Chapter 11-

'You freeze. And your life doesn't flash before your eyes, 'cause you're too fucking scared to think – you just freeze, and pull a stupid face.'

That exact moment of hesitation had me lying face down on the cold mat of the boxing rink; blood pouring out of my now re-broken nose. The crowed was in uproar. Screaming and cheering brought me back to reality and I shakily got up. Resting my hands on my knees, I tried to blink away the bright spots in my vision from being hit so hard.

I stood up fully and brought my fists back up, circling my opponent. She had a large smirk on her face and struck out again with a left jab to my side. I saw the move coming though, and quickly dodged it, retaliating with a swift roundhouse to her back. She grunted and stumbled one or two steps before turning around to face me.

Blood dripped off my chin and onto the mat as I stared at her; wiping the majority of it off onto the back of my hand. She came at me again; and I wasn't fully expecting it. She led with a left-right combo to my stomach that had me down on my knees gasping for air and then finished with a hard jab to my right temple.

I landed flat on my back, blinking rapidly as all the lights above me blended together and the crowd's noises became muffled. I gripped my head with one hand and rolled over onto my side. There was no way in hell that I was going to lose this fight; I hadn't lost one yet and I wasn't going to lose one now.

I got myself together mentally and stood up, leaning back on the ropes that were around the rink. I looked over to see Eddie yelling from the crowd. "For fuck's sake Rose! Knock her out already!"

Taking a few deep breaths, I nodded to myself. I grinned at her tauntingly and rocked back on the balls of my feet; trying to look stronger than I felt. "You can do this Rose. You can do this."

I cracked my knuckles and walked forward. She met me in the middle and we both gave each other a hard stare before swinging. She swung; I dodged. I swung; she dodged. Finally I was able to get an opening and brought my fist back, taking all of my pent up anger and frustration I let it snap forward. My fist smashed into the right side of her jaw, making her head snap back as she slowly spun and then fell to the ground.

Panting I looked around at the silent crowd. Everyone but Eddie and Mason were giving me looks of complete disbelief. Adrian walked forward; stepping over the unconscious girl and grabbed my hand, holding it up to signal that I had won the fight.

That was when the frenzy started. Everyone started yelling and making their way towards the rink with furious expressions on their face. Eddie and Mase jumped quickly over the ropes and pulled me out of the rink with Adrian following. We made our way out to the parking lot and they shoved me inside Adrian's car. "Stay here. We don't want anyone to come kill you." Adrian whispered as he shut the door before jogging back inside with Eddie.

This type of thing had happened to me once or twice before. The majority of the crowd having bet against me, was pissed off that I won and they had lost a shit ton of money. The first time it happened was when I was working under Victor and one man had put a gun to my head, saying that the fight had been rigged in my favor.

I waited nervously for a few moments before I saw Eddie and Adrian come bursting out of the building. Eddie jumped into his car with Mase and Adrian slid across the hood of his before getting in. He quickly put the car in gear and sped off.

Grinning, he reached into his pocket and held up a small slip of paper. I leaned over and grabbed it from him, looking down at it. "Holy shit Adrian…this is a lot of money."

He chuckled and nodded, "$100,000. But, that is nothing compared to what you'll be getting in Vegas little fighter."

I laughed and then stopped when my head started hurting. I groaned and put my head in my hands before pulling back and seeing that they were stained in my blood. Taking deep breaths in threw my nose and out through my mouth, I closed my eyes.

"Rose, Rose…You okay?" Adrian's voice came to my ears, laced with worry. I nodded slightly before looking back up.

Adrian was looking at me with a concerned expression. He only had one hand on the wheel and was still speeding through the intersection that led to Dimitri's house. "I'm fine," I managed to croak out, "just keep your eyes on the road and get me home."

He nodded and stepped down on the gas, speeding through the streets until we came up to the gates of Dimitri's driveway.

The large iron bars opened and we drove down the long driveway and came to stop at the house. By this point I was starting to get very dizzy and was blinking rapidly to try and stay awake. Adrian jumped out of the car and came over to my side, unbuckling me and picking me up in his arms. "Come on Rose, let's go."

"Put me down jackass. I can walk." I snapped and wriggled in his arms. He chuckled and set me down, following me into the house.

The bright lights of the sitting room had my vision spinning again. "Holy shit..." I murmured and leaned against the wall- except I didn't make it. What I believed to be a wall was just thin air.

I rolled onto my back and coughed, more blood coating my lips.

I looked up to see Dimitri leaning over me, concern in his eyes. He held me upright and let me lean against his chest. "Come on, let's get you to Lissa before you pass out." I nodded weakly and let him take me into the kitchen.

Lissa, Christian and a few others I didn't recognize were seated at the island table; playing cards like every night. As soon as Lissa saw me she gasped and demanded Dimitri to sit me down in her chair as she ran off to get the first aid kit.

I couldn't hold myself up and fell sideways onto the floor, catching myself on my hands and knees. Gasping in pain, my hand shot out, searching for the first thing I could get in my grasp to squeeze. My fingertips found a warm hand, and I held onto it for all it was worth. Looking up I saw Ivan, his face was a bit pale but it was probably from seeing so much blood.

I was never good with pain, but learned to deal with it; however- it still hurt like a bitch.

Liss came back a few minutes later with the first aid kit and set it on the counter, popping it open. She took out some gauze and peroxide and gave them to Christian, but what scared me the most was the next thing she pulled out.

A needle.

A big ass silver needle.

Christian took it from her and poured some peroxide over it quickly to sterilize it, then started to string some medical thread through it.

My eyes widened when I realized that he was going to have to stitch up the cut on my face and I quickly jumped up, moving as far away from them as possible. "No fucking way." I said shaking my head, putting even more distance between the needle and I.

"Rose," Lissa said softly, "you need stitches. That cut is deep."

"No fucking way." I repeated, "Do you see how big that fucking needle is? You're insane!"

I had an intense fear of needles- always have, ever since I was a kid. Whenever I had to go in for stitches at the hospital they always had to have the nurses hold me down, or they had to sedate me.

Dimitri walked back into the room and cast a confused glance to Liss and Christian before looking at me. "What's wrong Rose?"

I opened my mouth to tell him that everyone was fucking insane but Liss beat me to it, "Rose is scared of needles and doesn't realize she needs stitches." Her voice got higher with the last three words as she looked over at me and Dimitri's eyes softened a bit.

Walking forward he took my face in his hands, whispering softly, "Roza, you have to let her stitch up that cut. You're losing blood."

My eyebrows pulled together and I whimpered from the pain that shot through my forehead, "It's going to hurt though."

"I know," he murmured, "I'll help you through it okay? You think you can do this for me? Let Chris stitch you up?"

I looked up into his eyes, and then cast a glance around his arm to see Lissa staring at us expectantly, before nodding. "Alright, come on." He grabbed my hand and sat down in a chair, pulling me onto his lap. He wrapped an arm around my waist and held me tight to him.

I closed my eyes tightly and searched around for his other hand. I waited for the prick of the needle and when it came I squeezed Dimitri's hand tightly. He rested his head in the crook of my neck and shoulder and whispered soft things in Russian to me. I couldn't really understand what he was saying but it helped none-the-less.

"Okay," I heard Chris say, and I slowly opened my eyes back up, "now, I'm going to clean up your nose and re-tape that okay?"

I nodded and sat quietly as he finished cleaning up my face and all the cuts. He wrapped up my bruised knuckles for me and when he was done I thanked him and then leaned against Dimitri's chest.

He picked me up and said something to the others about taking me to my room, but I was too tired already to catch any of what they said back. I felt his body shift as he walked up the stairs and then carried me into a bedroom.

"This isn't my room." I mumbled as I hazily looked around at the crème colored walls.

"I know," he said, "it's mine. I wanted to keep a closer eye on you."

I was too tired to fight with him about that so I just nodded, burying myself deeper into the soft comforter that smelled exactly like Dimitri. It was very soothing. The bed dipped down and soon I felt his body next to mine. He softly smoothed down my hair then continued his soft whispering and soon, I was in a beautifully oblivious sleep.

Slowly getting conscious, the first thing I felt was the ache that was spread out all over my body. My head was pounding and a groaning sound escaped my throat as I buried my head into the pillow. However, it smelled different. A much spicier musk, mixed with... soap? I remembered this scent. This was not my pillow I was resting on.

Peeking through my closed lids I held back a shriek as I recognized Dimitri's naked chest. I felt the heaviness of his arm resting across my stomach and felt his even breathing on my hair.

I vaguely remember him carrying me here last night and shivered at the thought of Lissa and Christian digging that needle into my forehead.

As I shivered Dimitri's hold on me tightened. I remembered him making me feel calm as I freaked out about the needle. I sat in his lap for Christ sake! He buried his face in my neck and hair and whispered things in my ear.

How the hell am I supposed to take that?

Suddenly I felt anxious to open my eyes and look at him. To watch him sleep. It was a calm mode that I'd never seen Dimitri in. I took my chances, slightly tilting my head back as I gazed through my eyelids. Softness was spread all over his face. He looked so relaxed, so peaceful.

Small strands of hair were stuck against his forehead and I was so mesmerized by all of him I didn't really think as my fingers touched him, brushing them back. Right then I realized he could wake up at any second now and be either furious or just plain angry with me.

I didn't really know why but, I could never be completely sure with Dimitri and his mood swings. I continued brushing his hair back, it gave me a clear view all over his face. His features were striking. Strong chin and jaw bone covered in a sexy day after stubble, smooth skin draping over his high cheek bones and soft natural lips that had mine aching. Even if everything went wrong in the gym, the feeling of his lips hadn't gone away.

I was leaning closer. Our bodies lying on our sides facing one another. I was still in my fighting clothes but Dimitri was just in his dress pants.

I remembered when he had the same outfit on down in the gym, and in the back of my head I've always been sucker for shirtless men that just radiated power. And Dimitri was just that. Manly power with a sexy undertone.

I was letting all these emotions go to my head and I found myself inches away from his lips. My hand on his naked chest holding my breath.

Should I do it? Why wouldn't I? It's not like it hasn't happened before- granted it never ended too well. I took a deep breath my eyes locking with his lips, and that was all I needed. I sealed the space between us and brushed my lips against his. There was no sign of response and I didn't really know what I was expecting, but I pressed my lips to his again and was taken back by the sudden way his lips moved against mine.

Forgetting about it fast I got into it again, pressing my hand to his cheek as his lips moved underneath mine. One of his hands went to the small of my back holding me closer to him. He was careful to avoid any of my wounds, not getting too rough.

To my surprise he deepened the kiss and as I felt his tongue against mine I moaned.

"Boss I was just wondering how-" There was a quick knock on the door as it opened and before I could move, Christian was staring at use wide eyed. I pulled back but Dimitri didn't move away from me.

He sighed before looking over his shoulder at Christian, "Yes?"

Christian blinked getting back on track, "Um, I was just uh wondering how Rose was...?" He looked down not daring to meet Dimitri's gaze.

"As you can see she's fine." Dimitri said shortly.

Christian cleared his throat backing out the door again, "Ok then, I'll just, leave." The door closed before we could respond.

I closed my eyes and let a soft sigh slip past my swollen lips before looking back up at Dimitri. "So where does this leave us?"

He searched my face for a moment and then leaned down, pressing his lips to mine gently. "Mine," he whispered against them. "You're mine." His voice was soft and shaky, as if he was unsure of himself or me. I tilted his chin up slightly so he was looking at me. He looked scared and vulnerable- nothing like how I was use to seeing him. "Yours," I whispered just as softly. "All yours."