Page 38 of Invisible String (The Underground #1)

MAX

“ W hat the fuck was going on with you? You zoned out. Staring into the crowd. You almost got your ass handed to you.” Carlos's voice booms in the back room. “He could have killed you.”

“He didn’t,” I say, unwrapping my hand wraps while my corner man addresses my wounds.

“She was in the crowd.” Fuck, I groan when he puts pressure on the cut.

What in the fuck was she doing here and with him?

Of all fucking people, him? That’s who she’s seeing?

I didn’t look through the surveillance cameras to see if it was her who owned the bakery.

My plans were to drop in instead to see for myself, but I just never made it. But now I know it’s Rainey’s.

“What was she doing here?”

After leaving Rainey that night, I stayed at Carlos’s for a couple of weeks until I got myself a job and enrolled in classes.

He asked why I looked like shit. I confessed my chest hurt like a noose tightening, preventing me from breathing.

He asked what happened in Tahoe. That’s when I told him everything about Rainey.

“You are in love with her. That’s why you’re in pain.

” Carlos explained what it felt like to love the person meant for you.

His description is what I felt for Rainey.

It hurt to breathe without her. “You let her go because of love. You were trying to do right by her.” Maybe I was wrong, but when you have nothing to offer and you’re trying to do what’s best for them, it seems right.

Carlos stands in front of me.

I shrug. “I don’t know. We haven’t spoken since that night.”

“Was she alone?”

A malicious laugh escapes my lips. “Of all people, she was with him. The mother fucker, Andrew.” I ball my fists. “She hates my guts, I get it, but if she’s getting back at me by betraying me with Andrew, my old foster brother, who did me dirty.”

Carlos leans on a row of lockers, his hands folded at his chest. “You should talk to her.”

“And say what? She won’t believe the truth from my lips now.”

Of all places, she was here. A place she shouldn’t have been.

The fights are brutal, some deadly. What man brings a woman to bloody, illegal fights where all sorts of shit can go wrong?

Andrew, that’s who. The shock and warmth that spread through me were unreal when I peered into her beautiful cinnamon eyes.

It had been so long, and I never thought I’d see her again.

She was frightened. But what stood out the most was that those eyes had no shine to them, not like I had seen in high school or at the cabin. I wonder what caused it.

“You’ll figure it out. All these years of leaving her the way you did. It left you haunted. I don’t blame you. Her father is a cunning son of a bitch. Maybe had his reasons, but there were other ways to go about it.” He rubs his chin. “At least tell her how you truly feel.”

Bliss, my other coach/cornerman, adds ointment to my wounds.

When he’s done, I stand and pack my shit up.

“Maybe it’s best if I leave her alone. She’s seeing someone.

I had thought about pleading with her to hear me out, but the only way I can get her to understand my reason is for her not to hate me and be in love with me.

Otherwise, why tell her the truth?” I swing my bag over my shoulder.

“For all I know, she could be married to that dumb fuck. I didn’t expect her to wait for me. ”

I did. Selfishly, I wished she waited—to remember it all.

As I step out of the Underground, Daniel, the boss, walks up to me.

He grins from ear to ear. I made him a shitload of money.

“Cano,” he calls out. A woman in a short, skanky skirt rushes to him.

One of the women they use for the fighters to relieve tension, so he calls it. They fuck before a fight.

I jut my head at him. “What is it?” Daniel is a brutal son of a bitch, but with me, he seems to relish my rebellious side with him.

“Next week is going to be big. We’re talking like ten thousand. That’s a big cut for you.”

“I’m done.”

“You’re done when I say.” He laughs, and the woman rubs her breasts on his chest, sucking on his neck. He then flicks the woman off like she’s a mosquito.

“I’m done. The end,” I shout.

He raises a brow. “I’ll even throw her in for a week. She’s good in be?—”

“I’m leaving.” With my bag on my shoulder, I walk off. The guys are waiting for me in the car. I know it’s a sign of disrespect for his men to give him his back, but I’m not one of his men. Never have I been.

“You’re making a mistake, Cano. No walks out on me.” Watch me , I want to shout. I expect a bullet through my head, but it never comes. No one controls me.

It’s been two weeks since the fight. I’ve kept my mind busy doing the usual.

Go for a run, work, go to the boxing gym, head home, then jerk my junk in bed.

Sue me. After convincing myself to channel in on her cameras, I couldn’t stop thinking of how beautiful she is and how much I missed her.

It’s taken everything in me not to show up at her work.

I set my coffee on my office desk and turn on my computer.

I need my fix. Briefly, I tap into the program and type in the café address.

There she is, rolling dough. She sways her hips to music, I assume.

I have no sound. She’s so gorgeous. She’s aged beautifully.

Rainey has always had the best ass. No, like everything about her, it is perfection.

“Cano, your ten o’clock is here early,” Leo runs in, slamming the door shut and startling me. I arrange my erection in my slacks. “A woman is waiting for you. She’s hot, man. She’s like the fuckable type you lay on a desk.” He licks his lips. “Why is she here?”

“I’m interviewing her. I need another assistant since you keep leaving.” I click out of the camera and open my emails.

“You’ll scare her off with your grumpiness. I’ll do it.” His lips twist into a smirk.

“No, Leo. You’re my front office assistant, not my assistant manager. And you have no experience with interviews.”

“Fine.” He opens the door. “Ms. Roxy Valdez, he’s ready for you.” He winks, letting a tall, black-haired woman enter, wearing a skirt and a blazer.

She flutters her lashes. “Hello, Mr. Cano. I’m sorry I’m here early. My car broke down, and my ride could only drop me off at this time.”

“It’s fine. Sit,” I say, my voice harsher than intended, gesturing to the chair.

She stumbles, handing me her portfolio.

“I’ve had plenty of jobs and have experience in a front office setting. Mr. Cano?—”

“Call me Max.”

She blushes. “Okay.”

I flip through her resume. She has a lot of experience.

I ask her the typical questions you ask in an interview.

Since I’m not much for talking or getting chatty with her like she’s trying to be.

I tell her I’ll call her and let her know.

My assistant usually handles the interviews while I sit and watch.

“It’s been a pleasure to meet with you, Max. I’ve seen your fights on social media. You’re amazing.”

Of course, she has. Now that Carlos let the WBC know I’ll be fighting as an undercard in the next big fight, which is in seven months, my face is plastered all over social media. I’ve fought amateur fights for the WBC several times, but this time, it’s the real deal—my way of moving to the top.

“Thanks.” Gripping the doorknob, I swing it open. “My assistant manager or I will get back to you.” My assistant manager is on his honeymoon. We have so much work, and he decides to take a three-week honeymoon.

Heads turn as she walks off. My other employees act as if they’d never seen an ass.

Closing the door, I return to my computer to see Rainey, but this isn’t enough. I need to see Rainey, not just on screen but in person. I grab my phone and keys.

“I’ll be back, Leo. Send my calls to voicemail and cancel my eleven o’clock appointment. I have somewhere to be.” I wave at him and rush out the door.

“Hey—”

I don’t stop. I push open the double doors and jog to my car.

Fifteen minutes later, I’m at the parking lot of her work.

It’s some crazy shit. I’m nervous as hell. It’s unlike me to feel this way, but with Rainey, it’s always been different. She’s always had that ability to break through the walls I built of steel. I know leaving the way I did was for the best of her, even if it haunted me.

I’d always turn the world upside down for her. My head juts when Rainey walks out of the bakery holding a bag. My heart rattles in my chest. “Rainey,” I shout, opening the car door. She freezes in place, giving me her back. “Rain, can we talk?”

She speeds to her damn nice car. She fishes in her purse for her keys, avoiding me at all costs. Gingerly, I put my hand on her shoulder to the warmth and her familiarity. “Sunshine, can we talk?”

She turns like a snake, ready to charge. “Don’t fucking touch me.” She unlocks the door, opening it, but I slam it shut. “We have nothing to talk about,” she bellows.

I lock eyes with her, and rage twists her face.

“We do,” I tell her.

Her index finger strikes at my chest. “Listen here, Charles. We were a summer fling.”

“Excuse me? Charles?”

“I’ve had a couple of summer flings. I can’t remember your name.” She shrugs. “Russell, Big Daddy, David, Freaky Frank, Max, or Nick. Whatever your name is, we have nothing to talk about.”

She holds her head up, squaring her shoulders. With our height difference, she glances up at me with her pretty little eyes. My thumb presses on her plump lips.

“You want to play games, tesoro mío ? You want to act like you don’t know who I am when you yelled my name at the fight the other night?

Or when I was buried deep inside you, thrusting until you came apart, screaming my name.

What about when your legs shook until you came into my mouth?

You moaned my name while your fingers stroked my hair.

Should I take off my clothes? Will that help jog your memory? ”