Gio (5th Street) by Elizabeth Reyes Read Free Book Online Page B

photos of Felix walking in the snowy streets of Chicago with an unidentified girl—taken earlier that day. The broadcaster asked if this could be Felix’s mystery girl that he’d been rumored to be seeing.
    With Felix’s upcoming fight getting so much hype Gio was sure the gossip shows were trying to cash in on it by airing even the most insignificant thing they could find on Felix.
    Gio closed his door all the way and locked it. Bianca was staying in the master bedroom on the other side of the massive cabin but he still didn’t want her walking by and accidentally overhearing the broadcast. He waited out the couple of minutes of commercials while he stripped down and threw on a pair of loose basketball shorts minus a shirt. Maybe it was freezing outside but the cabin was well heated. It was almost hot.
    They came back from commercial and Gio sat down on the bed raising the volume just slightly.
    “Boxing’s current welterweight champ of the world, Felix Sanchez has been linked to many of Hollywood’s A-listers including some of biggest athletes in the world. But most recently he’s rumored to be in a relationship with an unidentified woman in Big Bear, California. Insiders have suggested maybe that’s why he trains at his over twenty acre secluded compound located in Big Bear—to be near her. There have been sightings of Sanchez and this mysterious girl but as of today, there have been no pictures. Just today he was seen strolling through the downtown Chicago area where he was in town to make an appearance on the Stephan Walker show.
    “Photos were taken of him and an unidentified woman leaving Michael Jordan’s restaurant, One Sixty_blue, then getting in a car Felix himself drove back to the Omni Hotel where all of Walker’s guests are put up. Could his Big Bear secret romance be out? You be the judge.”
    The first few photos of Felix and the girl were harmless, they were smiling and talking seemingly oblivious to the photos being taken but there was no touching.
    “We caught up with them at the Omni as they drove up to the valet and exited their car.”
    There were more pictures of them getting out of the car; the girl waiting for him to come around the car to meet her and then there it was. He reached over and placed his hand on the small of her back as they walked into the hotel. He might still be able to explain this but the fact remained he was walking into a hotel with another girl. Gio shook his head.
    And here after spending the evening with Bianca he’d actually begun to believe that maybe Felix was serious about her. Why wouldn’t he be? She was everything a guy would want in a girl—beautiful, adorable as shit, but most prominent was how down to earth and incredibly sweet she was. She didn’t strike him as someone who would put up with this crap. She shouldn’t. But was it really possible she could be that naïve?
    Gio never kept up with any of the tabloid crap and here he’d watched one episode and already he was getting a blow by blow of Felix’s affairs.
    “Let’s go to Chicago now where Philip is standing by outside the Omni.”
    “You’re kidding me. They actually went on location just to get a glimpse of Felix’s new girl?” Gio watched disgusted as Philip basically reported he had nothing. They hadn’t seen the couple since the photos were shot hours ago. But they’d be looking out and actually had a crew heading to Big Bear as he spoke. “Fucking vultures.”
    Gio knew Felix had plenty of security and the odds of them getting any shots inside of the compound were slim. But the thought of them hounding Bianca still irritated him. She’d told him over dinner how she’d be staying at the compound during Felix’s time here but she was still going to continue going to school and into work at her grandma’s shop. No doubt the damn paparazzi would be staked out just outside the compound’s entrance. It was just a matter of time before they figured out who she was.
    Not only