Keenan threw another picture upon the desk and Ryleigh gasped when she realized it was Evangeline’s mug shot. She wondered what she’d done to get arrested. Ryleigh felt sick to her stomach, realizing what a mess Evangeline seemed to have made of her life. She couldn’t imagine what Keenan must be going through right now, seeing the mother of his child in that state.
“I can’t believe it…” he said.
Keenan’s shoulders hunched forward when he placed another picture on the table… a picture of Evangeline, snorting a white line of powder from a table.
“Shit,” she whispered.
As if he’d just remembered her being there, he shot right up in his chair. He wiped at his cheek and Ryleigh sat rooted in place, unable to move a muscle.
“I… I’m sorry.”
She couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault,” he said, his voice void of any emotion.
“Is she…”
He kept reading the file, and they both startled at Donovan’s voice from the other side of the office. “You remember Derek, don’t you?”
She wondered if Derek was that sleazy guy in the picture, and what he had to do with Evangeline’s decision to leave Tommy and Keenan.
“Yeah, we should have let Ronan beat the crap out of him when he had the chance.”
Ryleigh’s gaze ping-ponged from Donovan back to Keenan. Since they didn’t seem eager to spill the details voluntarily, she asked, “Who’s that guy?”
Keenan still kept his attention on the file, while Donovan said, “He used to be my brother Ronan’s best friend in the time Ro fucked things up with Fianna—she’s Bree’s sister. Anyway, the guy is a dangerous criminal. There’s no other way around it. And if it weren’t for my oldest brother Brennan intervening, Ro would have followed this guy’s footsteps.”
She pictured the good-natured, always flirting Ronan as a man who would hurt someone else to benefit from it. He might be an MMA fighter, but he’s not a criminal. Sure, at the underground fights there were a lot of people who weren’t law-abiding citizens.
Groups going at each other, drug use and gambling were all a part of that scene. She was sure that Ronan loved to rub it in his twin’s face, that he was the complete opposite of Declan, who as a detective probably always toed the line. But Ronan never came across to her as some malicious gangster type.
Keenan slapped his palm on top of the pictures littering Donovan’s desk.
“Fuck!”
She rubbed circles on his back, trying to soothe him. But it helped little because he turned in his chair and spat, “And that’s exactly the reason why you’re never going to fight again.”
“Excuse me?”
What in the alpha-male-world was he talking about? He couldn’t decide that for her, just like that. As if he’d slapped her, she dropped her hand from his back and straightened in her chair.
“You heard me, Ry. I’m not having you put your life on the line every time you feel the need to bash someone’s head in.”
Steam came out of her ears at his degrading description of her need to fight her demons in the ring. He just wouldn’t put the effort in to understand her. Why was he being so difficult about her fighting? When they’d first met, she was beating Paula the Plower in a cage fight at some deserted warehouse. Surely he had to know that it was a part of her?
“Why are we even discussing my life instead of your ex? You should be mad at her for fucking up your and your son’s life.”
Keenan’s eyes were red, veins popped next to his eye, and his hair stood a mess from all his tugs. Didn’t he have other things to worry about right now? She looked over at Donovan, ready for him to step in any minute now.
“I think it’s because we both know that Evangeline met Derek at one of Ronan’s fights, that Keenan is trying to protect you by asking you to reconsider fighting in the underground scene.”
She huffed a breath and said, “You may put a nicer ring to it, but it’s asking for the same thing. I don’t want to get into this right now, but I will say this; I will not stand to pay for Evangeline’s mistakes. I’m not her. I will not take off with some kind of slick, slimy gangster and I will never leave my boys for anything or anyone.”
Keenan groaned. “You’re not listening to us, Ry. You’re putting yourself in danger every damn time you go out there. Look at what happened to Evangeline. She’s a drugged up prostitute, living with her pimp!”
She stood from her chair and said, “And you’re clearly not listening to me. I love you, Keen. But you can’t put her actions on me and demand me to stop doing the one thing that has helped me become the woman that I am now. I can’t even explain how hurt I am right now.”
“You would rather keep fighting in front of a group of horny jackasses than stay home with me and Tommy?”
“Guys, I don’t think either of you is listening to what the other is saying. I think—”
Ryleigh held up her hand, and she got the impression by Donovan’s shocked expression that he wasn’t shushed that often. “Sorry, Donovan. I appreciate you’re only trying to help us with our stupid discussion. But I’ve had enough for today. I’m going to call my cousins because I need to relieve some stress and work out my anger.”
She halted her steps at Keenan’s words. “If you go out and fight, don’t bother coming back to me and Tommy. I’m only looking out for my boy. If you’d be taken away from him, he would never recover.”
She stepped out of Donovan’s office and whispered, “But it’s you who’s pushing me away...”