Abel

Chapter 12 - Part 1

For the past forty minutes, Nellie had practically pranced around her bedroom, going through her outfits for tomorrow. She'd decided to ignore Sam's text asking if she was going to be able to join him for brunch. Roni would be furious, especially because her decision to ignore him was a direct result of her night and morning with Abel.

There was no question about it now. She was definitely picking up on a vibe from Abel. She wasn't alone with her growing feelings, but she was still too chicken to dare say anything. Their second night in a row together, although she wasn't counting on it, might shine some light on things. She knew there was only so much small talk they could make before delving into personal stuff. Already Abel had broken some of the unspoken rules on more than one occasion.

That reminded her that she still didn't know much about his opponent, and they'd certainly be talking about his fight from here until the big day that was fast approaching. Last night they'd filled her in on their meeting with the director of PR, someone she'd be meeting with in a couple of days.

Since she was in the middle of a load of laundry, she decided to have some coffee and do some homework on this Hammerhead fellow they spoke of last night with such disdain. Apparently he and his camp were all about playing ugly in the media. She'd be handling all the fight-related events at 5th Street leading up to the fight where there would be reporters, cameras, and such present. It was best if she knew a little of what she was getting herself into.

Firing up her laptop on her dining room table, she pulled up a browser and typed in "Abel Ayala's opponent." Immediately, Nathanial "Hammerhead" McKinley came up. She scrolled through the photos first. There was something very familiar about him. Maybe she had been paying more attention than she originally thought because she'd definitely seen this guy before. She read the short bio under one of his photos. He was born and raised in Highland, Michigan, where he and his brothers stayed out of trouble by joining the local boxing gym instead.

That made her smile. As much as the guys spoke so sourly about McKinley and his brothers last night, they had something huge in common with them. They couldn't be too bad, right? And they all agreed that the kind of trash talking that he and his brothers did was all part of the hype. Abel just didn't want any part of that. So he refused to do any.

She skimmed through all the need-to-know stuff about McKinley: how long he'd been the champ, who he beat to win the title, what his weaknesses were, etc. Just a few minutes later, she'd had enough. She figured she didn't have to know everything about the guy, just the key things, and she'd covered them all.

With a smirk, she deleted the word opponent, hit enter, and then walked away to pour herself some coffee. She'd rather drool over photos of Abel than read boring boxing stats of someone else any day. Her phone rang, and she frowned when she saw that it was Roni. She had a feeling why she'd be calling this early, but she answered anyway.

"Good morning," she chirped, sounding a little too cheery.

Roni was quiet for a moment before speaking. "Someone's in a good mood. Is it because you're busy getting ready to go on your brunch date?"

Nellie did the Roni thing and crinkled her nose. "Um, I haven't talked to Sam, actually." She picked up her mug, still feeling the little skip in her step as she walked back toward her laptop. "We didn't make for sure arrangements, so I figured since I haven't heard from him he changed his mind."

Okay, that was a little white lie, but it was necessary. Roni knew her too well, and if Nellie told her she'd changed her mind, Roni would know exactly why. Already last night she'd cornered her in the kitchen and teased her about her and Abel not being able to keep their eyes off each other. Nellie had assured her they were just flirting, reminding her once again that they were fuck buddies after all. Of course, they'd be flirting. But as always, she'd seen the worry in Roni's eyes. Though to her credit, Roni kept her promise about keeping her nose out of it and let it go.