Lady and the Champ

by Mia Madison

  It felt good to have him there, saying those things. It gave me the mental stability I needed in order to figure everything out.

  “We need to get dressed and go see Fabian,” I said. “But… do you mind if I stay here like this with you for just a few more minutes?”

  “You can stay right where you are for as long as you want, babe.” He tipped my head up to kiss me again, then added, “Seriously, as long as you want.”

  I smiled against his lips, because I knew he meant it. The only problem was that if he kept talking like that, I might forget that this whole arrangement was probably only temporary, until the urgency had passed.

  I might forget that it wasn’t supposed to be forever.

  It was another morning. Another day waking up in Onyx’s bed.

  I rolled over and looked at the clock.

  Nine in the morning. Time to get up, but I didn’t really care. If I hadn’t needed to go check on Faye, I could’ve probably stayed in bed all day.

  All week.

  Forever, maybe.

  It had been three days since Fabian got attacked. Three days that I’d spent every waking minute dividing my time between worrying about him, caring for Faye and leaning on Onyx.

  Fabian was still in a medically-induced coma and probably would be for at least a few more days, according to his doctor. As long as he didn’t have any problems coming out of the coma, his chances for surviving were good.

  His chances for recovering completely?

  Still undetermined.

  The worrying and the stress was weighing on me, combined with the guilt that I hadn’t been right there with him when he’d needed me. Maybe I could’ve seen the person who had attacked him. Maybe I would’ve been able to identify something about the monster who had tried to take away the only family I had left.

  But I had been sitting down and sipping champagne instead.

  Just make it through this, brother, and I’ll make it up to you.

  It was my mantra, my prayer. It was the hope that got me through each long day.

  My legs felt heavy as I swung them over the side of the bed and stood up. God, please just get me through this.

  I pulled on a t-shirt and some yoga pants and threw my hair into a quick ponytail. Fuck the makeup. Fuck looking cute. This day was just about surviving. Just making it through would be a win.

  As soon as I opened the bedroom door, I could hear the deep rumble of Onyx’s voice, but I couldn’t make out the words he was saying. Then I turned the corner and stopped in my tracks, a broad smile spreading across my face.

  “Good morning, babe,” Onyx called from the living room, bouncing Faye on his hip. “We were just talking about what we might have for breakfast. Are you hungry?”

  I laughed, the first time I’d done so since… I couldn’t even remember when. “Starving, actually.” I walked into the living room and nodded toward my niece. “I think she likes you.”

  “I hope you don’t mind that I got her out of bed. I just didn’t want her to cry and wake you up.” Onyx shrugged. “I don’t really know the first thing about babies, but… we’ve been getting along pretty well so far.”

  “You’ll be changing diapers in no time,” I said, reaching out to take her from his arms as his eyes went wide. I laughed again. “Just kidding. Sort of.”

  “Oh God,” he said. “I think I’m gonna need a little more practice before I’m ready for all that.”

  “Ask and you shall receive,” I winked, taking her into the kitchen to see what we could do for a meal. “But for now, let’s get back to breakfast.”

  He grinned and came up behind me. “Now you’re speaking my language. I figured we could eat and then maybe go to the hospital a little later. I need to get into the gym sometime this afternoon, but that can be whenever.”

  Everything had taken a backseat to Fabian’s condition since the stabbing, but I could tell Onyx was itching to get back into the ring. It was where he thrived, where he belonged. It was his life.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” I said. “And I’ll probably go to the dance studio to burn off some steam later, too. I’ve been sort of neglecting it lately, but… I think a little turn around the pole might help clear my head.”

  I’d been taking a pole dancing class for a few months, and even though it felt a little bit selfish to think of taking the time for that now, I still felt like I kind of needed it. It really was a place where I could cut loose, clear my mind, and just sweat out all of my problems—probably similar to the way Onyx felt about being in the boxing ring.

  “Sounds good, babe.” He put his arms around my waist and leaned in to rest his head on my shoulder. “I’ll drop you off at the studio when I go to the gym, and then I can pick you up after. I mean… if you want.”

  I nodded. Even though I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself, the thought of Onyx being there for me during my first trip out in public since the stabbing was definitely comforting.

  “Yeah, that would be nice. I’ll call the sitter, and we can drop Faye off on the way, then pick her back up after we’re both done.”

  “Perfect.” Onyx let go and moved toward the fridge. “Now, you and little Miss Faye can just sit back and relax. I’m gonna make us all some breakfast.”

  I grinned and gave him a sideways glance. “You can cook?”

  “Hey, I can make a pretty mean breakfast. I don’t keep many carbs around here, so no toast, but… eggs, bacon, and uh… milk? Orange juice?”

  “Sounds perfect,” I said, echoing his earlier statement.

  And it was. All of it.

  Everything about Onyx was just… perfect.

  Onyx

  It felt good to get back into the gym, into the ring, even though my mind was anywhere but there. It was crazy, but being apart from Lauren was making me anxious as hell. Even dropping little Faye off at the babysitter had made me want to call off all of the afternoon’s plans and just take them both back to my apartment.

  Back where I could be sure they were both safe.

  But that wasn’t realistic. I might feel responsible for the two of them—especially after seeing Fabian looking so frail and just… broken in the hospital earlier that day—but I still needed to make sure I was being respectful of what Lauren wanted. She might be happy with my protective nature right now, but I didn’t want to push it.

  And I could tell from the look on her face that she’d been really looking forward to a little time by herself in the dance studio. Not that she was going to be totally by herself, thank God. I’d double-checked that the place was well-lit and there had been at least a dozen other people there when I’d dropped her off.

  Still, though, I was nervous.

  Whoever had gone after Fabian—whoever had tried to kill him—was still out there, still a threat. And if they had fucked with the nicest, most honest guy I knew, they could just as easily go after his sister, or his daughter, or even me—though my own safety was the least of my worries.

  My phone buzzed, and I set down the weights I’d been lifting, then wiped my face and hands with a towel before picking it up.

  I smiled when I saw that it was a text from Lauren, but my mouth fell open when I realized it was actually a video clip from her dance studio.

  Just thought I’d give you a taste of what you’re missing… hope your training isn’t too hard.

  Even though the clip that followed was only about fifteen seconds, seeing the way she moved around that pole—so sexy and graceful and just so fucking hot—instantly had my dick hard.

  I typed out a quick reply and sent it, setting my phone aside before I could get lost watching that video over and over on repeat.

  Definitely hard. Mission accomplished.

  I grinned. She knew exactly what she did to me, and she loved it. And if I was being honest, I kind of loved it, too.

  “Hey man, hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Barry, the owner of the gym walked toward me waving an envelope. He had a funny look
on his face, but I figured that probably had as much to do with my stupid grin and straining hard-on as anything else.

  “Uh, no,” I shifted my weight to try and preserve a little dignity, and shook my head, trying and failing to wipe the smile off my face. “What’s up?”

  “This came for you.” He handed the envelope over.

  I furrowed my brow as I turned the envelope over in my hands. It didn’t have an address or a stamp, just my name scrawled in big block letters on the front. “What is it?”

  Barry shrugged. “Dunno, man. I just got back from running some errands, and it was on the front desk when I came in. Dunno why whoever dropped it off didn’t just come back here and give it to you.”

  Unless they didn’t want to be seen…

  I pushed the thought away as I opened the envelope. There was just a single piece of paper inside, folded in half.

  Pulling it out and unfolding it, I found the same sort of block letters that had been on the front of the envelope. My eyes skimmed over the message and my throat got tight. My heart started beating faster. I felt like I might throw up.

  “Fuck,” I said, standing up and reading it again. I was doing my best not to crumple the paper, but I was shaking. I should call the police. I had to get out of there. “Fuck.”

  “What’s it say, man?” Barry craned his neck to look at the paper, but I held it close.

  “It’s bad,” I said. “Really fucking bad. I’ve gotta go. I’ve gotta get Fabian’s sister and daughter. Now.”

  I looked at the paper again, still not quite able to believe what I was seeing.

  Everyone you care for is going to die. Your friend was just the beginning. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.

  Nope. That shit was real. This was really fucking happening.

  Fuck.

  Without another word, I walked over to get my gym bag and headed for the door. I could shower and change later. This shit was urgent. Whoever went after Fabian knew where I was… and if they’d been watching me, they’d been watching Lauren, too.

  The thought made my blood run cold. As soon as I got to the door, I started running.

  I had to get to her before anyone else did.

  “I don’t understand,” Lauren said, looking up at me through the car window as I closed the passenger door and walked around to get in.

  I could feel her eyes tracking me as I moved around the car, and I knew I’d have to come up with something good to justify pulling her out of her dance class.

  “I got worried,” I said, as soon as I had opened the driver side door and climbed into the car. “I, uh, didn’t want you to be alone.”

  It wasn’t a lie, but I could tell from the skeptical look on her face that she knew it wasn’t the entire truth, either.

  “O-kay,” she said, drawing the word out. “So this whole caveman routine of bursting through the door and standing over me while I got my things together was because you were… worried? I mean, I’m not gonna lie, it’s kind of sexy, but… maybe a bit much?”

  I checked all the mirrors and quickly scanned all the cars around us. Nobody was in any of them, as far as I could tell. Nobody had followed me from the gym.

  Still, it wasn’t until we had pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic that I felt like I could exhale and answer her question.

  “I’m sorry for the, uh, caveman thing,” I said, finally. “I just wanted to get out of there, to make sure you were safe.”

  She reached over and put her hand over mine. “I appreciate that. Honestly. But… what’s really going on? I’ve never seen you look like this. So… scared. It’s kind of freaking me out.”

  Fuck.

  I had to get it together. If she could tell that I was scared, I wasn’t doing what I needed to do. I wasn’t making her feel safe.

  Except that I was legitimately scared. Scared for her and for Faye. Scared that someone could be watching them, just waiting for the right time, for a moment when I wasn’t around to protect them.

  That shit scared the hell out of me.

  And even though I didn’t want to scare her—not any more than I already had, at least—I didn’t want to lie to her, either.

  “I just wanna make sure you’re safe,” I said. “You and Faye. And I think that whoever went after Fabian might go after you, too.”

  “But you don’t know that, right? I mean, it could’ve just been some sort of random crazy person… right?”

  She was starting to talk faster, and I could tell that I was still doing a shitty job of calming her down. But… fuck. This shit was real. Maybe we both should be scared.

  “I thought maybe that might be the case at first,” I said. “But now… I don’t think so anymore. Whoever it is was at the gym today.”

  “Oh my God.” Her eyes went wide and her nails dug into my hand as she gripped it tightly. “Did you see who it was? Did they try to hurt you?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “I didn’t see. If I would’ve seen them, I would’ve gone after them. I would’ve—” I swallowed hard to choke back the words I was going to say. Describing all the things I wanted to do to the person who had hurt Fabian and who was threatening Lauren might feel good for me, but it probably wouldn’t be helpful for her. “Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you were safe,” I repeated. “And now we’re gonna go pick up Faye and get back to my apartment.”

  “My God,” she said, shaking her head as she turned to look out the window. “I don’t understand why someone would want to do this to him—to us. I’m not gonna let that son of a bitch get to me, though.” She turned back to me, and I almost smiled at the fire in her eyes. I’d seen the same exact look on her brother’s face plenty of times over the years, and it was just as believable and formidable on her as it had been on him. “I’m not gonna hide for much longer. I’m not gonna let them win like that.”

  “I agree,” I said, the corners of my mouth turning up in spite of my best efforts. I loved that strong, stubborn streak in her. “And I wouldn’t ask you to hide. But I will ask you to do something else.”

  She looked at me for a second, her eyes searching mine as she cocked her head to the side. “Okay… what is it?”

  “I want you to be my manager.” I didn’t have to look over again to see that the statement had surprised her. But I knew I’d need to follow it up with a some good logic before she had a chance to say no. “It makes perfect sense, really. You’ve been around the gym for years—almost as long as Fabian has been. You’ve seen everything he does, everything he and I do together. You know the business inside and out, as well as he does—probably better than I do, even.” I took a breath and risked a glance. She looked skeptical but she still hadn’t said anything. “So… what do you think? You’d be doing me a huge favor, and… I kind of need you, Lauren.”

  It kind of made me feel like an ass to play the I need you card, but it was the truth. I did need someone to take over for Fabian while he was in the hospital, and Lauren really did know the business at least as well as he did.

  And it would give me a good excuse to keep her by my side when I went to the gym, at least until I figured out who was trying to hurt her. It was a win, all the way around.

  As long as she said yes.

  “You’re serious?” She asked, finally.

  “Completely.”

  She sighed, then looked out the window again. For a moment, I wondered if she might actually turn me down. “Okay,” she said, turning back to me and nodding.

  “Okay?” I repeated, wanting to make sure she was really agreeing to everything I’d said. “You’ll do it? You’ll be my manager?”

  “Temporary manager,” she corrected me. “Only until my brother is better again. But if you really need me, I’m not gonna say no.”

  I nodded, then smiled, unable to hold it back any longer. “Good. Great, I mean. Thank you. I think it’s gonna work out well for both of us.”

  I hoped so, anyway.

  At the very least, it would help me ke
ep her safe.

  And at the end of the day, that was the only thing that mattered.

  Lauren

  The days and nights that had passed since Onyx asked me to be his manager had been a blur of emotions.

  I’d been happy to be with him, happy to help him, but there was a new undercurrent of tension that I hadn’t felt before.

  When Fabian first got attacked, I had kept myself from freaking out too much because I could tell myself that it might have been just a random, crazy act of violence. When Onyx confirmed that Fabian wasn’t involved in any shady business, that had made it even easier to think it had just been a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  But now?

  Now, I knew better.

  It hadn’t been random. Whoever went after my brother had done so for a reason, and now they might be after me, too. Or—God forbid—after Faye.

  The whole thing was almost too scary to think about, but I was up every single night thinking about it anyway.

  At the moment, though, all of those emotions were on hold, replaced by sheer, overwhelming happiness.

  Onyx, Faye and I were at the hospital, in an elevator, on our way up to Fabian’s room.

  Onyx had gotten the call while I was at the dance studio, and had brought Faye to pick me up, along with the best news I’d heard all week—that Fabian was awake.

  “He’s probably still gonna be kind of out of it,” Onyx cautioned me as the elevator doors opened and we hurried down the hallway toward his room. “He might not even be able to talk to us.”

  “That’s okay,” I said, barely comprehending what Onyx was saying in my single-minded focus to get to my brother. “He doesn’t have to say anything. I just need to see him.”

  It wasn’t until we had stopped in front of his closed door that all of my nerves and doubts caught up to me.

  What if he didn’t recognize us? What if he really couldn’t talk, or… what if he couldn’t see us or hear us, or—

  “Are you okay?” Onyx’s hand was on my shoulder and Faye was squirming in my arms as we waited in front of the door.