Chapter 15

Saturday 'early' morning (I count 8 as early on weekends) I went for a long power walk. The only result I came to after my walk is-I'm not as fit as I think I'm. It plummeted my confidence, which was not much, to begin with. I wouldn't have felt this uncertainty if I was in form and doing fights regularly. I was thinking of a long shower as I climb my stairs when I heard a crashing sound.

I raced towards the sound only to halt at what I saw.

' oh my God Richard, what happened? Are you ok? Can you walk? Here let me help you', I hold his hand to lift him when I noticed his hand is covered in red dots. I checked his face to find some more red dots. Though they are a bit unusual. I never had chickenpox, maybe this is normal in such diseases.

' you touched me', he said in awe.

'of course, I would touch you. You are not feeling well. Are you feeling any hotness?' I put my hand on his forehead to check the temperature.

‘Yes, totally' he hitched.

A frown marred between my eyes. Maybe he is feeling hot inside.

‘You poor thing. Why don't you lay down for a while? I will go wake up your mother'

' you touched me', he repeated.

He probably is out of it. Poor kid. I knocked on Claire 's bedroom before entering. Claire works odd shifts. Being a single mother, she must, for the extra money.

'Claire', I woke her up.

'Erica? What's wrong?' she questioned waking up.

' it's Richard. Don't worry I put him on the couch. But please make sure he doesn't wander in his condition', I reprimanded

'condition?' she asked as she entered the living room

'Ahhh, what happened to you?', she ran the remaining steps crouching before him.

'umm'

'Take this, put it on his forehead ', I gave her a wet cotton cloth.

She put the cloth-making the adjustments when she said, ‘wait a minute' and started wiping his face. The red dots decreased rapidly to my increasing temper.

'what's the meaning of this Richard?', Claire asked after wiping all red dots.

'umm, I read freckles are attractive and look, she touched me for the first time. Wow, it really works' he clarified.

Claire just laughed, ' so that's where my lip pencil ended up. You handle it. I will make breakfast '

I turned to find him giving me a goofy grin. My temper evaporated as swiftly as it came. This boy is going to be a killer with his charm in a few years.

' I'm going to burn those novels when I get my hands on it ', I told him without much heat.

'So, how's your job going on? Still under sir knight?', she teased.

'It's.... interesting. No, I got promoted', if you could call it that, I wondered.

'Congrats. How is your new boss? Same as sir knight?'

I thought of Raphael Sinclair- his face hewn from a rock. How he walked into a room and conversations stopped, heads turned, and eyes followed him, and it wasn't the immaculate tailoring and stunning good looks they stared at, the man literally oozed animal magnetism from every perfect pore.

It wasn't just that people looked at him and thought gorgeous and sexy—not intrinsically bad in itself and you couldn't blame a man for genetics—it was the fact that he obviously didn't give a damn what people thought about him that really got under my skin. The man's assurance and self-confident poise were utterly impregnable.

'No, nothing like Mr. knight', I said vaguely.

'Oh. No deep conversations?'

Deep conversations! With Raphael Sinclair? He did not exactly ooze empathy. As for tolerance! I would laugh at the idea if anyone suggested it. Raphael Sinclair had definitely not been at the head of the queue when they'd handed out that one, though on other occasions he had obviously been first in line!

'Definitely no such thing. He is a stubborn arrogant know-it-all egoistic maniac’, I added with a bite in my voice.

‘Couldn’t you try and be conciliatory?’, She tried to placate me.

I snorted at that. ‘That word is not in my dictionary. Anyhow, I have chores to do. Sorry for disturbing your sleep. I really thought he is sick', I said standing up.

'Why do I bother? You watch yourself. One of these days my boy is going to snare you. I don't want to be a Mother-in-law so young'.

I rolled my eyes, not wanting to acknowledge it.

I stood at the back entrance of Kade's club, clad in leather pants, crop top, and a leather jacket all in black. A bulky bouncer is guarding the door.

'Kade's office', I said oozing confidence.

'He is waiting for you. Go straight and take left.', he said opening the door.

I tapped and entered inside. He lifted his head watching me from head to toe. I wish to think he is checking me out.

'Ready?'

'As I will ever be', I sighed.

He nodded noting my anxiety. That's the thing with Kade, he won't give any false assurances.

'Let's go'

'In Harley?', excited about sitting on that baby.

He nodded taking the keys.

The ride is over before I can relax, much to my taste. I would have not minded sitting for another 2 hours or more.

'Give it all', he said walking into what I presume as a warehouse.

'Are you one of the partners?', I asked him for diversion. It doesn't do any good to be tensed before a fight.

'No. Not into illegal stuff'

My eyebrows lifted at that statement.

'Why? Are you under surveillance?'

'No. Just not interested anymore’, he said as vague as ever.

We entered what would have been the back entrance of the warehouse if the crowd facing is any indication. There are more than 200 people here. Great. Enough to make a fool of myself.

'Why so many people?', it's not like I'm popular. Hardly.

'There is another fight after yours', he clarified.

That explains it.

A giant bear (not real bear) walked towards us nodding at Kade. 'The show hits the road in 5 minutes' he said calmly walking away as swiftly as he came.

'OK. Let's do this', I pulled my jacket giving it to Kade to hold on. We walked to the ring without talking to each other. You are not going to get beaten. Kick-ass Erica. You could do it.

My eyes landed on my opponent during my prep talk to myself.

I'm SOOO getting beaten.