Rock Her Heart (A Bad Boy Rockstar Romance)

by Megan West

  Now there was a real chance for them to have a future together. They kept the moving truck at a storage unit just outside of the city ready to go for their escape, so they hopped into his car and drove down the highway toward The Ring.

  The moment of truth was fast approaching, but Emma wasn’t as jittery as she thought she would be. All of it seemed so surreal. It was also Nathan’s confidence and strength that brought a comfort to her.

  Once they arrived, Nathan went directly to the locker room to get ready for arguably the most important fight of his life. The fight wasn’t just against his opponent, ‘Tiger’, but also against Nick. She was more worried about the latter than the one he’d be going toe to toe with in the ring.

  Emma undid another button of her top to show off some cleavage and put on her poker face. If this was going to go off without a hitch, she had to play her own part in it. So she went to the betting booth and sat next to Laura, who was already taking bets for the big event. She made small talk, as usual, and leaned forward to show some enticing cleavage to the men recklessly betting away their cash. She was doing it on purpose because she knew Nick was keeping an eye on her and she could see him scoffing at her actions.

  Now he certainly thought she was a whore, she thought with a little giggle. It was right then that Emma got a text from Nathan letting her know the deal had been officially made with Alex. Her stomach did a little flip. This was really happening. The plan was already in full action and there was no turning back now.

  It was only a couple minutes later when none other than Alex Moretti walked up to Emma’s window. There were three men with him, one on each side and the third behind him. It was quite obvious they were his bodyguards. It alarmed her to figure out he knew who she was even though they had never officially met, but then she realized that was to be expected. He cleared his throat and leaned forward, placing his elbow on the little ledge sticking out the booth window.

  He quietly placed his bet on Nathan before loudly saying, “He is the best fighter in the city.” His gaze lingered on Emma for just a moment before he winked and turned around. Her throat felt scratchy as she nervously swallowed against dryness. She could tell he was subtly sending her a message—Nathan better win, or else.

  As soon as Moretti walked away, the first bell of the fight rang. Emma and Laura closed up the booth windows and got organized to walk out for the fight. This was the part Emma always hated the most, but tonight she felt an even greater dread for it. The crowd was bigger and louder than usual. She noticed a lot were there cheering for Nathan, but Tiger had plenty of fans of his own. He was regarded as the second-best fighter in Chicago, after all, and this was no small event. In fact, this was pretty much the big time when it came to underground fights. She wanted to feel proud of Nathan, but the situation just didn’t allow her to do so in earnest.

  The two men in the ring started moving back and forth, looking intensely at one another. She knew each was sizing the other up and thinking of when to throw the first punch. Tiger swung first, but Nathan expertly dodged out of the way, taking the opportunity to take his own swing. Tiger was too good for that and avoided it with equal skill. The crowd jeered. They wanted to see blood from the start. The two men continued to swing and miss until Nathan ducked for one second too long. That was all Tiger needed to finally get his fist to collide with Nathan’s cheek.

  The punch had a tremendous force to it, forcing Nathan to stumble back. That allowed Tiger enough time to throw another and get him on the shoulder, sending Nathan’s arm swinging backward. The two men were already starting to sweat profusely under the hot lights of The Ring. Emma saw beads of sweat fly off Nathan’s arm where Tiger had caught him.

  Nathan stumbled forward, almost head-diving into the floor of the fighting ring, but it was just a way to finally get out of Tiger’s line of fire. He grabbed onto the ring ropes and pulled his body up straight before suddenly turning and successfully delivering a punch to Tiger’s stomach. It wasn’t very strong, but it was enough of a warning shot to make Tiger step back.

  Nathan swung his arm forward for another punch but Tiger was quick– he threw out a forceful punch that grazed the side of Nathan’s chin. The force of it made Nathan fall to the floor and Emma cried out, her hand covering her mouth immediately. The crowd jeered even louder, some calling out Nathan for shoddy fighting and others cheering for Tiger’s knockdown. Nathan got up quickly and got back into his fighting stance.

  For the rest of the first round, nothing more than a couple weak punches were thrown out by either fighter. The bell rang and they each retreated to their corners for water. Emma wanted to rush over to Nathan, but she held back. She didn’t usually do that and she figured it wasn’t a good idea to do something differently now that Nick was monitoring her so closely.

  The second round was even more intense than the first. There were a lot of narrow misses but as time went on, Tiger seemed to be getting the best of Nathan. Every little trick Nathan usually pulled off either failed or made him susceptible to a powerful blow from his opponent.

  Near the end of the second round, Nathan’s left eye was nearly swollen shut and a tiny cut appeared along the bridge of his nose. Emma couldn’t remember the last time she had seen him limping around so much when a fight wasn’t over yet. The cut on his nose was starting to bleed more than she liked and her gut wrenched as a million thoughts raced through her head.

  She started to worry he might actually lose the fight– which would make Nick happy, but would set Alex Moretti and his men hot on their heels. Neither of the two were enemies she wanted to make. With Alex, however, there was nobody to help them out or keep them safe. There was no getaway from him. Her stomach clenched and she started sweating.

  She watched, on edge, as Tiger landed another solid blow to Nathan’s face. His head cocked back and the crowd went silent as he crumpled to the ground. It was all she could do to push herself through the crowd of people and get as close to the ring as possible, tears in her eyes and body shaking with worry. She hated seeing the man she loved lying there as if he were lifeless. Then she caught something out of the corner of her eye.

  She turned to her right and saw Alex Moretti standing on the side of the fighting ring. He was livid. He was glaring at the crumpled heap that was Nathan. He shifted his gaze to Emma. She couldn’t turn away from him. The crowd was going crazy and it was clear nobody thought Nathan would be getting back up.

  Nobody thought “The Comeback Kid” would pull off his spectacular last minute moves this time around. From the looks of it, Moretti was one of those people. His icy stare pierced through the crowd at Emma as the referee continued his counting.

  “Four! Five!”

  Emma’s heart was pounding so hard she couldn’t hear a single thing over the thundering pulse in her ears.

  “Six!”

  Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Her body was being shoved about by the chanting angry men around her, but she didn’t even notice.

  “Seven! Eight!”

  She stood there, as if time had stopped, waiting to see if Nathan would get up. It seemed like the end and, as much as she hoped he would be healthy afterward, she didn’t know if it mattered. Moretti was ready to kill Nathan himself if the fight was lost.

  “Nine!”

  Just as the referee was about to slam his hand down on the canvas of the ring and call Tiger the winner, Nathan pushed his body up with trouble. The crowd went absolutely insane and Tiger looked like a cross between completely shocked and captivated to continue fighting someone with Nathan’s spirit. Nathan gave the referee a reassuring nod as he wiped a bit of blood and sweat away from his eye.

  Moretti immediately focused his attention on the fight and that was when Emma saw Nick standing clear across her, on the other side of the fighting ring. He was watching the fight calmly, but she knew he was keeping an eye out for what he wanted. Nick glanced across the ring at her. That’s when she saw the realization in his eyes. He was startin
g to piece together what was happening. If Nathan didn’t stay down at that point in the fight, he wasn’t going to stay down at all.

  It was during the third round that Nathan put his fists up and looked Tiger dead in the eye. Despite how beat up he was he didn’t back down one bit. He made a movement as if to throw a punch toward Tiger’s face, but switched it up last second and caught him in the stomach with a punishing blow.

  Tiger stumbled back into the ropes. Emma could hear him wheeze and pant with pain. Immediately, he lunged forward to get to Nathan, but he dodged out of the way at the very last second, sending the Tiger flying forward into the ropes on the other side. As soon as he turned around, Nathan delivered a lightning fast punch square in the middle of Tiger’s face.

  He looked completely disoriented and Nathan took full advantage of it. His swollen eyes, the blood still running out from his mouth, none of it could stop him. He swung his arm up and caught Tiger right under the chin before finishing him off with another punch across the jaw.

  Tiger crumpled down to the floor. A wet slap echoed against the walls and over the loud cheering of the crowd when his body hit the canvas. The referee immediately ran over and started counting.

  He didn’t get back up.

  Chapter six

  After Nathan won, Emma didn’t have much relief. She watched as Moretti cheered, but across the ring from her, Nick was glaring at Nathan before turning his gaze toward her. She could see the fury in his eyes. And even if nobody there knew it except those involved, his pride had been hurt even further by it having happened publicly.

  That was when she saw Nick motion for his men to grab Nathan as he was scrambling to get out of the ring. Emma felt like she was about to be sick, not knowing what to do or how to save him, but Nathan scrambled away from Nick’s side without noticing to climb through the ropes and out of the ring past Moretti. Emma immediately took off to follow him into the locker room, not noticing that two of Nick’s men went after her.

  All she heard over the cheers of the crowd was Laura creaming. “Hey! Where the hell are you going? We have to pay out the bets!”

  Emma wasn’t going to stop for the bets or for anything else. She had to escape with Nathan immediately.

  Emma saw him fighting his way through a crowd of happy men who were congratulating him with slaps on the back. A handful even tried to take photos but Nathan was pushing past them. He had to get out of there and he had to do it fast. It was just as Emma successfully fought her way through the crowd to get closer to Nathan that she saw one of Nick’s men grab hold of him.

  Her heart stopped. She stopped walking. They were so close to being free…

  This couldn’t be happening. Once again, she saw no escape from the situation. She knew Nick was capable of having Nathan killed right then and there if it really came down to it. All that mattered was Nick getting his way in the end.

  Much to her surprise she saw Nathan swing around and punch the man who had taken hold of him. That one punch alone was enough to lay the man out on the floor cold. The crowd around them cheered and laughed at what had just happened, making Emma happy to be surrounded by so many people for the first time ever. Nathan pumped his fist in the air to play the part, grinning and cheering right along with them.

  She hated the way his swollen eye looked, but not as much as she hated the idea of how much pain he was in. She even wondered how much he could see by that point. Emma continued to push through the crowd toward Nathan. She looked back over her shoulder to see Nick glaring at them as they seemingly managed to escape.

  When Emma finally reached Nathan, he immediately grabbed her hand and tugged her close to him. They stormed straight past the locker room and slammed open a door that lead into a little hallway, out of sight from the crowd. Nathan took a quick glance around to make sure nobody was tailing them and then kicked open a door that lead out to an alley instead of turning back around and heading into the locker room. Emma hoped the sound of the alley door banging open hadn’t attracted anybody, especially not one of Nick’s men.

  It was out there in the alley that she saw there was an escape motorcycle waiting for them. She had no clue whose idea it was or how it had gotten there, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that it was their way out of here to get to the moving truck and finally be in the clear. The two of them had taken just one step toward it when a man came out of nowhere and grabbed Nathan by the arm.

  Emma quickly ducked for cover behind a dumpster, cursing when she nearly knocked over a broken 2x4 that would have instantly given away where she was. She was unsure if there were more men around them at that moment or if the one man had seen her duck behind the dumpster, but she knew it was best to keep a low profile as Nathan struggled against the man.

  But when another man ran past the dumpster behind which she was hiding and pointed a gun point-blank at Nathan, she knew she had to do something to help or risk losing him forever. In an instant she grabbed the 2x4 and, without a second thought, swung it around with all the power she could muster. The wood smashed over the man’s head, forcing him to hit the ground unconscious.

  The man holding Nathan was so shocked by her sudden attack that he didn’t notice when Nathan clocked him across the face. Nathan looked up at Emma with a shocked smile. He stood up and reached out for her hand, pulling her into a tight embrace. They both knew they didn’t really have much time, but couldn’t resist a quick moment together. The ordeal had been risky and frightening.

  He let her go and they both immediately jumped onto the motorcycle. Nathan wasted no time turning it on and driving off, the tires burning rubber and the motorcycle screeching into the night.

  Whether or not they were being followed by Nick’s men at that point, she didn’t know. She figured it would be a while before Nick’s other men found out the two of them had escaped and alerted their boss. By that time, the two of them would be out of the city in a vehicle that wasn’t being searched for.

  Emma clutched tightly onto Nathan as she looked back in the direction of the warehouse; home to The Ring. The entire building was disappearing in the distance. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Emma felt a great sense of relief wash over her. The more physical distance they put between themselves and The Ring, the further away they got from that lifestyle. It was finally happening; she was finally leaving it behind.

  She tightened her grip on Nathan even more. He was still with her. She hadn’t had to leave him behind along with the underground fighting life. She had been able to pull him out of that mess right along with her– only it seemed more like he had pulled her out by that point. Not once had he stopped protecting her or assuring everything would be okay.

  As she rested her head against his shoulder and the two of them drove toward their moving truck, she realized that maybe it was finally true. Maybe everything really would be okay now, if not better. It seemed they had successfully escaped Nick thanks to a deal with none other than Alex Moretti.

  They had more than enough money to live comfortably for quite some time and they had everything they needed with them– most importantly each other. It was like a dream come true, only her dream would have never had the fight component to begin with.

  But, then again, who would Nathan be if not a fighter at heart? She shut her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the cool night air whipping at her face.

  It made her think of California and its ocean breeze.

  Sooner rather than later she’d be enjoying it with the man she loved.

  Chapter One

  Kurt walked into the house he once called home and looked around. Not much had changed. It had been over a year since he even set foot in it and now he had two weeks to spend there. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as the uncertainty of spending that amount of time in his parents’ house hit him. After looking around one more time he heaved the bag of his belongings over his shoulder and headed upstairs to his old bedroom.

  It had been a long time sin
ce he’d visited his parents’ house; longer since he had stayed there, and even longer since he lived there. At 27 years old his last memories as a 17-year-old still living with mom and dad in that house were already starting to grow a bit fuzzy. He had moved out shortly before his eighteenth birthday with a buddy of his before finally branching out two years later and moving away from town. He wouldn’t return until almost four years later after earning his degree in Political Science.

  It wasn’t until about his 24th birthday that he decided to join the army. He had visited his parents for all of three days when he already felt a pull to get going. It wasn’t that he had a bad experience living there. He got along with his parents just fine. It was just that he always had more of a spirit of independence and he couldn’t stand the feeling of being cooped up. That was why he broke free from the nest at the first opportunity he had. His mother, with watery eyes, had hugged him tight and wished him the best of luck.

  Now in his 27th year of life and a successful Corporal in the Army, he had taken his first big leave to visit his parents. His mother was overjoyed by the news and his father, a man of few words, offered a very short statement of happiness at seeing his son after many years. Kurt understood his father, John. John had never hurt Kurt or made him feel like his childhood or life lacked a father in any way.