Page 9 of Unlucky You

“You two stay out of trouble,” she warned with a smile but I felt the weight of her words.

“You don’t have to worry about us, Auntie Liz.”

She delivered a glare to Tali who returned a charming smile. He was full of shit; that much hadn’t changed.

“Lock up. You have your key?”

“Yeah…”

We both replied in unison and my chest tightened a little. She nodded and left. Outside, I leaned against the trunk of my car while he leaned against the hood of his truck since Tali was parked behind me.

“I won’t ask if you’re good. I know you’re not but I will ask what you need.”

I appreciated that he understood the situation and me.

“Nothing for now.”

“How you eating? What’s the plan?”

I chewed on the thought for a minute. Tali and I were close. Our mothers were sisters who were very close until his mother passed about a year before I was locked up. He had been raised more or less like my brother since our mothers spent so much time together. I trusted Tali. He wouldn’t judge my decisions.

“I have something lined up.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“You heard of Matrix?”

“The underground fight club?” He frowned and I nodded.

“You’re gonna do that shit?”

“They offer decent money and it’s not like I have a lot of other options where I can take care of myself until I figure some shit out. I’m not going to rely on my mother. She’s done enough already. It’s better than hitting the streets.”

“Neither one is fucking legal, Grand.”

I shrugged. “Fighting isn’t as bad as the alternative. Plus, they have shit in place to work around those problems.”

“Rix also uses the fights to single out people he wants to use as muscle. I’ve heard some pretty bad shit about the things his guys are into. You can’t risk that. Things are not like they were before. This isn’t the same shit Moses was into. Matrix is high dollar.”

“I’m not working for him. Just the fights and six months tops.”

“You sure you want to go down that road?”

“What the fuck else can I do, Tee? I’m a felon. Manslaughter is still murder and they don’t care about the details. I’ll find something but it might take a while. Whatever I do moving forward is going to be something where I don’t have to play by corporate rules. I don’t know what that is yet but I can’t sit on my ass until I figure it out. I need money. I have a son. I owe my mother…” My eyes met his. “I oweyou.”

He frowned hard as hell. “Nah, you don’t owe me shit. Not a gotdamn thing, Grand. We’re family.”

I still had a debt to pay, and I would.

“This is temporary but it’s what I’m doing.”

“Then I’m there.”

“You can’t be. Invite only.”

“Fuck that, you’re there then I’m there. You can’t beat the shit outta of muthafuckers and watch your back at the same time. You win the fights; I’ll make sure you’re good.”

I smirked and shook my head. “How do you know I’ll win? It’s been years since you’ve seen me fight.”

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