Paxton's Promise (Gloves Off #3)(6)

Actually, she wasn’t bad at all. I liked her. Paxton waited on my comeback but I didn’t have one. “Okay, you have a point,” I gave in. “We aren’t always like the friends we hang out with. But even if you weren’t one of Kyle’s friends, it still doesn’t change who you are. You’re just like the rest of the fighters. Any piece of ass that comes your way, you’re gonna want it. I’ve been around you guys for a long time now.”

Paxton snorted and opened his door. “Well, I guess your brother is a real dick to his wife then. Why don’t you stop now, you’re not making any valid points.”

Pursing my lips, I watched him get out of the car with a smug smile on his face. He got me and he knew it. What a pain in the ass. When I got out of the car, I slammed the door and looked around. I had no clue where we were. There were shopping centers all around, but he parked us at a huge warehouse off to the side. I’d never been in this area before.

“What is this place?” I asked.

His smile widened. “Come and find out.”

Starting toward the warehouse, I walked beside him through the parking lot until we got to the door. When I looked inside, my eyes widened. “Oh my God, you can’t be serious.” Inside was a race track, with professional go karts. Ones that actually had speed. I hadn’t been on one in years.

“Are you ready to race? I have to say I’m kind of good.”

Little did he know I had experience with racing machines. When my brother started earning money in the ring, he moved us all to a better house and surprised me with my very own go kart. We could never afford to do things when we were younger, so he made sure to bring back my childhood. He even had a race track made in our backyard so I could race against the boys in school. It was so much fun.

Paxton opened the door and I grinned from ear to ear. “Better watch out. I’m pretty good myself.”

“Really?” he replied. “How about we make a wager on it if you think you’re so good?”

“Okay, how about if I win, you lower the terms from one month to two weeks?” I held out my hand and dared him to take the challenge. There was no way he could beat me. I had this shit on lock.

“Agreed,” he said, shaking my hand. “Let’s see what you got.”





GABRIELLA THOUGHT SHE could fool me, but I knew she had experience in racing. In fact, she’d be absolutely stunned to know who I had in my back pocket. There were more people rooting for us to get together than just me.

After putting on our jumpsuits and helmets, the guys at the track gave me and Gabriella full access to the track so we could race by ourselves. Side by side, we sat in our karts, revving our engines at the start line. I was focused and kept my attention on the red lights. As soon as the green lights lit, we were both off, squealing our tires.

I was good at racing, but not so much with little go karts. No one really knew what I did in my spare time. I hoped to show Gabby soon, as I had a race coming up and I wanted her to be there. Even if I had to cut our time down to two weeks, it was still more than enough to wear her down. She needed to know there was more to me than just fighting.

Turn after turn, we kept up with each other’s pace, neither one of us taking the lead. She rammed into me a few times, but I corrected myself and kept up with her. I honestly thought I was going to have to slow it down for her, but she was doing better than anyone I’d ever seen, including myself. Her lines were perfect and she sailed through the track like it was nothing. I had to say I was impressed.

Two laps down and one more to go. Tension ran high, but I could see the light in her eyes when she peered over at me. We had two more turns and then it was the straight away to the finish line. With my foot all the way down on the gas, I floored it forward, but Gabriella never left my side. Once the line was crossed, we both slammed on the brakes and came to a screeching stop.

Gabriella unstrapped her helmet and laughed. “I so beat you, Pax.”

Getting out of the kart, I lifted up my helmet and shook my head. “Sorry, sunshine, but you’re wrong. Let’s see what the guys have to say.”

All three workers were standing by the monitor looking at the video. By the looks on their faces, I’d say they didn’t know who won. It was too close to call.

“What’s the verdict, guys?” Gabriella asked them.

They were young, probably in their early twenties and they didn’t know what to say. Even when Gabriella looked at the screen, her brows furrowed. “Hmm . . . it kind of looks like a tie.”

“That’s what I said,” one of the guys said. “I guess it’s up to you two.”

All three of them walked off and left us at the screen. It really did look like it was a tie. “You surprised me. I didn’t think you had it in you,” I teased.

Holding her helmet in her hand, she smiled up at me. It was the first time I’d seen a genuine smile on her face since she’d been with me. “What can I say? I’m a natural.”

“So what do you want to do about the terms? If you want to take the two weeks off of the month, you can. You totally kicked ass out there.”

We started toward the prep room to return our gear, but she stopped me with a hand on my arm. “You would do that even if I didn’t clearly win?”

Smirking, I opened the door to the prep room and placed my helmet back on the shelf and my jumpsuit in the basket. “You earned the two weeks off. To be fair, however, you should know that if you cut out those weeks, you’ll be making it up by doubling the amount of time we spend together. It’s your choice though.”