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ˇ⋆ ╱ 🥊 ‧ ˚ ꪆ BOXER!CHRIS stats . . .
CHRISTOPHER STURNIOLO. youngest triplet.
6 foot. 72 inch reach.
undefeated 38-0 record with 27 knockouts.
showcasing dominance across multiple weight classes.
becoming an undisputed champion in two divisions.
known for his memorable entrance. high fight IQ. powerful finishes.
owns the sturniolo gym. LA’s top private boxing gym.
son of an all-time champion boxer.
i'm not over how boxer!chris would completely hide his career from you at first, he'd keep it as a side job that he only does at night when you're fast asleep. he knows you notice the small bruises that form on his arms and stomach, he knows you rubbed over the split cheek he'd gotten after one fight. he tries to make it up to you by frequent dinner dates, homemade breakfasts, and spontaneous, small gifts wrapped in pink bows.
what i'm also not over is how sex with boxer!chris would just be rough and desperate. he'll ignore the ache in his knuckles so he can wrap his hand around your throat and the cut on his lip so he can press a kiss against your chest, and he'll push himself even farther just so he can see you feel good. and when he finishes, he'll still stay awake and draw the smallest circles on your spine, watching your eyes flutter.
Heavyweight - Chapter 11
A/N: tw: violence
Start at the beginning here. Chapter 10
Thursday started out fine and dandy for Billie. She got through most of the reviews and all went pretty much how Billie thought they would. Everyone had something to work on, something they could improve. She’d paid special attention to their answers when she asked them all what she could do better for them, how she could help them achieve their goals. Most had nothing to add, a couple wanted a bit more time with her, to learn from her, and one wanted to go back to school. He was bright and had a promising future, so she asked him to put a proposal together of what he’d need and she’d review it. She’d told him to think not just of finances but also of scheduling and workload and she wanted him to include what he expected the organization would get out of it. Be creative, she told him, think about the indirect ways, too. She had some latitude as to how she spent the department’s continuing education budget (one of the main reasons she’d wanted to work for Bob – he was generous in how he supported his staff) and wanted to spend the money wisely. She was sure the he’d come back with an interesting proposal.
She then had back to back calls with two of their most important clients. She’d been part of the team that had sold them on their services and she’d put her reputation on the line with them, telling them they could count on her team. So when they’d each contacted her, needing to speak with her, most urgently, and on the same day (and Billie never liked coincidences), everything pretty much came to a grinding halt once she learned what had been going on.
Matt, the person who’d thought he should have her job, had been sloppy in his handling of both clients. They’d first tried to address their concerns with him, but when he’d begun to hint at issues he was facing, and he was trying to lay blame squarely at Billie’s feet, that’s when they each called her. And that was when things got, for lack of a better word, interesting.
The rumors that he’d been spreading at the office, about her and how she’d ‘qualified’ for the job, the ones that did more than hint about her trading sexual favors for her job, those rumors were now getting to the clients. Not that either of the clients asked her about it, but it was the way things were asked, particular words were used. She reassured the clients that the situation would be handled, that their accounts would get back on track, even if she had to take them over herself. This had to be addressed but first, she’d had to calm down and get control of her emotions.
Once she got off the phone with the clients, she went upstairs and changed. She had to work off the rage that was building up inside of her before it consumed her. She knew a run wasn’t going to do what she needed. When she was back in the gym, she approached Chris.
“Hey, do you have anyone you could spare for a while?”
“What do you need, how long?”
“I’m going to warm up on the treadmill first, but I’m going to need someone to wrap my hands, I’m really out of practice, then the heavy bag. It’s been a while, so I’m thinking maybe 15, 30 minutes?”
“I don’t know if that long-”
“No, I’m not using it like a boxer would. I’ll be doing more kickboxing than anything else. I need to get rid of this negative energy I’ve got.”
He thought about asking her what was up, but the high color on her face, quick breath, and shaky hands and he knew she needed the workout, to get the adrenaline out of her system more than questions.
“I’ll make sure you’ve got someone. Go do your run, and no arguing, but I’m going to want you to do a warm-up before I let you on the bag.”
It wasn’t quite a laugh that Billie huffed.
“Dave’s trained you well.”
“Yeah, he has. Now go.”
Billie did her run and went through the shadow boxing that Dave preferred. She hadn’t landed a punch or a kick in years, opting instead for running and yoga, so she knew she needed to listen to Chris. He checked in on her, thinking that the warm-up might be enough for her, might bleed off whatever she had going on inside. When he realized she was intent on her workout, he dismissed the fighter she’d been working with. Dave would have his head if he put anyone else with Billie.
He checked her hands before he put gloves on her. He got her warmed up, first with punches, and needing to make only minor corrections to her form, her muscle memory clearly intact, before moving to some combinations.
“Do you have a routine, or do you need me to call out combinations for you?”
“I’ve got it from here. Thanks.”
Billie slowly introduced kicks into her workout until she got her rhythm down and then she let loose. After about 10 minutes, Chris couldn’t help himself.
“You’ve got really good form, but you’re favoring your right side. You’d do better to try to keep it even.”
She answered between punches.
“Thanks.”
Another 10 minutes went by and she showed no signs of tiring. The sweat, running in rivers down her body, told the tale of how hard she was working.
“Don’t forget, before you finish up you need at least five minutes of a warm down, so don’t completely drain yourself.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Billie kept it up for another 10 minutes, completely soaking through her clothes during that time. It wasn’t until she felt a familiar ache in her shoulders that she slowed, lessening the strength of her blows. She needed only five more minutes before she knew she was at the end of what she could handle.
Everyone in the gym knew she was wrestling with something big.
She headed to the treadmill and ran full out for five minutes before walking the last five, taking the gloves off as she finished up her workout. Her breathing was still labored when she handed the gloves to Chris. She turned to walk back up the stairs to take a shower, but his hand on her shoulder stopped her progress.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
Knowing that she’d only get herself worked up and need more time working her energy off if she talked about it, she shook her head.
“Okay, Billie. I’m not going to push. I’m here if you need me, though.”
“Thanks. I need to get back to work.”
Chris didn’t delay her any longer.
She headed upstairs and took a quick shower before finding herself back in the office. She called Nancy, the woman in charge of HR. Their conversation lasted about half an hour, Billie taking her normal methodical approach and covering everything she could think of, before Nancy insisted on bringing Bob into the conversation. Billie hated that they had to do it, but his reputation was on the line as well.
They covered the review that she hadn’t yet given. Everyone agreed it was a fair assessment as it had related to his performance. The problem was what she’d found out that day. The question now was: what should they do? Could they do anything?
Deep down, Billie wanted him gone, but she never liked letting someone go. The problem was that things weren’t just starting to get out of control, they were already there. She felt like she’d failed Bob and wouldn’t have been surprised if he decided to ax her as well.
The situation was egregious enough that they could take decisive action immediately. Matt was called into the conference room and once he understood what was going on, things went from bad to worse.
“You can’t do this to me! I’ve got proof!”
Billie had insisted on being on Skype; she didn’t want to be some anonymous voice over the phone. She did her best to hide her growing anger. She knew rolling her eyes wouldn’t be advisable.
“What proof could you possibly have?”
“I filmed you.”
“You filmed me? Why do you think it was me?”
“I don’t think it was you, I know it was you. I followed you from your house. It’s all recorded. It’s all there.”
“My house? You were at my house? When?”
“Saturday.”
“As in five days ago Saturday?”
“Yes. Five days ago.”
“I think I-” Billie had to stop Nancy. She’d had it with Matt and wanted him to dig his own grave.
“No, Nancy, I think we should let Matt have his say. So, you followed me from my house…?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, let me make sure I’m perfectly clear. Five days ago, you sat outside my house, waiting for me to leave…”
“You do this every Saturday.”
“Every Saturday?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know this?”
“I told you, I followed you.”
“And you say you recorded me.”
“Yes.”
“Every time?”
“No, just this past Saturday.”
“When did you start following me?”
“When you stopped coming to the office. I knew you were slacking off work. I needed proof if I was going to go to Bob.”
“You followed me from my house?”
“It doesn’t matter how many times you ask that question, the answer is yes.”
“You saw me leave my house?”
“Yes!”
“You filmed it. Nancy, isn’t he going to need to give it to you, as proof?”
“You want me to actually show Nancy? What are you, an exhibitionist?”
“Whether I am or not is none of your concern. I’m interested to see your… evidence.”
“You know what it’s going to show.”
“No, actually I don’t. It’s not me, whoever it is that you have on that recording is not me.”
“Prove it.”
“Prove that the person you have on the recording is not me. Is there a timestamp on the recording?”
“Of course.”
“Do me a favor, show it to Nancy.”
Matt dug his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the video. He handed the phone to Nancy.
“Yep, timestamp gives 7:42 last Saturday night.”
“Can you see my face?”
“No, it’s just the back of some woman’s head.”
“You know it’s you. Stop denying it. I saw you!”
“Okay. All I have to do is leave this office where I’m working and head out to the gym. There are at least two men out there who can vouch for my whereabouts last Saturday. Do you care to change your story?”
“Two men? I can’t believe you’re admitting-”
“Matt, you misunderstand me. They can place me here, where I currently am, as early as, I think 8 in the morning, certainly no later than 9, and as late as 1 the following morning. So, I’ll repeat myself: do you care to change your story?”
“I don’t see how that makes any difference. Were they with you the whole time?”
“No, they weren’t.”
“Well see, there you go.”
“Matt, I’m not in Los Angeles. I’m in Louisville. Kentucky.”
She was greeted with silence. Matt didn’t say anything. His eyes, getting bigger and bigger, gave away his growing panic.
“So, Matt, do you care to change your story.”
“It may not have been this last weekend, but you’ve been screwing the boss.”
“Matt, I haven’t been. You were adamant that you’ve been following me since I haven’t been in the office. I haven’t been there because I’ve been in Louisville the whole time, and that means that it is absolutely impossible for you to have followed me. You’ve been claiming I’ve been trading sexual favors for a job, and you’ve been including clients in on your speculations, which means you’ve been harming the reputation of the company. You have another problem, Matt. You haven’t been doing your own job. I had to clean up your mess earlier today. You haven’t been listening to your clients and you’ve been late. We talked about this last month and you assured me you were on top of things. You haven’t been. Your reports have been late and your deliveries have been late, and you’ve been feeding gossip and lies to them. You have given us no choice, we have to let you go. We’ll say we are restructuring and your job is being eliminated effective immediately. We’ll pay you through the end of this month. Per company policy, with your years of service we’re giving you three months of severance and I’ve asked Nancy to increase it to a total of six.”
“You can’t do this to me! You have my job! I’m going to Robert-”
Nancy spoke up. She had wanted to speak for some time.
“Go ahead and go to Robert. He is well aware of what is going on and about what you’ve been saying about him. I’m sure that he’ll appreciate that you’re saying that he’s sleeping with an employee and that you filmed him having sex.”
It only escalated from there. Matt called Billie every foul name he could think of and Bob, who’d been listening in on speakerphone the whole time, finally spoke up.
“Matt, you have maligned my character. You have hurt the reputation of my company. Billie has been putting up with a tremendous amount from you and, given the display you’ve put on here, I am revoking your resignation and firing you for poor work performance, misconduct, and insubordination. Your exit package is now gone. Billie was more than generous and you don’t deserve her generosity. You’re out, Matt. Nancy, please have security escort him from the building.”
“But what about my things?”
“Your things will be boxed and shipped to you. I’ll see to it.” No one missed the smile on Nancy’s face.
“I’m going to sue you.”
Bob had clearly had enough.
“Try it, see how far you get.
“You won’t get away with this! Billie, you think it’s bad now, just you wait. I’m not done with you yet, not by a long shot!”
It only got worse after that, with Matt shouting his accusations as he was escorted out by building security. Bob wanted to have a heart to heart with Billie, but she knew she had to do damage control. As they’d been putting together all the paperwork for Matt’s leaving, Billie had been working on how to divvy up his workload.
“Nancy, would you do me a favor and go gather the troops? I’d like to talk to them, let them know about this and that we’ll need to pull together for a little while until things have smoothed out and I have his replacement.
Billie’s team was gathered together and, without divulging the specifics, she explained what was going on, including quashing the rumors that were swirling about how she’d earned her job. She finally let the team know where she was and how long she’d been there and, from what Nancy told her later, the rumors stopped. At least that was done.
Everyone on the team offered to help, and that put a smile on her face. Her plan was passed out to everyone so there would be no cause for grumbling. She gave her reasoning for all assignments and asked if there were any other suggestions. She was happy to hear one person offer to switch clients with another, given some prior relationships of which she’d been unaware. She had everyone begin contacting their new clients and the transition was underway. At least that was done.
Bob and Billie finally had their chat. He was a real sweetheart, offering Billie a couple of days to collect herself.
“You know what Bob, I don’t have the luxury of time. I’m going to need to get back on the phone with those clients and let them know that I’m going to oversee their accounts. Don’t worry, I won’t be the only one working with them, but I want to give them a little extra attention for the next few weeks.”
While they continued talking, Billie headed upstairs and grabbed some cold coffee, needing something familiar, some activity that she could do without thinking. They continued strategizing about how to ensure that Matt wouldn’t be able to harm the company. Bob was also concerned about Billie’s reputation, but she set him straight.
“Look, Bob, I appreciate it, but people are going to believe what they want to believe, especially about a woman. Does it suck? Yeah. But my work should speak for itself. I just don’t want Matt to harm the company or your marriage.”
“Well, my wife knows exactly where I was last Saturday since I was with her all day, so it shouldn’t be an issue. In fact, she knows where you are, so if somehow those rumors got back to her, she’d know they weren’t true.”
“If I were you, I’d tell her about it. With as mad as he was, I wouldn’t put it past him to try to stir something up.”
“Well, if he did get me last Saturday, he got me with my wife and she will not be pleased with that. I think you’re right, though. I think I need to let Marla know.”
“I hate that this is happening.”
“You don’t need to worry about me, Billie. I just don’t want to lose you over this.”
“You won’t.” She wasn’t sure if she was lying to him or to herself.
They talked a little while longer, and they reassured each other that everything would be alright. With dinner in the oven, Billie headed back to the office. She had phone calls and more phone calls to make.
It was a couple of hours later when she emerged looking like something had run her over. It was how she felt, too. She was drained and didn’t want to head upstairs yet. She didn’t want to be alone. She hoped Henry was in the gym and that she could convince him to take her out, distract her.
He wasn’t there.
Billie texted him, asked him if he had some time. She heard back from him that he was out with friends. At first, she was disappointed. She’d hoped that he would make her forget, take her mind off things. She knew she had absolutely no right to be jealous and she wasn’t, not really. She was only looking for a distraction. She texted him back to have fun.
Chris saw the look on her face when she turned to head in the direction of her office (it had changed from Dave’s to hers after his vision of their future together). He waited a few minutes and when he didn’t see the light, he knew she’d gone upstairs. He had a quick look around and locked the doors before heading up to have a chat. Before he made it to the top of the stairs, though, Cece called. He didn’t want to delay talking to Billie, but he realized he might be able to finally set a date so he could break things off with Cece.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Chris. How have you been?”
“Good. What’s up, Cece?”
“I was wondering if maybe we could spend some time together tomorrow night. You know, we haven’t gone out in a while.”
“Cece, you pretty much have all my money right now. I can’t do Friday. How about you come over Saturday? You can watch the fight with me.”
“Chris, you know how my father is…”
“Yeah, you’ve told me, but we won’t be alone. There’ll be someone else here, and you know you can trust me. Besides, I think we need to talk.”
“I know I can trust you, Chris. But my father has this thing planned and I have to go. You can’t do Friday?”
“Nope. You can’t even come over for a little while Saturday? We need to talk.”
“I’m sorry, Chris. Forgive me?”
“Of course. I need to get going. We’ll talk soon.”
“I love you.”
“We’ll talk later, Cece. Bye.”
Chris felt like a heel. He knew he was leading Cece on and he hated it. Sure, she’d told him before that she loved him, but he’d always assumed it was what she thought he wanted to hear. Today, he heard it in her voice: she meant it. He had to break it off with her the next time they saw each other.
He shook it off as he continued to the kitchen.
“Hey, Billie, is everything okay?”
“Mmhmm.”
“That doesn’t sound very convincing. What’s wrong?”
“I just wonder why I bother.” She was talking more to herself than to Chris. He had to strain a bit to hear her.
“Is this about Dave?”
“No.” Her sigh was drawn out. Chris almost spoke up when she continued. “I just, I don’t get it.”
“What don’t you get?”
She peered over her shoulder at him before turning back to the vegetables in front of her. She set the knife down and leaned against the counter.
“Why are men such assholes?”
“Well, I can’t speak for-”
Billie spun quickly, interrupting him.
“No, no, you’re not even close to being an asshole.”
“I don’t know that I’d agree with that.”
“Trust me on that.”
“Well, I’m not always happy with who I am or what I do.”
“Is anyone ever? No.” She turned back and picked up the knife, resuming the chopping. “I’d really like to, well, to forget about today.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah I am. I had to fire someone today and he said some really awful things and I, well, it’s just really disturbing.”
“Okay, so, I’m not trying to defend him, but, he did just lose his job.”
“Oh, I get that. I do.” Billie got quieter as she continued. “It wasn’t easy, though. I’ve had to let people go before, but this, well, I don’t want to go into it, but he was a real jerk.”
“Okay, no more talk about this.” Chris reached out, stroking her head, and was pleased when he saw her shoulders drop a few inches. “We’ll have dinner and then watch a movie.”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe a comedy would help.”
“Maybe.”
“Besides, you know you want more of my popcorn.”
“Fine, twist my arm.” He heard a smile in her answer.
“Perfect. Let me go lock up and shower. You don’t need some smelly guy sitting across from you at dinner.”
“That would, in fact, ruin my appetite. Thank you.”
She heard him head down and a few minutes later, run up the stairs. Billie was putting the vegetables in the steamer and taking the plates out of the cupboard when she heard Chris in the doorway.
“Ah, perfect timing. Would you mind setting the table?”
She turned to hand him the china and silverware and froze.
It wasn’t Chris. It was a man, broad in the shoulders and tall, in a ski mask. And he had a knife.
He hesitated before he took a couple steps into the kitchen and Billie’s instincts kicked in. She tossed everything in her hands his way, the clattering silver and breaking dishes creating a din that traveled throughout the building. She screamed. She wound up and kicked him in the side and she was satisfied to hear his “oof” and a groan, but he had quick reflexes and grabbed her foot, knocking her off balance. She was able to grab the kitchen table to keep from falling over and her scream took on a life of its own as they heard Chris running down the hall upstairs.
He shoved her foot, sending her sailing across the room as he scrambled for the stairs, making a racket as he descended, intent on getting the hell out of there. Chris showed up in the doorway a few seconds later.
“What the fuck!”
“Go, he’s getting away!”
“Are you okay?”
Billie frantically gestured to the stairs.
“Go!”
By the time he got to the bottom of the stairs, the guy was out the front door. He heard tires screeching and a car door and knew he’d never catch him in time. Chris turned to head back upstairs when a distinct odor caught his attention. He whipped around.
“Fire!”
Chris ran to the source of the blaze on the other side of the ring to see how bad it was. It hadn’t really caught yet, so Chris turned to grab the extinguisher that should have been on the wall.
“Damn it! Billie! I need an extinguisher!”
Chris watched the flames grow higher as he waited for Billie to show. It was less than a minute, but it felt like it took forever.
Whoever it was had taken a bunch of the towels and piled then next to the ring and lit them. Chris ran to the locker room and grabbed the bin of used towels next to the door and ran back, hoping to smother and contain the fire. He got there right as Billie came flying down the stairs with the extinguisher from the kitchen. The odor from the towels only registered as he tossed them onto the pile on the floor and he just had enough of a warning to stumble back when a pillar of fire erupted.
“Jesus! Billie, stay over there!” He ran around the ring and grabbed the extinguisher from her. It didn’t take long for him to extinguish the fire.
When it was finally out, Billie approached Chris, her touch gentle on his forearm.
“Are you okay? Did you get burned?”
“I’m fine, did he hurt you?”
“He bruised my ego. Probably my butt, too. We should call the cops.”
“Before we do that, we need to call Dave.”
“No, we don’t.”
“Billie, he gave me strict instructions.”
“Well, he can’t know about what happened upstairs.”
“I have to tell him, Billie.”
“No, you don’t.”
“He won’t ever trust me if I don’t. He needs to know.”
“This is going to sidetrack him.”
“Today and tomorrow are light days. All they’re doing is keeping Michael warmed up and limber. Dave is as strong as they come. Of course he can deal with this.”
Dave was not a happy man.
They recounted everything. How the man had simply shown up, how Billie defended herself it was the racket from those plates being thrown that caught my attention so quickly, and how the man had gotten away. There was speculation that there were two people, because who would set the fire and then willingly go farther in, and the car took off entirely too quickly, and he wouldn’t have had time to rip the extinguisher off the wall and you know that’s part of my lock up routine Dave, I check on it, make sure it’s there and it was, but not when I tried to put out the fire.
He wouldn’t let them call the cops – they’ll bring in the firefighters or investigator or whoever and they’ll inspect the place and I’ll get cited for the lack of extinguishers even though they were there and that’ll be the reason they get into my building for an inspection and they’ll cite me for bogus shit and I’m done.
“Dave, do you think this is tied to Frankie?” Chris had been thinking about it ever since he found out about the problems Dave had been having. He’d wondered if the man at the center of his problems, the one who had denied his points when he went up in weight class, might have been the one gunning for Dave.
“Who’s Frankie?”
Chris whispered as Dave answered.
“Francis McDonald, Frankie.”
“It might be, but I cannot imagine that he’d risk hurting Billie.”
“I don’t know the guy, why would he care about me?”
“He knows you, and you know his son.”
“Wait, he’s Damian’s father?”
“Yes.”
She turned to Chris.
“That would be a better explanation as to why he came by than what he gave me.”
“Wait, when did Damian come by?”
“It was before you left.” Billie gave Chris the evil eye for telling Dave.
“Why am I just now hearing about this?”
“Because you neglected to tell me about the connection between Damian and the man I’m guessing you suspect of all these shenanigans.”
“Let’s not get into that now. How about you tell me what happened?”
“How about instead of that you go back to concentrating on Michael and when you get back, we’ll both come clean. You’ve already decided we’re not gonna call the cops, and I think you’re right. All we’ll be doing right now is being a distraction before Michael’s fight.
“Okay. Oh, and Chris?”
“Yeah?”
“I hate to do this, but I want you to close up until I’m back. Except for you, and, well, Henry, except for you two training, I don’t want anyone else in there until I get back. You can tell him what’s going on. If this is really what’s happening, if it’s Frankie, they might come after him so he needs to know.”
“Okay.”
Billie and Chris didn’t know what to expect next when they heard Dave sigh.
“I hate to say it, but I’ve got a feeling they were the ones who set fire to your building.”
“Fuck!”
Even 2,000 miles wouldn’t stop Dave.
“Hey! Language!”
“Uncle Dave, cut the man some slack. He’s the one who chased the intruder out of here, he’s the one who put out the fire. I think he’s allowed one expletive!”
Neither of them would have understood the smile on Dave’s face.
“Fine, whatever. Look, I want you two to be careful. I want you to call me if anything else happens. Chris, I’m counting on you to make sure my baby stays unharmed.”
Billie knew Dave was talking about his gym.
Chris knew Dave was talking about Billie. He also knew that if he didn’t get Dave off the phone, they’d be on it for hours, and that wouldn’t be good for Saturday.
“You can count on me. We’ll talk later.”
“Billie, I want you to be extra careful and listen to Chris. Will you do that for me?
Billie was glad he couldn’t see her eye-roll. She also knew how to get him off the phone.
“Of course, Dave. Whatever you want. Love you, we’ll talk soon. Bye.”
Billie lay her head on the kitchen table, closing her eyes, once Chris hung up the phone. Dots were starting to be connected, but there were still entirely too many holes.
“Hey, are you okay?” Chris stroked her head, finger-combing her hair.
She opened her eyes and glanced up at him, noting the concern etched on his face.
“I’m glad you were here. I don’t want to think about what could have happened if you weren’t.”
“Yeah, the place could have burned to the ground, with me in it.” He knew what she’d meant, but didn’t want to give voice to what could have been.
“I think… I think you and I need to skip the movie tonight and have a chat. You know some things, I know some things, Dave knows just about everything. I think we can piece most of this together. I can’t wait until Monday when he gets home.”
“Guarantee he’ll be home Sunday.”
“I hope so. Dinner, then we talk?”
“First thing’s first: I’ll deal with the fire if you deal with the broken dishes.”
“Good plan.”
Billie watched as Chris walked downstairs. It was only then that she felt the tremors start and her thoughts turned to what could have happened.
Heavyweight - Chapter 9
A/N - Yes, I know it has been a very long time since the last update for Heavyweight. Hopefully, that long of a delay won’t happen again
Start at the beginning here.
Chapter 8
Billie awoke on Sunday with a smile on her face. She stretched and then hugged her pillow. When she checked her phone, she saw that it was a little before 8, which was late in the Chapman household. She knew she’d hear about this from Dave, but she didn’t care; she’d had way too much fun last night. She wanted to give Bridge a call, like she did on most Sundays to catch up and find out what was going on at home, but knew she wouldn’t get her on the phone any time before noon pacific. Seven more hours, ugh!
She went over the previous night, closing her eyes as she remembered their first kiss. It hadn’t been anything to write home about, but it had been nice.
After that, though, was a whole different story. Every pass of his lips over hers, every swipe of his tongue caressing and exploring, every time his fingers traced her jaw or her throat, had caused tremors that she’d done her best to keep hidden. She very much would have loved to continue. Too bad they weren’t back in LA, who knows what would have happened.
Billie shut her eyes and let her mind wander as she daydreamed, wondering if he was as thorough and attentive in everything he did. She wouldn’t mind finding out.
To keep herself from pondering too much, and getting herself into trouble, she got up. She needed to distract herself from the activities of the previous night and she knew just how to do that. Once done with her shower and dressed for the day, she headed downstairs to grab a cup of coffee. She figured Dave and Michael would be down in the gym. She knew she needed to wait until they were done before having the conversation with Dave about what they needed to prepare for this next week, what they needed for when he was out of town. Billie wasn’t sure what to expect.
She ran into Chris coming out of the kitchen and heading downstairs. As in, she ran into him. She actually bounced off of him.
“I’m so sorry about that, I didn’t see you.”
“No, not your fault, Chris. I wasn’t looking where I was going. Then again, you are pretty much a brick wall on legs.” They each had a good laugh.
“You got in-”
“How’s Michael-”
Chris stopped almost as soon as he’d started asking his question.
“No, please, ladies first.”
“Okay. How’s Michael looking for Saturday?”
“He’s looking really good. Dave has him working on his footwork during his combinations today. He doesn’t want him throwing punches until the fight on Saturday. That’s why he wants me down there, help out. I get to be the demo model today.”
“Ooo, fun for you. If I remember correctly, that means Dave will be using you as his punching bag, right?”
“Yeah. The way I see it, I help Michael now, Henry helps me before my fight, Michael will help Henry before his. It’s something Dave likes to do.”
“Don’t let me keep you.”
As Chris headed downstairs, Billie grabbed a cup of coffee and decided to plan for her day. She had a boatload of paperwork to finish. She was reviewing a few of her staff and needed to get everything submitted to HR for approval before going over her assessments with her team the coming week. It was much easier to get the paperwork done when she didn’t have to conduct staff and portfolio meetings and hold client conference calls like she did during the week.
><
After working on the paperwork for several hours, the harsh overhead lights having taken a bit of a psychological toll on her, Billie finally stretched and looked up to see a gym occupied by only five men. Her movement caught the attention of three of them: Dave, Chris, and Henry. She was surprised to see Henry. He hadn’t mentioned that he’d be by today. She caught him smiling at her and she returned the smile. She couldn’t help herself. She tried to hide it, failed miserably, and looked away.
Needing a break anyway, and in some desperate need of coffee, Billie headed upstairs. She checked on supplies and got the chicken out to thaw. She couldn’t wait for Dave and Michael to leave on Wednesday. She figured she’d go nuts, have an all carb day – ooo, maybe the day of the fight. She could do homemade chips and a cheese and artichoke dip. Or, oh, or she could do nachos, or quesadillas. Billie started laughing, realizing that she was going to have to work out twice as hard both before and after just so she could eat what she wanted on Saturday. She figured she’d be alone, sure that Chris would be out with his girlfriend or maybe she’d meet the elusive woman since Dave wouldn’t be home. Maybe Chris would bring her by. Maybe she’d get some ice cream. And brownies. Maybe she could convince Henry to come over and watch the fight. She got sidetracked by thoughts of brownies as she headed back downstairs.
When she got back into the office, coffee in hand, Henry surprised her when he closed the door behind her.
“Henry, geez you scared me.”
He loved that he’d caused her to jump. She was always so in control of herself. He wanted her to lose control. To him. He turned out the overhead light.
“Come here.” He took her hand and led them to the couch. The moment they touched he was on sensory overload, with flashes of the previous night playing over in his brain. He took full advantage of the fact that she was wearing leggings and had her sit atop his legs, her knees on either side of his hips.
“Henry, what are you doing?”
He reached up, pulling the tie out of her hair so he could run his fingers through her soft, silky strands unimpeded.
“I can’t wait until Friday.”
“But Henry…”
“I thought I could control myself. I had every intention. I was able to. I saw you in here, working away and sure, you were a small distraction, but I was in control. But when you stretched, and looked up, and then you smiled at me… You can’t do that, smile at me, and expect to get away with it.” Her almost silent laugh was his undoing.
He sat up the last few inches needed so he could taste the sweetness of her lips. He knew he was in real trouble when this kiss was better than all of those from the previous night.
He sat back on the couch and brought Billie with him. She’d been able to resist until she felt his soft lips brush against hers. She found she had no desire to resist him as she sighed and settled against him.
Henry knew they could get away with this for only so long before Dave would come walking in, ostensibly looking for him, but in reality looking to break anything up that was going on. He was going to take what he could get, for now, and be prepared for Dave. As much as he wanted his hands farther south than her waist and her body flush against his, or better yet, he could be undressing her, or, oh yeah even better, they could just both be naked right now and… He wouldn’t tempt fate.
After a few minutes, when they both came up for air, Billie rested her forehead on his shoulder.
“You should probably get back out there.”
“I’d rather stay in here with you.”
“You know we’d get into trouble, eventually. Someone will need in here and they’ll walk right in.”
“We could always lock the door.”
“There is no lock.”
“Well, then you’re safe for a little while longer.”
Billie sat up and eyed him.
“Are you telling me I’m not safe with you?”
“I promise, Billie, I’m only as dangerous as you want me to be.”
“Are you telling me Mr. three-piece suit-wearing, I’ve got a family car man can be dangerous?”
Billie found herself mirroring Henry’s slow-to-emerge smile. His, though, was full of secrets. And dimples.
“I guess you’ll just have to stick around to find out, won’t you?”
“I guess so.” She gave him a quick kiss before getting up. “You should probably get back out there.”
“Where do you want to go Friday?”
“How about anyplace as long as I can wear jeans?”
“I know the perfect spot.” He held his hands out and when she helped him up, he backed her to the door and kissed her, one last time, before leaving to rejoin the men.
Billie hoped for at least a few minutes to recompose herself. The office, as silent as a tomb, allowed her the opportunity to eavesdrop. It appeared that they’d stopped just in time as Henry ran into Dave in the hall.
“Where have you been?” Dave did not sound pleased. Billie wondered how Henry was going to handle this.
“Taking care of something.”
“Something or someone?”
“Dave, she’s a grown woman. If she wants to spend time with me, that’s up to her.”
“Henry, I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“Neither do I.”
Billie wished she could see this interaction, not just hear it.
“Let me rephrase that. I don’t want you to hurt her.”
“I have no intention of hurting her.”
Billie didn’t hear anything. She wondered if they’d headed back out to the ring and then she heard Dave.
“Tommy needs you. Get your gloves on. He wants you and Chris to show Michael some things.”
With no response, Billie wasn’t sure what was going on until the door to the office opened. She slowly exhaled her relief that she’d had the presence of mind to be on her laptop. The tension came back, though, when she heard the door close.
“Billie, I need to talk to you. Do you have time?”
“Sure, Dave. What’s up?”
“It’s about you and Henry.”
“What about us?”
“I don’t think you seeing him is a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want you to get hurt.”
The chair creaked as she swiveled to get a read on him.
“Do you think he wants to hurt me?”
“Well, not intentionally.”
“Do you think I don’t know the kind of man he is?”
“What kind of man do you think he is?”
“He’s the kind of man who is out on a date with one woman and another woman hands him her phone number, and he keeps it. Yes, he did end up giving it back later, but he initially kept it. I was surprised he gave it back. Hell, I almost asked him for her number, she was a stunning woman.” She saw the look on Dave’s face. “No, Dave, there’s no hidden meaning in that.”
“You know that wouldn’t bother me, right?”
“I know. You are very accepting of everyone. It’s one of the things I admire most about you.”
She saw the quick uptick of his eyebrows and knew she’d surprised him. Good.
“Anyway, back to Henry. He’s also the kind of man who doesn’t like it when I ‘make a date’ with another man in front of him.”
“I taught you better than that, young lady.”
“Dave, do you remember Damian McDonald?”
They both knew it was a rhetorical question, and Dave confirmed it with his ramrod straight back and narrowed eyes.
“That was who stopped us in the restaurant, picked me up and hugged me and told me he’d stop by this week and we’d go to lunch. I can’t imagine that will actually happen. Can you?”
“You agreed to that?”
“We were in public and I really didn’t want to cause a scene.”
“Do you think he’ll show up?”
“No. I can’t imagine he’d do that. Can you?”
“That would surprise me.”
“Exactly, which is why I agreed to it. Anyway, Henry was not pleased. I straightened him out about Damian. I know who Henry is. I know what he’s about. I don’t plan on falling for the man. I will admit, though, it’s nice to be on the arm of a man, especially one like him. He’s pretty smart, he is easy on the eyes, and he knows how to kiss.”
“Billie! I did not need to know that last part.”
“Dave, what you need to know is that I know how to take care of myself and I enjoy his company. Please, I’ve seen men with a far smoother game than he has. LA is filled with them.”
“It’s one of the things that has me concerned about you out there, on your own. I know you’re an adult, Doll, but I want to see you happy, in love, with a man who is worthy of you. Henry isn’t that man.”
“Dave-”
“You don’t think Henry’s going to change his ways for you, do you?”
“It was one date. We do have another one this Friday, but that’ll make two. As in two dates. I’m not naming our kids, I’m not looking for a ring. I’m not even looking for exclusivity. You know what it is? It’s nice to have a man want to spend time with me, as a woman, not a colleague or employee or boss. And I know you don’t want to hear it, but it’s nice to have a man want to kiss me. It’s been a long time, Dave.”
“But you only just broke up with Ben.”
“Things weren’t good with Ben for a while. It’s just, Dave, it’s nice not to be an obligation, to be wanted, even if it is temporary.”
“Oh, Doll.”
“Don’t, Dave. Just don’t.”
He couldn’t help it. He heard the pain and had to hug her.
“Doll, you know, right? You know you’ll find the right man, don’t you?”
“I hope so, Dave. But for now, can you do me a favor and trust me? Trust my judgment?”
“Is that what you need?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll back off. But if Henry hurts you, say the word. I’ll kick his ass.”
“Dave!”
“What?”
“Language!”
They had a good laugh. She knew he needed to get back out to Michael, but now was as good a time as any. His departure on Wednesday was looming large in her mind.
“Dave. Something for us to think about.”
“Yeah?”
“You leave Wednesday morning and get back sometime on Sunday, right?”
“Yeah.”
“That would be prime time for someone to try something, here at the gym. What should we do?”
“Do you have any ideas?” He knew she did. She always had them.
“Well, do you have anyone you trust?”
“Yes.”
“Could we enlist their help? Maybe have them stay here while you’re gone? Have another set of eyes?”
“He’s already staying here.”
It took her a second.
“Chris? You trust Chris that much?”
“Implicitly. You and Tommy are the only people I trust more. It was actually part of the reason I wanted him here early.”
“Have you already told him what’s going on?”
“No. I was thinking about tonight, after dinner. Michael has to start going to bed very early so we shouldn’t be interrupted.
“Let’s do it.”
><
By Tuesday morning, a solid plan had been formulated and was in place.
Chris had been visibly upset when he heard about the troubles that Dave had been having. What had him perturbed was this was the first he was hearing of it; he thought their friendship went deeper than that and that Dave trusted him. Once he let that go, at least, pretending to have let it go, he was asking all sorts of questions, wanting to understand what they were doing. In the back of his mind, though, he was trying to get over the fact that Dave hadn’t brought him in, especially with what had been going on with his bouts.
It suddenly made sense why Billie was in town. He had a newfound respect for her. It was clear that Dave wanted her out of town, out of harm’s way but she’d stuck around, forced him to use her help.
On Monday, as people came in, Dave let them know that Chris was in charge of the facility, starting immediately and while he and Tommy were out of town. It didn’t surprise anyone, given how close the two of them were, and also with how much he’d already been helping out.
Chris taking over before they left gave Dave, Tommy, and Michael time to head upstairs and go over the last of the recordings. They were verifying strategy and wanted to make sure that Michael knew exactly what he was going to need to do to win his match. He was downstairs minding the place when he walked in.
They didn’t normally get people who walked in off the street. It was friends of friends who came in or people who had been in before but dropped out when they got busy and when life got tough, they’d show back up again. Either that, or someone would meet Dave somewhere, typically when he was out running errands, and sometimes they’d give him a hard time. Dave would, as was his way, talk them down and then suggest that maybe they needed to harness their anger and use it productively. Chris was pretty sure that was how at least a third of the men who were in the gym on any given day had come to know Dave. It was why everyone went to him for advice: they trusted him.
So, when a man, clearly out of place in the neighborhood-everything about his appearance screaming money, from his Gucci sunglasses to his Gucci loafers (apparently he preferred Gucci)-waltzed in like he owned the place, people took notice, including Chris.
“May I help you with something?”
“I’m here for Billie.” The man’s dismissive tone immediately rubbed Chris the wrong way.
“Is she expecting you?”
“I told her I’d drop by, take her to lunch. Could you go fetch her?”
He didn’t make it obvious, but Chris stood up to his full height, squaring his shoulders. One didn’t fetch Billie.
“And you are…?”
“Just go get her.”
“I’ll check to see if she’s available.”
“Yeah, you do that.”
When Chris found Billie coming down the stairs, he ushered her into the office.
“No.” She’d moved to turn on the overhead light but Chris didn’t want this man to see her. “There’s some guy out there asking for you. Did you make lunch plans to meet up with someone today?”
“No, I didn’t. Let me…” She peered around Chris, through the window, and was shocked. “What the hell is he doing here?”
“You know him?”
“I wish I didn’t. I didn’t think he was serious.”
“Do you want me to get rid of him?”
“If only you could. He’ll just keep coming back. I’m surprised he had the nerve to show his face.”
“If you don’t want him around I will absolutely get rid of him for you.”
“And just like a bad penny, he’ll keep showing up. Let me just get this over with. He won’t be coming around after today.” She glanced down, realized she was in a pair of jeans and sighed. “I really don’t want to go change. Do you think it would be okay for me to go to lunch with him looking like this?”
Chris couldn’t imagine why she thought she needed to change.
“Billie, you’re beautiful. He’ll be lucky to be seen with you.”
His proclamation caught her attention. She opened her mouth a few times, searching for the right response, all the while feeling trapped in place by his intense gaze.
“Um, thank you.”
His words, and the sincerity she heard, had her thinking about him in ways that were not proper, and in ways that Dave would not approve. If only he weren’t involved with someone.
“Look, if Dave comes down or looks for me, please, whatever you do, don’t tell him I’m out to lunch with this guy.”
“What’s his name?”
“Damian. McDonald.”
The hardening and flexing of his jaw muscles was obviously a sign of great restraint. As was the tone his voice had taken.
“How do you know him?”
“I went to high school with him. Why don’t you like him?”
“I never said I didn’t like him.”
Without thinking, she reached up and caressed his jaw, feeling the tension in his clenched muscles.
“You may not have said the words, but it’s plain as day that you don’t like him. Care to fill me in?”
Chris started to melt under her touch, her fingers warm and soothing. He was about to answer her.
“Don’t mind me. Oh, goodness, hope I’m not interrupting something tawdry or illicit, Billie.”
Damian had wandered back, looking for her since it was taking too long for her to come to him.
Billie felt Chris’s tension come back, and with a vengeance. She lowered her hand to his chest as a gentle prod to him, asking him to stay out of her fight. He wasn’t familiar with her history with Damian and wouldn’t know what this was all about.
“This is private back here, Damian. How about you go wait for me out in the gym. I’ll be right out.”
“I don’t think I like you alone with this meatball, not right before our date.”
Billie knew Damian was trying to get a rise out of Chris. Good thing Chris had he sense to know that. He didn’t respond.
“Our date? What date?”
“When I saw you on Saturday, out on a date with that other meathead, I asked you to lunch sometime this week and you agreed. I’m here to take you to lunch. That date.” He was obviously trying to cause problems for her. He was up to his old tricks.
“We don’t have a date, Damian. What we have is two acquaintances from long ago being civil and catching up. It is most definitely not a date.”
“I get it. You don’t see it as a date.”
“That’s because it isn’t one.”
“Whatever. Are you ready to go?”
“Why don’t you head outside. I’ll be out there in a few minutes. I need to tie up some loose ends before I go.”
Damian made a point of glaring at Chris before he left.
“I cannot believe he actually showed up. The nerve.”
“Then why are you going out with him?”
“Please, Chris, please don’t say anything to anyone. This is not a date. This was me keeping the peace in public a couple of nights ago, and me spending one hour with a person I loathe so he will leave me alone. No one needs to know anything.”
“I don’t’ trust that man.”
“Nothing’s going to happen. It’s just lunch.”
“I still don’t trust him. But I won’t say anything on one condition.”
“And that is?”
“Take my number. If you need it, don’t hesitate to call me. I can always come pick you up or come help you out, if you need it.”
“I’m sure I won’t.”
“Could you take it for my peace of mind? Please? I do not trust that man.”
He handed his phone to Billie, who called her phone after entering her information. She grabbed her purse and took a few breaths, shaking her head to right herself.
“Now I get to go be pleasant for an hour in the company of an asshole. I think when I get back I’ll be on my treadmill.”
Lunch was pleasant enough, as long as you didn’t count the food-some anglicized version of Mexican food that was barely edible- or the company.
Damian talked about himself most of the time: where he’d gone to college and how he’d almost gone pro. Billie knew that was a crock, but she wasn’t going to call him on it. He talked about how he’d worked his way up in his father’s business but wouldn’t tell her what it was. Curious.
It wasn’t until he was paying the check-No, Billie, I asked you out, my treat- that he asked her what she did. She talked about school and finding her passion and her quick rise at the companies where she’d worked. He was suitably impressed by her accomplishments, but he didn’t really get what she did. She decided not to prolong the conversation and try to get him to see it. She just wanted to get home.
When they got back to the gym, she was surprised by Damian’s question.
“See, I can be a decent guy. So, what to you say?”
“What do I say about what?”
“I’m hoping to convince you to go out on a real date with me.”
“No. That won’t happen.”
“Why not?”
“Damian, while I might have forgiven you for what you tried to do to me back in high school, I have absolutely not forgotten. I won’t go out on a date with you. You can stop trying.”
“You don’t have to be such a bitch about it.”
Billie thought for about two seconds before responding. She could either engage or-
“If that’s how you see me, then that’s how you see me, and it’s probably better that we don’t even try to take this any further, don’t you think? I’m going to go now.”
“No, you’re not.”
He reached out and stopped her from getting out of the car, holding her arm, as he locked the doors. When she tried to get away from him and get out of the car, his grip tightened, painfully.
“Let go of me, Damian.”
When he didn’t release her, Billie realized she couldn’t get away from him on her own and pulled her phone out of her pocket, held it low so Damian wouldn’t see what she was doing, and dialed Chris. She tried to wrap her head around what Damian was doing. She hoped Chris would help. He said he’d come help and she hoped he’d meant it. She turned down the volume on the phone, hoping that Damian wouldn’t hear when Chris picked up. Relief swept over her when Billie saw that the call connected. She hoped he could hear what was going on. She knew she needed him.
“Billie, why won’t you go out with me?”
“I just told you. And if I had been thinking that maybe I would, you laying your hands on me has convinced me I was right. Take your hand off my arm.”
She tried to wrench herself free, but he was too strong for her.
“I just really want you to give me a shot.”
“I don’t understand. What do you mean, give you a shot? A shot of what?”
“To get to know me, maybe, I don’t know, fall in love with me.”
She stopped her struggles, focusing on Damian’s face. He had to be kidding.
“Fall in lo- what the hell is going on, Damian?”
“Billie, I’ve loved you since high school.”
Billie felt a wave of nausea at his utterance and backed away as much as she could. He still had hold of her arm.
“That’s a crock.”
“No. No it’s not.”
“You sure had a funny way of showing it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Trying to get me kicked out.”
“What are you talking about?”
Billie wondered: could he really have forgotten what he did to her?
“I know you were the one who tried to get me kicked out of school. Telling them I cheated.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Yeah, and next you’ll tell me you didn’t spread rumors about me, either.”
Damian just about screamed ‘I’m guilty!’ with his downcast eyes, lips pulled in, and the flush that came over his face. He’d been caught and he knew it.
“Look, deny it all you want. We found out it was you. You can try to play innocent, but I’m not buying it. Now, let me out of your car before I start screaming.”
“No. I swear to you. This is the first I’m hearing that someone tried to get you expelled. I had nothing to do with that.”
Billie remembered just how smooth he’d been back in high school, telling tales and getting away with murder, or, what passed for murder in a teenager’s world.
“Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying. Let go of my arm and let me out of the car.”
A knock at the window startled both of them. She turned her head and was relieved to see Chris. He tried to open the door and found it was locked. He ducked lower and made eye contact with Damian, his intention unmistakable.
“We are not done with this conversation.”
Damian unlocked the door and Chris had the door open and was helping her out. He bent to her ear.
“Are you okay?”
“I need to get away from him.”
“Let’s go inside then.”
Billie turned to Damian. She knew she needed to keep her voice calm
“Look, Damian, I’m not interested in continuing this conversation. I would appreciate it if you would leave me alone.
“But I need-”
“I don’t. I don’t need anything from you. I don’t need an apology or an explanation or anything. Like I told you, I forgave you a long time ago, but I haven’t forgotten what you did. I simply ask that you respect my wishes and leave me alone.”
“I will be getting to the bottom of this, I don’t care what you say.”
“I am leaving now. I wish you the best. Just, please, forget me, move on, and leave me out of everything. Be happy.” She turned to Chris, who had stood by her. She linked arms with him and they walked back into the building. She didn’t turn to see what Damian was doing. She wanted to put that whole situation behind her.
“Are you gonna tell me what just happened?”
“Not while Dave’s in town. He doesn’t need to hear any of this and get sidetracked. Would you do me a huge favor and not tell him about this?”
“I don’t know, Billie. What I saw looked pretty serious.”
She pulled up, jerking Chris back when she dug her heels in and stopped.
“Would you want Dave to be sidetracked days before your fight, I think not. Nothing else is going to come of this. It’s over. No good can come of telling Dave right now.”
Chris could see how Billie’d coerced Dave to let her help him. He was pretty sure that only Mother Nature was stronger, and even then Billie would give her a run for her money.
“If that’s what you want, okay.”
She studied him for a moment before her expression softened and she nodded, heading back into the building.
As they walked in she saw that Henry was there. When he glanced at her, the high color on her face told him something was wrong. Billie tried waving him off but he wouldn’t be deterred.
“What’s up?”
“I am fine. There was just a situation that Chris helped me out with. I don’t want to talk about it at all, but especially while Dave is in town. So please- damn it, here he comes.”
She knew she had only moments before Dave came back into the gym. She spun and fixed them with her gaze, poking each of them in the chest as she made her point.
“Just, leave it alone, both of you. I’ll make your life hell if you don’t.”
Billie scurried away from the two of them, not giving them an opportunity to continue the conversation. She passed Dave in the hallway on her way to the office. He had Michael in tow. She glanced out the window and saw them approach Chris and Henry. Billie was glad to be out of there and welcomed the afternoon’s work as a distraction from what had just happened.
As she sat at the desk, trying to recall what her afternoon held, bits of her conversation with Damian flashed through her mind. She wondered why it was that he was trying to convince her that he had nothing to do with trying to get her expelled. They’d been given a copy of the note that had found its way to the headmaster’s office. There were details in it that only Damian had known.
Billie shook her head, trying to clear her mind, and decided that a change of scenery was needed. She gathered her things and headed upstairs to start dinner and finish her work for the day.
Chapter 10
Heavyweight - Chapter 7
A/N: I'm not going to apologize, because I need to stop saying I'm sorry for everything, but I do wish this chapter hadn't taken this long to write. I realized I could split this from the next part (about half written already) and so I did.
Start at the beginning here.
Chapter 6
The next morning Dave and Michael were eatingbreakfast while Chris was rinsing off his dishes and putting them in the dishwasher when Billie walked in. She hadn’t expected a third person and dismissed it as him being in early for whatever his workout entailed that day. She was glad she hadn’t delayed getting her shower and she made a mental note that with all the men who were downstairs, correction, all the good looking men downstairs, she needed to be ready for any of them to venture upstairs at any time.
“I’m assuming you want me with Tommy today. Do you know when Henry’s getting in?” Chris turned around and saw Billie standing in the doorway. He realized he was going to have to get used to seeing her all the time. That was something he could most definitely live with.
“Yeah, I’ll be spending my time with Mikey again.”
Billie caught the glances between the two men and realized Dave easily got under Michael’s skin using that nickname. She filed that away for future reference.
“Hank should be in around 10, and Tommy will be here in half an hour, so you got time to finish getting set up. I’ll tell him where you are when he gets in.”
“You know, Dave, Henry really doesn’t like it when you call him Hank. Just saying. See you down there.”
Billie was surprised to see Chris take the stairs up. Dave caught her confusion.
“He’s staying in the room across from yours now. We can talk about that later.”
Billie wanted to ask Dave a question. Several questions, in fact. But she set aside all those about Chris for now. She grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the table.
“Uncle Dave? I have a question for you.”
He knew that tone. Billie wanted something. He squinted his eyes shut, preparing for an onslaught.
“What.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking-”
Dave couldn’t help but mumble, “oh, great.” He just knew she’d come up with some brilliant scheme, but it was going to take either his time or his money, both of which were in short supply for the foreseeable future.
The problem was, Billie heard what he said. Dave, his eyes still shut, missed the look on her face. Michael didn’t, and neither did Chris, who’d come back down to ask a question. Billie recoiled and covered as quickly as she could, getting up from the table to dump her coffee out. Her stomach was suddenly in knots and she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it down.
“Never mind.” She headed back up to her room so quickly that Dave only heard ‘never’.
He opened his eyes and looked around for Billie. Not finding her, he was clearly in the dark.
“What just happened?”
Michael got up and headed downstairs. No way was he getting in the middle of their relationship.
Dave looked to Chris. While he was reluctant to get involved, something had just happened and Dave was clueless. Chris realized he was going to have to chance pissing Dave off if there was going to be any possibility of keeping him focused the week before Michael’s fight, and step in. The one thing he did know about Dave: just say what you need to, don’t pussy-foot around.
“Dave, I don’t know what the hell you two were talking about, but that look. I swear, if I didn’t know any better I’d think you’d slapped her across the face. What did you say to her?”
“I didn’t say anything to h- ah shit!”
In all the years Chris had known Dave, he’d never heard him swear. He was startled. He watched as he disappeared around the corner and sounding like he was taking the stairs two at a time. Chris needed to head back up to his room to finish unpacking and change, but he didn’t want Dave to think he was spying on them. He sat at the table and waited for Dave to come back down.
As soon as Dave shut the door, he started talking.
“I don’t care what you think I meant. You’re wrong.”
“How can you know I’m wrong if-”
“If I don’t know what you’re thinking? Simple. If you knew what I meant you wouldn’t be crying.”
“I’m not crying!”
He stared her down.
“I’m not!”
Dave reached down and wiped the tears from her face before sitting next to her on her bed. He put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him. He hated that he’d hurt her without even trying. He never wanted to hurt her.
“Doll, my ‘oh great’ was because of, well, every time you say that, ‘I’ve been thinking’, especially that way, you’ve had some brilliant idea that I have to do or pay for or whatever, but I have to do it; I have no choice because to ignore it would be almost blasphemous.” He nudged her chin, wanting her to look at him. She finally acquiesced. “Your idea that had me fix up the extra rooms so I’d be able to take in all the strays I’ve always talked about wanting to help? I mean, I would’ve done it eventually, but you got me there sooner. And it cost a hell of a lot less because you had some of the local kids come in to clean them up and paint them in exchange for lessons. You are an incredible woman with incredible ideas.”
“I always felt a little guilty about that.”
“What, about getting me to help others?”
“No. Never mind.”
“No. You won’t get off that easily. What were you feeling guilty about?”
“That you couldn’t help others until after I’d gone off to school. I knew you wanted to open up your place. I heard you talking with Tommy about it once and I could read between the lines. You couldn’t do that with a girl living here. I messed up your plans.”
“That’s not even close to reality, Doll.”
“But-”
“No. I have said it and that makes it the truth. The greatest gift anyone gave me was you, I’m just sorry it had to come at the expense of your Momma.”
He let that sink in before continuing.
“I am sorry if what I said could be taken any other way than ‘damn it woman, I just don’t have time for another of your brilliant ideas right now’. And I don’t have time, but I want to hear it so we can start planning for it to happen, whatever it is. Will you tell it to me now?”
She knew he was being earnest. Billie did her best to shake it off.
“Okay. So, Uncle Dave, I’ve been thinking about something and I have an idea.”
“Yeah, Doll, what is it?” He knew he couldn’t joke with her about how she always began these things. Not now.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about the first day I was here, and me coming in and then not wanting to go running in the neighborhood because I didn’t feel safe. And I thought, well, if I don’t feel safe, then I bet there are others who don’t. And I know how you open your doors to just about everyone if they need help, but that’s normally after something happens.” It was becoming hard for her to contain her excitement so she got up, pacing the room and turning to Dave periodically, trying, but failing, to read him. “What if you opened your doors before? You know, teach boxing to kids or have self-defense classes here or something like that. I bet someone at the Y would either come down or recommend someone to come in. I’d want to gear it towards kids, make them feel safer, here in their own neighborhood, and have their parents join in if they wanted, see what it is that we’re doing for them. Every kid should feel safe walking down the street they live on.” She knew the next part was critical, she had to make sure he knew she’d heard him about his time, or lack thereof. She turned to him and only when she’d caught his eye did she continue. “We can hold the classes at a time when you aren’t as busy, and when your place isn’t as busy. You can get your guys to participate, you know, be volunteers, have them give back to the community like you always tell them to. What do you think?”
Dave hung his head. He wanted to scream. She was entirely too perfect.
Thinking he didn’t like it, Billie started in with her second argument for her idea resuming her pacing. She couldn’t look at Dave anymore.
“Okay, but that’s not all. Whoever it is who’s trying to get you to sell, who’s now trying to force you out, well, if they try anything then, and if we have people from the neighborhood knowing you and knowing that you are looking out for them, for their kids, well, they’d get behind you if it came to that, wouldn’t they?”
“Tell me, Billie, do you have any other arguments for your idea?”
Her brow furrowed before she spoke. She needed to think of something that would convince him, but nothing was coming to mind.
“No. No, I didn’t think I’d need another. If you give me a few min – oh! Wait!” Dave was surprised to see how big her eyes got at whatever had just popped into her head. “Okay, um, future boxers. You get them young, get them used to you, used to your ways, you become their trainer and then whenever you are ready to sell or retire, you have a stable full of fantastic athletes and you can get someone fantastic in to turn the place over to, or to sell it on your terms. There, that’s a third one. Do you need a fourth, let me think-”
“No!” He reached out and grabbed her hand, halting her pacing. “No I don’t need a fourth. I didn’t need the second or third, either. Your first reason was good enough for me. I just don’t know when I’m going to have the time. I mean, it’ll have to be, I think, Saturdays. During the week wouldn’t make sense, and you know I want Sundays to be just my fighters in training. That, and I don’t want to intrude on any Sunday family activities that people have, you know, like church and all.”
“That makes complete sense. Okay, why don’t we check later this morning, close to lunch time? And if that time doesn’t work, we can check late afternoon, see if it would do.” She wanted him to know she’d heard him. “It doesn’t have to start next weekend, and you’re gonna be out of town anyway, but maybe after that? And if we get someone else to come in, then you don’t necessarily have to be all that involved up front, I mean, I could probably-”
“Billie, doll, we’ll make it happen when it makes sense.” At least he was considering it, but she still felt like she’d been dismissed.
Dave got up and opened her door, but hesitated before leaving her room.
“Billie, I need you to know something.”
“What’s that, Dave?”
“You are the smartest person I know. I know I’m not your father, and I don’t know how much this means to you, but I am so proud of you. You have done such an amazing job with your life. I am just very proud. I wanted you to know that.”
“Thanks, Dave. That means a lot. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get some stuff taken care of. I’ll see you downstairs.”
Billie turned so he couldn’t see her face if he glanced in her direction. She’d only been able to hold up the pretense for so long. She didn’t want him to see how much he’d hurt her. She wished he’d stop trying to remind her that he wasn’t her father when he knew what she wanted.
Billie knew she had some time before Dave would expect to see her downstairs. She sat and then lay on her bed as the tears started to fall. She was pretty sure he didn’t mean it, but he struck a nerve.
Having heard her door open, Chris was coming back upstairs when he encountered Dave.
“Chris, thanks for being honest with me.”
“Everything all right?”
“Yep, got it all worked out.”
“Cool. See you downstairs.”
Chris headed up to his room to get changed. He saw that Billie’s door was open and walked by, but what he heard made him double back. When he glanced in, what he saw surprised him.
He really didn’t like it when women cried. He couldn’t handle all that emotion and he normally headed in the opposite direction. In this case, though, he made an exception. He wanted to fix whatever the problem was.
He almost walked in and then realized he needed to knock first.
“Hey, Billie? Is everything okay?”
She hated being caught crying. She almost snapped at Chris. Almost.
“Yeah. I’m just being stupid. Don’t mind me.”
He took a few more tentative steps into the room. He didn’t believe her.
“Are you sure? I highly doubt you’re being stupid. I don’t think you know how. But seriously, you never know, I might be able to help.”
She sat up, wiping away the evidence of her vulnerability. “Unless you have an ability to get Dave to change his mind about stuff, I doubt it.”
“I’ve been known to do that, just so you know. No pressure. It’s okay, I can tell you’d rather me leave.”
He headed out the door and was getting ready to close it.
“Chris?”
He opened it back up, partway, but only enough to stick his head in. “Yeah?”
“Have you really, I mean, have you been able to get him to change his mind?”
He hated how small she sounded. All he wanted to do was put his arms around her and hold her, comfort her and keep all the bad things at bay.
“A couple of important times, yeah. Do you need help with something?”
“Let me think about it. I’ll let you know. Thanks for the offer, Chris. Please, don’t tell Dave anything about this. He thinks things are okay, and that’s fine. This is my thing, not his.”
“I kinda feel like you’re not being completely honest with me, but you don’t know me so I’ll let it slide. For now.” He closed the door to her room and left.
Billie took some extra time getting herself under control and then dressed for her workout. She thought about that exchange with Chris and she wondered how much he might actually be able to help. Would she be willing to talk to someone else about the problem she was having with Dave? If she was, it would have to wait until after December, after his fight. She wouldn’t do anything to upset their working relationship right before a career defining moment. That would just be stupid.
After she was dressed, she headed downstairs, worked out, and then headed to Dave’s office to read. She kept an eye on everything and tried to keep her mind on her book, but Chris living under the same roof had the potential to be problematic. Who’d be able to resist a handsome, kind, well-muscled and thoughtful man? She knew Dave would have her head, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy the show, right? And she watched that show. How he warmed up and moved about the building. She liked that he had a pattern, a circuit that he worked. She’d been paying attention most of the week, looking for the signs when he was ready to peel off a layer of clothing. It was never about the clock. It had to be something intrinsic to him. There was a particular flush to his face before his first layer came off. For the next layer, his ears turned bright pink. For his penultimate layer it was hard to see from where she was, but finally she’d been able to pinpoint that it was the beads of sweat at his hairline. And finally, it seemed to be some sort of combination of water consumed and number of towels used that she hadn’t quite cracked for that last layer when he’d get down to just his trunks. Billie really wanted to crack the secret of how he would get down to just his trunks. She felt a little guilty over how much she enjoyed watching him work out, and seeing him on the bags, both heavy and speed, watching his muscles flexing. By the end of his workout he was always completely covered in sweat, his body glistening. She’d decided that he had to be illegal in most states. There were even a couple of times this past week that she’d needed to talk to Tommy and naturally had to be there just as Chris finished his workout. That’s when she realized he was illegal, and she’d always had a thing for bad boys.
Even though she knew what the answer was going to be, she headed out a bit before lunchtime to check in with Dave about the activity he was seeing, and she was right.
“Pretty normal for about now, I think. I don’t know that it would be a good idea to try for something in the morning.” Dave made the proclamation before she was close to him. That got lots of people’s attention, including hers. Interpretation: get out. She read him loud and clear.
“Agreed. Let’s see what it’s like late afternoon.”
As she walked back to the office, doing what she could to shake off what was welling up inside, she heard footsteps behind her. She thought nothing of it until she was situated on the couch and heard a knock on the doorjamb. When she glanced up, she saw Henry in his trunks with a towel around his neck. Billie did what she could to keep her response to his body under control. She was pretty sure, however, that Henry was aware of the thoughts running through her head. He had that knowing look on his face.
“Is there something I can help you with, Henry?”
“What were you and Dave talking about out there?”
“Just a program I’m trying to get him to start up. I’m surprised he doesn’t have one already.”
“What kind of program?”
“Something for the kids in the neighborhood. You know, teach them some basic self-defense, make them feel like they can be in the neighborhood without having to worry if they’re safe or not.”
“Well, that’s ridiculous.”
“Excuse me?” Billie was in no way going to stand for someone else treating her the way Dave was.
Her outburst caused Henry to take a step back. He realized he needed to clue her in as to what he really had meant.
“It’s ridiculous that we don’t already do it. What, you thought I was calling your idea ridiculous?” Henry saw that he’d deflated a little bit of her fight. He was glad: he knew he’d never win against her.
“I’ve had better ideas called worse.”
“Yeah, right. Like what?”
“Never you mind. Not important.”
“Nope, you’re not getting out of it that easily. Tell you what, I’ll take you out to dinner and you can tell me all about your better ideas. And maybe I’ll let you think you’re talking me into volunteering to work with the kids.”
“Why wouldn’t you volunteer? There’s no way-”
“Not what I said, princess.” He saw her visibly bristle at that nickname. Good, he wanted to keep her off her game. “I said I’d let you think you were talking me into volunteering. You don’t have to talk me into volunteering. I’m already volunteering. I’d love to work with the local kids. I don’t know what I’d be doing today if someone hadn’t taken me under their wing when I was a punk.”
“Oh, sorry. I seem to be jumping to conclusions where you’re concerned.” She hated that she was doing that. She needed to make an effort to stop.
“How about you make it up to me by letting me take you out to dinner?”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.”
“You know, I see you here every day, Dave talks about you all the time, what you fixed for dinner, your conversations. He obviously loves having you around.”
“That’s nice to know.”
“But I wonder, you have to be bored being here all the time. Let me take you out to dinner. Maybe a movie? You know, get you out of here, away from all these boxers.”
“Aren’t you forgetting one thing?” She thought it was pretty obvious.
“What’s that?”
“You’re a boxer.”
“Yes, that’s true, but I do have other interests.”
“Didn’t Uncle Dave warn you off me?”
“What, he told you that?”
“No, it’s just the kinda thing he’d do.
“He may have said something, but you and me, we’re adults. If you’d rather not, that’s fine. I just thought you’d be up for some other company, that’s all.”
She thought about it. It would be nice to get out of the place. On the plus side, Billie realized, if she has to sit across from Henry to eat, then she has the perfect excuse to look at him. Once she realized that, she was sold. Henry was pretty sure he saw the moment she’d decided to say yes.
“Sure, why not? What time?”
“6:30?”
“6:30 it is. You’ll pick me up?”
“I will pick you up here at 6:30.”
“You like to live dangerously, don’t you?”
Billie could have sworn that time froze for a brief moment before speeding to catch up. She felt like one of those early Saturday morning cartoon characters, the ones with their hearts beating out of their chest. Henry’s grin was lethal.
“Here’s how dangerously I like to live. I will be in a suit and tie. I expect you to dress accordingly.”
“Yeah, very dangerous.”
“Now, I must be going if I’m going to finish up and get ready for our date. I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to show up in my trunks all sweaty.” A different grin on his face answered her laughter. She didn’t know if she’d survive another one of those.
“Who said I wouldn’t want to see that?” Billie said, mostly to herself.
His head whipped back around the doorjamb and he saw the flush spread over her cheeks as she continued to read the book, ignoring him. She hadn’t meant for him to hear. Billie wasn’t sure, but she could have sworn she saw a grin on his face. She was happy to hear Tommy calling him back to training.
Once he left and she was sure he was back out with the others, she gathered herself together and headed up to fix lunch.
To make it easier on Michael, who was going to have to be making weight in less than a week, everyone in the place but Chris would be following Dave’s fight menus until they left, assuming, of course, they ate at home. They were going to be heading out sometime on Wednesday so they had a limited amount of time on the most restrictive portion of the diet.
As Billie was fixing their lunch, she realized she was going to need to talk with Dave about how he wanted to cover the gym while he was gone. That would probably be a conversation for tomorrow.
The guys came upstairs close to half-past and grabbed their lunch, sitting down. When Chris sat, he saw he had something different than the other guys.
“Um, Billie? Did you fix this?”
“Yeah, something wrong?”
“You don’t have to fix me lunch. I can take care of myself.”
“Well, I happen to enjoy cooking. It’s not a problem.”
“But you’re fixing two different meals.”
“No, actually I’m not. You just have a couple extra things, help you build muscle right now. Trust me, in a few weeks, probably going to have to be right after Thanksgiving, a little early because of Thanksgiving, you’ll be on this part of the diet and you’ll barely tolerate me, just like Michael is now. See, the daggers I get from him?”
“Those aren’t daggers, beautiful. Those are cupid’s arrows. Come on, just tell me you’ll run away with me after I win my bout. Make me want to win.”
“Michael, you know we couldn’t outrun Uncle Dave, and he’d tear you limb from limb if you took me away from him.”
“No one would ever find your carcass.” That pronouncement from Dave caused eyes to dart around as shoulders began to shake, trying to control their laughter.
They ate in silence, each of them thinking of the remainder of their day. When Dave was done he started in on his rules for Chris.
“Chris, I have some simple rules you need to know about staying here.”
“Oh god, not the rules again. I don’t need to hear ‘em a third time.” Michael got up, rinsed off his dishes and left, heading upstairs for a nap before his afternoon workout.
“As I was saying. Rule 1: no member of the opposite sex in your room. Two, if you’re having company over and I don’t know them, I want to be introduced. I have a right to know who’s in my house. Third, I have a curfew. Weeknights, 11. Weekends, 1. And last, my den, my television, my remote if I’m in there.”
“Is it set up so I can hook up my laptop to it? You know, do my homework? Watch the fights?”
“I have no idea. Can you do that?” Dave turned to Billie who had finished and was cleaning up.
“Yeah, it’s set up, you can do that.”
“Can you show me tonight?”
“How about I show you tomorrow. Dave’ll probably be in there tonight.” She didn’t want to let anyone know about her date. Not that she was hiding it but, well, she was hiding it.
“Chris, did you catch the part about no women?”
“Yeah, not a problem.”
“What about Cece?”
“Still not a problem.”
“Who’s Cece, your sister?”
“She’s his girlfriend.”
With no eyes on her, Billie could eyeball Chris. She shouldn’t have been surprised he was seeing someone. Disappointed, yes. A little irritated that she’d mistaken his niceness for him wanting to spend time with her, yes. She was glad she’d decided to go out with Henry since Chris was seeing someone.
Chris didn’t miss her reaction, and he wished Dave hadn’t brought her up.
“She’s not really my girlfriend. She’s just someone I know, that’s all.”
“Does this mean I’ll be able to meet her, this woman of yours?” Billie hadn’t heard Dave talk about someone with that disapproving tone to his voice since the last boy she’d dated while she was still in high school. Something was up.
“I don’t know how often she’ll be coming around.”
“What, she won’t bless us with her presence? Finally?”
“Finally? Dave, you make it sound like they’ve been seeing each other for a while. Have you?”
“For a little while, yeah. I doubt she’ll be coming around here.”
“Why, she too good for this place?” Billie was now sure something was up. She was impressed, though: Chris didn’t rise to the bait.
“No, Dave, that’s not it. I just don’t know how much longer, well, frankly it’s none of your concern.” Chris’s anger was starting to show.
Billie thought for sure that Dave wouldn’t drop it, but she was happy she was wrong. The rest of lunch was strained, and everyone finished as quickly as they could.
Once all the guys left, Billie prepped the meal for the evening, a turkey meatloaf with mashed cauliflower for Dave and Michael and an added bonus of a twice baked potato for Chris. He was still in his gaining muscle phase so he was allowed extra carbs at this stage.
She still had a few hours before she needed to get ready, so she thought she’d watch a movie rather than head downstairs. Truth be told, she wanted a little bit of distance from Dave. She knew he meant well, but his words still stung. That, and she didn’t know what had gotten into him. She realized she needed a break and Henry asking her out couldn’t have come at a better time.
After her movie, she checked on dinner and made the last minute preparations before heading downstairs to take a look at how busy the place was. She saw that it had cleared out quite a bit and knew that this would be the right time to hold whatever classes to which she could get Dave to agree.
Before she could even make her way into the room, she heard Dave bellowing. All she did was peek in to see how busy the place was and he took her head off.
“Billie! I told you, it won’t happen right away. Can’t you see I’m busy?!”
She took a few steps into the room and looked around. If it were a typical Saturday, this would be the perfect time to hold a class. She turned on her heels and walked back up the stairs, doing everything she could to keep from crying yet again. She was resolved not to let it ruin her evening out.
She did what she could to shake it off as she took her shower. She’d figured out what she wanted to wear while watching the movie so she didn’t have that to contend with. It wasn’t her normal first-date-knock-their-socks-off-if-they’ve-got-‘em-on fare, but still, she enjoyed getting dressed up.
When she’d decided to come to town, she knew Dave had opinions about how a lady should dress so she’d done her best to bring clothes that would conform to his wishes. It was easier than having an argument every time she was going to go out. Not that she’d expected to go out, but one never knew.
She offset her Dave approved just below the knee navy pencil skirt with a red off-the-shoulder embroidered peasant blouse. She had her hair in a messy bun, her favorite way to wear her hair for a night out as it didn’t send the ‘touch me and you die’ vibe that a normal bun would. Her mostly neutral makeup, which took a while to get just the right look, highlighted her best features (eyes and lips) and she was ready to go. She grabbed her bag and headed out the door.
When she came down, Chris happened to be the first to see her and she could tell he was surprised. When he stood, Dave and Michael didn’t bat an eye until they realized he hadn’t moved. When they looked up and saw her, they, as well, stood.
“Oh, gentlemen, thank you, but I don’t think we need to stand on ceremony around here, do we? Please, sit. I’m not going to be joining you so you’ll be standing a very long time. Please, sit and eat your dinner.”
“I take it you have plans tonight young lady?”
“Yes Dave, I do. I’ll be back by curfew.”
“And when might that be?” She smiled at the baritone who’d just walked in.
All eyes turned back to the doorway where Henry stood.
“Hey there, handsome. It’s Saturday so it’s 1.”
“Billie, wow, you look stunning.”
“Thank you, Henry.”
“Henry-”
Billie’d had enough, and everyone in that room knew it. Everyone but Dave.
“Dave, knock it off! I’m an adult. I own a house for crying out loud. Back off.” The men saw something they never would’ve imagined: he backed down. “Henry pointed out earlier today that I’ve been here every night. I’m going a little stir crazy. I need to get out. I need to do something other than boxing and the other thing we’ve got going on. I’ve been here and I’ve gone to the grocery and that’s about it. He’s taking me to dinner and a movie.” She wanted to soften the blow so she came up behind him, bent down and kissed his cheek. “I love you, Dave. I’ll be back before one.”
Henry offered his arm to Billie and they left, the three men sitting at the table and wondering what had just happened.
Chapter 8
Heavyweight - Chapter 6
Start at the beginning here.
Chapter 5
Chris began relating what had been going on that past week, but then he realized he needed to go back further. He needed to go back to when he met Celeste, about six months ago.
He was always very careful to stick to his budget and he’d been really good about saving some extra money and decided that was the week he would splurge on a really good steak. He hadn’t had one in forever and the moment the thought entered his head it wouldn’t leave.
He’d been minding his own business while at the grocers, picking up what was on his list and intent on getting home and fixing that steak. He was at the butcher counter and had picked out what he wanted and was waiting for his number to be called when he heard the woman in front of him asking all sorts of questions about how to properly cook a steak. Chris glanced behind him and saw the other six reasons for the butcher wanting to hurry her along. Then he noticed the guy at the end of the line who looked like he wanted to kill the tiny thing who was obviously clueless as to how to cook a steak. Chris had decided to step in and help out. One thing led to another and they’d been together ever since.
She wasn’t his normal type. She was blonde and very petite. She looked like she’d blow away with the first strong gust of wind. The kicker, though, was that she was also absolutely stunning. They got stares whenever they went out, and he knew everyone was wondering why she was with him. At first he had quite the complex about it. He thought maybe she just felt sorry for him and took pity on him. He realized, though, that whenever they were out, she didn’t look at any other man. Chris was used to women looking around, trying to find someone better while they were out with him. He’d come to accept he wouldn’t ever be good enough.
It was several dates before Celeste allowed him to hold her hand, and it was many more after that before he felt it okay to ask her for a kiss. As slow as she was in allowing intimacies, Chris knew he had to be the perfect gentleman.
They had known each other close to two months and had exchanged only a handful of kisses. Chris had determined that she didn’t know how to break things off and was only being polite with him, tolerating his company. He knew he’d never love her, but he wanted to understand what he’d done, why she held him at arm’s length. Chris finally decided to broach the subject with her one evening. They were taking a stroll around the park after having dinner together. Chris felt he needed to clear the air, understand what he’d done to make her so cautious with him, before he set her free. It was difficult, but he finally asked her why she was so cautious with him, being very careful to assure her that he wasn’t looking for her to do anything that she wasn’t comfortable with.
She hesitated, at first, not wanting to talk about whatever it was. It took a while, but he was able to break through that barrier. That’s when he found out she was still living at home with her parents and at the age of 29, she was a virgin.
While he was initially surprised, and he thought he’d covered it rather well, it explained many things. Like why he’d never been allowed to pick her up at her place. Or why their dates always finished early. They always went to the movies before dinner, never after.
“Cece, is there a reason you took so long to tell me this?” They were seated on a park bench and he’d clasped her hand in his as she’d told him. He’d started to gently caress her hand, trying to reassure her. She couldn’t look him in the eye so he didn’t know if she was scared or embarrassed or who knew what.
Her voice was as small as her stature when she finally spoke. “I’ve grown so fond of you, Chris, and you’ve been so respectful, and I didn’t want to lose you. Other boys I’ve dated, most of them, anyway, stopped calling on me once they knew that I was waiting so I could make love to my husband and he would be my one and only and how important that was to me. But there was one boy who started talking about marriage a little while after I told him and I started thinking that maybe, just maybe I’d found a boy who wanted to be with me, but it was only talk. He thought, that if I thought we’d be getting married that he’d be able to, well, to get me to…” her voice trailed off.
Chris realized she was comparing him to the others she’d dated, thinking he was like them. Truth be told, Chris was more than a little irked that Cece was calling him a ‘boy’. He’d never behaved like anything other than a gentleman around her, always respecting her boundaries. He shook that off and decided to do his best to forget that. He knew it would be hard. He decided to concentrate on her.
“Cece, first, I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“Thank you. You do know it’s not your fault, right?”
“Of course I know, but I still feel bad.” He softened his voice even further. He could tell this was hard for her to talk about. “Was this your last boyfriend? Right before I met you? The one who tried to trick you?”
“He was my last boyfriend, yes.”
“How long ago was this?”
She hesitated before answering him. “Almost five years.”
That concerned him, greatly, and it changed his plans, how he was going to handle what he’d found out.
“And is he why it took you so long for you to talk to me about this?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to know I will never, ever ask you to do anything that you don’t want to do.
“I know you won’t, Christopher. I know I can trust you. I thought that you’d run away, or, well, you’d just walk away from me once you found out.”
She was right, partly right. He was seriously thinking about walking away. He was 35 and concentrating on his boxing career.
It wasn’t until Chris had found Dave that he was able to put on the muscle that was needed to move from cruiserweight to heavyweight. Dave had given him so much, and they were more than disappointed to find out that all his hard work had erased all of his progress. It was up to the regional commissioner from the FBA (NOTES) to determine how many of his earned points carried forward when he changed weight classes. There was typically a percentage range that was used, with each bout being carefully reviewed. The Association didn’t want someone moving up the ranks in a lower weight class to go to the head of the class, so to speak, when they put on a bit of muscle. You had to pay your dues in your own class. But you were supposed to get some credit for what you’d already accomplished.
When he’d moved up, all his points were wiped out. He was back at square one. It was unprecedented. He and Dave were inconsolable when they’d found out. They both vowed to get to the bottom of whatever was going on, but it was Dave who found out. When he’d learned who the players were, he knew exactly what was going on. He talked to Chris and tried to get him to see reason, to get him to find another trainer, but Chris wouldn’t hear it, even once he knew what he was up against.
Instead, Chris worked his ass off to get to where he was. It had taken close to five years of training and delaying tactics by the regional commissioner, but he was back to being close to a title fight. He was two bouts away when he started to see Celeste. They knew who had it out for him so he had to be extremely careful. He’d been working so hard to get back to the standing he should have had, and he couldn’t be side-tracked by a new relationship, especially one with complications such as would be found with Cece.
But Chris couldn’t walk away. He knew it would be hard for her to trust anyone after him, so out of a sense of honor he continued to see her. He was very careful not to lead her on. He didn’t want her to think that he was thinking marriage. Any time she started talking about the future, he’d steer the conversation in another direction. During the past month, he’d backed off, quite a bit, when it came to date-like activities. He used the excuse of training for his upcoming fight, and he wasn’t lying, exactly.
And then, right before Billie came to town, Celeste started changing. His first indication was her appearance, her clothes and makeup and jewelry. Gone were the sweater sets and mid-calf length skirts and sensible shoes. Out came the jeans and high-heeled boots and she’d never worn pants before, and when she showed up in a sundress and sandals, Chris was shocked. Royal and navy blues instead of periwinkle, mascara and lipstick instead of lip balm and eye-catching dangly earrings instead of simple studs. Chris did not know what was going on.
She also started to initiate physical contact, at first just holding hands, but soon walking arm in arm. She was touching him more and more, laying her hand on his arm or sitting next to him so their thighs were pressed together.
She’d even ventured to kiss him last week, the first time she’d ever done that. It was Saturday night. They’d gotten a late start so they didn’t watch a movie, but just went out to dinner. She didn’t want to say goodnight so they went on a walk. Things started to come into a bit of focus when she started talking about some difficulty she was having. Her car was in need of repairs in order for it to work and she could only cover the first grand. She was hinting, and not so subtly, for a loan. He was feeling guilty about wanting to spend time with Billie, at the thoughts that had been running through his head all evening, that he agreed. Cece had a plan and vowed to pay him back with each paycheck.
Tuesday, he came out of his apartment to find that his tires were slashed and that had cut his savings down to almost non-existent. He was concerned, but Cece got paid each week and they’d come up with a plan for her to pay him back. As long as she could stick to the plan he’d be fine.
Friday morning, Celeste called. She’d been laid off. While he sympathized with her, he realized he wouldn’t be getting his loan back anytime soon. She was crying and panicking and thinking he was going to hate her. He did what he could to comfort her, letting her know that he had a good relationship with the building manager and he expected to be able to work something out, and he’d been right. He called her back on his break during training and let her know things had been worked out.
Then he got home after his day at the gym to fire engines leaving his building. The apartment next door to his had caught fire. Luckily, the fire didn’t break through the wall so nothing of his burned.
Instead, he had tons of water damage and no place to stay.
When he came to the end of his tale, he surprised Dave.
“That’s not even the worst of it.”
“Before you go any further, you were in your car in my parking lot. Am I to take it that means you don’t have a place to stay?”
“No, I don’t.”
“You do now. I’ve got more than enough room.”
“I couldn’t stay here.”
“Why not? Look, you know Michael’s here, I was going to be talking with you about this next week anyway. You know I like my fighters here when they’re getting ready.”
“Yeah, and I stayed here the last time, but I can’t stay here now.”
“Why not?”
“Well, there’s more.”
“There’s more?”
“Yeah, and this is where you’re gonna hate me.”
“Chris, I couldn’t hate you.”
“Don’t be so sure about that.”
“Have you stolen from me?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Then what? What could you possibly have done that would make me hate you?”
He couldn’t. Chris couldn’t look at Dave when he told him. He got up and pulled the carafe off the coffee maker. He spoke to his mug as he poured.
“I’m falling for Billie.”
“Oh.” Dave was glad Chris had his back to him. It gave him time to school his expression and wipe the smile off his face.
“I know, right? Not the time for this.” He set his mug and the carafe down and closed his eyes, recalling last weekend when he’d carried Billie up to her room. “I close my eyes and I can feel her in my arms. I can smell her. I can hear her laughter and I have an overwhelming urge to be near her. I’m sorry, Dave. I know you didn’t want this.”
Dave got up and went into his den, shutting the door behind him. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face. He knew that Chris would treat Billie well, especially with what he’d just heard. He was pretty sure that Billie liked Chris and this would give them a chance to get to know each other. Dave got his act together quickly and returned. Chris had his head in his hands.
“I told you you’d be upset.” He pushed away from the table and got up quickly. “Look, I’ll get out of here-”
“Why are you leaving? Where are you going to go?”
“But, I just told you-”
“That’s not a problem. Go, get the bag you need for tonight, we’ll get the rest of your stuff tomorrow. Go on. I’ll have a key for you when you come back up.”
“Why are you choosing to forget what I just told you?”
“Because I’m not mad at you. You can’t help what you feel and you need a place to stay. Christopher, you and I have been at this for too long to let anything, anything get in the way.”
Dave realized he was going to have to clear the air. With what he had going on, he needed those around him to know he trusted them. “Besides, as much as I’d like to control Billie’s life, keep her safe and loved, I have very little say so. Besides, Chris, you’re one of the good guys. I know that you’d treat her well, and that I could count on you to keep her safe if somehow you ended up together. I don’t know how she could do better than you.”
Chris couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Too many things were swimming around in his head and he was sure Dave was pulling his leg. There’s no way that Dave would ever approve of Chris and Billie being together. Absolutely none.
“Now go on, go grab your bag and come up to the third floor. Wait, hold on.” Dave grabbed a spare set of keys to the building and handed them to Chris.
“You’re going to need these to be able to get in and out. Please lock up when you come back in. I’ll see you upstairs.”
Dave headed up to the third floor. He was heading down towards the empty room near his when he pulled up and turned back around. He realized he had the room across from Billie’s available, too. He’d talk to Billie the next morning and see if she had any objections, but decided to stick Chris in that room. While he was sorry for what Chris had gone through that week, he realized things were looking up.
Chapter 7
Heavyweight - Chapter 5
A/N - Thank you for being patient! While this story is mostly told from Billie's perspective, from time to time, someone else will be the focal point, and this is one of those chapters.
Start at the beginning here.
Chapter 4
The next morning, Dave said yes to Billie helping, telling her that the only way he would allow it, though, was if she were behind the scenes. She decided it was best not to fight him on his decision, at least not at that moment.
The first thing she did that morning, after giving Dave a big hug and kiss, was to find contractors who would come out and take a look at his place. He didn’t like going to those lengths, but he knew Billie had his back and was doing what she could to stay ahead of whoever it was who was trying to take his place away from him. It would be good to at least understand what he might be up against if things really weren’t going to go his way.
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It had been a couple of days and Billie was settling into a routine. Her mornings typically began with Dave and Michael at the breakfast table. Initially, everyone was quietly contemplating the day ahead. Michael and Billie had taken to flirting to get under Dave’s skin. It was completely harmless and Dave knew it, and he knew they were trying to get him to go for the bait, but that didn’t mean that he would completely control his reactions. On more than one occasion he found himself ready to smack Michael on the back of the head, but he saw the twinkle in Billie’s eyes and couldn’t take her fun away. It had been a long while since he’d seen that twinkle.
Billie had been an extremely serious kid from the moment she’d shown up, but Dave had also found that she loved to laugh. One day, for no reason he could readily recall other than the promise of horrible weather, he’d rented some movies. It was winter and they were predicting there to be enough ice on the road overnight to shut the city down. Dave wasn’t sure if he was going to be open or not, and he figured it would be good for Billie to do something on a Saturday besides study. She was always studying. The only way she was ever satisfied with a score or grade was if it was perfect. Dave thought she put too much pressure on herself. What could be better for a kid than to laugh at silly things? A Fish Called Wanda and Monty Python and the Holy Grail were among the movies he picked up. It turned out the weather predictors were right for once. The city was covered in more than an inch of ice on Saturday so he wasn’t open. He and Billie stayed in and ate popcorn and hot dogs and nachos (not a vegetable in sight for once) and watched movies. As the day progressed, Billie became more and more animated, but it was those two movies, and especially the Monty Python movie that really captured her attention. She watched it twice on Saturday, falling asleep to it, and then three times on Sunday with Wanda an extra two times. Dave was relieved to see her laughing so hard she was crying.
That’s when it had hit him. She’d grown up so quickly with the death of her mother that he wanted to build a cocoon around her and get her to be a kid again. He knew it wasn’t possible, that the genie was out of the bottle, but he could protect her, make her feel safe and loved. He did that the only way he knew how: by providing a roof over her head, warm meals on the table, and be there for her when she needed him. She only really needed him a handful of times, and each time he dropped everything for her. He would always drop everything for her.
It was ever since she moved out, and especially the last couple of years that he’d noticed that she didn’t seem as happy. Her glow, the twinkle in her eye, and the bounce in her step that took so long to come back to her were fading fast. Billie was always on the phone or her computer, even on Christmas day. Last year they’d had quite the argument about it. Dave recalled some of what had been said and winced just a bit. He’d been right, but he could have chosen kinder words. Maybe that’s what it took, though. Maybe he’d finally gotten through to her.
Billie broke through his reverie with plans for the day as she was fixing her breakfast. It was a good thing Michael had already begun his warmup. Dave wasn’t sure he’d be able to resist the pancakes Billie was making.
“The bids from the contractors should be coming in today. I called them all last night before they closed to confirm that we’d have everything by noon and they’d be available for a call later. I might need you for several hours this afternoon for some calls.”
“I don’t know how much time I can take away from Michael.”
“Dave, this all depends on what we get back. I’ll have everything lined up so you can see the differences and we can talk with them about whatever they’ve come up with. This is your money that’s going to end up being spent. I know I shouldn’t even bothering to offer to pitch in to the fund.”
“You got that right. This is my place, my responsibility.” There was that tone, the ‘don’t you dare even think about arguing with me’ tone that she hated to hear.
“I know. I know. You won’t let me forget it. But I can’t commit your money to a project like this, which means you have to be the one to make the decision. Look, I’ll make the process as short as I possibly can. What about Tommy?”
“What about Tommy?”
“He could be with Michael for a few hours today.”
“He’s already got double duty with Chris and Henry today.”
Billie briefly lost her train of thought when she realized all the lovely, sweaty, muscly man-flesh that would be downstairs today.
“True. But Michael-”
“What about me?” Michael peeked around the corner, his face red from whatever he’d been doing downstairs. He’d come back up, looking for Dave. If it gave him an opportunity to see Billie and flirt with her, you wouldn’t hear him complaining, at least, that’s what Dave assumed.
“We were just talking about this afternoon and I’m going to need Dave for a little bit. You can handle yourself, can’t you?”
“Sugar, I’m a pro at handling myself.” Billi missed his wink; Dave didn’t. “I can even give you a few pointers on how to handle me later tonight, if you want.”
“Honey, with what you’ve got going on, I’m gonna need more than a few pointers.”
Dave almost missed the wink and air kiss Michael tossed Billie’s way. Did she just blush? That was it!
“Michael! Just, head downstairs. I’ll meet you down there.”
“I’ve been waiting for you downstairs.”
“Let me finish up with Billie, I’ll be down in a bit. Start your warmup.”
“Start? I’ve been warming up for the past 15 minutes.”
“So fine, continue. I’ll be down in a bit.”
They finished up their conversation once Michael exited, not having missed another opportunity for blowing another kiss. Dave decided that he could leave Michael for a few hours once Billie had compared each of the bids. They might not even need that much time together.
Dave had been so reluctant to have Billie help him out, and he was realizing now just how much he was going to be relying upon her in the coming weeks. He was, not for the first time in his life, grateful to have her in his.
It was lunchtime the next time Dave saw Billie. She had just finished making a pastrami sandwich for herself when he grabbed it from her.
“Thanks, Doll.”
She huffed at him before she started making another sandwich. It took her a bit before she clued him in as to what she’d been working on.
“We have two of the three bids. There are only a couple of differences between them, but neither is the one I really want, the one from my friend from school. Once I’ve got his I’ll let you know.”
“What’s the difference in cost?”
“I’d really prefer to wait until we have all 3.”
Dave eyed her and Billie stared right back, taking a couple of bites of her sandwich until her phone chimed, letting her know she’d received an email. When she checked she visibly relaxed.
“Third one’s in. Go back downstairs. I’ll let you know when I’ve got it summarized.”
It was a little over an hour before he heard from Billie, and when he did, she showed him everything she’d worked on; she’d laid it all out on the table in the kitchen.
“Okay, they all agree on three things, and they all have to do with the means of egress and one of them is the location of the boxing ring.”
“What’s wrong with the location of the boxing ring?”
“It’s a major obstacle to getting out in case of emergency. They’re all close to the same cost, about fifteen grand for the two new doors, one from each locker room, upgrading the front door, and that’s just a change out of the door, and upgrades to the egress through the residence and then the moving of the ring.”
“That seems like a lot.”
“It’s all materials, all labor, permits, everything. Now, the last one, the one from Cal, is three grand more, but it includes some things that I think are reasonable. Some stuff to make the place closer to being ADA compliant: switches, lights, some upgrades to the locker rooms. And something he caught that the other two didn’t: you have the beginnings of mold in the women’s locker room, so he wants to take care of that, and it includes an upgrade to the venting and some electrical. It was the mold that caused him to be so late with the bid, he was waiting for a subcontractor for that. Just based on that, I think Cal needs to be the one to go with. He’s a bit more thorough, and more reasonably priced. I had a feeling that Jack was under-bidding just to get the job, but there would be so many add-ons that it would be more expensive.”
“What about the other one?”
“Mr. ‘I know what I’m doing little lady and you just need to let me handle it for you’? Just, no. Not in a million fucking years.”
“Language!”
“Yeah, and he deserves it, and far far worse. He’s a chauvinistic,” she searched for a word that he wouldn’t immediately scold her for and came up wanting. “Nitwit. I have to deal with that every single day at work and in my personal life, I’m absolutely not going to deal with it when I don’t have to.”
“What? You have men like that at work?”
Billie sat down, head in her hands, and she mumbled her response. Dave couldn’t understand her.
“You’ll have to speak up, I didn’t catch that.”
“You remember how I mentioned that there are people waiting for one misstep? Well, in particular, there’s one guy at the office. He hasn’t said anything to me directly, but he thinks he was up for the same promotion and he’s not being gracious about not getting it. He wasn’t qualified for it, but that doesn’t seem to matter to him. I’m hearing rumors that he’s saying that the only reason I got it was ‘cause I’m a woman and they needed to diversify, as if that’s a bad thing. I’m just tired of having to fight this fight.” She was not about to tell Dave what he’d really been saying. As if she’d have to sleep her way up the ladder.
“What do you mean, ‘tired of it’?”
“Uncle Dave, you’re not going to like what I have to say, but I’m not going to censor myself. I have to face this fucking bullshit every day. Clients, coworkers, subordinates, guys I date. I’m tired of people thinking that just because I don’t have a Y chromosome that I’m somehow inferior. If I don’t think I’m better or worse than anyone else because I’m a woman, then why do they?”
“Doll, how often do you deal with this?”
“When I said every day, I mean every single day.” She tried to shake it off, but she knew the only way she could was if they stopped talking about it altogether. “Look, I’d rather not discuss this. Let’s concentrate on your place. Is it okay if I get rid of this bid?”
“Of course it is.”
“Okay, now, what about these last two? Do you want to go over both of them in detail?”
Dave really just wanted to go with her recommendation, but then he thought that it might be good for Billie to go over everything with him, make her feel like she was as big a part of all this as she actually was.
“Why don’t you walk me through ‘em. We’ll see if there are questions that need to be answered and we’ll go forward. Work for you?”
“Of course, Dave.”
It took a while to go over each bid, and Billie was nothing if not thorough. She had a couple of questions about each, and Dave had some as well. Once they got the questions asked and answered, Dave decided to go with Cal. Billie was glad he agreed with her assessment and she called Cal to have him start the paperwork. She knew it would take a couple of days to get the modifications written into the SOW and she didn’t want a delay, so Cal told her to write up the changes and have Dave sign the bid and he’d get things moving. By late afternoon, everything was taken care of and Billie was told to expect someone there first thing in the morning Monday to get the ball rolling.
Once everything was squared away for Monday, Billie didn’t know what to do with the rest of her weekend. When she went up to her room she was prepared to grab her computer to do some work until she saw the book that had been left on her bed. She knew exactly who had left it for her. It was Dave’s way of telling her that she needed to take time for herself. It took moments for her to decide to head down to the comfy couch in his office with a mug of tea to read. She didn’t know how long Dave would be and she felt like she needed to be near him. She hadn’t felt so close to him in years and wanted to be near him every chance she got.
At the end of the day, the five men left in the building made their way to Dave’s office to discuss their schedule for the next week and were greeted with the sight of Billie, her fingers holding her place in the copy of The Importance of Being Earnest that she had clutched against her chest, asleep on the couch.
Henry and Chris were the first to enter Dave’s office and came to a stop, both men having the same thoughts pass through their head. They each took a step towards her, at which time Chris pointed out that Henry was still sweaty from his workout. Chris had already showered and changed.
Chris picked her up like she weighed nothing and took her up to her room. She woke up only long enough to throw an arm around him. She snuggled into the crook of his neck as he ascended the stairs. He slowed his progress, taking care as he walked up, savoring the feel of her in his arms and her breath on his neck. He took as much time as he could, committing everything to memory before gently laying her on her bed and covering her with the light blanket he found on the chest in her room. His gaze lingered over her and he reached out, smoothing her hair from her face and tucking a stubborn strand behind her ear. He finally left, closing her door.
><
Come Monday, the foreman for the job showed up and put all the orders in, after reviewing everything himself, before heading down to get the necessary permits. He phoned Billie that some of the supplies will start showing up that afternoon. The week becomes a busy one. The contractor to clean up the mold was scheduled for Tuesday night. This was something that was added to the work order: Dave couldn’t afford to have his place shut down during normal business hours, not with Michael this close to his fight. Dave paid a premium so as much of the work that could be done after normal working hours was. They had workers in each day that week doing something, whether electrical, plumbing, putting up drywall or changing out the front door, not to mention taking care of the entrance to the garage and the stairs up to the residence.
Come Friday night the place was quiet and Michael, Dave, and Billie have finished up their supper. Michael was doing the dishes while Billie headed to Dave’s office to grab her stuff. She happened to catch the illumination of headlights play over the front of the building and she heard a car in the parking lot. It shut off, rather than leaving, and she quickly found Dave in his den.
“Dave, you expecting someone tonight you haven’t mentioned?”
“No, Doll, why?”
“A car just pulled into the parking lot.”
“Let me go see who it is.”
“Dave, shouldn’t I just call the cops?”
“No, I’m going to go look.”
She followed him downstairs and he knew he wouldn’t be able to dissuade her.
“You stay in here. Let me go check.”
“But-”
“Billie,” exasperation rang in his tone, “don’t argue with me on this. Just stay here.”
As soon as he saw the car he was pretty sure he knew who it was, and as soon he had confirmed it, he waved Billie off. He knocked on the window, startling Chris. Turning the key in the ignition, Chris rolled his window down.
“Hi.”
“Chris, what’s going on?”
“I’m locked out of my place, I needed somewhere to stay and I knew your parking lot would be safe.”
Dave glanced in the back seat and saw suitcases and boxes and bags. Once he realized what was going on, he crouched down and pointedly looked into the back seat so Chris knew he saw.
“You want to try that again?”
Chris couldn’t meet his eyes. “I got evicted.”
“What the hell happened?”
“Uncle Dave, it’s been a shitty week.”
“You know I don’t like that language.”
Chris was barely able to control his anger. “Dave, it’s been a fucking shitty week! Almost all of my savings is gone but more than that, I don’t know what to do about Cece.”
Dave took a step back, hands outstretched. He’d never seen Chris like this. “Okay. Do you want to talk about it?”
“NO! Yes. Damn. Yeah, I do.”
“Come on inside. We’ll grab a coffee and you’ll tell me what’s going on.”
Chapter 6
Heavyweight - Chapter 4
Start at the beginning here.
Chapter 3
Billie’d thought that if she had more information about Chris that she’d be able to concentrate on work. Boy, was she wrong.
No matter what she did, he kept popping into her head: the warmth of his hands, the rough callouses gently caressing her, the look in his eyes, like he wanted to pull her onto his lap and talk and kiss and… Billie caught herself sighing and almost swore up a blue streak, but stopped just in time. Every time she thought of him, that handshake, the look in his eyes, those lips: chills came over her, sweeping over her whole body, causing the little hairs to stand on end.
She wondered what he had going on under his sweats, how muscular his chest and shoulders were, how narrow his waist and hips and how long his… legs were. She had an idea as to what he looked like under all that, but she wanted, no, needed confirmation. He was going to be occupying her thoughts for many a night to come and she wanted details.
Not only physical details, though. She needed more. Like, how had he become like a son to Dave, and why hadn’t she heard his name before now? It had taken forever for Dave to feel like family. Sure, Billie had fought him every step of the way. She had lost her mom, after all, and she never had a dad. But it hadn’t felt like she’d fit into his life until just before she’d headed off to design school. And what, Chris is here for five years and it’s obvious that Dave trusts him, relies upon him, even respects him. Billie wondered if Dave thought he could rely upon her. Maybe that was why he hadn’t confided in her. She did breeze into town during only one holiday per year, using the travel time from LA to Louisville and work as an excuse. Early on, while she had been in school she’d come home every chance she got. But then her life started happening. She did call Dave every week. Well, every week? She realized she’d been calling less and less and then it hit her and her chest burned with the weight of her guilt and shame. She’d been such a bad daughter!
And that thought startled her: daughter? Did she really think of Dave as her father? She’d broached the subject with him back when she was still living with him, asking if she could call him Dad. He’d said no, that she already had a dad. Maybe she could convince him to change his mind on that. She let that thought sit in the back of her mind and percolate for a while as her thoughts turned back to Chris. No! Work! She needed to work!
And then Chris had the nerve, the absolute gall, to come back inside from his run and take off his sweatshirt. His sweat-soaked t-shirt clung to him as it rode up his torso, revealing his abs and there should not be people like him who walk this damn earth was the thought running through Billie’s head as her mouth dried up and was that a moan that escaped her? She surreptitiously watched as he pulled the t-shirt down his trunk and Billie realized she no longer needed to imagine what he looked like. His shoulders really were that broad and fully muscled and rock solid, but she still longed to feel them, to feel him. And his back actually had that ‘V’ outline, with its match etched into his body below his abs, and his arms, holy hell, his biceps had to be bigger than her head. She watched as he began wrapping his hands while he and Tommy talked. She couldn’t keep her eyes off him and was pleased she’d thought to bring in a table lamp rather than use the overhead fluorescent that always felt like it was sapping her life from her body. She couldn’t wait to see if he’d strip down to his shorts during the workout. Given how the rest of him looked, she was pretty sure-
“Billie Jo, are you just about done staring at my fighter?”
Dave didn’t only have a knack for hearing what he shouldn’t. He also had a knack for seeing things he shouldn’t.
His voice came from directly behind her so she knew she’d been caught staring at Chris. He flipped on the overhead light as she peeled herself off the ceiling. It took her a bit before she answered him. She decided he needed tons of her attitude.
“Nope. Not anywhere close.”
He roared with laughter, startling everyone in the gym, but no one as much as Billie, before answering back. Billie noticed that all eyes were on them, and she hoped one set, in particular, was on her, but she didn’t dare chance a look.
“That’s my girl.” He bent over and gave her a kiss on the crown of her head before mussing her hair like he used to do when she was still a kid. “Hey, when were you planning on dinner?”
“Isn’t 6:30 your normal time?” She was running her hands through her hair, getting it resituated.
“It is, but I’ve just heard from my guy who’s getting back today.” Dave checked his watch before continuing. “He should be here in the next couple of hours, and he’s got 23 days until his fight. I’m staying downstairs later for him today. Can we make dinner closer to 8?”
“Sure. That’ll give me a chance to go for another run. The first one didn’t clear my head like I needed. I’ll get everything baking and then run. We can eat as late as you need.”
“Michael will be joining us for dinner, too.” He was almost out the door.
“Hold on there, big fella. Who’s Michael?”
“He’s the guy coming in tonight. Wait, we haven’t talked yet, have we? Well, he’s staying here for the last part of his training. He’s down at my end of the hall so you shouldn’t run into him all that much. I think we’re gonna need to go over the rules, and anything else at dinner tonight. Do you know how long I get to see you this visit?”
“I was hoping we’d have time to talk. And have it be just the two of us, okay?”
Billie heard a low, familiar growl coming from Dave and got the biggest smile on her face. It’d been ages since she’d heard the Deliberation Grumble!
“What on earth is that look for?”
“You’re not gonna like it when I say it.”
“What!”
“It’s back. The Deliberation Grumble.” She was the recipient of a playful scowl and it was her turn to bark her laughter. “Anyway. We can have dinner with Michael, you can go over your rules, and then afterwards, you and I can talk. Okay?”
“Sure. Now, you, back to work. Stop daydreaming over these meatheads.”
“But Uncle Dave, they’re just so pretty!” She heard his exasperated sigh. “You know me. I would never jeopardize their shot. Never.”
“Not intentionally, Doll, I know you wouldn’t. But you are very distracting.”
“Well, then you don’t have as tight a leash over them as you should. I shouldn’t be a distraction. I sure don’t distract you and Tommy.”
“You do, a little, but in a good way, not the way I’m talking about. I meant it yesterday: you are prettier than your momma ever was. You’re not quite as sweet. Then again, I don’t think anyone on this earth is as sweet as she was, but you sure are prettier.”
“And just whose fault is it that I’m not as sweet? I think that would be yours, sir.” She left alone the whole ‘you’re prettier’ part. No one could ever be prettier than her mom.
“Billie Jo, I’m serious. You should pay attention to that room when you’re in there, see just how many of those men look at you or stare at you. I know you’re a grown woman and can take care of yourself, but Doll, you need to learn the effect you have on a room, for your own sake, as well as others.”
Billie was looking for an out and Tommy provided a nicely timed one when he shouted for Dave to “quit his loitering and get back to work! We all know the scenery is much nicer in the office now…”
“Told you. See you tonight at dinner, Doll.”
><
Billie got back to work and was able to make some headway in the design work she was doing. Her job nowadays consisted mostly of managing others and strategizing and long-term plans and client hand-holding and sales and administrivia, as she liked to call it. So when she had an opportunity to do what she loved, she always jumped at it. She looked up when she needed to stretch her neck and noticed that the afternoon had completely passed her by.
Billie headed up to the residence to start fixing dinner when she almost ran into someone barreling down the stairs at breakneck speed. He came to a screeching halt in front of Billie and she tried to pass him.
“You don’t get to just pass me by, beautiful. Dave didn’t tell me he took on any more tenants. Is he trying to keep you all to himself?” His grin had entirely too many teeth, disarmingly so.
“Yes, as a matter of fact he is. I take it you’re Michael?”
“Ah, my reputation precedes me, and you are…?”
“Billie. Where’re you from? You’ve got a slight accent.”
“From Ireland. But spent several years in London. It’s why the accent isn’t more pronounced.”
“Great, well, don’t let me keep you.”
“You can keep me all you want, beautiful. I’ve got all the time in the world for you.”
Billie barely kept herself from rolling her eyes. “No, you don’t. Not with Dave waiting on you. I’ll see you tonight at dinner.”
“Maybe then I can get your story.”
“Sure. Or, you could just ask Dave.”
“I’d rather get it from you, give you an excuse to see me again. See you at dinner, beautiful.”
Michael startled Billie as he passed her. He reached up and gently caressed her face with the backs of his fingers. She didn’t realize what he’d done until after he’d passed by.
She continued up the stairs and into the kitchen where she started dinner. It was going to be a simple meal, but one she knew Dave loved. She wondered if Michael would like it.
Mmm, Michael. Wait! How dare he! How dare Dave have, not one, not two, but three good-looking men working out at his gym. Hell, they weren’t even just good looking; they were drop dead gorgeous! Billie realized she was going to have a very hard time getting to sleep. She was going to have to work out morning, noon, and night to tire herself out enough to guarantee she wasn’t tossing and turning in her bed, her mind distracted by the three, what, Amigos, Stooges or Musketeers?
She got the chicken washed and stuffed with quartered lemons and cloves of garlic inside and sliced lemons under the skin with olive oil slathered on top. She put it in the oven and knew it was going to make everything smell wonderful. She was happy to find the rice cooker and set the quinoa up and all that would be left was the broccoli which wouldn’t take but 15 minutes. She cleaned up the kitchen and headed up to her room to change for her run.
When she got down to the gym, she first did some stretches that would help warm her up. Billie knew she’d be hard pressed to find a good yoga instructor while she was in town, at least one close to the gym. She did a series of poses and then hopped onto the treadmill, starting it up and increasing the speed until she was in a good rhythm. She’d decided to just run tonight, not to try to work while running. She had her playlist for this type of run on and did what she could to clear her mind.
Instead of thinking of work, she was thinking about Dave, and his gym, and what he was going through. She rehearsed several different ways the conversation could go, trying to think of all the angles and all the possible ways that he could try to come back at her. And then a thought hit her, something that had been gnawing at her all day and she realized why she’d had so much trouble, and she knew just how to approach everything.
Billie finished up her run shortly after that realization and did the same series of yoga poses as her cool down, noting just how much deeper she was able to settle into each one. She was finding it very difficult to concentrate as much as she should have been. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that the gym was not empty, not by a long shot, and a number of eyes were trained on her. She was pretty sure that just about any woman in the gym would be getting the same treatment.
Billie caught Chris coming out of the locker room, freshly scrubbed and still talking to Tommy. When he saw her movement he stopped in his tracks. He got a grin on his face that, had she not been flushed from her run, he would’ve seen a blush spread from her chest north to her hairline.
She finished up her poses and grabbed her towel and water. She started talking to the room before she’d completely turned around.
“Some woman comes into this gym, does some running, a few yoga poses and what, you can’t keep your eyes in your sockets? Y’all should be able to exhibit a bit more self-control than you are right now. Shouldn’t you be concentrating on your training?”
Dave and Tommy exchanged knowing looks and Billie saw their shoulders start to shake. A couple of the guys turned away slowly. Most turned quickly. Chris’s grin got wider. And Michael and Henry? Echoed Chris’s brashness.
Billie turned to Dave.
“Dinner still in 45?”
“Thereabouts.”
“See you then.”
><
The three of them, Dave, Michael, and Billie, sat down to supper and things were quiet as they served themselves and ate. They were almost done when Dave finally spoke.
“Doll, that was quite some display earlier.”
“I thought you might get a kick out of it, Uncle Dave, especially after the conversation we had.”
“Uncle Dave?” Michael was now starting to catch on.
“So, now that everyone knows who Billie is, I want to cover my house rules. This is going to apply to everyone, even to you, Billie. If you’re under my roof, you live by my rules.”
“In which case, if I don’t like your rules, I can go stay elsewhere.”
“No, young lady, you’ll be staying here.”
“You cover your rules and we’ll see if I’ll be staying here.”
“First, no member of the opposite sex on the third floor.”
“Then I shouldn’t even be here.”
“In your rooms, smart ass. Michael, no women. Billie, no men.”
“I can live with that.”
“Me, too.”
Dave continued. “If you are going to have a guest over, I want to meet them.”
“Seriously-”
“Billie, I just want to know who’s in my house.”
She thought about it for a moment, and then she realized why this was a good idea. “Okay, no problem.” She started to listen to his rules with a different mindset.
“I want to know when you are going out and coming back. And there will be a curfew: 11 on the weeknights and 1 on the weekends.”
“You and I are going to have a conversation about these rules, among other things.”
“Here’s the final one. I know you bought that new huge television, but it’s in my house, so it’s mine. My television, my remote, and there will be no discussion on that.”
“Watch all the History Channel you want, to your heart’s content. I have a television up in my room, so not a problem.”
“You put a TV in your room? When am I gonna see you?”
“Don’t watch the History Channel 24/7 and you’ll see me more frequently.” She heard his grumble start. “Listen, we don’t have to have the television on to see each other. But, if you do want something on in the background, I’ll have a suggestion or two for you. We’ll try ‘em out sometime, see how they go. You game?”
“Sure. You done with dinner? Can we go talk about whatever you need to talk about? I’ve got some stuff I need to do.”
“Yeah, let me just clear the dishes, get them in the dishwasher.”
“No,” Billie was startled when Michael put his hand on her arm. She’d forgotten he was still at the table. “You cooked, I’ll clean up. It was a good dinner, by the way.”
“Thanks, pretty simple and basic for last minute. You’re what, about three weeks away from your fight?” She saw his nod and continued. “I’m assuming that Dave’ll have you on a pretty strict diet. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that anything I do has his approval for your meal.”
“You don’t need to cook for me, beautiful.”
“Would you stop flirting with my niece? You don’t have time for any of this nonsense. You need to do the dishes and get to bed. You need sleep.”
“Maybe we could just cuddle, keep each other warm.” Michael’s over exaggerated wink gave Billie the giggles. She knew he was just playing with Dave and she was enjoying his torment.
“Michael!”
“Uncle Dave, he’s just trying to get a rise out of you, and he’s doing a damn good job at it! Besides, with us following your rules, we’d have to snuggle in the hallway, one of the spare bedrooms, or the sofa in the living room. No, wait, the couch in your den. Perfect! We can go cuddle there, it’s very comfy. It is a little small, though. One of us may need to be on top of the other. We’ll keep each other extra warm that way.” Billie returned the exaggerated wink and this time, Michael laughed.
“Wilhelmina Josephine!” With Dave’s bellow, Billie dissolved into fits of laughter.
“Fine! I’ll go wait for you in your den.” She knew she’d pushed a bit far, but those rules! She understood them, especially now, but she didn’t like being treated like a child. She owned a house, for crying out loud!
She was seated on the couch when he came in and closed the door. He sat next to her.
“What has gotten into you? You know I love your sense of humor, Doll, but I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”
“I’m not one of your fighters. I don’t have to be scared of you.” She grabbed his hand. She’d always liked holding his hand. “I could never be scared of the man who helped put me back together. I was broken when I first came here. You saw me at my absolute worst and you helped me heal.”
“You healed yourself.”
“No, Dave, you healed me. I don’t know that I’ve ever thanked you for that.”
“Doll, I don’t need thanks. Knowing you’re happy, that’s all the thanks I’ll ever need.” He studied her before he continued. “Are you happy?”
Billie’s knee-jerk response was to always say ‘yes, of course I’m happy’, but that was easy to do on the phone. As easy as it was for Billie to get under Dave’s skin, it was even easier for him to read her, to know how honest she was being, and she knew this. It always made for a shorter conversation when she simply told Dave the truth.
“Yeah, mostly, I think. I don’t know, work isn’t quite what I thought it was going to be. I don’t know what I thought it would be. After I got my M.B.A., I thought I’d end up running my own company someday, you know, make a difference, but this climbing the ladder stuff is not what I wanted. The games you have to play, everyone is always waiting for you to fail, make one misstep, or say the wrong thing at the wrong time. It is a damn minefield.”
“Is that why you’re here?” He tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear before caressing the back of her head. “You need to figure out what you want? Take all the time you need, Doll. You know you always have a place here.”
“I’m going to use my time here to think about that stuff, and I may want to run some things by you, but it’s not why I came home.”
“Okay. Is this where you tell me why you came home, Doll?”
“Yeah. But Dave, I need you to hear me out. This is going to be hard for me, but I have something I need to say.”
When she started to twist a lock of hair around her finger, he knew something was up. She gripped his hand just a little bit tighter before she started.
“I talked with Tommy today and I know, I know the extent of what it is that’s going on. I know you’ve got someone trying to get you to sell, and that they’ve started to pull some pretty dirty tricks.”
She wasn’t sure where he was going, but she didn’t like that he was trying to leave. “Dave, I’m not done.” She got up, prepared to chase after him if needed. “Please, come sit back down.” It took him a moment, but he turned. She led him back to the couch. When he was situated again, she took his hand in both of hers. Billie wanted to stay connected to him.
“I know about the vandalism, the rocks through the windows and the spray paint, the ants and the flies,” she shuddered at that thought, “and about the fire that you caught pretty much right after it had been set. I know before all that you had someone approach you to sell and you said no and then this shit, crap! Sorry, sorry about the language! Stuff, this stuff started to happen. And then they came back to you with a lower offer. It’s pretty clear what’s going on, and that’s the reason I came back. I want to help you figure out who’s doing this to you and put a stop to it.”
“I don’t need your help with this, Billie.”
She had known he would say that, but it didn’t stop the hurt she felt at his rejection.
“Dave, you may not need my help, but I need to help you.”
“Doll, why do you need this?”
This was the hard part: confession time.
“I’m sorry that I made it seem like you were a bother when I came home for only one holiday a year. I’m sorry I made you think I didn’t care. Dave, you’re my family, you’re my Dad. I know! I know you don’t want me to call you that, but you are.” She hated that she felt tears in her eyes, but she also didn’t care.
“Billie, my brother is your father.”
It took everything she had not to scream. How could she get it through his thick, stubborn skull? Maybe if she explained? Would he get it then? It was worth a shot.
“I don’t know where William Chapman is, I don’t know what he’s done with his life, if he got married or had kids, and you never talk about him, so I don’t know if you know. I was tempted, at one point, to find out and then I realized something. He never wanted me. He never tried to reach out to me, to contact me, not a thing. It’s not like I was hard to find, either. I’ve been on this planet for over 35 years and he hasn’t tried, not once. He didn’t want me. As far as I’m concerned, he’s just a DNA donor and that’s it. You’re my Dad, Dave.” She couldn’t say what was in her heart. That would hurt too much.
“Billie, about your father-”
“NO!” She’d put this to bed a long time ago. She didn’t want to know. She tried to get up from the couch but Dave wouldn’t let her go. “Dave, I don’t want to know where he is. I don’t want to know what he’s done with his life. It’s going to hurt, too much, no matter the answer. I’d rather not know. Please, don’t tell me.”
The real problem was, she did want to know, but she didn’t want to feel the sting of rejection again. She’d felt it too many times, every birthday, holiday, any time he should have been there. And then after she’d come to live with Dave, it hurt less until he told her he didn’t want her to call him Dad. That was like being rejected, but in person.
“I wish it had been you Josie had fallen for. She would’ve been happy with you. I know I was, I am. You’re in trouble. Someone’s coming after you and you are in trouble. I want to help. I can. I can help.”
“You can help. What can you do?”
“Do you know who it is who is doing this to you?”
“I have suspicions, but no.”
“Well, I’ve got connections. People I went to school with. I know I didn’t get along with most of them when we were in high school, but something changed when we all went off to college. I’ve kept in touch with a lot of them. I know a couple of lawyers, and someone with the District Attorney’s office. There’s also an assistant to the governor who I dated, twice, until you sat him down and had one of your talks that ended up scaring all the boys off. So I have some connections that we might be able to use.”
“You can talk to your connections from anywhere, you don’t have to be here.”
“True. But you’ve got some pretty big fights coming up and, if I am the distraction you claim I am, then I just might be able to use that.”
“How?”
“Well, they’re escalating, whoever’s doing this. Do they want the building or do they want the property? Was the fire set so you’d catch it but need to call the fire department, hoping that you’d end up being cited for some sort of violation? Or did they want to burn the building down? And since that didn’t work, what else are they going to try? What’s your plan to figure all this out and put a stop to it?”
“I don’t know. The fire only happened a few days ago and that’s when I knew someone was up to something. I’ve been so concentrated on my fighters I haven’t had time to give it much thought, other than to try to figure out who.”
“And that’s where I can help. We can talk, strategize, plan. I can visit places during the workday when you and Tommy are busy. My guess: next is going to be the health department. You’re probably going to be cited for something, and maybe it’s real and maybe it’s not, but it would be great to beat them to the punch. That’s the kind of stuff I can do, that I can help with. Please, let me?”
“I don’t know, Billie. I don’t want you to get hurt. I’d never forgive myself if you got hurt.”
“I know how to take care of myself. You were a good teacher. Maybe I need a refresher, make you feel more comfortable with me staying here. But I am not leaving. You are going to have to kick me out. Dave, let me work with you on this. Please let me help you.”
“Let me think about it. I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.”
“Okay. Now, one more question. And get yourself ready, it is, by far, the most serious one. You ready?”
He took a deep breath, not knowing what could possibly be bigger.
“Okay. Shoot.”
“What the hell do you put in the water around here to make the men so damned gorgeous?”
Chapter 5
