My boxing Angel

Chapter 8

~Vincenzo~

“That was an awesome fight!” Elias remarks and I grab a hold of him and rustle his hair. Elias has always been the playful brother and the one that looked up to me the most, even when we are all grown-ups, he still has that spark of admiration in his eyes whenever he looks at me.

“It looks all right,” Rafael says as he examines Jasmine’s arm. I glance their way and notice Jasmine rolling her eyes at my brother.

“I told you I was all right” she huffs out as she snatches her arm from my brother’s grip, Rafael wastes no time glaring at her in a warning. “It seems whenever I’m around you guys, I always manage to get hurt, first at the bar, then that stupid bee, and now the paparazzi,” she says teasingly but everyone stiffens at her words. She notices our reaction and is quick to reassure us. “I’m okay guys, I was just kidding.”

“Don’t joke about stuff like your safety” I gruff out and notice how her eyes fall, avoiding my scowl. She starts to fidget with her hands, and now I feel bad for scolding her. I slowly make my way toward her and lift her chin with my fingers and give her a reassuring smirk. Her eyelids flutter, and I swear that made me feel all fuzzy inside again.

I snap my gaze from her and walk away, and into the shower to get rid of all the unholy thoughts that came to mind by just looking into her eyes. After the shower, I dress in a black hoodie, ripped jeans, and white sneakers.

“The family photo” Jasmine announces, hopping off the massage bed when she caught a glimpse of me.

My brothers all pile beside me and smile when Jasmine starts to count from three, the camera flashes at one, and I squint my eyes after the flash. I think I will never get used to the flashes of the cameras.

“Before we go” Joaquin starts to speak and I mentally groan, I just want my bed. “Tomorrow night, we will be flying to Los Angeles for Thiago’s second fight, pack everything, and do not leave anything behind” Joaquin finishes, and everyone nods their heads in understanding.

The drive back was peaceful at least for me because I slept the whole way. I feel someone shaking my shoulder gently and I open my eyes lazily, to see two amber orbs looking back at me.

“We are going to order some burgers; do you want something?” Jasmine asks me softly, and I nod my head to her question. I sit up straight and stretch as best as I can inside the car.

“Okay, what do you want?” she asks me, taking out her phone to write it down.

“I will go with you,” I tell her with a yawn, and she looks at me weirdly.

“You don’t have to; your brothers are already inside” she explains with a shrug. “Besides we agreed to eat at the house.” She finishes with a smile, well someone seemed excited to get to the house.

“If that’s the case, then text my brother I want a double cheeseburger,” I tell her and she nods her head, typing away on her phone. My brothers arrived with the food not long after and interrupted my and Jasmine’s peaceful silence with their bickering.

When the car was parked in front of the house, my brothers and Jasmine scurried inside, like little kids racing for the control remote of the TV. I was making my way up the stairs when suddenly I heard a high-pitched scream. I hurried up the stairs and abruptly open the screen door.

“I knew my team was winning!” Jasmine squeals with excitement as she points to Joaquin. Elias is standing on the sofa, Rafael is sitting on the ground all relaxed, Jasmine is doing a silly dance and Joaquin is in a corner glaring at Jasmine.

I was out of the house for 2 minutes, what the hell is happening here?

“We are just entering the 4th quarter; my team still has a chance to win” Joaquin grumbles and Jasmine rolls her eyes at his comment. I take notice of a basketball game playing in the background and The Golden State is winning against the Miami Heat.

I watch from afar at the scene in front of me, they all packed themselves into the sofa and start munching on their food as they closely watch the game. I smile softly as they all cozy up against each other. It’s only been a day of living with each other, and they are already acting like they have known each other their entire lives.

It’s amazing how Jasmine has this calming aura with us, if she wasn’t here, the house would be a screaming match and there would probably be at least 1 or 2 broken vases. But when Jasmine is around, we all seem to be on our best behavior or at least trying to be. I at least am, even when she doesn’t remember me, even when she doesn’t know how she makes me feel all fuzzy and stuff, I still look for her approval. Even though the only thing I do is dismiss her, that doesn’t mean I don’t notice what makes her smile, how she scrunches up her nose in disgust, and how much her face lights up when she captures the perfect moment on her camera.

“Hello?” A snap of fingers startles me back to reality.

“Are you okay bro?” Elias asks and I notice that everyone is staring at me. My face becomes stoic, and I narrow my eyes at them for staring at me like I was a zoo animal.

“I’m fine” I grumble and take my food to my room. I close the door to my room roughly, once I’m at the edge of my bed I let gravity do its work and I slump into the bed and groan at the softness of the mattress. I turn myself around so that I could breathe better, and I let out a sigh, closing my eyes and letting myself think.

I really do need to distance myself from Jasmine. The only problem is that I’m spending a month traveling the States with her. The other problem is that I don’t seem to be able to distance myself, not like I want to either way. I just love the way her cheeks flush whenever I tease her, and how it’s difficult for her to find a comeback to fire toward me.

-

I yawn as I keep on hearing Joaquin talk and talk about my itinerary for today. I decided to leave in the morning for Los Angeles because I wanted to sleep for the rest of the day, once arriving at our destination.

I tune out a pestering Joaquin when I hear Rafael teasing Jasmine. “Done sending your secret boyfriend photos of you?” Rafael remarks and I feel my fist tightening in response to his words.

Boyfriend?

Since when does she have a boyfriend? And why am I just hearing about this now?

“Jealous the photos are not for you?” She fires back at Rafael, and they glare at each other.

“She is getting better and quicker with her comebacks by the day” Elias laughs, and their conversation dies there.

Excuse me? Are we going to ignore the boyfriend that was mentioned?

I feel myself getting agitated by the minute. I stood up from my chair abruptly and made my way to the mini room that was installed on my plane.