“Because it’s good news and I didn’t want to steal his thunder,” he answered. That shit right there had my respect.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You’ve got ESPN talking about you. Dan Rafael’s written an article about how you’re going back to basics for the Temple fight.” He read it to us excitedly.

I admit it was pretty cool to hear my name in the same article as so many of my boxing heroes but I did frown as a thought occurred to me. “How does Rafael know about my training techniques all the way from the US?” I asked.

“Because I told him,” Earnshaw said. “It will do Temple’s camp some good to worry about just how serious a contender you are. And if I want to start securing you sponsorship deals, then it’s not a bad thing to get you on ESPN’s radar.”

Danny didn’t give a shit about any of this stuff but he knew it was important, which is why he’d hired Earnshaw in the first place. As they got into a lively debate about who was the all-time heavyweight great, I used the opportunity to snag my girl and drag her back into the office. Shutting the door gently behind me, I whipped her around and had her back against it as she wrapped her legs tightly around my waist. Hiking her cute little arse higher so that my hard cock was pressed tightly up against her core, I kissed her hard and groaned as her sweet little tongue touched tentatively against mine, instantly sending darts of pleasure straight to my dick.

“I’m gonna miss you so badly,” I confessed, as I stopped kissing to rest my forehead against hers.

“Me too,” she replied breathlessly.

“You okay to stay with Nikki while I’m gone?” I asked, still really reluctant to leave her behind, despite my precautions and her constant reassurances that she’d be fine.

“I’m good, baby. Her roommate Lauren is practically living with her boyfriend anyway so I’m going to have her bed and study with Nikki until the exams are over. Between Nikki, Albie, Ryan, and Max I’ll never need to go anywhere alone, and we’ll see each other again before you know it. Besides I know you’ll be calling me every day,” she reasoned.

“That reminds me, I’ve got something for you,” I told her. Letting her down gently, I reached behind the filing cabinet and pulled out a box I’d wrapped in red paper. Well mostly; wrapping wasn’t really my thing.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Open it,” I urged her. She drove me nuts when she opened gifts. The delicate gentle way she teased it open showed just how few gifts she’d ever had. She almost dropped it, covering her mouth in shock when she realized what was inside. Smoothing her hand over the box of the laptop reverently, she whispered

“We can’t afford this.”

“Listen, I know we used most of our savings on the house, and because we borrowed that money from Danny, I checked this was okay with him, but we need this. You know I fucking hate talking on the phone. If I’m gonna talk to you, I need to see you and see that you’re safe and doing okay. I can borrow Kier’s laptop while we’re away, and he says we can Skype each other if you’ve got one too. Nikki said she had Wi-Fi and we can get it installed at the house when it’s done so we can always see each other when I have to go away.”

“Thank you so much,” she said, still stroking it as her eyes began to well up with tears.

“No, baby, don’t cry. It kills me when you cry. This was supposed to be a good surprise.”

“It was, O’Connell. It really was. I’m just a bit run-down and emotional with the exams coming up, and the thought of you being half a world away tomorrow is hard.”

“I know, baby. But next time I have to go for a fight, I promise you’ll be with me the whole time.”

She’d be graduating next summer, and we hadn’t discussed what she wanted to do after. I didn’t put any pressure on her because, with how hard she worked, I wanted her to know she could do anything she wanted. After one last big hug, she told me to get my arse back to training so she could study, and I left, knowing that leaving her behind would always be the hardest thing I ever had to do.

Chapter 23

Leaving to get on that flight was the worst fucking feeling ever. Em clung to me like I was never going to see her again, and I could barely breathe thinking that I was trusting her safekeeping in someone else’s hands. We stood in Nikki’s doorway for at least five minutes, our arms wrapped around each other, while I memorized everything that was already imprinted on my heart. The smell of her skin, the hitch in her breath as she tried not to cry, the way her tiny body curled into mine, even the way she held on with a grip stronger than steel. The back of my throat burned as I swallowed hard and pulled away from her. Water pooled in those big eyes of hers, and she looked so beautiful and heartbreakingly vulnerable that my chest hurt at the idea of leaving her behind.

“You’re going to miss your flight,” she told me.

“I don’t want to go,” I admitted.

“And I don’t want to stay,” she replied.

I closed my eyes, touched my forehead to hers, and held my breath one last time. Opening up my backpack, I handed her a letter and kissed her gently on the lips.

“Love you, Mrs. O’Connell,” I told her.

“Love you too, Mr. O’Connell.” she replied and clutched the letter to her as I left. Waving Nikki good-bye on my way out, I climbed into Liam’s truck, and we drove away. She couldn’t see me looking back so I didn’t. “Here, I forgot to give you this. Some guy from Balaam Leisure Center dropped it off for you, said the kids made it,” Kieran said. Liam had picked him and Tommy up on the way to mine. I opened up the large white envelope and smiled broadly. Each kid had drawn a picture of themselves and cut them out to place around a hand-drawn picture of a boxing ring. Inside I was fighting Temple. I could tell which one was me because of the shorts, though Temple appeared to be a dwarf in the picture.

Inside they had written: “Good luck, Hurricane! We hope you knock his block off. Love…” They all signed the card that I knew I’d have framed as soon as I got home. Aside from my cross, this was the best present I’d ever had. I looked up to see Kieran watching me. I knew he worried I wouldn’t handle it without Em. Knowing him he probably even held back on the card deliberately, just for this moment. The longer we drove, the whiter the scenery became. Winter had arrived, and although a heavy frost was predicted overnight, snow fell thick and fast.