Page 43 of The Fighter

I poked at his dimple. “You’re still gorgeous when you’re mad.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” he huffed. On the TV some man punched another man with—were those nails on his knuckles?—while Tav smiled at my compliment.

“What movies do you like then?” he asked when the bloody fight was over and his empty tray was on the floor beside thebed. He’d practically licked the plate clean. “Please don’t tell me documentaries or something.”

“Are you calling me boring?”

Tav grinned, and that dimple was back. “You’re far from boring, Con.”

I flicked him on the arm in a spot that wasn’t bruised. I settled lower. “I like dumb action movies. The dumber and more ridiculous the better.”

His eyes lit up, and his smile grew impossibly wide. Fuck, he looked so young and carefree like this, if I looked past the bruises and cuts. “No way.”

“Yes way. LikeThe Fast and Furious.”

“Those movies are totally genius. How dare you call them dumb.”

I gave him a look. “Tav, they pulled a bank safe through the streets with cars.”

“Have you ever tried it? How can you say it wouldn’t work?”

I laughed then, appreciating the way he quipped back at me. “Soon as you’re better, let’s rent a car, rob a bank, and test out the theory.”

“Great, I’m driving.”

“Oh, so I’m the passenger princess?”

It was his turn to give me a look. “Con, you have a driver.”

We traded favorite movies back and forth for a little while until Tav shut up so he could watch the closing scenes ofBloodsport. Which I had to admit was entertaining.

I finished my coffee and was about to get another one, when Tav spoke again. “Used to watch this all the time when I was a kid. Had the DVD. Plastic cover was all marked up, corners peeling. But I carted that damn thing to every fucking foster home we went to.”

He was giving me something right now. A little bit of Tav, and not just his body. I didn’t move, worried he’d flinch and bound away like a startled deer. “Do you still have it?”

He took a noisy sip of his coffee. “Nah. It got stolen before we aged out of the system.”

So many questions. “Who’s we?” I asked quietly.

Tav kept his eyes on the TV. “My sister.”

I didn’t want to ask the next question. I feared it, but I had a feeling this sister had something to do with why Tav fought for Devlin. Call it instinct. “And where is she now?”

He fidgeted with the blanket. “She’s alive but hates my guts. I don’t hate her, though.” Finally, he looked at me. “Tattooed her on my back.”

The angel with the long, dark hair. “She’s beautiful.”

“Yeah.” His voice shook. “Yeah, she is.”

Although I wanted to ask more questions, I knew he was done for right now. So I took his empty dishes out to the kitchen while he watched the rest of his movie silently. No more humor in those eyes now. It’d been nice, that one glimpse I had. I’d get more. I’d get them forever.

When I finished cleaning up from breakfast, I checked on Tav. He was asleep, the credits rolling on the TV. I left it on, the soundtrack playing softly in the background, and closed the door to the bedroom.

I walked directly to my office and shut the door. I dialed his number, and Nik answered after the first ring and spoke first. “Found it.”

I exhaled with relief, glad I had a back-up plan. “Don’t tell me. I’ll get it out of him.”

Nik grunted but stayed silent. It was wrong to know Tav’s full name before he chose to tell me. What I was about to do next was enough of a betrayal. “He has a sister. Alive. That’s all I know.I want everything you can find out—name, occupation, history, address, what she fucking had for breakfast. Everything.”