Worth the Chance

Chapter 42

Vinny

Nico kicked my ass today. Brought new sparring partners in from a gym across town, ones that have no power to their punch, but their hands and feet work are so fast they made my head spin. Little fuckers didn’t leave me bruised, yet I feel like I did a twelve-hour day of nonstop cardio.

“Out of breath?” Nico asks, grinning as I bend over, grabbing my knees to catch my breath after finishing my last spar of the day.

“You’re a sadist.”

“Nah. I only enjoy watching you get your ass kicked.” He laughs as he throws me a towel.

“How’s Elle and baby Nicholas?”

“Good.” Nico smiles reflectively, chuckling to himself.

“What’s so funny?”

“She burned the bottle.”

“Burned the bottle? I’m surprised you even let her near the stove.” It’s been a running joke since Nico and Elle met, the woman is smart, beautiful, funny…but put her in the kitchen and she’s like a nun at a sex toy shop, scared and totally at a loss at what to do with any of the equipment.

“It was two in the morning. I guess she didn’t put enough water in the pot she was using to warm the bottle. Melted the plastic. Smoke alarms, fire department…the whole nine yards.” Nico smiles, clearly amused instead of upset.

“She’s never gonna live this one down.”

“Nope.”

Laughing, together we walk to the back room for water. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“Why Elle?”

Nico furrows his brow, confused at my question. He’s not sure where the question came from and oddly, neither am I. “You went out with a lot of women.” I smirk. “A lot. Think half the reason I got to the gym so early in middle school was to see what you had coming out from the night before.”

Tersely, Nico replies, “You got a point to this little walk down memory lane?” He folds his arms over his chest and leans against the counter, chugging half a water bottle down in one big gulp.

The amusement draining from my face, I’m in serious need of some advice, something I rarely ask from Nico. Not from anyone for that matter. “What made you know Elle was the right one?”

He’s quiet for a minute, giving his response thought before he replies, “I started to think about the future. Before Elle, I lived in the moment, never thinking past today or tomorrow. But the day I met her, I started to think about down the road…and every thought, every plan I made in my head, she was standing by my side.”

I nod. Thinking a few months ago I wasn’t even sure what I was doing at night as I got on my bike to go out. Yet this morning, as my mind wandered, I realized my lease would be up in six months, and I found myself wondering if maybe it would be time to move. Find a nicer place, one that Liv would like, possibly even want to share with me.

Nico waits, watching as I give his words some thought, I see a knowing grin rising to the surface. “You running on the treadmill or lifting every time you find yourself thinking of the future with Liv?”

I chuckle to myself, he’s so god damn right. “Running.” I smile.

Tossing our water bottles in the garbage, Nico slaps one hand on my shoulder as we head toward the door, turning off the lights as we pass through each room. “Eventually, you’ll be so exhausted from all the running, you’ll just give in.”