AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She thinks for a minute, but as soon as I see the corners of her mouth fighting a smile, I know I’ve got her. “Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll call work tomorrow and tell them I quit. They won’t be thrilled about the short notice, but they’re pretty well staffed, and it shouldn’t be too big of a problem for them. I can always come in and help if they really need me to.”
“Good.” I tighten my arm around her, loving how she immediately softens against me.
I push aside all thoughts of the upcoming fight and try to just enjoy the feel of her body against mine, but soon my mind is racing, and I can’t quiet it no matter how hard I try. No fight is guaranteed. I know that. Every fighter knows that, and the idea that something could go wrong has me uneasy. All it would take is for me to lose focus for just a split second, allowing Liam to land a lucky or fatal punch, and it would all be over. What would happen to Gina then? Surely her dad would forgive her and let her come back home, but she still wouldn’t be taken care of like I want her to be.
There’s no way I’m going to be able to focus during the fight if I’m worried about Gina, so I grab my phone from the coffee table and send a quick text to Vadim, asking him to meet me tomorrow.
“What are you doing?” I can tell by the sound of her voice that she’s half asleep.
I kiss the top of her head and run my fingers through her soft hair. “Nothing, beautiful, just sending a quick text to Vadim. I need to go over a few things with him tomorrow.”
“He was your lawyer at the police station?” She laughs and adds, “God, he must think I’m insane.”
“Are you kidding? He loves you. You completely cleared me of murder. That was the easiest day of work he has ever had.” I laugh and add, “That did not stop him from charging me an outrageous fee, of course.”
I continue to stroke her dark hair, enjoying the feel of it slipping between my fingers. Every part of her is so damn soft. “Why don’t you invite your friend over tomorrow for supper? I need to meet with Vadim, but we can have her and Aleksei over later. She is your best friend, and I would like to know her better. Plus, she has been spending a lot of time around Aleksei. That is unusual for him.”
Gina laughs. “It’s not normal for Jamie either.” She hugs my forearm tighter and says, “Thanks, Dima, for wanting to meet her. If it wasn’t for her, I never would’ve had the courage to go to your fight that night.”
I smile at the memory of seeing her standing there in that tiny, black dress, and the way her shyness had turned to excitement as soon as the fight started and I’d heard her cheering for me. Everything about Gina has been a wonderful surprise. She’s not at all how I expected her to be. I imagine as the years go by that she’ll continue to find new ways to shock the hell out of me.
When I feel her body relax and hear the adorable soft sound of her snoring, I take a quick video as proof, even though I know she’ll be mad as hell when I send it to her. She swears she doesn’t snore, though, and I bet her a blowjob that she does, so fair is fair. Grinning like an idiot, I text her the video so she’ll see it tomorrow before carrying her up to bed.
Even in her deep sleep, she still finds her way to my body and cuddles up against me as if she was always meant to be there. Looking down at her small form that’s stuck as close to me as she can possibly get, I can’t help but worry about the fight again. I’ve never given a second thought to my own safety or what would happen if I took a fatal blow. I just never cared. I went in angry, beat the shit out of the other guy, and that was that. If something were to go wrong, then the guys would mourn me, but I didn’t have a family that depended on me, so it didn’t really matter.
Family.
The word hits me like a lead weight. I’ve never even considered having one before, never really had the desire to settle down and have kids. Partly because I’d never met anyone that I thought I’d want to share my life with, and partly because the idea of having something so precious terrified the living fuck out of me. If you love someone that much, then it has the power to destroy you if you lose them, and I was never willing to put myself at risk like that. Not after Sergei. But looking down at Gina, I realize how badly I want that. God, just the idea of her pregnant with our baby, her beautiful, swollen belly between us, has me almost waking her up and making it a reality. It hits me like a punch to the gut that this might very well already be a reality. I mean, it’s not like we’ve been using condoms.
With that thought running through my mind, it takes me forever to fall asleep, but right before I do, I’m surprised by how little the idea scares me. What scares me far more is the thought of not having Gina in my life and whatever future children we may have.
After only a few hours of sleep, I force myself out of bed, careful to not wake the still sleeping bundle next to me, and head down to the gym. The fight is tomorrow, and I’ve skipped too many workouts in a row. It’s made me feel sluggish, and I can’t be anything but perfect in the ring tomorrow. Too much is riding on this.
There’s a few other early birds lifting weights and punching bags, and after a quick hello, I grab a jump rope and start warming up. Everything else fades away for the next couple of hours. I’m covered in sweat, my muscles aching, and my body alert and ready to go when I feel a large hand grab onto my shoulder. Spinning around, I drop my gloves at the last second and give Vadim a smile.
“You’re lucky I didn’t just turn around swinging,” I tell him, happy to be speaking Russian again.
“You’re too good of a fighter for that,” he says, dismissing it as if a punch to the face wasn’t a very real possibility two seconds ago.
“I appreciate the confidence, but next time give a shout or something.” I peel off my gloves and grab a water bottle before leading him to the back office.
Once the door’s shut, he sits down and looks at me. “So, what’s this about? Belov trying to arrest you again?”
“Not yet.” I drink half the bottle before sitting down behind my desk and rocking back in the chair. “I’m sure he’ll try, though, now that he knows I’m with his daughter.”
Vadim gives a low whistle and laughs. “Please tell me she’s legal.”
“I’m not a fucking idiot. She’s nineteen.”
“Oh, thank God. I’m not saying I couldn’t have gotten you out of it, but it would’ve been tricky as hell.” He sighs and relaxes into his chair. “Okay, so what’s going on?”
“I need to make a will.”
He stares at me for a second, and when I don’t laugh or make a joke, he grabs his iPad from his messenger bag and swipes around on it until he’s found what he wants and lifts his eyes back to mine. “Tell me what you want.”
“If something happens to me, all of my money goes to Gina. Nikolai gets the Arctic Fox and the Red Wolf with instructions to take care of the guys and employees, but Gina gets my money and my apartment.”
Vadim stops taking notes and arches a brow at me. “Are you sure?”
