He wanted to grab her by the back of the head and drag her into the ring, but Carson and the Ice Man started fighting again and Evan and the woman both forgot why they were arguing. This time it didn't last long. When Carson started to sway back and forth, Evan had a bad feeling. The Ice Man had thrown the last punch and it seemed to have knocked poor Carson senseless. The woman next to Evan screamed, "Kill'em, Ice man," and Evan flung her a look. Then the Ice man lifted his arm again and tried to swing. But at the final moment, when no one expected it, Carson dodged the punch, turned around, and threw his own punch. He hit the Ice Man square on the jaw and knocked him down for the count.
When the fight was over and Carson was declared the winner, Carson's trainer came over to Evan and said, "He told me to tell you to wait out here for him. He said he wouldn't be long."
Evan had been biting the inside of his mouth the entire time. He wanted to see how Carson was after such a brutal match. But he didn't want to overstep. He nodded and said, "Tell him I'll be out front waiting near the door."
An hour later, Evan glanced up from a game he'd been playing on his phone and he saw Carson coming toward him. Evan had been in the front room of the gym, in a section that looked like a waiting area with a couple of folding chairs, a metal desk, and more grey cinderblock walls. Carson was alone, carrying a gym bag, and his face was swollen. They'd put a small Band-Aid at the corner of his lip and he wasn't bleeding anymore. Evan stood up and met him halfway.
"Are you okay?" Evan asked. He actually looked better than Evan had thought he would look after that brutal display. If Evan had been up there in the ring with that Ice Man, he would have been in the emergency room now begging for pain killers.
Carson tried to smile, but he couldn't because of the Band-Aid. "I'm good. Thanks for waiting so long. They had to patch a few things up back there." He laughed and made a joke out of it.
At a closer glance, Evan could see his swollen eye. "You poor thing."
"I won," Carson said. He didn't seem concerned about his eye.
"I know, but look at you."
Carson waved him off. "This is nothing. I've been in worse shape. I actually feel good. Let's go out and do something. You probably didn't eat yet."
Evan took his arm and said, "Oh no. I'm taking you back home right now. You need to soak in a hot tub and put some ice on that eye to get the swelling down." He thought it was nice that Carson wanted to go out, but there was no way he'd take him out in that condition. The man needed rest.
As Evan led him out the front door, Carson didn't object and he didn't pursue going out. This time Carson let Evan escort him to the corner, hail a cab, and help him into the backseat. When the driver pulled away from the curb, Evan's phone rang. It was Kenny. He'd called to tell him he was at Zack's house for the night and he would be home around noon the next day. When he asked how Evan's evening at the fights had been, Evan smiled and said, "It was amazing. He won. You should have seen the big guy he beat up, too. I've never seen anything like it before."
Kenny didn't sound all that impressed; he didn't ask Evan where he was, either. He hesitated for a moment, sighed aloud, and said, "I'll see you in the morning, Dad. Love you."
Chapter Eight
When the taxi dropped them off in front of Carson's loft in Chelsea, Carson climbed out of the backseat and pretended he was fine. But Evan had learned to watch expressions closely. As a writer, he kept notes on various expressions so he could use them in his historical novels. One thing about fiction he'd learned was that when people were in pain, they'd made the same expressions in 1815 as they made in 2012. And that night Carson's face had a pinched, twisted look, as if each step he took toward his building caused him pain. When he tried to smile, he squinted and clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.
Evan knew Carson was trying to be brave, and he didn't want to diminish his ego. So he quietly played along with Carson and offered small suggestions without letting Carson know he knew he was in pain. He held the elevator open for him, but he didn't help him get inside. On the way up, Evan mentioned again how thrilled he'd been to see Carson win the fight. When they reached the door to Carson's loft and Evan saw he was having trouble lifting his arm to get his hand into his pocket for the keys, Evan sent him a seductive smile and he put his hand in Carson's pocket before he had a chance to object. In other words, he made it appear he was flirting instead of helping. He did this on purpose because he'd had years of experience dealing with men who had inflated egos and too much pride. Whether or not Carson knew he was doing this he would never know. But he suspected Carson didn't have a clue. Men with huge egos usually didn't.