As they turned into the back entrance driveway of the club, Bianca was relieved to see the entourage of paparazzi that had followed them the whole way there was not allowed in the back way. She let out a slow sigh of relief and Felix squeezed her hand. “You okay?”
She smiled and nodded, glad now that poor Gio, even in all the obvious pain he was in, had still come along anyway. He seemed just as unnerved about the paparazzi as she was, only for some reason, he looked more irritated than nervous about them. But clearly it was new to him too. Felix and Andy, who also accompanied them in the limo tonight, were completely unfazed by the attention.
“It’s a private party, so the entire club is open only to invited guests. They,” Felix gestured back to the paparazzi vans left behind. “are not invited.”
Of course, there were reporters present, but since they were invited, Felix said they’d be on their best behavior, unless they never wanted to be invited back to one of these events.
Bianca had been to this particular club once before with Toni. But she didn’t realize it had a VIP section. Then it dawned on her this area had been open to everyone the night she’d been there. They actually created a VIP section just for Felix and his guests by closing off one of the corners of the bar area. They’d only been sitting enjoying their first round of drinks for a few minutes when one of Felix’s bodyguards standing by the entrance of the VIP section called him over.
“I’ll be right back,” he whispered in Bianca’s ear before kissing her softly and then stood.
She watched as he walked over to his large bodyguard. As his bodyguard moved out of the way, she saw who was standing there waiting for Felix: a tall brunette in a very tight little black dress.
Bianca was immediately on alert. She’d heard about the groupies, even from Felix, though she didn’t think his bodyguards would be stupid enough to call him over to meet with any while he was having drinks with his girlfriend.
She noticed Gio was watching Felix closely as well, and if she wasn’t mistaken, he seemed just as irritated by seeing the girl with Felix as she was. She glanced back at Felix when she saw Gio’s irritated expression give way to a sudden smirk.
Felix was on his way back to their table with the girl. Bianca sat up a little straighter, unsure of how exactly to react to this. “Evelyn, I’d like you to meet my beautiful girlfriend, Bianca.”
“Nice to meet you, Bianca.” Evelyn reached out her hand and they shook. She was tall and gorgeous with dark straight hair. Bianca found solace in that not only had Felix introduced Evelyn to her first but he’d made it clear she was his girlfriend. “Evelyn is a friend of my promoter.” Bianca forced a polite smile not sure what that meant.
It also bothered her that Evelyn had obviously met Andy before. Who the hell was she really? And why was she here now? Then her thoughts were muddled when he introduced Evelyn to Gio. “Evelyn, this is my good friend and now one of my trainers, Gio.”
Gio stood up, a quick wince escaping him, no doubt a reaction to his still sore limbs. Bianca caught the widening of Evelyn’s eyes as she got her first look at Gio up close. The guy was so good looking already, and tonight he looked, in a word—delicious. Felix had told them it was semi-formal attire, so he’d lent Gio one of his many suits. Felix was ruggedly handsome in his own suit, but seeing Gio all done up was something else. The man was perfection on a stick already. Though he’d refused to wear the entire three-piece suit, he did wear charcoal grey slacks, a long-sleeved white dress shirt, and a black velvet vest. The vest hugged his chest nicely, showing off the glorious hard pecs she’d been privy to last night in the hot tub.
Things were starting to make sense now, and if this was what it looked like, Evelyn was who Felix had mentioned hooking Gio up with last night. Great. She’d been glad when Felix told her Gio would be there tonight. Not that there was anything wrong with Ray and Ignacio who were there now also, but she knew what had happened the other times she’d gone out with Felix. Inevitably, there’d be moments when Felix would be pulled away for pictures with fans or autographing.
Felix usually asked Ray and Ignacio to keep her company while he was busy, but neither of them were much for talking. Any conversations with them were short and polite and in no way playful or engaging. With Gio here tonight, she’d looked forward to at least some entertaining conversation.
She watched as Evelyn spoke with Gio, for some reason hating the incredibly fake way she laughed. The girl was gorgeous, and, yes, while Bianca could understand why a girl even as beautiful as her could be taken by Gio, she really didn’t have to try so hard. Judging by the smile on his face, he liked what he saw.
“How we doing?” Felix asked as he sat down next to her and slipped his hand in hers.
Bianca glanced at him and then back at Gio and Evelyn. “Is she for hire?”
Felix laughed, glancing back at Evelyn. “No, babe. She works for my promoter. She’s one of the models that walks around the ring in between rounds, holding up the card that tells everyone what round is coming up.”
Oh yeah, she could picture this girl walking around in stilettos and a barely there bikini, holding up a card high above her head while the ogling spectators whistled and catcalled. That made her profession much more respectable than what Bianca was originally thinking.
“She just signed with Budweiser,” Felix explained. “That’s why she’s up here. She’s one of the more famous ring card girls in the business, and she’s super smart about getting her name out there, so Budweiser snatched her right up, and she’s here to sign autographs and take pictures with the audience at the snowboarding events. Of course, she’ll be doing it all wearing the Budweiser logo. She wasn’t working tonight, so I figured since she’s single, she might enjoy keeping Gio company.”
Trying not to have another jealous outburst, it slipped out anyway. “You seem to know a lot about her.”
Felix smiled, kissing her on the nose. “I just told you she’s one of the more famous ring card girls out there. So yeah, she’s worked a few of my fights too. I’m telling you she’s real good about getting her name out there. Of course, she made herself known to everyone in my camp as soon as my name started making its way up the ranks, but not like you’re insinuating.” He glanced back at Gio then smiled at Bianca again. “I’d never ask a girl I once dated to keep a friend of mine company. That would be kind of rude, don’t you think? Not to mention insulting.”
Bianca sighed softly, already feeling better. “Yes, it would. So what did you tell Evelyn?”
“I didn’t. I knew Gio would be coming up for weeks, so when my promoter mentioned she’d be up here for the championships and that I might run into her, I asked him to ask her if she’d be interested in hanging out with Gio.” He smirked. “My promoter has met Gio before. Even he knows just by looking at the guy no girl would be against spending time with him. Though it’d be only temporary, because let’s face it, Gio’s never been the committing type. But I doubt any girl is immune to his looks, even her.” He stopped and peered at her playfully for a second. “Any girl that is, except you, right?”
Bianca nudged him playfully and laughed a little too loud. Overcompensating much? Visions of her dream made her voice a little shaky, “Of course, silly.” As if her ridiculous cackle hadn’t been enough, she leaned in and kissed him deeply. “I love you,” she added as she pulled away. Could her guilty conscience be any more obvious?
She glanced behind Felix in Gio’s direction, and to her surprise, he was watching her. Evelyn was obviously very into whatever it is she was telling him, but he was paying her no attention. His almost hard stare locked onto her for a moment before turning back to Evelyn.
For one very brief moment, it felt almost as if Gio had read Bianca’s thoughts—knew about her dream. But she knew that was impossible. Andy came over and asked Felix if he had a moment for some photos with a few fans. Felix’s jaw tightened, clearly annoyed by the interruption. “Go ahead.” Bianca squeezed his arm in hopes of assuring him she’d be fine. “I have to go to the ladies’ room anyway.”
Felix and Andy walked her halfway to the ladies’ room before she told them she could go the rest of the way on her own.
Even after she was all done refreshing her makeup, she stood in front of the mirror, her reflection staring back at her. This was not at all how she expected this would be. Would she ever get used to this lifestyle? Most girls would probably jump at the chance to be dating a famous boxer: to be given the star treatment everywhere they went—arrive at parties and clubs in limos—and be seated in VIP sections of clubs. Like everything in life, things are always nicer looking in from the outside. But once inside, it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Felix continued to prove that her first impression of him since getting reacquainted with him was spot on. He was still the hometown boy she’d known in high school. Fame hadn’t changed him. It had just changed his lifestyle. It wasn’t fair for her to continue to distrust him. He had no control over what the media broadcasted about him. She had to stop being so suspicions.
Glad now that she’d bitten her tongue when Felix mentioned his promoter had called to tell him Evelyn would be up here, Bianca still wondered about that. Why would he call him just to tell him that? Did his promoter have reason to think Felix would care? She already disliked Andy for the same reason. Way back before they’d become exclusive, Felix had mentioned his publicist encouraging him to go out and be seen and photographed with as many different girls as possible. He said it was good for his badass image. It’d been his idea to have dinner with the Olympic ice skater Felix had been rumored to be dating. He knew what the tabloids would do with the photos—photos that had nearly broken them up.
Bianca had to start giving Felix the benefit of the doubt. He was obviously giving it to her. He’d just admitted to her that he knew the effect Gio had on women—knew most women would easily fall for him—yet he hadn’t had a problem with her spending the entire day with him. He hadn’t even flinched when she told him she’d joined Gio in the hot tub. Of course, the hot tub in the game room was party size—big enough for a group of people. Not small and intimate like the one in the bedroom.
Suddenly what was happening too often lately was happening again. All thoughts of Felix were drowned out by thoughts of Gio. She was now visualizing that dream—wondering if Gio would end up with Evelyn tonight and unbelievably feeling a little jealous about it.
Bianca spun around and headed out the door. This had to stop. She was being ridiculous, and it was embarrassing even to herself. Her stupid feelings were all over the place, and she had to get it together. Her face actually flushed at the thought of anyone ever knowing about the absurdity going on in her head.