“No.” My answer came swiftly and without hesitation. “I want to be there. I’m not going to say it won’t bother me a bit to see some guy beat up on you. But it’ll be fine.” I shrugged. “You just have to win.”
He laughed again, the humor sparkling in his eyes. “Well, the first thing I’m going to say is that I am going to win. As far as getting hit, he might get a few lucky jabs in, but don’t you worry the match will end with me winning. Besides, with you sitting in the first row looking as hot as you are, he doesn’t stand a chance.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I rolled my eyes at him, but gave him a hug anyhow. “You’re quite the sweet talker, you know that?”
“I do what I can.” He nodded toward the door. “Let’s go or we’re going to be late. You lead the way, I love seeing your ass in that dress.”
How he could make me melt inside with just words was beyond me, but I loved it. And it wasn’t like he was being insincere like so many other guys, you could tell just by looking into his eyes that he felt every word that he said to me.
Exiting the elevator on the main floor, I stepped out and was confronted with his mother. What was with us running into her coming out of the elevator anyhow? It was as though she had the elevator on surveillance or something—kinda freaky if you asked me. She didn’t like me. That being said, she had no problem taking my money on the commission she made selling us the house across the street, but I could tell her regard for me ended there and me dating her son wasn’t a happy thing for her.
Well, too bad for her, because I was here to stay.
“Hey Mom, were headed out for a while,” Jaxson stated, placing a hand at the center of my back and urging me forward toward the door.
We began to put on our shoes and jackets.
“Where are you two headed?” she asked, not willing to give up so quickly.
“Out.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “One of you looks like she’s headed for a night club and the other looks like he’s going to the gym. A little mismatched.”
Well, aren’t you perceptive? I said silently not willing to voice my words out loud.
“Yes, well, I’m not in the mood to dress up and she is. It happens.” Jaxson reached past me and grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. “Good night mother, don’t wait up.”
“Good night,” I said. I couldn’t bring myself to call her Mrs. Weiss.
As we stepped out into the night air, the wind was stronger than usual, a gust racing up my dress and sending a chill through me as my hair whipped into my face. His driver was already waiting with the door wide open for us.
“Hurry,” Jaxson ushered me down the stairs and to the car.
Sliding into the car, I breathed a sigh of relief when I was hit with a rush of warm air. It was so nice. Sliding to the far end of the back seat, I made room for Jaxson.
When the door closed behind me, Jaxson leaned into me. “We have some time to kill and you look delicious,” he whispered against my neck.
I moaned softly, my eyes closing. “We don’t have that much time.”
“Then we had better be quick.” His lips found mine and I became instantly lost.
~*~ TT ~*~
“We need to go through the side door,” he said as he stepped out of the car.
“Good luck, sir. I’ll be waiting for your call,” the driver said, giving us a nod and scampering off without waiting for us to reply.
“All right.” I pretended I didn’t realize where we were going, even though I’d watched him use the side door a couple weeks prior. I didn’t want to bring up a previous argument just before his fight. He was in an amazing mood and seemed to be hyper focused currently; it seemed to be a great state of mind for him to be in before a fight.
The doorman spotted Jaxson and immediately recognized him, opening the door and giving us a nod as we walked past and into the club. This door, unlike the main one, didn’t lead to the dance and bar area, instead it led down a long hallway, lit by basic hanging ceiling lamps. My four-inch heels click-clacked on the floor as we made our way down the corridor. As much as I hated heels this high, it gave me at least a little more height to close the gap between us slightly.
At the end of the hallway there were two doors one directly ahead of us and one to the left. “Where now?”
“I’m going to get you a seat at the front of the ring and then go get ready, does that work for you?” I nodded as he reached for the door handle and pulled the door inward. He led me to the front row, and I was about to sit down when I stopped him.
“Wait. I need to place a bet. Gotta get back the money I lost last time.”
He frowned, his mouth dropping open ever so slightly. “You bet on the last match?”
Giving him a sheepish grin, I shrugged. “Kinda. Yeah. I bet on you, so that’s something, right?”
“How much did you lose?” His expression was unreadable.
“Only a few hundred, but I’m feeling good about tonight. I heard the fighter has had a very enjoyable drive here and is quite pumped.” I held my breath, hoping he’d enjoy the joke and not get offended and pissed at being reminded of the loss. This was one of those “speak first, cringe later” moments.
“Okay, by all means. I can’t go up with you though, I can’t bet on my own fights, but power to you if you want to.” He took a seat on my assigned chair. I could feel his eyes on me as I walked to the wagering booths, so I put an extra sway to my hips for his benefit.
Upon reaching the booth I pulled my wallet from my new Versace handbag and pulled out a stack of hundreds. In total there was one-thousand dollars. “One thousand on Weiss,” I announced, slipping the money through the bars. The same woman who was working the booth last time was working tonight. She verified the hundred-dollar bills while chomping on gum—spearmint from the smell drifting to me through the slits in what I assumed to be bullet proof plastic—and a minute later passed me a ticket. The odds were 3–1 in favor of Jaxson’s opponent.
Seeing me approach, Jaxson stood. “Okay babes, I have to go. Enjoy the fights. I’ll see you soon.” Leaning down, he brushed his lips against mine.
The all-too-familiar tingling coursed through me, but before I could deepen the kiss his lips were gone, leaving me longing for more.
“Behave yourself and no screaming my name.” He winked. “At least until after the fight.”
“I’ll do what I can.” Sitting down, I watched him walk away and disappear through the door we came in through. As confident as I was in him, I was still nervous. So much could happen to him and I wasn’t sure how I’d deal with sitting watching something serious happen to him. I’d seen MMA fights and a punch or kick landing the wrong way could cause serious and sometimes permanent injury.
But this was a part of who he was. It was what he wanted to do as a career—at least for now. I knew there was no talking him out of it. If I was going to be with him I had to accept this part of his life.
Chapter 21
I barely noticed what was going on with the fights before Jaxson’s. The closer we got to his ring time, the more nervous I became. By the time his name was called to go to the ring for his fight I felt like I was going to vomit. As least last time I had Damien for support. I had no one this time. It was just me and my thoughts of how things could go horribly wrong.
Jaxson came running from the back room and leapt onto the ring and between the ropes. He began to warm up as he waited for his opponent to be announced.
He looked fucking awesome; I’d give him that much. Tall, and powerful with the lean muscle so beautifully defined, catching the light at various angles. Just seeing him warming up made butterflies flutter inside my stomach. He took a moment to look down at me and give me a wink, making me blush.
The current champion joined him in the ring. The combatants were given a couple minutes to get their bearings before the referee called them both to the center of the ring. The men touched gloves and the fight began.
Sitting a
t the edge of my seat, my fingers white knuckled the edge of the chair as I watched them square off and begin to attempt blows at each other. The first blow that landed was a foot to Jaxson’s rib, the very rib he’d fractured previously. The blow was so loud I could hear the impact and cringed. Jaxson absorbed the blow and kept going as if the kick hadn’t happened.
There was a series of kicks and punches, but the first round ended without any real injuries and I breathed a sigh of relief. Two more to go.
The second round started off with Jaxson tearing at the champion with a vengeance; there was several times where I could have sworn it was going to be over and Jaxson would be declared victorious. But that never happened, it was as though the other guy couldn’t be beat, but I’d seen Jaxson nearly take him down last time. If it hadn’t been for me, he would have won that match.
But what was going on now? It was as though Jaxson’s blows lacked the power that they had last time. Was I causing an issue by being here, causing a distraction? Just before the bell ended the second round, Adam landed an uppercut on Jaxson’s chin, sending him stumbling backward. If it hadn’t been for the bell it may have been the end of Jaxson, this match, and my thousand dollars.
The fans around me were becoming more and more feverish, all thirsty for blood. With each blow the fans had become more energized, as if feeding off the power being displayed in the ring.
Jaxson grabbed his water bottle from his corner and took a long drink, pouring some water onto his face and then taking a towel to wipe his face down. Taking one more drink from his bottle he looked into the crowd and our gazes locked.
I love you, I mouthed giving him a smile. I wanted him to know I had all the faith in the world in him. As we stared into each other’s eyes he seemed to perk up and he returned my smile.
Placing the bottle on the mat at the corner, he refocused his attention on his opponent. But there was something extra in him now, a fire he’d been missing the past two rounds.
My heartrate accelerated as I white knuckled the plastic chair under me again, my eyes glued to the men in the ring. This round was different, the moment their gloves touched Jaxson was all over Adam. Sending Adam backward from a flurry of punches to the midsection and face, no doubt confusing him by the spike of adrenaline he’d found.
Adam recovered slightly but the third round was determined the moment it started. Jaxson took a number of blows, but the final blow came as Jaxson landed an intense hit to his opponent’s temple. Adam jerked backward and fell, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.
Screams and cheering erupted around us as Jaxson was declared the winner.
There were dozens of emotions rushing through me as I looked up at him and he caught my gaze. He was developing a wicked black eye and there was a cut above said eye, but aside from that he seemed to be okay.
I can’t even explain the pride that pulsed through me as I stared up at him. I might not have won my fight, but he did, and that was good enough for me.
~*~ TT ~*~
“To Keira!” Preston said, raising his glass of wine.
“To Keira!” The rest of our group, who were all sitting around the private table at Damien’s family club chorused.
Smiling, I looked from face to face; Jaxson, Gabriel, Damien, Selena, Olivia, every one of the people I’d grown to care for were here—my friends. Who could ask for anything more, right?
Laughing, I raised a glass with them. “I didn’t win though guys. There’s nothing to toast me about.” If anything it should have been Jaxson who was being toasted, but he’d sworn me to secrecy. Sure, Preston, Gabriel and Damien knew of his extracurricular activity, but the others didn’t, and he wanted me to keep it that way.
“Of course there is,” Olivia corrected me.
When I gave her a confused look she explained. “What you’re not getting is that you’ve come into our lives and enriched all of us in one way or another. You may not have won the election, but you’ve challenged the queen bee and put the idea in the heads of the student body that they don’t have to bow to her. That’s an accomplishment.”
“She still won though,” I protested.
“In the closest race in Greisbach Academy history. The wheels of change are turning and you’re the one to thank for that,” Selena added.
Nodding, I accepted their view on the situation and we all took a drink.
“You know, I couldn’t do it without all of you. I’ve so fortunate to have such a strong support system behind me.” I looked each of my friends in the eye and gave them all a smile, ending with Jaxson. His eye looked like shit, but despite that he was still the sexiest man on Earth in my mind. “And I have to be the luckiest girl in the world to have Jaxson.”
Jaxson mouthed the words “I love you” and leaned over to give me a kiss.
“Okay you two, get a room,” Damien groaned. “I think I liked you two better when you were broken up.”
Pulling my lips from his I swept my tongue along my lower lip, savoring the taste of the red wine left on them.
Life was good, I’d admit that. But I did have one problem and that problem was the person currently sleeping with my mother. Come Monday morning I was going to see Jaxson’s private investigator and get to the bottom of who this guy really was. As much as it may hurt my mother if I was right, it would hurt her worse if I didn’t do something and let her get taken for a ride. In addition to that, he was becoming a wedge between us and it was going to come to an end. The restaurant was our project and he was making it his.
“What’s wrong, babes?” Jaxson asked, concern in his dark eyes as he looked down at me and then answered his own question, “Your mother?”
I nodded. “Yeah. We need to go see your guy Monday.”
“Sure.” He ran a hand through my hair. “Guess he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.”
Laughing, I shook my head and cuddled up against him. “He’s about to find out.”
Trina and her group of bitches would have to wait. I had bigger fish to fry at the moment. No… That was wrong. I didn’t… We did.
The End
Keep a lookout for book 3 of The Upper East Side which will be available mid-January.
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Power Play: Upper East Side (Greisbach Academy #2) Page 14
