The Fight In Us: A Brother's Best Friend College Romance (The Four Book 4) by Becca Steele (little readers .txt) 📕

at Winter, I scaled the crates, jumping off the other side and landing heavily on the cracked concrete. I made a run for the warehouse, uncaring about the need to be cautious. The only thing that mattered was getting to Lena.

From behind me I heard a shout, but I paid it no attention, running headlong straight into the warehouse. My eyes took everything in an instant—a screaming Portia pointing a finger up the ramp, Jaroslaw Milosz leaping inside, and Martin Smith being completely fucking useless and just standing there, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

I had no plan, no weapon. All I knew, based on the information my brain had processed as I entered the warehouse, was that Lena was inside that lorry.

My feet pounded up the ramp, and I leapt inside.

“Lena?”

“Stay there.” Her voice seemed to echo around us. She fell silent, and I listened. The dogs were getting louder, frenzied, and it was impossible to hear anything else. Then, she was there, next to me, Jaroslaw hot on her heels. “Go!” she shouted, taking a running jump off the ramp and dropping into a forward roll.

So fucking hot.

Then Jaroslaw was on me, and he took me down with him. We rolled down the ramp, grappling with each other. Yeah, I could fight, but it wasn’t like I was a trained ninja or anything.

What I did know was how to fight dirty. Bringing my head back, I slammed it into his nose as hard as I could. There was a loud crunch, and blood began pouring from his nose. He screamed, a combination of pain and rage, and twisted us both, knocking us off the side of the ramp. My shoulder slammed into the sharp metal edge, and the sudden pain made me lose focus. I landed on my back with a jarring impact, my head smacking into the floor.

Dazed, I watched as a savage Lena came up behind Jaroslaw, swinging a thick, heavy chain in her hands. She launched herself onto his back, wrapping the chain around his throat and yanking, hard. A gagging sound came from his throat as blood continued to spurt from his nose, and as she kept up the pressure, his struggles slowed until he fell limp, still breathing but unconscious.

“West!” Lena was suddenly in front of me, cradling my face in her hands. “Are you okay?”

‘Y-yeah,” I croaked out. “Are you?” I reached up to touch the side of her face, to reassure myself she was still here with me.

She smiled, a smile of relief, tears gathering in her eyes. “I’m okay.”

I struggled into a sitting position, ignoring my pounding head and throbbing arm. “Come here.”

She crawled into my lap, her body shaking, and I held her tightly. Right then, I knew exactly how much she meant to me.

“It’s probably the wrong time to tell you this.” I buried my face in her shoulder. “But I want you to know that I love you.”

“What?” Drawing back from me, she stared at me, her eyes wide. “Say that again? Because I think I misheard you.”

“I said…” Stroking my thumb down her cheek, I met her gaze. “I said that I love you.”

“You do?” Her voice was unsure, yet so full of hope that it made me smile.

“Yes I fucking do. It’s okay if—”

She shut me up with a finger to my lips, a smile breaking out over her face. “Oh, Weston. Don’t you know? I’ve loved you since I was eight years old. It just took you a while to catch up with me.”

While we’d been busy with Jaroslaw Milosz, the others had not only managed to incapacitate Martin Smith and Portia, but a tearful Portia was busy confessing everything to anyone and everyone who’d listen, clearly afraid of the threat of arrest. The buyers never showed, most likely scared well away by the police presence, thanks to Winter’s call to my dad. He in turn had called in one of his detective friends, who was liaising with the RSPCA to take care of the dogs, while the police dealt with Martin and Portia.

When my dad had shown up, he had a look of resignation in his eyes as he saw me seated on an upturned crate, covered in Jaroslaw Milosz’s blood while Lena tended to the cut on my arm courtesy of the first aid kit that had been stashed in Cassius’ SUV. He came and sat on the crate next to me, waiting until Lena had finished cleaning my wound.

“It’s just a scrape,” she told me, pressing a kiss to my shoulder. Her eyes went from me to my dad, and she nodded. “I’m just gonna check on my brother.”

“Thanks. For, y’know.” I squeezed her hand, then lifted it to my lips. She smiled, then disappeared, leaving me with my dad.

“You can say it.” I waited, fully prepared for him to come down hard on me.

“I’m proud of you, Weston.” He squeezed my uninjured shoulder. “So proud of you. Don’t you forget it.” Then he stood, leaving me gaping at him.

Before he left, he looked down at me, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Bring Lena over for dinner next week.” It wasn’t a question.

“Uh. Yeah. I will. Thanks, Dad.”

With one last parting smile, he went off to talk with his detective friend.

One by one, the others drifted over, once the detective had spoken to each of us. First Winter, then Zayde and Caiden, then Cassius, and finally, my girlfriend. We’d agreed to turn over the evidence we had—while they couldn’t use the illegal evidence in court, our footage from both tonight and the dog fight we’d attended before would be enough to build up a strong case.

Lena tugged me to my feet, wrapping her arms around my waist.

“Let’s go home,” I said.

Together, the six of us headed into the night.

EPILOGUE 1

ONE WEEK LATER

“Ha. Look at this.” Curled up in an armchair in the lounge in my house, Lena shifted