“Yeah?” He straightened from stretching.

I pointed to the picture. “How long have you known Noah?”

He came over and stood behind me. One of his hands rested on the side of my hip, but he didn’t pull me in. It was just there. His chest skimmed against me lightly as he took a deep breath. “That wasn’t long after-”

“After AJ died.”

“Yeah.” He sounded sad. “He was some punk kid coming in, looking for a job.”

“Really?” I glanced over my shoulder.

His eyes were lidded, going through past memories. He laughed, a hollow echo to it. “I was there when he approached one of the new guys. It was a bakery downtown. That was where some of the product was hidden. I was collecting money for Farve, who laughed when he saw Noah. He pulled up in a fancy car, wearing khakis and a purple vest. He looked ridiculous. Rich punk with daddy issues. That’s what Farve said when he pointed him out.”

“What’d you do?”

“Nothing. Well, nothing to him. I told our guy not to give him a job. Then I was notified a month later that Noah was back demanding a job, so I told the guys to bring him to me. I think Farve thought I’d lost my mind. I wasn’t high on the ladder yet, but high enough with enough clout by then for people to do what I said.”

“What happened?”

He laughed again. Fondly. “They brought him to me and I told him if he wanted a job, he needed to take me down. He mouthed off, said he could do whatever he wanted. That’s when I told him that I was the guy who’d be coming after him if he didn’t make the right payments so he better know what he was getting into.”

“Did he take you down?” I grinned as I asked. I already knew he couldn’t, not then.

He chuckled and shook his head. “No. He still can’t. He can overpower me, but I’m quicker.”

“Like hell you are.”

Noah stood there, a wide smile stretched over his face, as he held a gym bag over his shoulder. He wore a similar shirt like Carter, ripped in places and looking like something he bought from a thrift store. His pants were even worse. Gray, faded in places so much that his skin shown through. The pockets looked like they’d been ripped out long ago. A deep chuckle reverberated from him. “Those are fighting words, my son.”

Carter chuckled. “That’s what I said to him all those years ago.”

It took a moment before I realized Carter had addressed that to me. He nodded towards Noah, who stood next to me now. “She asked about this picture. I was telling her how we first met.”

“Yeah.” A dark haunted look appeared over Noah as he sighed. “That was around the time Theresa’s parents died. I was close to her dad and was f**king angry at the world. I wanted to do damage. I don’t know if it was to myself or to others. Anyways,” he blinked a few times and the darkness disappeared. He forced a smile instead. “Don’t matter now. This man never let me anywhere near that lifestyle.”

Carter had been watching as well but caught my gaze and squeezed my hip. “I paid for his first fight.”

A genuine laugh rippled from the bigger guy. “And all the rest since.”

“You were his sponsor?”

“More or less.” Carter shrugged. His icy blue eyes grew thoughtful again. A shiver went over me. He was remembering AJ. I didn’t know how I knew it, but I did. He murmured, “He reminded me of your brother. Same look in his eye, angry and hurting. Ready to fight. When I saw the kid had talent, I knew he had a different future for him.”

“Kid?” Noah reached around me and punched his shoulder. “I’m two years older than you, man.”

“Age doesn’t mean a thing. I’m older and wiser.” Carter winked at me. “I’ll always be older and wiser.”

“My ass, you will,” Noah griped, but the fondness was evident between the two. As they moved for the fighting ring, I studied more of the pictures. There were more of the two dressed in business suits and still more of action photographs. Noah was in the ring, a feral snarl on his face, his biceps bulging as his fist was clenched and ready to make contact with his opponent. The word “Knockout!” was written underneath. My eyes drifted over the photograph and I sucked in my breath. Carter was in the background. A large and imposing man was next to him. This man sent chills down my back. If I ever saw him in person, I would’ve been terrified. A scar ran across the entire length of his forehead and his eyes were dead.

I glanced to Carter now. He and Noah had moved to the ring to stretch together.

That was his life then. Sometimes I forgot about whom he worked with and what he had done. That was the stranger side of him, the side he kept hidden from me. It came out. I glimpsed it at moments, when we had been ambushed by the cars and with Ben, but it was different. Those moments had been in-the-moment. He had been defending me, but there were times when he didn’t have to defend people.

I drew in a ragged breath.

My heart felt like a hand was squeezing it tight.

I couldn’t forget that side of his life. But then he glanced over and his gaze pierced mine. The hand tightened once more of my heart before it pounded with renewed vigor. It broke free of whatever hold that was and a different sensation flooded me.

Addiction.

And something else. A dark strength.

No matter what path Carter would take us, I’d go with him. I was becoming like him.

“Emma. Come over here. I want to teach you this move.”

I turned and followed. I’d always follow.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The bigger man was waiting when Carter stepped out of his car. They had picked their old meeting place for a reason. No one would be around the abandoned warehouse, but three cars circled the block. Men got out and spread around.

Carter nodded in greeting. He hadn’t been thrilled to hear from his old colleague, but he wasn’t surprised. There’d been no word on Franco’s body. There should’ve been word. The radio sounded from his man. “All clear, sir.”

No time was wasted. Carter asked, “What’s the reason for this, Gene?”

The older and bigger man grinned, but it looked like a sneer. The scar across his forehead stuck out that night. The moonlight illuminated it, casting a shadow over the man’s eyes. Carter didn’t need to see them. He knew this man too well and he knew his comrade was troubled.