The Hurricane (44 page)

My hangover had been raging, and I’d had bad news to break to Danny. He’d arranged a fight between Mac and a local guy from another gym. The cocky little shit had been mouthing off in Brady’s the night before. It was amusing till the gobshite turned on me. I couldn’t be arsed mouthing back, so I floored him and broke his jaw. Pretty safe to say that Friday’s fight was cancelled after that.

“Danny’s gonna put my balls in a blender when he finds out,” I told Kieran, who looked highly amused.

“Tell him now while he’s having his breakfast.”

“We haven’t been home yet. I stink of booze and birds,” I reminded him.

“Listen. Mac told me he’s friendly with some waitress down at Daisy’s. The old fucker’s happiest when he’s eating, and if you’re in a public place, he can’t bollock you so bad.”

The man had a point, so I decided to risk it. Danny wasn’t there when I’d arrived, so I waited across the street. I needed Danny to get comfy before I spilled the beans. Round the corner, came a gorgeous pair of legs and an arse fine enough to make a grown man beg. She was pretty, in a wholesome good girl sort of way, but good girls weren’t really my type. There was nothing wrong with the legs of the bad girl who’d been wrapped around me last night. No, it wasn’t her looks or her body that caught my attention. It was what she did next. This girl didn’t look like she had a quid to her name. Her jacket was threadbare, and she had it wrapped around her like it was the most expensive possession she had. A few yards away from me, a guy was sleeping rough in a doorway. It was a pretty common sight in this part of London, especially this early in the morning. I barely noticed the homeless anymore. This girl saw him and stopped. It wasn’t like she was embarrassed at having to walk past him. She literally had to cross the street to get to him. But when she did, she laid her hand on his arm and asked if there was anything she could do to help. He smiled and thanked her but told her he was fine. Then she emptied her pockets and gave him everything she had. In this day and age, who did that? That’s what made this girl so special. Twenty minutes later, she came back over, shivering in her waitress uniform, and handed the guy a hot cup of coffee as he was packing up his sleeping bag. That act of kindness probably made his day, because it sure as hell made mine. It was the first bit of faith in humanity I’d had since Kieran’s ma stepped up for me.

I didn’t wait for Danny after that. I wasn’t ready to face her, but I emptied my pockets to the homeless guy as I walked home. Already, she was making me want to be a better person. I turned up at the cafe a few times after that, but never made it inside. When my day had been hard and shitty, I’d watch her from across the street. Seeing how she was with people and how she’d smile shyly when she thought no one was looking, instantly made my day better. Every girl I’d ever met acted like they were performing for me. Everything they did or said invited me to look at them or touch them. It was the rare exception when they didn’t want me to fuck them. This girl just wanted to be invisible. I didn’t really know her, and I worried that I’d built her up in my head to be something she wasn’t, but by the time I grew enough balls to muscle in on Danny’s breakfast and actually meet her, I was already half in love. It was probably why I acted like a total tool that first time, too tongue-tied to even open my mouth.

Em knew I loved her, but I didn’t think she’d ever know just how much. She was my peace, my inspiration, my motivation, and my reward. She was my salvation. The centre of my fucking universe. I was going to conquer the whole world and lay it at her feet. It was the least she deserved. People thought the IBF Championship fight was the hardest thing I’ve ever fought for. It wasn’t. Getting that girl to fall in love and marry me was the hardest fight of my life.

I hit the bag Kieran was still holding harder and harder until he was grunting with every punch. I could feel Em watching me, and I smiled, knowing that my need to impress her fuelled each hit. Now that she had me here, my appetite for training was relentless. Until Frank was gone for good and I knew my girl would get the happy ever after she deserved, this fight wasn’t over. It was only just beginning.

To Lee, my husband and best friend in the whole world. Thank you for always believing in me, more than I believe in myself, and for loving me even when I abandon you for a world of fiction. I love you more than you will ever know. To Jack and Gabriel. You are my inspiration, my motivation and my reward. No matter what, you will both always be the best thing that ever happened to me, and I am so proud to call myself your Mum. Thank you to Mum and Dad for never ever letting me think that there was a dream too big for me if I didn’t work hard enough. On your shoulders, I could always see the whole world.

Thank you to my amazing friend Marie. I have no doubt that without you, this book would never have been written. Your faith and encouragement gave me wings and without you, this crazy dream would never have become a reality.

Thank you to my amazing and wonderful family, Gerry, Faye, Laura, Sarah, Boo, Gareth, David, Daniel, Ben and Dave. I can’t believe that I didn’t tell you about my writing for so long, but it was your love and support that helped me make it to the end.

To Vin and Ria, my cryptic friends. Thank you for all of the technical and other advice, for the beta reading and most importantly for encouraging me to put myself out there and make this happen. Lee and I are so lucky to have you as friends.

Thank you SO much to Adele for your wonderful swag. Your designs are beautiful and I'm so grateful for all your hard work and friendship.

A huge debt of gratitude goes to Lauren- Marie who has helped and supported me on this journey in so many ways. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for everything.

I cannot thank Louisa Maggio from LM Cover Creations enough. Not only did you create a cover that I love, you became the first friend that I made on this journey and I can’t wait to work with you again. Many thanks to L.J. from Mayhem Cover Creations for my fabulous website and teasers. You were a total blast to work with and endlessly patient with my lack of technical knowledge. Thank you so much to my editor Jenny from Editing 4 Indies. To say that you had a mountainous task with my manuscript is a colossal understatement. To Angel Dust for my wonderful book trailer. I truly love it, thank you so much. Thank you also to Cassy Roop from Pink Ink Designs for taking time away from your own book release to help make my dream a reality.

To Rachel V across the pond. I am so very grateful for the day that you answered my message. At the start of this book you were my first beta reader. By the end of the book you were my friend. So much of this story is owed to you and how you saw O’Connell. I am so grateful to you for everything, and I hope one day that we will get to meet in person.

To the amazing Lily M who was never too busy to beta for me at the drop of a hat. I hope that you will stay with me for many more books to come. Thank you to my other beta readers, Sue R, Ariel and Sarah. Thanks also to Natascha, without whom this book wouldn’t have a single credible location and Joey, who inspired my prologue. Your thoughts, insights and often, words of encouragement, have helped me more than you know.

I was so daunted when I first considered publishing and there are many people in the literary world that I have to thank for keeping me on track. Firstly, to author L.A. Casey who was never too busy on her own journey to help me on mine. I am, and always will be, a fan for life. To author James Oliver French. Your technical know-how continues to astound me and I’m so grateful to have travelled along this road with you. Thanks to author Julia Derek who gave me my first lesson in the basics of shaping a manuscript so that my editor wouldn’t throw it at me. Finally, to Whitney from A Literary Perusal, who painstakingly gave of her own time to help me make this into a better story. I have learned so much from all of you and I can’t thank you enough.

To all of my friends in Cardiff and Bristol for all of your support, no matter how long it’s been since I saw you last, and for so many happy memories that inspired so much of my writing.

A HUGE thank you to all my friends in Pentwyn including Cerianne, Ruth, Christine, Jodie, Sian, Cynthia, Kerry, Kevin and Amanda. I can’t tell you how much all of your support has meant to me.

Thank you to Ashleigh and Andrew for listening for months about every endless detail of my adventure without complaint. And for not stapling anything to me in all that time.

A MASSIVE thank you to each and every blogger who has helped me to get
The Hurricane
out there. So many of you give your own time and money to help and promote authors. You are, without doubt, the unsung heroes of the literary world. I can’t thank you individually, for fear that I will forget someone, but know that I am truly grateful for every one of you that has helped me along the way.

Last, but not least. My biggest thanks go to you the reader, for taking a chance on this book by an unknown author. Just to know that you have read it, is a dream come true.

If you enjoyed
The Hurricane
, then please keep an eye out for more of Em and O’Connell’s story in their sequel,
The Aftermath
.

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