’m not being a very good date, am I?” He lowers his voice. “Something’s going down tonight, and I’m being kept in the loop.”

  I try to smile, but I’m doing a piss-poor job of pretending. I’m too lost in my own head tonight. I’m wondering when I’m going to meet Big Daddy K. I’m wondering how the fuck much longer this is going to take. Tonight’s just one of those nights where I don’t see the bright light at the end. Only darkness. It’s like I’m being pulled under with all of them. I thought it would be easy to go through the motions. It’s not. This world can be overwhelming. And if it’s not the world, it’s the people. Brawler, Oscar, and I—and yes, even Johnny—we’re drowning in the absence of light, in this underworld society where power and money talk. Well, power and money talk everywhere, but this shit is shady and dark and dangerous. Power had by any means necessary, and the same goes for money.

  “You’ve got the cutest frown on your face right now,” Johnny says, quickly wiping his face with his napkin. “Are you not enjoying your meal?”

  “I am,” I tell him, trying to smile once more.

  “Good,” he says.

  He misses the fact that my thoughts are pulling me under. They pull me into a dark space every now and then. Not dark like the Heights Crew, but dark like the absence of feelings. Depression. Anxiety. The feeling that I’ll never be able to escape this.

  The waiter comes over to fill my water glass. Instead of placing his hand on the back of my chair, he places it on my shoulder. I jump. The waiter spills the water over my plate. “I’m so sorry,” he says, placing the metallic pitcher on the table and grabbing a napkin to start wiping it up.

  Johnny stands. The waiter apologizes profusely for spilling the water, but
Johnny doesn’t give a shit. His stare bores a hole into my shoulder where the young man touched me. Johnny drops his napkin on the table, anger pulsating from him.

  My stomach clenches. “It’s okay,” I say automatically. I recognize the look in Johnny’s gaze.

  Of course, he ignores me. “Did you just touch her?”

  The waiter slowly turns toward Johnny, only now noticing how angry he is. “Did I?”

  “It’s fine,” I say, but it’s hard to cover it up. Johnny notices everything. He saw my reaction.

  Johnny shoots me a silencing stare. “Magnum,” he says.

  From out of nowhere, Magnum approaches the table. I had no idea he was even in the room with us.

  “Please take Kyla away from the table.”

  Other guests start staring at our table now. The countdown is on. Johnny is seconds from exploding, and nothing can be done to stop it. If I say something, I’ll just get shot down, so instead, I take Magnum’s offered hand.

  As he drags me away, I look back. Johnny has his hands around the waiter’s neck, pulling him closer, so he can spit words into his face. People look on in horror, but they also don’t interfere. I don’t know where exactly we are, but Johnny’s reputation is alive and well here. Or maybe it’s just the Heights Crew’s in general.

  When we get outside, I mutter, “He didn’t mean to.”

  Magnum laughs. “Are you kidding me? The guy’s been eyeing you all night.”

  “What?” I glance at Magnum. “No way.”

  “It was only a matter of time before something happened.”

  “That’s ridiculous. How would Johnny even notice? His eyes were trained on his cell phone all fucking dinner.”

  “He sees everything,” Magnum says. The way he says it sounds less like an off-hand comment and more like a warning.

  “Whatever. This is fucking ridiculous. That poor guy.”

  “It’s not the real world here, Kyla,” Magnum warns. “If you’re going to claim territory, you have to protect it. The minute he stops doing that, you know there’s a problem.”