Dare to Dance: The Maxwell Series (5 page)

Pain exploded. Okay, maybe it hurt more to be hit. I shook my head as I winced and wobbled.

The crowd began to chant. “Hit her again, Mel, before she recovers.”

As I blinked, her fist came around and rammed square into my jaw. I stumbled backward. Before I could center myself, she kicked me in the gut. The air left my lungs. My vision blurred as I held my stomach.

“Come on, Ruby,” Norma yelled. “Win this fight.”

“Nine hundred dollars,” I muttered as I shook off the dizziness.

“You can always walk away,” Mel said in a snarky tone.

I punched out, hitting her just above her left eye, drawing blood. I swung repeatedly, connecting with her jaw, her head, and her face. She returned jab after jab to my nose and anywhere on my face she could get to. The pain ricocheted as though I’d touched a live wire of electricity. Blood trickled down my upper lip. My right eye was cloudy, or maybe it was swollen. I tried to open it as I continued to exchange blows with Mel.

I stepped back to catch my breath and regroup. I used the sleeve of my T-shirt to clear the blood from my face. Mel rolled her neck one way then the other.

The voices in the room droned.

Then she dove at me. Before I had a chance to move, she plunged her fist into my stomach in the same spot she’d landed a kick earlier. I dropped to my knees, blowing out air. Pain or no pain, I had to win the nine hundred dollars. So, I planted two hands on the floor and pushed upright. My adrenaline burned through me at the sight of her bloody grin. I sneered, swore, and went at her, wailing my fists like a madwoman, hitting at nothing but air.

“Damn it, Ruby,” a familiar voice shouted. “Put her lights out already.” His voice was whiskey smooth—a voice that brought back memories of rolling green lawns, cozy bonfires, and dancing under the stars.

I whipped my head in all directions, searching every face in the crowd. I settled my gaze on Norma, who was wide-eyed. As I did, Mel’s fist caught my temple. The room began to darken, and the voices dimmed. I crumpled to the dirt floor. Then blackness.

M
y mouth was permanently opened
as I watched a waif of a girl run to Ruby’s side and tap on her face. I wasn’t sure I could move. I hadn’t seen Ruby since the tenth grade, and I wasn’t sure the girl in this dingy, disgusting dive was even her. Her auburn hair was darker than I remembered. She looked as though she hadn’t eaten in months or years. Her features were drawn and hollow, and her clothes were ratty as if she’d lived in them for weeks.

“Is that your Ruby?” Dillon asked.

My Ruby was supposed to be in some posh ballet school in New York. “Pretty sure.”
What the fuck was she doing in an underground fight?

Dillon’s friend Tommy spoke to the crowd. “Make sure you collect your winnings.” Then he doted on Mel as she smiled, wiping her swollen face with her tank top.

The room began to clear. Some stragglers hung back, talking, cutting up, and laughing. I wasn’t laughing. In fact, I’d been on edge for two days. It seemed everywhere I turned, I hit a wall. Mark Rayburn hadn’t called me back. Kelton had struck out on all counts in trying to obtain information about a drug bust four years ago up in the Berkshires, and Dillon’s contact, whom we’d spoken to only two hours ago, hadn’t been any help. So we’d ended up in this dive. Dillon had wanted to chat with Tommy about money that Tommy owed him. I’d wanted to start visiting prisons to find Ruby’s old man. I was glad I’d stuck with Dillon. Never in a million years would I have thought Ruby would be fighting. Maybe it was fate. Whatever the fuck it was, I wasn’t complaining. It was time to get answers.

The blond girl at Ruby’s side was petting Ruby’s hair, much like one would do with a cat or dog.

Dillon slapped me on the back, jarring me from my zombie state. “Let’s check things out.”

We brushed past two men dressed in tailored suits. Both reminded me of high-powered businessmen on Wall Street. The one with a bulbous nose said, “I’ll check with her pimp.”

Dillon came to an abrupt halt, fisting his hands at his sides. The word “pimp” was vile in his book. He believed a pimp had lured his baby sister into a world where she didn’t belong.

I wrapped a hand around his tense bicep. “Let it go, man.” We weren’t there to get into brawls or start trouble. I couldn’t afford trouble. I was under a magnifying glass by Coach Jay and the media.

There had been an article in the Boston Herald recently about me taking a dive in my last fight. The sports columnist had torn me apart in his recent write-up. “How does a fighter go from a practically perfect record to giving away the fight? Kross Maxwell wasn’t in it to win. I would suspect he was paid to throw the fight.”

I growled. I’d never take money to lose in boxing or any game. Since then, Coach had counseled me to walk the straight line, especially when he found out that I’d ended up at the police station back in March with Dillon, Kelton, and Lizzie. Coach had overheard a conversation between Mark and me when Mark was working out at the gym. I wished Coach had dismissed the incident, but with Gail Freeman’s potential contract hanging in the balance, he’d ridden my ass every day for the last two months. He was making me train as though I would never be good enough to win a fight again.

Dillon trudged up to Tommy, who was standing outside the taped ring, messing with his phone. The room had cleared of people, including Mel. She’d darted out of the place like lightning.

The blond girl was on her knees, still tapping on Ruby’s face. “Wake up.” Then she peered up at Tommy. “Do something or I’ll have your ass on a cutting board.” She bared her teeth at the man.

“She’ll wake up, Norma,” he said. Then his eyes went wide as he noticed Dillon.

“Why does the guy shit his pants every time he sees you?” I couldn’t figure out the relationship. Sure, Tommy owed Dillon money, but I got the feeling the tension went deeper.

“Later,” Dillon said to me. He shook hands with Tommy as though they were meeting for the first time.

Tommy acknowledged me with a flick of his head. I’d met him once before when Dillon had tried to collect his money, only to find that Tommy couldn’t pay him. Dillon had seemed too patient about the matter in my book, but his business was none of mine.

“I got your money,” Tommy said to Dillon.

I squatted down opposite Norma, who had tears in her eyes. I pressed my fingers against Ruby’s neck as I examined her face. Blood painted the area around her nostrils. Her eyes were beginning to swell, one more than the other. A cut on her eyebrow was bloody but didn’t appear to need stitches. Aside from that, she was definitely the girl who’d rocked my world back in the tenth grade—the very same one with a dark birthmark high on her left cheek, buried in the sea of freckles smattered around her nose. Fuck, it gutted me to see her in this condition.

Her pulse beat against my fingers. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. But to be safe, she should go to the hospital. She might have a concussion.”

Norma was fixated on me as though she was seeing a ghost.

I waved my hand in front of her face. “Hello?”

“She’ll be fine?” Norma’s voice cracked.

Tommy chuckled. “They don’t hit each other hard enough to kill.”

Dillon glared at him and so did I. Underground fights could be lethal. It didn’t matter how soft or hard a person punched. The right blow in the right spot could kill a fighter, as could one fall.

He returned a dirty look to Dillon. “What? You’ve been here enough to know they don’t.”

“Where did you find her?” I asked Tommy. There was no sense debating the safety of underground fights.

Tommy raised his hands shoulder height. “She found me. I don’t pick girls off the street, anyway. They always find their way down here.”

Dillon pointed to Ruby. “Is her name Ruby Lewis?”

“No,” Norma blurted out. “She just used the name Ruby for the fight.”

Tommy knitted his eyebrows.

I knew she was lying, but I would play along. The last thing I wanted to do was scare Norma or Ruby when she woke up. “Look,” I said to Norma, who reminded me of a cute little pixie. “I’m searching for someone who looks just like Ruby.” I pushed to my feet. “Tommy, you got some ice and a first-aid kit?”

“I’ll be back.” He headed into a room on the far side of the basement.

“Bring my money when you come back.” Dillon raised his voice then turned to me. “Well, man? Is that Ruby?”

I swung my attention to Norma. “We’re not here to hurt anyone. I want to help. I know your friend is Ruby Lewis.”

She puffed out her cheeks as she grabbed Ruby’s hand. “Then why did you ask?”

Tommy came back with a first-aid kit and a bowl of ice. I made quick work of getting the necessary bandages and antibiotic cream out. I took a gauze pad and dipped it in the small amount of water in the ice bowl. I was about to clean the blood off Ruby’s face when her eyelids flew open. She zeroed in on me, horror flashing in her blue-green eyes. She scrambled away as though I had just come back from the dead. Maybe I had. Maybe I was dead to her. Or maybe she was disoriented.

Norma ran to Ruby, who tried to stand but wobbled. Ruby said something in the blonde’s ear.

“Man, I thought you Maxwell brothers got all the girls, not scared them away,” Dillon said low.

“Not the time, dude,” I said as I went over to Ruby. “I’m sorry I startled you. I wasn’t planning on everything going like this. I just want to clean up your cuts.” If I started with “where is my kid,” she would take off for sure.

She jumped to her feet. “Let’s go, Norma.”

“He wants to help,” she said softly. “At least let him fix you up.”

Ruby grabbed Norma’s hand and tugged her to the stairs. Norma gave me a sorry look as she went willingly. Ruby was acting as if I was the devil on fire and had come to take her to Hell.

A pain stabbed my gut. I probably deserved whatever she wanted to throw my way, but she wasn’t leaving until I got answers. Sure, I couldn’t keep her there against her will, and I wouldn’t. But I had to find a way to make sure she didn’t leave.

She wants nothing to do with you,
my subconscious niggled. Even if she wouldn’t talk to me, Dillon had a way with women. Maybe she would at least let someone who she wasn’t frightened of or pissed at tend to her wounds.

“Dillon, can you help?” I asked in an uneven tone. I was trying to be calm, but questions were on the tip of my tongue, aching to get out, aching to get answers. I was also desperately trying to keep my body from convulsing like a fish out of water.

Ruby waited for Norma at the base of the stairs.

Norma ran back and snagged the first-aid kit from me. “I’m sorry.” Then she scurried to catch up with Ruby.

Dillon ran up to them. “Ruby, please. Let us clean your cuts, or let us take you to the hospital. You might have a concussion.”

Tommy observed us as though he was watching an intriguing movie.

“I’m fine,” Ruby said, but her face twisted as she glared at me.

I wasn’t one for panic attacks, but all the signs were washing over me—racing heart, chest pains, sweat coating my body, and the room was swirling like a F2 tornado.
If you let her walk out, you might never find her again. Don’t lose your chance.

I stalked closer to Ruby, careful not to crowd her space. Apologizing to her might help. After all, that was my plan when I’d gone up to the Berkshires. “I’m sorry for not returning your calls.” I stood three feet from her, itching to get closer and touch her.

“It’s too late for apologies,” Ruby said as she began her ascent up the stairs.

Fuck.
I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes, and shook my head. “Star.” I swallowed then tried again. If she wouldn’t listen to my apology, she might listen to this. “S-Star light. Star bright.” My deep tone carried throughout the deserted basement. “You’re the first star I see tonight.” I pictured us on the lawn at Greenridge Academy on a dark night, in the wet grass, music playing from my phone, the two of us dancing under the stars, or me watching her dance. “I wish I may. I wish I might. You’re the wish I wish tonight.”

I opened my eyes and found Dillon with his eyes as wide as basketballs, his jaw touching the floor. Tommy’s expression matched Dillon’s.

Yeah, I was fucked up. But the nursery rhyme, or my variation of it, had always made her jump into my arms and plant kisses all over my face. Not that I was ready for her to do that. Hell, I didn’t deserve her in my arms. But I hoped the sentiment still worked enough to at least keep her from leaving.

Norma hadn’t moved from the bottom step, except she now had her hand over her mouth. Ruby stood beside her, tears streaming down her face.

I shuffled over to her. My fucking heart was beating out of my chest. I shoved my hands into my jeans pockets so she wouldn’t see them shaking even though I was relieved she hadn’t left.

She held up her trembling hand. “Please don’t come any closer.”

I honored her request. “Ruby, can we go somewhere and talk?” My subconscious was telling me to break the ice. Or better yet, maybe if we got to know one another again, she might open up to me. I quickly erased that thought. We needed time to get to know one another, and at the moment, my heart and soul didn’t have time to wait.

She ran her gaze over me, her one eye swollen shut. “I can’t.” Pain laced her tone, but whether it was emotional or physical, I couldn’t tell.

Norma nudged her in the arm.

“At least let us clean your cuts,” I said.

Even with her drawn features and bruised face, Ruby was still pretty. Beneath the dirt and blood was skin of silk. I remembered how I would drag my fingertips over her nose, her cheeks, and down her neck, feeling her softness. I reached for her, dying to touch her, help her, and protect her.

She shuffled backward.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” I had no idea what had prompted her to fight in this dive, but I wanted to help her, especially if fighting was her gig. I knew sanctioned places that were far better, with laws and rules governing fighters to keep them safe.

She coughed. Then she took off up the stairs, holding her stomach.

“Ruby, please. I just want to talk,” I said loudly. “I know about the baby.”

Norma gasped.

Ruby zeroed in on me from above. “You don’t know shit.” Then in a flash, she was gone.

I clenched my teeth. “Norma, tell me the truth.”

Sadness swam in her brown eyes. “It’s not my story to tell.”

I growled, wanting so fucking desperately to get Norma to at least tell me something. “Please. I can help.” I couldn’t force Norma to tell me, and deep down, I wanted to hear whatever the story was from Ruby. “I train and work at Crandall’s Gym on Newbury Street. Tell Ruby I’m there most days. If not, ask for Jay. He’ll know how to get a hold of me.”

“I’ll relay the message,” Norma said. Then she bolted out the door.

I fisted my hands, looking for something to hit.

Dillon came up beside me. “She’ll come to you.”

“Yeah? How do you know that for sure?”

“Your declaration of love slammed her in the heart. Otherwise, she would’ve been long gone. You got to her. I promise you.”

“He’s right,” Tommy said. “That star shit was something else. I think I even had tears in my eyes.”

“Fuck you,” I said. “It’s not love.” I didn’t care how mushy or less manly I appeared. I would do anything to get answers. Sure, I might have gotten to her some. After all, tears had been flowing down her face. But she’d also gotten to me. I wanted to know her story. I wanted to help. Maybe it was out of guilt, or maybe it was because my heart beat a little faster at the sight of her.

“You keep telling yourself that,” Dillon ribbed.

“I have a feeling she’ll be back,” Tommy said. “She’s hungry for money.”

“Do you know where she lives?” I asked.

“My guess?” Tommy rubbed a hand over his unshaven jaw. “Her and her friend sleep on the streets.”

It was Dillon’s turn to growl. I muttered a curse. Her physical appearance, and that of Norma’s, screamed homeless or at least unhealthy. That made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. If we had a child, then that meant my child was living on the streets. I shouldn’t have let her leave.