After chatting with Tony for a bit, he went inside. It was mayhem. Camera crews were everywhere. Photographers taking pictures not only of Felix and his entourage, but of some of the regular guys training.

Felix stood by the ring smiling as a reporter interviewed him in front of a television camera. As usual, there was a girl in his crowd and as usual, she was all glammed up like all the girls he ever brought with him. He brought a different one in every time he came. Gio peered at her for a second to see if he recognized her from anywhere. The last couple of times he was here both girls he’d brought were small time celebs. One was the previous year’s runner-up of American Idol and the second one played a supporting role in one of the hotter sitcoms on TV.

This girl didn’t look familiar at all but he knew that didn’t mean anything. Gio hadn’t recognized or heard of the first two girls either. Noah and Abel walked up to him halfway to the locker room. They seemed more excited to see him than having Felix at the gym.

“Hey, you’re finally back.” They both greeted him with the usual guy shake and patted him on the shoulder. “And not a moment too soon,” Abel added with a smirk.

“No shit.” Noah laughed. “He ain’t lying. He just finished telling me this morning if you weren’t back by tomorrow he was coming to get you.”

Gio chuckled. “Well, then I’m glad I did.”

It felt a little weird being back and having Felix’s circus there made it feel even weirder. He turned to where Felix was being interviewed. The girl he’d brought held a phone to her ear and covered her other ear with her hand. “She anyone we should know?”

Gio had felt a little stupid the last time he’d been introduced to Felix’s flavor of the week and he had no idea who she was. He wanted to prevent that happening again.

“I dunno,” Abel said with a frown. “Somehow it got leaked that he’d be here today. The camera crews have been here all morning. He just arrived about an hour ago. He was mobbed as soon as he walked in. We barely had a chance to talk to him.”

“I don’t recognize her from anywhere.” Noah tilted his head sideways.

Gio gave up trying to figure it out and headed to the locker room to put his things away. He hadn’t been in there very long when he heard a commotion and then loud voices coming toward him. Felix and Abel walked to him. Felix had a big smile on his face. “Hey, my man! How’s it going?”

“I’m doing all right.” Gio reached out his hand to shake Felix’s but Felix pulled him in for a man hug.

Felix pulled back to face him and the smile slowly collapsed. “I heard about what happened, man . But you know what? This shit happens in boxing. They say you’re really beating yourself up about it. You can’t do that, G. It’s not your fault and hey, it might even happen again.”

“No, it won’t,” Gio said turning back to his locker. “Not to me anyway. Because I’m not fighting anymore.”

Felix glanced back at Abel who shrugged, leaning against a row of lockers. “What do you mean you’re not fighting anymore? You can’t give up because of this one thing. Gio, it wasn’t your fault.”

“I know.” Gio stuffed his bag in the locker. “But I’m done.”

“Dude, so what are you gonna do now?”

“I’m gonna train. There is some real good talent coming in here lately who I think have a lot of potential. I’ll focus on getting them ready.”

Felix’s eyes opened wide then he smiled. “Fuck that. If you’re gonna train, come train with me. I need a good sparring partner and you were one of my best.”

Gio stared at him for a moment not sure if he was serious. “With you?”

“Yeah, it’d be perfect. This fight is coming up in a few months so I’m headed up to Big Bear to train there. You can come with me. It’s only a couple of hours from here so if you ever need to come back home for whatever you can just drive back.”

Gio and Abel exchanged glances. “Are you serious?”

“Hell, yeah,” Felix laughed. “This will be awesome. You’ll be well compensated, too. Because even though we’ll do the whole snowboarding and partying with all the snow bunnies up there, I’m putting your ass to work. This guy I’m fighting is supposed to be the best thing outta the Philippines since Pacquiao. I got my work cut out for me.”

“Yeah, you do,” Abel agreed then turned to Gio. “Some time away might do you some good, too. Who knows? Sparring with Felix might get you itching to get back in the ring.”

Gio wasn’t sure about that but he was right about one thing. The time away would probably do him some good. “When are you headed up?”

Felix smiled. “Next week. I’ll be up there for two months straight. ‘Course there’s gonna be times I’ll have to leave. Since I’ll be in California, my agents lined up some stuff for me to promote the fight. Television appearances, morning radio shows, shit like that, but I’ll only be gone for two, maybe three days tops when I do that stuff. You can stay up there and ski or go snowboarding while I’m gone.” He winked with a smirk. “I’ll make sure you have company.”

Gio chuckled, knowing exactly what he meant. “Speaking of, who’s this chick with you today? Anyone I should know about before I make an ass of myself like I did last time?”

“Nah, she’s a jazz singer but she’s small potatoes. I met her in Vegas after one of my fights. She does have her own show out there but nothing you’d know about.”