A couple of hours later…
We reached Germany in low spirits, glancing at each other occasionally with dread as we neared a hostel somewhere near Berlin. I was tired and dreaded the idea of not having enough money for the stay, but we managed, barely, to scrape up the cash that we needed. Tom was eerily quiet as we put our bags on the bunks, and I watched out of the corner of my eyes as he snuck out of the room quietly. Curiously, I decided to follow, and the next thing I knew I was chasing him through the streets of Germany to a shady joint on the other side of town. Catching up to him, I grabbed him solemnly by the arm. He spun around in surprise.
"What are you doing?" I asked suspiciously as I looked at the building in front of us. He just shrugged at me.
"Just follow me and find out, would you?" He said almost irritably as I raised a brow at his tone. I could tell he wasn't exactly happy that I had followed him, but hey, he had a history of following too. We walked into a smoky building filled with yelling men and burly women smoking and drinking as they watched a group of boxers having it out in a ring in the center of a big room. I cringed as blood squirted out of one of the men's mouths as Tommy walked up to a guy and began to talk to him in broken German. Despite the language barrier, he must have gotten his gist across because the man nodded and Tommy grabbed me by the elbow before leading me to the back of the building. We entered a door there as Tommy leaned over to place his lips against my ear.
"Stay very close to me, Jude." He murmured as I shivered at his tone. I watched with trepidation as he talked to a few other men before pulling his shirt over his head and taking a package from one of the guys. Inside was a pair of boxing gloves and shorts.
"What the hell, Tommy?" I said with a slight edge to my tone as Tom quirked a brow at me before leaning over to lace up the glove he had borrowed from another fighter. Shrugging, he looked at me almost in dismissal before pulling on the material that covered his hand to make sure he had gotten the strings tight enough.
"We need the money, right? So, I'm just making sure that we get it. That's all." He answered coolly as I threw my arms up into the air in exasperation.
"Yeah, by going into a ring with some stranger and hitting rounds with each other until someone gets hurt. That's not a normal way to win money, Tommy. It's freakin' barbaric!" I said in a rush as he pulled on yet another glove before looking at me from underneath lowered lashes.
"Jude, my dad prize-fighted for a while when he was younger. Did I ever tell you that? No, I guess not." He said with a sigh as he sat back against the wall wearily. Sometimes, I felt like we didn't know each other at all. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing. I used to fight years ago before I hit it big in the business." He said with a shrug as I stared at him forlornly.
"Hate to tell you, Quince, but that was a long time ago, and these guys have months of training on you." I said with a shake of my head as he stood up and brushed past me.
"It's one fight, Jude. And I signed up for the amateurs so they're not as polished as the professional fighters. We just need the money from one fight, alright? He said with such conviction that all I could do was shrug.
"One fight, no more!" I stated firmly as I walked behind him to the ring. The crowd outside was screaming loudly as we exited from the back to make our way up to the front. One glance at his opponent and I almost swooned.
"Just don't expect me to keep my eyes open." I mumbled unhappily as Tom glanced back at me with a grin, and a shrug that said 'what can I say.'
"You know Darius is going to kill you if you hurt that beautiful face of yours?" I asked softly as he scoffed.
"Right now, Jude, I'm all about pissing that man off." Tommy said with angry relish as he lifted up the rope and entered the ring. I groaned as he inserted his mouth piece before shaking the hand of his opponent. A few flashes from cameras in the crowd ensured that this was going to be front page news as the ring announcer called the round and the bell sounded. Watching with morbid fascination as the two men circled each other warily, I winced as the first man made his move and landed a direct hit straight into Tommy's rib. And with his grunt of pain, I grabbed my own side almost as if I could feel it too. My stomach flipped over with nauseating awareness as I pressed my fist firmly into my abdomen.
"Not now!" I grumbled at my intestines as I watched Tommy shake his head to rid himself of the unexpected pain before stepping back into the fight to land a direct hit on the other man's jaw. I heard the contact all the way across the ring as the man 'yowled' and threw a fist outward in retaliation toward Tommy's face. Ducking suddenly, Tommy managed to keep most of the contact above his upper brow and I cringed at the small amount of blood that suddenly beaded there. Hitting each other unmercifully for about an hour, I watched as I gripped the rope tight enough my knuckles were turning white as Tommy took hit after brutal hit before collapsing with one knee upon the mat. I let my shoulders slump in defeat as the man lifted himself up to finish Tommy off, and I heard Tommy growl loudly from the center of the ring.
"Don't underestimate me." He said with a roar as his hand suddenly came up to blast the man squarely against the flesh of his jaw before hitting him again and again to make sure his opponent was really down and out. The final blow completely came through as Tom's opponent quit moving. I screamed wildly as the ring announcer entered the center of the ring to hold up one of Tom's hands triumphantly. I tried not to wince as Tommy turned toward me with his many bruises to give me a lopsided grin that said "I told you so" while they handed him his cash award. Oh boy! Money. Smiling, I could almost hear the theme song from 'Rocky' as Tommy looked at me with his nearly black eye and cut up brow. Yep, definitely an 'Eye of the Tiger' moment.
About two hours later…
Tommy and I entered the hostel with a few hundred eyes watching our progress as we made our way to our dormitory. SME was sitting on the floor working on some music while Patsy and Jamie were talking about something in hushed tones as we entered, and I could tell when they all noticed Tom because the room suddenly became very very quiet. He looked horrible with one swollen eye, a bruised lip, and a cut eyebrow, and I headed for my bag to get out a first aid kit when Spied laid his guitar down with a bang.
"Damn! What kind of argument did you two have this time." He asked in awe as I threw him a "you're a jack ass' look. Tom just laid down on an empty bunk and closed his eyes before throwing the wad of cash on the floor next to him.
"Here's the cash to replace the sum we lost. It should get us the rest of the way to France." Tom said on a groan as the mattress dug into his side. I watched Jamie, Patsy, and SME look at Tommy with a whole new respect as they realized what I had already realized a long time ago. The man may be rich now, but he hadn't started out that way, and he had a hell of a lot more street smarts than we did. I gave the group a 'give him some privacy look' as they all stood to exit the room. Leaning over him expectedly, I motioned for him to take off his shirt as he raised an eyebrow in anticipation. Swiping at him playfully, I apologized immediately as he groaned. When he didn't move, I grabbed a handful of fabric and lifted his shirt off of him myself gasping at the bruises and slight gashes that marred his stomach and chest. Running a finger over the marks gently, I saw Tom wince as I applied a little more pressure. I didn't apologize, I just unscrewed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and grabbed a puffy cotton ball before getting to work. He sighed as I hit another sore spot.
"You know, this would be erotic if it weren't so painful." Tommy said on a chuckle as I ran my hands along his stomach. Throwing him a 'just close your eyes and relax' look, I managed to doctor all of his gashes before putting a small butterfly band-aid on the scratch above his brow. There would probably be a small scar there, but it wouldn't do anything to mess up his appearance. If anything it would give him a more dangerous edge that would make him absolutely irresistible. I watched as Tom stared at the ceiling deep in thought, and I was just about to ask him what was bothering him when he looked at me in excitement.
"I have an idea. Call the rest of the guys back in here." He said in a rush before trying to sit up too fast and moaning. I pushed him back down gently before smiling at him tenderly and heading for the door.
"I think you can tell us all laying down, Quincy." I said on a shrug as I motioned for the rest of the group to come back into the room. They all scurried in looking just as curious as I felt about the idea that had formed in Tommy's head. Silently, we looked at him in the bed.
"You know how Darius came up with this prank to get Europe's attention about G Major's Instant Star?" He said slowly. We all nodded as he took a breath. "Well, maybe it's time we gave him what he wanted. Pack your bags guys, we're going to Luxembourg just right outside of France." He said before lifting himself painfully off the bed to grab his bag. None of us argued. We just complied.
