Body Lock: MMA Sports Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

explosion has gone off. The mattresses are tossed off the bed and new holes have been punched into the plaster of the walls. On the far side of the room is my mom, alone, digging through a pile of laundry.
    "Where is it?" my mom mutters throwing more clothes across the room.
    "What the hell are you looking for mom?" I ask
    "My red dress," she says. "It's missing.” She looks at me with bleary eyes and suspicion. "Did you take it?"
    "No! Why the hell would I want to wear that? I'd look like a slut."
    "What are you saying?" she says, looking at me and raising her right arm.
    I can see track marks. She's been clean this time for the longest stretch in my memory, a record at sixty days. That's not sixty days of sobriety, just sixty days of not doing heroin. A fact well witnessed by all the empty bottles laying around our room.
    "Nothing," I say folding. "Nothing at all, mom. Did you look in the pile of laundry in the bathroom?"
    "Of course I did. Do you think I'm stupid?"
    I don't answer her, instead I walk into the bathroom and dig through the pile of clothes she left there. It only takes a moment and I find the dress. I walk back out holding it up. Her eyes brighten and she smiles.
    "Oh, baby, what would I do without you?"
    "What do you need the dress for?" I ask ignoring her question.
    The dress is one of the most expensive things she owns and I have to admit she looks good in it. It was a gift to her from my dad before he passed. Before everything in my life turned into this living hell. Because of that she only wears it for the most special of occasions.
    "Baby, our lives are about to change."
    "Oh yeah? How's that?" I ask, not believing her.
    It wouldn’t be the first time mom has lied to me or herself. Working as a stripper and blowing random guys in the parking lot for twenty bucks after a show has done nothing to prevent her from living in a fantasy world.
    "I met a man," she says smiling.
    "Uh-huh," I say, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
    Definitely not the first time I've heard this. She throws her clothes off before she answers and starts pulling the dress over her head.
    "We need to start packing. His driver's going to be here soon to pick us up."
    "His driver?"
    "Oh yeah baby he's super rich," she says wiggling the dress over her hips.
    "Okay," I say in complete disbelief.
    "You don't believe me, do you?"
    "Mom, this isn't the first time you've said somebody was going to come and save us."
    She walks over and takes my hands, staring into my eyes with an earnestness that I rarely see. She's thin, too thin, this life is taking its toll on her. Her cheeks are hollow, her eyes are sunken, and there are the first strands of gray showing in her hair.
    "This time it's different, baby," she says, pleading with me and shaking my hands as she talks. "Vinnie is different than all the rest. He's going to take good care of us."
    There's a knock at the door and I turn around to see one of the biggest men I've ever seen standing there. He's dressed in a dark gray suit and dark sunglasses. He looks like a gorilla that's been dressed up. His head turns slowly side to side as he takes in the room and I feel the heat rushing to my cheeks knowing this man’s judging us.
    "Lou!" my mom exclaims excitedly.
    The guerrilla turns his head back to her and nods without speaking. As he steps into the room he fills the door blocking out the light. I swallow hard, nervous about going with this stranger. He doesn't strike me as a friendly man. There's an aura of menace around him.
    "We'll be ready in just a moment, Lou," my mom says.
    I grab a Walmart bag and shove my handful of clothes into it. Mom does the same and it doesn't take long before we’re ready to go. Lou leads the way out the door and as we enter the parking lot, I see a limo waiting. My eyes widen as I look from it to my mom. She smiles a grin that goes ear to ear.
    "I told you, baby, things are going to be different."
    I nod finding myself speechless. Lou holds the door for