The Fighter's Block (43 page)

“What about the money. What have you found out about that?”

“She took it out to help her sister buy a
newer car
. Jaime refused to accept it, so when Dani put it back in the
bank,
she put it in your account.
She said it’s more of a savings account that way. Apparently you’re a tightwad.
The story
adds up, but there’s still a matter of the
twenty-five
grand that went into Brian’s account. He put it in himself and removed it himself, so he got it from somewhere.”

“What about her parents?”

“It’s my next step
, and I really don’t like those two
. So far nothing has come up from their end, only that they really don’t like having
their
image tarnished.”

Van could only smirk.

“There was no banking activity on their end, but that doesn’t mean anything.
Twenty-five
thou
isn’t
a big deal for those people. Pocket change.
Her mom is
a manipulative piece of work, a
nd her dad is a smooth-talking businessman. I think they know more than they’re sharing, I just have to prove it. They certainly don’t care about what happens to
you
, as long as their daughter comes out unscathed.
”

Van
scoffed
with
frustration
but asked,
“
Dani
still coming to visit tonight
?”

“
I believe so
.”

Van sighed and shook his head.
He couldn’t even keep the days straight.
He wished her visits weren’t limited, but at least he’d been allowed to
see her. It was through a goddamn plastic window, but it was better than nothing
.

“I
wanna
know
who you’ve
got spying on my wife.”

“That should be the least of your worries.”

“My wife is the
only
thing I worry about. She’s all that matters to me.”

“You can worry about her all you want if you get stuck with a life sentence. Why don’t you do yourself a favor and worry about
you
. Let’s work on
getting you out of here, Van, s
o you can spend your life taking care of her instead of worrying about her from behind bars.”

Van didn’t reply.
He felt torn between lashing out at Jack and hanging his head in defeat. But he wasn’t a quitter, and even though he understood what his lawyer was saying, worrying about Dani was what kept him going. And what was he supposed to do to help himself out, anyway? If he were to be
assertive
about his situation, he’d be out there clearing his name.

Instead, he was stuck in a shit hole with only a pot to piss in.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Cole!” Dani called. He was just about to head down the stairwell but must not have heard her. “Cole!” she called again, hurrying down the hall to catch him.

He heard her all right
and couldn’t believe his poor luck. 86,400 seconds in a day and she caught
him in
his ten second flee
from his
apartment to the stairs?

Unbelievable.

“Cole!
Jesus
,
are you deaf?” she lightly laughed as
she spotted him just before he turned for the next level.

He took the ear buds out of his ears, accomplices in his deceit, and said, “Huh?”

“Oh, you’ve got music on,” she smiled him, joining him at the half level.

He avoided eye contact by pretending to turn it off.

“Are you running?” she asked
, looking over his attire
.

More than you know
, he wanted to answer. “Uh… Why? Did you need something?” Damn, why’d he have to ask?

“Well I though
t
maybe you were going to the gym.
I’m heading to see Van and
I
have
something for Mickey if you
are
.”

He couldn’t help it. He. Could not. Help it. “Actually I am headed for the gym. Sure, I can take it to him. What is—
?
”

“Follow me,” she said. She headed back up the stairs and he couldn’t help it again. He stared at her ass.

With a heavy sigh he shook his head and drudged back up to the fourth floor. She was already headed into her apartment and left the door wide open for him.
At the same time, Gary was coming from his own apartment and
watched Cole walk right into 4C.

Cole left the apartment door open behind him when he entered, just so
Gary
could see the innocence of it when he passed by.

“It’s nothing important,” Dani spoke from across the room. She was shuffling through some papers near her computer and pulled out a folder. “I’m heading to visit Van in a
bit
but I wanted Mickey to see this first.”

“How come you can’t give it to him yourself?” Cole asked. He knew it was rude but for some reason he needed his own justification.

She turned to him with sadness drawn on her face. “I just can’t. It’s really hard to be in there and… I don’t know. I guess I’m just being ridiculous, but I don’t want to be there unless Van can be there.
And Mickey… It’s just the same feeling. Being around him makes me feel…
”

She dropped the
large
folder on the coffee table, whether she meant to or not. And then she sat on the couch. She sat. Waiting to talk about it? Cole knew the answer
to that and sighed to himself. Gary was gone so h
e shut the door behind him and slowly made his way over.

“Well I’m sure
Van
wouldn’t want you to go there and be sad,” he said. “But…”

She looked at him curiously. She desperately wanted his opinion if he was going to offer one.

Reluctantly, he sat on the couch. The opposite couch, but damn it, he was in the same room with her. He leaned onto his knees and rubbed his forehead
. “I’ve known people that have been locked up,” he told her. “For one reason or another, good people and bad pe
ople. But I know one thing. They
always have people they care about, and they spend a lot of time thinking and worrying about them. The truly selfless ones want their loved ones to be happy and enjoy life, despite the circumstances. I know that Van wants that for you. He’s worrying, and he’s going to keep worrying, and the only thing that’
s going to help him feel better
is to hear that you’re not shutting out the people and things that are important to
him
.”

“I’m not shutting people out,” she replied, but as soon as she said it, she knew it was only a partial truth. She sighed. “You’re right. Deep down it’s how I really feel. The people here are great, they’re like family, but sometimes… Yeah, a lot of times I just don’t want to be around anyone. It’s not the same without Van. I love his friends dearly but… I don’t know how to explain it. I just feel like I’m their project, their assignment, while Van is gone. I don’t like to feel like someone’s job. You, on the other hand,” she smiled. “I’m really glad you moved here, Cole. I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but I like the fact that you’re an outsider, too.
Like me.
You don’t know Van so your friendship is different to me. It’s better for me because you’re
my
friend, not just Van’s first. I’m sure that sounds
childish
but… Thanks for that. You’ve been really good for me. I appreciate just being able to talk without feeling like an assignment.”

Oh my God
if you only knew
,
he wanted to shout. But her innocent smile turned his stomach upside down. It wasn’t fair. Why the hell was he being punished with this job? It’s why he decided to call it quits, and now, to hear her tell him he’s been good for her?

“But I
have
been trying,” she continued. “I’ve made myself be around everyone because that’s what Van would want. I know they care about me, so I’ve been trying.”

“I know you have,” he replied honestly. “But I’m just speaking from the other side of the bars I guess.
Just a little insight.
Anyways,” he said, standing up. “What do you got for me? I’ll take it to Mickey, but just don’t avoid him forever
,
okay?”

She smiled and stood too, reaching for the folder. “Advertisements,” she announced, pulling one of them out. “Just sample ideas for upcoming fights. Here’s Cody’s,” she said, handing it to him.

Cole looked it over and nodded his approval. “Nice. That’s really great, Dani.”

“It looks okay? I mean I haven’t been around the fight scene to
o
long but I did a little bit of research to see what these things should look like.”

“No, it’s great. In fact, it’s pretty awesome.”

She smiled, truly pleased. “Here’s another one,” she said, handing him one for an upcoming cash tournament
. “This is actually a job I snatched from another co-worker,”
she grinned. “I couldn’t resist
.”

“It looks great. This is
a paid project
then?”

“Yep. I finished this just before Van, uh…
Anyways, that’s the tournament next month that Van, um… Well, he’ll be in it. He’ll be there.
”

“It looks good,” he nodded.

“Well, you get the idea. I did some sample ones for other fighters, but I’d like new pictures for them. I just thought I’d let Mickey take a look at them.”

“Sure. Yeah, I’ll give ‘em to him.”

“Thanks, Cole. I appreciate it.”

He only nodded, took the folder from her, and headed for the door. He needed to get the hell out of there.

“Hey, Cole?” she asked, stopping him in his tracks. Actually it was his heart that put on the brakes and the rest of him
stupidly
followed. He needed to rip that damn thing out of his chest.

“Yeah?” he tried to say casually.

She seemed uncomfortable for a moment, like she wasn’t sure she wanted to say what she’d planned on saying. It made him curious as hell, and he even took a step closer, eager for her words.

“Your ‘speaking from the other side of the bars’ comment… That meant you, right?” she asked carefully.

His eagerness fell and he barely swallowed. But he answered her with, “
Yeah, that
was me.”

She looked sympathetic. “Could you share more? If you don’t want to I understand but—”

“I was a petty thief for quite a while. Side job, I guess. I could break into anything.”

She barely smiled. “How long ago?”

He shrugged. “I was a stupid teenager
and then some
. Spent a few years using my talents for good and bad, I suppose. Served some time here and there and eventually learned my lesson.”

“What about your family and the construction business? That wasn’t a priority?”

He studied her for a moment, wishing he could tell her the truth. There was no family. No family business. No real friends. No moral compass, either. “Uh, no. I guess I was a bit r
ebellious back then and didn’t
care. Disappointed my family. But my life is different now,” he said, with more faked enthusiasm than he thought he had.

“I’m glad,” she smiled. She walked towards him and he wanted to run for his life. He knew exactly what Dani had in mind and he knew he couldn’t take it. She reached out and gave him a hug. A very sisterly act with a pat on the back, but she was touching him and he couldn’t move. She pulled away and said, “You’re a good person, Cole. Thanks for being my friend. It’s my turn to do some confessing next time, okay?” she promised.

He forced another smile because of the irony. He already knew everything about her and she was hardly full of confessions. But he just replied, “Sure. Take care, Dani. Have a good visit with Van.”

And he hauled ass out of there.

“Oh it’s so good to see you,” Van exhaled.

He
put his fingertips against the glass where hers were, and even though he enjoyed seeing her, it pissed him off that he couldn’t touch her. He wanted to wrap
his arms around
her
and
take
in a
de
ep breath to absorb her scent. Instead he studied her beautiful face, needing
to store
the image
to get him through to the next time he saw her.