Fighting Silence (On the Ropes #1)(80)

“Dude, you are huge!”

Slate laughed as he walked in with Leo, Johnson, and a new guy I didn’t recognize. But Quarry was right. He was huge.

“Okay. Listen up!” Slate’s lip twitched, and Till shook his head at his attempted joke. “Leo’s running security for all of us this weekend. I know you’ve seen the hype, but this isn’t going to be like it is at home. You guys are celebrities here. You will be recognized. ”

Till moved behind me and folded his arms around to rest on my stomach.

“Do not leave this room without security. Period. This is Alex Pearson. He’s been with Leo for about a year, but this is his first trip with us. Please don’t scare him off. I’m talking to you, Q.”

We all laughed, except for Quarry, who smiled mischievously.

“I will repeat. Do not leave this room without one of them.” He passed us all a card. “Program all of their numbers into your phones. Leo will be with me and Till most of the time, but Alex and Johnson are all yours if you want to go out exploring or whatever. Erica will be here this weekend, along with Sarah and Liv.”

“Liv!” Quarry shouted before slapping a hand over his mouth.

Leo’s lip twitched, but he glared down at Q. “I’m watching you, boy.”

Quarry bit his lip, but his smile showed past it.

“Okay. Now that we have that out of the way, Till, get dressed. Let’s go check out the gym.”

Slate walked out, leaving Leo, Alex, and Johnson to chat with Flint. Quarry went back to flittering around the suite.

“You want to go out to dinner tonight?” Till asked me.

I pointedly looked down at my stomach. “Like I’m gonna say no.”

He smiled then pressed a soft kiss to my lips.

“Eliza, look! There’s a kitchen! You can cook for us here too!” Quarry shouted from over the bar dividing the rooms.

I rolled my eyes, but my smile snuck out, giving me away.





One Week Later . . .

“QUINN.”

“No.”

“Queen.”

“God no.”

“Quillan.”

“Uhhhh . . . I’m pretty sure you made that one up, so I’m going to stick with my original answer. No,” Eliza said, shooting me down for the hundredth time.

“Come on!”

“While I appreciate your efforts, we already picked a name.”

“Blakely is stupid though. Everyone will end up calling her Blake for short. Q is a badass nickname.”

“It’s also your nickname. Trust me. I don’t need to yell ‘Q’ any more than I already do. I can’t handle two of you.” She laughed as she scraped the mushrooms she had been slicing into a pan on the stove.

“Oh, whatever. What are you cooking anyway?”

“Hell if I know. Mushrooms just sounded really good.”

“Plain mushrooms?” I curled my lip as I settled on the barstool across from her.

“Yep!”

“You’re disgusting.” I laughed just as someone knocked on the door. “Oh! I bet that’s our The Silencer T-shirts for the fight.”

“God, I hope! They were supposed to be here yesterday.”

I yanked the front door open, and a well-dressed man I didn’t recognize stood on the other side. His hands were shoved in his pockets of his jacket, and a bright, white smile covered his face.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for Till. Is he around?”

“Nope.”

“Perfect,” he purred as he slowly pulled his hands out of his pockets, revealing a massive, green tattoo with the head of a dragon shooting red flames down his fingers—the same fingers that were poised on the trigger of a gun. “Quarry, I presume?” He used the tip of his gun to push me inside.

As the door clicked behind us, I heard Eliza from the kitchen.

“Who was it?” she asked just as we rounded the corner.

I didn’t even have a chance to react before his arm quickly looped around my neck to rest the gun at my temple. Her eyes popped wide and her hands flew to her mouth.

“Oh my God.”

I was in absolute shock. I didn’t know this guy, but I was terrified—and not for myself.

“It’s okay.” I tried to soothe her as my heart slammed around in my chest.

“Who the f*ck are you?!” the piece shit spoke to her, and it enraged me.

“Um, who are you?” Her shoulders moved as if she were searching the counter, but the bar blocked our view of her body.

“Get your f*cking hands up!” he barked.

It caused her chin to quiver and rage to radiate through me.

“Eliza,” she answered slowly, lifting her hands in surrender.

“Okay. Now, Eliza. Who the hell are you and where the f*ck is Till Page?” He turned the gun on her.

Even through my blinding fury, I knew that she did not need to answer that question.

“She’s my babysitter. Till’s at the gym.” I quickly covered, praying to f*ck he thought thirteen-year-olds still needed babysitters.

“Okay. Well, Eliza, this could actually work out. I need you to deliver a message to our good pal Till. Call him and let him know that Frankie Dragon stopped by to close out some unfinished business. It’s imperative that he gets this message. Do you understand?” His tone wasn’t harsh, but it was downright menacing.