Abel (5th Street 4)

The door opened and any attempt of Nellie’s to move out of the compromising position she was still in with Abel standing between her legs against her desk was squashed when he didn’t budge. He took in a very surprised-looking Logan from top to bottom as he stood in the open doorway now. “You working late tonight?” Abel asked, still staring at Logan.

“No.” Nellie tried in vain to move, feeling completely mortified that here she was on the edge of her desk with this man’s thigh between hers as tomorrow night’s date stood staring at them.

“Good. I’ll come by your place later tonight.” Abel kissed her forehead before finally walking away.

“Come on in, Logan,” she said, her face completely on fire.

Abel barely nodded at Logan, and he walked past him and out the door. Instead of appearing taken aback by what he’d just witnessed, Logan smiled at her nervously as soon as the door closed behind Abel. “So the rumors about you and Aweless Ayala are really true? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because there is no Aweless Ayala and me,” she said feeling as stupid as she knew that sounded. Clearly they’d been at the very least making out if not more, and then Abel made it a point to mention while looking straight at Logan that he’d be at her house tonight. “We work together now.” She cleared her throat. “But besides that, we’re just friends.”

Logan shook his head. “I’m not sure he’d agree with that. I’m just glad he didn’t wipe the floor with me. Should I be worried that he might?”

“No, don’t be silly,” she said with a laugh in an attempt to make light of it even as she pulled her skirt down casually and sat down. “I’ve known him for years now. You know because of the work I do with 5th Street. I’m helping with the coordinating of his fight too, so he’s around more often. That’s all.”

Logan eyed her a bit strangely with a smirk as he pulled the food out of the bags he walked in holding. “Are you really? That’s so cool. This is one of the biggest and most anticipated fights in a while. So, uh, what’s he like?” Crunching on a tortilla chip, he smiled, looking at her a bit too excited. “I mean aside from intense as shit. I got that just from seeing him on TV, but seeing it in real life, I’m not gonna lie. I feared for my life for a minute there.”

Nellie smiled but not about to give even Logan any inside information on Abel, especially about her relationship with him, she shrugged. “He’s a normal guy. He’s just very private. That’s all.”

“Okay, but c’mon, Nellie. You and him? He made it pretty damn obvious.”

Sticking to her guns, she shook her head again. “Nope, we’re just friends.”

Hearing him exhale heavily, she hoped he was giving up on this. “Well, that’s still so cool. Does that mean you get like ringside seats?”

Clicking and opening the mixer file they’d be working on, she stared at it. “I suppose if I asked,” she said, glad they were off the subject of her and Abel. “To be honest, as close as I work with 5th Street, I’ve never really been a big boxing fan. I’m just helping with the coordinating of the events leading up to it that have anything to do with the promotion of the gym. I know the nickname of the guy he’s fighting, but if I had to pick him out of a line up, I’d be toast.”

Logan eyes widened.” Are you serious?”

Looking up at him, she winced. “Pretty bad, huh? I’ll do a little homework before the fight, I guess. It just has so little to do with my part of the coordinating, so I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“Well yeah,” Logan agreed quickly. “I don’t follow boxing very closely either. Only reason I even recognized your friend, Abel, is because of all the hype lately, but a few months ago, I’d never even heard of him. I think most people who don’t follow boxing are the same. If you’re just doing the behind the scenes stuff, it probably isn’t important.”

Feeling a little relieved and less guilty about her non-interest in Abel’s opponent, she was distracted by the food Logan had set out. “Oh my God, you got the flautas,” she said, suddenly hungry.

“And the salsa with the big chunks of avocado in it.”

Nellie rolled her chair away from the computer and got closer to where he’d set the food on her desk.

“Ahem!”

She looked up from the food. Logan motioned to his chest, and it took her a moment to realize that he actually meant her chest. Feeling the flush suddenly rush up her face, it suddenly hit her without needing to confirm it. With a jerk of her neck, she looked down at her exposed lacy top of her bra. The three top buttons of her blouse were still undone.

Quickly spinning her chair to take the front of her blouse out of his sight, she buttoned up her blouse quickly. She felt even stupider about saying that she and Abel were nothing more than friends and working together, but still she’d admit to nothing.

When she spun around to face him again, he was chewing with a smirk on his face. She found it a bit odd that this amused him so much when he’d been so persistent about asking her out. It would make sense that he might be a little perturbed by this, not enjoying it so much, but she certainly wasn’t complaining. At least she didn’t have to feel guilty. “So is it as good as I said it was?” she asked, picking up one of the guacamole-and-sour-cream-smothered flautas.

“Yes,” he nodded as he covered his mouth with his napkin, but even with his mouth half covered, she could still see that evil little grin on his face.