Fighter: A Bad Boy Romance (7 page)

But …

Ty is here, handsome as all hell, in my apartment, and he still doesn’t have his shirt on. I close my eyes and force myself to calm down, to try and turn my brain off. When I open my eyes again, and I look down at his hard body, barely covered by the thin afghan, another part of my body kicks in.

Shit,
I think.
This is bad
.

I
open
my eyes to a young boy staring down at me.

What the fuck?
Is all I can think.
Where the hell am I?

My eyes dart around the strange room. It takes me a minute to process. It’s morning. I can see the morning sun coming through the windows. It’s definitely a girl’s apartment. I can tell from the color scheme, and a painting of a bunch of horses in a flowery meadow hanging on the wall. No self respecting man would have paid money for that.

I look around and see a small kitchen, a hallway and a bathroom door. And then it clicks.

Jenny’s. I’m at Jenny’s.

“Who are you?” The little boy asks me innocently. He has a very plain look on his face and doesn’t seem at all afraid. This must be her son.

“I’m Ty,” I reply. “Who are you?”

“I’m Josh.”

“Jenny’s son?” I ask. He nods twice in reply.

“Nice to meet you, pal,” I say, raising a hand to my forehead, which is throbbing like a bitch. I feel the stitches, and the details of last night come flooding back to me.

I didn’t throw the fight.

Nicky wanted to kill me, and probably would have if I hadn’t gotten out of there quick enough.

The crowd reacted like I thought they would. They loved the fight, and they’d been expecting me to win. It took the boy a while to get up off the mat. Broken jaw for sure. He’ll be out of the scene for more than a little while, if he comes back at all. A thing like that can knock the ego out of someone and ruin their aspirations. We’ll see what he’s made of and whether he returns or not.

Vinnie and Don tried to corner me on my way out.

“You forget who the fuck you’re working for?” Vinnie had said.

“I don’t work for anyone but me, pal,” I had replied as I shoved my way past him. It was then that Don hit me with the pipe.

I guess he figured he’d knock me out, but he underestimated me. The blow glanced off my forehead, just above my eyebrow, but it didn’t knock me out. Hell, it didn’t even slow me down. I spun around with my fist out, and saw the look in his eyes when he realized how badly he’d just fucked up. My knuckles hit him right below the eye and dropped him good. When Vinnie saw what had happened he backed off and motioned to Nicky.

More goons were coming, and Nicky would want “a word” with me. But I wasn’t sticking around. I got out of there as fast as I could. I knew going home wasn’t an option. They’d have guys waiting there or on their way, and Nicky knew about my old house too, not that I could have brought myself to go there anyway. So this was my only option.

“Where’s your mom?” I ask Josh, who’s still standing calmly beside the couch looking down at me.

“She’s in the bathroom. She’s showering,” he informs me.

“Got ya,” I say, instantly imagining what Jenny’s naked body looks like under the water. Nothing’s sexier than a girl’s body all shining, covered in water and glistening. I’m half asleep, have a raging headache, and all I can think about is what that stripper chick looks like without her clothes on. I should already fucking know, shouldn’t I? What an ass backwards scenario this is. Seeing her naked, or close to it, should have been the way we met. And now look what’s going on.

With a groan, I manage to get myself into a seated position. A blow to the head can land you with something that feels like the world’s worst hangover, and that’s what I’ve got going on right now. I’m also starving and have no idea where my shirt is. I hear the clunk of the pipes and realize it’s the shower turning off. A few seconds later, Jenny, her hair wrapped in a towel like some kind of desert nomad, comes out of the bathroom.

“Josh!” she almost shouts, obviously surprised by him being out here. “What are you doing?”

“Talking to Ty,” he says simply. Jenny rushes over to him, obviously protective of her son.

“Are you okay? I thought you weren’t going to be up for another ten minutes!”

“He’s fine,” I say, trying to prevent a motherly meltdown. “We were just chatting about who we thought would win this year’s Super Bowl.”

My joke doesn’t land, but I understand. Jenny’s protective of her son, and she doesn’t want him upset. I remember something about her telling me he was autistic. He seems like a good dude to me.

“Honey, why don’t you go take a seat at the table and I’ll be in to get you your breakfast,” she says. I feel something wet and slimy against the back of my hand, and look down to see Jenny’s two dogs, tails wagging, tongues out, licking me.

“Oh. Hey, fellas,” I say, giving them both a playful pat on the head.

“Okay, mom,” Josh says. I look up to see him half skip off into the kitchen.

“Christ, I didn’t want that to happen,” Jenny says, putting a hand on her head.

“What? You didn’t want your son to see me?”

“No!” she almost shouts. “I don’t like him meeting men I am not seeing.”

I nod slowly. “Makes sense. But that’s cool. Just let him know I’m the new boyfriend.”

I chuckle and stand up, relishing the indignant face Jenny gives me. But she’s blushing. She looks so cute with her two towels. What’s really funny is that she’s wearing more now than she was when I met her—by a long shot.

She’s shorter than I remember. Probably because she’s not wearing heels. It’s taking everything I have in me not to grab the top of her towel, right where she’s tucked it in by her tits, and yank it open and get a look at that body of hers.

Jesus Christ,
I think.

I haven’t felt such a primal urge for anyone since the first time I met my wife. As the saying goes, Christine was a lady in the streets and a freak in the sheets, and that’s the kind of girl I love. I know a lot of people who have boring, bland marriages that never spice things up and just do boring missionary sex for five minutes and then pass out. I never want to be that kind of couple, and I never will be.

Any girl that ends up with me better know how to keep up, because that’s what I am used to and that’s what I want. I have a feeling Jenny is that kind of girl. I don’t know why I am getting that feeling—but I am.

“So you’re leaving today, right?” she asks me.

“Yeah, about that …” I start to say.

“No, no, no, no,” she interrupts. “You said last night that you’d be here for one night and one night only. Don’t even start with me.”

“Yeah, we’ll see,” I say, standing up. “There’s some things I have to sort out.”

“This isn’t a hotel, Ty.”

“Well that’s good, cause I’m not paying.”

I can practically hear the steam coming off her head as I slide into my shirt. She looks so cute when she’s mad, and my urge to snatch that towel off her starts to overpower me. I’ve got to get out of here quick. I have somewhere to be anyway.

Just turn around and walk out the door
.

“I’ll catch you later, Jenny,” I say as I turn to the door.

“No you won’t!” she shouts after me. I grin as I step outside.

S
t. Mary’s Hospital
is on the other end of town, but I can take the back roads to get there. I turn down the all familiar road that leads down to the main building. I was born here, and now it’s where my mother may die. But not if I manage to pull this off.

I manage to find a parking spot in the lot closest to the entrance, and walk across the cold white concrete to the sliding double doors. The sterile smell of hospital wafts over me as I step into the perfectly maintained sixty-eight-degree air. My feet move across the odd geometric patterned carpeting as I make my way to the elevators. There’s a couple getting off, and I manage to slip in as they pass. I thumb the button for floor three and wait for the elevator doors to close.

This has been a rough couple of days, and I can feel the fatigue behind my eyes. Last night’s sleep didn’t even put a dent in it. It’s mental stress. There’s just too many things on my mind, and this situation with Jenny isn’t helping things. It’s been a long time since a girl has had me so twisted up inside, and as much as I am trying to fight it, I know I’m in over my head with her.

What’s going to happen over the course of the next few days? It’s going to be torture sleeping in the same apartment as her. I haven’t been that close to a woman in years, and that’s when I was sleeping in the same bed as my wife.

The elevator doors ding and I realize I’m at my mother’s floor. The air up here is thicker as I step out into the hallway. I nod to the nurses who all know me by now.

“Jane,” I say.

“Hey, Ty,” she says. She looks a little on edge today, like she wants to say something. But she doesn’t, and I’m too tired to ask her what’s up. I’m here to see my mother.

It’s a short walk to her room, but as I step through the door, I realize what Jane was so upset about.

Vinnie, Don and Nicky are sitting in my mother’s room.

“Ay there, Slugger,” Nicky says, smiling and showing his cracked yellow teeth.

“Hey there, boyo,” Vinnie chimes in.

“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath. I look over at my mother, but thankfully she’s asleep. She doesn’t have a clue about me and the fights, and I want to keep it that way. She worries too much about me, and I want her to focus on getting better.

“You assholes,” I say, clenching my fists but keeping my voice down.

“Oh, we’re the assholes?” Nicky says as he gets to his feet. “Is that right, punchy? We’re the assholes? See that’s funny, because I always thought the asshole was the guy who said he was gonna do something and then didn’t do it, not the guy who got fucked over by the other guy. You see what I’m saying?”

He takes a step towards my mother’s bed. I feel a bead of sweat break out on my forehead. Nothing gets me going more than people fucking with my family. I can handle myself. I’ve been through a lot. But anybody touches my family, and they’re going to regret it.

“Hey,” I say, putting my hands up. “You want to talk to me? Let’s talk. Outside.”

“Oh, I think we’re fine right here,” Don chuckles, flicking a tooth pick back and forth between his lips.

“I think you’re right, Don,” Nicky agrees, smiling even broader. “You know, tiger. I think you misunderstand me. I think you may have gotten the wrong impression. You see, I’m a nice guy. I like to make deals—arrangements. I don’t like strong arming people by say … threatening their family for instance. I don’t like to threaten their wives or their children or their mothers.”

He takes another step closer to my mother, and I feel myself ready to pounce. There’s no doubt I could take these guys, but what would happen to my mom?

“I am a business man. I make deals, and I expect the people I make those deals with to honor them. As long as that happens, they’ve got nothing to worry about. But, on that rare occasion when someone fucks me? Well, that’s when I’m not so nice.”

The grin on his face vanishes and is replaced by a stony glare that actually sends a chill through my spine. This guy may be legitimately crazy. He’s standing dangerously close to my mother. I am two seconds from pouncing and breaking every bone in his face, but if he can get to her now, there’s no telling what else he’s capable of. The fact that the nurses didn’t call security speaks volumes to Nicky’s power and influence in this town. Even if I get them out of here, who knows how many more guys he could have on the way within minutes. For now, he owns me.

“What do you want?” I say through clenched teeth.

“Ah!” He exclaims. “That is a good question! A business question! How good of you to ask, my dear boy. What do I want?”

I start to ease up as Nicky saunters around my mom’s bed and towards my side of the room.

“What I want, Mr. Golden Gloves, is my fucking money. I want the money that you fucked me on at last night’s fight,
plus
another twenty percent from
you
for the inconvenience and the disrespect. I want
you
to go down in the third on your next bloody fight, or me and the boys here are gonna have to pay another visit to dear old mom, and next time, we won’t be as polite. Do you understand me?”

He’s so close I can smell his aftershave. I can smell his body odor. I can see the creases and lines on his face and the cracks on his chapped lips. I can see the anger just oozing off of him and there’s no doubt in my mind that he’d go through with his threat if I don’t do what he wants.

“I understand,” I say softly.

“What’s that? I didn’t hear you?”

“I said,” I say, raising my voice. “I understand.”

Nicky smiles at me. “That’s a good boy.”

There’s nothing I can do. He’s brought my family into it now. If this was just about me I would fight. I’d do something. But this is my mom we’re talking about. And I’d kill myself if I let anything bad happen to her. So for her sake, right now, I have to take Nicky’s shit.

T
his is bad
,
I think, sitting on the couch, my legs restlessly twitching.
Not that Ty is staying here, but … that I want him to.

The mother side of me is furious and knows it’s a bad idea, but the woman side of me, and other parts of me, are aching for him. I let out a huge sigh of relief when he left the apartment, but I instantly felt a sense of loss. I hadn’t stopped thinking about him, and then there he was, showing up at my place only to leave again. But he’ll be back, and that’s the problem.

I have a very strict policy of seeing a guy for a long time before I bring him back to my house, and that’s already gone out the window. My daughter met him. Josh met him—and liked him! That I couldn’t believe. Josh isn’t the best around people he doesn’t know, and I’d panicked a little when I saw him standing over him. But Josh didn’t seem upset in the slightest. Neither did the dogs.

Maybe that’s a sign,
I think.

Oh shut up, Jenny!

I rocket up off the couch and head to the sink and pour myself a glass of cold water. Is it hot in the apartment, or is it just me? Either way, I open a window and let the cool air rush in. I gulp down the whole glass in about two seconds and fill up another.

The image of Ty, shirtless, sitting up on my couch just will simply not leave my mind.

I could get used to that,
I think.

Bzzzzt. Bzzzzt. My phone vibrates from the coffee table. I race over and snatch it up, eager to talk to anyone and get my mind off the man who is currently turning my life upside down. It’s Kristen.

“Hey, Kristen.”

“Hey, Jenny! Guess what!” She sounds pretty excited.

“What?”

“Guess who’s coming in tonight?”

“Ugh, just tell me, Kristen,” I groan, not in the mood to play twenty questions.

“Fat Guy and Momma’s Boy!”

We have nicknames for the regulars at the club, and some of them aren’t very nice. I know that she means Brian and Jeremy. Brian is … overweight, to put it nicely. And Jeremy is always talking to us about his mom. He’s fifty and they’re still very close. The best part about both of them, is they’re both loaded, and both love us.

“Oh, awesome,” I say, growing excited. “Did they say when?”

“Well, Anika spoke to them and he said probably about six and that he was ready to spend a lot of money. Can you get in?”

“Wow, let me see. I’ll call Alicia and call you back.”

“Okay!”

I hang up and instantly press Alicia’s contact. It rings a long time before she finally answers.

“Hello?” She sounds exhausted.

“Alicia,” I say. “Did I wake you?”

“No …” she mutters. “Well, yeah. But that’s okay. What’s up!?”

“Oh, God I’m so sorry. I was just calling to see if you could come sit for me tonight. A couple of big regulars are coming in.”

There’s a long pause and a voice that sounds male in the background. I hear her footsteps as she goes into another room.

“I’m sorry, Jenny. I can’t tonight. I’ve already got plans.”

My heart sinks.

“Really? You couldn’t make it for just a few hours?”

“I’m sorry, Jenny. I really wish I could, but I can’t.”

“Okay,” I reply. “I understand. Have a nice day!”

“You too,” she says.

I hang up and slump down on the couch. I’m not completely out of options, but I might as well be. I thumb my phone and scroll through my contacts until I find the name I always dread pressing: Colin, my ex-husband.

Mentally preparing myself for the worst, I press his name and raise the phone to my ear. It rings and rings.

“Come on, Colin,” I mutter under my breath. But the phone just keeps ringing. I hear a beep and his voicemail.

“Yo, you got Colin. You know what to do—”

I hang up. Just the sound of his voice on his recording drives me crazy. Talk about a deadbeat dad. We got together when I was a teenager. I wasn’t making the best decisions then. He was fifteen years older than me, but I didn’t care. He was hot and he had a car, and that’s all that mattered. Next thing I know I was pregnant and he was on his way out the door.

Fifteen years later and I haven’t received one single dime of child support. Every time I ask he makes up some excuse, and every time I try to go through the state I run into a brick wall. He lies about his income, stalls, goes out of town, and fights me every step of the way. And now, when I just need him to watch
his
kids for a few hours, he’s not answering my calls.

I grab my hair and tug hard. Just as I’m about to lose it, my phone vibrates in my hand. I check it: Colin.

“Oh, hi,” I say, a little too snippy as I answer the phone.

“Sup?” Is his only reply.

“Can you watch Ella and Josh tonight? I need to work.”

“No can do,” he says. What a surprise. My eyes roll so hard they almost fall out of my head.

“I really need to work tonight, Colin. I’m the one supporting our children.”

“Hey, I watch them when it’s my turn,” he says as though he’s doing me some sort of favor spending time with his kids.

“Yeah, when you don’t cancel or go on vacation or just want to hang out with your trashy girlfriend.”

“Is this gonna get nasty, Jenny?” he says in that condescending tone that makes me want to slap him.

“Nasty? Colin, I need to work. You don’t give me any child support, and I need you to watch the kids—
your
kids, and I’m the one being nasty?”

“Sorry, I’m not even in town tonight. I can ask Tony if he can take them.”

“Tony?” I say, almost laughing at the absurdity. “You think I’m going to let your scumbag friends look after my kids?”

“Our kids,” he corrects me. “What’s wrong with Tony?”

“Aside from his cocaine habit and the fact that he’s on parole? Nothing I guess.”

That shuts him up.

“You seriously are gonna do this?”

“Look, I’m not even in town,” he says, starting to sound annoyed. “I’ll toss you some money when I get back to make it up to you.”

Now he’s trying to pay me off. Unbelievable. What does it take to find a good man in this world?

“Fuck you, Colin,” I say and hang up.

I wind up to hurl my phone across the room, but I manage to stop myself. I can’t believe this. So typical. I don’t know why I’m surprised. If there was an award for being unreliable, Colin would be the clear winner year after year. My blood’s about to boil, and just when I’m about to erupt into a total adult temper tantrum, the door opens.

“Hey,” Ty says, strolling in like he owns the place.

“Hey!?” I say, ready to take my anger out on someone. “Hey? That’s all you have to say when you come into my place?”

Ty just looks at me for a minute, examining me like I’m some scientific specimen.

“What’s up your ass?” he says.

I scoff. “Excuse me?”

“You seem edgy,” he replies, moving past me towards the kitchen. As he passes, I can smell him again, and I feel my body responding.

Not now!

“Relax, would you,” he says, sounding irritated at me. “I’ve had a pretty fucked up day.”

Now he’s about to set me off. I’m two seconds away from snatching the glass of water out of his hand that he’s filling up at the sink, hurling it across the room and screaming for him to get out.

“
You’ve
had a fucked up day!?”

“That’s what I said,” he replies as he takes a swig of water.

How can any man piss me off and turn me on at the same exact time?

Look at his arms
, I think. The same arms I’ve pictured around me, holding me by the waist as he has his way with me. I want to scream at him, but if he took me right now, I wouldn’t even try to stop him. I think part of me wants him to.

“Yeah? Well so have I. My sitter isn’t available, my ex-husband is being his typical douchebag self, and two of my regulars are coming in tonight and I won’t be able to go in. That means losing out on a lot of money and even longer without my car.”

“You need someone to watch the kids,” he says as a matter of fact.

“Yes,” I snap.

“I’ll watch them,” he says casually. I’m so shocked that I just stand there like a dummy for what feels like forever. Ty takes another sip from his glass and grins. “You all right?”

“Yes,” I say quickly. “Sorry. You’ll watch them?”

“Yeah, sure. How hard could it be? They get rowdy I’ll just put them outside,” he says. My jaw drops. “The dogs, not the kids.”

I’m weighing the pros and cons in my head, and I can’t believe it. Ty shouldn’t even be in my house let alone watching my kids, but I’m considering it. And it’s not just because there’s a lot of money to be made tonight. Something about Ty … I just trust him.

“You’d do that?” I ask.

“You’d let me?” he says, almost daring me to tell him no. He takes a few steps towards me. I can smell him again. I can see the vein running down his strong bicep and the tense muscles of his shoulders. He’s looking down at me with those eyes, and I feel myself shudder.

“I don’t know why, but yes.”

“Okay,” he says. He keeps looking at me, like he’s waiting for me to do something. But I don’t know what to do. I want something to happen. Anything. We’re home alone. I’m home alone with a man. It’s like I’m a teenager again, happy that my parents are gone and my boyfriend is over. Only I’m the mom and Ty is not my boyfriend.

“I should … get ready,” I say softly. I turn away and walk quickly to my room and close the door behind me. My heart is pounding, and as I sit down on my bed, I realize I’m wet between my thighs. This is unbelievable. I’m a stripper for God’s sake! I get hit on by men every time I work, and I’m wearing next to nothing. But that’s just a job, and those guys are mostly dicks. I thought Ty was the same when I met him, but I guess life can throw a curve ball at you when you least expect it.

A
t the club
, all I can think about is Ty. I’m sitting with Fat Guy, aka. Brian, and Kristen is dancing for Momma’s Boy, aka. Jeremy. I’m glad I got Brian, he doesn’t want any dancing or topless nonsense. He just wants someone to talk to. His wife left him five years ago and took him for half of what he had. After all that, he still loves her. Part of me finds it pathetic, but the other part of me finds it sad.

All he really wants is someone to talk to—companionship. That’s why I don’t like working the main room and the stages. Those guys just want some ass and titties in their face and want to feel like ballers when they shower us with one dollar bills.
One dollar bills
. Do you know how many one dollar bills they would have to throw at me for me to make any money? I can make what most girls make in a night from an hour here in the champagne room.

So far I’m up eight hundred.

“So here they are, these people, telling me to stay away from the woman I’ve loved for nine years,” Brian is saying. “And it’s killing me. Because I love her, ya know?”

“Wow, that is pretty crazy,” I say. I’ve heard this before, but it’s still heart wrenching. I’m doing my best to be commiserative, but Ty keeps invading my thoughts. The weirdest part of it all, is that I’m not worried about my children. Even with Alicia I worry. I trust her, and I’ve used her before in the past, but she’s young and she’s not perfect. I know she can’t handle my neighbors, and she’s not a big girl, so if something were to happen …

But with Ty there, I feel like the Nazis could try to invade my apartment and Ty wouldn’t let them through the front door.

“What do you say we do another bottle?” he says. That’s good news for me. Another bottle means another two hundred bucks. Not for the alcohol itself, but for my service. We work off tips, and Brian’s a heavy tipper. He doesn’t act like he’s a big shot either, he just likes to. He’s a generous guy and likes to help out.

“That sounds good to me,” I say, getting up and heading downstairs. As I pass the bar, I remember the first time I bumped into Ty and thought he was a rude, cocky asshole. Now he’s back at my apartment watching my kids. I thought I’d gotten good at reading people after all these years. I never expected to run into someone like him.