All morning Bianca had worked her shift at the shop and answered all her mother’s and grandmother’s questions, shoving any thoughts of her dream aside. It was just a dream. She’d spent the entire day with Gio. Of course, it would make sense that he’d be around even in her subconscious thoughts. But it was what he was doing in there and the disappointment she’d felt when she woke and realized that it wasn’t Gio that gnawed at her more than anything.
Why in the world would she be disappointed? She was so excited that Felix was finally here with her. Sure, Gio was gorgeous and sweet, but she loved Felix.
She was certain that the hour of online college coursework she’d put in that morning was wasted because the whole time her mind had wandered off to the dream. Bianca shook her head as she turned off her car. It was just a dream. She’d had plenty of bizarre and unexplained dreams before. Stop overthinking this!
Toni smiled at her as Bianca walked into her once again empty beauty salon. To Bianca’s surprise, Toni’s hair was still the same color as the last time she saw her, but she did have it up in this geisha style, big elaborate hair combs and all, though she’d passed on the white makeup. Bianca smiled, gesturing at the ’do. “Looks good. I seriously doubt now you’ll ever find a style that doesn’t fit you, Toni.”
Toni winked at her as she stood. “Keith, the guy I told you I met at that artsy fartsy film festival in Los Angeles a few months ago, is coming up tonight. He’s bringing some Japanese documentary he and his friend worked on together about the history of the Geisha. I figured he’d get a kick out of my hair.”
Bianca took a seat at one of the styling chairs, laughing softly. “I’m sure he will.”
Toni walked up behind her, facing her in the mirror. “So, what’s it gonna be?”
Bianca had already filled her in on tonight’s party when she called to ask her if she was available to style her hair tonight. “Nothing too elaborate. I’m actually hoping to blend into the crowd. I get the feeling it’ll be overrun with paparazzi and stuff. I’d just as soon not go, but he really wants me there.”
Toni looked away, but Bianca caught how her expression changed. Ever since the big photo blow up and Bianca making her promise not to fill her in on any gossip with nothing concrete to confirm it, Toni had been real good about not sharing anything she’d read. Bianca knew this expression. She’d seen it before when Toni would tell her about something unpleasant she’d read in the tabloids or saw on TV about Felix.
Toni opened and shut drawers a little too fast and noisily and was avoiding eye contact. “I can do toned down elegance. I know just the thing.”
“Toni?”
Toni continued to rummage through the drawer without looking up. “Hmm?”
“You have something you wanna tell me?” Normally Bianca wouldn’t even ask if she suspected it had something to do with the many tabloid shows Toni watched, but she was acting so strangely now.
Toni glanced at her for a second then went immediately back to searching the drawer. “Uh, no.”
“Spill it, Toni.” If the discomfort she was feeling wasn’t so overwhelming, Bianca might actually laugh at how obvious Toni was. Her style and personality went hand in hand. There was nothing ambiguous about her. So she was terrible at trying conceal her feelings.
Toni stopped and looked in the mirror with a frown. “Honey, it’s nothing. It’s just that with this fight coming up, Felix has been the buzz lately on all the gossip shows. And you know me, anytime they start talking about his elusive Big Bear love interest, I have to watch and see if by chance they’ll mention you or have any photos of you and all.”
She went back to rummaging through her drawer until she came up with a red comb and walked up behind Bianca. Bianca was almost afraid to ask but she had to. “Have they?”
Toni finally put on her “okay, getting to the point” expression and shifted her weight to one side, looking at Bianca straight in the eyes through the mirror. “It’s always someone else they think is you.” Bianca’s eyes opened wide at the comment and her stomach dropped. “But,” Toni added quickly, “I hadn’t said anything because there is never anything concrete about the girls in the short clips or photos they show of him. There’s never even any solid proof that the pictures are not all old.”
Bianca thought of the mariachis Felix had gone out of his way to get for her and how he sounded so genuine when he said he loved her. She wouldn’t panic, but she also knew Toni wouldn’t even be talking about this if there wasn’t more to it than just old pictures and rumors with no real foundation. “What else have they said?”
Toni took a deep breath. “You said he was in Chicago last week, right?”
“Yes.” Bianca held her breath in worried anticipation.
“They had pictures of him with a girl there. It was nothing bad, but one of them did show them walking into a hotel. They were supposedly taken the day he got stuck out there.”
Bianca stared at her, not sure what to think. “Were they holding hands or anything?” Her own voice was already sounding strained to her own ears, and she swallowed hard. Could it be possible that Felix was actually playing her?
“No, they weren’t.” Toni’s voice took on a reassuring tone. “All the pictures were very innocent. It could’ve been just an associate or something and if it weren’t for the fact that they walked into a hotel together and on the very day he was supposed to be flying out here to be with you, I wouldn’t have even thought of bringing it up.” Toni walked around the chair and faced her. “You should just ask him. Like all the other times, I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation.”
Bianca nodded, surprised she wasn’t already a blubbering mess. But she felt Felix’s love for her in his kisses now. Saw it as clear as day in his eyes when he looked into hers. If it weren’t for that, she just might be. If anything, she was angry. Just as she’d promised him she wouldn’t jump to any conclusions without asking him first, he’d promised her he’d tell her about anything he thought would get back to her that she might consider questionable. He had to understand things such as this could easily, and for very good reason, upset her.
“I’ll ask him about it today.” Bianca smiled. “Thanks for bringing it up. I’m still not watching any of those shows or reading the tabloids, so I would’ve never known.” She smiled even bigger remembering how, just like Toni said, all the other times there’d been perfectly acceptable explanations. There probably would be for this one too.
Once again, Toni did an awesome job of Bianca’s hair and makeup. These were the only times she used Toni’s services because until Felix came along, Bianca rarely even wore makeup. And if she did, it didn’t warrant having it professionally applied. But knowing she’d be in the limelight, she wanted it to look as nice as possible.
The car Felix sent for her was already waiting when she arrived back at her grandmother’s house. Her mother and Nana oohed and aahed about her makeup and hair, which should’ve made her feel better. However the knot in her stomach from the news Toni had dropped on her was still firmly in place.
The ride back to Felix’s cabin felt longer than normal. She knew there had to be an acceptable explanation. Toni had given her a few more details about the photos. Apparently, they’d gone to dinner alone. And this time, there was no other boyfriend or his agent around. It was just the two of them who’d been seen leaving the restaurant together and arriving at his hotel. The more Bianca thought about it, the more uncertain she got that this one was explainable.
Felix walked out of the cabin onto the porch as the car came up the drive. He was down the stairs and ready to open her door when the car stopped. As soon as she got out, he pulled her to him and kissed her softly but deeply. “I would’ve gone with him to pick you up, but I just got here myself.” He kissed her again then added, “You look beautiful.”
Bianca’s heart sped up. The thought of this being all one big lie—that he did this with a different girl everywhere he went was too overwhelming. Before he could kiss her again, she placed her hand on his chest. “Who were you with the day you got stuck in Chicago?”
His reaction was anything but what she was expecting. She’d let it out that way because she needed immediate reassurance that she had it all wrong again—see it in his loving eyes. Instead, his troubled, almost fearful expression did just the opposite. She pulled away from him.
“I was gonna tell you about that as soon as I got a moment.” He reached out for her, but she backed away.
“Tell me what?”
“It’s kind of a long story, but I can explain it.”
Explain it? Bianca didn’t need any long explanations. There was only one thing she needed to know as her now pounding heart felt near ready to explode. “Did you sleep with her?”
“No!”
“But you took her to your hotel?” He’d made love to her last night, and just a few nights prior, he had another girl in his hotel with him? She wanted to scream now.
“That’s what I wanna talk to you about,” he said calmly. “But it’s cold out here. Let’s go inside.”
“I’m not stepping foot in there until you tell me what’s going on.” Bianca was trying hard not to lose it, but she felt so close.
“Baby, relax. I promise you it’s not what you’re thinking.” He exhaled. “Okay, I went out with her a few times in the past. I hadn’t seen her in weeks.”
“Weeks?” Bianca yelled out, certain now that she was going to lose it for sure. “You saw her a few weeks ago too?”
“Yes. Saw her.” She saw the panic in his eyes one moment, and then just like that, it was gone. “That was it. It wasn’t planned. I ran into her is all.” He tried again in vain to reach for her hand, but Bianca snatched it back taking another step away from him. “I never formally ended things with her. I just sort of stopped calling her once I started seeing you, and I wanted to give her the closure I thought she deserved. She lives in Chicago, so since I was in town, I took her to dinner, and I let her know I’m in a relationship now.”
“And then you took her back to your hotel.”
“To have a drink at the lounge downstairs, but I swear to you that’s all that happened. And I had every intention of telling you about his. You have to believe me.”
He took another step toward her, so Bianca took another one back. With every step she’d taken away from him, she’d been that much closer to the car, and her back now touched it, making it impossible to get any further away. He placed his hands on either side of her against the car, enclosing her in his arms. “I love you, Bianca. I know this is tough. You hearing about shit like this before I get a chance to explain sucks, but I promise you I won’t ever hurt you.”
“What’s her name?” She demanded, making him frown. “I wanna know.”
“Shelley. She’s an intern at the Chicago Sun-Times. She co-interviewed me earlier last year, and we went out a few times. Anytime there’s a press conference in Chicago she’s there, so that’s why and how I run into her sometimes, but it’s over now.” His face leaned into Bianca’s, and he brushed his lips gently against hers. As unsure of this as she still felt, she wanted so badly to believe him. “I love you,” he whispered against her mouth. “Please tell me you believe me when I say I won’t ever hurt you.”
“I want to.” Bianca willed the relief to slowly trickle back into her suspicious heart.
He brought his hands up off the car and held her face in them. “You can. I swear to you.” He kissed her again, but unlike she had in the past, or maybe just as she had in the past, only she’d been so deep in denial, she didn’t feel the sincerity. She heard it in his voice loud and clear, but something deep in her gut told her otherwise. No one could be this good at lying, could they?
Finally allowing herself to breathe easy, she kissed him back, waiting for that sudden liberation from her fears—the exhilaration she’d felt so often in the past when her doubts were wiped away by his words, his touch. Only this time it never came.
She gasped as his big arms picked her up by the waist and off her feet. Soft hopeful laughter escaped her as he cradled her in his arms and he carried her up the stairs toward the front door of the cabin.
Although she felt somewhat content and wanted to believe that he’d done nothing with Shelley, Bianca had to wonder if this would ever end—if she’d ever trust him completely. She hated to think this would forever be a part of their relationship, and she hated how fast and easy it was for her to believe he could do something like that to her. The knot in the pit of her stomach was now gone, but it was replaced with something else—something that overshadowed what should’ve been an enormous relief. Instead, it was disconcerting and confusing.
*
As they turned into the back entrance driveway of the club, Bianca was relieved to see the entourage of paparazzi that had followed them the whole way there was not allowed in the back way. She let out a slow sigh of relief and Felix squeezed her hand. “You okay?”
She smiled and nodded, glad now that poor Gio, even in all the obvious pain he was in, had still come along anyway. He seemed just as unnerved about the paparazzi as she was, only for some reason, he looked more irritated than nervous about them. But clearly it was new to him too. Felix and Andy, who also accompanied them in the limo tonight, were completely unfazed by the attention.
“It’s a private party, so the entire club is open only to invited guests. They,” Felix gestured back to the paparazzi vans left behind. “are not invited.”
Of course, there were reporters present, but since they were invited, Felix said they’d be on their best behavior, unless they never wanted to be invited back to one of these events.
Bianca had been to this particular club once before with Toni. But she didn’t realize it had a VIP section. Then it dawned on her this area had been open to everyone the night she’d been there. They actually created a VIP section just for Felix and his guests by closing off one of the corners of the bar area. They’d only been sitting enjoying their first round of drinks for a few minutes when one of Felix’s bodyguards standing by the entrance of the VIP section called him over.
“I’ll be right back,” he whispered in Bianca’s ear before kissing her softly and then stood.
She watched as he walked over to his large bodyguard. As his bodyguard moved out of the way, she saw who was standing there waiting for Felix: a tall brunette in a very tight little black dress.
Bianca was immediately on alert. She’d heard about the groupies, even from Felix, though she didn’t think his bodyguards would be stupid enough to call him over to meet with any while he was having drinks with his girlfriend.
She noticed Gio was watching Felix closely as well, and if she wasn’t mistaken, he seemed just as irritated by seeing the girl with Felix as she was. She glanced back at Felix when she saw Gio’s irritated expression give way to a sudden smirk.
Felix was on his way back to their table with the girl. Bianca sat up a little straighter, unsure of how exactly to react to this. “Evelyn, I’d like you to meet my beautiful girlfriend, Bianca.”
“Nice to meet you, Bianca.” Evelyn reached out her hand and they shook. She was tall and gorgeous with dark straight hair. Bianca found solace in that not only had Felix introduced Evelyn to her first but he’d made it clear she was his girlfriend. “Evelyn is a friend of my promoter.” Bianca forced a polite smile not sure what that meant.
It also bothered her that Evelyn had obviously met Andy before. Who the hell was she really? And why was she here now? Then her thoughts were muddled when he introduced Evelyn to Gio. “Evelyn, this is my good friend and now one of my trainers, Gio.”
Gio stood up, a quick wince escaping him, no doubt a reaction to his still sore limbs. Bianca caught the widening of Evelyn’s eyes as she got her first look at Gio up close. The guy was so good looking already, and tonight he looked, in a word—delicious. Felix had told them it was semi-formal attire, so he’d lent Gio one of his many suits. Felix was ruggedly handsome in his own suit, but seeing Gio all done up was something else. The man was perfection on a stick already. Though he’d refused to wear the entire three-piece suit, he did wear charcoal grey slacks, a long-sleeved white dress shirt, and a black velvet vest. Since Gio’s chest and back were a little bigger than Felix’s, the vest hugged him, showing off the glorious hard pecs she’d been privy to last night in the hot tub.
Things were starting to make sense now, and if this was what it looked like, Evelyn was who Felix had mentioned hooking Gio up with last night. Great. She’d been glad when Felix told her Gio would be there tonight. Not that there was anything wrong with Ray and Ignacio who were there now also, but she knew what had happened the other times she’d gone out with Felix. Inevitably, there’d be moments when Felix would be pulled away for pictures with fans or autographing.
Felix usually asked Ray and Ignacio to keep her company while he was busy, but neither of them were much for talking. Any conversations with them were short and polite and in no way playful or engaging. With Gio here tonight, she’d looked forward to at least some entertaining conversation.
She watched as Evelyn spoke with Gio, for some reason hating the incredibly fake way she laughed. The girl was gorgeous, and, yes, while Bianca could understand why a girl even as beautiful as her could be taken in by Gio, she really didn’t have to try so hard. Judging by the smile on his face, he liked what he saw.
“How we doing?” Felix asked as he sat down next to her and slipped his hand in hers.
Bianca glanced at him and then back at Gio and Evelyn. “Is she for hire?”
Felix laughed, glancing back at Evelyn. “No, babe. She works for my promoter. She’s one of the models that walks around the ring in between rounds, holding up the card that tells everyone what round is coming up.”
Oh yeah, she could picture this girl walking around in stilettos and a barely there bikini, holding up a card high above her head while the ogling spectators whistled and catcalled. That made her profession much more respectable than what Bianca was originally thinking.
“She just signed with Budweiser,” Felix explained. “That’s why she’s up here. She’s one of the more famous ring card girls in the business, and she’s super smart about getting her name out there, so Budweiser snatched her right up, and she’s here to sign autographs and take pictures with the audience at the snowboarding events. Of course, she’ll be doing it all wearing the Budweiser logo. She wasn’t working tonight, so I figured since she’s single, she might enjoy keeping Gio company.”
Trying not to have another jealous outburst, it slipped out anyway, “You seem to know a lot about her.”
Felix smiled, kissing her on the nose. “I just told you she’s one of the more famous ring card girls out there. So yeah, she’s worked a few of my fights too. I’m telling you she’s real good about getting her name out there. Of course, she made herself known to everyone in my camp as soon as my name started making its way up the ranks, but not like you’re insinuating.” He glanced back at Gio then smiled at Bianca again. “I’d never ask a girl I once dated to keep a friend of mine company. That would be kind of rude, don’t you think? Not to mention insulting.”
Bianca sighed softly, already feeling better. “Yes, it would. So what did you tell Evelyn?”
“I didn’t. I knew Gio would be coming up for weeks, so when my promoter mentioned she’d be up here for the championships and that I might run into her, I asked him to ask her if she’d be interested in hanging out with Gio.” He smirked. “My promoter has met Gio before. Even he knows just by looking at the guy no girl would be against spending time with him. Though it’d be only temporary, because let’s face it, Gio’s never been the committing type. But I doubt any girl is immune to his looks, even her.” He stopped and peered at her playfully for a second. “Any girl that is, except you, right?”
Bianca nudged him playfully and laughed a little too loud. Overcompensating much? Visions of her dream made her voice a little shaky, “Of course, silly.” As if her ridiculous cackle hadn’t been enough, she leaned in and kissed him deeply. “I love you,” she added as she pulled away. Could her guilty conscience be any more obvious?
She glanced behind Felix in Gio’s direction, and to her surprise, he was watching her. Evelyn was obviously very into whatever it is she was telling him, but he was paying her no attention. His almost hard stare locked onto her for a moment before turning back to Evelyn.
For one very brief moment, it felt almost as if Gio had read Bianca’s thoughts—knew about her dream. But she knew that was impossible. Andy came over and asked Felix if he had a moment for some photos with a few fans. Felix’s jaw tightened, clearly annoyed by the interruption. “Go ahead.” Bianca squeezed his arm in hopes of assuring him she’d be fine. “I have to go to the ladies’ room anyway.”
Felix and Andy walked her halfway to the ladies’ room before she told them she could go the rest of the way on her own.
Even after she was all done refreshing her makeup, she stood in front of the mirror, her reflection staring back at her. This was not at all how she expected this would be. Would she ever get used to this lifestyle? Most girls would probably jump at the chance to be dating a famous boxer: to be given the star treatment everywhere they went—arrive at parties and clubs in limos—and be seated in VIP sections of clubs. Like everything in life, things are always nicer looking in from the outside. But once inside, it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Felix continued to prove that her first impression of him since getting reacquainted with him was spot on. He was still the hometown boy she’d known in high school. Fame hadn’t changed him. It had just changed his lifestyle. It wasn’t fair for her to continue to distrust him. He had no control over what the media broadcasted about him. She had to stop being so suspicions.
Glad now that she’d bitten her tongue when Felix mentioned his promoter had called to tell him Evelyn would be up here, Bianca still wondered about that. Why would he call him just to tell him that? Did his promoter have reason to think Felix would care? She already disliked Andy for the same reason. Way back before they’d become exclusive, Felix had mentioned his publicist encouraging him to go out and be seen and photographed with as many different girls as possible. He said it was good for his badass image. It’d been his idea to have dinner with the Olympic ice skater Felix had been rumored to be dating. He knew what the tabloids would do with the photos—photos that had nearly broken them up.
Bianca had to start giving Felix the benefit of the doubt. He was obviously giving it to her. He’d just admitted to her that he knew the effect Gio had on women—knew most women would easily fall for him—yet he hadn’t had a problem with her spending the entire day with him. He hadn’t even flinched when she told him she’d joined Gio in the hot tub. Of course, the hot tub in the game room was party size—big enough for a group of people. Not small and intimate like the one in the bedroom.
Suddenly what was happening too often lately was happening again. All thoughts of Felix were drowned out by thoughts of Gio. She was now visualizing that dream—wondering if Gio would end up with Evelyn tonight and unbelievably feeling a little jealous about it.
Bianca spun around and headed out the door. This had to stop. She was being ridiculous, and it was embarrassing even to herself. Her stupid feelings were all over the place, and she had to get it together. Her face actually flushed at the thought of anyone ever knowing about the absurdity going on in her head.