Chapter 5 Juliet
JULIET
Sweat rolls down my temples and even into my eyes as I stare at the man across the mats from me. Abel’s grin is wicked as he circles one foot over the other. Cory stands on the sidelines as well as a few of the other guys that frequent his gym, watching.
My side is sore from our last bout, but I can’t complain. I’ve never wanted to be treated any different from the others that step into the ring and Abel makes sure that I’m not. He hits just as hard as if I were a man—I’ve got the bruises to prove it.
“Come on!” someone hollers. “You just gonna keep circling or are ya gonna do something!”
Before the man even finishes his shout, I dive forward and throw a punch at Abel’s face.
He narrowly dodges the action, skidding several feet to the side before spinning and kicking out.
I jump with a gasp, air scratching through my already raw throat as I almost don’t avoid him in time to have my ankles knocked together.
I’ve already gone down three times in the last round of sparring and I’m not going to let it happen again. I will win one session with this man if it fucking kills me.
Gritting my teeth, I follow up my initial attack and dodge with a series of short jabs that have him on the defensive. He backs up, forearms coming up to protect his face, and then, I do it. I spin, going low as he realizes what I’m about to do, and I slam my foot into one of his.
It took a couple of tries and more times than I’m comfortable with getting my ass kicked, but I finally take him down with the same fucking move he used on me.
Abel’s legs sweep out from beneath him and he goes down hard on his side.
I dive on top of his body without giving him a moment to rest or defend himself and start throwing punches.
A minute later, Cory calls it. “All right,” he says, stepping up to the side of the ring. “You’ve got him pinned, girl. Good job. The session’s over.”
Immediately, I drop my arms and lift back onto shaking legs. I hold out one wrapped hand to the man beneath me and he takes it with a grin.
“Not bad, kid,” Abel says as he gets back up, bouncing on the balls of his feet and shaking his arms out as if he’s ready for another round.
“You were a good partner,” I tell him honestly. “Thanks for not taking it easy on me. Most guys would’ve.”
Abel snorts. “Hell no, I ain’t taken it easy on you. I know more than my fair share of badass bitches who could probably take down a whole army.” He tilts his head back and looks at me down the length of his nose. “You kind of remind me of some of them.”
Cory hands me one of the towels from a collection on the edge of the room and I begin to mop up the sweat coating my face, neck, and shoulders. “Yeah?” I ask absently.
“Mmmmhmmm.” Abel’s reply is a low hum of noise as if he, too, is distracted. I glance at him to find that he’s already across the mat and has left the area to grab his phone from a nearby chair and is looking down at the screen.
While most guys leave their phones in their lockers when working out unless they’re using them for music, Abel has kept his on his person pretty much since the moment I met him.
Cory pats my shoulder and then heads back to the desk as the front door to the gym opens and two more guys step inside.
I watch Abel for a moment longer as he turns and takes a seat on the fold-out chair and types away at his cell before drifting over.
He doesn’t glance up as I draw near. His sole focus is on the phone in his hand.
I glance over his shoulder as I stop at his side and spot a photo in a text message of a purple-haired woman holding a toddler, and a boy of about ten or so is half over her shoulder.
She’s glaring at the camera, but it’s in selfie mode so I wonder if it's real anger or just sarcastic. Abel’s lips twitch with amusement as he types out a response beneath the photo.
I don’t look at that, though. Curiosity is one thing, but privacy is another. Still…
“Is that your girlfriend?” I ask.
“Wife,” Abel says without hesitation.
“You’re married?” My brows rise at that. He doesn’t seem the type to get married. And those kids… they did bear a striking resemblance to the man before me.
“Yup.” Abel pops the word out of his mouth before finally lowering his cell and glancing up. “Going on ten years now,” he admits. “Vegas wedding—couldn’t let her get away.”
Ten years… and the oldest kid in the picture had looked the same age. “Did you get married young because she got pregnant?” I ask.
Abel leans back in the metal folding chair and eyes me. “Not exactly,” he says. “But that was one of her reasons for saying yes. I married her, though, because she was mine and I needed her and everyone else to know it.”
I nod, not even put off by the ‘mine’ comment.
The Scorpion Kings are the same. There’s a lot of possessiveness in the men that surround me.
“How many kids do you have?” I ask. “I realize you’re the one dealing with all of the legalities of the investigation and everything else that’s tied up with Morpheus’ will and the business and stuff, but I don’t hardly know a thing about you. ”
“We’ve got two right now and one on the way,” he admits with a grin.
“Jesus,” I mutter with a shake of my head. “Three in ten years?”
“I wanted more, but my girl keeps putting me off,” he says. Then, he sighs and his next words nearly make my eyes bulge out of my head. “I’d replace her birth control with placebos if I didn’t think she’d tear my head off.”
“You’d what?” I gape at him. Holy shit. He’s just as fucking crazy as Lex, I realize.
“Oh yeah.” Either Abel doesn’t realize my horror, or he just doesn’t care. He continues. “I want to keep her pregnant and barefoot for as long as possible. She can’t run away if she’s got another baby in her.”
Psycho. Absolutely crazy. I edge away from him. “I… see…” I glance around, wondering where the hell I left my bag and my cell because I need to call Gio to come pick me up and get me the hell out of here.
“Anyway…” Abel groans and lumbers up from the chair, putting one hand on the small of his back and stretching. “I should probably head back to Viks’ place for the time being, I’ve got a meeting with the board of directors of Donovan-Calloway Industries later this afternoon.”
I stop moving and sharpen my gaze on him. “Do I need to be there?” I ask.
Abel snorts. “No, kiddo.” He shakes his head.
“You won’t even be allowed to touch this shit until everything is all figured out.
You just worry about getting back to school and graduating and I’ll take care of the legal shit.
” He waves me off. “Go on, there’s probably no one in the shower room right now, so you should shower as fast as you can before one of your guys gets here. ”
I don’t need to be told a second time. I bob my head and turn, speed walking towards the row of lock boxes to grab my stuff, and head for the small dingy shower room that Cory’s Gym has.
Normally, I wouldn’t even think to shower here, but a quick glance over my texts and the one from Gio that says he’s already on his way over to get me and I decide that now is as good a time as any.
I quickly rush through a rinse down before changing into a second pair of clean stretchy pants and a t-shirt. My phone pings with Gio’s announcement that he’s waiting in the parking lot as I finish tugging on my sneakers.
On my way outside, I run into Abel who’d apparently been waiting for his ride as well since he’d gotten dropped off the same time I had earlier in the morning. Together, we wave goodbye to Cory and walk outside, rounding the building towards the alley that leads to the back parking area.
As we walk, I tip my head back and glance at the man next to me. He’s a handsome man. Taller than me, though not as tall as some men. Rich, from what I understand. But there’s something that’s been bugging me for a while now.
“Can I ask you a question?” I blurt, slowing my gait so that we don’t hit the parking lot too quickly.
“You just did,” Abel comments, but he, too, slows down.
“Why are you helping me?” I forge ahead.
“Acting as my lawyer and going through the business and dealing with everything. I’m not paying you and you’re…
” I drift off, but I don’t need to say it.
Abel is fuck-you wealthy and even if I was once a part of that class, I’m no longer that person.
Even if I do end up as the only viable inheritor of the business with my dad in jail, I’m broke as fuck right now.
I have no money to pay him and he has no reason to help me.
“Well, to be honest, I never use my law degree,” Abel says with a chuckle.
“Did all of that work, got the degree, passed the bar, and don’t do shit with it because my time is taken up by my own businesses.
I take a few cases here and there for friends of friends—that’s what I’m doing now.
Your boy is part of Viks’ family and Viks is part of mine.
” He casts me a look. “Family is important to me.”
“I know that Viks thinks Lex is his nephew or something, but it’s not like Lex and I are… well, we aren’t related or anything.”
Abel snorts. “Yeah, that’s probably a good thing. I doubt the shit the four of y’all get up to is something anyone would be comfy with if you were related.”
“That’s—” I stop walking just before we come into full view of the parking lot and turn to him. “That’s not what I meant,” I say. “I just meant—”
“When I said family is important to me,” Abel cuts me off, turning to face me.
“I didn’t say it had to be blood.” A beat passes before he continues.
“In fact, I don’t give a shit, really, about my blood family—other than my kids.
You should know that pretty well by now. After everything you’ve been through.”
The muscles beneath my shoulder blades clench. “What do you know of what I’ve been through?” I demand.