Free Dirty Brawler: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (with bonus novel!) by Teagan Kade, August Dimuro Page B

couldn’t do that to my career.
    I entered my dark apartment and stared out at the skyline. I had to get ready to support Shaun’s upcoming out of town fights. The idea of seeing him up close and personal in the ring gave me shivers of delight. I pulled off my shoes and started to unzip my dress as I headed for the bedroom. I was suddenly glad I’d remembered to recharge my vibrator. I needed to take the edge off if I was going to be able to continue working with Shaun Nichols.

Chapter Eight
    Shaun
    The fight was rough. Despite the fact I’d thrown myself into my training and barely surfaced for air all week, I still got caught with my pants down. I was angry and bitter at myself as I left the ring for the last time. A tie wasn’t how I liked ending a fight, but I knew I’d gotten lucky. My opponent had me against the ropes fighting with everything I had almost the entire time. I was rusty.
    Hammer looked like he was ready to spit nails as we made our way back to the locker room. I knew he wanted to chew me out, but he couldn’t in front of the kids. When Tori pitched it to me, I didn’t think it was a good idea, but now I was grateful. It meant the ass chewing would come later, which was fine by me.
    I somehow managed to get through the next forty-five minutes without punching a couple holes in the locker room walls. The kids didn’t seem to care I hadn’t won the fight outright. They were all cancer survivors who were there for free with their parents. Obviously Tori’s brainchild, but all the logistics between us setting it up had been handled via email.
    She was there in the back of the group, whispering and motioning to the photographer who captured every moment for posterity. I autographed some gloves and took pictures with each of the kids. I had to admit, by the end of the hour I wasn’t feeling as sorry for myself as I had at the beginning.
    By the time the last set of parents left, I realized Tori looked beat, too. That was frustrating because I knew we needed to talk at some point. I wanted to apologize for being an ass after the charity event, even though I still thought her conspiracy theory was a bit far-fetched.
    Nigel entered the room passing the last kid and waving them out. As soon as he confirmed the coast was clear, he sat down heavily on the bench and loosened his tie. “Fucking chemo kids. Yeah, that’s big news.”
    I frowned. I knew Nigel could be an asshole, but the comment was a new low even for him. “Go easy, Nigel. It wasn’t that bad. Those kids made me feel like a million bucks. I needed that after what happened in the ring.”
    “Too bad it doesn’t translate into actual cash money for your bank account,” Nigel snorted. “Winning is what you get paid for. It’s why people come to these things to begin with, you know. These kiddie stories aren’t what people want to see from you, Shaun.”
    I started to peel off my hoodie and grabbed my stuff for the shower. “It’s a hell of a lot better than people thinking I’m some loose cannon who gets into bar brawls and drugs women to get into their pants.”
    Nigel waved his hand dismissively. “You’re a star athlete and a man with needs. No one is going to fault you for that kind of stuff.”
    I stared at him in disbelief. “Except none of that stuff is true.”
    “Of course not. Of course not,” Nigel said, clearly trying to elicit an empathetic, soothing tone. Instead, he sounded condescending.
    “Not to mention it’s gotten me into trouble with my sponsors, so obviously they care. You don’t know anything about all of that, do you, Nigel?”
    “Like what?”
    I thought about what Tori said. I never even thought about it the way she presented it. It did seem odd the paparazzi were finding me again when my name had been out of the limelight for a while. It did have a ring of being… opportunistic. But I couldn’t believe that Nigel, of all people, would do something like that to me.
    I made a mental note to check