Page 10

O ne Month Later

walked into the packed arena not knowing how she was going to sit through the fight. She hated watching Tony spar with Luca and Rocco. That was painful enough for her. Every bruise and black eye made her want to tell him to quit, but she couldn’t ask that of Tony. When they got together, knew that he was a boxer, she just didn’t know that watching him fight would give her so much anxiety. Maybe that was what happened when someone who you cared about got hurt. She never really cared about any man before Tony, and this was all so new to her. If he wanted her there for the fight, that was where she would be because she didn’t want to let him down. knew that he’d do the same for her. He had kept his promise to keep her safe, and even with Joe still out there, she felt safe. There was no way that Tony would let Joe get to her again.

It was so loud in the arena that she couldn’t hear Luca, who was sitting next to her.

He and Rocco came with her to the fight, and she had to admit that having them close was a relief. They’d be able to tell her what was happening with Tony during the bout. And Jonesy promised to keep Tony safe in the ring. She knew what had happened to Tony’s father during his last fight. made both Tony and Jonesy promise that if things got bad, they’d stop the fight. She gave them both the spiel about it being better to throw in the towel and be able to fight another day than to die in the ring. They both laughed at her, but by the time she finished with them, they were both promising her to follow her advice.

“You do know that he’s going to be all right,” Rocco shouted over the noise. He patted the hand that was sitting on her shaking thigh. “Your leg is going a mile a minute, but you don’t need to worry. Tony knows what he’s doing. He’s ready for this, .”

She smiled over at Rocco and nodded, “I know,” she said.

“Good, and if things go south, you always have me. I’m better looking than Tony and I bet that I’m better in bed.”

She giggled and shook her head at him. “No comment,” she teased. “Plus, I’m a one-man kind of woman, and Tony isn’t too shabby in the sack.”

“Okay, that’s too much information,” Luca said from the other side of her. “The fight is about to start. Are you ready?” Luca asked.

She took a deep breath and let it out, “As I’ll ever be,” she said. “I need to run to the restroom. Do I have enough time before the fight begins?”

“Yeah,” Rocco said, “if you hurry. They have to do announcements, and his opponent will be first, and then Tony.” She nodded, stood, and grabbed her purse. She wasn’t sure if she had to pee or if she was suffering from a nervous bladder, but she didn’t want to have to go in the middle of the fight.

She scooted out of the crowded aisle and started for the ladies’ room that she had seen in the entrance on her way to their seats. just hoped that Tony wouldn’t notice that she was missing from the crowd. He had told her how painful it was to have his mother walk away from him because she couldn’t bear to watch him fight, worrying that he’d end up the way that his father had—dead in the ring.

She looked around the hallway, finding it strange that it was practically empty. Most of the people were in the arena already, and if she didn’t hurry, she’d miss the most important fight of Tony’s life. She found the first open stall, which was an easy feat because the bathroom seemed to be empty too, and stepped in. quickly locked the door and tried to pee. She had no luck and chalked it up to a nervous bladder this time. By the time she finished washing her hands, the crowd seemed to be getting louder. knew that she needed to hurry if she didn’t want to miss anything.

She headed for the door and stepped out of the ladies’ room, running right into a hard wall of man. “Shit, I’m sorry,” she breathed. looked up at the man when he didn’t acknowledge her apology and realized that Joe had found her again. Dealing with him alone didn’t end well for her last time, and now, she wouldn’t have Tony coming to her rescue.

“Surprised to see me?” Joe asked.

“More like disappointed, or disgusted, but we can go with yours,” she sassed. “I don’t have time to deal with you right now, Joe. I have to get back to the fight. Tony’s friends will come looking for me if I’m gone too long.” at least hoped that was the truth, but how long would it take for Rocco and Luca to come looking for her? She wasn’t sure that she had very long until Joe tried to take her again.

“That seems fair since you have been a disappointment to me for some time now. As for your boyfriend’s friends, I’m sure that they won’t be a problem because I have a plan to be out of here by the time they realize you’ve been gone too long.” She knew that keeping her mouth shut right now was the way to go, but for some reason, just couldn’t seem to help herself. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t afraid and that had to do with the two angry boxers who stood behind Joe.

“Can we help you, asshole?” Rocco asked.

“This isn’t your business,” Joe spat, not bothering to turn around to see the imposing figures that the two of them made. If he had, he might have decided against brushing Rocco and Luca off. “My girl and I are just having a conversation,” he lied.

Luca barked out his laugh and was waiting for them both to tire of playing with Joe. “I know for a fact that she’s not your girl,” Luca said, “because she’s Tony’s girl.” Joe turned around to look them both over and wished that she could see the look on his face when he first saw them.

“So, you two meatheads are boxers, just like her new boyfriend. Well, I’m not too worried about you. From what I’ve seen while keeping an eye on , you two aren’t very good boxers.” giggled and Joe turned back to face her. “What’s so funny?” he spat.

She shrugged, “Oh, nothing,” she drawled, “other than the fact that you just pissed off the meatheads and they’re going to beat the hell out of you while I go watch my boyfriend win the fight. Don’t forget to call the cops when you’re done with him guys. He’s in violation for breaking his restraining order and he’s on probation for doing the same thing to me back in our hometown. I’m sure that the judge won’t be giving you probation and community service this time, Joe.” pouted her lips at him, and he took a menacing step toward her.

“Not going to happen, asshole,” Rocco said. He grabbed Joe’s right arm and Luca grabbed his left.

“We’ve got him from here. I already called the cops when I saw him walk in here after you,” Luca admitted.

“So, you were babysitting me for Tony,” she said. She had always guessed that Rocco and Luca tagged along with her every time Tony was busy, at his request.

Rocco shot her his sexy smile, and she shook her head at him. “You know that won’t work on me, Rocco,” she insisted. “I only fall for Tony’s sexy smile.”

“See, you do think that my smile is sexy. I’ll count that as a win,” Rocco teased, bobbing his eyebrows at her.

shook her head at him, “Take it however you want it, just make sure to call me when the cops get here. I want to give them my statement to make sure that Joe here doesn’t get out of jail for a damn long time.”

“Will do,” Luca agreed, “now, go watch Tony win and give us all the details later.” She felt bad that the guys were going to miss the fight, but she had a feeling that they were going to have their own little fight with Joe, and that thought gave her a smug satisfaction that she hadn’t felt in a long time.

got back to her seat seconds after the fight started. She watched most of the fight through her fingers. With the bell at the end of each round, she let out a breath that she didn’t know she had been holding. Tony and the other fighter would go back to their corners, and Jonesy looked like he gave him a pep talk each round. She loved that Jonesy seemed to be a surrogate father for Tony, and she knew that he’d never let anything happen to him. Knowing that gave her some peace of mind when the bell rang for the third round. Tony seemed to get a second wind and knocked his opponent out with an uppercut to the jaw followed by a blow to his left cheek. The guy went down, and the referee started counting. When he got to eight, felt as though her heart might beat out of her chest. The bell rang again, and the referee held Tony’s hand in the air, declaring him the winner. Medical staff ran out onto the mat, giving the down fighter something that woke him up immediately and helped him to sit up. She actually felt bad for the guy as he was helped out of the ring and into the back locker rooms, but she was thankful that she wasn’t watching Tony being carted off for medical attention.

Her phone buzzed and Rocco had sent her a text telling her that the cops had just shown up. “Perfect timing,” she breathed to herself. was supposed to meet Tony in the locker room after the fight, but he’d have to wait. Right now, she needed to give the police officers her statement to make sure that Joe could never hurt her again. She quickly shot Tony a text about what had happened, hoping that he’d get it when he got back to the locker room and then she ran back to the ladies’ room where she had left Rocco and Luca with Joe.

She found them all standing in the hallway outside the bathrooms, and poor Joe looked a bit worse for wear. “Boy, you two did a number on him,” she whispered to Luca.

He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “I hear Tony won,” he whispered back to her.

“He did,” she said.

“The cops are just finishing up here and then, they’ll take your statement,” Luca said.

“Thanks for handling all this for me. I didn’t want to miss the fight. It’s the first one that Tony asked me to come to, and I don’t want to let him down,” she admitted.

“As if that would be possible,” Tony said from behind them. “Take your hands off my woman, Luca,” he warned. went to Tony and wrapped her arms around him, needing his comfort. “I’m all sweaty and bloody, honey,” he insisted.

“I don’t care about any of that,” she breathed, “as long as you’re here now. Congratulations,” she whispered, gently kissing his busted lip.

“Thanks, but I’m pissed that I wasn’t here with you. How did Joe even get in here? The cops said that they’d have this place covered and would be watching for him,” Tony said.

“There was a multi-car accident uptown, and they were all called up there to help out. I guess Joe was able to slip right in with no issues,” Luca said.

“Plus, he was wearing a fake mustache and baseball cap. I guess that was enough of a disguise to throw security off,” Rocco said. “The cops are ready for your statement,” he said to . She nodded and walked down the hallway to where two police officers waited for her. She looked back and smiled at Tony, who didn’t seem to want to let her go, but this was something that she had to do by herself.

“I’ll be right back,” she assured. The questioning only took about twenty minutes, and when she was finished, she found Tony and the guys standing in the hallway waiting for her. Tony had showered and changed, but he still looked a bit banged up and bruised. The cut over his eye had been stitched up and she wondered if he felt as bad as he looked.

“Are you sure that you’re okay?” asked him.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured, “how did it go with the cops?”

“Oh, it was fine. Joe is being booked for breaking his probation and restraining order. Apparently, he was wanted in Boston for harassing other women and raping one of them. I guess that I got off lucky with him, knowing now what he is capable of.” Tony pulled her against his body and wrapped his arms around her protectively.

“I’m so sorry that you had to deal with him at all,” he breathed.

“It’s not your fault,” she insisted. “Besides, it’s all over now. Joe will be going to jail for a long time, according to the police officers.”

“Good riddance,” Tony mumbled. “Listen, I have to do a few interviews and then, I can leave. How about if I have one of the guys take you back to the hotel and I’ll meet you there when I’m done?”

“Not a chance,” she said, “I’m fine and I’d love to see you answer questions. Then, we can go to the hotel together,” she countered. “I want to be there for you like you’ve been here for me through all of this mess.”

Tony kissed the top of her head, “Thank you,” he whispered. He took her hand into his and led her to a back tunnel that took them to a room filled with reporters.

She took a deep breath and let it out, and Tony did the same. “You’ve got this,” she promised. He smiled back at her as he walked into the room while reporters screamed questions at him. Tony sat down and confidently answered their questions one at a time, and she knew that his grandfather would be so proud. With any luck, Tony would be able to tell Elio all about the fight tomorrow, but for tonight, she was going to soak up watching her guy shine.