In the Ring: A Dario Caivano Novel Read online

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  CHAPTER 50

  CHAPTER 51

  CHAPTER 52

  CHAPTER 53

  CHAPTER 54

  CHAPTER 55

  CHAPTER 56

  CHAPTER 57

  CHAPTER 58

  CHAPTER 59

  CHAPTER 60

  CHAPTER 61

  IN THE RING

  A Dario Caivano Novel

  Copyright © 2017 by Perri Forrest

  Chic Lioness Publishing, LLC

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Without limiting the right under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Design

  Cover Couture

  Photos (c) Shutterstock

  DEDICATION

  Ricky “Rick Lav” Lavender (1.17.79—8.10.06)

  God, how I miss you every day. This story was born because of you. If only there was a Rai left behind...

  To real R&B music. You get me through the bulk of life and you definitely ignite my creativity. Thank you for being my muse. I love you completely.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Wow. Twenty-one (21) books.

  To the Most High: Thank you forever for blessing me with my moon, my stars, my son. He is the love of my life and I’m proud to be his Mama. Thank you for blessing me with the gift of writing. I’m so alive, and so whole with this outlet. I set out to see if I could write one book and here I am in the double digits now. In addition, I thank you for the Angels assigned to only me. I wish I knew them by name so that I could speak their names in gratitude when I’m saying my daily prayer to you.

  With every book I’ve been fortunate enough to have a different group that comes through for me in various ways, who share in my journey as I document and stress through tens of thousands of words. I try to always capture the ones who stood during that project, but should I miss any, please don’t charge it to my heart. And please know that I will always write (no typo) that wrong on the next go ‘round.

  With that said, Jazz, you’re my girl. Can’t remember how/when we met, but if I’ve formed one solid . . . consistent relationship in this industry, it’s with you. You ride for me like no other and I appreciate all that you give to the sisterhood. Just like you have mine, I’ll always have your back. Janice, thank you for being who you are—a genuine soul who knows the true meaning of friendship. Solsiré, my dushi, thank you for trusting me. Your friendship means the world to me. I look forward to our upcoming business venture. Jacqueline, thanks so much for taking the time to provide me amazing feedback for this story! Playhouse, y’all are boss! I think y’all have been on doze lately, but I’m hoping y’all wake up soon so we can reboot! Those conversations are everything we have in our own little corner of the world! To the Readers who rock with me no matter what . . . I love and appreciate you. There are so many of us out here doing this writing thing and it’s a huge blessing to have people who think enough of me to invest in what I do. I’m so glad you deem me worth your time! I love hearing from you, so please don’t ever stop reaching out!

  Luv y’all!

  FROM THE AUTHOR

  I saw this cover on a designer’s timeline almost a year ago. It was so appealing that I had to have it. There was a different guy on the cover, but the simplicity of it caught my eye. So, I reached out and made the proper changes—to the model. But there was a problem. I had no story! It happens like that sometimes—especially in my world. I’ll see a visual and crave it. (I’m sitting on 4 covers right now that I just had to have). Lol!

  For months and several books, I’d pull up the cover and stare at it trying to come up with a storyline. All I knew was that I didn’t want it to be too heavy on the boxing, but more of a focus on the story, itself. It took me a while to figure out why getting this book together was driving me crazy, but when I did it was like a light switched on. The story I wanted to tell, was too close to home. It was because the story that I had in mind for it was too close to home. There are many elements in this story that mirror my real life and I feared transparency. I’ve gone through that with a few of my books, but this one was especially so because there are so many components that are . . . just personal. I had to reach a point where I said to myself, “If you can’t be transparent with them . . . the readers who have ridden for you and been there for you . . . then who can you show yourself to?” And then the words began flowing. The result is In the Ring—Dario, Chanel, and Rai’s story.

  It feels good to finally be able to allow my emotions flow into the open.

  Blessings,

  Perri

  IN THE RING’S Table of Contents

  DEDICATION

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  FROM THE AUTHOR

  OTHER BOOKS by PERRI FORREST

  INTRODUCTION

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41


  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  CHAPTER 50

  CHAPTER 51

  CHAPTER 52

  CHAPTER 53

  CHAPTER 54

  CHAPTER 55

  CHAPTER 56

  CHAPTER 57

  CHAPTER 58

  CHAPTER 59

  CHAPTER 60

  CHAPTER 61

  OTHER BOOKS by PERRI FORREST

  Rush Cambridge (4-book series)

  Rapture: A BWWM Alpha Male Romance

  Gavin Brooks (2-book series)

  Special Delivery

  Special Delivery II

  Love’s Awakening (2-book series)

  Kennedy’s Awakening

  Awakened Desires

  Pandora’s Box (Brooklyn Kellogg continuing episodes)

  The Color of Lies

  What Lies Beneath the Surface

  Beautiful Lies

  Crooked Lies

  In the Ring: A Dario Caivano Novel

  Last Night

  Family Ties

  Beautiful Vengeance

  Destined

  Captivated

  A Lioness’ Tale

  Rendezvous

  Isa: Gift of the Baloma

  INTRODUCTION

  Friday, October 19, 2001

  Oakland, CA | 8:30’ish in the PM

  “Dude! Stop complainin’! We’re just gonna stop by and chill for a little bit.”

  “What’s a little bit?” Dario questioned, defiantly. He wasn’t excited at all about hanging out in Oakland. He hated Oakland with a passion and just wanted to get back to his own side of town. He despised unfamiliar territory, and not that Oakland was unfamiliar to anybody from the Bay Area, but it sure as fuck wasn’t the neighborhood he wanted to be hanging out in after dark.

  They’d just played against Bishop O’Dowd High School in football and won with twenty-two points between their score, and Bishop O’Dowd’s trailing one. After their game the boys should’ve been on the bus back to Danville, headed home with the rest of the team. But Dario’s cousin, Lucas, had insisted on driving to the game instead, and now Dario knew why.

  “No longer than an hour,” Lucas promised. “Okay? It won’t be longer than an hour.”

  “That’s bullshit, Lucas, and you know it! Man, I wish I’d fuckin’ rode the bus back with the team. No wonder you wanted to drive out here.”

  “Stop pouting. You sound like a chick, dude!” Lucas spat.

  Dario shot a look over at his cousin in the driver’s seat. “You’re lucky you’re driving, Luke, because I’d already be beating your fucking ass for saying that shit! You know I like to go home and at least take a shower first, after a game. You could’ve waited until tomorrow to see this chick, you desperate-ass pussy hound.”

  “Fuck you, Dario,” Lucas spat, keeping his focus on the street they’d just turned onto. “There were showers in the locker room! Nobody forced you to leave out with sweaty balls.”

  “You guys ought’a chill,” their friend, Jonathan, cosigned from the backseat. He added a bit more to soothe the tension in the car. “She’s a cool girl, Dario. And she’s got friends too.”

  Dario turned around to look in the backseat at Jonathan. “Like I give a fuck,” he shot.

  It was dark out on 35th Avenue, causing Lucas to slow-roll the car as he looked for the address that he was given.

  “Well, you should give a fuck, because every one of her friends—”

  “Here, Jonathan,” Lucas interjected, passing his phone to the backseat. “Scroll to Alexandra’s number and tell her to come outside; that we just pulled up.”

  Jonathan did as he was told, while Lucas pulled into a parking space in front of a duplex apartment surrounded by a short wired fence. Dario still sat quietly. His square shoulders tensed, and his temples throbbed. He was visibly agitated. He would’ve suggested taking the car and going home to change and coming back for the guys, but even as mad as he was, Dario didn’t want to leave his cousin behind. Not there.

  “S’up, Dario, you afraid of the dark?” Lucas kidded, when he noticed that Dario hadn’t spoken any words in a while.

  “Not the right time, dude. Not the right time,” Dario warned. “Just hurry the fuck up and say whatever sweet shit you have to say to this girl and let’s go.”

  “I’m guessin’ you’re not getting out of the car, huh?” Jonathan queried.

  “You guessed right. And now you can shut the fuck up, and don’t ask me shit else.”

  “Damn, bro,” Jonathan sulked. “That attitude is—”

  But he cut his statement in half when Dario whipped around and shot him a threatening look.

  Seconds later, both Jonathan and Lucas exited the vehicle. While Lucas leaned against the car dragging on a cigarette that he knew he wasn’t supposed to be smoking, Jonathan stood on the sidewalk cracking jokes. Dario, on the other hand, reclined his seat slightly, turned the music up to a comfortable volume and laid his head back against the headrest.

  Several minutes later, Dario watched as three girls approached the car. One of them walked directly up to Lucas, grabbed his face and aggressively pulled it to hers for a tongue-kiss. When the remaining duo began progressing toward the car, Dario shook his head and blew out a puff of air. He already saw Lucas and Jonathan’s tactic playing out. They were hoping that he saw the pretty brown girl with the braids pulled high into a ponytail, with the firm breasts pressing against a tight-fitting graphic t-shirt, and that he would decide that he wanted to stay after all.

  They couldn’t be more wrong, Dario thought to himself.

  Jonathan got into the backseat with one of the girls in tow, while the other girl hopped into the driver’s seat, immediately setting her sights on Dario.

  “You must be Dario,” the girl flirted. “You cute as fuck,” she complimented, as she chewed a little too loudly and too sloppily on a piece of gum. He couldn’t lie. When he watched her lips move, he couldn’t help but wonder what it’d feel like if she slobbed up and down his knob. “Hellla muthafuckin’ fine,” she added.

  “Thanks,” Dario responded, dryly.

  “Shit, you ain’t gotta thank me. Thank yo’ parents! Girl, you see this fine-ass dude?” she asked, turning to address her friend in the backseat with Jonathan.

  “Yeah, I see his pretty ass.”

  Pretty? Dario thought. Who the fuck calls a guy pretty? But he just shrugged it off and figured he’d just take the compliment and ride it out. It wasn’t that he was antisocial, or that he didn’t find the girls attractive. He simply had no interest in being there at this time of night. Normally, he would’ve engaged in conversation and maybe even fucked the girl by the end of the night, but tonight, he just wanted out.

  Suddenly the front door opened, and Lucas leaned in with his girl close by his side. “Hey . . .” she said, reaching past her friend to stick her hand into the car. “I’m Alexandra. And you’re Dario. It’s nice to meet you.” She offered a friendly smile as they shook hands. “Y’all played a good game tonight.”

  “Thanks. Your team did too. Probably one of the best opponents we have. It’s always a good game.”

  “Well, Lucas told me that y’all have to go. I wish my baby could stay longer, but I wanna respect ya shower time and all that stuff,” she chuckled.

  Dario released a short laugh, appreciating the humor. “Yeah . . .”

  “Shit, I wish I could get in the shower wit’ his ass,” the girl in the front seat mumbled, as she slid off of the leather and outside the car, past Lucas and Alexandra. “But I don’t think I’m his type,” she acknowledged. “Maybe I need blonde hair and funny-colored-ass eyes, or some shit like that. This too much chocolate for that ass. Yo’ loss, cutie,” she remarked, addressing Dario. “Alex, Girl, I’ll see y’all back in the house.”

  Lucas was back in the driver
seat after hugging his friend, Alexandra, once again. Jonathan was delayed with saying goodbye to the girl he was in the backseat kissing and hugging on.

  “Dude . . .” Dario said, interrupting the last of their moment. “It’s time to go.”

  “Yeah, come on Jon, we should go,” Lucas instructed.

  Jonathan’s friend exited the vehicle and as she did so, Alexandra leaned into the front window to kiss Lucas once more. As she pulled back from the kiss, bright headlights appeared through the rear window of Lucas’ car.

  “Pull off, Lucas,” Alexandra instructed. Her tone had urgency in it. “Call me later,” she said with a nervous quiver in her voice.

  Instinctively, Dario turned toward the back of the car, and then back to face Alexandra when he detected the panic in her voice. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Who’s that back there?”

  “Just pull off!” she urged, practically begging. “Go, Lucas!”

  Thinking that maybe it was her parents, or another authoritative figure, and not wanting to get her into any trouble, Lucas did as Alexandra suggested and started up the car. Dario continued to look back. His curiosity was heightened more than ever.

  “Who the fuck is this?!” a deep voice probed from the side of Alexandra, as he got closer to where she was standing at the side of the vehicle.

  Before anybody knew it, Lucas had jumped back out the car to confront the commotion that was clearly as a result of his presence. Without a second thought, Dario did the same, just in case his cousin needed him for backup.

  “Oh!” the guy exclaimed at the sight of Lucas. “So this what the fuck you doin’ now?! This what the fuck you doin’, bitch! You fuckin’ around with crackers, and shit?!”

  “Bitch?! Hold on, dude. What the fuck is the problem?” Lucas asked, stepping to intercept the guy’s hold on Alexandra’s arm. Dario was now standing by his side—two against one.

  “Just please leave, Clarence!” Alexandra pleaded, pushing against the other guy’s chest. “It’s not that serious! I don’t even fuck wit’chu no more! Lucas, drive away, please!” she begged. Tears had begun to pour from her eyes.