Her face softens. “Well, we all do from time to time, honey. Come on in here and let me fix you something to eat while you tell me all about it.”

“No, Nettie. We really can’t—”

“Of course you can,” she completely cuts off Xavier’s attempt to explain that Quinn’s waiting out front for us.

She jerks her head toward the cooking area on the other side of the counter so fast that her braids whip around her face. “Carl, get your butt out here.”

“Hold your damn horses, woman. I’m coming,” Carl calls from the other side of the door that leads back into what I’ve learned is the stockroom /office/break room.

The gray-headed cook swings open the heavy wooden door that separates the front of the restaurant from the back. Carl’s eyes light up as soon as he spots us. “What up, X? You back already? Did you get canned over that match going south the other night? I saw that on TV. Man, you really fu—”

“Hush, Carl. Don’t be jumping to conclusions like that. He’s done told us over and over that everything is scripted. None of them boys really fight.”

“Actually, Nettie, Carl’s right,” Xavier admits. “I got suspended for losing my shit and attacking Rex in the ring.”

Nettie’s mouth gapes open while Carl shouts, “Told ya!” behind her.

“What?” She’s shocked by the news. “I thought you was done with all that fighting bullshit when you turned legit. You know the trouble that comes with laying your hands on another man. You should know better.”

“I know. The guy has been giving me shit for months, and I let it all go, but he crossed the line when he started fucking with Anna. I wasn’t going to allow him to hurt her or take her away from me.”

It stings, hearing him admit out loud that I’m the reason he lost his head in the ring, and it’s all the more reason I need to do everything I can to get him reinstated as quickly as possible. I won’t be able to live with myself, knowing I ruined his career.

Nettie’s gaze drifts over to me for a split second before returning to Xavier. There was uneasiness in her expression that makes me wonder what she’s so worried about. “So, the two of you will be in town for a while?”

He nods. “Yeah, and that’s why I’m here. I need my bike. Anna’s cousin picked us up from the airport and is waiting out front. She’s going to follow us over to my house on Sycamore to drop off our luggage.”

Nettie’s mouth drops open. “You’re going to stay on the Block? You sure you want to go down there?”

“I don’t have any other option. Tension is fining me a hundred fifty thousand dollars. I have to pay in order to keep my ass out of jail.”

“You have to pay that man? I wouldn’t do that. That’s too much damn money.”

“I have to. Giving that asshole money to go along with the explanation Tension created about the situation is far better than sitting in some cell or serving community service. If I don’t pay him, he won’t go along with the story that me beating his ass was a stunt gone too far.”

“So, you’re going to stay in your grandmother’s house? Are you sure you can handle that? You couldn’t even handle coming to her funeral when she passed away last year. How are you going to deal with living in a place surrounded by her things and all the memories they hold?”

It’s the first bit of information that I’ve learned about the house Xavier owns. It’s obvious that something about his grandmother strikes a nerve with him, which explains why he never wants to discuss the house that’s in his name.

“Paying all this money plus getting no pay during the suspension will nearly break my bank account. I won’t have the extra money to live in a hotel. There’s no other option.”

Nettie’s lips roll down into a frown. “If staying at that house overwhelms you, come back and stay in your old bed in the stockroom.”

Xavier gives her a small smile. “Thanks, but I don’t think both of us will fit on a twin mattress in a broom closet.”

“You come to us if you need anything.” Nettie reaches over and takes my hand. Her smooth brown skin is warm as it connects with mine. “That goes for you, too, Anna. Things get out of control, you let me and Carl know.”

“I will. Thank you,” I tell her.

Nettie pulls back and sighs. “Be careful down there, Xavier. Things have changed a lot. Bishop’s running things around the Block now, and when word gets back to him that you’re staying down there, he’s going to come looking for you. I don’t want to hear one peep about you getting mixed up with him again.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve learned my lesson on messing around with those guys. I don’t plan on going back to that life anytime soon.”

She slightly narrows one eye. “Better not. You’ve pulled yourself out of that gutter, and if you mess around and get tangled up with Bishop, old Nettie here is going to whip your butt.”

“Trust me, Nettie. As soon as this suspension is lifted in three months, I’m out of there, and you can go back to checking on the house while I’m gone.”

That answer seems to satisfy her. She lifts her hand and pats his cheek. “Don’t be strangers while you two are in town. Come in and eat whenever you want—on us.”

He lays his hand on top of hers while it rests on his face. “Thank you.”

Nettie takes in a long breath. “Let me go grab your keys from the office. I’ll be right back.”

Xavier reaches down and threads his fingers through mine. It sounds like going back to his old stomping grounds is going to be rough for Xavier. I’m not exactly sure who this Bishop person is, but from the worried expression on Nettie’s face when she was warning Xavier to stay away from him, I’d say he’s bad news.

Chapter 5

Xavier

The rumble of my bike’s engine echoes off the tightly knit houses in the run-down neighborhood that I once called home. Everything is just how I remembered it, except most of the tiny two-story houses now have boarded up windows. I never thought I would be back on this street—never wanted to either—but here I am, moving back into the one house I swore I would never set foot in again.

If it weren’t for my mother making me promise her to always be here at this house so that she could find me, I would not have bought the shithole my grandmother had owned. I felt obligated to buy it when the church she’d left it to put it up for sale. I never had any intention of living in the place that’s the center of most of my nightmares, but it’s where I figured Mom would find her way back to if she were an angel. Mom always came back here when she was fucked up on drugs. It was like she could find it even if she were out of her mind.