Page 51 of The Fighter

And then he lunged at me. His long arms caged me against his body, wrapping around my ribs. He hugged me so tight that I could barely breath. His heart pounded against mine, and he still shook as he ducked his head into my neck. I hesitantly hugged him back, closing my eyes as I sank into the realization that Tav gavegreathugs. I’d never been a hugger. I didn’t get the fuss, and I didn’t like to feel trapped. But I’d happily stay like this forever, wrapped up in Tav’s strong arms.

Eventually he pulled back, and his eyes met mine. I didn’t see tears there, but I saw enough emotion that warmed me from the inside out. “Thank you,” he said simply.

I brushed the hair at his temples, and he leaned into my touch like a cat. “Of course.” I motioned to the stool next to mine. “Tell me about your sister. Then I can show you the gym.”

He chewed his lip and then sank down onto the stool next to me. I shoved my laptop away, wanting to give him my full attention. He didn’t speak for a minute, but when he turned to me, his eyes light in his unguarded face, he unleashed.

It was like he’d been holding in his love for his sister for years, and he likely had. But now he told me everything, about how he and Amara were only a year apart and merely toddlers when their single mother died of a drug overdose. How the foster system thankfully kept them together as they entered their first foster home where they stayed before moving on to another.

“It was okay,” he said. “They had a lot of foster kids, so we weren’t special, and it never felt like a family, more like a group home. But Amara and I took care of each other.”

“What were you like as a kid?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I was big even at a young age, and I had a lot of energy. So I got into a lot of trouble when I just couldn’t sit still. There was a gym near us that held free jiu jitsu classes to kids who qualified for assistance. My foster parents put me in it, hoping to wear me out, I think.” He rubbed his knuckles on his thigh. “I liked it, and I was good, and then the instructor Raph took an interest in me, so much so that he invented some scholarship thing so I could get free classes with the rich kids. The parents hated me because I crushed theirprinces.” He grinned at that.

I returned his smile and rested my hand over his on his thigh. “Good boy.”

His quad muscle jerked under my touch. “Yeah, I was. Or I tried to be.”

“What was Amara like?”

His eyes lit from within. “She was so smart, Con. Really smart. School wasn’t my thing, but it was hers. I used to help her make flashcards so she could memorize math problems or history facts. She came to every practice of mine she could,and she attended every single fight. She used to make signs to cheer me on and gave me a nickname—Tavin ‘The Gavel’ Ridley because I was good with my elbows. The red ribbon I tie on my arm when I fight? That was from her. I still wear it every time, even if she isn’t there to see it.” He blew out a breath. “She’s everything to me. And I was everything to her.” His eyes squinted as pain bled into his expression. “But she liked boys a lot. Then men. She just… she wanted to be loved so badly, and not in the way I loved her.” He glanced up sharply. “But she wasn’t weak. She wasn’t at all.”

“I believe you.”

He swallowed. “By the time she turned eighteen, she had met Dennis at one of my fights.” His fingers curled into a fist under my hand. “And he was such a smarmy fucker. Charming and fake as fuck. Lured her right in, knocked her up, and then didn’t even have the decency to break up with her. He was going to kill her, Con. Hewas.”

Dennis had always been a piece of shit. I knew exactly the charm he held, and I’d seen plenty of girls and women fall to his seduction only to find out too late that he was the worst decision of their lives. “I’m never going to judge you for what you did, you understand that, right?” I gripped his chin lightly, so he was forced to look in my eyes. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

“Okay,” he whispered. He blinked, and his lips curved into a soft, sad smile. “Amara was so happy when she got pregnant. She always wanted a family. She started calling me Uncle Tav the day after she saw two lines on the test. And I wanted it too, that family, even if I had to tolerate Dennis.”

I was going to give him his family back. I was going to give him everything. I rubbed my thumb over his bruised bottom lip. But for now, I made him a promise I knew he could handle. “I’ll keep her and Holden safe for you.”

His eyes searched mine, and I knew he didn’t quite believe it yet. I was ninety-nine percent sure he trusted me, but I didn’t think he trustedlife. So he didn’t respond, and that was fine. Words didn’t matter anyway. Actions did. My next question felt invasive, but I wanted to know where his head was at. “Do you resent her at all?”

He chewed the inside of his cheek. “I did at the beginning. I was so angry then. But Devlin held all the cards. Dennis had talked him up to her, so she trusted him. And he…” he swallowed. “He showed her pictures of me passed out in his basement with a needle in my arm. Fake, of course, but she didn’t know that.”

“Was that when he—?” I could barely say it.

“Yeah, that was right after Dennis died. When he locked me up for a week.”

I tamped down the surge of rage that threatened to burn my insides.

“Because of how our mom died, that was the ultimate betrayal to her. Not that I can explain to her. Devlin forbids me to contact her. And even if I could tell her the truth, then I’d have to explain that the father of her son was a piece of shit. That the kid she loves so much carries the blood of a man who had planned to murder them both. What kind of brother does that make me?” He shook his head. “I don’t know if I can put her through that.”

He had a point, but I had to believe his sister would rather know the truth about the brother she loves. I knew she had to still love him. Tav waslovable.

He winced. “Do you get where I’m coming from?”

I didn’t have a sister, or any siblings for that matter, so it was hard for me to be empathetic about his situation. I still couldn’t reconcile the way he’d sacrificed his life the last five years, but I did understand Tav’s heart now more than I had before. Andhis decision made sense, as much as I wanted him to be more selfish. That was okay. I’d be selfish for both of us.

A loud buzz filled my apartment, and Tav jerked in my hands, head immediately whipping down the hallway in the direction of my front door. I glanced at my watch. “I’m sorry, I forgot. You have a follow-up doctor appointment.”

“I have a what?—?”

I was already down the hall to buzz the doorman back and tell him to let up Dr. Samantha Rosen. The only person I trusted to touch Tav other than me. And maybe old man Lary.

Dr. Rosen was at my door in under a minute, smiling at me as she placed her dark-skinned hand in mine to shake it. “Hey there, Mr. Stafford.”