Page 174 of The Clinch
He sees the calculation and hates it.
“You really think he changed anything?” he asks, low and venomous now. “You think one guy with a belt and good shoulders gets to rewrite?—”
“Drake.”
The voice behind him is quiet. It still cuts through the block like a blade.
Travis turns.
Leo is coming toward us from the corner, keys in his fist, expression flat in a way that’s far more dangerous than anger. Dark T-shirt, gym shorts, shoulders broad enough to change the geometry of the sidewalk the second he steps onto it. There’s no rush in him. No visible fury. Just a level of contained focus that makes the air feel thinner.
He looks first at me.
Then at the red mark already rising on my arm.
Then at Travis.
His face changes so quickly most people would miss it. I don’t.
“Step away from her.”
Nobody moves.
Travis turns slowly, and I watch the exact moment calculation hits. He knows exactly what kind of scene this could become.
That mean little shine in his eyes comes back almost at once.
“Well,” he drawls, barely moving an inch. “Here comes the champ.”
Leo’s attention stays on Drake, flat and exact.
“I said step away from her.”
Drake’s mouth curls. “Relax. We were talking.”
“No,” I say. “You were grabbing me.”
The only sign he heard me is a brief hard set to his mouth.
Drake straightens a little, shoulders widening, performing for the crowd now that he has one. Two women on the sidewalk have slowed openly. The man with the dog is still standing ten feet away pretending not to listen while catching every word.
Drake gives Leo a slow once-over, from the T-shirt to the gym shorts to the keys still in his fist. “You really do just show up everywhere, don’t you?”
Leo says nothing. That silence lands harder than a comeback would.
Drake smiles wider. “Must be tough to know when to stop playing bodyguard.”
I feel the blood rise, but Leo doesn’t move.
“Leave,” he says.
Drake lets out a soft laugh. “Or what?”
The bait lands in the middle of York Avenue between them.
Leo advances one step, not enough to close the distance, just enough to narrow Drake’s options.
“You leave now,” Leo says quietly, “or I call the police and hand them witnesses.”
