Page 17 of Falling for the Knockout

“Good news or bad news?” Elio asked. “I’m trying to avoid bad news from now on.” Tony really couldn’t blame him for that. It seemed his grandfather had gotten enough bad news for them all for a while.

“Good news,” Aurora insisted.

“Okay, then,” Elio said, “let’s have it.” Tony took a deep breath and let it out. He hadn’t noticed just how nervous he was telling his grandfather about this fight. It had been everything that theyhad both hoped for since he was just a kid.

“Jonesy got me a fight,” he started.

“Well, that’s his job, right?” Elio teased, giving him his half smile. Tony always loved his grandfather’s sense of humor.

“It is, but this is a big fight. It could change my career. Jonesy booked me a fight with the middleweight champ for the belt.” Tony sat back and held his breath, waiting for his grandfather to give any indication of how he felt about his news.

His smile went from his usually crooked grin to a full-fledged smile, showing teeth and everything. “Hot damn,” Elio almost shouted.

Aurora giggled and nodded, “Perfectly said.”

“I’d love to be there,” Elio said, “just say where and when.”

“It’s in a month, and unfortunately, it’s in Vegas. I’m not sure that your doctors will be okay with you traveling that far, Nonno.” Tony hated that his grandfather was going to miss his most important fight. This was his victory too, and he wouldn’t be able to share it with Tony in person.

Elio shrugged, “So, I’ll have to watch it on television. But I won’t miss it for anything.” Tony worried that Elio wouldn’t make it a month until his fight, but there was no way that he’d tell his grandfather that. “And when you get back, you can tell me all the details that I’ll miss on television.” A part of Tony wanted to tell his grandfather that he had changed his mind and that he was going to pass on the fight. Nonno looked a bit worse today, and Tony was seeing a downward trend with his grandfather’s health.

“Nonno,” he started. His grandfather held up his hand, effectively stopping the rest of Tony’s words.

“I know what you’re going to say, Tony. I know you better than anyone else on the planet, and I won’t let you give up your fight to sit around here and watch me die,” he insisted. The old man was a mind reader too—something that he had forgotten about his Nonno.

“What if something happens to you while I’m gone?” Tony asked. With meetings and press, he’d have to leave at least a week before the fight. That was a long time to be away from his grandfather.

“Did you get your medical degree?” his grandfather asked.

“You know that I didn’t,” Tony grumbled. His grandfather liked to play the drama card when he was afraid that he wouldn’t get his way.

“Well, I’ll have my home nurse here and I’m pretty sure that she has been medically trained. So, you go and do what you do best, and I’ll stay here with my nurse and let her take care of my healthcare needs.”

Aurora smiled up at him and Tony couldn’t help his own smile. Elio was going to give him hell until the very end. Hell, the feisty old bastard would probably outlive him. “Fine, I’ll go to Vegas and win the fight, but then, I’m coming back here to tell you all the details,” Tony said.

“Thank you for that,” Elio said. “Usually, you give me more of a fight.”

“Well, I have to save up all my fight for the actual fight, or Jonesy will have my ass,” Tony said.

“Speaking of Jonesy,” Aurora said, looking at her watch. “If you want to be on time for your workout, we need to be going.”

Elio smiled and leaned over to kiss Aurora’s cheek. “I like this one, Tony. She’s going to keep you on your toes and take good care of your Nonna’s bakery.” Tony already knew all that, but hearing his grandfather say that he approved of him and Aurora being together meant a lot to him—more than his Nonno would ever know.

Aurora

One Month Later

Aurora walked into the packed arena not knowing how she was going to sit through the fight. She hated watching Tony spar with Luca and Rocco. That was painful enough for her. Every bruise and black eye made her want to tell him to quit, but she couldn’t ask that of Tony. When they got together, Aurora knew that he was a boxer, she just didn’t know that watching him fight would give her so much anxiety. Maybe that was what happened when someone who you cared about got hurt. She never really cared about any man before Tony, and this was all so new to her. If he wanted her there for the fight, that was where she would be because she didn’t want to let him down. Aurora knew that he’d do the same for her. He had kept his promise to keep her safe, and even with Joe still out there, she felt safe. There was no way that Tony would let Joe get to her again.

It was so loud in the arena that she couldn’t hear Luca, who was sitting next to her.

He and Rocco came with her to the fight, and she had to admit that having them close was a relief. They’d be able to tell her what was happening with Tony during the bout. And Jonesy promised to keep Tony safe in the ring. She knew what had happened to Tony’s father during his last fight. Aurora made both Tony and Jonesy promise that if things got bad, they’d stop the fight. She gave them both the spiel about it being better to throw in the towel and be able to fight another day than to die in the ring. They both laughed at her, but by the time she finished with them, they were both promising her to follow her advice.

“You do know that he’s going to be all right,” Rocco shouted over the noise. He patted the hand that was sitting on her shaking thigh. “Your leg is going a mile a minute, but you don’t need to worry. Tony knows what he’s doing. He’s ready for this, Aurora.”

She smiled over at Rocco and nodded, “I know,” she said.

“Good, and if things go south, you always have me. I’m better looking than Tony and I bet that I’m better in bed.”

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