“Please, just come and see the facility. It would probably make you feel better about all of this,” he urges.
“Okay, but I still don’t like it,” I reply. I also know I’ll have to see the two gorgeous men, though Lane is a jerk. I can’t lie to myself, he might be a jerk, but a part of me wants to know why.
“I know. My turn to pick the movie,” he jumps over the back of the couch and finds the remote.
“No action. Can you pick a comedy?” I ask, knowing that no matter what he says, he will. He loves me too much.
“I’ll try,” he chirps. Liar. I smile.
I make popcorn and put my tips, excluding Lane’s, in my jar in the cabinet. I should get a bank account but I’m leery of that because of my past and trying to stay off the grid. Marge and Jerry give me a check and I cash it at a check cashing place, no questions asked. I don’t think our parents are looking for us. It’s been years and I’ve felt comfortable to start using our given names in public. Marge and Jerry know some of our story. There is a lot of money in this jar. To some it might not be much, but it’s a lot to me, to Thorn. I really need to get a bank account.
“Move over,” I nudge Thorn over to the other side of the beat-up couch so we can watch the movie.
We do this every night, a tradition we’ve had since we left home. Thorn picked a Disney movie, which makes me smile and it’s surprising. It’s not an action film or a horror film.
I must have fallen asleep, but I didn’t wake up on the couch. I’m in the bedroom. I roll out of bed, shower, brush my teeth and quickly dress in some jeans and a tank top, slipping on my sandals when I smell coffee.
“Morning,” I sing song.
“Morning,” Thorn says.
“You could have left me on the couch,” I tell him.
“I could have, but you’ve been working so hard, and I wanted you to get some rest,” he says.
“Thank you. You’re up early,” I observe as he hands me a cup of coffee.
“I have to be at Storm’s Gym at eight this morning, remember?”
“Right. Let me put this in a to-go cup and we can go,” I say, “so you’re there on time.”
He’s bouncing his legs in the car on the way there, excited to start his dream. I park out front of the gym, but I don’t get out. I don’t like violence, he knows this. But then again I don’t want to take this from him.
“I’ll be okay,” he says.
“I know.”
“Come on, I want to introduce you,” he opens his door and waits until I do the same.
We walk into the gym and it’s huge, with mats, several cage looking things, and punching bags, as well as treadmills and weights.
Not too crowded. A couple of guys are sparring in the center cage.
A sight to behold- two, hot, shirtless men. If only the sport wasn’t so violent.
I follow Thorn to a room marked office and wait as he knocks.
“Come in,” a voice says.
“Kingston?” Thorn pokes his head in.
“Thorn, good to see you. Are you ready to get your ass kicked?” Kingston smirks.
I watch my brother smile, a real smile. One that I haven’t seen in a long time, at least not around other people. Both of us are really closed off around others.
“Yeah, I am. I’d like to properly introduce my sister, Briar,” he says to Kingston.
“Pleasure. Sorry about yesterday,” Kingston reaches out to shake my hand.