Best Friend's Brother #3 (Best Friend's Brother Romance Series - Book #3) Read Online Free Page A

of bed, maybe even happier.
    After Dad left for work, I started cleaning. I took
apart the house room by room and even cleaned out closets and drawers. I wiped
everything down and washed every piece of dirty laundry. By
the time I was done the whole place smelled fresh and was shining. I
felt as renewed as the place looked.
    Before the fight I took a long, hot shower. I did
some of my best thinking in the shower and while I was in there I decided that
although I was going to the fight and I was excited to see Ian, I knew that it
wouldn’t be the time or place to ambush him with my apology and the fact that I
was really hoping we could try again. I would call him later, in a few days and
we could talk about all of that then.
    I dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and for the first
time in almost a week, I left the house. Somehow the air smelled sweeter, maybe
since I hadn’t smelled it for so long. I drove to the fight and got in line for
my ticket. Watching the fights was not just about seeing Ian. I loved the
atmosphere. There was electricity to it; everyone was so alive and full of their own adrenaline that it was like an energy drink for
me. I sat near the back again next to an older couple. They were really cute.
He was dressed in a suit and a fedora and she was wearing a dress that looked
like she’d had it since the 1950’s but it was adorable on her. While we waited
for the revelries to begin, the old man said, “Why is such a pretty young girl
here alone…if you don’t mind me asking?”
    “One of the fighters is a friend of mine,” I said.
At least I hoped that Ian and I could still be friends.
    “Which one?” he asked.
    “Ian.”
    “Oh, we’re here to see the other one. I don’t know
either of them, but my son said I should put my money on Wreckin ’
Ralph.”
    “I hope that was wise,” I said. “I don’t know this
Ralph character, but Ian’s pretty darned good.”
    “How’s his boxing game?”
    “The best,” I said, like I
knew anything about it. “He’s super-fast, so he’s great on his feet.”
    “Hmm, then I should hope that Ralph takes him down
to the floor.”
    I laughed and he did too and then he said, “My name
is Buster. I was known as Buster Bruiser in my day, and this is my wife, Rose.”
    “You were a fighter?”
    “He was one of the best,” his wife said. Buster was
smiling from ear to ear.
    “I was the welter-weight champion two years running
in ’52 and ’53.”
    “Wow, awesome! Well, I’m pleased to meet you both. I
do hope that your Ralph loses, but maybe if you don’t mind you could explain
some of the moves for me? I don’t really understand a lot of it yet.”
    “Okay. I just hope you don’t mind a little cussing.
Rose says that I have a potty mouth.”
    “That he does,” she said.
    The announcer interrupted us then. He announced Wreckin ’ Ralph first. The guy that jogged down the aisle
was big. Height-wise he was probably the same as Ian, but his shoulders looked
like they were four feet across. His nose was crooked like it had been broken a few times and I think part of his ear must have been torn
off and sewed back on…crooked, at some point. Now I hated the thought of Ian
beating him. The poor guy definitely didn’t have looks in his corner and this
sport could only make that worse.
    Next we heard, “Ian the “Iceman” Michaels!” I
clapped and whistled and then watched as he came down toward the octagon. He
was wearing dark blue shorts. His eyes looked really blue tonight. Just the
sight of him made my heart flutter. Once the preliminaries were taken care of,
the bell rang and the two men faced off in the center of the octagon.
    They danced around each other for a few seconds and
then Ralph was all of a sudden on Ian in a flurry of punches and then a kick.
Ian managed to dodge most of them and then I saw him go in for a couple of
jabs. One of them caught Ralph on the bottom side of his jaw. It looked like it
hurt as he stumbled back. Ian didn’t