"Please. No, wait, do I want to know? It’s bad, isn't it?"
Dana Maria shook her head. "The truth is I like you. And, I like you with Fenton. I like the way he looks when he talks about you, even when you've annoyed him."
I grabbed her arms, smearing her body glitter. "Really? You're not just messing with me?"
"And, what I like most of all is that you do what is best for Fenton, even if he doesn't like it. You kept on at him about the endorsement deal, even when it hurt your chances with him. So, now you have to do what's best again. Leave him alone until after the fight," Dana Maria said.
"But he's mad at me. I didn't believe him when I should have," I said.
She stopped me from going back inside. "It's good. Let him be mad. He always fights better with a little anger."
Dana Maria put me in a cab and sent me back to the Tropicana. I practically danced all the way back to the suite, even though it was empty. When I woke up in the morning, the quiet was strange, but I was excited. It was the day of the title fight and I was going to see Fenton.
There was a knock at the door and my heart leapt. I tried to calm myself down but the wild hope that it could be Fenton made it hard to breathe. I rushed to the door, only to feel a cold rush crash over me.
Jackson McRay leaned on the doorframe. "I was hoping to catch you alone, Kya."
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Fenton
I woke up in the same suite I had at the MGM Grand before they kicked me out. I half expected Kya to be curled up next to me. I held still for the onslaught of nightclub memories. But it was different nightclub. The fight promotion party. The memories rushed back.
Kya in a light purple dress. It caught the light, changing colors. I had to force myself to look away from her hundreds of times. Almost as many times as I saw the picture of my opponent locking lips with her. I flung myself out of bed and stomped into the main room.
"Good morning. Breakfast shake on its way," Aldous announced. "Please tell me you slept well. You don't look it."
"It's just weird," I said. "Like déjà vu. The last few days could have been a dream and here I am right back where I was."
Aldous handed me the green shake. "So, would you change anything?"
"I'd skip seeing Kev in that seventies low-cut shirt," I said. "A man as white as him should not try to pull off a medallion."
"Yeah, that gave me nightmares, too," Aldous said. He grimaced, but forced himself to drink the same healthy concoction he made for me. "But, seriously, would you have changed anything?"
"I know what you're getting at. I'm not falling for it," I said. "I knew as soon as your wife got here you'd be all hot to matchmake."
Aldous gave me his best innocent look. "Me? Never. I just want to make sure you don't have any regrets. It’s time to look forward, strategize. Visualize your fight, but more importantly, visualize what's on the other side."
I sat down at the glass dining table and choked down more of my shake. "Me staying in the basement of your new Vegas house," I said.
"Tia would kill me," Aldous said. "Try again."
I shut my eyes. "Home base. Roots. Strength. Going out to fight and coming home to get stronger."
"Perfect. That's it. Think about that home base. What you need there. What there gives you strength."
It was Kya. Copper curls in the sunshine. Her green eyes crinkling at me from the next pillow. "Alright, coach, good talk. Now, let me choke this down in peace."
Aldous sat down across from me. "You know the more you share, the more solid the visualization."
"Leave the poor man alone, Aldy," Tia said. She leaned over and kissed her husband's cheek. "He doesn't need to tell us the obvious."
"Thanks. Wait, what's obvious? No, I don't want to know," I said.
Tia rolled her eyes and smiled. "You know Kya is terrified to come to the fight. She's got it in her head that she's there she'll distract you and make you lose."
Aldous chuckled. "I can speak from personal experience when I say that is possible. Though, I'm so glad I got blood all over that accountant's white shirt. Best blood I ever shed."