Chapter 13
Sian pov.
My eyes flutter open and I look around to see I'm in a dark room, I sit up to get a better look at my surroundings and see I'm in a bedroom that I don't recognise and that I've never been in before, I get out of the bed and realise I'm in a white button up shirt, I recognise it as one of tongs, I'm guessing he's brought me to one of his houses but what one, I hear traffic outside so I think it's the one in town, I walk toward the door at the other end of the room and open it to find a hallway, I make my way down the hall towards the staircase in the middle, as I get closer I start to hear voices, I smile as I recognise Tongs, when I'm at the stairs I remember what tong told me, he doesn't have anyone except his manager, so it must be him that's here, I crouch down and peek around the wall down the stairs, tong has his back to me and the man I'm guessing is Freddie Lee is facing me, thankfully he hasn't noticed me, I listen to what they are saying, and I hear that Eric Sloan's brother Kurt has challenged tong to a fight and it will be at the old underground tomb, he then says they will be fighting the ancient way and I have no idea what that means, but I'm guessing it can't be good, he then goes on to say the match will be on Friday night, a sharp pain goes through my heart as I realise I will be home by then, we leave Thursday night, I see Freddie Lee's eyes flicker up to me and I quickly move back behind the wall, I don't know If he saw me, I think I should tell Tong just in case, I hear the front door close, I crawl back towards the bedroom and closing the door I sit on the bed.
Tong opens the door seconds later and I can't help but smile at him, he grins back at me and says.
"Well good morning sleeping beauty" he crawls up the bed towards me and I giggle, he pecks my lips then lays down beside me pulling me into his arms, its so hard to be believe that the big mean guy I met in the locker room could really be this big playful teddy bear.
"Tong" I say cautiously.
"Yeah baby" he answers.
"What's the ancient way" I ask him.
I feel him stiffen.
"You weren't supposed to hear that" he says.
"I woke up in the bed alone, I wanted to know where you were" I explain.
"He looked up to the landing, did he see you" he asks me.
"I don't know, I tried to duck behind the wall as quick as I could" I tell him, he goes quiet.
"Tong you didn't answer my question" I say, I feel him sigh in defeat and I know he was trying to avoid answering it.
"Many years ago, before boxing gloves were made, fighters would wrap their hands in rope, they would either dip their hands in water to harden the rope to do more damage to their opponent or dip it in adhesive then into glass, the glass will stick to the rope and will cut the fighters when hit with the others fist" he explains.
"How doesn't it cut the fighter when they dip their fist into it" I ask.
"Because they wrap a lot of rope around their hand so it's thick enough that the glass won't be able to reach their skin through it" he says.
"Is that how Freddie Lee wants you to fight Kurt" I ask him.
He nods his head, I look down at my hands and knot my fingers together.
"Can you get hurt doing that" I know it's a stupid question, they're punching each other with glass on the fists of course they could hurt, but I guess a part of me is hoping he will say no, I feel his hands cupping my cheeks as he brings my face up so I'm looking at him.
"I've fought this way loads of times, I know what I'm doing, I'll be ok, I promise" he says.
"I'm just worried about you" I say.
"I know, are you sure you don't know If he saw you or not" he asks again to make sure.
"He might've, he might not have, I don't know I never saw" I explain.
"Its alright, it was my fault for bringing you here, but my secret house and your hotel were both too far away and I had to get your body temperature down as fast as I could or you would have been really ill" he explains.
"I know, I understand you had no choice, thanks for helping me" I say, I reach up and kiss him, he kisses me back for a second and then we pull apart.
"Its nearly dinner time, I don't have any food here I normally eat out so I can spend as less time here as I can so we should go back to your hotel" he says and gets off the bed, he grabs my dress from the chair by the desk and puts it on the bed beside me I thank him and get out of the bed again.
We dress quickly and are both ready to leave in just a few minutes, as we head down the stairs and out to the car, I notice the basket in the back seat of the car.
"Do we have anything left in that" I ask.
"Yeah but its been in the sun all day, you were asleep for a while, most of it will be warm and won't taste very nice" he explains, I nod my head in agreement, he drives towards the hotel, we sit in a comfortable silence until we get there, he parks the car outside and turns to me.
"Are you ok" he asks.
"I just hoped I would be able to be here and support you during the match but I can't" I say.
"Why can't you" he asks confused.
"Its on the Friday, I leave Thursday night remember" I say and a look of realisation passes his features.
"Maybe it's for the best, at least you don't have to see that side of me again" he says.
"Hey, stop that, it is not a side of you, it is someone you pretend to be so you can stay alive, don't you dare think of yourself as a monster because you're not one and I know it" I tell him.
He smiles at me and then kisses me.
"I love you" he tells me.
"I love you to" I answer.
We get out of the car and enter the hotel hand in hand, tong gives the basket back to the reception and I giggle, he looks at me confused.
"I forgot that the basket belonged to the hotel" I explain.
"I almost forgot to so don't worry about it" he chuckles back.
We take the elevator up to my floor and walk down the hall to my room, I go to unlock with the key card when it opens and I see my mum standing there.
"Sorry mum we must have the room" I say.
"No you're right this is yours room twenty four, we just wanted to wait and see if you had a nice time together today" she explains.
"Yeah it was definitely one to remember" tong says.
"What happened" my mum asks.
"I passed out from the heat and Tong had to take me to his house because the hotel was too far away" I tell her.
"How risky was that" she asks and I can hear the worry in her voice.
"Pretty risky, his manager came over, we don't know if he saw me or not so we have to be careful" I tell her.
She stays silent and stares at tong she is almost glaring at him.
"Mom stop, this isn't his fault, he had no choice but to take me there" I say.
"You're right, please except my apologies tong dear" she says and her eyes soften towards him.
"Its ok, you're just worried about your daughter and so am I, please know I will do anything to protect her and I never meant to put her in harms way" he says.
She nods her head at him then turns to me.
"Sian you look so sad" she says.
"Tongs manager was there to tell him that he had a match on Friday night, we'll be gone Thursday so I won't be able to go and support him" I explain.
"Oh baby that's a shame, but I'm sure tong will be fine" she tries to reassure me.
"It's a dangerous match" I say.
"How so" she asks puzzled.
"He has to fight with his and his opponents hands wrapped in glass" I explain.
"Oh dear that is very dangerous, will you be alright" she directs the last part at tong.
"I'm sure I will be" he says with a smile.
By now we're all sitting on the couch and Sean is with us, he heard the whole conversation so we don't have to fill him in.
"Well, how about you guy's have dinner with us, since you're already here it would be nice" tong suggests, I smile thinking how he gets on so well with my parents, I really do love him.
My parents agree to have dinner with us, and after talking about it we decide it would be nicer to order it to our room where we can all talk comfortably without other people listening, room service doesn't take long to arrive and we dig into our food.
Dinner went really well and my parents stayed for ages afterwards, we all just talked, my parents didn't ask anymore questions about tongs life and I think its because they know it upsets him, its starting to get late so my parents decide its time to go, tong says he's going for a quick shower so I tell him to go on ahead and I'll let my parents out, I walk them to the door and quickly look behind me to make sure tongs gone, when in see he is, I turn back to them.
"Thank you guys for not asking tong about his past anymore" I tell them.
"Its ok, we know how much it upsets him, and we know he's a good man so there's no longer any need" they both smile and say goodnight, then they turn and walk down the hall to next door which is their room.
I shut the door and make sure its locked then head into the bedroom, I hear the sound of running water and assume it's the shower and smile as I start to strip, once I'm naked though the running water is switched of, my smile fades as I think I've missed the chance to enjoy a shower with my man, but he doesn't emerge from the room so I walk to the door and enter, instead of seeing the small shower cabinet steamed up I notice its empty, I look over to the bath that's against the wall and see its filled with soapy bubbles and tong is lying back against the edge, I quietly walk over to the bath and gently slip in trying not to disturb the water as I want to surprise him, the fact that he has his eyes closed helps, I kneel in the warm water and leaning forward start to kiss his chest, he jumps at the contact not expecting it and I lean my forehead against his.
"Did you fall asleep" I ask him.
"No, I was just so wrapped up in my thoughts I didn't even notice you" he say's.
"Penny for them" I say.
"I was thinking it's nice to belong in a family again" he says and I smile sadly at him.
"Don't upset yourself sweetheart" I tell him.
"Too late" he says smiling sadly, it's now I notice he has tear stains on his cheeks.
"Tong" I whisper as I wipe them away.
I'm about to reassure him, but he silences me by kissing me, I kiss him back and it soon becomes heated.
My head is resting on his chest, I look at the floor to see it almost flooded with water and bubbles, I feel drained from our passionate love making and my eyes flutter closed before I can stop them.
As I start to wake up I shiver and wander where the coldness is coming from, I sit up and see that we're still in the bath and tong is sleeping, I shiver again and realise the water is freezing and that's why I'm cold, I need to wake tong so we can get out.
"Baby, wake up, we fell asleep in the bath" I gently shake him and his eyes flutter open, like me he shivers from the cold water. I stand and carefully get out of the bath, I can tell we've been asleep for a while because the floor has completely dried, I grab two towels and hand one to tong who is also out of the bath, we towel dry ourselves, because I didn't lay down my hair wasn't in the water therefore it remained dry, tongs is a little wet at the bottom but it won't do him any harm so he just leaves it, we walk into the bedroom leaving the towels on the floor, too tired to look for night clothes to wear I just climb into bed, tong does the same, I grab my phone to quickly check the time and I see it's the early hours of the morning, tong looks over checking as well then lays down, I put my phone on the table and cuddle up to his chest.
"I love you" I whisper.
"I love you more" he whispers back and we fall asleep completely drained.