3. Lyrius #2
The Lord knew I shouldn’t have been looking at him the way I was, but KO’s body had never been something a woman could just glance at and forget.
He was built like a fighter, six pack and muscles everywhere, and the tattoos across his chest only made him look more dangerously delicious.
My eyes dragged over him before I could stop myself.
Every memory of him rushed back all at once, and all I could see was his hands on my waist, his mouth on mine, the way he used to pull me into his chest like I belonged there.
Then my gaze caught the scar on the left side of his chest just above his heart—a reminder right there on his skin of the night I almost got him killed.
My hand moved before my mind could catch up.
My fingers brushed the edge of it, and KO froze.
The air between us tightened. Then his eyes dropped to my hand.
“Don’t. I got every reason to hate you.” He stared at my soaked shirt.
The thin fabric was doing nothing to hide my hard nipples, and the look in his eyes made heat spread between my thighs.
“You might wanna tell your wet pussy that.” I pulled my hand back like I’d touched a hot stove, and shame hit me for more reasons than one.
“Dry off,” he said, tossing me two dry towels and two T-shirts.
His gaze slid past me, scanning the room, the stairwell, the corners of the gym.
Like he was counting exits or people. I caught the shirts against my chest just as Dae-Dae wandered off toward the boxing ring.
“Dae-Dae, come here for a second,” I called, and he shuffled over, distracted, his eyes still bouncing all around the gym while I peeled the soaked poncho over his head.
“Y’all traveling alone?” KO asked. The question landed heavily. I knew he was checking to see if I’d brought trouble with me.
“Yes.”
“Kid’s father coming?” His eyes dropped to Dae-Dae. The words hit my chest so hard I felt it in my ribs. For a second, my brain didn’t work, because the answer was standing right in front of me.
“No,” I said quickly, and his eyes lingered on my face a second longer.
“Where y’all coming from?”
“Shoreline.” I pushed the damp curls off Dae-Dae’s forehead and dried his hair with the towel. “Fleeing the storm, I thought we’d get further, but the roads . . .”
“Six hours north.” He said it like he couldn’t believe I’d been so close all these years. “Hmph, six hours north. I was sure you’d left the country.”
“I didn’t,” I finally said. “I set up shop in the first place I stopped.”
“Must’ve been nice. Starting over that easy.” The hatred in his voice made my stomach twist, and the silence between us returned. I stood there, holding the dry clothes he’d given me. For a second, I didn’t know what to say. What was I supposed to say?
“Come on, baby,” I said softly to Dae-Dae, forcing my feet to move toward the bathroom near the back of the gym. “Let’s change real quick.”
Dae-Dae followed behind me, dragging his backpack until we made it inside.
I shut the bathroom door and finally let out the breath I felt like I’d been holding since stepping foot in this building.
My hands shook a little as I peeled Dae-Dae out of his damp clothes before tugging on the clean sweats and T-shirt I’d packed for him that morning.
After that, I changed as fast as I could, pulling KO’s oversized shirt over my head and trying not to think too hard about the fact that it smelled like him.
Of course, I’d made sure Dae-Dae had a change of clothes and had completely forgotten about myself.
A few minutes later, and we were stepping back out in dry clothes.
“Mama?” Dae-Dae called, already running back off toward the ring. His eyes were lit up like it was the greatest thing he’d ever seen. “Can I get in there?”
I looked at KO for confirmation, and he nodded his head.
“No shoes,” he said, making Dae-Dae grin like it was the best day ever. He dropped his backpack to the floor and immediately started climbing in.
“Dae-Dae,” I said automatically, moving toward him. “Don’t just throw your—” Too late. His backpack was already tipped over, snacks and toys halfway falling out while he bounced around the ring like the storm outside didn’t even exist anymore.
“Sorry,” I muttered under my breath.
“You can put y’all shit over here,” KO said, pointing at the folding table. “So you can find it if the lights go out.”
I nodded as I walked over to the table to set my bag down. I wasted no time unzipping it and pulling out wipes, snacks, a battery pack, and my son’s small blanket. Dae-Dae was already bouncing around the ring like he’d forgotten the storm outside.
“Is this your ring?” he asked, gripping the ropes as he hopped from one foot to the other. “You fight in here?”
“Sometimes.”
“My daddy boxes.” Dae-Dae grinned as he kept bouncing, throwing little punches in the air, spinning in circles like five-year-olds did, and my chest felt like it was about to explode. Then he paused. His eyes dropped to KO’s waistband, where the handle of the gun was still visible.
“Is that a real gun?” he asked. My stomach tightened. KO glanced down at it like he’d forgotten it was there.
“Yeah,” he said calmly. “But it ain’t for you.”
Dae-Dae nodded like that satisfied him. Then he went back to pacing along the ropes, touching everything like he was trying to memorize the room.
That was when he stopped again. There was a fight poster taped to the wall beside the ring.
He’d seen it before. It was the same one I’d printed off the internet.
He leaned over the ropes to look at it closer.
Then he looked at KO. Then back at the poster.
Then back at KO again. His little face scrunched up the way it always did when he was trying to solve something.
“You KO?” he asked, and I swear my heart stopped. KO’s eyes slanted.
“Yeah, what you know about that?”
“Mama got pictures.” Dae-Dae shrugged as he kept studying him.
“You look bigger than the pictures,” he said seriously. “And your voice sounds different.”
“Yeah.”
The room went quiet. At least it did for me. Dae-Dae kept looking between the poster and KO’s face. Then his eyes suddenly widened.
“Mama.” My chest tightened. “I knew it!”
Before I could move to stop him, he scrambled through the ropes and jumped down from the ring. His little bare feet slapped across the floor.
“Daddy!” He ran straight at KO and wrapped his arms around his legs like he’d been waiting his whole life to do it.
Tears slipped from his eyes, and the room froze.
My world froze. KO didn’t move and looked as if he wasn’t breathing either.
He just stood there, looking down at Dae-Dae clinging to him.
Looking down at our son. Then his eyes lifted slowly to mine.
I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know what to say.
I hadn’t prepared for this. I didn’t know how to explain.
All I could do was nod through the tears running down my face.