Chapter 27

twenty-seven

. . .

Romeo

“Thanks for comingby to see us,” my mom said, as Demi said goodbye to my grandmother. “You understand why I can’t be there, right?”

“Don’t give it a thought. I wouldn’t want you there. I know it’s hard to watch me fight, and if you don’t want to watch it on TV, you don’t have to do that either.”

I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I was going to be fighting on national television. I hoped I didn’t make a fool of myself and go out too soon.

“I’ll be watching, but I can pace here and keep myself from jumping into that ring with you. Just—” My mother looked away as her hands squeezed mine before her gaze returned to mine. “You don’t need to be a hero, Romeo. You agreed to fight this lunatic, and I know you felt pressured to do so. But if it’s bad, just pretend you get knocked out and stay down. It’s not worth your life, son. We are all endlessly proud of you, regardless of this fight.”

I wrapped my arms around her. “Come on, now. I trained awfully hard. I’m going to be fine. Stop worrying.”

She sniffed, and I knew I had to get out of here. We were heading to Las Vegas the next morning. We’d be arriving a few days before the fight because we’d have the press conference and the weigh-in the day before, and it would allow us time to get settled. I’d tapered off my workouts, and I just wanted to be out of here.

“All right. You get out of here. I love you. Lincoln is flying Tia there from school, so you make sure she stays out of trouble.” She let out a long breath.

“Don’t worry about a thing, Mama. I love you.”

Demi walked up and hugged my mom, and I hustled us out the door. My hand found hers, and we walked the short distance home. The weather had warmed up, and I was grateful for the fresh air. I’d been spending a lot of time in the gym and in the training space next to the coffee shop, outside of my runs in the morning.

“Your mom was emotional, huh?” Demi asked.

“Yep. She gets that way. It’ll be fine.”

“It will be.” She sighed. “I can’t believe we leave tomorrow morning.”

“It’s about fucking time, right? Leo’s got to be exhausted from all his antics.” I chuckled, and she did, too.

He was a piece of shit. Talking about stealing my girl. About humiliating me in front of her. I fucking hated the guy. I’d kept my mouth shut for months, and I was ready to get in there and just fight the asshole. Regardless of the outcome, I was ready to face it.

“Agreed. I think the whole world is tired of hearing him run his mouth.”

We came to a stop in the alley, and I pulled her close. “I need to go pack a few things for tomorrow, so why don’t I meet you upstairs at your place in a little bit?”

“Sure. I’ll get organized, too.” She pushed up on her toes and kissed me before walking backward toward her place. “We’re leaving tomorrow, Golden Boy. All your hard work is going to pay off.”

I watched her step inside the building before I made my way inside mine. I opened the box that had arrived today. Demi and the guys had played a role in designing my fight shorts. They were all black with a white band and gold stitching on the waist where it read Golden Boy. On the inside of the shorts, they’d had them embroidered with a few things that would mean something to me. The inside waistband said Beans and Beefcake, which still made me laugh every time I read it. My girl and my godson. And then on the backside, the letters RoD were stitched there, as well.

I’d taken Demi over to see Cutler earlier today, and she’d given him the RoD tattoo in black Sharpie. He’d strutted through the house like he was some sort of badass. I loved that even at just shy of six years old, he wore those letters proudly. I folded the shorts and the matching black-and-gold robe with my name on it into a separate bag.

Lincoln was flying us all to Las Vegas tomorrow, so we could bring as much luggage as we needed to. I packed up my toiletries and paused in the bathroom to look in the mirror.

I stared at the reflection looking back at me. I was bigger and stronger than I’d been three months ago. I’d worked harder than I’d even known I was capable of.

I’d be leaving it all out there.

I was at peace with whatever happened at this point because there was nothing more that I could do to prepare.

I set my bags by the door, as we’d be back in the morning to grab them. I paused at my dresser and pulled out the letter that I’d written to Demi to have during the fight, just in case she needed it.

She liked to act like nothing bothered her, but I knew differently. I knew she’d been stressed over that fuckface Ronny threatening to come after me. But he had nothing on me. You can’t sue someone for calling you out for a crime that you committed. He could come after me all he wanted, but he didn’t have a leg to stand on.

I tucked the letter into my bag, grabbed my keys, and headed out the door. I jogged toward Demi’s place but caught movement coming from beside me.

A blur of bodies charged at me, all wearing fucking masks, and they swung at me.

Three in total.

One wrapped an arm around my neck as he kneed me in the back.

I elbowed the fucker to my left and heard him howl as I swung and yanked the one on my back off of me. A third dude lunged at me, catching me off guard as I’d prepared for the dude on my right who was back on his feet.

“Leo Burns sent a message that you’re going down in the first round, and you better stay down,” the dude hissed in my ear as the other tried to wrestle me into a headlock. The third dude was stumbling back toward me as I used my head to ram the guy holding my neck. I heard the crack as he fell to the ground, and I swung at the other dude, who was kicking and punching like a fucking lunatic. As I turned to swing at the asshole who was charging at me again, I saw a blurry vision just as I heard her voice.

Demi.

I spun as fast as I could when I realized she’d come outside.

And before I could stop it, the dude’s hand swung back, and she went flying through the air. Her body landed hard against the pavement. I lost my shit, grabbed him by the collar, and threw him across the alley. He landed on a car, and the alarm sounded. His mask was gone, but I didn’t have time to see who he was.

“Shit!” one of them shouted as Demi lay lifeless beside him.

I sprinted toward her as the three cowards were cussing and running off like little pussies.

“Demi. Baby.” I reached beneath her neck as she lay on the pavement, unconscious. “Demi!”

I leaned down, putting my ear to her nose and mouth. She was breathing. I tried tapping her face as hysteria took over. “Baby, can you hear me?”

Her eyes opened suddenly, and a sound I would never get out of my head escaped her throat. She cried out in absolute pain as I realized her arm was turned in the wrong direction.

“Romeo, what happened?” Pinky shouted. He must have come from his place when he heard the car alarm going off.

“Call 9-1-1,” I said, running my hand through my hair, not knowing what to do. Afraid to touch her. Hurt. Her.

I heard him on the phone, and he sounded frantic.

“Tell them to get someone here right fucking now!” I shouted.

“They’re on their way,” he said, bending down to assess the situation.

“Baby, look at me.” I held her face in both of my hands, careful not to move her.

She continued to sob, and I heard the sirens in the distance. “They’re almost here. We’re going to get you some help. You’re going to be okay.”

The sounds leaving her mouth shattered me. I couldn’t move her for fear of hurting her, so I just lay down on the ground beside her, whispering into her ear. “I’m right here, baby.”

She wasn’t making any sense outside of the cries of pain that were coming from her lithe body. She seemed to be coming in and out as she’d cry and then go completely silent for twenty to thirty seconds at a time, and then the cries would come again.

“What the fuck is taking so long!” I shouted.

“Here they come, Romeo.” Pinky’s voice cracked as he bent down to talk to us. “You’re okay, Beans. They’re going to help you.”

I heard the ambulance come to a stop a few feet from me, and the sound of people running our way had me whispering in my girl’s ear. “They’re here, baby. It’s going to be okay. Stay with me.”

There were three guys there bending down to look at her as I sat up and told them what happened. She cried out again, and they shifted me out of the way so they could assess her. Before I knew what was happening, there was a gurney there, and they were carefully shifting her onto the bed.

“How long was she unconscious?” one of them asked as I took her hand on the arm that wasn’t injured and walked with them as they hurried toward the ambulance.

“I don’t know. Maybe thirty seconds. And she seems to be coming in and out of it.”

He nodded, and I climbed into the ambulance without asking for permission. They’d need to fight me if they tried to stop me from going with her. I called out to Pinky. “Call the guys, and call her mom.”

One of the guys called ahead on the radio to say they had a patient with suspected head trauma and a severe arm injury coming in. He also mentioned her name, as clearly, her family was well-known in Magnolia Falls. I hoped like hell that would get her the best attention possible when we got there.

“Are you hurt?” the other guy asked me as he took her vitals and checked her blood pressure. I rested my head beside her face so I could hear the sound of her breathing.

“I’m fine. She’s fucking hurt. You need to help her.” I didn’t recognize my own voice. The panic. The fear.

Suddenly, nothing else mattered.

All that mattered was her.

We arrived at the hospital quickly, where a team of people were waiting for us. I jumped out as they took the gurney, and I jogged alongside her.

“You need to stay here so we can assess her.”

“Fuck!” I shouted in frustration that I couldn’t go with her.

One of the paramedics put a hand on my shoulder, and I whipped around, ready to fight him. He held up his hands, eyes wide. “She’s going to be okay. Let them take care of her. She’s in good hands.”

I nodded, running a hand through my hair as I leaned against the wall.

How the fuck did this happen?

Shouting came from the entrance, and I looked up to see River and Kingston running toward me.

“What happened? We just heard from Pinky. Nash and Hayes are on their way. I called Demi’s mom, and she was already on her way.”

Two police officers approached us, and they bent down to get eye level with me. Kingston handed me a bottle of water, and I chugged it.

“Can you tell us what happened?”

I couldn’t wrap my head around any of it.

“I’d run to my place to pack. She was in her apartment. I watched her go inside,” I said, my words frantic. I looked up to see Demi’s parents and her grandparents right behind them. I pushed to my feet, and Rose lunged at me, wrapping her arms around me.

“Is she okay?” Her words were muffled sobs.

“I don’t know. She was in a lot of pain and coming in and out of consciousness. I don’t know what the fuck just happened.”

“Romeo.” Demi’s grandfather’s voice broke through all the hysteria. He clapped an arm on my shoulder. “Take a breath and slow down. Tell us what happened.”

I nodded. River and Kingston were beside me. The two officers stood beside Demi’s parents as they all waited for me to speak.

“I was heading over to Demi’s place, and three guys jumped me. They came out of nowhere. I had it handled. I had it fucking handled. One guy was already down on the ground.” My voice cracked, and I let out a breath. “He was down, but they were coming from every side. And then I saw Demi out of my peripheral, and it was all a blur. I tried to get to her. But before I could do anything, the asshole on the ground went to swing at me and hit Demi instead. She went flying. Landed hard on the ground. She was unconscious for maybe thirty seconds, and then she was crying in pain. I don’t know how this fucking happened.”

Demi’s mom and grandmother were crying now, and everyone else was shaking their heads in disbelief.

“Do you know who these men were?” one of the officers asked.

“They had masks on. One of them lost their mask after he hit Demi, but I didn’t get a good look at his face because I was worried about her. But they said they were sending me a message from Leo.”

“Jesus Christ,” Demi’s father hissed as he glared at me.

“What was the message?” the officer asked.

“That I was going down in the first round, and I better stay down.”

“That piece of shit,” River hissed. “If he’s so confident, why in the hell is he having you jumped?”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” I said.

“Yet you brought my daughter into your mess. You put her in a position to be hurt. Let that sink in,” Demi’s father said, and my gaze locked with his. I’d hated the man for what he’d done to me and River, but for the first time, I agreed with him.

He was right. I had done this.

I’d brought her into this bullshit mess of mine.

My life was messy. Always had been. But I’d never had to worry about another person before now.

“Spoken like a man who knows what it’s like to bring innocent people into their mess, huh?” River growled.

“Don’t you go pointing the finger, Jack,” Demi’s grandfather said to his son-in-law. “We need to make sure our girl is all right. That’s what’s most important.”

“I don’t want you near her right now!” Jack shouted as he moved closer to me. “She has no business going to this fight when you’ve put her in this kind of danger.”

“Please stop. We need to go speak to the doctor,” Rose said, her voice trembling.

“Agreed. Let’s make sure Demi is okay. Pointing the finger at Romeo is not fair. He didn’t ask for this,” Kingston said, eyes hard as he stared at Demi’s father.

“Let’s all calm down now,” the police officer said. “This isn’t anyone’s fault but the three men out there on the loose. Let me get some more information from you, Romeo, so we can get our team out searching for these guys.”

I nodded, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders.

I followed him to a corner of the waiting room and answered everything I could to the best of my ability. I’d had a pretty good gauge of their height and weight, but that was about all I had to offer.

“They weren’t fighters. I easily had them handled. They were just swinging and trying to take me down. But his arm came back hard, and he was probably twice Demi’s size.” I shook my head as I buried my face in my hands.

“Why would he send three dudes who don’t know how to fight to jump you?” River asked, and I shrugged.

Nothing about tonight made sense.

All that mattered was Demi.

I saw the doctor come out to the waiting room, and I pushed to my feet and walked over.

Her family was standing there, and I moved beside Demi’s grandfather. River and Kingston were behind me, and Nash and Hayes had just showed up, as well.

“She’s going to be okay. She’s got a radial fracture, which will require surgery. We’re going to get her in right away. She hit her head hard enough to be knocked unconscious for a few seconds, so we’ll be watching that, as well. She’s refusing any pain meds and said she has her reasons for that. She also couldn’t recall what happened, as she’s pretty shaken up.”

“Thank you,” Jack said, extending his arm. “Can we see her before she goes into surgery?”

“Let’s keep it down to one or two visitors, and make it quick. They are getting the OR prepped now, so I’ll have the nurse come and get you in a few minutes. But you’ll all be able to visit tomorrow, so let’s keep tonight brief.”

The doctor excused himself, and Rose burst into tears and covered her face with her hands as her father wrapped an arm around her.

“She’s going to be just fine.”

“How about Rose and I go back and see her, and everyone else can come back in the morning?” Jack said, before turning to me. “And how about you leave for your fight and don’t come back?”

“Have you always been an asshole? Or just for the last decade?” River said, stepping into his space.

“Okay, this isn’t helping. I think we all know who Demi wants to see. Romeo can go back with me. He’s had a traumatic evening, as well, Jack. He needs to see that she’s all right.”

“How about you come back with me first,” Rose said, extending her hand to me. “You can go in when we come back,” she said to her husband.

“He’s also the reason she’s here, but I guess you’re still punishing me for mistakes I made almost a decade ago.”

“There’s been plenty of recent ones, as well,” Carson said.

I was too exhausted to engage with them because Jack Crawford was right.

I was the reason that she was here.

And I wouldn’t forget that.