Vinny takes a step back, and nods to Jax, “Sorry man, I read it wrong. I see a lot of crazy shit down here.” Pulling me to his side, he wraps his arm around my shoulder possessively.

Jax nods back, and I think maybe we all might walk away unscathed, until he opens his mouth. “No problem. Don’t blame you for being protective of Liv. You’re a lucky guy.” Jax smiles a cocky grin at me.

Is he insane? Or perhaps he has a death wish. Vinny’s grip on me tightens and I brace for his response...concerned it won’t be a verbal one. Luckily, Preach steps out, calling Vinny’s attention away for a few seconds, so he misses Jax’s wink at me.

Seriously?

“Gotta go talk to some reporters. You ready?” Preach catches sight of me on the other side of Vinny and smiles, “Our boy looked good out there, huh, Liv?”

I can’t help but smile at Preach, even though I’m still freaking out inside at the two men standing in front of each other. “That he did.” I smile up at Vinny, and I’m rewarded with a proud smile. His arm slung around my shoulder slides to the back of my neck and he squeezes it lightly, turning me toward him, taking my mouth in an unexpected kiss. He doesn’t care that two men are standing within feet of us, forced to watch as he kisses me senseless, and eventually, I don’t care either.

Releasing my mouth with a low growl, I turn to find Jax still standing there. His cocky grin is gone, replaced by something I can’t read. Jealousy perhaps?

“Alright, alright, you two can celebrate in private later. Let’s get this show on the road, lovebirds,” Preach teases.

Vinny begins to lead us away to follow Preach without so much as a word to Jax. Never one for being rude, I turn my head to say goodbye, “Take care, Jax,” and I feel every hair on my body stand on end when I look past Jax and find Senator Knight stopped at the other end of the hall, eyes locked on Vinny.

Chapter 32

Vince

The exhibition behind me, I need to focus on my upcoming fight. A shot at the belt. And a real shot at it too. Junior Lamaro. He drops his left, leaving himself open to my power right. He’s tough, but wrestling is his strongest discipline. Keeping away from the ground is the key to my winning.

I should be in the gym tonight, practicing my technique, but instead I’m in a f**king bar I haven’t visited in almost a year, looking for dirtbags that helped drag me down. Drug addicts. Dealers. Total f**king losers. Guys I used to consider my friends. Friends that were only too happy to keep me as f**ked up as them when I was footing the bill.

I can’t seem to focus on what I need to with my mom’s shit still hanging over her head. Over both our heads. As usual, when her own self-induced pathetic life drags her down, I grab her and try to pull her out. Most of the time it winds up dragging me down with her.

The first three guys I talk to haven’t seen Jason in weeks. Guys that aren’t tied down to much easily disappear off the grid. But I’m finding this f**ker. Probably beat him till he’s barely breathing for making me waste my time chasing after his ass when I should be training. The last breath I’ll let the two goons keeping tabs on my mother take care of.

A hand reaches around from behind me and grabs my groin. She’s lucky I didn’t respond with a punch, most of the time my reactions are automatic. It’s work for me to stop and redirect against something I’ve spent years training to respond to. Grabbing the hand reaching for me, I turn to find it’s attached to Krissy. Great, just f**king great. Could my night get any worse?

“Where you been, Vince?” She rests her two hands against my chest. I remove them quickly.

“Busy.” Turning my back to Krissy, I find her friend close behind me. Like two pack wolves, they box me in. I’m pretty sure the friend gave me head in the bathroom when I was at my low, getting high every day. I don’t even remember her name. Not that I care to anyway.

“Hi, Vince,” her friend purrs.

“Not interested.” Not here, not now, not ever again.

“I can make you interested.” She reaches up, makes it close to my mouth with her long red fingernail, but I catch her hand in mine before it touches me. Squeezing her little bony hand too hard, I think how easy it would be to f**king crush it, so I force myself to let go. But she gets my point.

“You know, Vince, the two of us could make you forget whatever is bothering you,” Krissy purrs from behind me. It makes me wonder how I ever stomached being with her. “We have enough for the three of us to party.”

Finally, something she says gets my attention. “You know Jason Buttles?”

“Maybe.” Krissy smiles, rocking back and forth. She’s being coy and thinks it’s cute, but it’s not, I find it god damn annoying. But I know how women like her work. I’ll get more from her giving her what she wants.

Turning to give her my full attention, I wrap one hand around the back of her neck and lower my face to hers as if I’m about to kiss her, but I don’t. I smile instead, “Can you get in touch with him?”

“Probably.” The two hands I removed from my chest are back, but this time I leave them be, even though it disgusts me to have them there.

“Do that for me.”

She pouts. “Why should I?”

My other hand snakes around her waist and pulls her close to me. “Because I need to talk to him. And once that’s outta the way, I can party with you ladies,” I lie.

She leans into me, bringing her mouth even closer to mine, she expects me to kiss her. No f**king way I’m touching that with what I got now. I pull my head back. “Call him.”

“He doesn’t have a phone.”

Who doesn’t have a god damn phone? Yesterday I saw the f**king homeless guy that lives on the north side of Nico’s gym talking on a cell. “How do you get in touch with him?”

“Beeper.”

Beeper? What is it, nineteen eighty-two? “Beep him.”

Pulling out her phone, she spends a minute pressing buttons and then smiles back at me. “Done”

Great, now I have to wait with these two.

An hour passes and Jason never calls back. I’ve kept the two of them strung along enough to keep them close, but far enough away not to have to actually spend time talking to them. Luckily for me, a few guys from the gym come in, helping to pass the time.

But I’ve had enough waiting around. The loser is probably passed out somewhere or doesn’t have a damn quarter to use a payphone and call her back. “Listen, I have to run. If you hear from Jason, call me, okay?”