Stay With Me Tonight

~QUINTANILLA VS MACHADO~

The banner alone was enough to unnerve her as they reached 5th Street. Roni felt it the moment she walked into the gym with Noah. He took her hand as they walked through the already gathering crowd. A herd of would-be groupies eyeballed her as they walked by them, and they all happily wished Noah luck. Roni looked right back at all of them and smiled sweetly. Noah was making a statement, and now so was she. The decision about moving forward and giving a relationship with Noah a fair try was becoming clearer.

Nothing made her happier than being with him, and who cared if she didn't have a million friends or other things going on? Who said she had to have that all set up before she moved things along with Noah? She could do both at the same time. There were just a few things she wanted to get straight with him.

She'd been tempted to return Derek's texts all day but hadn't. He apologized again for having dropped such a load on her about Noah. Since she hadn't responded to any of his texts, he seemed convinced that she was upset with him and had even called and left a long voicemail about how he still cared about her and he was only looking out for her.

His sincere concern was what made her nervous. As much as she knew about Noah, there was still a lot she didn't, like that he'd dropped out of school. Had he ever gone back to get his diploma? But most importantly, did he really have a child out there, and why wouldn't he want to be a part of his or her life? And what about the drug trafficking? It was so unlike him, but it was also unlike Derek to make something like that up. What else did she not know about him?

Abel, Gio, and Jack prepped Noah in the locker room. It felt weird to be in the men's locker room, but since it was fight night, it was closed off to anyone else but the two fighters. There were two separate areas for the fighters, so no one but Noah's group was in his area.

Veronica tried to stay out of the way. She got the distinct feeling no one else was comfortable with her there but Noah. But he made it clear he wanted her close by. She sat on a stool near the table where Noah sat while Abel wrapped his hands. The moment Hector walked in an undeniable tension filled the room—a tension only Noah and maybe Jack were oblivious to.

Hector gave Veronica a nod, but it was so unlike the usual playful way he greeted her lately. The warning look Abel gave him wasn't missed either. Right then, she knew it. They all knew about Hector seeing her with Derek at the park. Just like her, they were most likely waiting until after the fight to tell Noah, because he obviously didn't know yet.

She'd thought about telling him the night she got home from the park. She wanted so badly to ask him about the things Derek had told her, but telling him about the park would mean having to come clean about seeing him the two other times that week as well. She knew Noah well enough to know that information wouldn't go over well, and she'd really hoped she could hold off until after the fight to tell him. Now she was thankful the guys had the same thought, but after their Rita conversation earlier, she was even more worried.

Admitting she'd made a week-long decision to distance herself from Noah only to come home every night to get even closer to him than she'd ever been before was going to make no sense at all. It did sound ridiculous even to her. She'd explain it the only way she could: that no matter how hard her head tried to dictate what she should do—get a life that didn't revolve around Noah—her heart and her body's reaction when she was around him always won out.

Rationale didn't stand a chance anymore. Her body just gave into what she really wanted every time now. He'd worn her down, and at this point, even he had to know it. She only hoped he could understand why she'd tried to fight it in the first place.

Noah finished warming up, and the radio broadcaster outside announced it was almost fight time. The crowd started cheering as he riled them up. Veronica stood up, ready to go find her seat ringside where Noah had made sure they'd reserved for her.

"Wait, Roni."

Noah was back on the table where Abel had been prepping his face with Vaseline. He held out a glove to her and motioned for her to come to him. She did, and when she was close enough, she saw that the Vaseline accentuated the small lump still left from the hit he took New Year's Eve. She touched the lump with her fingers, the one Noah stubbornly refused to have checked out by a doctor, saying it was normal for the swelling to take time to go away completely in the face.

"Are you sure it's okay for you to be fighting with this thing still here?"

"Yes, I'm sure." He smiled, bringing his arm around her waist and pulling her to him. Her heart sped up, because except for the other day when he openly hugged her in the gym, he'd never done this in front of the guys. "Wish me luck?"

"Of course." She smiled back and then did what she said she was going to do from here on—stop holding back—she leaned in and kissed him deep.

She pulled away slowly, and Noah finally let her go as the crowd outside got louder. Noah got off the table, and they all walked out together.

The fight started well enough. Noah appeared to be far more focused and in control than the last fight. The crowd was so much bigger and louder this time, and that seemed to feed Noah's adrenaline.

Veronica sat at the edge of her seat, her hands going to her face every time Noah's opponent landed a punch, which to her relief wasn't often. Noah seemed to be doing most of the landing. Then his opponent slipped in one good one that landed right on the spot Veronica had been worried about. The lump on the side of his face.

Seeing Noah rocked made the crowd go wild. Everyone was on their feet, including Veronica whose heart was at her throat as she watched Noah try to shake it off.

"Get back in this, Noah! Now!" Abel yelled.

Noah did just that, landing two good ones back to back. The crowd roared, and Noah had his opponent on the ropes. He landed another solid jab to the guy's gut just before the bell rung and the ref stepped in to separate them.

This was definitely a part of Noah's life that was going to take some time getting used to, because, God, if she wasn't close to tears already. Seeing him being knocked out so unexpectedly on New Year's had been horrifying enough, but watching and waiting, knowing it could possibly happen again, was the worst.

The next round went much better, and even after Noah landed a couple that almost took his opponent down, it was beginning to look like the fight might come down to a decision. Then Noah landed a solid one to the guy's jaw, and he finally went down seconds before the bell.

Noah was once again declared the winner by way of knockout. The whole thing was bittersweet, and Veronica had a feeling this was how it would always be. She watched, and while everyone around him smiled and cheered, she focused on his expression. Even though he smiled at her and smiled again when they held his arm up announcing he was the winner, she could see he was in pain.

Once in the locker room, he admitted to having a bitch of a headache but told her not to worry it was normal. Jack gave him some pain killers with codeine, and their proposed night out to celebrate was officially postponed. Gio immediately announced he was having a barbeque the next day at his place instead.

By the time they got home, Noah was already feeling drowsy. Veronica thought they might actually skip out on their goodnight kiss, but when they got to their bedroom doors Noah pulled her into his. "Stay with me tonight, please? I'll promise I'll be good." He smiled even through a pained grimace. "Hell, with these pills kicking in now, I'll be lucky to stay awake for even a few more minutes."

There was no way Veronica was saying no now. If it weren't for the pills, she probably wouldn't have said "no" to anything else either. After changing into her pajama pants and a t-shirt, she climbed in bed with him, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her, spooning her closely. It felt so perfect she wondered if she'd ever go back to sleeping alone again.