Abel (5th Street 4)

“Take your time. I’m just making sure you’re okay.”

As tempted as she was to listen to Logan’s message, she knew better. She’d already had to take several hits of her inhaler. She had no choice now but to wait until Abel left to get prepped for his fight in a few hours. After washing her hands, she walked out and into the arms of her waiting and worried-looking but beautiful boyfriend.

“Are you sure you’re gonna be okay alone here when I leave? Maybe you should come with me.”

She shook her head, smiling. “I’m fine, really. It was just one asthma attack. I’ve been dealing with this my whole life. Besides,” she reminded him, “you need to warm up and all that. I don’t wanna be in the way.”

“You won’t be,” he insisted.

“No, you need that time to concentrate on warming up and the last-minute strategy talk you told me about.” She touched his face. “But I promise I’ll be there before you walk out then right there ringside the entire fight.”

Looking less than complacent, he finally nodded. “Okay, I’ll be waiting because, Nell,” he leaned his forehead against hers, “I meant it when I said that I need you there.”

“I’ll be there,” she promised then kissed him.

Chapter 18

Normally Nellie’s time with Abel seemed to fly. But knowing there was a voicemail waiting on her phone that could shed some light on the mystery going on outside their sheltered media-free suite had her checking the time often. She still didn’t understand why no one else had contacted her or Abel if something this big had her name all over the news more than the impending fight of the decade like Emily had said.

Her parents were a given. They were television snobs. They both said they’d take gardening, cooking, reading, and even taking a stroll over sitting in front of the television, wasting mindless hours. She didn’t even know why they owned a television. Even poor Gus was having to deal with the no television—or very limited in his case—rule in their house. But Roni? Nellie was certain that Roni would’ve called by now. It was the only hope she had that things weren’t so bad. Still she couldn’t ignore the fact that both Logan and Sam had apologized so profusely.

She walked into the bedroom quietly, literally tiptoeing across the room, making sure she didn’t make any noise because Abel was on the phone with his mom. Abel frowned when he saw her, waving a hand at her. It was his way of telling her that she didn’t have to be quiet, but Nellie knew better. From all the stories she’d heard about how close he was to his mom, this was not a part of their relationship that she was looking forward to dealing with. Bianca had once let it slip that she’d heard Abel mention his mom not exactly being a fan of the age difference between Roni and Noah. At the time, Bianca had no idea that Nellie had any interest in Abel, and she’d also mentioned that Abel seemed to agree with his mom that such an age difference would never work. This was one of the reasons she was so surprised that his feelings for her were as strong as he’d confessed them to be.

As far as she knew, his mom knew she and Roni were the same age. So Nellie was certain she’d have her hands full trying to win over Mrs. Ayala.

She didn’t miss the way Abel raised a somewhat annoyed brow when he saw her tiptoeing into the room again as she walked out of the bathroom. “Nellie, babe, will you hand me my pants, please?”

Her jaw dropped and he laughed. Not only would his mother know now she was in his room with him but that he was sitting there without pants.

“Nellie says hi, Mom,” he said into his phone with a smirk. Nellie threw a pillow at him, missing him when he dodged it, which only made him laugh more. “Nothing,” he said into the phone with a huge grin. “Nellie was just tickling me. She can’t keep her hands off me.” Gasping, Nellie picked up another pillow and threw it at him, this time nailing him, but it only made him laugh more. “I gotta go, Mom. Nellie’s out of control. Claro que si, Madre. Siempre.”

Still laughing, Nellie jumped on the bed and attacked him. “I can’t believe you said that to her!” She squealed then laughed when he started tickling her. “Oh my God,” she screeched between laughs. “What did she say?”

“She told me to use protection.”

Completely mortified but unable to stop laughing because he was still tickling her, she continued to hopelessly fight him off her. Within seconds, he had her pinned down and on top of her. “Be a good girl or I’ll have to call my mom back and tell her how wild you are,” he teased before kissing her softly.

“How am I supposed to face her now? That’s so embarrassing.”

“What,” Abel smiled, trailing kisses down her neck. “We’re both adults. It’s not,” he stopped to suck her neck making her squirm, “like she doesn’t know you’ve been married. And,” he sucked her neck a little longer, sending shivers all the way down to her toes. “She knows your mine now.”

That really got Nellie’s attention. “You told her?”

He stopped sucking her neck and looked up at her. “Well, not in those exact words, but, yeah, I told her we’re together now.”

Almost afraid to ask, she licked her lips. This entire morning she’d had been one big knot in her stomach and now this. But hearing him say that they were together so matter-of-factly and that he was so serious about it that he’d even told his mom about them, gave her something to smile about. “What did she say?”