Dandelion

11. "Fighting for you..."

Anthony was fighting against Wladimir Klitschko and Tallulah felt like she was about to die. The anger that had been consuming him for the past few weeks hadn't ceased at all, it only multiplied with the hours.

She maneuvered to the back of the club, where he was getting ready to fight and watched him. He was tapping his leg vigorously on the floor as his cousin said something to him. His head kept shaking up and down in agreement and his face was void of emotion, but still, the tapping of his leg bothered her.

"Where is she?" he asked.

Tallulah walked in and all the gentlemen in the room turned to face her. She was uneasy but managed to give everyone a smile, before they walked out of the room, giving them some space.

"Are you okay?" AJ asked.

Tallulah moved closer and folded her arms around his neck. "I'm not the one who's going to the ring to fight some gigantic man with bare knuckles."

He smiled and pulled her to him. "You don't have to be scared."

"I am," she said. "You don't understand how nerve wrecking this is for me, Anthony."

He kissed her. "I have to do this."

"For yourself? Is your ego more important than your life?"

"No." AJ shook his head. "I'm doing this for you."

"AJ," she whined. "This is not what I want."

"I have you to motivate me to win this. Let's make this interesting," he smiled. "I'm fighting for you, if I win this fight then I want you to stop talking about moving back home. I want you to take a moment and just give us a chance."

"What do you mean us?" Tallulah asked.

"Can we see if there is something here?" AJ asked. "Can we try without you throwing it in my face every day that you're going home?"

His hand came to brush her hair, then down her arm. He leaned towards her and began to kiss her ear, her neck, her shoulder. "I'm fighting for someone for the first time in my life. The fights that I've been in have always been about me. Now it's about you...that has to mean something even though it scares you. It means everything to me."

"What if you're attaching everything to me and then it becomes the thing you regret the most?"

"What if I don't?"

She wasn't answering. She was staring off into the middle distance avoiding his gaze. AJ frowned, trying to figure her out, it wasn't working. He raked a hand through his hair, still agitated.

He studied her silently. She looked terrifyingly young and defenseless and the notion made him worried and angry at the same time.

He drew a careful, deliberate breath and tried again. "I'm your first everything Tallulah. If I was good enough to give your whole body, why do you hesitate when I ask for a chance?"

"Because we're so different." She bit her lip. "Because we want so many different things in life and you don't see how that might be a problem. Because you're reckless and that scares me."

He scowled furiously. "So why give yourself to me?"

Tallulah shook her head. "I didn't say that I don't feel what is going on between us. What I'm saying is that just like you have your passion for boxing, I have a passion of my own. I love where I'm from AJ. I see myself being a farmer just like my parents. I see myself teaching art to the little kids of the men that practically carried me on their backs when my parents died. You're asking me to give up all that to be in your fast world and it is a lot."