Chapter 47
Shooter
Amelia was pregnant.
She was pregnant with my child, our child.
I wanted to celebrate with her, carry her in my arms, and show her how happy I was that she was fulfilling both our dreams. She was carrying around a piece of me that was going to forever keep her tied to me in the most beautiful way.
I couldn’t resist the thoughts of seeing a round belly grow with my child.
She would be the most amazing mother with a high spirit.
She was going to be carrying more than just my child, but soon my last name. All the nights that I filled her perfect pussy, her begging for it, every night she was cradled in my arms, telling me every wish she had, everything was worth it.
I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t see the handprint around her neck. There was more to the story, one that should never have happened.
I rolled my shoulders back, knowing that I didn’t need much more to end it all. Sure, I was bruised and almost felt broken, but that didn’t matter.
Titus took a step further into the center, his cocky smile that started to drip with blood never faded. I didn’t care how many points had been rewarded or what I needed to catch up with, I had one plan.
Wipe. Him. Out. Give him no chances to get back up.
The corner of his mouth perked up higher. “That your girl?”
“Enough chirping,” I warned him.
“How could she be with a man like you? Weak? Only trying to survive.”
“Last chance.”
He laughed. “Maybe she needs a real man. Bet I could make her moan louder.” He started to circle like he had done before he tried to take an advance on me.
It wasn’t his combinations that impacted me, it was the force behind every hit and strike.
He knew that if he distracted me with multiple hits that I would get lost in defending myself to make an attempt.
I had enough chirping in the past, it never phased me. It was a typical head game tactic. I’d used it plenty of times. But one thing that would never happen would be someone talking about my girl.
“I told you last chance; apparently you lost more brain cells you never had.”
He had one true weakness; when you took a hit on him he would scramble to defend himself. He would turn sloppy; his combinations would become a little weaker. The hits I took didn’t affect my own thoughts. My mind had been somewhere else in the match. That quickly resolved and a new strength grew.
I advanced by throwing combinations at him, trying to get his defense down.
I could see the people in his corner yelling at him to do something.
The crowd overpowered any corner talk. Staggered back a couple of steps, trying to plant his feet firmly on the ground.
He threw his arms up in defense of his face.
But little did he know, he left himself wide open.
I took the opportunity, throwing a few left hooks into his body, putting all the power I had behind them, hoping to knock the wind out of his lungs. I wasn’t going to need three minutes of the round, maybe only two.
Titus groaned as the last blow to his sternum made him cough and stagger a step back, bringing his arms to his sides. Screams and yells came from his corner, the fear in their eyes that perhaps they underestimated me or the club. I chuckled to myself, knowing that they underestimated one woman.
With one step, I set myself up for the final combination I would throw in this fight. With the body blows doing exactly what I needed them to do, I finished it off with consecutive blows to the head, and with one signature move, an uppercut to the chin.
The movement felt like it repeated itself, like a moment being replayed over and over again.
With the final strike, Titus fell hard in the center, the crowd roaring with excitement seeing a bloodthirsty monster strike with power. Titus crashed and his body limp, practically lifeless. How does that saying go? The bigger the man the harder they fall?
The giant was slayed and the crowd’s thunderous cheers filled the warehouse. The referee sent me back to the corner, so that he would examine the splayed out body on the ground. My brothers couldn’t contain their excitement, they were itching to celebrate.
With continuous bells, the fight was over and the referee came to grab my hand and rule it a TKO.
A rush of bodies came into the ring, slaps to the shoulders, shakes of excitement. Hound Dog caught my attention.
“I knew it. One hell of a fight.” Hound Dog’s slapped my back, giving me a nod of approval.
I pushed aside my brothers, finding Amelia in the corner, arms crossing her chest. I ripped off my gloves, threw them to the ground and reached for her.
When she was finally in my arms, I hoisted her up to have her legs wrapped around me.
I licked my lips. “Now, what were you saying about calling me daddy.”
She cupped my cheek. “I’m pretty sure your words were that I better make you one. Guess what, sugar, I did.”
She threw her arms around me and pulled me into a kiss.
Our lips battled each other, waiting for one of us to give up, but it was her that let me control the hungry kiss.
A kiss that told me that once and forever she was mine and there would never be a chance to let go.
All I wanted was to have Otis get a damn signature on her divorce papers and then I could put a ring on that finger.
Her body clung onto me like it was her last hope. But her nightmare was over, our future was looking brighter and brighter.
I pulled away. “I can’t believe it.”
“Well believe it buddy, because apparently we played Russian roulette with birth control.”
“I mean, maybe you shouldn't leave your phone easy to unlock, you never know when something might get deleted like a calendar reminder, you know accidentally.” Was it really birth control tampering if I “accidentally” deleted a reminder and knew that she sometimes had a bad memory? You can call me possessive or obsessive, but when a man knows what he wants, he won’t stop until it is his possession.
I was trying to be helpful, taking care of one less stress in her life. I was no angel. I wore the horns with pride.
She chuckled, shaking her head. “Should I be mad at you? Maybe. Also, I’m the one that stopped using it after a while.
” She bit her lower lip, looking at me with her devilish grin.
Her fingers glided across my chest. “But you ever fucking delete a reminder off my phone, I break your other leg, and make it six months in a cast.”
“As long as you play nurse, I’ll delete all the reminders,” I said, nudging her with my nose. “It was only a matter of time before you gave in.”
She hummed. “Guess we’re both a little twisty.”
I shrugged, looking around the erupted chaos of the warehouse, before planting a soft kiss on her head, “Maybe. Come on, we still have things to take care of.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I need to get my earnings.”
I set her down. “Earnings?”
“Oh yeah, didn’t I tell you, I put my money on the underdog. Guess I won.” She rested her hands on my chest. “Think of it as an investment on this baby.”
This baby. Oh, I was going to be a father. As much as it should’ve scared me a little bit, it didn’t. I was going to love every moment. I was going to love every day where her belly would grow. I was going to love knowing that my child was growing inside and would give Amelia little flutters.
Jesus, the mere thought of watching her breastfeed our child might be a new, strange turn on.
I even thought about knowing that I could get her pregnant again. I was going to enjoy the days when we could watch our child explore the world around them. I couldn’t wait to have the precious moments where they were my world, but I was the one living in theirs.
Hound and the others exited the ring surrounded by the De Santo family. We rushed everyone out of the warehouse, fearing that it would end with more bloodshed, which I wasn’t too upset at the possibility of it.
Titus was ushered to the back locker room, getting a medic on him. Amelia allowed me to lean on her a little bit, my body finally succumbing to the injuries bestowed on me.
“We had a deal, and it’s time to see yourself out of this town,” Hound Dog commanded, standing in front of the group.
Franklin looked around and said, “Well, we did agree on that, but I’m fairly certain there wasn’t a timeline of when we needed to vacate your precious city.”
“I suggest you get that contract looked over again because I’m pretty sure the amendment I wrote stated at the discretion of the winner.
And the funny thing is De Santo, that would be Shooter.
” Otis chimed in, flipping through his phone for the contract.
Once he found it, he shoved the phone in the direction of Franklin.
“You thought you could easy win.” Amelia chimed in. I gave her a little squeeze. She was such a brave soul. “You thought by having my ex-husband waiting for me at my house would shake me or Shooter or the club? I think you forgot that I wasn’t scared of him anymore.”
I saw red all over again, it explained the handprints around her neck that were slowly becoming more evident, all the cryptic messages that Franklin spewed before the fight.
“He was there.”
She nodded.
I turned my attention back to the sniveling De Santo prick. “I shouldn’t be fucking surprise that a snake would do it. I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
I wanted that chance.
“Don’t worry, he’s knocked out and handcuffed.
I think Stray is there.” She tried to soothe me from the fiery anger that raged in me.
She glanced back at Franklin. “You rigged it. I bet you had people spread a rumor that Titus was going to win this or something, allowing people to put more money on your fighter than Shooter. No one was betting on him. Between that and possibly taking me out of the equation and putting a Goliath of a man against him would make your odds even better.”