Noah (42 page)

Noah glanced up in time to see Abel shoot Gio a look. Noah glanced at Gio then back at Abel. “Why?”

Abel shrugged
as if he’d asked the question to begin with
. “Curious, is all.”

Abel had never been
curious
about anyone’s private life and he
was as discreet as he was nosey
.
Noah caught him trying to give Gio a look
again
. He didn’t know what to make of it but he seemed annoyed or
something
.

“They use
d
to go out
,
”
w
as all Noah offered.

“Is she gonna start going out with him again?” Gio asked.

Abel threw his napkin on the table and sat back in his chair very obviously irritated now.

Just as irritated but confused by Abel’s reaction Noah turned to Gio. “Hell no she’s not.” Then turned back to Abel. “And
what’s
with you?”

“Nothing,” Abel said shaking his head then glared at Gio. “I just think talking about this right before you
r
fight
is a bad idea
. You have a hard enough time focusing now that she’s around, and thinking about her and the fucking dean is not gonna help.”

Noah couldn’t help feeling a little pissed that his friends would think she’s still in
terest
ed
in anything with
her ex when thing
s
between Noah and her had obviously progressed. But neither of them had any way of knowing
just how much his relationship had progressed, a
nd he knew they meant well. “
Yeah, well, t
here’s nothing going on with her and the
fucking
dean so there’s nothing for me to think about alright?
” He stood up from the table and carried his plate to the sink. “Will you two just relax? This is gonna be fine. I got this. Trust me.”

He saw them exchange glance
s
and then Gio nodded. “Okay
no more talk about this before the fight.
”

“Thank you.” Abel added
,
again his attitude about the whole thing
seemed a
little
strange
but Noah decided to just let it go.

“Or after.” Noah said feeling even more annoyed now. “Roni wants nothing to do with that douche so there’s nothing to talk about.”

Gio said nothing
,
just glanced at Noah and nodded then looked back at Abel who was staring at him hard. It was all very weird but Noah chalked it
up
to the fight. Abel was worried about Noah
’s concentration
and it was true
,
Roni
was
a distraction. But he’d show them all tonight he could do this even with her there the whole time. He had to. He didn’t want them ever trying to talk him out of  having her there at all
next time
.
That
wasn’t happening.

They finished eating and Abel and Gio left.
Noah g
o
t his stuff together and sat down on the sofa to wait for Roni. For the first time that week he finally had a moment to catch up on emails and texts. The whole week he’d pretty much ignored everything outside of the gym, except Roni. It’s what he always did fight week. He clicked through the many unopened emails and texts he’d gotten that week
surprised to see Rita’s name near the top of his latest messages since she hadn’t sent him anything in months. But he didn’t have anything new from her.

Not wanting her name up there he clicked on it to delete whatever he did have from her
. What he saw had him sitting up straight. “What the fuck?”

He scrolled down then saw the date. It took him a minute to figure out what day the text had been sent but more worrisome was the fact that it had been opened. The only other person that ever used his phone was Roni. Had she seen this shit?

This whole week had been a bit strange but he thought
it
was just because of the fight and Roni’s change in schedule. He
picked up on
her acting a little different
ly
in the beginning of the week but he hadn’t thought much of it since she wasn’t feel
ing
well. Then there was
the fact that
she and
Nellie
were talking
again and he thought she’d snapped out of her weird mood but looking back now that strange vibe had been there the whole week. Could this be it?

He was still sitting there trying to figure it out when as promise
d
Roni got home early.

“
Just let me grab my lighter jacket.” She rushed to the front closet. “Are you nervous?”
She
turned to Noah
smiling big but he saw the worry she tried to hide in her eyes.   

“Not at all.” Not about the fight anyway but something else was bothering him.
n
ow.

Noah wasn’t about to get in the ring with this on his mind so he decided to just ask her. He stood and took a few steps toward her as she hung her heavy jacket on a hanger then placed it in the closet. She pulled out her lighter cardigan
.

“Roni.” He hesitated not sure if he’d be opening a can a worms. In the last few days he’d decided even if it hadn’t been said, h
e
and Roni
were
in a relationship. No matter what she said or how much she put off making it official, what was happening between them now was very real. He felt it every night when they said goodnight and he knew she did too. There was no denying it and like he’d told her before, if she had seen the picture of Rita
wrapped around him
, she deserved an explanation.

She was looking at him now a bit confused, but the nervous smile was still there. “What is it?”

“Did you uh… did you by chance see the picture Rita text
ed
me this week
?
” The smile was gone instantly and he knew then that she had. He hurried to her. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve explained.”

She shook her head avoiding his eyes, but he saw the pained look on her face and he took her hand.

“L
ook, s
he jumped on my bike just as I was leaving Gio’s uncle
’
s house. She told Hector to take the picture but that was it. Then she got off and I left.”

He pulled her closer and she finally looked at him. “You said you
two
don’t have a relationship outside of the holidays.”

“We don’t,” he said then added firmly, “And we don’t
during
the holidays anymore either.”

“Did you ask her to come see your fight?”
She was angry he could hear in her questions, see it in her glare, but he was glad. This meant she felt she had the right to be.

“No I didn’t.
Is this why you’ve been so weird all week?” He caressed her face and she closed her eyes at his touch but she didn’t answer. “You should’ve said something, Roni. When did you see it?”

“Sunday,” she whispered. “When we were watching TV that night.
I didn’t mean to, it just popped up and—”

“Is that why you went to bed early? When you said you were suddenly feeling sick?”

She nodded and he wrapped his arms around her feeling like scum. “I’m sorry. But I swear nothing happened.” He pulled away to look at her suddenly worried. “You believe me
,
right?”

Thoughts of seeing the picture in her darkroom way back came to him. Just seeing her name in connection with another guy had turned his stomach and nothing had even happened between him and Roni at that point. Not only was th
is
picture of him
and
Ri
t
a so much worse, the circumstances were totally different now.

He held his breath as he waited for her response.

“I know she’s Gio’s cousin and your friend, but I don’t like her anymore.”

Not exactly the answer he was expecting but he understood completely. He’d keep Rita’s comment about not having a problem with sharing to himself
, but he knew that’s where Roni’s thinking was.

“I know we’re not—”

“We are.” Noah corrected her. “Maybe not officially, not until you’re ready and you can take all the time you want but right here.” He tapped his heart. “I
’m already in
.”

Roni smiled then her expression went serious again. “And
she
thinks we are right? So why is she still doing stuff like that?”

“I
don’t
know
but
I’ll take care of it.” His phone went off in his hand and he glanced at it. It was Abel. “It won’t happen again.
Not with her
.
N
ot with anyone else.
I promise.
”
Before he’d check out Abel’s text which was probably him just wondering where he was at
,
Noah knew it was getting late
,
there was something he needed to get clear with Roni first. “You
do
believe me right?”

This was probably the biggest hurdle he had to get over with her. Everything else aside, he knew this was her biggest holdup. That he wasn’t ready to be serious. Wasn’t ready to give up all other female attention because of his age, but he’d never felt so ready for anything in his life. The only attention, the only company he wanted now was hers. And he needed her to believe this.

She stared at him for a moment and then nodded a faint smile
lifting the corner of her lips.
The relief was so overwhelming before she could say anything his lips were on hers. Noah kissed her long and deep like he had all week. He’d felt it all week and he felt it now. This kissing only at night wasn’t going to stand much longer. He wanted to be able to do this with her whenever and wherever he felt like it. Every time he kissed her now he could feel her giving in more and more to the idea.

As excited as this made him, he finally had to stop kissing her when his phone buzzed in his hand again.
“Gotta go,” he whispered against her lips.

She licked her lips and crinkled her nose. “Is it okay to admit I’m even more nervous this time than the last?”

He smiled hoping that was because she cared more about him now than before. Things definitely had changed a lot since then. “Yeah, it’s okay. But don’t worry I’ll be fine.”

He kissed her one last time before reluctantly having to let go and get his things in the car. 

~*~

Quintanilla VS Machado

The banner alone was enough to unnerve her as the reached 5
th
Street.
Roni felt it the moment she walked into the gym with Noah. He took her hand as they walked through the already gathering crowd. A herd
of
would-be groupies eyeballed her as they walked by them and they all
happily
wished Noah luck. Roni looked right back at all of them and smiled sweetly. Noah was making a statement and now so was she. The decision about moving forward and giving a relationship with Noah a fair try was becoming clearer.

Nothing made her happier than being with him and who cared if she didn’t have a million friends or other things going on.
Who said she had to have that all set up before she moved things along with Noah
?
She could do both at the same time.
There were just a few things she wanted to get straight with him.

She’d been tempted to return Derek’s texts all day
but hadn’t
. He apologized again for having dropped such a load on her about Noah. Since she hadn’t responded to any of his texts he seemed convinced that she was upset with him and had even called and left a long voicemail about how he still cared about her and he was only looking out for her.

His sincere concern
wa
s what made her nervous. As much as she knew about Noah there was still a lot she didn’t. Like that he’d dropped out of school
.
Had he ever gone back to get his diploma? But most importantly did he really have a child out there and why wouldn’t he want to be a part of his or her life? And what about the drug trafficking?
It was so unlike him, but it was also unlike Derek to make something like that up.
What else did
she
not know about him?

Abel, Gio and Jack prepped Noah in the locker room. It felt weird to be in the men’s locker room but since it was fight night it was closed off to anyone else but the two fighters. There w
ere
two separate areas for the fighters so no one but Noah’s group was in his area.