by Ella Jade
Without another word Jacob pulled her into his body, holding her hard and awkwardly as his lips took hers without permission. It took Sabrina a second to understand what was going on before she tugged out of his hold and slapped him across the face as hard as she could manage.
“How dare you!” she scolded before walking over to the valet. “I need a cab now!” she demanded. That nauseating feeling had returned, and she was desperate for a hot shower to wash the disgust off of her. Not only because of Jacob, but because of her own poor choice.
Chapter 7
“What the fuck?” Silvio said from the passenger side of his brother’s truck. “Yo, Antonio, slow down. I gotta check something.”
Kevin had talked Silvio and his brother into meeting him at a club on the Strip. He was reluctant, but the guys were excited to go and told him he could have a beer anywhere. They wanted to celebrate his win, but it was just an excuse for them to find a new pool of women to hit on.
Driving down the Strip at the natural slow pace, he couldn’t help but notice an attractive blonde standing on the sidewalk, talking with a man in a suit. Her back was turned to him, but it was a backside he thought he would recognize anywhere. Please be wrong.
As the truck slowed he could clearly see Sabrina’s beautiful face, and in the next second the man had his hands wrapped around her and his lips on hers. Her soft, full lips that he thought were his. He clenched his jaw, anger boiling through him until he felt the heat in his cheeks.
“What was it, man? Do you see something hot?” Antonito asked, looking over his shoulder then quickly back to the road in front of him.
“Nope. Just thought I saw someone, but I was wrong,” Silvio lied.
He might have opened up and shown Sabrina his softer side, but he wasn’t going to be embarrassed in front of his boys. They’d try and convince him to find a new chick tonight, tit for tat. That wasn’t really his style. It might be a good idea though?
They had just pulled up to the club when he heard the beeping of his cellphone. Looking at the phone, he saw Sabrina’s name flash, showing a message.
Sabrina: Hey. Mama said I can have the car tomorrow ;)
Silvio was disgusted. Sabrina was tramping around, going home tonight with some jerk, then Silvio would get sloppy seconds. No fucking way. He deleted the message before they exited the truck, heading into the club.
Sitting at the bar, he was taking his third shot of tequila when he heard his phone beep again. It’d been a little over an hour since he’d received and ignored Sabrina’s text.
Sabrina: Hope you guys are having fun. Not too much, but just enough.
He set the cellphone face down on the bar and ordered another tequila.
“Fighting with your girlfriend?” a sweet voice asked, and the barstool moved next to him.
“Not fighting. Just a girl I’m trying to shake,” Silvio said with a flat smile, turning back to his drink.
“You must be the love ’em and leave ’em type?”
Love ’em and leave ’em, there’s an idea. Wasn’t that what Sabrina was doing? The idea of her doing someone else hurt him in a place he’d never been hurt before, and he fought for a living.
There was nothing he could do about it. There wasn’t any way to stop a cheater, or any reason to even talk about it. What’s done is done. Silvio shook off the thought, coming back to the now. Today, one day at a time. And right now there was a pretty girl who wanted his attention.
“What’s your name?”
“Amber.”
“I’m Silvio. Can I buy you a drink?”
* * * *
Sabrina showed up at Gav’s work just in time to catch him after a class. He was putting away pads of some sort. He smiled when he saw her, pulling her into a hug. How she loved her big brother and how he—mostly—doted on her.
“I need your help, but don’t be mad,” Sabrina said, pulling out of the hug.
“Oh God. You’re not pregnant, are you?” Her brother’s concerned eyes made her smack him on the arm.
“No!” She gave him a stern look. Sabrina nervously chewed on her bottom lip while she contemplated what exactly she was going to say. “So. I was kind of, sort of, seeing this guy. But now he won’t return my calls, and I don’t know why. And I figured since you’re friends with him you could maybe find out for me. I mean, I guess I really like him. More than other guys that I’ve seen. He’s different.” She didn’t realize she’d been rambling until her brother interrupted her.
“Wait. What? You’ve been seeing a fighter, and after I warned you that they’re a bunch of horndogs?”
“Silvio is different.”
“Silvio. Shit.” Her brother smiled at her as he rubbed his hand across his facial hair. “I guess you could have picked worse. But what do you want me to do, Sabrina, beat him up because he hurt your feelings? If I did that, I’d have to beat up half of Las Vegas. Your feelings get hurt with a simple look.”
“They do not.” Sabrina stomped her foot, then instantly regretted the childish act.
She’d told her brother with hopes he’d be mad she’d gone out with a fighter, and more upset that the man had lost interest in her.
“He’s a total jerk. If you knew how mean he was to me, you’d be pissed.” Sabrina crossed her arms.
“Are we talking about the same guy? Did he push you around?” Gav’s expression changed as he stopped what he was doing, looking her square in the face.
“No. Of course not.”
“Did he force himself on you?”
“Don’t be dumb, no.” She rolled her eyes.
“Did he call you names?”
“Yes! He calls me a spoiled brat all the time!”
“Sabrina. Get over it. I told you not to get involved with a fighter. I warned you. What do you want me to do? I can talk to him, but what do you want me to say—be my sister’s boyfriend or else?”
“I just want to know why he stopped calling me.”
“No. I’m not passing notes between you two. Believe it or not, you’re a grown-up, and it’s time to start acting like it. You ask him.”
“You know what, ever since you got together with that woman you’ve gone soft. You let Leena walk all over you. It’s sickening!
“Be careful, Sabrina.” Gav shot her a warning look, but she was so worked up that it didn’t faze her.
“You would have totally kicked his ass for me before. You’ve changed!”
“From the looks of it I’m not the only one who’s changed,” her brother countered.
“Thanks for nothing!” she shouted, ignoring his comment.
Sabrina stomped off, with no clue what to do next. She’d been a mess without Silvio. It had been nearly a week since he’d stopped returning her texts and phone calls. Gav was right, her feelings were hurt, but her heart was starting to break. If Silvio was going to dump her, she at least deserved to have him say it to her face. She needed closure.
* * * *
Silvio was working the heavy punching bag on the far side of the large T&A MMA gym when he heard a voice he would recognize anywhere.
“So, you and my sister? When were you going to tell me, pal?” Gav asked. His tone didn’t sound angry, but he sure didn’t sound thrilled.
Silvio hadn’t said anything to him right away because he didn’t even know if it was going to go anywhere. And now that he and Sabrina weren’t seeing each other anymore he saw no reason to mention it.
“I don’t know what surprises me more—the fact it took you this long to find out, or that you found out at all.” Silvio cocked his head and shrugged. “Have you come to tell me that I broke bro code and went behind your back? ’Cause there’s nothing going on with your sister and me anymore.” Silvio tried to hide the hurt in his voice. He wasn’t the kind to get soft and weepy over some chick. But how everything went down with Sabrina stung. What irritated him the most was the fact she made him want to look forward, look to the future, something he made a habit of not doing.
Clearly, Gav was uncomfortable, but it was his baby sister, so Silvio wasn’t surprised. “It’s a bad idea going out with that one. No offense. But she’s a different type of girl than most. I thought we had something, and then I saw her out with some old, douchy looking guy the other night. I had it mixed up. Your sister is young, and likes games. That’s not for me.”
“She is young, but I think she’s really into you. She doesn’t come to me about guys. I think she’s under the impression that you just up and left.”
Up and left! After Silvio saw her being groped on a street corner there was no reason to take her calls, or to call her. He wasn’t a chick, he didn’t need to talk over every little thing that had happened. Why she’d cheated on him, and how they both felt about it. Fuck that. If he needed anything now, it was to forget she even existed, which would be easy since they ran in different circles.
“Gav, we’re friends, so let’s not make this weird, okay? You don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s really nothing more to it.”
Silvio gave the bag a last, heavy punch and headed off to the locker room. He was done talking about it. Besides, he had a date tonight with the girl from the club. It wasn’t a fancy date like the one he had taken Sabrina on. He’d just invited her out with the boys to the bar. He was done with putting in real effort only to look like a fool.
Chapter 8
Sabrina was desperate, and Gav was useless. Silvio made her crazy, and the fact he wouldn’t take her calls or return her texts only drove her more crazy. He owed her an explanation, and she was determined to get one.
There were a few things she needed to set straight before going to him. She needed to call Ashley and Lindsay for help with her plan, and fill them in on why she’d been so crabby the past week. It’d been easy to convince them to go out, and it hadn’t taken much more work to get them to The Pit.
Standing in the large bathroom at Ashley’s house, Sabrina leaned over the counter as she layered on her black mascara. “Do you guys remember that fighter...Silvio?”
“Sure. The ten, right?” Lindsay said, pulling back from the mirror and blotting her lips.
“Yes. Him. Well, I kind of started seeing him. And I didn’t tell anyone, because he isn’t really my type, but turns out he’s exactly my type. Anyway, he stopped calling me and won’t return my calls, so that’s why I want to go to The Pit, to see if I can find him and talk to him.”
Both of her friends stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her with shocked expressions on their faces.
“So, we’re like on a stalker-status mission tonight?” Ashley asked, her wide eyes fixed on Sabrina
“I guess so.” Sabrina lifted her shoulders as she answered in a meek tone.
“I love it!” Lindsay squealed and turned to Ashley. Both of them had big smiles on their faces.
“You don’t have a problem with me seeing a fighter?”
“Ugh. No. You were the one who had a problem with it, remember? Small paycheck, small empire, tacky job. I think they’re hot, and did you know that Channing Tatum hangs out with a lot of fighters? MMA is really in right now. If you date one, that gives Ash and me a free pass,” Lindsay said earnestly.
“Totes,” Ashley agreed.
Sabrina thought about it. Her friends had set her up with rich businessmen because that’s what she told them she wanted. She hadn’t thought they might not care who she dated. Thinking about it now she knew that she was the real problem. When Silvio had come along Sabrina hadn’t been ready to admit she could be happy with a man who didn’t fit into her plan. Silvio wasn’t overly rich and didn’t have a million connections, but he was real. He made her happy and strong. He made her a better person, and in losing him she was worried that she would lose that part of herself she had just found.
* * * *
Making their way into the dimly lit bar, the girls took a seat at the bar top. Sabrina looked around, trying to see if she recognized anyone. Even with the bar packed, it didn’t take long for Sabrina to spot Silvio. She would recognize him anywhere, and he was at his usual table with his normal crew.
“OMG. There he is.” Lindsay pointed.
Sabrina swatted her hand and turned back to the bar as the three huddled together. “What do I do now?”
“Flirt with his friends?” Ashley said, shrugging her shoulder.
“No.”
“Be your normal charismatic self and get a group of guys fawning over you? That would draw some attention,” Lindsay offered.
“No.”
“What if you sent him a text saying that you’re here?” Ashley suggested.
Sabrina contemplated the idea. Would he hear his phone in the loud bar, or even read it if he saw that it was from her? She looked over at his table just in time to see a redheaded woman lean into him. He wrapped his arm around the back of her chair. Sabrina’s heart jumped in her chest. She didn’t know if she wanted to cry or scream.
“Okay, yes. That’s a good idea,” Sabrina said, taking a deep breath. She had to do something, and fast.
Lindsay and Ashley gave her an encouraging smile as they turned back to the bar to order drinks. Sabrina pulled her cellphone from her bag.
Sabrina: You’ve replaced me with a trashy redhead? That hurts, almost as much as you not returning my calls.
Her heart thudded hard in her chest when her phone beeped with a new message. This was the first time in a week he had responded to her.
Silvio: You here on a date too? Juggling men is your style.
Sabrina: WTF? What is that supposed to mean?
Silvio: Go home!
Sabrina was confused. Sure, she’d juggled men in the past, but never since Silvio. Then it hit her. He must have seen her out with Jacob. Fuck! Her head spun, and she felt the blood drain from her face. Thinking back now, that was when he’d began ignoring her calls and texts. She felt sick, she wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. She would have been devastated if she’d seen Silvio out with another woman, and now he must be feeling whatever the male equivalent to that was.
She was determined to fix this. Nothing really happened with Jacob; she needed to explain that, but there was one big thing in the way tonight. When she saw the woman get up and head toward the ladies’ room, she decided it was a perfect time to chat.
“I’ll be back,” Sabrina said to her friends before taking off after the woman.
* * * *
“Hey, boys. Miss me?”
Silvio heard the sweet voice and felt nails brush against his shoulder, instantly knowing it was Sabrina. He was shocked when he received a text message saying she was at the bar. He wasn’t, however, exactly surprised she had come over to talk to him. Silvio couldn’t comprehend why she’d called and texted him after she’d been out with another guy, but now, showing up at his bar, was too much.
“Your new girlfriend isn’t really an upgrade. I’m way hotter and crazier than she is. At least that’s what I told her in the bathroom,” Sabrina said with a glare, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“Antonio, I bet I can beat Kevin here at a game of pool,” Tyler said, dragging the guys away from the table and the uncomfortable situation.
Silvio scoffed and shook his head, refusing to look up at Sabrina. He took a drink of his beer and then asked, “Where is she?”
“On her way home I think. I may have told her that you have a couple of babies on the way with different mamas, but who knows, I’ve been drinking,” Sabrina said, coming around the table and taking Tyler’s spot.
Silvio was angry. Who in the hell did she think she was? Going out on dates with dudes when they were seeing each other, and then she had the ner
ve to come in here and scare off his date? This was crap.
“God damn it, Sabrina!” Silvio stood abruptly from his barstool. Grabbing her by the elbow, he pulled her out of the chair and off to a secluded corner of the bar. “What is your deal? Why do you care who I’m with? I saw you out with a six-figure guy the other night. I saw him getting all handsy with you, while you made out right on the street. I don’t know why I thought things were different with us. I guess you were just slumming it, huh?”
“That’s not it at all.”
“Then tell me how it is.”
“He kissed me, and I slapped the hell out of him. Nothing happened with him! Ashley pushed me out on the date. I should have said no. I thought about you the whole time. I even called you when I got home. But I guess I know now why you didn’t answer my call.” Sabrina’s face was flushed, and she had the decency to look ashamed as she fiddled with a strand of her hair.
“Sure. But I bet if you told people we were seeing each other, they wouldn’t be so pushy about setting you up.” Silvio took a deep breath. He believed her when she said nothing had happened between her and that guy, but she’d still taken the date, and that hurt.
“They know now. I’ve told them everything.”
Sabrina’s words sounded sincere, but Silvio didn’t know where to go from there. The whole situation was majorly fucked up. “Forget it. You need to go,” Silvio demanded.
“No! I’m sorry. You’re right about everything, but I’m here now, trying to fix this. I’m not perfect, I made a mistake. Why does it always have to be yes or no with you?”
She pulled her hair to one side, twisting it in her hands. Her bright blue eyes lit up the dark corner and made him want to pretend that nothing bad had happened between them.
“That’s how the world works, princess. Why can’t you make a decision? Are we doing this or what? ’Cause if we are, that means you don’t see anyone else.” Silvio didn’t know what came over him asking Sabrina to be his girl…again. From day one he wasn’t interested in chasing her, but she had a hold over him he couldn’t explain.
