Page 27 of Falling for the Knockout

“Don’t cry, Sophia,” he whispered, wiping the tears from her cheek. He used to tell her that when she had a bad day and would hide away in the girl’s room which was more like a dormitory, and cry. Luca would always find her in there and go in to talk to her, even though it was against the house rules.

“Sorry,” she sniffled, “I’ve just been so stressed out, I guess it’s all just caught up with me. This is the safest I’ve felt in months,” she admitted.

“Months,” Luca repeated. “Why didn’t you call me sooner? You were afraid all this time and didn’t reach out to me?” She could tell that he was angry, even though he wasn’t yelling at her. Luca was never a yeller, but the way he stared her down, just like he had when they were kids, she knew that he was pissed.

“I wasn’t sure what to do. I’ve already told you that this is my first stalker. Plus, I didn’t want to burden you with my problems.”

“You’d never be a burden, Sophia, and fuck my problems,” he breathed. “Tell me what’s going on and start at the beginning.”

“Well, if you want the story from the beginning, then we have to start here,” she said, looking back at the abandoned house.

“Here,” he said, “did something happen to you after I left you here?” he asked.

“Kind of, but not what you’re thinking. Do you remember a kid named Peter who lived here at about the same time as we did? He was about my age, I think, and had dark hair and glasses. He was kind of nerdy and not much of a threat.” When you spent years in foster care, as they both had, you learned to assess who was a threat and who was harmless.

“Yeah, I remember him. Let me guess, he wasn’t as harmless as you believe,” Luca drawled.

“Apparently, not,” she breathed. “It’s been almost ten years since I left that house, and he looked me up. Pete showed up at my apartment one night a few months ago, and he pushed his way in when I told him that I couldn’t talk, but would love to catch up over coffee in a few days. He didn’t like that I was telling him no, and he refused to leave.”

“Did he hurt you?” Luca asked, his anger back again.

“No, I snuck into the bathroom and called the cops. They arrested him for trespassing, but that wasn’t the last time I saw Pete. He’s even shown up at my school, and my second graders were terrified by the man peeking into my classroom windows. I called security and the cops showed up and took him away again. I’m worried that he’s just going to keep following me and one of these times, things are going to escalate. He basically camps outside of my apartment, and I’m scared to even go home every evening.”

“Tell me how I can help,” he insisted.

“Can I stay with you until I can figure out what to do about him?” she asked. Sophia hated asking for such a big favor. “I know that this is a huge ask, but I’d be grateful and even find a way to pay you back. I won’t cramp your style. You won’t even know that I’m there,” she promised.

“No need to pay me back and I’m sure that I’ll love having you around. We can go back to your place and grab your stuff now,” he offered.

“No need,” she said, “I packed my stuff and put it in my trunk this morning. I decided that if you said no, I’d find someplace else to stay because I wasn’t going back home until Pete was behind bars for good. I’m just not sure how to make that happen.”

“You leave that to me. How about if you follow me back to my place, and we can sit down and figure out our next move?” Luca said. She wasn’t sure why his offer had her feeling those same damn butterflies as she had when he pulled up today for their meeting, but they were fluttering around her stomach remindingher about her huge crush on Luca. Maybe staying with him was going to be more of a curse than a help, but she had nowhere else to go. Sophia was just going to have to ignore those butterflies and act like an adult because she wasn’t that same sixteen-year-old girl anymore, and Luca was definitely not the boy she used to know. He had grown into one fine-ass man.

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What’s coming next from K.L. Ramsey? You won’t want to miss my new Royal Bastard! Reacher’s Ride or Die (RBMC: Younkers, NY Chapter Book 2) is coming in June 2025!

Reacher

James Reacher wasn’t thrilled about babysitting Yonkers’ mother for the night. In fact, it was the last thing he wanted to do on a Friday night. The only good thing about being in New York in September was that the city seemed to come to life with the cooler weather.

Reacher knocked on Gloria’s front door and she pulled it open for him. She was at the end of her cancer treatment and looking better with each passing day. He had actually grown fond of Yonkers’ mother, and she seemed to have a sweet spot for him too.

“You know that you don’t have to knock, James,” she insisted. Gloria was one of the only people that he let call him by his real name. To everyone in his club, he was just Reacher. He’d only been with the Royal Bastards’ Yonkers chapter for less than a year now, but it was really beginning to feel like home to him. He had the trust of their club’s Prez, Hurricane, and that meant a lot to him, even if he didn’t let on.

“I know, but it would feel weird to just walk into your house,” he admitted. “Besides, I like seeing your smiling face greet me at the door. It makes my whole day better,” he said.

“Liar,” Gloria said, “but I appreciate the effort. Yonkers called to tell me that you two were switching nights and that you’re going to be babysitting me this evening.” Yonkers had called him earlier that morning to ask him to take Friday night for him so that he could take Wren to the city to see a show that she’d been bugging him about. He had scored two free tickets, and Reacher couldn’t tell the guy no—and he especially couldn’t tell sweet Wren no. She was the nicest person on the planet and deserved to have a night out on the town, even if it cost him his Friday night plans.

Reacher shrugged, “It’s not a big deal,” he lied again. It was a huge deal and one that he knew would come back to bite him in the ass later. He had finally gotten the name of a guy who could help him find work in the city and he wanted to meet Reacher tonight for drinks. He had been living off the money that his dad had left him since he rolled into New York. His bank account was beginning to look pretty pathetic with all the money going out and none coming in, but he knew that he was in the right place as soon as he met Hurricane.

He had usually been a wanderer, moving around from state to state after his dad passed. He wasn’t sure where he wanted to settle down, but he was sure that he’d know it once he saw it. The night that he rolled into town and stopped on the side of the road with a flat tire, was probably the luckiest night of his life. His tire blew just outside of the Royal Bastard’s clubhouse and when he saw that, he knew that the universe was giving him a sign. He quickly ran in and found Hurricane and a few other guys hanging out and after he explained his situation to them, they allhelped him out—changing the tire, offering him a place to crash for the night, and even getting him some dinner. He wasn’t sure how he’d ever be able to repay any of the guys, but since he decided to stick around, he had been trying his best to do so.

When Yonkers told him about his mom being sick, Reacher asked him how he could help. It was just how the Royal Bastards worked and there would be no way that he wouldn’t help out one of the guy’s families. Gloria had become that to him too—family. She was like the mom that he never knew and taking care of her was an honor.

“I think that you’re lying to me again, James, but I’ll let it slide if you tell me why,” she said. She walked into the family room, and he followed behind her. There was no way that she’d let him off the hook for telling her and changing the topic never worked out for him—Gloria was too quick for those kinds of tricks.

“Sit,” she ordered, patting the sofa cushion next to her, “and spill it.”

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