Lila (Boyle Heights #1) Read online

  Lila laughed nervously as she let the robe fall off her shoulders, then scooted back on the bed. “I’ve never done anything like this, Sonny,” she admitted, feeling stupid that she hadn’t exactly planned anything—just stripped out of her clothes and grabbed her bathrobe the moment she’d gotten off the phone with Ali. “I’m not even sure what you want me to do.”

  “Oh, I’ll tell you,” Sonny said without missing a beat. “Scoot farther back onto the bed and lie back.”

  Swallowing hard as her heart thudded wildly, she did as she was told but was glad he’d be taking the reins because she really had no idea what she was doing. “Get some pillows under your head so your head is up. I wanna be able to see your face while you do this.”

  Do this? It dawned on her suddenly he wasn’t expecting her to just show him what might be his someday. She’d stupidly visualized giving him an intimate peek of her nethers. Now, she realized, he was expecting so much more.

  Grabbing the pillows, feeling a strange thrill in her belly she never would’ve imagined feeling over this new-development, she placed them under her head and stared at the screen.

  “Now bend your knees so they’re both up.” Slowly she slid her legs up so her knees were now blocking her view. “Spread ’em, babe, all the way so I can see your face too.” Very slowly she spread her knees apart until she could see the aroused smile on his face. “Beautiful, but spread more and get those fingers ready, Lila.”

  Gulping, she spread wider, surprised by how aroused she was suddenly feeling too.

  “Perfect,” he said once she was spread eagle. “Okay, I’d move through this slowly, but no way am I risking running out of time. Lick your fingers for me and reach down and touch yourself.”

  He was probably too far for him to see it, but Lila didn’t need to lick her fingers. She already knew she was wet enough. Seeing that expression on his face had done it to her.

  “Stop right there,” he said when she touched her tender clit. “See that right there?” Lila nodded. “I’m claiming that. Go lower.” She did until her fingers were at her entrance. “Slide ’em in, both of them.”

  She did slowly, and seeing him close his eyes in reaction with a groan made her smile. Before he could tell her what to do next, she easily slid them as deep as possible then pulled them out and licked them.

  “Oh fuck,” he said, adjusting what she was sure was the massive erection she’d only gotten to feel over his clothes so far.

  Then she had a thought. “Let’s do this together,” she said, sitting up on her elbow. “I wanna see you.”

  He jumped off the sofa, and Lila almost laughed that she hadn’t had to ask twice. “Hold on,” she heard him say even though he was out of the screen now.

  A few minutes later, Sonny sat back on his sofa with what looked like a bottle of lotion and a towel. “I’m probably gonna rip through my pants anyway if I don’t undo this,” he said, unbuttoning his pants and pulling his zipper down.

  Lila’s eyes were glued to the screen now. “You can’t use the towel until you’re done,” Lila said almost in a trance. “I wanna see when you come.”

  “Whatever you say, but keep going, sweetheart. Let’s not run out of time.”

  The size of his cock shouldn’t have surprised her when he pulled it out. She’d felt it enough over his pants now to have a general idea of what she’d be in for, but it still did. It sprung right out and it was huge.

  “Jesus,” she whispered as she brought her fingers back down because, just like all the times they’d made out so far, she was on fire again.

  Aware that Ali would be home soon, she moved things along because she’d need to finish now. Watching him stroke himself only aroused her further. She’d had sex with Marcelo and even sent him faceless photos of her breasts, but this was a first for her. As long as she’d been with Marcelo, she never would’ve trusted him enough to send him a photo of her breasts that included her face, much less give him a video chat he could easily record of her playing with herself that included her entire body.

  This might be the stupidest thing she’d ever done, but at the moment she didn’t care. Lila still didn’t understand the spell-like influence Sonny had on her. But she trusted this man like she’d never trusted anyone aside from Ali.

  Sonny’s breathing was getting heavier as he stroked a little faster. Lila moaned softly as she felt the buildup of what she already knew would be an intense orgasm.

  “That’s it, baby. Come for me. I wanna see it.”

  Sliding her fingers in and out of her dripping folds, she worked her clit with two fingers until she was moaning and trying not to make the ugly orgasm faces she’d seen in movies. But she’d been right; she came so intensely her entire body trembled.

  “Fuck yeah,” Sonny said with a groan and once again her eyes were glued to the screen.

  Even as she lay there, still feeling the effects of the amazing orgasm, she watched in trance-like fixation as his semen shot out again and again, until he finally fell back onto the sofa.

  “As far as I’m concerned,” he said, trying to catch his breath. “We’ve technically had sex. I own that shit now. It’s mine, and as soon as I’m home again, I’ll make it official.”

  Lila smiled. No way could she say she wasn’t ready anymore now, not after this. “Never in my life have I been so willing to do everything I’ve done with you so far, Sonny. So, I can hardly wait for you to get home now.”

  She let her head fall back onto her pillows, feeling her heart still beating wildly. It surprised her that, even as she came down from the incredible orgasm, she didn’t feel even the tiniest bit of regret. Another first for her. What the hell had this man done to her?

  The week before his much-anticipated return on Sunday was also the first week she’d finally be getting back in the ring to do some real sparring. Gio had set it up so she’d be sparring with another girl in private that Thursday. Except for Felix, who wasn’t around as much as the others, all the owners would be watching. Even Abel, who stayed as busy as Felix traveling all over, was going to be there. Gio had assured her that, aside from them and the girl she’d be sparring with, no one else would be in the private training room.

  She finished up at the youth center then headed toward the training room, her insides as nervous as the first time. But she had to get this over with. If Stacia really moved out, Lila needed to get a bigger cash flow coming in. Gio had already explained about the upcoming fight in a few weeks—how if he could get her trained enough, she might be able to make her debut in a two-to-three round friendly bout before the undercards, just so she could get a feel for the rush of being in the ring in front of an audience. But he said, depending on how well she did and how much attention they could garner, they might be able to line up a paying gig in as soon as a few months. And he had a feeling she was going to get a lot of attention.

  “I’m telling you, you’re a natural,” he’d said yesterday while he coached her on the speed bag. “I’ve yet to see any of the other girls I’ve been training for months now come close to your strength and speed. It’s why it’s been a struggle to get any real excitement for the women’s boxing program. You may be the very thing this program needs. I know I’m excited.”

  Seeing the genuine excitement in those amazing green eyes of his should’ve had her excited too. Instead, it made her even more nervous. She still planned on keeping this to herself until she was absolutely certain she’d be committing to this.

  On her way to the private training room, she saw Gio and remembered to ask what she’d forgotten to for weeks. Ali hadn’t brought it up since the first time, so until this morning when she reminded her, it’d been the last thing on her mind. So, she pulled him aside before she’d forget again. “My sister asked me to ask you about something and I keep forgetting.” Gio nodded, willing her to go ahead. “That work-release program I’ve heard rumors about. She’s heard them too.”

  “It’s not a rumor,” he said with a smile. “It’s
really happening. Nellie’s just about done getting it together, and we should start getting the first ones in the program in here soon. Some will be women.” He pointed at her as that brightened his eyes. “Some, like you, have had enough experience on the street fighting, but are now interested in getting some real training in the sport. This is good news for us. Might actually find a contender among them.”

  That only unnerved her further. Not only would she be doing what she said she’d never do, but she might be doing it with an ex-convict. Great. But she did her best to try and look a little excited about it.

  “My sister wanted to know if maybe she could come in here and get an interview with whoever will be running the work-release program for her paper—”

  “I have the exclusive on that.” The female voice came from behind Lila.

  Lila turned to see Ms. Bitch, the one she hadn’t allowed in the employee bathroom the day of the concert, staring at her blankly. She then turned to Gio. “Right, Gio? I get all the 5th Street exclusives.”

  Lila felt that same familiar heat she always did whenever someone repulsed her the way this girl did.

  “I didn’t know your sister was a reporter?”

  Lila kept her cool and turned to Gio, ignoring Ms. Bitch. “She’s not yet. This would be for her college newspaper. She’s still a student.”

  “Oh, well, if it’s for a school paper, that’s fine.” He turned to Ms. Bitch. “That’s not the same. She’s not a competing paper or anything.”

  “But I’d still like to run mine first just the same.” She turned to Lila. “When does your sister anticipate running her story?”

  Lila didn’t even respond. Instead, she kept her eyes on Gio. “I’ll talk to you about this later. See you in a bit.”

  She promptly walked away. Fuck her. Lila didn’t need to answer to her. If Gio or any of the other owners said it was okay, then Ali could get in here and do her interview whenever the hell she wanted. That bitch better not even think about trying to stop her.

  As promised, the only ones in the room were Noah and Abel when she walked in. Gio and Hector weren’t there yet. Not even the girl she’d be sparring with was there.

  “The other guys and—” Noah stopped to think about it. “I think Gio said it’s Michele you’ll be sparring with. They’ll all be in here soon too. I’ll start wrapping your hands.”

  “So, you’ve been training with Gio,” Abel asked, crossing his big arms in front of him. “I’ve been hearing good things.”

  “It’s only been a few weeks.” She held out her hand for Noah to wrap and felt the inevitable anxiety creep up her spine and neck. “I still haven’t decided for sure if I wanna do this.”

  Noah stopped wrapping her hand and looked up at her, brows pinched. “You haven’t?”

  “Well, not entirely,” she said honestly. “You remember what happened last time I got in the ring.”

  Noah’s hardened expression softened, and he even smirked. “Yeah, I was just telling Abel about that. We just gotta work on that short fuse, but something tells me none of these girls will connect enough to piss you off. In fact, I was gonna tell you to go easy on Michele today. She may’ve been training longer than you, but I’ve watched you this week with Gio, and I can already tell you have a lethal left hook. If you hit just as hard with both hands, they don’t stand a chance.”

  Hector and Gio sauntered in just as Noah was finishing up wrapping her hands. Gio took over helping her get her gloves and headgear on. Then he went over some last-minute pointers while Noah geared up Michele. The girl was about as tall as Lila. Except for her blond cornrows, she had an innocent look about her. Lila almost felt sorry for her, so she’d keep Noah’s request to go easy on her in mind.

  They got in the ring with Gio coaching them. “We’re not trying to land big hits here. Just see if you can land any at all. This is Lila’s first time, Michele, so little jabs. Take turns practicing trying to land while the other practices blocking or bobbing and weaving out of the way. Michele, you try landing first, and, Lila, stay cool if she does. She shouldn’t be landing anything too hard anyway.”

  They started and Lila practiced her footwork as well, taking in a deep breath as she blocked Michele’s first jab with her right arm. It wasn’t as soft as she was expecting, given Gio’s little speech, but she stayed cool, breathing in through her nose. Michele missed the next two as Lila ducked to the side then she landed another on Lila’s arm again.

  “Good job, Lila,” Noah said, distracting her from her already altering irritation. “Way to block.”

  Michele hit her with a combination of jabs, and up until the last one that came up under her chin, Lila blocked them all, but it rattled her. She spit her mouthpiece out, walking away from Michele. “So, we are landing big ones?” she asked, trying to keep it together because she knew this was nothing yet then turned to Gio. “Because I can fucking land big ones too. We don’t need to take it easy on my account.”

  Hector chuckled, but it was Michele’s smirk that really pissed Lila off. “Alright, just go at it,” Gio said, spraying her mouthpiece clean and jumping onto the side of the ring to put it back in her mouth. “No taking turns, but keep your cool, yeah? Getting hit is the nature of the sport. It’s gonna happen. Make that anger work for you not against you.”

  Lila turned around and took a deep breath before getting in the center of the ring with Michele. Michele blocked the first few jabs Lila took at her then landed one on the side of Lila’s head. Lila responded immediately with a big one that had Michele tumbling back.

  Lila stopped and waited. “No, no, no,” Noah said as Hector clapped. “That’s when you go in for the kill.” He turned to Michele. “I mean we’ll stop it before she does, but I wanna see her skills. I wanna see if she knows how to finish.”

  Pissed at herself that she hadn’t gone for it all the way because she just assumed she shouldn’t, Lila got back in the middle of the ring with Michele, who’d now recovered. Michele came at her again with a combination that landed under her chin. Apparently, this was her move. As pissed as it made her, Lila did what Gio said, made her anger work for her. She landed a combination of her own, pretended to wind up for a left then swung at her with her right. Again, Michele stumbled back, and Lila didn’t hold back this time. She went at her, landing hit after hit that had Michele against the ropes and Hector cheering and whistling. The adrenaline rush was awesome, but Gio was in there now and stopped her.

  “Fuck yeah!” Hector said, jabbing a fist in the air. “That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what you use that anger for. Just like that, baby!”

  “You okay, Michele?” Noah asked as Michele walked it off in the ring, and she nodded even though her nose was already bleeding. Noah handed Gio a wet towel, and Gio cleaned her up.

  “And this is really her first time sparring?” Abel asked, staring at her in complete disbelief.

  “I told you she’s a natural,” Gio said, turning to him after cleaning Michele off.

  “She’s a badass,” Abel said, shaking his head. “You’re a badass, sweetheart.”

  He turned to Noah as she smiled at the irony of hearing Aweless Ayala first call her a badass then a sweetheart all with that same look of complete awe in his eyes.

  “Felix will be here in a couple of days,” Abel said with a smile. “He should see this.” He turned back to Lila. “You work Sunday?”

  Lila shook her head as Gio took her mouthpiece. “No,” she said, feeling slightly excited about this now, especially because, even though Sonny would be back in town, he had mentioned needing to be somewhere for a few hours on Sunday. “But I can come in if you want me to.”

  “What time is that meeting on Sunday?” Noah asked Gio.

  “Noon,” Gio said, smiling even bigger. “But it doesn’t matter. He’ll probably be here all day.” He turned to Lila. “Can you come in about one? We should be done by then.”

  Lila nodded as the excitement about this sunk in even more. Maybe she cou
ld do this. Maybe she was born to be a badass. Maybe her mother passing so young wasn’t all for nothing. She still wouldn’t tell a soul, not yet anyway. But she was glad to know Noah had been right. Her biggest fear was getting hit too many times in the face. This was only her first time in the ring, and she’d nearly knocked Michele out. With a little more practice, she could work on never getting hit in the head. It was how she’d explain it to Ali anyway. But she’d wait until she was much better at this before she’d let Ali witness her skills in the ring.

  Chapter 9

  Sonny

  This was insane. Even with the few surprise stops to see Lila during his weeks on the road, and that incredible FaceTime sex they’d had, Sonny had cut his trip short to get home a day early because he couldn’t stand it anymore. He needed to see Lila again. Now he was standing here outside her apartment building, waiting for her to get home from work. Just like the first few times he’d been in the area, he’d been getting strange looks from passersby and he knew why. His Maserati stuck out as Sonny would in this neighborhood if he got out of the car. It was why he wore a hoodie over his head and sunglasses. The good thing was it was getting dark. Only that made his dark glasses even more suspicious. In this neighborhood, anyone eyeing his car was probably doing it more out of fear than curiosity. They probably thought him the kingpin of all the drug dealers that lived around here or the main pimp of all the pimps of the area, here to collect his money or something.

  That made him chuckle; though it was short-lived. He remembered now how Lila said she wished she could move to a better area. The thought of her and her sister having to live in this area was now one that would worry him. All he could hope was, if things went well and they moved things along fast enough, he could get her out of this building. Maybe not move her in with him just yet since, obviously, she’d made it a point to say she needed to take things slow, but at least get her into a safer area.

  He peered at the girl walking up the street toward the apartment building he was parked in front of. The closer she got, the harder his heart thudded, not just because he’d been dying to see her all week, but when he realized it was Lila, his first thought was She walks these streets?