X: The Hard Knocks Complete Story (24 page)

A
fter we get
a few hours of sleep, Xavier’s cell phone rings, waking us up.

He groans and rolls over onto his side to reach for the phone on the nightstand. “Hello?” his voice growls. Then, he’s silent for a few moments as he listens to whoever is on the other end of the line. “Understood.” He lets out an exasperated sigh and then scrubs his hand down his face. “I’ll be on the first flight back to Detroit tomorrow.”

He ends the call and then lays the phone down. “We need to pack.”

“What’s wrong?” I push myself up onto my elbow and stare down at his beautiful face.

Conflict is raging in his eyes, and it instantly makes me curious about what’s on his mind.

“That was one of the lawyers with Tension. Looks like Mr. Silverman did indeed get all the charges dropped, like he said, so I’m out of all the legal trouble.”

Relief washes through me. “That’s fantastic news. I told you things would work out.”

The corner of his mouth pulls down into a one-sided frown. “There’s a catch.”

“Other than being suspended? We knew that was part of the deal.”

“It appears that the boss decided to add another stipulation after our conversation last night,.”

I grimace. “What is it?”

There’s a flutter in my chest as my nerves go crazy while my brain works in overtime, attempting to figure out what in the world Tension could ask of him. Mr. Silverman has already taken away his career by suspending him.

“He is fining me for my actions against Rex. On top of that, Tension wants me to not only pay out of pocket for the medical bills that racked up because of what I had done, but I also have to pay Rex for his pain and suffering.”

My eyes widen. “You’ve got to be kidding. Can he even do that?”

Xavier nods. “Tension affords Mr. Silverman to be a very rich man, and he can do anything he wants, and if I want to ever get back in the ring, I have to do what he asks, or I can kiss my job good-bye.”

I frown. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

He locks eyes with me. “The world isn’t fair, beautiful, especially when it comes to guys like me.”

“Is it a lot of money?”

I know he’s well-off—the man obviously has enough to wire thirty thousand dollars into my bank account—but anytime you take a huge cut out of your account, it’s got to hurt.

“They want a hundred fifty thousand dollars total.”

My mouth drops open, and I swear, I experience my first heart palpitation. The amount is insane. I can’t imagine paying that much money for a fine.

“Oh my God, that’s a lot.”

“It is,” he agrees.

I know I shouldn’t be nosy about his financial situation, but I can’t stop myself from asking, “Do you have that much?”

“I do, but since I won’t have any money coming in for the next few months, it’s going to put me in a tight spot for a bit.”

“The money you put into my account is still there. I haven’t touched it. Will that be enough to get us by?”

“You’ll need that money to pay for your hotel when you go on the road. The company doesn’t give you any reimbursement. It’s a business expense. Besides, that’s your money. I gave it to you. I won’t allow you to spend it on taking care of us.”

“That’s ridiculous. It’s
your
money. I told you it didn’t feel right for you to pay me since we’re in a relationship now.”

“Anna . . .” he says my name with a bite of warning. It’s his go-to move when he’s decided that he’s not going to budge on his opinion.

“No, Xavier. Stop being silly. If you need the money—”

“Don’t,” he says, cutting me off. “This isn’t up for discussion. You’ll need it. Trust me. Traveling all the damn time isn’t cheap. That’s where most of my money has gone to.”

Being broke is something I can relate to. When I first moved to Detroit, I barely had enough in my bank account to feed myself. If it wasn’t for Quinn helping me to get a job, I’m not sure what I would’ve done. With that being said, I did manage to make it without much money, so Xavier and I will figure out a way to get by, too.

The thought of Quinn sets my mind spinning on how we can save a little money. “Fine, but since we’ll be squeezed for money until everything gets worked out, I think we should stay with Quinn and Aunt Dee.”

Xavier raises one of his thick eyebrows. “That won’t work.”

“Why not?” I argue. “I know they won’t care, and it will save us from spending money on two hotel rooms.”

“Their place is small, Anna, and while it’s fine for you to stay with them, I’m a big guy. I take up a lot of room and will wear out my welcome pretty fast.”

“That won’t happen.” I do my best to assure him, but he simply shakes his head.

“It will. Trust me. I bounced around from place to place after leaving home, and that was why most people kicked me out. It’s hard to become transparent when you’re six-four and two hundred sixty-five pounds.”

I sigh, seeing as how he won’t change his mind about this. That leaves one other place in Detroit where we could stay for free—his house, the one he owns and refuses to talk about.

Xavier doesn’t mention his family, and he’s made it crystal clear that pushing him into talking about it won’t benefit either one of us. The times following nightmares that wake him from a dead sleep are the only glimpses I get into his past with his family life. The house he owns is a touchy subject, so I’m guessing it has to do with his family. Based on the story he told me before, it’s possible the house is the one his mother died in, and the memories are too much to bear.

I don’t want to bring up things that could hurt him, but I worry if he doesn’t face the darkness of his past, he’ll never make peace with it. I want to be there for him, to show him that it’s okay to let go of the stuff that haunt him.

“Then, we should stay at your place.” It’s wrong of me to push this, but seeing as how we are in a tough predicament, living in the house he owns seems like the logical choice.

Xavier blows a rush of air through his nostrils, and I instantly regret saying anything.

“I won’t go back there.” His words come out in an angry growl.

I swipe a strand of his wild dark hair off his face as I gaze down at him. The uneasiness in his blue eyes is clear, and I hate that his past hurts him the way it does. I want to help him heal.

“Don’t,” he whispers. “I can’t handle it when you look at me like that.”

I’m instantly taken aback. “How am I looking at you?”

“With pity,” he says. “I fucking hate when people pity me, especially when it comes from you.”

This conversation gives me a flashback to the time we had an argument over talking about his family once before. When we were in my old boss, Andy’s, office back at the restaurant I once worked for, we had a huge blowup over me trying to get him to open up about his mother. He stormed out on me, and I had to chase him down to apologize. I don’t want to repeat that situation anytime soon.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t pry. I know that. God knows, you’ve told me enough times that you don’t like to talk about your family. But if you don’t let me see that part of you, how am I ever going to really know you?”

“I’m trying.”

Those two simple words speak volumes, and it’s true. He’s come a long way from the man I met on the plane.

“I know you are, but I’m greedy. I want to know everything about you.”

He adjusts his head on the pillow, and then his fingertips trace the smooth skin on my shoulder. “Are you sure about that? My past—it’s the shit that horror stories are written about. I’ve spent my entire life trying to forget the shit that happened to me.”

I stare into his eyes. “Maybe it’s time to stop forgetting. If you faced the things that scare you the most, it might help those nightmares go away.”

“Or it could make them fifty fucking times worse.”

“How will you know if you don’t try?”

The pad of his thumb drifts across my lower lip, and I can tell by the expression on his face that he’s really considering what I just said.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” I question, wondering exactly what he’s just agreed to.

“We’ll stay at the house I own—or at least try to. I haven’t been back there since I was fifteen, so I can’t promise you that I won’t change my mind when we get there. A lot of evil shit happened to me in that house, bad shit that I wouldn’t wish on my worst fucking enemy, and I’m not sure I’m ready to face it.”

“I’m proud of you.” I lean in and press my lips to his.

His taut muscles contract beneath my touch as he wraps his arms around me and pulls me against his hard chest.

“What are you doing to me, beautiful? You’re changing me in ways I never thought possible,” he murmurs against my lips.

I don’t say anything, honestly, I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know the feeling is mutual. He’s changed me, too.

T
he plane touches
down on the runway, and I’m surprised by how excited I am to be back in Detroit. The city hasn’t been my home for very long, but it already feels like where I’m supposed to be.

I shoot a quick text to Quinn to let her know that we’ve landed. Afterward, Xavier threads his fingers through mine and leads me off the aircraft. I smile as I think back to that first time we met. Flying into this airport will always hold a special place in my heart.

The baggage carousel is crowded, and our bags still haven’t come out of the chute yet. I lick my dry lips and swirl my tongue inside my mouth to try to relieve the cotton mouth I’ve got going on. When I turn around, I notice a little coffee stand, and my mouth waters.

“I’m going to grab something to drink. You want anything?” I ask Xavier.

He shakes his head. “I’m good.”

Only one person is ahead of me in line, a handsome businessman in a fitted three-piece suit. His dark hair is short and perfectly styled into place. After he orders a coffee with two pumps of vanilla, he turns to step out of the way while the girl behind the counter prepares his drink. When he notices me, his eyes rake over my body, lingering a little too long on my chest, and then he gives me a lopsided grin. I do my best to ignore him, but it’s hard when I can feel the heat of his stare.

“Next!” the girl behind the counter yells out as she hands Mr. Suit Man his coffee.

I step up to the counter. “I’ll have a large iced coffee, please.”

The girl pushes a couple of buttons on the register. “That’s four sixty-eight.”

I reach into my back pocket to grab a few dollars, but before I have a chance to pay, the stranger watching me swoops in and attempts to hand the girl a five-dollar bill. “It’s on me.”

I pull out my own money. “No, thanks.”

That does nothing to deter him because he keeps his money out. “I insist.”

My lips pull into a tight line. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t want you to buy my coffee.”

He smirks, and he turns toward the girl. She now looks completely confused on whom she should take the money from.

“Would you tell the beautiful lady to allow me the honor of buying her a drink?”

The dark-haired barista rolls her eyes at him, and when she turns her attention back to me, she takes my money.

“Thank you,” I say to her.

I stand there, waiting for my drink. For some reason, a blunt no-thank-you didn’t seem to work on the persistent businessman, as he is still standing next to me, but I do my best to pretend he’s not there.

“I’m sorry. I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m—”

“Leaving,” Xavier’s voice cuts the man off mid sentence.

As he takes in my tall, broad-shouldered boyfriend, the man’s expression morphs from surprise to determination. His eyes narrow. “Excuse me?”

It’s clear this man isn’t used to being told no, and by antagonizing Xavier, it’s also clear that he has a death wish.

Xavier rolls his neck and glares down at him with a stare so intense that it’s downright scary. “Do you have a fucking hearing problem? I told you to beat it.”

The man squares his shoulders. “I’ll leave when I’m good and ready.”

With a sharp tug, Xavier pulls me behind him. He has at least four inches and about sixty pounds on Mr. Suit Man.

Xavier’s fingers flex into fists at his sides. “That’s where you’re wrong, motherfucker. You’ll leave when I fucking say you will.”

Flashbacks of what happened with Rex hit me hard. I will not allow Xavier to get into a fight in the goddamn airport because a guy hit on me.

I grab Xavier’s wrist. “No. Don’t be crazy.”

Xavier jerks his gaze to me, and his thick eyebrows knit in confusion. “No?”

“No,” I say again.

I stare into his eyes as I cling to him, remaining coolheaded in order to defuse this situation. The last thing we need is for Xavier to end up in handcuffs again for killing a man while defending me. Tension wouldn’t be able to make this one go away because this guy isn’t on their payroll.

Xavier swallows hard as the intense connection we always feel toward one another flows between us.

“Don’t do something that could separate us again,” I plead.

His jaw muscle flexes as he blows a rush of air out of his nose, attempting to calm himself.

Xavier directs his attention back to Mr. Suit Man. “You’re lucky my girl here is a saint because I’m allowing you to walk away right now.”

The man’s face twists with disgust. “
Allowing
me? Do you know who I am?”

“No, and I don’t give a fuck either.”

The man opens his mouth again to fire off another snide remark.

I can see in Xavier’s eyes that his cool won’t last long, so this time, I cut the guy off, “Mister, if I were you, I would leave while I could. He just got out of prison for nearly beating a man to death.”

All the color drains from the man’s face. He doesn’t say another word. He simply heeds my warning and walks away.

Xavier never takes his eyes off his retreating opponent. “Fucking pussy.”

I let out an exasperated sigh as I grab my bag Xavier wheeled over from the carousel and walk away from him.

“What?” Xavier calls from behind me as he gathers up the other bags and starts after me. “Are you pissed at me?”

“No—yes—I don’t know. Don’t you see the problem with what just happened?”

He releases one of the roller bags and grabs my wrist, halting me in place. “Hold up. I did that for you.”

“No, Xavier, you did that for
you
. I was perfectly capable of fending off the guy’s flirtatious behavior, and if all else failed, I would have walked away.”

“I
did
walk away because you’d asked me, too.”

“I shouldn’t have to ask you to do that. There should’ve never been a confrontation to begin with. You need to trust me and stop fighting all my battles for me. I don’t need you permanently ruining your career over me. If you threw everything away for me, that would kill me. You were damn lucky to get out of hurting Rex with only a suspension.” Heat rises in my face, and I know my face is red.

“You think I give a shit about all that? You’re what’s important to me.”

“Don’t say that because you know it isn’t true. You’d care if wrestling were no longer an option for you.”

“It is true. I told Mr. Silverman I would quit if they tried to take you away from me, and I meant that.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “And then I would feel guilty that you left Tension. Living with that kind of guilt would make a relationship between us impossible. You’d resent me.”

The thought of not being with him crushes me, but I know myself. I could never get over being responsible for ending his career.

His eyes soften. “Don’t ever talk like that. I can’t lose you.”

I close the distance between us and lay my hand on his chest. “Then, figure out how to control all that rage inside you before it destroys us both.”

He wraps his fingers around my wrist as my hand rests over his heart. “I’m trying.”

“I know,” I whisper. I push up on my tiptoes and press my lips to his. “No more fighting. Let’s go find our ride.”

The first thing I spot when we step out into the summer heat is Quinn leaning against her silver Honda. Her lips curve into a smile as soon as her eyes land on us.

She throws her hands up and waves them like crazy as she dashes in our direction. She throws her arms around me. “Oh my God, I’ve missed you, cuz. I’ve got loads to tell you.”

I laugh as her dark hair tickles my nose. “It’s so good to see you.”

“You want to pop your trunk, Quinn?” Xavier asks from behind me.

Quinn pulls back and then fishes her keys from the front pocket of her jean shorts. “Sorry about that. Almost forgot you were back there, X.” She hits the unlock button on her key fob and then walks over to lift the trunk lid. “We should probably get you out of here before you get recognized.”

Xavier chuckles as he loads our luggage into the car. “That would be ideal.”

Quinn extends her left hand to me, and I immediately notice a little bling coming from her ring finger.

I grab her hand for a closer inspection. “Wow! Brock did an excellent job. I love it.”

She stares down at the diamond solitaire on her ring and smiles. “I do, too. I love that man so much.”

“I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks, Anna.” She grins. “I want you to be my maid of honor.”

“Really?” I squeal. “I would love that!”

We instantly launch into another hug. This time, we are both squeeing. I am so incredibly happy for Quinn and Brock. Their relationship has been somewhat of a mystery to me, but they both seem committed to taking their relationship to the next level. It’s plain to see that they have a lot of love for one another.

Once everything is loaded, I slip into the backseat of the car, giving Xavier the front because his legs are so much longer than mine. Quinn starts the ignition and then steers away from the curb to get us out of the passenger pickup area.

No one in the car says a word for the first few minutes of the ride. That’s unlike my cousin. I’m surprised she hasn’t fired off a million questions yet.

Quinn clears her throat. “Okay. I’ve tried to hold back from asking this question, but if I don’t, I’m going to burst.”

And there’s the Quinn I know and love.

I’m almost afraid to hear what she’s going to ask.

“Are you taking care of my cousin, X? I haven’t heard from her in a couple of days, and then I get a text from her, saying to pick you guys up from the airport. What’s the deal? I didn’t think you guys would be back in Detroit for a while. Are you in trouble over that wrestler you beat up in the ring? Tons of rumors have been floating around the Internet, all mentioning the fight got out of hand and turned real.”

“Quinn!” I scold her for being so damn nosy, but I know it’s in her nature to pry. With her inquiring mind, she’s like the epitome of a gossip magazine.

I’m not even sure if Xavier is allowed to talk about what actually happened, not that I think Quinn would run off and reveal the truth about the situation to anyone. Tension has done a lot to get this incident swept under the rug, so I don’t want Xavier to say anything that might jeopardize that.

Quinn glances at me through her rearview mirror. “What? Can I not ask that? I just want to make sure that you’re safe with him, Anna. You’re my cousin, and it’s my responsibility to look out for you since you’re new to this whole living-on-your-own thing.”

I smile and place my hand on her shoulder. “Rest assured, he’s taking good care of me.”

In the rearview mirror, I spot her eyes stealing a quick glance at Xavier before turning back to the road.

“That’s good to hear. I would hate to be forced to figure out a way to kick the big guy’s ass,” she says.

Xavier turns his head, and a playful smile lights up his side profile. “Threats of violence? Really?”

Quinn shrugs. “We Cortez women stick together. If you fuck with one of us, you’d better be prepared to have your eyes clawed out because we work in packs.”

This earns her a full-on deep rumble of a laugh from him. “Remind me never to piss either one of you off then. I’m partial to my eyesight since these eyes allow me to view Anna’s beautiful body.”

“Aw,” Quinn gushes. “That’s so sweet, but you are completely avoiding my question.”

I bite my tongue to keep myself from saying anything. It’s not my place to tell Xavier’s business, so I sit back and give him time to address her.

“It’s like this, Quinn,” Xavier starts. “I’m so damn good at my job that everyone who watched my last live match is now convinced that I actually hurt Assassin.”

“But you didn’t?” she questions as she turns onto the freeway.

Xavier shakes his head. “No. He was hurt because I hit him a little too hard, but what happened in the ring had all been planned out, and it was a part of the show. I was just an idiot who’s strength hurt someone.”

She’s quiet. At first, I don’t think she buys his story, but then she nods with a thoughtful expression on her face.

“That seems plausible. It looked real though. Hell, even I bought into it because I know that you’ve had some beef with him in the past.”

“How do you know that?” he asks, clearly intrigued at how Quinn has that information.

I know he’s probably thinking that I told her about the Rex situation, but I didn’t. Quinn was always too worried about my sexual relationship with Xavier for me to even discuss his workplace drama with her.

She shrugs. “The Internet. I’ll admit that I proficiently stalked you before I granted you the okay to spend a lot of time with Anna.”

Xavier turns his head toward my cousin, and a smirk crosses his face. “I’m glad you’re looking out for her. It’s good to know that Anna’s safety is a priority for us both.”

I smile, thinking about how two of my favorite people in the world want to protect me. It’s nice to know that they love me that much.

We make small talk as Xavier directs Quinn off the freeway and through all the streets leading us to Nettie’s diner. We turn the last corner, and the restaurant comes into view. It’s standing just the same as we left it a few weeks ago with its white brick exterior and the blue sign hanging over the entrance that simply reads,
Diner
. This is Xavier’s comfort spot, the place that feels like home to him, which is why he leaves his motorcycle parked in the shed at the back of the building.

Nettie and Carl are two people he trusts. They are more like parents to him than friends.

Quinn parks in the diner parking lot. “I’ll wait here and then follow you to where you are staying to drop off your luggage.”

“Sounds good,” Xavier tells her before he opens the car door.

His lean frame towers over the vehicle as he steps outside. He folds the passenger seat forward, extends his hand to me, and helps me get out of Quinn’s two-door coupe.

“The key to my house is inside.” His strong arm snakes around my shoulders as he leads me inside. “We need to at least go inside and make sure that Nettie knows we’ll be in town for a while.”