Sloan motions for me to turn. I notice she’s crying. “Sloan, you okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just I hate that Kara sees herself as anything less than beautiful. I wanna go find those guys who ruined love for her and kick their asses. Then maybe she wouldn’t have fallen for Drake’s shit.”
“I know. I’m not allowed to kick anyone else’s ass unless it’s in the cage.”
She snorts. “I know and I love you for doing that to him. He deserves more. When Lox and I got there to pick her up, I could hardly see past all of the blood on her face.” She shivers. “I don’t think I’ve ever been that afraid in my life.”
“Why don’t you see if you can get her to come to the fight? Maybe it’ll help her a little. She stays locked up in her room now. She was watching TV with us on the couch until our argument.”
She nods. “I’ll see what I can do. Maybe if I take Sage with me, she’ll come.”
“Has he seen her since the attack?” I adjust myself a little more so I can see her.
“Yeah, she was at my house the other day when Jade brought him in from school. He wasn’t happy at all. He ran over to her,” she turns my head. “Keep your head like that or you’ll end up in worse shape.”
“Okay. Keep going.” I put my head back into the massage pillow.
“Anyway, after he gets to her, he asks, ‘Ms. Kara, what happened? Did you get in a fight like Lox?’ Bless his heart, he looked like he was about to cry.”
Sloan moves down my legs. “Kara tried to comfort him and tell him she’d be okay. Finally, Lox put him in his lap and said, ‘Remember how we talked about fighting being my job? How it’s not personal? Well, someone hurt Kara. It was personal.’”
I feel Sloan tense up thinking about the story. “Sage asks Lox, trying to be tough and hide his fear, ‘Who hit her, Lox? They hurt her bad.’
“God, Jade and I both were about to start bawling.
“Lox told him, ‘Her boyfriend, Drake.’”
She moves over to my other leg. “Here, lift this.” She works my leg around in some weird motion. “Then, Sage’s demeanor completely turned and he looked mad. He growls out, ‘Boys aren’t supposed to hit girls! He better hope I don’t see him, I’m gonna kick his ass and punch him in the balls.’”
She moves to my mid back and laughs, “Well, that broke the tension in the room. I really tried not to laugh when I said, ‘Sage, I told you about saying ass, and balls, too, for that matter.’”
I shake my head, that sounds just like Slick. “He just sighed and said, ‘I know, Mom, but like Sly says, sometimes those words are just wanted.’” I have to laugh at my boy about that one.
“Then Lox laughed. ‘It’s ‘warranted’, Slick, and you don’t need to take all of your advice from the twins. What did I say?’”
I start laughing even harder. “Leave it to Lox to hang me out to dry like that.”
She laughs again. “Don’t worry, the only thing Sage said was, ‘You said I can talk like you guys when I’m a grown up.’”
She shakes her head. “If it hadn’t been so serious, it would have been so funny.”
“Hey, he’s a great kid.”
She smiles. “I know, I know. Lox is really good with him. He’s going with his class to a the zoo next week. Lox with 25 six year olds, can you picture it?”
I laugh. “Oh yeah. Those kids will have a new vocabulary after that field trip.” She goes to walk out so I can dress. “Sloan?”
“Yeah?”
“You know Lox loves that kid like he’s his own son, right?”
She nods with tears in her eyes. “I would’ve never accepted his proposal if I thought otherwise.”
I shake my head. She’s a damn good momma. She reminds me of Elaine. No wonder Lox fell head over heels for her and Slick.
I dress and make my way to the front desk. I decide to try and lighten Kara’s mood. “So, sexy, you gonna come watch me fight this weekend?”
She looks up from her phone. I can see something is bothering her. “I- I don’t know.”
“What’s on the phone?”
She looks up with tears in her eyes. “I- It’s...”
I take the phone from her.
9049175555: Fat Bitch You’ll Get Yours.
I slam the phone onto the counter, breaking it. “Get your stuff, we are going to talk to the cops. Again.”
“Sly, it won’t matter.”
“Yes, it will. I want them to get how dangerous he is. Either that or I’m going to kill him.”
I grab her hand, pulling her out the door behind me.
CHAPTER 7
KARA
I don’t think I get the complete realization of what’s going on until we pull up in front of the Sheriff’s Department. This is what happens when you learn to stay lost in your own head. I look over at Sly, who may have chipped his teeth on the way here from grinding them. “Sly, we don’t have to do this. It’s stupid. They couldn’t track it last time so they probably won’t be able to this time, either.”
“Kara, this is bullshit. You don’t deserve this and I’m not letting you put up with it. You are not a victim and you can’t just let this shit happen to you.”
“Fuck you, Sly.” I open the door and jump out as he follows suit. “How can you say I’m letting this shit happen to me?”
He shakes his head, speed walking over to me. I shiver a little once he’s in front of me. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m saying that if you sit back and let him harass you, you’re letting it happen.” He pulls me into a tight hug. “You’re a tough girl. I don’t want you to give up the fight against him. You’re tougher than that.”
I want to cry but I fight it like hell. I can’t show this much weakness all at once. Making our way into the Sheriff’s Department, Sly talks with the girl at the desk, letting her know who we need to speak with.
We are taken back to a small interview room to wait. I count the cracks in the grey wall in front of me, trying to keep my mind elsewhere. Soon, a balding detective comes in the door. “Ms. Chambers, I’m Detective Harmon.” We exchange handshakes and he takes a seat. “Now, I understand you’ve received another disturbing text message?”
I nod. “Yes, sir. I didn’t think it was a big deal but Sly thought I should let you guys know,” I say quietly.
“He was right. Let me have a look at the message.” He takes my phone, looking down at what he can see of the message on my broken phone. “Do you have any idea who it could be from?”
My mouth gapes open like a fish. Is he fucking stupid?
“Are you dumb or just an idiot?” Sly barks out.
“Mr. Webb,” he points harshly at Sly. “I suggest you keep your mouth shut, you are still on a conditioned release. I am not dumb, but I have to ask her these obvious questions.”
I look at Sly, pleading with my eyes for him to shut up. He finally nods and I look back to the detective. “Drake Willis is the only person that I can think of. He’s the only person who could say these kinds of things to me.”
“Mr. Webb, can you step out for a moment while I speak with Ms. Chambers?” the detective says as he looks between Sly and me.
Sly looks at me as if he’s asking for my approval and I give a slight nod. He stands up and touches my shoulder. “Okay, but I’ll be right out there if you need me.”
“Okay,” I say quietly.
Once he’s out of the room, the detective looks at me. “How long have you and Mr. Webb been together?”
I shake my head. “Sly is my friend. We aren’t a couple or anything.”
He taps his pen on the counter, “So you weren’t playing the two against each other?”
What the hell? “I haven’t been playing anyone against anyone,” I grind out.
He sits back and cocks his head to the side. “So that wasn’t what the fight between those two was about?”
“No, that-.” It hits me that I don’t need to talk about Sly’s case. Anything I say could cause him problems. “I don�
��t know what happened between the two of them, I wasn’t there. The fact is Drake Willis is an abusive asshole and Sly Webb is a very good friend. That’s all you need to know about my relationship with Sly.”
He nods and grunts, writing notes on his paper. “Okay, then how long were you and Mr. Willis together?”
“Around six months,” I say, picking at my fingernails.
“How long into the relationship did the abuse start?” he asks gruffly.
How did my life come to this? How did it come to sitting in a room at the Sheriff’s Department answering questions like these? “The verbal began not long after we started dating. The physical wasn’t much until-. The night-. Um, that was the worst night.”
He lets out a hard breath and takes a sip of his coffee. “I’m sorry, I have to ask all of the asshole questions. I can be a little clinical about this after so many years with the department. Unfortunately, I see situations like this way too often in my line of work.” He pauses, looking at me softly like a father would. “Are you sure you’re comfortable with all of the fighters that seem to be around?”
I pick my head up quickly and nod. “Yes. Those guys are great to me. They’re my friends, they look out for me.” I think about Drake. “When I let them. I don’t think I’ve been the best friend to them lately. He-he didn’t like them.” I feel my chest starting to tighten and my breathing quicken.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Chambers.” He reaches over, grabbing a cup and filling it with water. “Here, take a sip of this.” I take it and nod. “He isolated you from them. They don’t blame you, trust me. Especially that boy that was just in here. He was ready to take my head off.” He chuckles and I keep sipping my water. Feeling the cold water run down my throat, my heart seems to slow back down. “How often does this happen?” I look up at him. It’s as if he’s reading me. “I could see you were about to have a full blown panic attack.”
“Just every once in a while. Since the night-.” I look around. I can’t say it.
He lightly touches my hand. “It’s okay, I get it. I’d like to give you my card. If you get anymore messages, let me know. We have the information to run this number from today. When we step out, I also want to give you a card for a friend of mine. She is a great person to talk to and does great work with victims of domestic violence.”
I take another slow sip of my water and look up. “Thank you.”
“Okay. Let’s get you back out there with Mr. Webb before he either charms the secretary out of her clothes or tears the door down to get to you,” he says casually.
I smile and nod. “Thank you.”
He leads me outside the room where Sly is sitting facing the door. He jumps up and pulls me into a hug. “You okay?”
I nod and smile. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
Detective Harmon steps beside me. “Ms. Chambers, you have my card. Here is my friend’s card. Give her a call, she’s a great listener.”
I nod, taking the card from his hand. “Thank you again.”
“It’s nothing. I’ll call you when I find out anything about the phone number.” He touches my shoulder gently and turns to Sly. “Mr. Webb, nice to meet you. Take care of this sweet girl, okay?”
Sly pulls me into his side. “Sure thing. We look out for family.”
The detective nods, walking away.
As if he can read me, Sly doesn’t say anything, he just walks me to the truck. Once we’re inside, he looks at me. “I’m gonna take you home. Doc called and said to take the rest of the afternoon off.”
“But-.” Sly puts up a hand to stop me.
“He said no arguments. Sloan’s helping him at the front desk, she has a light day today.” I don’t argue because I really just don’t have the will power to.
The entire ride to our house, I flick the cards back and forth against each other. “You should call her, you know?” He points to the card.
“You think so? I mean, would it do any good?” I ask quietly.
He nods. “Yeah. Marco set a lady up years ago for us and our mom. I feel like if my mom had followed through with it, she wouldn’t be in the shape she’s in now. I know it helped me learn to deal with everything a little bit. I don’t know about Huck. I mean, he’s just Huck,” he says, shrugging his shoulders.
“Thanks,” I say softly. I don’t know what I would do without my friends right now. There is no way my mom needs the stress of all of this. Jade is more involved than I want her to be.
He glances over at me. “I’ve got some stuff to take care of. I’m gonna grab some steaks to grill this afternoon and some sweet potatoes. Huck and I have to load up on some protein and carbs for the next few days so just a heads up, there will be a lot of beef, eggs, liver, tuna, pasta, sweet potatoes and stuff like that.”
I shake my head and laugh a little. A yawn slips out and I realize how bad I want to sleep. “I’m gonna catch a quick nap. I guess all the stress has just worn me down. It seems like I can’t get enough rest lately.” Really it’s the depression. I know the signs, I fought through them years ago. I saw a shrink then, too, and he gave me some tools to work past things, but I think my way was much more effective.
He opens the truck door and looks back at me. “Okay. Well, I’ll see you in a little bit. We’ll let you know when the steaks are done.”
I give him a half smile. “Thanks.”
CHAPTER 8
SLY
“Hi, sir. Can I help you?” Miss Perky Tits behind the counter of the cell phone store asks.
I hold up the broken cell phone in my hand. “I need to replace this for a friend.” I didn’t tell Kara I was coming here because she would’ve argued.
She smiles and flips her hair a little. She leans forward, giving me the money shot of her boobs. “Let me see it.” She looks it over. “Well, we don’t sell this model anymore. Would you like to update it?”
I give her a wide grin and my signature wink. “Sure, how much will that run me?” Trust me, just like women use their bodies to get a deal, I can damn sure use mine. Equal opportunity and all.
She licks her bottom lip. “Well, I’m sure I can find you some rebates and all.”
I lean forward, resting my arms on the counter in her personal space. “That would be great,” I glance at her nametag, “Karen,” I let out in a low voice.
Let me explain the power of this voice. My low voice has been known to cause panties to combust into flames, it’s been known to make bra clasps fly apart and boobs jump out. My low voice can cause spontaneous orgasms. I got this.
She giggles and I know I’m in ‘check’. “Sure, let me get that totaled up for you.”
Checkmate, bitches.
Thirty minutes later, I’m walking out with an upgraded phone for Kara for less than the price of her old one, with GPS tracking and all the other bells and whistles. And…the number of the sales girl.
I’m fucking awesome.
My phone rings and Huck’s name flashes up.
“Hey.”
“Hey, just letting you know Marco said the meeting with Bellator got moved to tomorrow instead of Friday.”
“Okay. I’m headed to the grocery store to get our grub for this week.”
“Good. Get me some extra carbs. Well, a little more than usual. This fight against Sergio is big. I need to make sure I’m well into my category weight wise. I don’t wanna get there and be one good dump short on weight.”
I let out a deep laugh. “Well, that’s great to think about with me headed to the grocery store.” I think of Kara. “Oh and I’m cooking extra, we need to make sure Kara’s eating. Sloan doesn’t think she is so I told Kara we’d be eating a lot this week. I figure we can talk her into joining us some.”
“Yeah, man. She was looking a little weak the other day. We need to get her back in the gym, too. She’s healing, but you and I both know how it is when-.”
“I know, brother. I got this.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Okay.”
<
br /> ~*~*~
When Huck got in today, I filled him in on the text from earlier and our trip to the Sheriff’s Department. We agreed that we have to make sure Kara is eating, but she also needs to laugh. She hasn’t laughed enough lately. She has a great laugh and I need to hear it more.
Once Huck takes the steaks, chicken and potatoes off the grill, I knock on Kara’s door. “Kara, supper is ready.”
I hear her in there moving around and once she opens the door, I can tell she was asleep. “Thanks. I’ll be in there in just a second.”
“Okay.” I go back into the kitchen to set out the pasta and salad I made.
Huck and I sit down at the table and when Kara comes in, her eyes get huge. “Holy crap! Is someone else coming over? Like maybe an army?”
We both laugh. “No, Huck has to bulk up this week, plus it’ll give us a little for lunch tomorrow.”
Her eyes bug out. “Just lunch tomorrow? This would last me like a week.”
Huck laughs. “Well, load up now. Fight week around here is kinda like the Wild West when it comes to food.”
She laughs, putting a steak and some salad on her plate.
“Please tell me you’re going to get more than that. Get some chicken and a potato, babe.” I motion to all of the food.
“This will get me started, thank you.” She smiles.
I shrug, “Just sayin’, you might not get another chance to get a gourmet meal like the one I’ve prepared tonight.”
In Sly's Eyes: In Sly's Eyes Marco's MMA Boys Book 2 Page 4
