Page 57 of Dare to Dance
“Yeah, he has that wide left hook that comes out of nowhere.”
“He’s a quick motherfucker for a slugger.” Jay paused the tape then sat back. “Your fight is set for one week from this Saturday. We have standing room only, and this is an interview fight. Not a match that will go on your record.”
“You didn’t call me in for something I already knew. What is it?”
“A buddy of mine saw you at an illegal underground fight on Saturday. Is that true?”
Fuck me.I’d been trying to keep a low profile. I couldn’t afford Jay’s wrath. I couldn’t throw away my career. Yet I’d needed to be there to support Ruby. I’d had to be there in case she’d gotten severely hurt or if the cops raided the joint. The chance always existed that cops would bust into an underground event of some kind. I knew all too well from the underground gambling game I’d been part of with Kelton, Lizzie, and Dillon that anything could go wrong. So, Dillon and I had made a plan just in case. He’d been at Firefly enough to know that a tunnel existed in one of the rooms in the basement. Luckily, we didn’t have to go through with our plan, although I hadn’t figured in that a friend of Jay’s would be at the fight.
“Yes.” No sense in lying. “I was there helping a friend.”
He pinched his hooknose. “Tommy Delano is a gnat’s ass away from getting caught by the law for his illegal fights and anything else he’s into.”
I angled my head. “You know him?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I know every underground fighting circuit in this city. If I catch you or get wind that you’re at one again, we’re through. You can find another coach.” His voice escalated. “I’ve worked too hard with you to fuck all this up. I don’t give a shit who you were helping. Am I clear?”
I raked a hand through my hair. “Crystal.” I might have just lied to him because if Ruby continued to fight, then I would continue to be there with her.
“We train again on Monday. Have a nice holiday.” He turned back to the TV.
I lifted a foot to get the fuck out of there before he called off the fight. This was my third warning. I’d received one for the predicament I’d gotten into with the cops at the mafia gambling game. The second had been for not having my head in the ring, which had led to me losing a fight. Now, the underground fight. Boxing was everything to me, but so were family and friends. “Jay.”
He paused with his finger on the remote.
“If you must know…” I hardly shared my personal business with Jay. He did, however, know that friends and family were important to me. “I was at Firefly to help someone who is dear to my heart.” Truth. “She could be my future.”
“Boxing is your future.” He rubbed a hand over his bald head. “Or are you telling me it isn’t.”
“It is. Look, I knew the risks of showing up at Firefly. I know Tommy is scum. But you know me. I don’t let friends get hurt. Ruby, one of the girls who was fighting, didn’t know how to fight. I couldn’t let anything happen to her.”
“Admirable. But how many times are you going to stick your neck out for someone before it fucks with your career? For months now, your head hasn’t been straight. You’re putting yourself into sticky situations that could mess up your career. I’m not trying to be a dick. What I’m saying is when you’re in that ring”—he pointed to the door—“make sure you’re all in, head, heart, and soul. At the match, I want to see Kross, the great fighter that you’ve become. The one that knocks out his opponents. The man who people revere. The rattlesnake.”
I chuckled at the public’s nickname for me. A sportscaster had mentioned that I was like a rattlesnake. When I went in for the kill, one side of my mouth turned up, alerting my prey that I was about to attack. Then before they knew what had hit them, they were out cold. I’d tried to be aware of my tells, but when I was zoned into punching someone’s lights out, it was hard to change my habits.
“Yes, sir.”
Jay returned to watching the tape. I made my way out. I would dump all my energy and effort into impressing Gail. I would also show Reggie I was still the better fighter. He and I had met in our first amateur fight four years ago. I’d come out the victor, and he was pissed. I wouldn’t doubt that he itched to even the score. I also wouldn’t doubt that he had sharpened his skills. Just from watching the tape, I saw that he was a better fighter. So was I. My brothers had been talking shit about Reggie and me fighting again, Kody especially. Reggie had been part of Greg Sullivan’s posse in high school that had helped put Kody in the hospital. Even after four years, Kody wanted to see Stockman bleed.
It was three minutes past noon, the sun was shining, and I had a long weekend to spend with family and hopefully Ruby. I glanced up and down the street. No sign of Ruby. She didn’t have a cell phone so I couldn’t call her. A man in his late forties was locking up the pawnshop across the street. He waved then tucked his hands in his pockets and began walking. Then the gym door clicked open.
“Ruby called. She wants you to meet her at Boston Public Garden, the Arlington entrance,” Jay said.
After twenty minutes through stops and turns, I parked my truck then hotfooted it the two blocks to the Public Gardens. My heart picked up a beat every time my foot pounded the pavement. Images of Ruby in my arms after she’d fought made my stomach tingle. She had fit perfectly in my arms, and the bare skin on her back had melted into my hands. Her cheeks had been silky beneath my thumbs. I had the urge to feel more of her. Hell, I had almost shoved my tongue through her supple lips that night. I couldn’t ruin whatever we had building between us. She was coming around, and I wanted her to make the first move. That way, I would know without a morsel of a doubt that she wanted me.
Ruby paced in front of the George Washington Statue that stood amid the backdrop of the city. The park was quiet except for a swan floating down the lagoon. My pulse—not so quiet. Ruby continued to carve a path in the pavement until she spotted me.
When I saw her eyes, I was immediately drawn into a sea of blue-green, sparkling water surrounding some faraway deserted island. My pulse ticked higher.
She gave me a rueful smile that contradicted the pensiveness in her eyes. “Sorry I couldn’t meet you at the gym.”
Abruptly, my euphoria changed to caution. “Is everything okay?”
Her chested heaved as she cupped her hands together. She nodded, tears pooling. “For so long, I’d been so freaking mad at you. Then when I saw you at the fight that first time, I panicked. I never wanted you to see me as a homeless person. We had something back in the tenth grade. Didn’t we?”
Whoa!A knot formed in my stomach at her desperation. “What’s this about? Did someone hurt you?” She didn’t have any visible signs of bruises. Then Tommy came to mind. I would kill him if he’d done anything to her.
“No. Please answer the question.” Anguish weaved through her words.
