Beast

  Jen got back to the subject of Allison’s more exciting assignment—the hot ex-cons. Allison took it in stride as their normal boy-crazy girl talk. It was nothing more than harmless intrigue. Her journalist’s mind was hungry to know more about his situation. The underground fighting. Was that where he’d gotten all the scars she’d noticed? She could interview the guy for hours if he let her.

  There was a beep in her ear, and Allison gasped when she pulled the phone away to see what it was. “Oh my God.” The words escaped her before she could compose herself.

  “What?”

  “Uh . . .” She tried to click over to read the text response from Leonardo, but her phone wouldn’t allow it. “I, uh . . . I just got a text from . . . Carson. I forgot to turn something in,” she added quickly to explain her knee-jerk reaction to seeing the text. “Let me call you back.”

  As soon as she was off the call with Jen, she clicked over to read the text. “This should not excite you so much, Allison.” She mimicked her sister’s admonishing tone, even if she was smiling from ear to ear as she began to read Leonardo’s response.

  Text me whatever you need to know and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

  There was hardly a trace of affability. Nothing cutesy about it at all. Yet, Allison couldn’t wipe the ridiculous smile off her face. She knew her text had been too assuming. She hadn’t asked if he’d be okay with more questions, simply asked how he’d like to go about it. She was being trained to do that as a journalist. If she wanted the story—the facts—she had to be unrelenting. Go after it, without the slightest hesitation. It was why, in spite of how nervous he’d made her, she’d forced the courage to ask him for his number today. Part of her had wondered if, even after he’d given her his number knowing full well it was what she’d be texting him for, maybe he’d still turn down the request. That’s what had her smiling so big now. She was in.

  Regardless of how doubtful she’d been that he’d agree to more questions or even bother to respond, Allison was always prepared. She already had a list ready to go. But then who was she kidding? Off the top of her head, she could think of a million things she’d like to ask him. The list wasn’t necessary.

  Without bothering to look for said list, she decided to try and keep this response shorter.

  Leonardo.

  She changed her mind about starting it that way and tried to hit delete, but she hit send instead. “Ugh! Damn it.”

  As quickly as she could, she put together another one, then reread it.

  Thank you, Leonardo. I appreciate this. I’ll have the questions for you in the next day or so. You can respond at your earliest convenience. There’s no rush.

  She hit send, smiling a little too big. The high of any new exciting story always got her giddy. She knew this was all this was, especially because, from her conversation with Carson, it appeared this story might have a better chance of making the bigger headlines.

  As much as she’d like to even entertain more silly thoughts of the intriguing Leonardo, for the fun of it, she worried it might affect the way she handled this story. She may not be as professional if she had any diversions while she was supposed to be focusing on just the story. Like now for instance. She shook her head almost laughing at the irony.

  “Stop thinking about it,” she muttered to herself as she pranced back to the table with her juice.

  The sound of the apartment door opening had her turning without thought before taking a seat. It wasn’t until she’d made eye contact with Lila’s disapproving scowl that she realized how big she was still smiling.

  “Okay,” Lila said, dropping her purse down on the sofa. “What else did this man say to you that still has you all smiles?”

  Shit.

  Five

  Even realizing she’d blown it yet again, Allison was still incapable of completely wiping the smile off her face, so she decided to just go with it. Though she did attempt to save a little face. “Nothing. And who says I’m still smiling about that?”

  “So, you admit you were smiling about that earlier?”

  Damn it. She decided to just concede and be honest. “Look.” Ali said, sitting down in front of her open laptop. “I know for you it’s the norm to be noticed by hot guys—”

  “Now he’s hot?”

  Allison cocked an eyebrow. “Are you really gonna argue that he’s not? I mean, yes, he’s riddled with tattoos, but that body . . . Come on? And you have to admit, despite what you may think of him, he is good-looking.”

  God, was he ever. The more Allison thought about it, the more her insides fluttered. She went on to argue that she could admit her annoying editor was pretty hot too. It didn’t mean anything.

  “I sincerely hope you’re not even considering doing anything with this guy—”

  Allison scoffed before her sister could even finish. Leave it to Lila to take the edge off any of this by saying something so utterly laughable. It really had Allison giggling now. She explained that all she’d done was interview the guy and had kept it as professional as possible. Then she added, “You have to understand this is completely new for me. Unlike you, I’m not used to guys noticing and remembering me, much less guys like him.”

  Instantly, Lila was rolling her eyes. “Ex-cons, you mean? So, what did they do time for?”

  Explaining about Rodney’s boring ole grand-theft-auto charges, Allison smiled inwardly because she knew what Lila would think of her finding Leonardo’s charges far more intriguing. But feeling wicked because she did like to tease her sister, she decided to use Leonardo’s nickname of choice instead of his real name. “Get this. Beast did time for being part of an underground fighting ring.”

  She explained how he hadn’t been fighting when he was arrested but was hauled in with all the others anyway. But she decided to tone it down because, once again, Allison’s fascination about this was all too apparent. So, she left out the part about him already being on probation to begin with.

  “Underground fighting?” Lila sounded as appalled as Allison expected. “And his name is Beast?”

  Allison explained that, despite the name he’d been given because of his days in the fight club, he was now using the boxing ring as therapy. She did a little comparing of her sister to Beast before going into a rant about the unfairness of underground fighting being illegal. “If two grown-ass people wanna fight for the sake of entertainment and have other adults bet on them, then so be it. These laws are all about the government wetting its beak.”

  The rant went on a little longer, and maybe she was going a little overboard defending the illegal not to mention grisly sport, given what Leonardo had shared about it. Of course, Lila made sure to ask if she was done with her interviewing him and confirmed what Allison already knew: that Lila didn’t want her keeping in touch with him if she didn’t have to.

  Allison attempted to be playful rather than deceitful, but she knew Lila wouldn’t be happy about the fact that she wasn’t done with him. “Perhaps,” she said, lifting a brow but continuing to type on her laptop.

  “No perhaps, Ali. I’m serious. If you’ve got everything you need for your story, then I don’t want you staying in touch with this man.”

  And there you had it. Lila was not about to sugarcoat her feelings about Leonardo: a man eleven years Ali’s senior. Allison hadn’t even decided if it was worth arguing about when thankfully Lila changed the subject to talk of them possibly having to find a new place soon.

  “Really?” Allison asked, genuinely surprised as she glanced up at her sister.

  With Lila on her way to fighting professionally and being so damn good at it, she’d since landed a lucrative endorsement deal. Not that she’d need it if things worked out and Lila ended up with her loaded boyfriend forever. But Allison knew her sister. It’d be a cold day in hell when Lila would allow herself to be dependent on anyone else.

  But like the car Lila had bought for Allison, she figured their continuing to live in a low-income apartment buildi
ng was going to change too. Allison was just surprised Lila was bringing it up this soon.

  Lila told her more about Sonny’s offer to move them both in with him. Of course, Allison wouldn’t balk at the idea of moving into Sonny’s big mansion. She just wished her sister didn’t seem so apprehensive about it. The girl over thought everything.

  Lila assured her she was trying to think positive. That it was just a huge decision. “I just wanted to run it past you to see if it’s even something you’d be okay with.”

  Hearing her phone buzz had Allison’s heart speeding up. Thankfully, Lila walked back into the kitchen just as Allison’s eye read who the text was from. Leonardo. Unable to wait until she was somewhere alone, she tapped on her phone screen and read it, confused at first.

  Yes, JELLY?

  Still confused by the odd text, Allison clicked back to her text because she didn’t remember asking him a yes or no question. It’s when she noticed the second text she’d written after her goof of sending the one with just his name was still sitting there unsent. Then she remembered how twice he’d asked her not to call him Leonardo—one of the times he’d been oddly adamant about it. It had her giggling suddenly.

  Scrolling up to the first one she sent him, she realized she’d used his name in that one too. Was he being facetious about her continued use of Leonardo? Or was he really annoyed by it and, judging by Lila’s reaction to his referring to Allison as Jelly, he thought she might be offended by this still? That only made her giggle more.

  “What are you giggling about?”

  Allison’s smile went flat as she glanced up. Just by the way Lila was peering at her, Allison could tell her sister already knew who had her smiling so giddily—again.

  Attempting to make less of it, she shrugged, hitting send on the text she never sent, then sent a follow-up text that explained the one with just his name was a goof and that she’d thought she sent the second one. “He texted me earlier. I thought I’d responded—”

  “He who?” Lila asked, a bit sharply.

  “Beast,” Ali said simply because she refused to start keeping things from her sister, especially some harmless texts.

  “He’s who you’re texting with?”

  Ali glanced up at Lila. Okay, maybe she would have to at least be more careful about toning down her inexplicable excitement over some silly texts. But she still wouldn’t go the untruthful route. She was doing nothing wrong, and the bottom line was, as much as this might bother Lila, Allison was an adult now.

  Still, she’d do her best to put Lila at ease about this. “It’s not really texting. I could swear I’d responded to his earlier text with the info he sent me, but I guess I never hit send. So, he was asking if I got the text.”

  “What else did he say that has you giggling, Allison?”

  Allison smiled big because it just couldn’t be helped. Her heart was still pounding a mile a minute. “He’s still referring to me as Jelly. And I already told you it has nothing to do with my butt spread. It just made me giggle to see it written out.”

  Seeing another text from Leonardo pop up on her phone screen had Allison standing up quickly. She could only keep up the nonchalant act for so long.

  “I have to get this story written, at least the first draft, so I can run it past my editor tomorrow,” she said, closing her laptop and gathering her things, explaining she’d be doing so in her room.

  Unable to help herself, she glanced down at the text preview on her screen.

  That’s three times now, Ms. Allison or . . .

  With her heart at her throat now, Allison felt guilty lying, but there was no way she could share her excitement of what sounded like another facetious text from someone so not the type. Mindful that, when she was not being completely forthright, she tended to have diarrhea of the mouth, Allison held up her phone as she started out the room and attempted not to spew.

  “See that’s all he wanted: to confirm I got his text. I’m not texting with the guy, so don’t worry. Aside from his jelly remark, he was actually very professional. Used some big words too. In fact, he came across as pretty smart. He’s not as loathsome as I know you’re thinking, Li. But again, you have nothing to worry about. This is probably the last I’ll hear from him.”

  Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!

  Talk about violent diarrhea of the mouth. Lila appeared to be ready to respond to Allison’s spewing words, but fortunately, the tea kettle went off, interrupting the moment. Allison hurried to her bedroom door, stopping just before going in.

  She turned to her sister with a big smile before Lila could get back to the subject. “Let me know when we move into that mansion.” She winked at Lila then added, “Stop over thinking everything, Sissy. I think you and Sonny are perfect for each other.”

  After a few more encouraging words from Ali assuring her she truly believed Sonny’s feelings for her were genuine, Lila finally smiled and took a deep breath with a shrug. “I’ll give it a few days before I decide. But I’ll let you know as soon as I do.”

  With the subject changed successfully, Allison said goodnight and made a quick exit. The moment she was behind the closed door of her bedroom, she was smiling big again as she read the whole text from Leonardo.

  That’s three times now Ms. Allison or is it Jelly? As long as I’m Leonardo to you, you’ll be one of the two to me. Personally, I prefer Ms. Allison for our professional relationship, but I’ll leave it up to you.

  This was what she hated about texts. You could never just assume someone was playing around or serious. Being playful in any way was so unlike the broody man she’d interviewed today. She was more inclined to believe he was serious, possibly even annoyed by her continued defiance of his one request from her.

  He was doing her a favor. Allison didn’t want to ruin this by being unprofessional. Since he’d pointed out that this was what their relationship was, she’d keep it that way. She tapped away at her screen as she always did, as quickly as possible. When she read the text back carefully, she frowned at the number of typos and incorrect autocorrects her phone had taken the liberty of making. She fixed the mistakes then read it back again.

  My bad, Beast. Personally, I prefer Leonardo. But I’ll try to be mindful from here on about what you prefer to be called since I prefer Ali or Allison over the other two options.

  She added one more sentence just to say she was putting the questions for him together and should have them to him by the next day. Setting her phone down, she smiled as she placed her hand on her chest. Her silly heart was still thundering away.

  It made her think of the only other time she could remember her heart ever doing that. In the beginning of her first semester of her journalism class when she’d met Carson, both her and Jen’s jaws had dropped when the professor introduced the editor of the school’s paper to the class.

  He looked like something straight out of a soap opera. He was tall and well-built with light brown hair that had these natural golden highlights. His eyes were a light sexy gray, and his teeth were so straight and white she first thought him too perfect.

  For a better part of those first few weeks, her heart had thundered incessantly every time he addressed her or she had to run something by him. That was until he turned into a pompous jerk.

  Apparently, he didn’t like being corrected and didn’t take constructive criticism well, even if she had done so in the most polite and well-meaning way possible.

  The buzzing of her phone on her dresser pulled her out of her Carson thoughts. Seeing the name on the screen instantly had her heart hammering again. She’d been certain she’d heard the last of Beast for tonight. Already chewing the corner of her lip with anxious anticipation, she picked it up and read the text.

  Her mouth fell open as she read it. Once again, she had no idea what to make of his puzzling hot-and-cold personality. But then this being a text, she also had no idea how to interpret it.

  Six

  BEAST

  Downing what was left of the
water in his glass, Leo peered at his roommate’s too smug expression. “What did you do?”

  “I took care of it,” Orlando said, laying Leo’s phone down on the kitchen counter.

  Leo walked over to where his roommate put it down, almost afraid to look at what this asshole did. “I swear to God, O, I will beat your fuck—”

  He stopped when he read the words on the text already sent to Allison.

  Why tomorrow? I’m free to chat tonight. Get the questions together and give me a ring. I look forward to it.

  Just as Orlando started to chuckle, Leo slammed his glass into the sink. His roommate’s stupid smile went flat as chards of glass splattered everywhere.

  “What the fuck?”

  “What the fuck’s right!” Leo barked back, holding out his phone to Orlando. “Fix this shit. I don’t want her calling me!”

  “What’s your problem? You said you wanted to be done with this.”

  “She’s a kid—”

  “So what? She wants to interview you, not fuck you. And I thought you said she was a college student. Last I checked, most college students are adults. What’s the big deal?”

  “I didn’t wanna do the interview in the first place, O.” Leo huffed as he trudged past Orlando and out the back door because he had a sudden desperate need for air. As expected, Orlando followed close behind. “Now she thinks I’m looking forward to chatting with her because of your dumb ass.”