Ruin Read online

  No.

  “He’s hurt,” I say to Ares.

  “It’s just a cut. He’ll be fine.”

  “Has this happened before?” I ask.

  In Zeus’s fights that I watched when we were younger, no one could get close enough to hit him hard enough to cut him. He’s had his nose broken. But I’ve never seen his skin split from a hit—except for that time in the club, and that guy used a bottle.

  Ares’s eyes meet mine. If he’s trying to hide his concern, he’s doing a piss-poor job of it because I can see it loud and clear.

  “He broke his nose in the Scott fight, but they went eleven rounds.”

  We’re only six in, and he’s bleeding already.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  My eyes flash back to Zeus, who’s on the stool in his corner, his eye being tended to. Vaseline is being rubbed around the wound to curb the bleeding. A member of his team squirts water into his mouth.

  The bell goes.

  Round seven.

  Zeus goes in, blazing.

  Hitting Dimitrov with a body shot from his left. A punch to the head with his right. Another. And another.

  He pounds into Dimitrov, forcing him back onto the ropes.

  “Yes! Hit him, baby! Hit him!”

  Dimitrov wraps his arms around Zeus’s neck. The referee forces them apart.

  But Zeus is straight back in, pounding into Dimitrov. Body. Face. Blow after blow.

  Dimitrov stumbles back.

  Zeus swings hard, connecting with his head.

  The punch so audible, it seems to echo around the stadium.

  Dimitrov goes down.

  Zeus goes for him again, but the referee stops him, blocking him off.

  Dimitrov tries to get up but can’t.

  The referee moves over him. His arm comes up, ending the fight.

  “Yeeesss!” I scream.

  The teams flood the ring.

  I want in that ring. I want Zeus.

  I look at Ares, and he must see it on my face as he grabs hold of me and lifts me over the barrier.

  I hotfoot it to the ring, running up the steps.

  “Zeus!” I cry.

  His head swings around to me. He gives me that beautiful, cocky smile of his.

  And I smile so big, my face might crack.

  Then, I’m pushing past people to get to him. I reach him and jump into his arms, knowing that I will never leave them again.

  We’re in the dressing room. Just me and Zeus. The doctor just left after finishing examining the cut under Zeus’s eye. Thankfully, it’s not too bad. It didn’t need stitches. He taped it up. But it still looks really swollen. He’s going to have one hell of a black eye.

  Zeus is sitting on the examination table. I’m standing between his legs, his hands resting on my hips.

  “So, I have something to tell you,” I say to him.

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yep.”

  “Good or bad?”

  “I’d say, good.”

  “Hit me with it.”

  “No more hitting tonight, okay?” I quip.

  He rumbles out a laugh. “No more hitting,” he agrees.

  “Okay.” I take a fortifying breath, holding on to the courage I’ve been building up all day. “So, I think—”

  I don’t get to finish that sentence because the door swings open, and in comes Marcel, surprisingly alone, but he doesn’t close the door.

  Then, I spot a security guy standing outside the door.

  Zeus’s whole body instantly tenses up, his grip on me tightening.

  I couldn’t move if I wanted to, and I don’t. I want to stay exactly where I am, so hopefully, Marcel will get the message that he’s not wanted, and he’ll disappear.

  Wishful thinking, I know.

  But the fight is done. Zeus no longer has a contractual obligation to him.

  “What do you want, Marcel?” Zeus barks.

  “I just came to congratulate you on the win. You made us both a lot of money tonight.”

  “You’re not welcome,” Zeus dryly tosses back.

  But the words just bounce off Marcel. The guy has the hide of a rhino.

  “Zeus, come on. I know we’ve recently had our differences. But we’re both man enough to see past that when there are bigger things at stake. Now that you hold all the championship titles, your value has just gone through the roof. If you stay with me, the fights I can bring in will make you richer than Mayweather.”

  Zeus laughs, not a hint of humor in it. “I’ll pass, thanks.”

  Marcel looks at Zeus like he doesn’t understand the words he just said.

  “We’re done here, Duran.”

  “Zeus, don’t be stupid. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars.”

  “This isn’t me being stupid. This is me being smart.”

  Marcel’s eyes flicker to me and then back to Zeus. “You’re making a big mistake, Zeus. You won’t fight again without me. I’ll make sure of it.”

  Zeus tips his head to the side. “Who said I wanted to fight again?”

  Marcel laughs a patronizing sound. “What are you gonna do? Sit around, being her bitch, all day long while she bleeds you dry? You’re being an idiot, Kincaid.”

  I expect Zeus to get angry. But he doesn’t. He just stares at Marcel.

  Then, he starts laughing. And it’s a real genuine laugh, like he’s laughing at a joke that only he knows the punch line to.

  “What the fuck are you laughing at?” Marcel bites, sounding rattled.

  Zeus lifts his shoulder, laughter still rumbling inside his chest. “Guess you’ll find out soon enough.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Marcel’s beady eyes narrow into slits.

  Zeus’s face turns serious. “What do I always say to you, Marcel? There are two rules in life. The first is, never give out all the information.”

  I remember Marcel saying those exact words to Zeus six weeks ago at his apartment, and a smile creeps onto my face because I have a feeling that Zeus knows something he’s not letting on about.

  He previously said to me that he had something happening in the background when it came to Marcel. Maybe that’s finally happening.

  “You’ve fucking lost it,” Marcel yaps as he heads for the door. “Too many hits to the head have made you even more of a dumb fuck than you already were.”

  “Uh-huh,” Zeus says, grinning. “Piece of advice for you, Marcel. Don’t bend over in the shower.”

  Huh? Don’t bend over in the shower?

  Marcel’s brows crash together. “You’re a fucking freak. Have a nice life with your bastard and your stripper,” Marcel imparts before disappearing out of the room.

  Zeus growls as he tries to move me aside and get off the examination table to get to Marcel, but I’m not budging.

  “Zeus, he’s not worth it,” I say, gripping hold of his arms. “It doesn’t matter what he says.”

  Zeus’s brows are tight with anger.

  “He only said it to get a rise out of you. If you went after him, you’d be giving him exactly what he wanted.”

  He exhales a sound of sheer frustration. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I just fucking hate him, thinking he can say whatever shit he wants about you and get away with it.”

  “But he’s not getting away with it, is he?”

  Zeus’s eyes come to mine, and there’s a smirk in them.

  “What have you done?”

  “It’s not what I’ve done. It’s what he’s been doing.”

  I give him a look of confusion.

  “Fight-fixing,” he tells me in a low voice.

  “No,” I gasp.

  “Yep.” He nods.

  “When? For how long? Which fighters? And how do you know?”

  “That’s a lot of questions, Dove.” He chuckles. “And I know because Marcel isn’t the only one who pokes around in other people’s business. For years, I’ve been hearing things about him doing not-so-legal things. F
ight-fixing, illegal betting syndicates—those kinds of things. But I just brushed it aside because he wasn’t asking me to get involved, so it wasn’t any of my business. But then he messed around with my life, stole four years of my daughter’s life from me, so I made it my business. I did some real digging. You see, the thing with Marcel is, he has a tendency to piss off a lot of people, so it’s not hard to get them talking. I had a few bits of evidence but nothing solid, so I spoke to Elle—”

  “Aunt Elle knows about this?” I say, surprised.

  He carefully eyes me. “I asked her not to say anything until I knew there was something definite that could be done. I didn’t want to drag you into it. Elle’s a cop, she knows people, so she pointed me in the right direction of who I needed to speak with, and I handed off what I knew to them.”

  “And?”

  “A couple of hours before the fight, I got a call from the detective who’d been looking into it. He told me that they would be bringing formal charges against Marcel—not just for fixing fights and illegal betting, but money laundering as well.”

  “Holy crap,” I breathe.

  “Yep. And, if he gets found guilty, he could be looking at anything up to twenty years in the state’s finest.”

  “Well, hell,” I say. “Remind me never to mess with you.”

  Zeus laughs before hooking his fingers into my belt loops and pulling me closer. Then, his expression turns serious. “You never have to worry about me hurting you again, Dove. I swear, I will never make that mistake with you again.”

  “I know,” I tell him, and I really do.

  He softly brushes his lips over mine, making me sigh with happiness.

  “So, you were about to tell me something before we were interrupted,” he says, pulling away from my lips.

  “Oh, yeah.” I take a brief pause, gathering the courage I rallied up earlier before Marcel came in.

  “Well…” I nervously lick my lips. “I was thinking that Gigi and I could move into the house with you.”

  “Really?” His eyes light up.

  “Really.”

  “When?”

  “Well…I need to talk to Aunt Elle, give her time to get used to the idea. I don’t want to just up and leave her after everything she’s done for me and Gigi. But it’ll definitely have to be within nine months, as she doesn’t have an extra bedroom.”

  “Nine months?” He frowns. “I was thinking more like nine days.”

  Seriously?

  I stare at him, and he’s definitely not getting it.

  “Did you get hit harder than I first thought?”

  “You’re hilarious. But why nine months? And what does Elle not having another bedroom have to do with—oh.”

  Ding, ding, ding, and he gets it.

  He’s staring at me, and my heart is in my stomach.

  I know Zeus said he wanted more kids with me, but that was when he was trying to win me back. We haven’t talked about it since. And we’ve not been back together very long.

  His eyes go down to my stomach. Then, back to my face. “You’re pregnant?” he whispers.

  “Uh-huh.” I nod, nervously chewing my lip.

  “With a baby?”

  “I hope so because I’m not so keen on the idea of birthing an elephant.”

  “Hysterical.”

  “I know.”

  “You’re really pregnant, Dove?”

  “I’m really pregnant, Zeus.”

  His eyes are fixed on me, but I don’t know what he’s thinking or if he’s happy, so I feel the need to tell him, “I was taking the pill. I didn’t miss one. Same as when I got pregnant with Gigi. I don’t know how it happened. How it keeps happening.”

  “I don’t care how it happened. Just that it did.”

  “You’re happy about this?”

  “Dove, I’m fucking ecstatic.”

  He takes my face in his hands, and he kisses me.

  “We’re having a baby,” he murmurs, his forehead pressed to mine.

  “We’re having a baby,” I echo in confirmation.

  “And I have super sperm.”

  Laughter bubbles up my throat and out of me, relief and happiness filling my chest.

  I tip my head back. Staring into his eyes, I give him a look. “Super sperm?”

  “I impregnated you twice while you were on the pill. I’m a god.”

  “Oh Jesus,” I complain.

  “Nope. Zeus, the God of Thunder, with sperm like lightning.”

  He grins boyishly, and laughter bursts out of me.

  Zeus chuckles, and the sound comes from deep within his chest.

  “I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?” I pseudo-groan, rolling my eyes.

  “Nope.” He grins and slides his arms around my waist, pulling me even closer, his nose pressed to mine. “Not while I’m around. And I plan on being around for a fuck of a long time, Dove.”

  Now that, I really like the sound of.

  “Come on, Mommy! It’s time!”

  I walk—sorry, waddle over to where Gigi is with her dad and her aunt and uncles, who were tasked with handing out the Chinese lanterns and a lighter to all the adults present at Gigi’s fifth birthday party. This includes the parents of her friends from pre-K, Aunt Elle—or Mom, as I call her nowadays—and surprisingly, Zeus’s dad, Brett, who has been sober for three months after entering a rehab program after Zeus told him that I was pregnant. I don’t know why me being pregnant kick-started his attempt to get sober, but I’m glad it has, and I pray for Zeus and the rest of his siblings that it sticks this time.

  Zeus and I agreed that, as Brett is genuinely trying, he could finally meet Gigi, which he did for the first time a month ago. To say he’s completely smitten with her is putting it mildly. She has Grandpa Brett wrapped around one of her fingers. The other is reserved for Zeus. And Ares, Lo, and Missy.

  Also, here at the party is Kaden Scott. He recently moved here to a new facility. He’s living in his own place and going in for outpatient treatment.

  Zeus and I talked about it, and him being in Arizona, without anyone there, probably wasn’t good for his mental state. So, we looked into treatment centers here and found a great one in New York. We flew down to Arizona one weekend, and I got to finally meet him after talking with him on the phone. We discussed the idea with him, and he was on board.

  He’s been here for three months, and he’s just like another member of the family. The great news is that he hasn’t been relying on his wheelchair as much, and he has been getting around on crutches.

  So, everyone who matters to us is here.

  And my baby has turned five. I’m six months pregnant, and I’m totally not crying.

  Okay, maybe I’m crying a bit. But these damn pregnancy hormones have got me all topsy-turvy. Even more so since I found out that we’re having another girl, so Gigi gets to have a sister. I never had a sister, but I always really wanted one…and here I go again with the waterworks.

  I press my fingers under my eyes, stopping the emotion.

  “You okay, babe?” Zeus quietly asks me as I near him.

  “Yep. Just hormones setting me off, like usual.”

  He grins at me, that smile tugging on my heart, making me want to start blubbering again. He reaches out and grabs my hand, tugging me to him, softly kissing me on the lips.

  “Love you,” he says low.

  “Love you, too.”

  “Okay, enough with the PDA,” Lo complains. “It’s grossing me out.”

  “They kisses alls the time, Uncle Lo,” Gigi tells him, giggling.

  Lo picks Gigi up, setting her on his hip. “I feel your pain, kid. I had to put up with seeing them kiss all the time when I was a teenager.”

  “He’s just jealous, Gigi girl, because no one wants to date him,” Missy teases him.

  “No one wants to date you, Uncle Lo?” Gigi looks genuinely concerned for her uncle.

  “Everyone wants to date me,” Lo assures Gigi, tossing a glare in Missy
’s direction, who just laughs at him. “Just ask Ares how much puss—”

  “Lo…” Zeus warns.

  “What’s puss?” Gigi harps.

  “Puss is another word for cats,” Ares jumps in, taking Gigi from Lo and setting her up on one of his shoulders, holding her there with his arm.

  Sorry, Lo mouths to me.

  I smile, telling him it’s fine.

  “Uncle Lo’s getting a kitty?” Gigi’s face lights up.

  “That’s the only puss he’ll be getting,” Missy quips in a low voice.

  I snigger.

  Lo gives her a dirty look. “Ares, tell our sister how many phone numbers I got last night.”

  “He did get a lot,” Ares tells Missy.

  Lo gives Missy a see-I-told-you-so look.

  “You called any of them yet?” she asks.

  “No.” He gives her an appalled look. “I don’t wanna look desperate.”

  “The only thing you’ll look desperate for is a pizza or a cab when you start calling all those fake numbers you were given.”

  Laughter bursts out of me. I told you, my hormones are all over the place.

  The look on Lo’s face has me laughing more. It’s a mixture of annoyance with a flicker of, Shit, is she right?

  “Totally gonna go check those numbers now, aren’t ya?” Missy prods, winding him up.

  “You’re a…” Lo pauses, searching for what I’m guessing is a kid-friendly comeback. “Female dog.”

  “Female dog!” Missy laughs, and so do I.

  God, I love these guys.

  “Okay, enough, children.” Zeus takes Gigi from Ares and sets her up on his shoulders. “Can we stop talking about Lo’s dating life in front of my impressionable daughter? And get these lanterns lit before dusk is gone.”

  There’s this weird hush between them, and then they all jump to attention with a chorus of…

  “Yeah, of course!”

  “Okay, let’s get moving!”

  “Everyone, move to the pier!”

  As I hold Zeus’s hand, we walk down the pier, Gigi still up on his shoulders. With everyone following behind us, we stop at the head of the pier.

  Zeus lights a lantern with his lighter and hands it to me. Then, he lights his own.

  “Is everyone ready?” Zeus asks.

  And we hear a chorus of, “Yes.”

  “Let me hold, Daddy,” Gigi says, making grabby hands.