Fighting Silence (On the Ropes #1)(75)

“You knocked out the heavyweight champion of the world!” Flint signed excitedly then shoved Till’s chest. He laughed wildly as he fell down onto the cushions.

“I can’t believe that f*cker actually won.”

“Won? I can’t believe someone gave his ass a title shot,” Flint replied.

“Are you kidding me? He’s The Brick Wall! He’s never been knocked out! What choice did they have?” I said sarcastically.

Rick “The Brick Wall” Matthews had just won the title belt. He was the same Brick Wall Till had knocked on his ass during his first and only amateur fight. The same Brick Wall who had quickly been making his way up the ladder. His arrogance about having never been knocked out and his ability to back it up made him a fan favorite and enabled him to skip a few of the rungs Till was still navigating.

“I cannot believe he has the f*cking title now,” Till signed as he spoke.

My stomach twisted as I waited for the fallout from watching someone so obviously lap him, but it never came.

Over the course of four months, my Till had come back. He had thrown himself into learning sign language, and even our sex life had returned to somewhat normal. Without words in the dark, Till was forced to read my body language—now that was something he excelled at. Things would never go back to the way they were before Till lost his hearing, but we were all busy forging a new path with the life we had been handed. Sometimes it sucked, but, as a family, we never focused on that for too long.

“Hey Flint, you still meeting up with Tiffany?” Till asked when I flipped off the television.

“Nah. Her curfew’s eleven. By the time I got over there, I’d just have to turn around and come home.”

“Quickie?” Till waggled his eyebrows teasingly.

“Till!” I smacked his chest.

“Don’t Till me. When we were his age, I’d already had you!” He laughed.

“Oh sweet Jesus.” I closed my eyes, shaking my head.

“He’s a man, Eliza.” Quarry interjected. “Men have quickies.”

“I’m gonna puke.” I stood up and walked to the kitchen, but Quarry continued.

“Sex is a natural part of life. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

I curled my lip in disgust and pleaded with Till. “Make him stop talking about sex.”

“No way. I happen to agree with Q. Besides, you didn’t seem to be embarrassed in the shower this morning.”

My eyes bulged as I glared at him. Flint shook his head, but they all burst out laughing.

You’re so getting cut off for that, I signed behind the boy’s backs.

Liar, he replied with only his hands. Then he stood up from his seat on the couch and dug his wallet out of his back pocket. “Besides, who said I was talking about Flint having a quickie? I was talking to you.” He handed Flint a twenty, but his eyes were glued to mine. “I’m starving. Go grab some pizza, and go to that good place down by the gym. It’s worth the drive.”

“Oh shit! Are you two going to do it?” Quarry asked, looking back and forth between us until Flint slapped him on the back of the head.

“Let’s go.” He grabbed the truck keys off table, and they both headed out the door.

As soon as it clicked behind them, Till was on me. His mouth crushed into mine while he lifted me onto the kitchen counter. I wasn’t going to fight him. We so rarely got time alone that I didn’t even care that he’d just announced to the boys that we were planning to have sex. More embarrassing things had happened.

He moved his mouth to my neck as my hands slid under his shirt and up to his hard abs.

“So I was thinking. Since I won the fight last night, I’m off for a few days.” I wasn’t looking at him, and I wasn’t about to remove my hands to reply, so I hummed my acknowledgement. He continued to kiss my neck. “I know things have been crazy over the last few months, but you’ve been wearing that engagement ring for entirely too long. What do you say we get married tomorrow?”

I jerked my head away to catch his eye. “Tomorrow?”

“Yeah. I was thinking we could hit the courthouse, make it official, then do a big dinner with the boys and Slate and Erica, maybe some of the guys from the gym. Then we could get a hotel room for a couple of nights. Spend some time having way more than quickies.” He bit my bottom lip.

“Tomorrow?” I asked again in shock.

“Tomorrow.”

“But we don’t have rings,” I signed my petty excuse.

He grabbed my hand and pulled it to his mouth, kissing my palm. “We’ll get some.”

“Umm . . .” I stalled, but I wasn’t quite sure why. There wasn’t really anything to think about. I’d been married to Till since the first moment I’d laid eyes on him. He hadn’t known it for a long time, but I always had. There was really only answer. “Okay, but hotels are expensive. Let’s just see if the boys can spend a few nights at Slate’s.”

“Stop being a cheapo. We have more than enough in savings to cover something like this. We’re getting married. I want a couple of nights at a nice hotel where we can order up room service and a nice bottle of champagne. Maybe get a little tipsy and spend the rest of the night finding new ways to make each other come. You’ll need the extra day for recovery.”