Gio

Chapter - 5

With Bianca being such a distraction today, Gio had forgotten to call his mom earlier to let her know he'd gotten there okay. He had a couple of texts he hadn't read: one from her asking if he'd made there in one piece and another from Noah asking him to call him when he had time.

He clicked the television in his room on and tossed the remote on the bed. While stepping out of his shoes, he dialed his mom. She was a little pissed that he hadn't called earlier—said she was beginning to worry, but she got over it once he assured her he was fine.

The next call he was going to make was to Noah, but a commercial on the TV caught his eye. He was fairly certain that being around Felix for two whole months he might run into a few celebs. He figured he should start brushing up on some pop culture so he wouldn't feel so clueless if he met anyone he should have at least heard of.

The tabloid show on now had just flashed a teaser clip of what was coming up. In the clip were candid photos of Felix walking in the snowy streets of Chicago with an unidentified girl—taken earlier that day. The broadcaster asked if this could be Felix's mystery girl that he'd been rumored to be seeing.

With Felix's upcoming fight getting so much hype, Gio was sure the gossip shows were trying to cash in on it by airing even the most insignificant thing they could find on Felix.

Gio closed his door all the way and locked it. Bianca was staying in the master bedroom on the other side of the massive cabin, but he still didn't want her walking by and accidentally overhearing the broadcast. He waited out the couple of minutes of commercials while he stripped down and threw on a pair of loose basketball shorts minus a shirt. Maybe it was freezing outside, but the cabin was well heated. It was almost hot.

They came back from commercial, and Gio sat down on the bed, raising the volume just slightly.

"Boxing's current middleweight champ of the world, Felix Sanchez, has been linked to many of Hollywood's A-listers including some of biggest athletes in the world. But most recently, he's rumored to be in a relationship with an unidentified woman in Big Bear, California. Insiders have suggested maybe that's why he trains at his over twenty acre secluded compound located in Big Bear—to be near her. There have been sightings of Sanchez and this mysterious girl, but as of today, there have been no pictures. Just today, he was seen strolling through the downtown Chicago area where he was in town to make an appearance on the Stephan Walker show.

"Photos were taken of him and an unidentified woman leaving Michael Jordan's restaurant, One Sixty Blue, then getting in a car Felix himself drove back to the Omni Hotel, where all of Walker's guests are put up. Could his Big Bear secret romance be out? You be the judge."

The first few photos of Felix and the girl were harmless: they were smiling and talking seemingly oblivious to the photos being taken, but there was no touching.

"We caught up with them at the Omni as they drove up to the valet and exited their car."

There were more pictures of them getting out of the car and the girl waiting for him to come around the car to meet her. Then there it was: he reached over and placed his hand on the small of her back as they walked into the hotel. He might still be able to explain this, but the fact remained he was walking into a hotel with another girl. Gio shook his head.

And here after spending the evening with Bianca, he'd actually begun to believe that maybe Felix was serious about her. Why wouldn't he be? She was everything a guy would want in a girl—beautiful, adorable as shit, but most prominent was how down to earth and incredibly sweet she was. She didn't strike him as someone who would put up with this crap. She shouldn't. But was it really possible she could be that naïve?