Page 38 of Unbreakable Thread

“Dang, you do have it bad. Bethany is a hornet with an attitude. She might just sting you in the ass.”

“Oh, I’m loving the fire in her. It makes my dick hard. And I’ll be the one doing the stinging.” He winks, and I walk off to my office with a grin on my face.

Just before opening the door, Leo calls out, “Max, I forgot to tell you Rainey’s been feeling under the weather. I think she’s coming down with a cold.” He’s been hanging out with her every damn day, and I know this because I hired Johnny again—just last week. Rainey doesn’t know. I didn’t do it to keep tabs on her. In fact, Johnny is the one who called me. He said that with my win, it would be best to keep her safe. There are a lot of people who want to get to me, but I don’t know who. It’s always the shit-talkers. And he has been worried that Daniel will come looking for her.

“Maybe I should text her?” Or I can go check on her at work.

“No. It’s best you give her more days to think, and you know, school.”

“Okay. Let me know if she’s not doing better.”

He nods, and I go back to my office.

The metal chair legs scrape against the tile as I collapse into it, my head falling back against the black vinyl backrest. Pulling out my phone—screen already smudged with fingerprints—I scroll through the carefully curated social media accounts my promoter’s assistant created: posed photos of me I barely recognize, captions written in a voice that isn’t mine. I go back and rewrite some of the captions on the photos. I’m not a fan of social media.

I click on one photo of me sparring at the gym. The comments flood in.

I heard his girlfriend left him. What woman would do that to a man like him?

Oh my, he’s single. I’ll take him. His ex is a bitch.

She’s not even that beautiful. He needs a polished woman. She works at a bakery, is what I heard.

Anger raises my blood pressure. Who in the hell announced the breakup? Only Carlos, Leo, Xander, and Drake know. And what’s this about her not being that beautiful? They must need fucking thick glasses because my girl is stunning. No, I don’t need a polished woman. I need Rainey, and that’s all I’ll ever need. I love every form of her. When she’s caked in flour, when she’s fresh out of the shower, when her hair is up in a bun and she’s wearing lounging clothes. Also when she’s dressed to the nines, and especially when she wakes up. That one is my favorite. As much as I want to talk shit about them, I close the app. Entertaining it will only escalate it. Now I’m relieved Johnny is watching her since they know who Rainey is and where she works.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. Pulling it out, I groan—unknown number. “Hello,” my voice comes out aggressively, still pissed off by the comments.

“Cano.”

I growl at the sound of his voice. “What the fuck do you want, Daniel?”

The pendejo laughs. “I must ruffle your feathers for you to recognize me.”

“You don’t ruffle shit. I know an asshole’s voice.”

“Ahh, but would you recognize this voice?”

My heart hammers in my chest. If he has Rainey, I swear I’ll shoot the son of a bitch myself.

A man’s piercing cry screams into the receiver.

Is it my pops?

Drip. Drip. Drip. Water drips in the background. “Help!” he begs.

“You hear that, Cano? It should be music to your ears. One thing I despise is perverts who hurt children and those who abuse women. I might be cruel and unhinged, but one thing I won’t tolerate is shit like that. A waste of fucking humans.”

Who in the hell is he talking about? Another scream echoes through the walls.

“I’ll leave his face for you. Make him unrecognizable. Consider it a gift—for what he did to your woman.”

My phone vibrates in my ear. I pull it away to see. It’s a text. My nostrils flare with every sharp breath as I examine the photo. I pace the room, every step sharp and clipped. My pulse is hammering under my skin. He’s older now. But that vibe—the kind that makes your skin crawl—hasn’t changed.

Jason.

Chapter 11

Rainey