Page 47 of The Mafia’s Girlfriend

“What about...”

“Fingering your tight cunt in the greenhouse? Yeah, I bet that’d get me in trouble too.”

She cleared her throat. “Good thing no one caught us then.”

As endearing as it was to see her flustered, I didn’t have to poke fun at her. “So you suspected I was a street fighter?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

That makes this easier, I guess. Now I wouldn’t have to introduce her to it all.

“How’d you get started with it?”

“That’s a long story.”

“I meant are you sponsored?”

Damn. She might be naïve about sex but she wasn’t uninformed about the jargon and how illegal fighting rings were set up. “No.” Jimmy still considered himself my manager, but I wasn’t happy with him, not when he was dicking around having me fight nobodies like I would tonight.

“Your mom knows you do this?” she asked. “I bet it’d be hard for a parent to know that their child could be hurt.”

“Fuck, we can all be hurt any day. Car crash. Comet falling.”

She laughed lightly. “I think the comet thing is a little less likely of an any-day occurrence.”

I shrugged. “Probably, but you get the point. Mom’s had a rough time medically. Lots of bills... I only do it for the money, and she knows that.”

“Damn, I’m sorry to hear that. What has she been diagnosed with, if you don’t mind me asking?” She looked out the window. “I went to nursing school.”

“You’re a nurse?” She really wasn’t the spoiled brat I assumed she was. Hell, she was educated, too, going to college. She wasn’t a lazy princess doing nothing with her life.

“Not officially. I had to drop out.”

Not because you couldn’t afford it... I didn’t push for more details, sensing it was a sore topic.

“Mom was almost a nurse too. She worked as an LPN. But she’s got a host of complications to keep her home. Asthma, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. Back and forth through cancer, too.”

“I’m sorry to hear it. She’s a really sweet lady.” After a moment of quiet, she asked, “What about your dad?”

“Never had one. Never knew him.” I glanced at her profile. “You?”

“My mom died when I was young and my father is...my father.”

“Ah. Not on good terms?”

“Definitely not.”

We arrived at the gym where the fighting would happen in a back room. I wished the drive could’ve taken longer. Getting to know Emma and opening up to her felt natural. I skimped on details and she had too, but we were making progress.

Inside, she walked alongside me like this was just any old experience. She wasn’t intimidated or concerned. She didn’t study anyone for too long. Before we headed too far in, though, I grabbed her hand and held it tight.

Her bright blue-green eyes flashed at me in surprise. “So I don’t lose you.”

She smiled slyly, releasing her hand to thread our fingers together in a tighter hold.

Fuck, this woman. I was drawn to her, so enamored with how seamlessly she fit into this aspect of my life. I was amazed by her tough attitude and unflinching calm. Yesterday, she was scared with someone following her. Here, she was at ease with the violence happening.

She came with me as I set my things in the back, and she accompanied me toward the ring where I wanted my turn.