X: The Hard Knocks Complete Story (6 page)

Nettie twists her lips. “Yeah, cooking, fool. Now get back to it. I’ve got a hungry bunch here tonight.”

Carl shakes his head and laughs as Nettie brings us out two waters and places them on the table. “You want the usual, honey?”

Xavier shakes his head. “Not today. I’m on a new protein diet to help build muscle. I’m trying to bulk up.”

“Lord, sugar. Your arms are already big as tanks. What’cha want to get any bigger fo’?”

That’s a very good question, Nettie.

He shrugs. “I’ve been thrown a bone to go after the championship belt and I have to be in top shape. I want the higher-ups in the biz to know how much I want it. How seriously I take my job.”

“If you take your job any more seriously, honey, you’ll put one of them boys in the hospital…for real.”

“You know all that’s fake, Nettie. We’re professional. Everything we do is choreographed and thought out ahead of time.”

“Mistakes happen, child. You should know that better than anyone else.” She gives him a pointed look, but he doesn’t say a word. It’s like he doesn’t have to. These two have such a history they can communicate a thousand meanings in just one look—a look that passes me by because I’m clueless as to what in the world she could be talking about.

“So that’s meat and egg whites for my boy. What about you, Anna, what’ll it be?” She turns her attention back to me.

I glance around and notice most of the other patrons are having breakfast, so I figure that’s a safe bet. “Um, I’ll take the pancakes and sausage.”

“Oh, I like this one—she’s got a healthy appetite.” Nettie nudges Xavier’s arm with her hip as she writes down our order on the notepad. “You can bring her around any time.”

Xavier rolls his eyes while Nettie cackles before turning to head toward Carl. “Sorry about that.”

I smile, liking the idea that Nettie is teasing him to lighten him up. “Not a big deal. I think it’s funny that she treats all the girls you bring in here like that.”

He rubs his scruffy chin with his fingers. “I’ve actually never brought a girl in here before.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Really? I find that hard to believe. You’re trying to tell me that this isn’t where you bring all the girls who turn you down for sex? Hoping that by bringing them here it will impress them and get them to change their minds?”

He bites his bottom lip. “Does this make you change
your
mind?”

The way he rakes his teeth slowly over his bottom lip draws my attention to that stupid, sexy mouth of his. I force back a sigh as I once again find myself thinking about kissing him. If he weren’t so attractive, continuing to pretend that I’m not interested would be a hell of a lot easier.

Finally, after focusing on his last question, I shake my head.

“While I find it ridiculously charming that this place humanizes you, it doesn’t change my answer. I still won’t sleep with you.”

His lips stay together, but one corner turns up into what appears to be a knowing grin. “That’s what I thought. So maybe we need to establish some friendship boundaries, so there’s no confusion about our relationship.”

I take a sip of water to quench my suddenly dry throat. “What kind of boundaries?”

“You know, some basic rules so we don’t give each other any mixed signals about moving past the ‘friend zone.’ I’m a big fan of specifying exactly where one stands.”

I rest my chin in the palm of my hand. “I suppose you already have some of these rules in mind?”

Xavier smirks and holds up a finger. “Rule number one: no getting naked in my bed.”

I laugh. The thought that I’d ever be brave enough to strip down and hop into his bed on my own is comical. There’s no way I’ll ever muster up the courage to do that. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that one.”

I hold up two fingers, ready to add some boundaries of my own. “Rule number two: no kissing.”

He shakes his head. “That rule sucks. Friends kiss. That’s not one I’ll abide by.”

“Not open-mouthed they don’t,” I argue.

He sighs and holds up two fingers. “Amended rule number two: no open-mouthed kissing.”

The thought of his lips on me in any form gets my blood pumping, but as long as I know there will be no tongue involved, I think I’ll be able to control myself. “I can live with that.”

“Third and last rule,” he says while holding up three fingers. “If either one of us starts developing feelings for the other person, we have to tell them. We don’t want any pent-up sexual frustration building between us.”

I lick my lips and bat away the idea that the ship containing all of my lust for him has already sailed, but he doesn’t need to know that. It’s not like I’ll ever act on them. “They sound like three solid rules to me.”

“Agreed,” he replies as Nettie returns with our meals.

“What are we agreeing to over here?” Nettie asks.

Xavier pulls his fork out of his rolled up napkin. “We were just establishing the rules of our friendship, Nettie.”

“Friends, huh? Okay, if you say so.” The doubt in her voice is clear. “I’ve never known you to have a girl as a
friend
, Xavier Cold.”

He shrugs as he cuts into his eggs. “What can I say? Beautiful here, is different.”

Nettie smiles at me and winks. “Different is good, honey.”

She doesn’t give me a chance to reply, or ask what she meant by that exactly, before she walks away and tends to the other people in the restaurant.

X
avier clears
his plate and orders seconds before I even make it through a quarter of my food. When I give him a quizzical expression, he simply shrugs and informs me that muscle burns a lot of energy and constantly needs to be refueled.

I take a sip of my water as I eye his broad shoulders and wonder how much time he spends perfecting his body. “So is that all you do?”

He leans back and stretches his arm along the back of the booth, making himself comfortable. “Eat?”

“That, and work out? Do you ever have time for much else?”

He shakes his head. “Typically, no, but right now I’m on vacation.”

I twist my lips. “You vacation in Detroit? Shouldn’t a vacation be somewhere tropical or something?”

He lifts an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with Detroit? I was born and raised here.”

I quickly try to backpedal, not meaning to offend him. “Nothing. I like it here so far.”

A smile pulls across his plump lips. “I’d like to think that’s your way of saying you like me, considering you just got here today.”

I fight back a smile. He’s right. Xavier has made the first day of my new life more exciting and invigorating than any other day I can remember. “I do like you.”

He leans into me, licking his lips. “Still not enough to change your ‘friends only’ rule though, right?”

“Right,” I quickly agree. “But it is nice to have someone to talk to.”

He nods. “I know exactly what you mean.”

Xavier’s next round of food comes to the table, and Nettie smiles at me. “So, Miss Anna, are you a wrestling fan?”

I shake my head. “No, not really.”

“You’ve never seen my boy here perform? He’s really somethin’.” She pats his shoulder.

“To be honest, Nettie, I didn’t even know who he was until my cousin told me today. Then she pulled videos and photos up of him on the internet.”

Xavier chuckles, drawing my attention to him. “You really had no clue who I was, did you?”

I shrug. “Hate to disappoint you, but not everyone’s a wrestling fan.”

“Maybe you’d like it if you gave it a chance.” Xavier glances up at Nettie after checking his watch. “
Tension
will be on in a few minutes. Let’s turn it on and make my girl a fan.”

“You got it, sugar.” Nettie makes her way over to the counter and grabs the remote for the television hanging on the wall, changing it to a different channel.

After the commercial break, a hard rock intro blares through the speakers as the words
Tuesday Tension
flash across the screen, followed by clips of wrestlers beating the crap out of each other. When Xavier’s face appears in the montage, I’m mesmerized by the cocky grin on his face before he tackles another man down onto the blue mat, using enough force to make me flinch at the thought of physical pain.

“That was one of my favorite matches.”

Xavier’s words draw my attention back to him.

“Do you ever get hurt?” I quiz, wondering how someone can subject their body to so much and be able to walk away without a scratch.

The corner of his mouth lifts up into the same cocky grin I saw moments before on the screen. “You worried about me?”

“More like curious…and worried too, I guess,” I admit. “I don’t like to see people in physical pain.”

He shrugs. “I can’t say that I’ve never been hurt, but I’m damn good at my job—as are most of the guys on the show. We wouldn’t be there if we didn’t know what we’re doing. The goal is to never really hurt one another, but to put on a good show. Give people their money’s worth.”

“So none of it is real?” I ask as the show plays on in the background.

“The show has writers. Every storyline is well thought out. Sometimes they get inspiration from things actually happening in our lives, but the pain—when we do actually get hit—hurts like a motherfucker. The guys who make it in the business know it’s mind over matter. The key is to turn off the part of your brain that experiences pain—to shut everything out. Being able to do that is going to make me the champ one day. My body can take punishment,” he explains.

“Is that a goal of yours? To be the champion?” I ask, trying to figure out what makes him tick.

He nods toward the television. “That’s the goal of every man on the show. It’s the ultimate prize, and people will do whatever it takes to get it.”

I wrinkle my nose. “That sounds pretty cutthroat.”

“Believe me, beautiful, my job isn’t all rainbows and fucking sunshine. I’ve got to watch my back constantly. A lot of the guys are pissed I’ve climbed to the top so fast. They don’t think I’ve earned a shot yet, even though our boss believes I have.”

I stare into his eyes. “
Have
you earned it?”

His gaze drops down to the table as he says, “I’ve been through some shit in my life. Nothing I’ve ever achieved has come easy. I’ve fought for everything I’ve ever gotten, including working my way to the top of
Tension
. There’s no one more dedicated to the job than me. So, yeah, I’ve earned it.”

I open my mouth to dig a little deeper because I’m so curious about him, but quickly shut it. So many questions race through my mind—like what kind of shit has he been through?—but I’ve only known the man a few hours, and I don’t want to come off sounding like a nosy pest. But the curiosity burns through me like a pesky itch begging to be scratched.

Before I go against my better judgment and pry anyway, a voice on the television calls out Xavier’s wrestling name loud enough to jerk my attention back to the show. The man with broad shoulders and rippled muscles shoves his dark hair back off his face and points his black eyes directly into the camera.

“Phenomenal X, how convenient you choose now to take a personal vacation. What a load of crap. Such lies you tell all these fans who support you!”

The crowd boos the man, but it doesn’t stop him. “Why don’t you tell them all the truth, X? Tell them all that you’re too afraid to face me again after you cheated your way to a win last Tuesday. We both know who the better man is. Why don’t you tell them all how much pain I caused you? No, you’re too ashamed to let the world see how jacked-up your face is thanks to me. I want a rematch!”

I glance over at Xavier, who is focused intently on the screen. His hands ball into fists as they rest on the table in front of him. Whoever this man is, he certainly seems to be getting to him. If all this was so fake and scripted, why is he getting so angry?

The man on the show leans his elbows on the red ropes casually, like he’s completely comfortable being a jerk on national television, and holds the microphone up to his lips. “Whatever your reason for running, X, know that I’ll be right here when you get back—ready to kick your ass all over the place.”

Music blasts again as the man drops the mic into the ring and smirks as the camera zooms in on his face.

That guy gives me the creeps. “Who is that?”

Xavier’s nostrils flare a bit, like the mere thought of this man disgusts him somehow. “That’s Rex ‘The Assassin’ Risen. He’s the other guy the boss is looking at as a contender for the belt.”

“As in the championship?” I clarify.

“Yeah,” is all he says.

I tilt my head. “I take it you don’t like him very much?”

He shakes his head. “Fighting outside the ring is strictly prohibited, and we all sign a contract that states that we won’t do it. We fight—we get booted, without hesitation. There are too many guys chomping at the bit to take our spots for the company to worry about loose cannons. Assassin has begged for an ass beatin’ for a while, but the fucker knows I won’t touch him. He gets under my skin, and he loves to push my buttons.”

“So what did he do to antagonize you? Was it over a woman?”

His brow furrows. “What makes you assume that?”

I shrug. “Seems like that’s one thing you’re willing to fight over—contract or not. You were ready to pound Jared over me back at the club earlier, so I just assumed.”

“You assumed wrong. I don’t fight over women.”

“So then why did you protect me? You didn’t hesitate for even one second to call out Jared.” I try to point out how he’s just contradicted himself.

His blue eyes search my face, like he’s looking for answers to that very question for himself. “I don’t know how to explain it, and I’m sure I’ll fuck this up when I try to because it sounds crazy even to me.”

I reach over and touch his hand, wanting to hear his reasons so badly I can taste it. “Try.”

His tongue darts out and licks his lips. “Have you ever felt a connection with someone without even knowing them? When I look at you, I see goodness. I’ve not had a lot of good shit happen to me in my life, so when I see something pure, I’m drawn to it.”

I trace my fingers over his hand. “What do you mean? You have an awesome career, you’re famous…how is that not good?”

“That stuff isn’t real. It can all go away in a heartbeat.” He pulls away and rubs his face. “I told you I’d fuck this up. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that I’m alone. Other than Nettie and Carl, I have no family—no one. I’ve been on my own a long time, not living the way I should, and at one point I dug myself into a hole so deep, I wasn’t sure I’d make it out alive. It’s not a life many people want to get mixed up in. Working here saved me. Detroit is a rough place, so when I see a nice girl like you coming into a city filled with pricks like me, I worry. I don’t want you to become jaded down the road when the world’s cruel realities set in. You have too much light to be clouded by the dark.”

I smile. It’s crazy to think he’s so compassionate about me after only a few hours and while his intensity is unfathomable, I’m completely flattered. “So you’re saying you want to become my personal bodyguard and protect me from the big bad city?” I tease.

He reaches back for my hand and laces his fingers through mine. “There are lots of things I would like to do to your body, but yeah, if you want to look at it like that, guarding it from other guys is definitely a top priority.”

I giggle as heat rushes to my face. Oh, how I would like to tell him to do with me as he pleases, but I know I’ll hate myself if I allow some man I barely know use me like that. I may not have much experience with men, but I’ve seen enough in movies and read enough books to know that a lot of men toss women aside after they get what they want from them. Even if that man causes tingles to explode throughout every inch of me with one simple touch. I don’t think I could do that if he didn’t love me.

Gah! I have to stop thinking about him that way. Every time I think about him, my stupid brain thinks of sex—more specifically, what sex would be like with him. How it would feel. How he would taste.

I need a subject change. Fast. “So how long are you on vacation?”

“A little over a week. You going to miss me when I head back out on the road?” He smiles, fishing for information.

I shrug, trying not to take the bait, but eventually give in and smile. “I might. You are my friend, and official bodyguard in Detroit, after all.”

He rubs his thumb over the side of my hand. “What about you? What are your plans now that you’re all settled in and have started making friends with the locals?”

“A job, I guess. Quinn got me a job at Larry’s Bar and Grill with her. I start tomorrow.”

The idea of having my first real job scares the crap out of me. It’s not like I’m doing this for pocket change—this job will be the only means I have of supporting myself. I have zero job experience, and even less of an idea of how to be a good waitress. If I fail at this, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

“What’s that look for?” Xavier asks, pulling me out of my thoughts of impending failure. “No frowning, remember?”

“Sorry, I’m nervous about tomorrow. I should probably be getting back to Quinn’s so I can rest up for my first day of work.”

“I’m sure you’ll do great.” He glances down at his watch. “You’re right, it’s getting late.” He leans over to the side, fishes his wallet from his back pocket, and lays several one hundred dollar bills on the table before setting his plate on top of it.

My eyes widen. Holy crap! He’s rich—like can-buy-anything-he-wants-rich—and yet he’s generous. All the wealthy people I know are tightwads. They would never leave a tip like that, family or not.

“You are so nice.”

“It’s the least I can do. They did a lot for me when I had nothing,” he answers simply.

The sweet gesture of leaving that money for Nettie tells me so much about his character, and only reinforces the first thought I had about him being a good guy—whether he wants to believe it or not.

Xavier stands and extends his hand down to me. “Ready, beautiful? Let’s get you home before you turn into a pumpkin.”

I take his hand and laugh. “Did you just reference a princess story? Macho guys like you aren’t supposed to do that.”

He pulls me up against his side and wraps his arm around my shoulders. “We do if we’re hoping to be a woman’s Prince Charming someday.”

The idea that this sexy, beast of a man is trying to impress me causes my stomach to flip. If he keeps this up, those damn friendship boundaries we established will go right out the window because I won’t be able to stop myself from jumping his bones.

Being on the back of Xavier’s bike is more comfortable the second time around. I press my chest against his back so tightly I swear we share the same skin. It’s crazy how seeing him around his…family, I guess is what he calls them, and getting into his head a little bit changes my perception of him somewhat. While he’s still a very intimidating human being, I know under all that toughness is a man with a good heart. Everything he says to try and push me away, like telling me he’s not a good guy, only makes me like him more. It’s like he’d protect me from anything that would hurt me—including himself—which is a very endearing trait in a man. If he wasn’t leaving soon and wasn’t a known womanizer, I could see myself falling for Xavier Cold.

But he definitely isn’t the relationship type. He’s the let’s-have-some-fun-and-forget-each-other type, and that is a type that I most certainly do not partake in.

The moment Xavier pulls up in front of Aunt Dee’s place, the thought occurs to me that I never even gave him directions. The moment he kills the motor, I hop off the bike and yank the helmet off my head, unable to stop myself from asking the question flashing in my brain.