Bedding The Best Man (Bedding the Bachelors Book 7) Read Online Free PDF

pushed forward and the momentum of his body propelled Gabe back into the ropes. Gabe crossed his arms so his biceps pressed up against Javier’s chest and he used all of his weight to push the other man back, knocking him off of him. That netted him two quick punches to the head and a kick to the upper part of his right thigh. Once again, he was knocked back into the ropes.
    “Get your hands up, he’s coming with a cross next!” Sam, his trainer, yelled.
    Sure enough, Javier came at him with a left cross. Sometimes it was like Sam was psychic. He could read a fighter’s moves better than anyone Gabe had ever known.
    Gabe caught the fist with his palm and closed his hand down over it. He then used Javier’s own momentum to push him back. As he did, he spun the other man around so that he was facing away from him and wrapped an arm around Javier’s throat. He planned on taking him down to the floor but just as he pressed his legs into the backs of the other man’s knees, the bell rang.
    Gabe let go of his opponent and returned to his side of the cage.
    He sat down on the stool and spit his mouth guard into the bowl that Sam held out for him. Then he leaned back and let Sam squirt Gatorade into his mouth before starting his repair of the cut that was still bleeding. Gabe closed his eyes while Sam pressed the Enswell to the open cut and then swiped a thick gob of Vaseline across it.
    “Gabe!” The crowd was loud, but he thought he heard a tiny little voice calling his name. He opened his eyes. His right one felt sticky and gooey from the Vaseline and he blinked a few times before turning his head towards the sound.
    Of course, it wasn’t Brianne. She’d never be caught dead in a place like this. But it was a beautiful woman. She was young. Probably not even old enough to drink legally yet.
    Maybe even as young a Brianne was the first day Gabe had met her all those years before.
    He grinned at the brunette, though his heart wasn’t in it.
    “Hey, lover boy, throw her a kiss then get your ass up. The bell’s about to ring. She won’t like that pretty face so much once this guy crunches the cartilage in your nose and the bones in your cheeks.”
    Sam was a poet. He was also Gabe’s savior. He’d been like a father to Gabe when he’d needed one most, teaching him to use his anger, to channel it. At sixteen years old, Gabe had been standing in front of a judge because he’d finally snapped and beaten the crap out of one of his mom’s abusive boyfriends. His mom hadn’t said a word about the black eye and broken ribs the giant piece of shit had given her, but as soon as Gabe had seen it, he’d been determined to get the scumbag responsible out of their lives.
    He’d beaten the guy bad, and been thrown in jail for his efforts. His Mom? She hadn’t tried to bail him out. She hadn’t even visited him. He’d known then, sitting beside his court appointed public defender, that the alcohol and the terrible men would always come first in her life. He’d just been a mistake she wished had never happened, a burden she didn’t want the responsibility of any longer.
    Sam had worked with juvenile offenders in the district, taking them on at the gym and giving them purpose again. He’d done that with Gabe, and they’d spent hours together. Sam never let any of his boys think they couldn’t achieve anything they wanted, no matter where they came from. The shining Olympic gold boxing medal in his office was tangible proof that a kid from the streets could make it to the top.
    Gabe pushed himself to his feet. The brunette was still standing there staring at him. He winked at her with his good eye.
    Just as the bell rang, Gabe went out fighting and so did Javier. The force of the punches he was throwing and absorbing reverberated through his body. Sweat ran in rivulets down his bare chest and arms. Yet even as Gabe fought, part of him was still distracted, which was why minutes later, when the fight was called, it was