Epilogue

“Good workout, man,” Iggy said to Enzo. “Just what I needed before I head back to Miami tonight.”

“Thanks. You too.” Enzo took a long pull from his bottle of water and used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow.

“How’s your baby mama doing?”

“She’s great. Speaking of…” Enzo excused himself and reached for his ringing phone.

“Hello?”

“Guess what!” she squealed, happiness and excitement radiating from the phone.

“What?” he asked.

“I just saw a commercial, and McDonald’s brought back the McRib. The McRib, Enzo! Can you believe it?”

“I can’t believe it,” he teased.

“You don’t know what that is, do you?”

He chuckled. “I don’t. But I’ll stop by and get it for you on the way home. I should just open a tab at McDonald’s.”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into me. The cravings are in full effect. Don’t forget the large fries and a strawberry milkshake.”

“Fine, but tomorrow you have to eat something healthy. I’ll cook,” he said. “How’s Sarabelle? You okay alone with her?” After they’d flown to Vegas and gotten married, JL had finally told Enzo about Penny’s baby. He’d given Penny his word that he wouldn’t mention it to anyone—especially since Penny had panicked when she found out Enzo knew. He suspected there was an issue with the baby’s father and maybe some sort of abusive relationship, but he wasn’t sure.

“She’s fine. Sleeping. Hurry home—I’m starved. Tomorrow we’ll eat carrots and lettuce or something. Love you.” Then the phone went dead.

He laughed, because there was no way his woman was starved. She’d eaten a bowl of spaghetti before he’d left an hour and a half ago.

Slade, Tony, and Travis were a few feet away talking to a group of people he’d seen around the Academy since the fight a few weeks ago. “Hey guys, can you all come here?” Tony said to the group. Cain and Iggy followed him to where the other guys were.

“What’s up, boss?” Travis asked.

“This is Dakota Nelson. She’s the producer of Fight Night.”

“The television show?” Cain asked. Enzo was vaguely familiar with the show—it was on one of those cable channels.

“Yes. They’ve chosen Worth the Fight Academy to film a docu-series. They’ll be filming for about a month before the big fight Cain and Travis are headlining.”

“Hi, guys,” Dakota said. “This is my crew. Don’t worry, you’ll become familiar with them. You won’t even notice them after a while. Anyway, I’ll need to speak with you all separately if you decide to take this on. Travis is already onboard. You’ll all be compensated for it, and I think you’ll find it to be more than worth your while.”

Tony took over. “We’re still working some things out, and I’ll get back to you guys about it with more details, but I wanted you all to meet Dakota before she headed back out to L.A.”

“Why us?” Enzo asked. “This is a small town. I’m sure there are others to choose from.”

“Why you?” Dakota laughed. With her red hair and power suits, she reminded Enzo of Francesca. “First, you have Scarface.” She pointed to Tony, using his infamous nickname. “Since he retired everyone’s been dying to see what he’s been up to. He makes for great television, especially when you put him together with his feisty wife. After the test shoots we did last month, we knew it would be perfect. But then we saw Travis. There’s no star to the show per se, but it’s going to center in large part around him since he’s the single one. It’ll bring in viewers.”

“Sounds too much like a reality show,” Cain scoffed.

“No! It’s not,” Dakota corrected. “It’s a docu-series. We want to see you train, talk smack to your opponents. See the road that leads to the big fight. But we need viewers, and you all, with your sex appeal, can bring in viewers. Especially this guy.” She pointed to Travis. “The single one.”

“I’m single too,” Iggy said. His eyes were fixed on Dakota, and when she noticed, she looked slightly taken aback.

“I haven’t seen you much. You’re not always here and weren’t part of the roster. Is it something you’re interested in doing?”

“Nah, I’m not from here. But it’ll be nice to see a pretty face when I come to Tarpon Springs to get in a workout,” Iggy said flirtatiously. The woman blushed as she followed Slade and Tony to the office.

“You’re laying it on kind of thick there, brother,” Travis said to Iggy.

“She’s gorgeous. Too bad I can’t get security clearance to do the show.” He tipped his chin up. “Catch you all later.”

“See you, Iggy,” Enzo said, and then turned to Travis. “I have to go too. Your sister wants something called a McRib.”

“Oh, shit. Those things are back?” Travis said, a sparkle in his eye.

“You two are weird.”

“Is JL working today? I’ll take her the food,” Travis said.

“You just want an excuse to see Penny.”

“The woman has been avoiding me, and she hasn’t been at work for the last few days.”

“Jamie Lynn’s at home today. No idea if Penny’s working.”

“Does JL ever talk about her? Is she seeing anyone? Why hasn’t she been at work?”

“Yeah, we sit around doing our nails and talking about who Penny has a crush on.” Enzo shoved Travis’s shoulder. “I don’t know what’s up with Penny. Leave her alone. She seems to have a lot of things going on.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

Enzo shrugged. “You’re about to be the star of a reality show, and I suspect they’re going to make sure you have very little clothing on. Women are going to be lining up. Leave Penny alone.”

“I’ve been trying to. I think one date is all I need to work her out of my system.”

Enzo bent over in laughter. “Yeah, one date and she’ll be out of your system. That’s what I said about your sister,” he replied, remembering how their first date had lasted four days.