The Fighter (The High Rise, Book 1)

by Harper Bentley

  He narrows his eyes at me for a moment like he wants to say something but instead offers, “No reason.”

  I start to put the earbud back then stop and turn to him. “What were you doing in the basement?”

  He gives me a really? look, raised eyebrow and all, as if I should know what he was doing. Then it’s like he concedes and explains, “Matt, the guy I was with, and I went to spar.”

  “Like boxing?” I question.

  He’s still regarding me as if I’m some kind of idiot, as though I’ve truly annoyed him. “Yeah. Like boxing,” he repeats bitterly.

  I don’t understand his tone but I’m done trying to figure him out. “Well, I didn’t know if you meant boxing or MMA stuff. Uncle Edward hosts matches down there on Saturdays.” I shrug. “You should ask him about it if you’re interested in fighting.”

  I’ve helped Uncle Edward out at the fights before by taking money for him. He’s told me it all goes to the American Cancer Society, and since my grandpa died of cancer I think it’s amazing that Uncle Edward would do that.

  Heath’s eyes go flat and he looks like he wants to murder someone. Namely, me.

  Well. Okay then.

  I’ve had enough of this so I put the earbud back in cranking up my music because screw him. When the elevator doors open at our floor I can’t wait to get out of there, and I head straight to my door, but just as I make it I’m suddenly spun around by my arm which makes me yelp in surprise.

  Heath takes the bud from one of my ears and bends down getting right in my face. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re trying to prove with this little act but you can cut the shit now.”

  I’m shocked at how angry he’s gotten but now I’m mad too. I jerk my arm from his hand and he pulls back glaring down at me looking as if he’s fighting from saying something. He’s going to be fighting me here in a moment if he doesn’t back the hell off.

  We glower at each other for a few seconds then I take a deep breath to get my composure before stating, “What do you mean by my ‘little act’?”

  He huffs out a disbelieving laugh putting his hands on his hips. “I mean you act like you don’t know what the fuck’s going on.”

  Right now I honestly don’t know what’s going on. “You’re gonna have to enlighten me.”

  He shakes his head and throws his hands out to the side in surrender. Then he suddenly changes tactics flipping his hand out toward my legs. “And then you show up in those fucking tights. Do you know how many men were checking out your ass?” He glares accusatorially.

  Huh. Totally confused here. Good grief. Now I throw up my arms. “What does that have to do with anything?” He runs his hands through his hair clutching at it as if this is giving him a headache and I concur completely. “Well, this was loads of fun. If you’re finished going psycho on me, I need to get ready for work.” I retrieve my keys from my hoodie’s front pocket and unlock my apartment.

  When I turn to close the door there’s a look of bafflement on his face mixed with a whole lot of anger and disgust and I find myself once again clueless when it comes to him. Although the one thing I do know is that he clearly doesn’t like me.

  And now the feeling’s mutual.

  Friday morning when Dani and I go to run, I make sure to refrain from making eye contact with Heath.

  But I know he’s here because she’s letting me know every move he’s making.

  “He just bent to pick up a barbell with tons of weights on it,” she reports as we stretch. “Now he’s pulled it up to his chest. Now he’s raising it over his head!” I hear a clatter from where he is. “Wow! He just dropped it! Wait. He’s doing the whole thing again.” Another crashing sound. “Huh. I guess he’s supposed to drop it like that.”

  I focus on bending to touch my toes ignoring her commentary.

  “He just did ten of them! Damn! Oh! Now he looked over here!” she says.

  “Stop! I don’t want to hear any more,” I declare.

  “But you should see him, Lane. He looks really cute today wearing a navy blue tank top that’s showing all those tattoos and muscles off. Yowza!”

  “I’m warning you. Stop,” I protest and she does for a while. But right at a mile and a half of our run, she comments on how tight his butt is and I’ve had it. “That’s it. I’m done,” I announce pulling the magnet thingy off my treadmill making it stop.

  “We still have a half mile to go!” she whines and continuing to run.

  “I don’t care. I’m heading to the shower.” I step down and wipe my face with my towel then grab my water bottle and take a drink. I start to walk away but turn to look back at her. “You know how mad you get when I talk about Dwight?”

  She frowns and nods. Then the light bulb comes on. “Oh.” She stops her treadmill. “I didn’t realize you liked him like that.” She grabs her towel and water bottle and we start walking to the locker room.

  I shake my head. “I don’t. I don’t even know him. He doesn’t know me either and it’s weird that he doesn’t like me.” I take another drink of water. “I’m likeable, aren’t I?”

  “Of course you are. You have tons of friends.”

  “Not that I need his approval or anything, you know? I just find it strange that he doesn’t know who I am but he still hates me.”

  “Hate’s a pretty strong word,” she states.

  “Strongly dislikes,” I correct. “And he keeps telling me to drop the act. What does that mean?”

  She gazes over at me as we walk. “Maybe he’s not used to someone so pretty being so nice.”

  We’re at the locker room door and I give her a one-armed hug because we’re sweaty. “Best friend ever.”

  “That’s me,” she says with a chuckle when she pulls away opening the door to go in.

  I put my hand on her arm to stop her. “Um, I couldn’t convince you to shower in the apartment today, can I?” When she frowns I explain that I don’t want another fun-filled elevator ride with Captain Moody.

  She sighs dramatically. “Okay, but it’ll cost me valuable time.” She plods to the elevator like she’s been greatly put upon. “But I’ll do it anyway ‘cause I’m awesome like that.”

  “Thanks. I owe you.” I put my card in to call the elevator down.

  “You owe me big,” she says as the doors open. She pushes the floor button and remarks, “So that’s it with you two then, huh?”

  “Yep.” What else is there to say? I look at her as she takes out her hair band and shrug. “C’est la vie.”

  “La vie,” she answers with a snort. She loves that joke so I’m sure to give her the opportunity to make it anytime I can even though it’s eye-roll inducing.

  “So Parachute tonight?” I ask.

  “You betcha.”

  Parachute is the new dance club in the hotel across the street from The Estates that’s having its grand opening tonight. It’s been under construction for the past six months which has affected traffic around the apartment building and I’ve had to hear complaints from almost every tenant from day one. So tonight I’m thinking I might be getting a little tipsy at the fact that I can mark that particular gripe off my list.

  Normally, Dani and I wouldn’t even attempt going because it’ll be packed, but yesterday Paul, the guy I flirted with in the weight room, told us he’s one of the security guys working the door and he’ll have vouchers to let us in so we won’t have to stand in line. Ever since, it’s pretty much all Dani and I have talked about, which might be a sad commentary on our social lives but whatever.

  Who knows, maybe my luck will change and I’ll meet someone who’s hot and cool and really likes me. I hate to admit it but that leads me to wondering if Heath will be there but I quickly zap that little thought from my head because, news flash, he hates me. And, oh yeah, I’m over it.

  Anyway, with my luck, afterward I’ll more than likely find myself on my knees worshipping the porcelain god while Dani holds my hair back.

  Ignore that gust of air right then. Tha
t was just me sighing.

  “Don’t ever think I don’t love you,” she mutters as we get off on our floor.

  I mumble another thank you and go inside our apartment to get ready for work.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Lanning. I’ll definitely see if The Arches has a first floor opening and let you know immediately. Okay. Yes. I’ll check on the pet rule too. You said you have five cats? All right. Yes. I’ll call them first thing tomorrow. Yes. Yes. I will. All right. Goodbye.”

  I’d stayed late to finish some paperwork and when the phone rang a little after eight, I’d answered it absentmindedly which I immediately regretted. It was now after nine at night, and for the past forty minutes I’d been listening to Mrs. Lanning’s complaints about her current living situation at her present apartment: the wood floors were too light, the walls were too dark, the windows were too big and the front door was too small. The kitchen wasn’t large enough but the bathrooms were too big. The foyer was too narrow and the hallways were too wide.

  Alrighty then.

  I love my job. I do. It’s interesting and I get to meet all kinds of people. I love seeing the happy looks on their faces when they’ve settled a lease contract on an apartment they love. But it’s this part of it that drives me nuts. When I’d shown her the apartment six months ago, Mrs. Lanning had fallen in love with it, loved all of the above. Well, I guess she’s changed her mind.

  I open the Uber app on my phone and request a car then shut down my computer and stand, stretching my arms before reaching for the sweater on the back of my chair. Grabbing my purse out of my drawer, I leave the office and see Bert, one of the cleaning service people, in the hallway give me a head jerk which is his signal for me to leave the door unlocked. I smile and give him a small wave before heading to the elevator.

  “Hey, Ms. Kyle. Your car here yet?” Julian asks from behind the front desk in the lobby when I exit the elevator.

  “Hey, Julian. Might be a couple minutes,” I say as I walk over to him.

  He comes out from behind the desk and accompanies me outside to the front walk, our nightly trek.

  “So how’s it going?” I inquire.

  He shrugs. “Could be better, could be worse.”

  “How’s Ally?”

  Julian is the head of night security for the building. His wife Ally is pregnant with their first child and is due any day now.

  “She’s good. Had me bring her a jar of dill pickles this morning at six.”

  I laugh. “I guess that’s a pregnant woman’s staple, huh?”

  “Maybe. But she never wants the pickles. Just drinks the damn juice right out of the jar.” He clamps his eyes shut and shakes his head giving a shudder and I pretty much mirror his actions.

  “Uh. That’s kinda gross,” I remark.

  “You’re telling me. What makes it even worse is she was eating an orange at the same time.”

  “Ew,” I mutter, scrunching up my nose as my car pulls up. “Hang in there,” I say with a chuckle. “And thanks for walking me out. Tell Ally I’m ready to meet little Sadie!”

  “I will. Have a good evening,” he says as he opens the car door for me to get in. He closes it and steps away but stays on the sidewalk until I give him a wave when my driver pulls away from the curb. I give the Uber dude my address right as my phone rings.

  “Where are you?” Dani asks.

  “Just left the office. I’ll be there soon.”

  “’Kay! Hurry! I’m excited for the club!”

  “I’ll make sure to tell the driver to step on it,” I say dryly.

  She laughs and hangs up and before I forget, I pull up my alarm on my phone to remind myself to call Stella at The Arches tomorrow to see if they have anything that might make Mrs. Lanning happy. But I’m not going to hold my breath.

  “That’s hot!” Dani says when she walks into my room.

  I glance at her from where I stand in front of my dresser mirror holding up different earrings to my lobes. “Wow! You look amazing!” I answer as she spins around for me to see her from every angle.

  We’re both wearing the dresses we bought last weekend just hoping an occasion would arise so that we could wear them. Seriously. We really need to get out more.

  “That blue is perfect on you,” she states when she turns back to me.

  I guess we are looking good, both of us in tight dresses, hers a red bodycon and mine a royal blue, blousy bodice type with a neck opening so big that one side hangs off my shoulder and a shirred mini skirt that hits me mid-thigh.

  “Dangly or hoops?” I ask, holding one of each earring to my ears.

  “Dangly. No, hoops.”

  I raise an eyebrow waiting for her to change her mind again but when she doesn’t, I mumble, “Hoops it is,” and put them on.

  “Ready to go meet some hotties?” she asks.

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  We leave the apartment and as we walk to the elevator, I want to kick myself when I glance back down the hallway toward Heath’s apartment.

  “What’re you looking at?” Dani teases, bending to adjust the strap on her shoe.

  “Nothing,” I squeak out at being caught.

  “You can still be his friend, you know.”

  I let out a very unladylike snort. “And the guy who plays Jaime Lannister is gonna ask me to dance tonight.”

  The elevator doors open and we step on.

  “It really can’t be that bad, can it?” Dani surmises.

  “Oh, it’s bad. I’ve told you, I’ve known him for, like, five minutes and can literally feel the hate radiating off him every time we encounter each other.”

  “Maybe he’s gay and is jealous of your high cheekbones or something.”

  She does have a point. Most of our gay guy friends are extremely hot and like to make a big deal of coveting some of our assets which always makes us feel fabulous about ourselves. I give her a look and shrug not wanting to talk about it anymore.

  Dani smiles. “Well, let’s just focus on having fun tonight. Dance our hearts out and partake in the consumption of adult beverages.”

  “I can so do that,” I say smiling back at her.

  Once in the lobby we make our way across the street and to the west a bit to the club. When I see the crowd and limos and cabs dropping off people, I know I’m going to be getting more calls in the morning (I probably have several on my voicemail already) about the traffic. Ergh.

  “I heard that Perez Hilton was gonna be here,” Dani whispers as we walk to the front of the line feeling the begrudging glares of the people waiting to get inside boring into our backs. Yeesh.

  When I see Paul working the door I wave after catching his eye and he motions for us to come over. I grab Dani’s arm, pulling her along with me.

  “Hey, you two! You guys look great,” he comments a little loudly over the music that’s coming from inside when we make it to him then he leans down to give us both a two-sided air kiss.

  “Hey, Paul. Thank you,” I say a bit shyly. As I said before, I can read people pretty well, and I’m kind of sure that Paul might like me as more than a friend.

  “Tell me there are celebrities here!” Dani gushes.

  He smiles coyly then leans down and whispers, “Madonna and Gaga are supposed to show.”

  Dani and I gasp then start screaming in stereo as we jump up and down like teenagers before Paul clears his throat getting our attention.

  “Here are the vouchers to get in. There’s a coat and purse check but I see that fabulous Chanel with the chain shoulder strap you’re wearing won’t be leaving your side.” He winks at Dani.

  She excitedly gives him a shortened version of how she works for Chastity who gave it to her for Christmas and he smiles telling her he’s way jealous and that he’d love to hear more about it later. He then opens the door and we’re blasted with club music as he hollers for us to go on inside.

  “He’s so cute!” Dani shouts as we walk toward the floor.

  “He is! I think he might
have a ‘thing’ for me!” I yell back.

  “Unless you’re hiding a penis under that dress, I doubt it,” she returns with a snicker.

  I turn to her with a frown and she nods laughing.

  Huh. And here I thought I could read people. I guess the purse comment should’ve clued me in. Boy, do I feel dumb.

  Six

  Tonight I walk across the street to the club to give things a last-minute inspection and all seems well. My men do awesome work, so it’s no surprise but it never hurts to have another look around.

  The permits were signed weeks ago so I’m only here making sure everything goes off without a hitch. Phil, the club owner, has had more than the usual difficulty with my explanation of the AC units because, you know, an on-off switch is tough to figure out when it’s digital. But that just comes with the job, I guess. “That” referring to idiots.

  “Hey, amigo! Glad you could make it!” Phil says as he holds his hand out.

  “Hey,” I reply, shaking his hand. “Just wanted to make sure you’ve got the AC figured out and to give the electric and plumbing another look.”

  “They’ll be fine! Just have a good time, compadre!” he answers excitedly, patting me on the shoulder.

  Another thing that’s annoyed me about him is his use of Hispanic words when he’s clearly Irish-American, red hair and all.

  “I will once I know everything’s in working order.”

  “Come with me for a moment,” he says, nodding his head toward the bar where several people are scurrying around getting ready for the big opening. When we get there, he calls a muscular guy over. “Tommy, this is Heath Noble, the building project manager. You’ve seen him around. Make sure to get him whatever he wants tonight.”

  Tommy nods looking me up-and-down then winks as if he and I have a secret. “Baby, you just let me know what your poison is and I’ll hook you up all night long.” He licks his lips which makes me chuckle.

  “Thanks,” I answer and let out a snort when he winks again. He laughs then goes back to stacking glasses and arranging bottles.

  “Tommy might be batting for the other team,” Phil leans over and whispers.