Uppercut Princess (The Heights Crew #1)(34)

Magnum’s jaw ticks. For as much power as Johnny has, it always looks like people don’t want to follow his orders. I don’t have the lay of the land yet to draw too many conclusions, but just from the little things I’ve seen. I doubt he has as much power as his father yet. It’s possible he hasn’t proved himself.

Johnny fits his arm around mine, holding me steady. I glance over at him, wishing I could stare into his soul. Not his heart or his brain. Those can be masked. But his soul. The very center of his being. Those are as true, as raw, and as open as anything. Is his tarnished? Has he stained it already?

I don’t know why, but I hope he’s as much of a victim in all this as I am. Maybe everyone tied to the Heights Crew is a victim too. Of their surroundings. Of their circumstances. Of their upbringing.

Oscar’s face drifts into my head.

I take a deep breath and face forward again. “Where are we?”

Clothes hang from mannequins in store shop windows. The style is street chic, I guess it could be called. I look up and down the sidewalk we’re standing on and am struck by how busy it is. Well, comparatively. Instantly, I know we’re not in the Heights. There’s too many people walking around in business attire like they’ve just walked out of their places of employment. People don’t dress like that in the Heights. At least not many.

“Pampering my girl,” Johnny says. He holds the door to the store open for me. When the workers see him, their eyes round and they come right over, calling him Sir and Mister even though they never say a last name to go along with it. “This is Kyla,” he tells them, gripping my shoulders. “She can have whatever she wants.”

I blink up at him. “What?”

He takes my face in his palms. “You’re my girl now, Kyla.” His eyes are bright, almost glittery with excitement. “You can have everything your heart desires.”

I swallow as he brings my hand up to place a kiss on my knuckles, then he passes my hand to one of the women waiting. I look behind my shoulder as I’m dragged away. The girl titters next to me. She’s practically blushing and tripping over herself. She breathes out dreamily like she just saw her favorite actor and wants to melt into a puddle. In the next instant, she’s shaking her head like she needs to clear her mind. “Let’s get you started. I’m Lynette. That’s Ryn. And that’s Glo.”

I give a half-hearted wave to them all. This is the last place I thought I’d find myself in today. I look back to find Johnny taking a seat on a pure white couch in the front area, his arms outstretched over the back cushions like he owns the place. Who knows? Maybe he does. Maybe this is another front for the Crew.

There’s so much I need to learn.

A bottle of water in hand, Magnum strides through the front door. He brings it over to me, gaze on the floor.

I breathe out. “Thanks.”

“God, you must be thrilled,” the girl who Lynette called Glo says. A wishful sigh pushes past her pouty hot pink lips.

“I’m—” I stare at them. I don’t know how to react. This is more than anything I thought would happen. Listen, I’m not immune to clothes. I love clothes. I love girly shit. Just because I like to fight doesn’t mean I can’t do my hair and makeup the next day and still feel as powerful as when I’m slamming someone twice my size into the mats. It’s just I’ve never given into that side of me before. I’ve always been focused on the plan. “I don’t know what to think,” I say honestly. I take a drink from the bottle Magnum got me. The crisp, cool water slides down my throat, cooling off my suddenly flush skin. Afterward, I hold the bottle to my head. It was a mistake not to ice my face last night.

The girls giggle all the way to the back corner. When we arrive, they split off, gathering up different outfits for me after asking what my sizes are. I hardly know. When I was at my aunt and uncle’s, I had to wear a uniform to school, so I didn’t have many other clothes. I had jeans and shirts for lazy days and fancy dresses for when I was forced to attend parties. I’ve grown up since I’ve taken control of my life. The clothes I have on were all bought from Walmart, much to my aunt’s distaste, but I refused to be even more of an expense for them.

It strikes me then that I’ve never picked out new clothes I’ve actually wanted for myself. My parents did it when I was a kid, and after that, my aunt handed over the credit card while I chose whatever was cheapest. I didn’t have much of a choice in anything because I declined to take pleasure in it.

With that thought, I go to the closest rack and pull out a couple of things that catch my eye.

After about twenty minutes, I’m taken to the side of the store, the girls still smiling and laughing next to me. They’ve pulled out many more outfits than I have, some of them gaudy and ridiculous. They take me into a dressing room surrounded by mirrors and hang up all the different outfits. I’m literally in a sea of colorful, revealing, tight-fitting clothes. It blows my mind to see all of them here.

Lynette’s gaze looks around the room and then she nods. “We’ll be right out there if you need our opinion on anything. Rocket is through that curtain,” she says, pointing to a different way out of the room. She winks at me. “If you want him to see anything.”

I smile, the feeling awkward, but a warmth worms through me anyway despite knowing who I’m here with. When they leave the room, I stare at my reflection in the mirror and just shake my head at myself. Last night and into today has been a whirlwind. I can’t imagine what I would be feeling if I was actually a girl who wanted Johnny. Like one of the three outside the curtain right now who are all whispering and laughing with one another about how hot the gangster is.