"Now, Robbie, now!"
He was already in motion, elbow tucked low, before he drove his fist into the underside of his opponent's jaw. There was no fanfare, no stumbling or trying to stay upright. O'Malley fell like a mighty oak tree, bouncing off the ring floor once before landing flat on his back, motionless.
I screamed and hooted, even taking my seatmates offered high five as the crowd went wild.
And Robbie, sweet Robbie, stood over O'Malley, waiting, body tense, until he saw the other man twitch and lift his head before throwing his arms up in celebration.
The noise was so loud, the moment so overwhelming, that I didn't realize my cheeks were wet with tears. I yanked off the glasses and swiped at them before sliding the glasses back on.
Then, I looked back up into the ring, right into Robbie Stevens’ eyes.
Six
Robbie
She came.
I'd just won my first-ever televised, professional fight. The fight that would change it all for me, and Melissa had been there to see it. The sound of that trademark whistle still rang in my ears.
The soreness in my knuckles faded, the sting of my cheek as the needle slid smoothly in and out of the flesh, the ache in my ribs...all of it disappeared as a feeling of utter and total rightness settled over me.
"Great fight, kid. You scared me there early on leaving yourself open like that," my trainer, Alexi, muttered, patting my back.
"Yeah, I scared myself pretty good there too," I said with a half-smirk. Truth was, I'd been glancing at the front row to see if there was a chance in hell that maybe Melissa had shown up, when that massive fist had come out of nowhere. It was almost comical, because it hadn't been the first time, and it was a pointed reminder that I still had some work to do in the concentration department.
At the same time, it was also a wake up call that, no matter what Melissa thought of my feelings, she still meant as much to me now as she did then. I thought back to her ridiculous glasses and blond wig and swallowed a pained chuckle.
"Can you wrap it up, Doc?" I murmured. "I have somewhere to be."
The old man just rolled his eyes at me and continued to work, but now that the idea was in my head, I couldn't shake it. So maybe she still despised me. So maybe she never wanted to see me again after tonight. But she'd come to see my fight because she still cared. And I wasn't about to let her go another day thinking that I didn't feel the same. She needed to know that I loved her and I'd never stopped loving her.
An hour later, I was standing in the lobby of her hotel, showered and feeling halfway human. I knew the feeling wouldn't last. Tomorrow, I'd wake up and feel like I'd gotten hit full on by a freight train. But in the moment, I was high on life. Winning with my best girl--my only girl--watching had made me feel unbreakable. Invincible. Like nothing could touch me right now.
I was about to bite the bullet and get on the elevator to her room. Even if I had to get through her bulldog, Ashlynn, to get to her, I was ready, willing and able.
Nothing was going to stop me from telling her the truth and saying my piece.
As I jabbed the elevator Up button, a movement outside the massive window caught my eyes. A lone figure strolling down toward the beach, silhouetted in the moonlight. I didn't have to look twice to know it was Melissa. My heart thudded in my chest as I crossed the lobby and out the door. I toed off my sneakers and left them in the sand as I made my way toward her.
"Melis?" I called to her over the whipping wind.
She froze, her shoulders going stiff, before she turned around to face me.
The wig was gone, and so were the glasses, but she still wore the dress she'd had on at the fight, and my tongue went tied.
It fit her like a glove, hugging every inch on every curve. It was all I could do not to walk over and yank her up against me. Show her exactly how much I missed her. How much I wanted her. How much I loved her.
"What are you doing here, Robbie?" she demanded, her voice low and miserable.
I took a few steps closer until we were only a couple feet apart. "I wanted to thank you. For coming to my fight."
Her lips tipped into a bittersweet smile. "Yeah. I don't know how I thought I'd be able to stay incognito. I forgot how caught up I get."
That was one of my favorite things about her, but it hardly seemed like the time to tell her that.
"It really meant a lot to me to know you were there. You were there in the beginning, and it felt so right to know you were there for this part."
“It felt right to me too.”
Now was the time, if there ever was one. Now was the time to tell her how I’d felt then. How I felt now...
“Melis, I--”
"You hate when I cry. That's what you said to me the other night, right Robbie?" Her voice sounded choked and the tears that had clearly been locked and loaded now fell freely down her golden cheeks.