“Drive it.”
“KO, I live in an apartment.”
“Good thing you ain’t gonna be living there much longer then, huh?”
I stared at him for a minute in disbelief. This week was supposed to be about him. His big fight. His big moment, and somehow, he’d carved out the time to buy me a new car. The insurance had already paid out for my old car. I’d spent weeks comparing prices, looking at practical options, trying to figure out what made the most sense. I had been eyeing a sensible SUV, something reliable for Dakoda and me. At no point had I realized KO was pretending to help me shop while secretly planning to buy me a G-Wagon.
“Dakota!” My voice cracked.
“It’s yours, baby.” I looked back at the G-Wagon. “All the paperwork’s in your name. It’s paid for. No note. No payments. No nothing.”
“Dakota!” My hand flew to my mouth, and tears immediately burned my eyes. “Oh my God.” The last five years, I had spent analyzing every major purchase. Could I afford it? Did Dakoda need something first? Could it wait another month? Now the man I loved was standing in front of me, handing me the keys to a vehicle that cost more than anything I’d ever owned in my entire life.
“How are we even getting this back to Shoreline?” I laughed through my tears.
“Don’t worry about that.” KO chuckled. “That’s on me.” I shook my head and walked around the vehicle again, still trying to convince myself it was real. The paint shimmered in the Vegas sun. The cream-colored interior looked like something out of a movie. When I opened the driver’s door, I damn near started crying all over again.
“KO. You did not!”
“What?”
“You put my name in the interior.” My fingertips brushed across the custom embroidery on the steering wheel. “Oh my God.”
“Mom, get in!” Dakoda squeezed between us excitedly.
“You knew about this?”
“I picked the color.” Of course, he did.
“Get in, Bad,” KO said, tossing me the keys. “You gotta take me to the weigh-in.”
“You want me to drive it?” I stared at him.
“It’s your car.” A smile finally broke across my face, and Dakoda practically dove into the back seat while KO rounded the front of the truck and climbed into the passenger seat beside me. I slid into the driver’s seat, still in shock, still trying to process what was happening. Starting the car, I typed the destination into the navigation and immediately froze. The address already saved under Home wasn’t my apartment in Shoreline. It was a house in Azalea. I glanced over at KO, and he didn’t say a word. He just sat there, looking entirely too pleased with himself as I pulled onto the Vegas strip.
The crazy part? I hadn’t told him yet, but I was entertaining the idea of moving back to Azalea. I’d already caught myself looking at hotel manager job postings, anything that would let me build something of my own. Not because I needed the money—KO had made it very clear I didn’t have to work if I didn’t want to—but because I wanted something that was mine. Hell, I’d even looked at classes at Azalea University one night when I couldn’t sleep, just to see what was out there.
“Mom!” Dakoda pointed excitedly out the window as I pulled away from the curb and merged into traffic.
“Daddy owns all these buildings!” he shouted from the back seat, making me look up to see one of the many giant KO billboards stretched across the side of a casino.
“Okay, you’re definitely not an underground boxer anymore.” I laughed and shook my head.
“Nah.” KO smirked.
“After this weekend, our lives aren’t going back to regular, are they?”
“Not if I win.”
“When you win,” Dakoda corrected, and KO pointed at him.
“That’s my boy,” he said, and I smiled and kept driving, taking in the billboards as I drove. KO had really become a big-name boxer, and more than anything, I was grateful I got to see it. I was grateful that the universe had forced us back together just in time for me to witness it up close.
“Pull up front, baby.” KO pointed toward the entrance of the MGM Grand Hotel, which was covered with reporters and fans. Slowly, I eased the truck toward the curb. Before I could even put it in park, security was opening our doors, and staff appeared from every direction.
“KO!”
“KO!”
