Fighting Shadows (On the Ropes #2)(80)

Nervously chewing on her bottom lip, she popped open the top.

Then I ducked as she hurled it at me.

“Son of a bitch!” she screamed.

I roared with laughter. “What is your problem?” I said, snatching the long balloon she’d found inside the box from her hands and blowing it up.

“You told me to get excited. Now, you’re just being mean.”

I tied off the end of the balloon and handed it to her. “You should be excited. There’s a clown in the backyard waiting to make that into whatever animal you can possibly think of.”

Her glare softened as a smile grew on her mouth. “A clown? Seriously!”

“I remember I kinda hijacked you from the one at Blakely’s party. Figured I should start making that up to you.”

She quickly scrambled from the car, pausing only long enough to say, “Stop f*cking with me, but I love you.” Not bothering to wait for me as I climbed back up on my crutches, she sprinted out the back door.

I chuckled when I heard her scream as all of the guests hiding in the backyard shouted, “Surprise!”

I didn’t follow her out the door though.

I needed a minute.

Sucking in a breath, I filled my lungs with every bit of the future I never thought I would have. Then, closing my eyes, I became lost in the present I never wanted to leave. Five years earlier, I wouldn’t have been able to imagine a day when the constant fight finally became worth it.

Maybe she was the reason for the struggle all along.

I remembered it all.

I heard the gun.

I felt the bullet.

I saw her fall.

In less than a second, my life as I had known it was over.

But unquestionably, I would do it all over again.

For her.

“Don’t you dare hide in here. The clown just handed me a little, black box.”

My eyes popped open, and she was smiling in the doorway with the bright afternoon sun lighting her from behind.

“Yeah, about that,” I said, starting in her direction. “You should probably stay out of the bounce house.”

“Flint!” she squealed as I crushed my mouth over hers.

For Ash.





“DID YOU HAVE FUN TODAY?” Flint asked as we lay in the weeds, staring up at the night sky.

Rolling off his shoulder, I propped myself on an elbow, facing him. “Fun would be the understatement of the century. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing today was.” I paused. “Even your stupid boxes.”

That day was easily one of the best of my entire life. Flint had gone above and beyond throwing me a birthday party in the backyard. Most twenty-year-old women would have scoffed at how juvenile it all was, but not me. From the clown to the bounce house, right down to all the people who came and covered a table with gifts, it was perfect.

With the exception of the occasional cake my father had bought when I was a kid, I’d never had a birthday party.

I’d also never had a car.

Or a dog.

Or a man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

Yet, suddenly, I had them all.

Flint’s chest shook with humor as he pulled me back down. “You know, for a girl who laughs as much as you do, you sure didn’t act like those boxes were very funny.”

“Oh, shut up.”

He scooted out from under me and shifted to his side. “Also, for a woman who spent her formidable years pickpocketing and hustling for your father, you sure weren’t very careful when you put that engagement ring back in the box after finding it in my desk.” He arched a knowing eyebrow.

Shit! “You knew?” I squeaked.

He winked. “I know everything, Ash.”

I slapped him on his chest. “I panicked, okay? I heard you coming back from lunch, so I just threw it in there.”

“Sounds like an excuse to me,” he teased, reaching out to grope my ass—a grope I quickly returned.

Smirking, he held my gaze until I worked up the courage to say, “Sooooo . . . about that ring?”

“I’m glad you asked.” He pulled yet another little, black box out of his pocket.

I’d seen the bulge in his pocket earlier, but I’d seen so many of them over the course of the day that it didn’t even excite me anymore. Actually, that’s a lie. Each one had excited me, but I’d given up hope that any of them actually contained a ring.

Until he produced that one.

“Ash, I love—”

Snatching the box from his hand, I yelled, “Give me that!”

“Hey!” he objected, but I jumped out of his reach before he could take it back.

My heart raced as I slowly opened the box, revealing . . .

“A piece of paper? You have got to be shitting me.” I threw the box at him, but while he did bat it away, he didn’t laugh.

I glanced between Flint’s serious stare and the tightly folded notebook paper for several beats, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It wasn’t a ring. But what I couldn’t figure out was why he looked nervous.

Flint sat all the way up and grabbed his crutches as I unfolded the paper.

Newsies

Get shot in the back.

Become a horrible human being.

Pineapple banana juice.

Graffiti a building.