by Shey Stahl
A combination is a series of punches thrown in sequence like a left jab followed by a straight right, followed by a left hook.
1 YEAR LATER
The months following the fight, everyone wanted to know who I’d fight next. There was talk of Felix Urbina, a fighter out of Russia. He was the number one contender, but nothing had been decided.
I wanted a chance at the other four titles though. I also thought I understood fame and what it did to you. I was wrong. The women, the press, it was all faster than I had ever seen before. Money did that. The more you had, the less you had emotionally. People would fuck you over faster than you could ever imagine, all over money. And when you had it, they were your best friend. When you didn’t, you never heard from them.
All of it, from the endorsements coming in and the women throwing themselves at me, it was like nothing I’d experienced. I had to hire a bodyguard at one point, not only for me, but for Tallan, too, who’d suddenly received death threats if she didn’t break up with me. It was insanity.
I feared, for a few months, that she’d grow tired of it and leave, but she didn’t. If anything, when I worried, when she felt I was slipping and fearing the ugly side of this lifestyle, she’d hold on tighter and give me exactly what I needed: love and the chance to hold on tighter myself.
For that reason, I locked myself and Tallan away from it for weeks following the fight in Vegas. I took time to get to know her, fall in love all over again, slowly. We’d spend hours talking, slipping into days and then weeks where we never left my apartment. In a lot of ways, it was what we both needed following the months leading up to that fight.
A year later, in late August, as the leaves began to change colors, people not only wanted to know if there’d be a rematch between Lucas and me, but when Tallan and I were getting married after I made my very public proposal at a press conference after the fight in Vegas.
Call it adrenaline, maybe, but I did it. I had no ring, no plan, nothing, dropped to a knee and asked right there in front of everyone.
She said yes. Surprised the hell out of me.
We kept the details to ourselves, never revealing the day, or the location to anyone. On a warm summer day on Whidbey Island, we said ‘I do.’ I wore a tux, she wore a dress, and even my dad was there. Seeing her on that day, in that dress, saying those vows, made me wonder what kind of life I was providing for her, one that was so violent in nature.
And then I thought to myself, was it worth it? This was a brutal way to make a living.
When I looked at Tallan, it was worth it. She didn’t want the extravagant life. She wanted a home and a family, both of which I could give her, and then some. The thing was, she could give herself those things too, without me. The fact that she chose to spend her life with me was a blessing.
She never came out and said how hard it was for her to watch me get my face bashed in that night was on her, until I read her book that was released six months after the fight and debuted weeks later on the New York Times Best Seller’s list.
It terrified her.
Both me getting my face bashed in, and me reading the book. I supposed making the best-sellers list did too, but she took it well until I started reading the book. I was in awe of her talent and ability to flow words together in a way that made me feel like I was reading about someone else’s life, not my own.
He’s contemplative, passionate and his mind never stops. When I first met Destry Stone, I witnessed arrogance, and then I was subjected to the tenderness of a man who was so much more than the gloves of stone he wore on his heart.
I’d give anything to be able to show her what she meant to me in a way that was subtle like she was, nothing fancy, simple. To date, I hadn’t thought of anything. But I was still working on it.
Drawing her body into mine as we danced, I kissed her forehead gently. “I love you, Mrs. Stone.”
Tallan chuckled at the words, whispering she loved me, too, when my dad approached us on the dance floor.
Dad held out his hand to Tallan. “Can I have this dance, girl?”
As I let go of my wife, Tallan took Dad’s hand, twirling around him. “You bet, James.”
It was funny that he never called her Tallan. It was always girl and I was still boy. But together, we were his only boy and girl he referred to. I knew his memory of certain parts of his life, including his realization that I was Destry, was gone. Forever. I was finally accepting that and realizing being boy wasn’t so bad.
He was proud of that boy, still talked about that fight in Vegas too.
And he loved me for what I was to him now. A friend. I guess, in some ways, I was giving him what he needed now. For some reason, he’d felt he did wrong by me as a child, though I never looked at it that way. As a teenager, I did, but what sixteen-year-old didn’t hate their parents at one time or another? By doing me wrong, as he called it, he thought that was why his son didn’t come to see him. For that reason, he gave me, as the boy, a different side, a gentler James Stone.
Becky, Tallan’s mother, was in the corner with her wine, smiling tenderly at her daughter when I approached her, extending my hand. “Can I dance with the mother of the bride?”
“Why, yes you can, Destry.”
Wrapping my right arm around her waist, I held her other in my left as we slow danced. Tallan was now dancing with her father, her head rested gently on his shoulder as tears softly fell from her eyes. “I think he likes me now that I married her.”
“Don’t fool yourself. He tolerates you because you won him some money on the fight.”
I laughed, the sound deep. “Oh, well, at least he’s coming around that he bets on me now.”
“I suppose there’s that.”
It was another few minutes before I claimed my bride again, tenderly taking her in my arms like the precious gift she was to me. The smoky white dress she wore brightened her complexion.
“You’re glowing,” I whispered against her temple, kissing her softly as we swayed to Mumford & Sons. Her scent invaded my nostrils as I took everything about her in, the sweetness, the warmth, all for me.
“I’m pregnant,” she replied, her voice soft, her eyes bright and gleaming, but tearful.
Licking my lips, my eyes darted from hers, searching her face for how she felt about that. I knew how I felt, but was this what she wanted?
“Say something,” she pleaded when I didn’t.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Making me a father.” I couldn’t resist any longer and pressed my lips to hers with a feverish need. “Thank you for being my wife.”
Tallan drew back, her hands on my chest sliding over the smoothness of my black tux and then fisting her hands in the fabric. “No, thank you for making me a mother, and the wife of the greatest man I’ve ever had the pleasure of loving.”
Tightening my arms around her, I pulled her in for a kiss. I didn’t know if I’d make a good father but I would be anything she needed me to be. Tallan had once told me that your life is sometimes led down a path you think is the wrong one. Then, it the strangest ways, it’s revealed to you why you were led down that particular path.
I knew why now.
It was to find her.
Stick and move is when a boxer jabs or uses long range pushes then quickly steps backwards using elusive footwork to evade their opponent.
ANOTHER YEAR LATER
Jared grinned and stared down at Daxel James Stone, Dax, my four-month-old son, before shifting his eyes to Tallan. “When are you going to come clean to the champ that this is really my baby?”
Tallan gave birth to Dax seven months after our wedding. And I couldn’t have been happier about that. I nearly missed the birth as I was fighting in New York that weekend, but I made it before he was born and thankfully heard that first cry.
I had to laugh, lounging back in the chair as Tallan and Jared teased one another in my dressing room. “We haven’t had sex since college, Jared,” Tallan pointed
out. A pang of jealousy hit me knowing they had sex to begin with. She was mine now, had my ring on her finger and gave birth to my son, but still, the idea of another man with her wasn’t comforting. Never would be.
I chuckled and stood, looking down at Jared with a menacing glare, my fists raised. “Got something to tell me?”
“Nope.” Jared passed Dax off to me. “He’s a cute kid.”
Taking a seat next to Catie, Jared dropped his head forward like he didn’t want to look at me any longer, hiding behind his girlfriend. Tallan winked at me and then sighed as she stared down at our son. Our son. What a strange thing to think about. When Tallan first walked into the basement of the bar, I never would have thought we’d be here years later.
“Why are you scared of him?” Catie asked, laughing with the rest of us.
Jared rolled his eyes. “Maybe because he could beat the shit out of me.”
Catie blinked, as if she couldn’t believe he’d be scared of me. “But you carry a gun….”
“So? I’ve never used it before,” Jared appeared wide-eyed, mumbling his words. “And I don’t want to.”
Tallan wrapped herself around my side, my arm draped over her shoulder, the other holding Dax tight against my chest. Sound asleep, his bottom lip was out, wet with drool, much like his mother when she slept. I wanted to laugh at the resemblance, but didn’t. Dax was a spitting image of me in every way. Same scowl, same bright blue eyes, even for a baby, and the stubbornness. Couldn’t please him for nothing. He was, in many ways, a fighter since his first breath.
Though I was getting into the mindset of fighting later tonight, I enjoyed times like this now, with my family and friends that were with me and supportive.
What I felt most was security. Finally, I had people around me who I knew weren’t going to fuck me over. When you were in a position like I was, that was huge. And hard to accomplish.
Looking down at my son, I thought about my dad, who wasn’t here with us tonight, but said he was watching. He still hadn’t remembered me but I stopped trying to find ways to make him remember. Instead, I was content with what we had. I guessed whoever said the wrong path eventually helped you find the right one was right. I took a lot of wrong turns in the process.
In a lot of ways, my dad, and becoming a father myself, changed my mindset. In the last two years since that fight with Ray Lucas in Vegas, I had secured the WBO title and the WBA. That night I was set to fight Felix Urbina for the International Boxing Organization, IBO World Championship at Madison Square Garden. I figured why not go for The Ring too.
Being a father put the desire to become the greatest in perceptive for me. I wanted Dax to be able to look at me and think, my father was one of the greatest fighters who ever lived. The same feelings I had toward my own dad.
I wanted Tallan to look at me and know her husband—the man she chose to spend the rest of her life with provided for her—loved her in all the ways he needed to and made her feel as special as she was to me. I couldn’t honestly say I was doing that now. This fame, being on top of the world, wouldn’t last forever. With time, someone would beat me. There was always someone better out there, but for now, for these moments, in this dressing room, I was the greatest.
I also knew the most inspirational and influential people in my life knew defeat and loss, and struggled to make it every day. There was a reason for this. They had a sense of appreciation. They knew and understood how love worked, how easily it was taken away, and felt compassion deep in their bones.
I believed the strongest people weren’t the ones who showed their strength in front of you, but those who have won battles internally, ones you’ve never dreamed of accomplishing.
Those meant the most.
When I looked down at Dax in my wife’s arms, I knew the battle I fought was worth it, even if no one knew what it was I fought for, I knew.
It was for my heart and the chance of redemption.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading Destry and Tallan’s story! I hope you loved them as much as I do. That fight scene! It’s my favorite in the entire book. Okay, maybe the shower scene is my favorite? Tough choice for sure.
I wasn’t entirely sure if combining these two books was a good idea but I’m really glad that I did. Especially when I read it as one book now. I hope you enjoyed the bonus content that I added.
Thank you to the girls at Hot Tree Editing for putting their touch on this duet. My BETA team for putting up with all my questions about Destry, and the SheyNanigans for wanting more.
And a special thanks to Wander and his team for capturing Destry perfectly in the shoot. The makeup was spot on for the final fight scene.
Shey Stahl is a USA Today and Amazon best-selling author. Rom-coms and sports romances with a unique writing style are her lady jam.
Her books have been translated into several languages, and if you haven’t laughed, cried, and cursed in the same book, you’re reading the wrong author. Shey lives in Washington State with her adrenaline-addicted husband, a moody preteen daughter, and their asshole cat.
In her spare time, she enjoys pretending to be Joanna Gains while remodeling her house, iced coffee (only the good nugget ice), hiking in the mountains of the PNW, and hanging out at the local dirt tracks.
Follow her crazy life adventures on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/sheystahl99/
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RACING ON THE EDGE
Happy Hour
Black Flag
Trading Paint
The Champion
The Legend
Hot Laps
The Rookie
Fast Time
Open Wheel
Pace Laps
Dirt Driven
Behind the Wheel (TBA)
STAND ALONES
Waiting for You
Everything Changes
For the Summer
Deal
All I Have Left
Awakened
Everlasting Light
Bad Blood
Heavy Soul
Bad Husband
Burn
Love Complicated
Untamed
How to Deal
Promise Not to Fall
Blindsided
Revel
SEX. LOVE. MARRIAGE
Saving Barrette
Redemption
THE FMX SERIES
Shade
Tiller
Roan
Camden (TBA)
Red Lined (TBA)
ANCHORED LOVE
The Sea of Light
The Sea of Lies (TBA)
The Sea of Forever (TBA)
CROSSING THE LINE
Delayed Penalty
Delayed Offsides
THE TORQUED TRILOGY
Unsteady
Unbearable
Unbound
