Abel (20 page)

Instantly
, any thoughts of Sam and certainly Logan were gone, and Nellie smiled giddily. Just as she began to text back, a young girl’s voice startled her.

“
Ma’am?” With a flinch, she looked up. The girl in a hotel clerk’s uniform already wore a regretful and nervous smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just thought you might want to come out this other way. There are a lot of people standing just outside that door now.”

Nellie glanced back at the door
, still confused why that might be. Obviously, even with all the billboards and the enormous one that covered the entire side of their hotel, she’d underestimated the prying of the media to get
any
story related to the fight. If they were hounding nobodies from both camps, they must be really desperate. She wasn’t such a nobody in Abel’s life now, but there was no way the media could know that yet. They’d been very discreet when they arrived, taking the VIP entrance through the back and the private elevator to his suite.

Grateful
anyway that she could skip whatever was going on outside, she nodded and followed the young girl. Nellie had also missed a call from Roni earlier. She seriously doubted that Abel had told anyone the revelations they’d made on their way to Vegas and that they were now officially an exclusive couple.

God
, just thinking about it made her breathe so much easier.

Still
, she was going to have to make that call and tell Roni. For some reason, it made her nervous. It was probably because she’d have to admit that Roni had been right all along and that she’d been that close to calling everything off, even an impossible friendship. There was no way she could’ve dealt with holidays at Roni’s with Abel and a date. She was just enormously relieved that Abel felt the same way.

C
hapter 16

“
I’m just saying that Nellie staying in your room during this fight is not such a good idea. Not only is she gonna be a huge distraction . . .” Andy continued as Abel shook his head in disagreement. He’d let him talk for now, but this wasn’t something that was up for debate. Andy was just lucky that Abel was in such a great mood or he might’ve already bitten his head off. “A distraction is the
last
thing you need right now. Your mind needs to be one-hundred percent on the fight right now. Nothing else. But also you have to think about this: if the media gets a hint of this, it’ll be all over, good and
bad
.” He emphasized that last word. “They’ll scrutinize everything about her, right down to how much older she is than you—”

“
I don’t give a shit what they say, Andy,” Abel suddenly snapped.

Hearing Andy chuckle only made him angrier.
“
Really?
You’re not making a very good argument for yourself here,
Aweless
Ayala.”

“
If they say anything that upsets her, I want names.” Abel said through his teeth. “That’ll be your job. You get me their names, and they go on my shit list: a list of reporters who I will
never
give an exclusive to. She’s staying with me this whole weekend and any other fights I have. I’m done discussing this.”

Wisely
, Andy didn’t argue much more, giving in with a heavy sigh. “Okay, I’ll see you then tomorrow.”

Minutes after that call
, he got another from Felix. He’d just finished reading Nellie’s text letting him know she was on her way up, so he was in a much better mood when he took this call. “Hey, you here already?”

“
No, but I’m there first thing tomorrow. I may not get to hang with you too much until after the fight,” Felix sounded upbeat. “I’ll be working. I’m covering your fight, man, on HBO.” Abel could hear the smile in Felix’s voice. “So how you feeling?”

“
Good, I didn’t do any training today, but this past week was brutal, so both Gio and Noah agreed a day off would be good.”

“
Was the airport crazy?”

“
I wouldn’t know. I drove.”

“
You
drove
? Why?”

“
Because of just that.” Abel explained. “I’m not trying to walk through no crazy-ass mob at the airport. I drove here with Nellie, and we came up the back way through the private entrance.”

Felix was quiet for a moment
, and then Abel heard what sounded like a soft chuckle. “You and Nellie? Noah mentioned that last time I was out there. But it’s just a fun thing and business, right? That’s what Noah said anyway.”

Annoyed that Noah was telling anyone his business
, Abel frowned, sitting down in the big lounger in the front room of his suite. But he wasn’t keeping this a secret from anyone. “Yeah, she’s here with me, but, no, it’s not just business or a fun thing anymore. It’s official. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about it after this weekend.”

Felix made a low whistling sound before speaking.
“
Damn,
it’s like that, really?” Then he laughed. “What did Andy have to say about this?”

“
Andy’s my publicist.” It annoyed him that Felix would even ask. “My personal life isn’t his business.”

“
Are you kidding me? “Felix laughed even louder. “Everything about your life is Andy’s business
because
he’s your publicist. And let me tell you that he doesn’t much care for the wholesome tied-down-to-just-one-chick image for the fighters he represents, especially not the ones that are supposed to be bad asses like you and me. He says wholesome is boring and boring doesn’t make headlines. The more girls you’re seen with, the better.”

Abel thought about Andy
’s comment last week: how he might want to be spotted with more than just one girl from the gym. Andy said since it was all bullshit anyway it would make it more exciting if he were seen with someone else besides Rachel. Abel hadn’t even bothered to respond to that, and he hoped that was answer enough on what he thought about that kind of publicity.

“
Yeah, well, funny you’d bring him up. I just now got off the phone with him, and he did try to suggest that Nellie staying in the same room with me was not a good idea, but I made it clear what I thought of his suggestion, and that was that.”

He heard Felix take a drink of something then laugh again.
“Well, a word of warning. Like the media, Andy is equally relentless. Don’t expect him to give up so easily.”

“
I don’t have the patience you do, man.” Abel said, not at all worried that Andy would try to convince him of anything. “He should know that by now. So he better not expect me to put up with that bullshit.”

Thankfully
, they moved on to another subject: Abel’s training and strategy for the fight. Felix gave him some pointers on things to ignore and things to pay attention to during a fight of this magnitude. “Whatever you do,” Felix warned, “do not let anything wreck the plan of action you’ve had for so long. You’ve never walked into a crowd this size, never seen those front rows filled with A-list celebrities and former champs—your heroes—there . . . watching
you
. The key is to concentrate. Don’t get too excited or let anything get in your head. Slow and steady. Fight smarter, not harder.”

Halfway through Felix
’s call, Nellie walked in the room. She motioned that she’d was getting in the shower, something he’d already done, so he stayed on the phone with Felix a little longer. When he was finally off, he walked into the bedroom. Nellie was in her robe, looking through her suitcase with a towel still on her head. She glanced up, and he expected a smile; instead, she appeared nervous. That instantly alarmed him. “Something wrong?”

She shrugged but glanced back down into her suitcase in an obvious attempt to avoid eye contact. He started toward her slowly.
“I ran into Sam downstairs.”

Abel stopped walking and waited for her to look up
, but she didn’t. “How’d he know you were here?” The fact that she seemed to be stalling, possibly trying to come up with an acceptable answer and that she was still staring into her suitcase moving things around was beginning to worry him. “Look at me, Nellie.” She did, and he had to swallow hard to avoid snapping. “How does he know where you’re staying?”

“
I told him.”

“
Why?” Abel cleared his throat and tried to say that a bit calmer. “Why’d you tell him where you’re staying?”

“
This was back when we’d discussed us both being in Vegas this weekend. It’s a common question. Really?” She went into character. “I’ll be there too. Where are you staying? So I told him.”

They
’d talked about trust earlier and not jumping to conclusions or letting anything stupid come between them, so Abel struggled but managed to stay calm. “He came here looking for you?”

“
No, I didn’t even know he was here yet. I just happened to run into him downstairs.”

Abel refrained holding back his sarcastic remarks about what a fucking coincidence that happened to be. Was she really that
naïve? Out of all the hotels in Vegas, he just so happened to be lurking around hers? “So what happened?”

“
Nothing. It was just a little awkward. He said some stuff I wasn’t expecting to hear, but I told him about us. I made it clear that I’m in a relationship and won’t be seeing him anymore.”

She went back to looking into her suitcase
, and Abel was positive she was just moving things around aimlessly. He trusted her. Even as the infuriating visual of her kissing this guy began to flash in his head again, he took cautious steps toward her along with deep breaths.

“
What kind of things did he say?” he asked as he reached her, taking her hand in his. When she still didn’t look at him, he took another deep breath. “Baby, look at me.” She turned to him slowly, and they were face to face now, their lips inches apart, so he leaned in and kissed her. “Tell me.”

“
He started to tell me that he had real feelings for me,” she shrugged. “It was just weird. I was at the 5th Street booth when he pulled me away and—”

“
He pulled you away?” Abel backed up, still searching her too nervous eyes. “Why? And where to?”

“
It was getting really crowded. The McKinley booth wasn’t too far away, and there were a lot of people taking photos, so I guess he wanted more privacy.”

Privacy?
Abel clenched his teeth for a second. “And you went with him? Where?”

She explained to him about a staff
-only room and how they were only in there for a few minutes before he got called away. Feeling her hand against his tense chest calmed him a bit. “It was just weird. That’s all. I wasn’t expecting to see him. Then he pulled me away before I knew what was even happening. Then he started pouring out his heart, and I had to stomp on it, and . . .” She shrugged. “I just hate awkward situations, but the good news is that he knows now and that I crossed that bridge sooner than I’d expected.”

Slipping his arm around her waist
, he pulled her to him. “Please tell me that that’s the last I have to hear about you being around Sam.”

“
As far as I’m concerned, yes, it is.” She scrunched her nose. “But like today, I can’t predict running into him again.” His face must have looked as irritated as that comment made him because she added quickly, “I mean just this weekend. He’s not even from Los Angeles. He lives out of state, so I can safely promise that after this weekend I won’t be running into him
at all
.”

He kissed her again with one thought in mind. He
’d make sure Nellie would be with him for the rest of this weekend. This fucker knew now that she was spoken for, so if he still came sniffing around anyway, he’d have Abel to answer to. If he didn’t know who Nellie’s boyfriend was, he’d sure as hell know soon. Abel didn’t give a shit what Andy thought was a good idea or not. The whole world would know soon that Nellie was all
his
.

Kissing her a little longer and hard
er now, he undid the belt tied around her robe and pushed her suitcase aside. “You’re not gonna need anything in there tonight.”

The second her robe fell off her
, she wrapped her warm naked body around his and kissed him back just as frantically. “I love you,” she gasped against his lips.

Jesus Christ
!
He could hear that from her over and over and never get enough.

“
I love you, too, baby,” he said, laying her down on the bed.

They
’d already made love romantically when they first arrived at their room earlier. He wanted frantic sex now because that’s how he felt. Her telling him she’d run into Sam downstairs then hearing that he’d pulled her away for more privacy had gotten his adrenaline pumping, and he needed to let the rush out
now
.

He
’d already been shirtless before she even got to the room, and he would’ve been in his boxer briefs still, too, if it hadn’t been for room service. He’d slipped his jeans back on when he had to get the door. Not wanting to slow enough to even pull them off, he rushed over to the small table with his wallet on it and grabbed a condom out of it.

Seeing his beautiful
Nellie sprawled out naked on the bed took his breath away for a moment. Rushing back, he unzipped his pants. Pulling himself out of his briefs, he stared at her as he slipped on the condom. “You know what happens to bad girls who let any guy, aside from their boyfriend, pull them into another room for more privacy?”

Her smile flattened and she shook her head.
“But I didn’t—”

The soft slap he
gave her on the ass as he pulled her to the edge of the bed shut her up suddenly, and she stared at him. His evil smirk made her smile. “What? What happens to them?”

He drove into her hard
, and she’d been so ready for him. Abel knew it would take great effort not to finish too fast. Hearing her gasp in delight only made that struggle more difficult, but he was determined to make her scream in ecstasy like she had out in the open desert. It drove him insane. “They get fucked so hard until they’re begging for forgiveness.”

Slamming into her again
, he went deeper and harder than the first time. Seeing her moan and lift her hips higher nearly did him in. She loved it.
God,
he’d never felt so completely taken by someone. He continued to slam into her again and again, feeling his climax build, so he slowed a little.

“
Please!” she begged, fisting the sheets on either side of her.

Abel couldn
’t help smiling. His sweet Nellie was going to beg for forgiveness, not that she had anything to be sorry about, but he was glad she was going along with his game and not pissed about it.