Page 19 of Dali: The Demolisher

My mouth twisted to the side and my head jerked slightly in confusion. “I’m single, Hunter, and I have no idea who or what you’re talking about.”

“The Demolisher.” Oh shit. “He was at my car after the kiss threatening me in quite a few ways about what would happen if I kissed you again or even told you about that conversation.” He licked his lips and chuckled. “Now I like you, but I like my face and its bones more. I’m not tryna be embarrassed and get my ass beat trying to be with you.”

I was glad we were able to have a lighthearted conversation about Dali’s threats. I couldn’t help but laugh quietly with Hunter.

“God, I’m so sorry and embarrassed. Contrary to what he said, we arenottogether.”

“Listen, I don’t even care. Together or not, he wants you, so I’m going to respectfully and gracefully bow out. It would have been different if he was a regular nigga, but the man was undefeated before he retired. I think he didn’t lose any of his matches last year, right?”

I nodded. Even though I wasn’t going to see them, I kept up with his stats. He’d had dozens of professional fights and had only lost three. I didn’t blame Hunter—at all.

“Well… I’m glad you were honest with me about this. I thought you’d changed your mind about me.”

“Nah. I just wanted to respect whatever it is y’all got going on. My life is peaceful, and I don’t want that drama.”

“I can respect that. You know you don’t have to stay away from the bar though, right? Even if you don’t want to talk to me, you can still come around. But I promise, Dali won’t bother you.”

“I know he’s not because you’re not going to tell him you know about this.”

“Hunter, I—”

His shaking head made me cackle. He looked like Shannon Sharpe on that meme. “Nope. He ain’t gon’ make me have to have my jaw wired shut. Don’t tell that man I told you about this.”

“Okay, okay.” I agreed just to ease his mind, trying to reel my laughter in unsuccessfully. I took his hand into mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. “See you around, Hunter.”

He placed a soft kiss on my hand. “That you will.”

I chuckled under my breath and shook my head as he walked away. As angry as I wanted to be at Dali, I was more amused than anything else. This man had really threatened Hunter to keep him away from me, and it worked! It sucked that I couldn’t confront Dali about his foolish actions because I also found it kind of cute. Too bad he wouldn’t know that.

Later that Evening

We didn’t havean event planned for tonight, so it was our usual crowd. I was grateful for that because Tommy called out for his shift tomorrow which meant I’d have to close tonight and open tomorrow morning. The good part about it was we didn’t open until eleven, and since I’d only be behind the bar, I didn’t have to arrive until ten to start setting up.

Since it was going to be a slower night it was just me behind the bar, but Mona had stopped by for wings and cheese fries. I’d told her about Dali and Hunter after swearing her to secrecy and she thought the whole thing was hilarious.

“What y’all laughing at?” Dynasty asked, leaning across the bar to kiss my cheek.

“Your crazy ass brother,” I replied.

“What he do now?”

I didn’t respond right away as I grabbed the Jameson for his green tea shot since that was usually all he ever had to drink.

“I can’t say but it was in line with his usual shenanigans.” I decided to get his input on the whole retiring for me situation since Ken was still holding out on me. After making his drink, I slid it in front of him. “Are you getting food?”

He looked at what Mona had. “Yeah, let me get an order of those wings. They look good as hell.”

“Got you.” After putting his order in, I asked, “Did your brother tell you he was retiring to be with me?”

“Yeah.” He said it so nonchalantly I couldn’t respond right away.

“Why didn’t you try and talk him out of it?”

Dynasty chuckled. “Why would I?”

“Because you’re his older brother. You know more than anyone how much he loves boxing. It didn’t catch you by surprise that he was so willing to give it up for me?”

“Not really. I knew he would do it; I just didn’t know when. Dali is the kind of man that dedicates himself to his dreams. He executed his dream of being a boxer. The only other dream he had was marrying and having babies with you.” My heart dropped. “Boxing was his life since we were in elementary school.” He shrugged and took a sip of his drink. “It wasn’t surprising that after twenty years he decided to give that up to focus on life with you.”

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