In the Ring: A Dario Caivano Novel Read online

  When the referee yelled out for us to, “punch out” of the clinch instead of breaking us up and waiting for us to take a full step back, I went to work raining blows that forced him to release his grasp.

  Immediately after we separated, I hit him with a string of merciless strikes with no breaks in between. He swung back but with minimal punches landed, it wasn't long before he stumbled backwards. Instead of waiting for him to re-stabilize, I seized the moment to get out this fucking ring early. Shit, it was my retirement and I was ready to leave the goddamn building.

  Circling into the sixth round it was clear that Delo had lost some of his wind. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, he had obviously underestimated the heat inside my gloves. Either that, or he just had an overinflated opinion of his own skills. Whatever the case, he had made a fatal mistake. If I had one thing to say to him outside of all of this it would be, “Do your homework, kid.”

  “Giving you a run for your money, huh?!” he goaded.

  “Try landing your punches and then . . . ask . . . me that!” I yelled at him with each strike.

  He managed a smile even with his left eye trying to shut on him and with a slightly dazed look in his eyes. I had to give it to him; he wasn’t going down without a fight. However, when he responded to me by saying, “How about I land your girl instead?” the choice to lay him out came earlier than expected.

  Whop! Whop! Whop!

  That was the only way to describe the sound that emitted in triplicate from my gloves when they crash landed into Delo’s face with blows to his jaw—the very place his disrespectful words flew from. As he stumbled backwards, I was right there to make sure he had no room to rebound. And when he hit the mat in timber-like fashion, I didn’t even wait for the referee to come do his job before I headed to my corner to speak to my guardian angel in heaven.

  “I love you, Luke! Thank you for sharing in my journey and keeping me covered from heaven. I’ll be watching over your son now. I promise to never fail him.”

  At those final words I happened to look to my left where I made instant eye contact with Rai who was right beside Freddie jumping up and down in excitement. The two of them were Lucas and me all over again. All I could do was smile amid the first tears I’d shed since . . . forever.

  CHAPTER 59

  Dario

  Back in our hotel suite, I progressed toward Chanel, who started a slow retreat and began to laugh. “You know everybody is waiting to celebrate.”

  “Stop running,” I said, moving with her. “Your man is horny.”

  “But . . .”

  “The only butt is this one,” I said, grabbing a chunk of her lusciousness in my palm.

  “Ohh wee,” she stated, trying her best to get away. “You are something else.”

  “You’re something else. That’s why I’m like this,” I said, looking down at my man of steel. “And you have way too many clothes on right now.”

  “Dario,” she said softly. “You were supposed to take your shower so we could go and hang out for a bit before heading home tomorrow.”

  “I took my shower and I am hanging . . . so, let’s take this off.”

  Chanel shook her head at me, all the while looking up into my eyes. She knew that I wasn’t taking no for an answer. I wanted her and when she turned her back to me so that I could undo her dress, it was clear that she wanted me too.

  “You just finished fighting, baby, aren’t you interested in celebrating and then resting and all that kinda stuff?”

  “I’m interested in celebrating, alright. Not so much resting and all that kinda stuff.”

  I unzipped her dress starting at the nape of her neck and at the first sight of flesh, my lips were right there to cover it with kisses. My free hand was wrapped around Chanel, holding her in place. I could feel the rise and fall of her abdomen against my hand. As rock hard as my dick was, and as ready as I was to be smothered by her walls, we had all the time in the world and there was no need to rush.

  When the dress was zipped all the way to the curve of her back and at the arch of her ass, I pulled it around her beautiful mound and allowed it to fall to the floor. I turned her around to me and bent down to kiss her soft lips. As we kissed, I ran my finger along her warm slit and became even more aroused by the slippery goodness, begging to be tasted.

  As Chanel moaned against my mouth, I knew it was time. I lifted her and carried her to the king-sized bed that would be our playground for the next few hours. Once I laid her down, I wasted no time sending my tongue to swim laps across her beautiful pussy. Her taste was sweet and the scent was just as inviting. I sucked and sucked until I felt the swelling of her meat poking at my lips. From the angle of Chanel’s pussy, it was clear that her back was arched and that only drove my excitement more. I locked my forearms around her thighs and sealed her bud between my lips, savoring her nectar until I felt her nails digging into my scalp.

  Her screams and her pleas for more, was as sexy as shit got. I tortured her slowly, but in ways that I knew she loved. Pleasing her was always on my agenda so knowing that she was in a moment of ecstasy was all I really needed. When her labia thrust forward in response to her orgasms, I eased up slightly to allow her to catch her breath, and when she was at the peak’s edge, I revisited the pace that first led her to that erotic place. Her legs trembled against my arms, her voice quivered as she called out to me, and in the middle of the beautiful chaos I abandoned my position.

  “Baby . . .” she whined. “Why . . .?”

  But without giving her a chance to complete her inquiry, I fed my starving erection into her cove.

  I swear to God that the moment her wet heat surrounded my dick, I wanted to bust my nut right then and there. With a sensation like that, there wasn’t too much else that could be done. So, against my better wishes, and for the first time in my life . . . I was forced to became a minute man! I couldn’t help it. It was like my dick was wrapped in the warmest of blankets and being moisturized with the most exotic cream life had to offer.

  ~*~*~

  “Ohhh, that felt so damn good, baby. You beat up that dude and then came and beat the box!”

  I burst into heavy laughter when she exclaimed those words. “Beat the box, baby?! Really?!”

  She stretched her body, and kicked her feet around for emphasis. “Yesss, boy. You did that. You beat his ass and then came and showed me no mercy. Shit, you sure you ready to retire?”

  “I’m ready to retire for sure. I’m done in the ring. And hold on. You act like that’s the only time that you ever got that star treatment,” I said, ego slightly bruised.

  “Stop it. No need to get that ego all effected when this ego is so damn amazing.” She grabbed my member into her hand and began to massage. “This is some magic for real.”

  “What you have down there is what’s magic,” I commented. I leaned up on one elbow and leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose. “Crazy as hell how life happens, huh?”

  “So damn crazy,” she cosigned. “And so beautiful at the same time. I mean, we are family. Family, baby. Can you believe that?” she asked in awe.

  “I can believe it. It’s a beautiful thing. How is it for you with Rai deciding to change his last name to Severide?”

  “I’m okay with it. I mean, it is his father’s last name, after all. And besides, he kept Norwood too—as his middle name,” she teased, sticking her tongue out at me. “So, he didn’t all the way abandon me.”

  “He’ll never abandon you. He loves you to the moon and back a million times.”

  “I know he does, Dario. I don’t worry about that at all. I’m seriously very happy that Rai knows the other side of his family. And to know that it’s connected to you is way more than I could’ve ever asked for.” She turned to me and stared for a few seconds before continuing. “It makes so much sense how the two of you had that instant connection. I had zero reason to question it at first because it just seemed natural and good. But do you ever think that—”

  “Lu
cas made that happen?”

  “Yeah, that . . .” she said.

  “I do. I feel in some kind of way that he brought you guys to me.”

  “Me too.”

  “And now that I have you guys, I’m never letting you go.”

  “And I don’t want you to either.” Chanel snuggled closer to my chest and cuddled as closely as she could, wrapping her arms around me tight. “I love you, Dario “DC” Caivano,” she mumbled, on her way into a deep sleep.

  “I love you more, Chanel Norwood.”

  CHAPTER 60

  Chanel

  The next morning I felt groggy as hell as I lay butt naked on my stomach. I was one hundred percent sure that my hair was a complete mess of madness. I was worked over and probably in the most relaxed state of my entire life. My entire soul had been fed and had even done some of the feeding.

  As the Las Vegas sun came bursting through to our suite in a huge splash of sunshine, I remembered the thought I had about closing the curtains before we dozed off. Oh the regret. But at the time, I was so enamored with that stunning cityscape out there. That view was to die for with all the bright lights of the big city coming in to keep us company as we enjoyed lovemaking into the early morning hours. Now, as brightness assaulted my irises, I had the strong urge to bury my head beneath my pillow. If I can get another half an hour, I’d be ecstatic. But that thought was null and totally void when the loud blaring of the phone echoed throughout the room.

  I scooted my leg across to Dario’s side of the bed, trying to get him to do the honors, but everywhere I kicked was empty. I lazily scooted a little further over on the large bed, and swiped my foot once more. Still nothing. I jerked up, looking around for that man all while the phone continued to ring, only to find that he was nowhere to be found. “Dario!” I yelled out, hoarsely. But he didn’t answer me. Dammit!

  Where is this man? When I realized that he’d stepped out and knowing that we would not be leaving Vegas until later in the afternoon, it was further validation that I should slip off into a short nap. I was about to take the phone off the hook when it started ringing again.

  “Hello!” I yelled into the receiver.

  I heard a female’s chuckle, then, “Good morning to you too, Chanel.”

  “Antonina?”

  “Yes dear, it’s me. Are you presentable? Can I come by for a few minutes?”

  “S-s-sure. I’ll be ready by the time you get here.”

  I threw the sheets off of me, jumped out of bed, and ran into the restroom to make some sense of my hair. Then I ran back into the living room and began grabbing all my garments and Dario’s from the floor. “Damn you, Dario, leaving this all to me! This man had obviously gotten dressed and taken off, probably to work out or something. After stuffing the clothes into the closet, I rummaged through my luggage grabbing a pair of pajama shorts, a t-shirt then awaited the knock at the door. It came as soon as I got my slippers on.

  I opened the door to greet Antonina, who looked even prettier than she normally did with her dark brown tresses swooped in the front and then tucked into some type of chignon. She had her makeup done as well and she could have very well been gala-ready, had it not been for the jeans and Welcome to Las Vegas tee shirt she wore.

  “Well, aren’t we sporty this morning,” I said during our embrace.

  “I try. Can’t pull it off like you kids, but I’ve got a little style.”

  “You have more than a little bit,” I said as I led us over to the retreat area off the side of the living room.

  “So, how are you, dear?” she asked me in a soft tone.

  “I’m doing really well, thank you. Some fight your baby fought last night, huh?”

  “Yes,” she said, reaching over to softly swat my hand. “But between you and me, I’m so glad that was his last fight. It’s just such a brutal sport.”

  “Yeah, but as you can see, Dario holds his own. That man retired as undefeated heavyweight champion. He’s in a league all his own,” I boasted proudly. “Buuuut, I’m sure that’s not why you’re here. What brings you by?”

  “Well, everyone is hanging out for a bit. We’ve already eaten, but Dario was adamant about you getting all your rest, so I’m sure he’ll see to it that you have your very own feast.”

  I ran my hands through my hair, and turned my gaze toward the window so that Antonina couldn’t see me blushing. It happened often when her son’s name was mentioned.

  “I wanted to come and see you because I know that over the past few months, we’ve bonded . . .” I nodded an affirming nod at her statement. We had indeed become closer than that first encounter. That was for sure. “But it saddened me when I realized just last night that I’d never formally apologized to you.”

  “Oh, Antonina . . .” I started

  “No, allow me to do this, Chanel. I am deeply sorry. More than you know. My actions that day were deplorable and I’m saying sorry to you for that.”

  “But you really don’t owe me that, Antonina. We’re good.”

  “I do owe it to you, so allow me to continue because I won’t be ‘good’ until I’m able to do that.” She smiled.

  “Okay.”

  “My son cares deeply for you and for Rai . . . as do I. I still can’t believe that he’s my nephew’s son, but I’m ecstatic—especially for my sister. She still cries from time to time from her joy.”

  I brought my hand to my heart. “Awww.”

  “But back to what I was saying. I was wrong for my behavior. The fact that my son cares for you so deeply and that he cared for you even then should’ve been reason enough for me to trust. I’ll share something with you and I hope that you don’t judge me for it once I’m done, but I have to say it.”

  “Okay.”

  “After Lucas died, the days were really dark for Dario. His grief sank to a place where it was very hard to reach him. He only had a few months of school left to graduate, but he was very withdrawn, and very angry. Got into a lot of fights. A lot of fights. We almost lost him to the juvenile system, but thankfully, his father and his uncle knew a few influential people. We ended up getting him to agree to homeschool for the remainder of his senior year, but it was still a struggle because his mind wasn’t on his studies at all. A friend of his uncle’s got him into martial arts, initially. But then he later suggested boxing to release some of the pain and anger. The boxing seemed to be the only thing that really carried my son and kind of brought him back to us. But as his mother, you can imagine how terrified I was. There were days that I would stand outside his bedroom to make sure I could hear the smallest of sounds to make sure that he was okay and not . . . not . . . thinking of harming himself. He blamed what happened to Lucas on himself for a very long time. So, when I met you and heard that you had a child, all of my assumptions hit the forefront before I even gave you a chance. Things like, if she had a baby at such a young age, she has to be promiscuous. If the father isn’t in the picture, then he must be in prison which means my son could be in some form of danger when this person is released. I ran rampant with a plethora of misplaced thoughts and I was very wrong for that.”

  “And my being black. Did that factor into any of it? And you can answer me honestly, Antonina.”

  “It did, Chanel. But not for the reasons that you probably think. I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘Oh, I have plenty of black friends . . .’ and insult you with that. I cringe when I hear closet bigots spill that foolishness from their mouths. What I will say is that I haven’t had an abundance of interactions with many African Americans. I didn’t know what to expect with my son being involved: how the family would feel about him. How would any possible children be treated, and then, I’m almost embarrassed to say this part. Why doesn’t he want someone who looks like his mother? Had I failed him in some way that made him want a woman who was the complete opposite of me? There were so many things that I let get in my head, but I’m happy to say that none of those things exist anymore. He loves who he loves because of who that
person is for him, not because of who I am not. I’ve come to love you and wholeheartedly welcome you into our family—and not just because of Rai—it’s you who has won my heart.”

  Antonina didn’t know just how grateful I was for this conversation. Because although Dario and I had been together for a while now, and had been around each other’s families, I had never really been sure of where she stood. Now, as I sat there hugging her, I felt that everything had come full circle.

  CHAPTER 61

  Dario

  Chanel stared out the window, looking out over Las Vegas as we soared into the sky heading back home. My folks were asleep and so were both my Zii’s. They’d had enough of life in Vegas. Watching the match the first night, then trying to hang out in the bar way past their bedtime, and then getting up to eat a huge breakfast—that would put normal people to sleep—but had them up running around Vegas, to all the kid-friendly spots: Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N, the Eiffel Tower experience, indoor miniature golf and a few other things. I told them after Avengers that they needed to learn the art of "no" that Lucas and I got growing up, but nooo. Now, there they lay gone with the wind. They were done for! It was hilarious watching all four of their seats reclined and various levels of light snoring coming from all of their directions. Yet the two youngsters that tired them out were in the back of the plane wired, talking loud and watching movies.

  I had admired Chanel long enough from my seat across from hers. Now I wanted inside her head. If I knew my baby, and I’d like to think that I do, she was chasing thoughts like crazy. I slid in the seat next to her and leaned in to peck her on her cheek. “What’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours?” I asked.