Fight for Her by Kelly Favor (book club books .txt) 📗

Things tend to die down between two and four.”

“I’m Krista by the way,” she said to Caden, who smiled and nodded. He was wearing a white apron. She still couldn’t believe how much alike the two of them looked.

“You hungry, Krista?” Caden asked.

She smiled back. “A little bit.”

“You like grilled cheese? I make the best grilled cheese in the state. Trust me.”

“I love a good grilled cheese. That would be amazing.”

Caden clapped his brother on the shoulder and walked back to the kitchen.

Cole watched him go. “He’s trying to impress you,” Cole said. “Want something to drink?”

“Diet Coke would be great.”

He poured her a Diet Coke and then handed her the cold glass. “I noticed you were hanging out with Gunner this morning.” His voice was offhand, but she sensed a deeper curiosity in the statement.

She looked at him, trying to determine why he was mentioning it, but Cole’s eyes didn’t give anything away. He could have just been making small talk after all, she decided.

“Yeah. I was going to do an article about him,” she said.

Cole’s eyebrows shot up. “Really.”

“Is that so strange?”

Cole laughed, grabbing a rag and wiping down the counter, not because it needed it—almost like it was just habit. “The Gunner I know is not a fan of talking to the media—especially not lately.”

“Well, the interview didn’t turn out so great,” she admitted. “He got mad and left.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised.” Cole glanced at her again. “What’s your plan now?”

“I’m honestly not sure.” She took a sip from her Diet Coke. It tasted cold and good and soothed her a little. “Do you know him well?”

“Is this off the record?”

“Yes,” she said. In fact, she thought, you have no idea just how off the record this is, given that I’m not even a journalist.

“I’ve known Gunner for a bit. He’s originally from Massachusetts, and he has relatives in the area. When things started getting crazy for him with all the fame, he bought a place here in Middle River so he could occasionally get away from the madness.”

“So he would come here periodically?”

“Yeah, he would come in between fights or when he wasn’t training in Vegas.

Seemed like he came here less and less the last couple years, though. And when I did see him, he was different.”

“Different how?” she asked, feeling like Cole was onto something important.

Cole glanced up at her uneasily. “I’m not sure I should really be talking about this sort of stuff to you. Sorry. I guess I was just thinking out loud.”

Caden hit a tiny bell with his palm. “One grilled cheese, ready to pick up!” he yelled.

Cole’s expression betrayed annoyance. “I don’t think that’s really necessary right now, do you?” he said to his brother. “We’re the only people in here.”

“Got to be professional, bro.” Caden looked at Krista and winked, grinning. She could tell that the brothers liked giving each other a hard time.

Cole delivered the sandwich right to her and watched as she had her first bite.

The bread was buttery and the cheese was gooey and delicious. “Mmm…” she had to wipe her mouth with a napkin before she spoke again. “That is honestly the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had.”

“You hear that?” Caden called from the kitchen. “Best she ever had, bro!”

Cole rolled his eyes. “Glad you like it,” he told her, then lowered his voice again.

“Just don’t compliment him too much, it really goes to his head.”

Krista finished eating her meal, while still chit chatting a little bit with Cole. But there’d been nothing more about Gunner, although she’d been hoping the conversation might circle back around that way.

Eventually, more people filtered into the restaurant, which made it even harder to talk about anything important. She gave up on digging for information on Gunner and left the restaurant, choosing to walk down Main Street for a bit instead of just going back to her room.

The smell of fall was in the air, and Krista was enjoying the cool breeze as she walked down the street, watching the occasional car pass by, or smiling as a family walked past her.

It really was a nice town, she thought, even if the pace was a bit slower than she was accustomed to. In some ways, now that she was detoxing from the constant rush and flash of Las Vegas, she was beginning to appreciate the quiet and calm of Middle River.

She could see why Gunner liked it here so much.

After a nice long walk, she returned to her room and spent some time online dealing with work email. Then she went back on the message boards and read the things people were writing about Gunner.

It was all brutal stuff—just hate and derision and scorn.

Every new message, each new insult hurt her as if they were attacking her personally.

She couldn’t seem to stop herself from reading and obsessing about it. She couldn’t stop feeling that if she could only just talk to Gunner with his guard down, she could help him to realize what a bad path he was on.

Tomorrow, she thought, I’ll give it one more chance. One more chance to try and save his career and mine along with it.

***

Krista was driving back to Gunner’s cabin.

It was late morning, and she’d checked out of her room at the Middle River Inn.

Her bags were in the back of the car, and she’d booked a flight for later that day out of Boston.

She’d even booked two tickets, just in case.

As she drove up the road toward his house, she tried to remain focused and calm.

It was almost as though she was getting ready to step into the cage for a fight. Her adrenaline was pumping, but she was trying to stay positive and visualize a good outcome.

Is it really a good idea to think of this as a fight? She wondered. Especially whenthe person you’re fighting is one of the best heavyweights to ever walk the planet?

Maybe not—maybe the whole thing had been a bad idea. So far,