HE’S NOT ANSWERING HIS PHONE, so that means he’s at the gym. It’s the only time he doesn’t answer me or at least quick-text me back.
Still in my yellow dress and heels, I navigate my car onto the dimly-lit road that leads to Percy’s. There are people on the street corners, looking at me like they’ll stick a gun in my window if I slow down too much. So I don’t. Actually, I get a little heavy on the accelerator.
A calendar flips through my head and I realize Dom fights in a couple of days. He’s stopped talking about it, other than to infer he’s generically training. There are no reports of the date or his opponent or what tactics he’s going to use or how much he hates Bond. He’s just slowed down from any casual mention at all.
If he’s going to fight, I’m going to be there with my pom-poms in the air. Maybe I can get Ford to teach me a thing or two before then. Just the basics, like Mom said.
I pull to the curb and cut the lights and ignition and scan the parking lot for any creepers. It’s not well-lit but it’s better than the roads. There are lights on inside and my car is parked next to his. There’s one other small compact car by the door.
Hopping out and dashing to the front as best I can in heels, praying it’s unlocked, I pull it open.
There are no chimes like at a regular business to alert the workers someone has walked in. Some of the lights that hang from the ceiling are on and some off, making the room a bit moody.
Glancing around, I don’t see signs of anyone. I don’t hear anything either. I’m about ready to call out his name when I see a shadow in the ring in the back.
With a wide smile, I dart in that direction but slow when it’s not Dom’s voice I hear. Instead, I hear one I vaguely remember.
“Does that feel better?” It’s a woman’s voice that’s cooing through the room. It’s her voice, Red’s, the one from The Gold Room the day I walked into Nate’s office and saw her sitting with Dominic.
My blood turns to ice. Suddenly, I can hear everything, see everything, almost taste the feeling in the room.
Her giggle cuts through me like a chainsaw. “Hold still and I’ll put some of this on it.”
“There’s no way to get it on where it hurts with the bandage.”
“Should I take it back off? Man, I’m bad at this nursing thing.”
“Yes, you are,” he laughs.
The warmth of his chuckle, the easiness of it ringing through the air, pelts me. I almost gasp.
“Bond gets you with that hook every time,” she says. “Have you thought about throwing a left hook on the inside when he throws wide?”
“Yeah, I have. I’m impressed, Hannah.”
“Well, don’t be,” she flirts. “I heard Percy telling someone a few days ago. I just borrowed the lingo.”
“Well, he told me that too. Apparently I should remember it more often.”
She giggles again and I want to puke.
My stomach sinks that she knows this part of him, that he’s impressed by her knowledge of whatever it is they’re talking about. Fighting. Punching. Things that are foreign and beyond me.
Then she giggles a third time and I realize I may have more of a fighter in me than I expect. I want to place a punch right in the middle of her face. My hands clenched at my sides, my nails pressing into my palms, I step farther in the room so I can see them.
She’s sitting in the middle of the ring next to him. A bandage is wrapped around his chest, and by the way it’s fastened, I can tell he didn’t put it on. Someone else did. She did.
I take a deep breath and know I’m probably not going to handle this with a smile.
“Hey, Dom,” I say as sweetly as I can manage.
I’ve never seen someone’s head whip around so quickly. His eyes are wide as he struggles to his feet, grimacing in pain. I don’t look at Red, but she’s looking at me. Her smirk smacks the side of my face, her taunt, also inaudible, is there. I feel it.
“What are you doing here?” Dom asks, babying his side.
“I left the event early. Maybe, again, I should’ve called.”
My teeth grind against each other, my hands trembling at the fury of imagining her hands on my man.
“You know what? I’m sorry,” I say, “I did call. That’s how I knew you were here. You didn’t answer.”
“He was training,” Red interjects, looking at me like I’m an annoyance.
“You—” I start, but Dom cuts me off.
“Hannah, thanks for your help tonight.”
“Anything for you.” Her eyes are on mine as she places her hand on his shoulder and lets it fall down his arm. “Need anything else, Dom?”
“You have about three seconds to get away from him,” I seethe.
“And what are you going to do about it?”
“She’s not going to do anything about it. Just go, Hannah. Okay?”
She stands in front of him, her hands on her hips. “I still have this cream . . .”
“I swear to God . . .” My body quakes as I look at Dominic.
“You,” she says as she climbs out the ring a safe distance away from me, “need to leave him alone. He’s injured and has a fight in a couple of days. Don’t be fucking his head all up.”
“Hannah, enough,” Dom orders, his voice gravelly.
“You need to leave him alone,” I glare.
“Why? Because you’re his little goody-two-shoe girlfriend and you said so? Let me give you a little piece of advice. If you gave a fuck, you’d have been here timing his rounds and wrapping his hands and not off posing for pictures like the mindless idiot you are.”
“Excuse me?” I start around the ring but am stopped when Dom’s voice booms through the room.
“Hannah. Enough,” he growls. “You wanna play a little game, that’s fine. Cam is smart enough to see it for what it is. But if you’re going to tread into disrespecting her, calling her names, that’s a level you don’t want to get to. Trust me.”
She rolls her eyes. “Put a show on now for the girlfriend. Fine. See you later.”
I stand on one side of the ropes, Dom on the other, while Hannah whistles and rummages around up front taking her sweet time. A couple of long minutes later, the door slams. And we’re alone.
Just having her gone dissolves some of the fire, but in its place, is a singe of hurt.
Maybe some of what she said is true. Maybe he thinks that too.
“What are you doing here, Cam?”
“I’d ask you the same thing but I’m not sure I want the answer.”
He blows out a breath like the fate of the entire world lies in it. “You know I don’t want you here. Not at night and not alone.”
I don’t respond.
“Oh, stop it,” he sighs.
“Stop it? Really? You’re going to say that to me when I walk in here and see that? Her touching you and cooing like a baby? It’s . . .” I force a smile. “It’s beyond frustrating.”
“I needed help with the bandage,” he sighs. “She was the only person here.”
“Conveniently.”
“Whatever, Cam. I’m banged up here. Forgive me for taking care of myself. Isn’t it you that’s always preaching that?”
“Yes,” I gulp.