“Sam!” she had to stop him before he spilled his guts. Having no idea what he was talking about exactly, Nellie was sure of one thing. He was telling her that he had feelings for her, and the anxiousness in his words was escalating with every word. She had to end this now. “I’m with someone now. I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t when I went out with you.” Feeling stupid, she shook her head even harder now. “I mean I was, but I wasn’t.” She shrugged, giving up trying to make sense. “It’s hard to explain, but the bottom line is that we’re exclusive now and I can’t go out with you anymore.”

Instantly, his anxious eyes went stony again. “You and Ayala?”

That stunned her. “How did you—”

The door swung open, and the guy he’d been arguing with walked in. “Nate’s waiting outside. The crowd’s gathering fast, man. We gotta go.”

The guy’s eyes were as blue and as light as Sam’s. He glanced at Nellie once then looked back at Sam anxiously.

“You’re really with him?” Sam asked, ignoring the guy.

“Dude, what did you think?”

The other guy’s overly annoyed tone got her attention. Nellie glanced back at him, confused. How did either of them know? Her phone beeping in her small swing pack purse distracted her for just a moment.

“Let’s go!” The guy said even louder to Sam, who finally came unglued from the spot he stood.

“Stay here for a while.” He squeezed her arm as he walked past her. “Trust me. The photographers are relentless.” He stopped before walking out, his blue eyes almost clear now. “Just remember what I told you.” He tapped his chest again. “I mean it.”

They both walked out to what sounded like a mob now, and Nellie’s heart thudded. What in the world? Her phone beeped again, and she pulled it out of her purse. She had two texts. There was one from Logan, which immediately annoyed her, so she ignored it. Did he not get the hint? She wasn’t calling him back ever, especially not now. The other one was from Abel. It amazed her how just seeing his name made her smile despite the confusing and somewhat disturbing confrontation she’d just had with Sam.

You almost back? I’m done with my meeting and am back at the room. I need to hit the hay early, and I want you with me when I do. Don’t worry. The guys made me promise I’d get SOME sleep. =)

Instantly, any thoughts of Sam and certainly Logan were gone, and Nellie smiled giddily. Just as she began to text back, a young girl’s voice startled her.

“Ma’am?” With a flinch, she looked up. The girl in a hotel clerk’s uniform already wore a regretful and nervous smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just thought you might want to come out this other way. There are a lot of people standing just outside that door now.”

Nellie glanced back at the door, still confused why that might be. Obviously, even with all the billboards and the enormous one that covered the entire side of their hotel, she’d underestimated the prying of the media to get any story related to the fight. If they were hounding nobodies from both camps, they must be really desperate. She wasn’t such a nobody in Abel’s life now, but there was no way the media could know that yet. They’d been very discreet when they arrived, taking the VIP entrance through the back and the private elevator to his suite.

Grateful anyway that she could skip whatever was going on outside, she nodded and followed the young girl. Nellie had also missed a call from Roni earlier. She seriously doubted that Abel had told anyone the revelations they’d made on their way to Vegas and that they were now officially an exclusive couple.

God, just thinking about it made her breathe so much easier.

Still, she was going to have to make that call and tell Roni. For some reason, it made her nervous. It was probably because she’d have to admit that Roni had been right all along and that she’d been that close to calling everything off, even an impossible friendship. There was no way she could’ve dealt with holidays at Roni’s with Abel and a date. She was just enormously relieved that Abel felt the same way.

Chapter 16

“I’m just saying that Nellie staying in your room during this fight is not such a good idea. Not only is she gonna be a huge distraction . . .” Andy continued as Abel shook his head in disagreement. He’d let him talk for now, but this wasn’t something that was up for debate. Andy was just lucky that Abel was in such a great mood or he might’ve already bitten his head off. “A distraction is the last thing you need right now. Your mind needs to be one-hundred percent on the fight right now. Nothing else. But also you have to think about this: if the media gets a hint of this, it’ll be all over, good and bad.” He emphasized that last word. “They’ll scrutinize everything about her, right down to how much older she is than you—”

“I don’t give a shit what they say, Andy,” Abel suddenly snapped.

Hearing Andy chuckle only made him angrier. “Really? You’re not making a very good argument for yourself here, Aweless Ayala.”

“If they say anything that upsets her, I want names.” Abel said through his teeth. “That’ll be your job. You get me their names, and they go on my shit list: a list of reporters who I will never give an exclusive to. She’s staying with me this whole weekend and any other fights I have. I’m done discussing this.”

Wisely, Andy didn’t argue much more, giving in with a heavy sigh. “Okay, I’ll see you then tomorrow.”