I pushed at his meaty shoulder. “Go. He needs you. I’ll be fine.”
He eyed me. “You’re sure?”
I wasn’t, but I kept my doubts to myself. “I’m sure.”
Zane hopped down and leaned close to Kevin. “Watch her, man. This shit is getting nuts.”
Kevin nodded. “I got it.”
And then Zane was gone, vanishing into the crowd, and I was alone in the truck bed again, and now the SUVs, Mercedes-Benz G-Wagens like my father seemed to favor, were inching toward the back edge of the crowd in a line abreast, with the limousine behind them, pushing the milling, screaming crowd aside to approach me.
Teddy was in the driver’s seat of the limousine, and I felt my gut sink the moment his eyes met mine.
My little escapade in Ketchikan, Alaska was over, it seemed.
And I was discovering that my head, my heart, and my body all had very different things to say about that.
9
Baxter
Goddamn it. I knew exactly who was in that limo, and judging by the expression on Evangeline’s face, so did she. I couldn’t do shit about it, though. Juarez was no slouch in the ring, and it was going to take every last ounce of skill and focus I possessed to pull the win out. I’d seen Juarez fight before, and he was one of the few fighters I was even remotely nervous to face. Add in the distraction of Eva and the approaching limo…this could spell trouble.
I had a lot of money riding on this fight, but I also had a lot of emotion invested in Eva. I’d known her, what…two days? Not even— just about twenty-four hours. But the thought of her getting into that stupid, fancy fuckin’ limo, possibly to go back to that fuckin’ tool Thomas…? That shit burned a hole in my gut.
I didn’t want her to go.
I wanted her to stay. I wanted to kiss her again. Make her scream again. I wanted to just…chill with her at the bar, shooting the shit with the gang.
But her life was at Yale and her family was on the East Coast. She was way above my pay grade, destined to marry someone with a net worth I’d never make even if I fought in the big leagues with guys like McGregor, Silva, and Jones. She was destined to marry someone with an Ivy League pedigree, mansions in four states, and the attention of powerful people in Washington. She sure as fuck wasn’t gonna spend any more of her time or attention slumming it with some no-name, no-neck brawler from a tiny cruise-ship town like Ketchikan.
I used the angst and anger those thoughts brought boiling up inside me to force my focus onto Juarez, who was testing me with a series of lightning-fast jabs and an even faster left front kick. His footwork was solid, and his defense was tight, and even his test jabs connecting with my shoulder and chest felt like being tapped by an anvil.
I couldn’t spare another thought for Eva, not now.
A jab caught me on the chin, sending me backward and making my eyes smart, prompting me to retaliate with my own series of jabs and kicks, most of which Juarez easily turned aside or absorbed without flinching. The first round passed quickly, neither of us winded or bloodied, still testing each other’s skills.
Zane was behind me as I rested in one corner, and I glared at him. “You’re supposed to be with Eva, you fuckin’ tool.”
“This crowd is wild, man. Shit could turn in a split second. You need me to watch your back. Juarez has plenty of his own rabid supporters.”
“Which is why you need to be with her, not me.” I jerked my chin at the lights of the SUVs and the limo. “Especially with that shit about to go down.”
“She told me to let her handle it.”
“Meaning she’s going back with ’em.”
He shrugged. “Yep. Her choice, though, man.”
I rolled my shoulders, ignoring the thudding bass of the music and the lewd show put on by the strippers. “I don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know. Fuck, man, I fuckin’ know! But I still don’t like it.” I watched as the SUVs forced the crowd away so they could form a perimeter around the truck in which Eva was sitting, making way for the limo to approach. “It’s bullshit.”
“Her family, her life, her choice. She wants to stay, she’ll stay. She’s a grown-ass woman.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “And she’s too fucking good for you anyway, bro, and we both know it.”
I glared at him. “Yeah, I fuckin’ know, Zane, thanks for the reminder.” The dancers exited the arena under the aggressive protection of the security team, and the bell rang. “I fuckin’ know it, but that don’t mean I have to fuckin’ like it.”
