Page 57 of The Fight for Forever
“No. He just said it’s in motion, and he’d give me an update when he got one.”
She tangles her fingers with mine. “I know that relying on other people isn’t your favorite thing, but sometimes we all have to. Let’s think about it rationally. If you set out to find and handle Moses yourself, something else in your life is going to suffer—like your training.”
“Or my time with you. Or Bump. Or my time at the club,” I add.
Scarlett swallows. “Whatever you decide to do, I will support you, but I also think that you should give it another week. Keep training. We’ll all stay vigilant. If a billionaire and the mob can’t bring Moses down, then we’ll find bigger guns together, okay?”
Hearing her refer to Creighton Karas and the Casso family as something less than thebiggest gunsaroundtugs at the corner of my mouth. She’s doing a hell of a job calming me down and wrapping her head around this completely foreign world I’ve dragged her into.
“Okay. We give it another week, and then if nothing changes, we’ll talk about those big guns.” I lift her hand to my mouth and press a kiss to her knuckles.
“Good. It’s all going to work out, Gabe. I have faith. You should too.”
Later, as I lie in bed listening to the sound of Scarlett’s even breathing next to me, I work on searching for my faith. It’s been a long damn time since I believed in anything or anyone but myself and Q, but times are changing, and so am I.
Then again, maybe faith is like trouble, and it finds you.
Thirty-One
Scarlett
As we rideout to Jersey the Sunday after the carnival, Bump tells me all about Big Mike and Joanie, and Q’s three sisters and their families.
From what I’ve been able to commit to memory, Big Mike was born in Puerto Rico and came to the States with his parents when he was young. Joanie was the first child her parents gave birth to in America. They met in high school, and Big Mike proposed the day after graduation. Joanie’s parents wanted her to marry a doctor or a lawyer, not a guy who worked at his parents’ scrapyard, but Joanie couldn’t be talked out of her love for Mike.
They got married that summer, and Dani, their oldest daughter, was born nine months later, followed by Carrie, Zoe, and then Q.
It’s hard for me to imagine the reserved Q growing up with three older sisters who apparently liked to dress him up in makeup, wigs, and jewelry, but I have to admit it makes me like him a little more. He’s Gabriel’s best friend, but he and I haven’t really broken the ice since the day we met—except for when he agreed Gabe should move into the city.
I’m not sure if he’s waiting for me to decide if this is more than I can handle and bolt, or if there’s something else I did to piss him off. Either way, he’s supposed to be at this family barbecue we’re attending.
A family barbecue. I still can’t believe this will be my first ever.
As excited as I am about it, I’m a little worried about all the women. I’ve met Zoe and adore her, but her older sisters and mom are supposedly very protective of Gabe, according to Bump. He told me that they liked that he didn’t date because women always caused problems. They also advised Bump to stay single for as long as possible, because no woman could ever be good enough for him.
In Bump’s case, I have to agree. But I’m hopeful I pass whatever test they have to see if I’m good enough for Gabriel. I know how much this family means to him, and I’d never want to cause problems.
Thankfully, since the carnival, we’ve had a whole seven days of life that seemed relatively normal. No more cell phones that weren’t supposed to be there ringing in my purse. No more signs of Lucy, which did surprise me a little because I definitely don’t think I’ve seen or heard the last of her.
Things at Curated are going better than ever, and we’re selling out faster than before. We’re even discussing opening on Saturday for the general public as well. The demand is so high that we had to stay open an extra two hours on Friday, and still sent almost fifty people home who didn’t make it into the line before we closed it. It’s a good problem to have, I suppose, so I’ll roll with it. Our new warehouse space is officially organized, making our restocking quicker and easier, which means that we really could support the extra day open.
Last night, I talked Gabriel into letting me make an appearance at the club with Monroe and Kelsey. Attendance has been up every night, and it was amazing to see the dance floor packed with people having an incredible time. Legend is truly on its way to becoming everything Gabriel had dreamed of.
Harlow is officially trying to get knocked up, so she stayed home with Jimmy, and we sent them text messages all night asking if they’d made a baby yet. I’m pretty sure she wants to kill all of us today, but she’ll forgive us eventually.
Gabriel’s training is going well, at least from what I can tell. He comes home exhausted, and I have a food service preparing meals to fit his specialized diet so all he has to do is pop them in the microwave and devour. His muscles are even more defined now than they were before, and I’m secretly excited that we’re heading into the last two weeks before the fight, because the workouts are going to slow in intensity so he’s not as depleted at night. But the man has been running all over Manhattan with his training partners, working on cardio.
I know next to nothing about fighting, but apparently part of his coach’s game plan is to make sure that Gabriel is able to fight hard and fast for the full three rounds without tiring. They don’t think Bodhi will have that kind of stamina and will be exhausted by the end of the second round, since he’s never had a fight that lasted any longer than that. From Gabriel’s comments about the training plan, it’s a solid one. Although, I get the sense that he wants to take Bodhi out in the first round, so he takes fewer chances with everything that’s riding on this fight.
As much as I loved watching those old videos on YouTube before, I’m not entirely sure how I’ll feel about watching someone try to punch Gabriel in the face right in front of me.
I can do this. He’ll be fine.
That’s what I keep telling myself, anyway. Like I told Gabriel last Sunday, we have to have faith.
Practicing what I preach, I’ve spent a few extra minutes each day letting the universe know exactly what I’m putting my faith in. I believe in hard work. Staying the course. And Gabriel.
One thing is going extremely well, however, and that’s the tickets for the fight. They sold out almost as soon as they were offered for sale, and that has Gabriel breathing easier.
