Fighting Silence (On the Ropes #1)(43)

Leo James was the head of Slate and, his wife, Erica’s security team. He was up at the gym a good bit and often brought his family with him. I couldn’t quite figure out the dynamic with that group, but I thought maybe Leo and Erica were related somehow. They were super close, but for as protective as Slate was over Erica, he never seemed fazed in the slightest by how tight they were.

“We’re good. Jesus. You running a day care in here?” I stepped away as I was almost plowed over by an angry heard of toddlers.

Slate and Erica had two kids; Adam was three, and Riley was still a baby. I’d have been hard-pressed to take a guess at her age though. Then Leo and his wife, Sarah, had Tyler, who was two, and an eight-year-old daughter named . . .

“Hey, Liv,” Quarry greeted from behind me.

“Hey, Q,” she responded shyly before going back to playing with Adam.

“It sure as hell feels like it sometimes,” Leo responded with a laugh. “We’re headed out to dinner, and Slate said you’d watch the kids.”

“What?” I asked as my eyes flew to Slate, who was chatting with Erica on the other side of the room.

“Yeah. It’s an overnight thing. I packed extra diapers, so you should be good. Just keep an eye on the boy. I snuck him a few Pixy Stix on the way over. He’s gonna be wired.”

Erica must have read the fear in my eyes from across the room, because she shouted, “Leave him alone! Ignore him, Till. We’re meeting a friend here then heading out. With the kids.”

“Oh thank God,” I breathed, causing Leo and Slate to burst into laughter.

“Speaking of . . .” Slate nodded to the gym door.

A big, tattooed dude and a smoking-hot blonde came walking in arm in arm.

“Where are the kids?” Sarah yelled with disappointment.

“Wow. It’s great to see you too, sis,” the blonde said sarcastically. “We left them with Brett and Jesse. There is no way we are finally going out of town, getting a nice hotel room, and bringing the kids with us.”

“I told you I had a nanny!” Erica whined, obviously sharing Sarah’s disappointment.

“Look, we haven’t been alone since the twins were born.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, and the man at her side smirked.

“Well, okay, then.” Slate changed the subject as the women started giggling. “Caleb, this is Till Page. Till, Caleb Jones.”

“What’s up, man? I’ve heard good things about you.” He extended a hand.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Slate’s been telling me for years that you’re the next big—”

Slate cut him off. “All right. Let’s get out of here. Till, I need you in the ring with Derrick tonight. You both need a good workout, so make it happen.” He pulled a key chain out of his pocket. “You think you can lock up tonight?”

I looked down at a silver boxing glove.

“Those are yours. Don’t lose them.”

I blinked rapidly. It was just a key on a pretty sweet key chain, but it was so much more to me. As far as I knew, no one had keys to On The Ropes except for Slate. And the fact that he was giving me a set meant more than I would ever be able to explain.

I cleared my throat so I didn’t sound like a bitch getting all emotional. “Um . . . I get to keep them?”

“Yep. Go with Leo, and have him set up your code for the alarm.”

I get my own code for the alarm too? Shit. I really was an emotional bitch.

A half hour later, the whole crew left. The gym quieted down, and I was finally allowed a few minutes to obsess about Eliza again. Fuck. She would have understood what those keys meant to me. She probably would have gotten all excited and jumped up and down, giving me an opportunity to watch her tits bounce. Double f*ck.

“Till!” Flint called from the ring, snapping me out of my thoughts. “You coming?”

“Shit. Sorry. Yeah, I’m coming.” I grabbed a set of pads and jogged over.

Distraction. That was just what I needed.

Flint was killing it as Derrick Bailey came strutting into the gym. Why the hell he came to the gym in slacks and a pink button-down, I would never understand.

“Where’s Slate?” he asked from the corner.

“He took off. He had some friends come into town,” I answered absently as Flint’s gloves continued to pound out a rhythm. “He wants us to spar tonight. Go get warmed up.”

The bell rang, and I finally gave him my attention.

“Nah. I’ll work out on my own while I wait on him to get back. He’ll be back later, right?” he asked with his eyes glued to two of the rich girls who used the gym like a country club.

“Nope. I’m locking up tonight.”

His head snapped to mine. I f*cking loved that feeling. He didn’t have keys—that much was certain.

“You?”

“Yep. Slate gave me a set of keys.” It was an obvious statement that had been implied with the whole “I’m locking up” thing, but I really just threw it out there to rub salt in the wound.

He slowly nodded as he stared at me. God, it felt good to be one up on that *.

“Get changed and warmed up. I’ll meet you in the ring in an hour. I’ve got to finish this up then switch over the towels.”