The Look of Love Read online

  He hadn’t even found out why his mother had to go to the hospital. Had she had a heart attack or a stroke? Every scenario he thought about had him grinding his teeth in anger.

  “You have got to go.” Chuck opened the door to usher him through.

  A wave of chants flooded the room. The support should have been like a warm blanket around his body. Instead, Gunnar likened the shouts to spectators in a coliseum waiting to watch a hapless gladiator get mauled by a lion. Little did they know, he had enough fire in his belly to crush a lion, a tiger, and a whole damn safari.

  “Something is going on with my mother. I’m fine just walking away right now. Just hop on a plane and go all the way back to Virginia.” Gunnar put his fists to his hips and glared at Chuck to get across his intent.

  The idea of going back to Virginia brought a layer of cold sweat that dripped from his head. He chewed the inside of his cheek, a habit he hadn’t done since childhood when he’d prayed in his head that the foster father he’d had before getting with Queen Elizabeth wouldn’t come home drunk with his own need to fight…anyone. Gunnar had left Virginia for a reason. Returning to it would stir up more questions and problems than what he faced in the ring.

  Chuck held his hand up as a way to calm Gunnar, but Gunnar couldn’t be reasoned with, calmed, or reassured until he either spoke to his mother or, better yet, saw her.

  “Tell you what. I’ll keep trying her. After your fight, you can talk to her again.” Chuck placed Gunnar’s heavyweight championship belt on Gunnar’s shoulder.

  Gunnar nodded. “Get her on the phone after the fight.” He adjusted the heavy metal belt on the thick black leather backing.

  Without another word, Gunnar stormed out of the door and headed to the octagon. The cheers from the audience roared in the large auditorium. He kept his stare directed on the lit ring. Fans grabbed at Gunnar’s shirt and his arms as he stormed to the middle. He paid no attention to them.

  The closer he got to the ring, the more his surroundings got smaller until his competitor became the only thing he saw at the end of his tunnel vision. He stepped into the ring and didn’t bother stomping around like Tony “The Shark” Palombo. With it being a championship match, Gunnar handed his belt to the referee.

  He didn’t like the entertaining part of doing MMA. He just wanted to fight. Right now, he had a lot of aggression to get out of his system.

  Gunnar broke his attention away from Tony for a moment to check Chuck. From the side of the ring, Chuck held up his phone to Gunnar and shook his head.

  Gunnar wanted to race to the side and scream at his trainer to keep trying to get his mother. Why the hell was she in the hospital? Why wasn’t that the first thing she’d said to him? Whatever afflicted her, it scared her enough to want him to come home. That fact consumed his thoughts more than anything else. He attempted to look at Chuck again when Tony got in his view.

  “You’re going down!” Tony screamed and stood an inch from Gunnar’s nose.

  Gunnar gritted his teeth. Right now, this hefty man sporting a Mohawk and tattoos covering the vast real estate of his enormous, chestnut-colored body stood in between him talking to his mother.

  Gunnar removed his T-shirt and tossed it to Chuck. The screams heightened, especially from the women. He didn’t pay attention to them. He had a job to do. He kept women out of his personal life so as not to get diverted from his goals, a decision that haunted him since jumping on a Greyhound bus ten years ago.

  The referee spouted the rules and regulations that Gunnar ignored. The sounds in the arena blurred into one muted hum. His laser focus remained on Tony, directly on his eyes. He called this feeling right before he threw his first punch the glaze.

  Chuck had once told Gunnar at the beginning of his career that every time he would start to fight, he got this glazed-over look in his eyes like he couldn’t see anything else but the opponent in the ring with him.

  A single sweat droplet rolled down between his shoulder blades. He planted his feet on the hard mat as he shoved his black mouth guard over his teeth. He tasted nothing but the bitter plastic. The palms of his hands itched in anticipation of what would happen. He had a job to do.

  As soon as the match started, Tony surprised Gunnar by landing a solid punch to his left eye. A whole fireworks display lit up in Gunnar’s head with the contact. He didn’t even notice the pain. The man did carry some power behind his punch. Gunnar had something on him that even Tony didn’t have--a purpose.

  As soon as Gunnar filled his head with images of his mother in a hospital bed with tubes coming from her nose and wires attached to her fingers and hand, a volcano erupted inside of him that he couldn’t contain or control.

  Gunnar gave Tony a roundhouse kick to his head. The contact of the hit against his foot stung. That first strike sent an adrenaline rush through his body that gave him the needed boost for the next move.

  When the big man hit the mat, Gunnar leapt on top of him and pounded his fists in his opponents face and head repeatedly. He heard nothing. Crimson shaded his gaze. He felt Tony’s tree-trunk thighs attempt to hook him under his arms to bring him down. Instead, Gunnar moved down to the mat, cradled Tony’s head in the crook of his elbow and framed the top of his head with his other arm.

  Gunnar squeezed and clamped his legs around Tony’s waist to keep the man still. Whenever Tony moved, Gunnar tightened his arms and legs around Tony’s neck and body.

  For every match, Gunnar kept his mind focused on winning, on his next move. Now, his mind clouded over with thoughts of his mother. What would he and his brothers do if something happened to her?

  Until he felt the referee tapping his shoulder, Gunnar didn’t realize that he had rendered Tony unconscious. He blinked and peered down at the person in his arms. Tony’s blood dripped from his forehead and nose and onto Gunnar’s arm.

  “He tapped out, son. Release him.” The referee grabbed Gunnar’s arm and attempted to uncoil his hold on the limp body. “Stop fighting.”

  Gunnar blinked and unraveled himself from Tony. He sprang to his feet and gazed down at his handiwork. Tony’s body lay motionless, curled in an unnatural position like a discarded marionette, as his trainers and handlers attempted to revive him.

  Gunnar wanted to run from the ring, leave his belt, and get on a plane. He had to wait until Tony’s trainers revived him. In that time, he paced in the ring, waiting for his moment.

  Once Tony rose to his feet, the referee raised Gunnar’s hand as the winner. A bit of relief washed over him. He’d finished work, and in record time. Now he had to go.

  “Did you get her?” Gunnar asked as he climbed out of the ring and headed back to the dressing room.

  He ignored the interviewers who shoved microphones into his face right after the match. From their grunts and groans, he knew they hated his silence.

  “Are you kidding? You just did that match in about seven minutes. I barely had time to breathe let alone make calls for you.” Chuck ran alongside of Gunnar.

  “Guns! Guns! Just a quick question.” An interviewer tried stopping Gunnar’s trek by stepping into his path. “That match seemed too easy for you. Are you ready for Seamus Flannery, the second-ranked contender?”

  Gunnar didn’t answer. He stepped around the suited man and continued to his dressing room. If he didn’t have another man’s blood on him, he would have just thrown on some shoes and caught the next red-eye flight.

  “You can’t just blow off journalists.” Chuck slammed the dressing-room door behind the two of them. “They can make or break your career.”

  “They haven’t so far.” Gunnar stripped. “You talk for me. I’m going to Virginia.”

  “Virginia? You can’t go right now. You need to start training for your match with Seamus.” Chuck started pacing.

  Gunnar couldn’t think about how Chuck felt. As much as he loved his career, Gunnar loved his family even more. With the threat of losing his mother, he would brave going
back home to be with her.

  Until he saw his mother and could see that he’d overreacted to whatever he’d heard on the phone, he wouldn’t be able to rest. Then he would find out what woman had posed as his sister.

  “What am I supposed to say as far as booking your next match?” Chuck asked.

  Naked, Gunnar stood in the doorway leading to the bathroom to take a quick shower. “Tell them I’m going home.”

  * * * *

  Eboni Danielson stirred awake with a throbbing pain in her neck thanks to sleeping in a steel and barely padded hospital chair. She should have slept on the couch, but she’d wanted to be as close to her friend as possible. She blinked to get a sleeping Queen Elizabeth into focus.

  Yesterday morning, when Elizabeth had fainted in Press ’N Curl, the hair salon Elizabeth owned where Eboni worked, Eboni had wasted no time getting her friend and mentor to the hospital. Ever the diva, Elizabeth had refused to go until her hair had been styled and her nails had received a fresh coat of deep red polish.

  Elizabeth looked like she’d redone her makeup sometime during the night. Her light brown skin glowed, especially with the morning sunlight streaming through the hospital-room window. Bright red lipstick covered her lips. Even her fake eyelashes looked like they had been curled.

  As a child, Eboni and her girlfriends had all wanted to grow up to be just like Miss Queen Elizabeth. Not only did the woman always look amazing and have the best clothes and cool shoes, she owned not one, not even two, but three businesses.

  The hair salon, more than her flower shop and the clothing boutique, had the most customers in Eboni’s eyes, and the most buzz. Although she didn’t plan to work in a hair salon for the rest of her life, Eboni definitely wanted to be close to the woman who could guide her into being a success in business.

  The morning Queen fainted, Eboni had planned on talking to her about doing a fund-raiser to help renovate the community center. Kids with nothing to do had a tendency of finding dangerous activities to pick up from other wayward souls. Eboni didn’t know how, but she knew she had to break the cycle.

  A nurse walked into the room. “Ms. Sommerville, time to get your vitals.” She opened the blinds and allowed the February sun to stream through them. The morning rays reflected off the gleaming-white snow that covered the ground.

  Eboni wrapped her camel-colored dress coat around her body. The businesslike apparel didn’t give her a cozy feeling like the poncho her grandmother had made for her. Appearances meant everything for Eboni.

  Eboni remembered being a child and watching her grandmother knit the whole thing. She couldn’t wait until she got to a size to wear it. Of course, her grandmother made the garment large anticipating that Eboni would never lose that baby weight that plagued her for most of her youth.

  She’d changed. Times had changed. Eboni had to give up childhood fantasies, including finding that one true love. Seeing Elizabeth in a hospital bed made everything real.

  “Do you have to wake her now?” Eboni rubbed her eyes. “She just got to sleep.”

  The nurse glanced down at Elizabeth’s face and chuckled. “Is she going to an opera later? When did she put on all this makeup?”

  “She can hear everything you’re saying.” Elizabeth opened her eyes and glared at the nurse before cutting her gaze over to Eboni.

  “Darling, you didn’t have to sleep in that awful chair.” She shook her head.

  “I didn’t want to leave you alone.” Eboni stretched her arms over her head attempting to relieve some of the ache in her neck. “Besides, I would have slept on the floor if I had to.”

  Elizabeth smiled, showing off an impressive set of straight, white teeth. “You’re silly. The staff here would have taken care of me just fine.” She finally turned her smile to the nurse who had already placed a black cuff around her arm and pumped away to get her blood pressure.

  As the nurse allowed the blood pressure cuff to hiss out the air she’d pumped into it, she said, “A very loud and angry man called the desk for you last night.” She removed the stethoscope from her ears. “He claimed that this woman is not your daughter.” She glanced at Eboni.

  Eboni swallowed but continued returning the nurse’s stare, hoping to convince her of the lie Queen had told. Eboni hadn’t corrected her. In a lot of ways, she did feel like she belonged in Queen’s family.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Queen said when she no longer had a thermometer in her mouth. “This beautiful young woman is as much as my child as my sons are.”

  Eboni smiled. She stood from her chair and held her friend’s hand. The warmth of it as well as Elizabeth’s words hugged her heart.

  “Did you already pick your breakfast items today?” The nurse held up a menu.

  “Yes. The lovely woman from food services got my order about an hour ago.”

  The nurse nodded and exited the room, partially closing the door behind herself.

  Eboni felt her eyebrows draw together. “I don’t remember hearing anyone coming into the room.”

  “Because you were out cold.” Elizabeth placed her soft palm against Eboni’s cheek and then brought it down to cover Eboni’s hand. “You will need to go home at some point today to shower and get some real sleep.”

  Eboni shook her head. “Until the doctors tell me what’s going on, I’m not leaving.”

  “Oh, honey, I know what it is. Back in my day, we called it having the vapors. I just got a little overwhelmed with work and had a little fainting spell. That’s it.” Queen removed her hand from Eboni’s and turned her face away like she wanted to watch something on TV.

  Eboni knew better. “I know Virginia is the South, but we’re not that far south. I don’t believe in this vapors nonsense. Something’s going on with you, and I’m not leaving until I know what it is.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “Stubborn. You’re just like Gunnar.”

  At the mention of his name, Eboni became quiet. Like when he’d walked away from her ten years ago to pursue his fighting dream, Eboni’s heart stilled again.

  She’d thought she and Gunnar would have a future together. Her being African American hadn’t stopped him from pursuing her, not that Eboni thought it would. If he didn’t have a problem with his adoptive mother being black, she knew he would date outside of his race.

  Eboni had been surprised the day he’d given her the critical ultimatum--go with him while he trained as an ultimate fighter, or break up with him and stay home. It had broken her heart to turn down his offer, but she couldn’t leave. Not just yet.

  “You talked to Gunnar?” Eboni backed up to her chair.

  “I called him last night before his thing.” Queen huffed. “I told him he should stop that stuff and come on home.”

  Eboni collapsed in the chair. “You told him to come home? Why?” Would the man who’d had no problems running from her ten years ago come home because his mother asked him to?

  “Darling, while I’m a touch incapacitated, I’m going to need someone to run the businesses.”

  At that bit of news, Eboni’s spine crumpled enough for her to melt her back into the chair. “I thought you would let me run Press ’N Curl.”

  “You are running Press ’N Curl. Gunnar will do what I do there.” Elizabeth waved her hand as though this aspect meant very little to her.

  “So he’ll have his nails and hair done?” She winked at Elizabeth. The little bit of levity helped her not think of Gunnar.

  Elizabeth gasped. “I do more than just have my hair and nails done.”

  “I know.”

  “Don’t forget eyebrow waxing.” Elizabeth winked.

  Eboni laughed. Queen Elizabeth wouldn’t be a success if she’d been an absentee owner. The woman defined hands-on. When a stylist didn’t show, she had no problem taking their clients.

  “What in the world am I going to do without you at the shop?”

  “You’ll be fine, and Gunnar will be fine in my spot.” Eliz
abeth nodded. “I’ll eventually have to bring my sons in to the businesses. I was just hoping it would happen later than sooner.” She sighed. “Besides, all three have signed power-of-attorney forms for the businesses in case something happens to me.”

  It made sense to have Elizabeth’s sons to acquire the three businesses when something happened to her. Eboni just hoped Gunnar would stay away from her while she worked.

  “Speaking of bad timing.” Eboni made sure to make eye contact with Elizabeth. “Before you, um, caught the vapors, I was going to propose that we do a fund-raiser for the Oceanfront Community Center. You know that in my free time I volunteer there.”

  “I know. That’s why you haven’t dated in forever and a day.” Queen wagged her finger at Eboni.

  Eboni sighed and ignored Elizabeth’s comment about her sad personal life. “Anyway, besides volunteering, I’ve donated all of my tips to the center too. But it’s not enough. You know business at the salon has dropped lately.”

  Elizabeth’s expression changed to a forlorn one. “I know. I’ve tried drumming up more customers.”

  Eboni held up her hand. “We all appreciate your efforts. That’s probably what landed you here.” She patted Elizabeth’s shoulder. “If the center doesn’t get more money just for operating costs, they’re going to have to close, and at-risk kids will take a wrong turn.”

  Queen Elizabeth regarded her for a moment before a broad smile lit up her face. “That’s what I love about you.” She sat up higher in her hospital bed. “Other people would have asked me for money. Hell, my own family has asked me for money just to go to Vegas. Not you. Not my girl. You want to raise the money.”

  Eboni’s heart beat stronger. “I learned from the best. Working with you, I know that only hard work will get me what I want.”

  “You’re right. You know I’m in for anything to help out that center. I know that after your mother passed, that place--”

  “And your shop,” Eboni interjected.

  “Helped you growing up.” She patted the mattress beside her. “Right now, I’m a little stuck. This is something that needs to happen soon, right?”