by P. S. Power
Tony got two bottled waters from the fridge and came back, handing the man one, while gesturing at the sofa.
“Not a clue. I mean, there were only about ten people that could have done it at the time. It wasn’t me. I was just going to keep my mouth shut. That video is… Not what Simpson would want to be out there. People were kind of screwed up, there. At the training camp? Much drama going on. I should have learned more about the situation first, before bothering to go.”
Anthony meant it, but also didn’t see how he could have found out about Sally in time. No one would have mentioned her being as friendly with so many people as she was. Really, he probably wouldn’t have thought it was a problem at the time, either.
She was old enough to do what she wanted.
Adam gave him a questioning look.
“Dan Sweet normally runs a tight camp. What happened? Other than you bagging Simpsons wife, I mean?” The story was pretty distorted and didn’t even seem to be a condemnation. Just the man being wrong.
“His short term booty call, not wife. Also, I didn’t sleep with her. She’s about thirty and has trouble written all over her. At least if she isn’t getting her act together. About to go pro and probably worth something that way, if she stays off drugs and settles down a bit. I think she’s from upstate New York? I wouldn’t recommend dating her, but if you do training, she might be worth looking into?”
Part of him didn’t want to be even that nice about it, but Adam seemed fine hearing the words.
“If you can give her that kind of glowing recommendation, I might take a look. I’ve seen people go from troubled to solid before, with a bit of help. Where is she now?” He looked around, like Sally might just be in the next room. Listening and waiting to make a big reveal.
She wasn’t, thankfully. That would have been far too creepy for Anthony to take just then. Bad enough he was finding out he had a father. Worse, the man didn’t even seem to be a jerk so far.
“I’m not certain. She might have gone back home. She was staying with Ashley Lancaster for a few weeks, so she could train here. I took over her contract, so that she could keep her fight a few days ago. She won. Against a man. That makes it sound way more impressive than it really was. The guy practically jumped to his stomach to be choked out.” It hadn’t been that bad, but it also wasn’t Sally’s fault.
The man looked at him, seeming serious, suddenly.
“Rigged?”
Anthony didn’t really know. The thought had crossed his mind, but the whole thing had been so small and unimportant that he had to doubt it.
“Probably not? I think that Diego Valdis just wanted the free trip and didn’t even bother to train for the fight. It was kind of a shame, since Sally was ready for something more intense.”
There was a sound at the front door and given the time it would be Rick and Jen getting back. Most likely. Which was right. There were also several other people with them. It was kind of clear that they’d known that Adam was going to be there and had brought others along for moral support.
Steve, Denny, Ashley and Sally. Wearing her thick glasses, little blue hat, shorts and a shirt that wasn’t as see through as normal.
Smiling, which was a bit forced, Rick moved toward the sofa and shook hands with Adam over the top of the thing.
“I see you met? We were going to fix dinner; can you stay?”
That got Adam to smile, hugely.
“Now, is that a you better get out of here, can you stay, or a if you leave now I’ll kill you one?”
Everyone else gave the man a funny look, of one sort or another. Except for Sally, who was looking at Tony. Eagerly. It was weird. Not even sexy or anything. Just like she had some kind of big secret she wanted to tell.
Rick laughed, in a friendly enough way.
“The second one. I don’t know if you know everyone here?” He gestured at the group, but Adam nodded.
“Most of them. Denny West. Steve Lopez.” He gestured toward each one in turn. “Ashley Lancaster and…” He tilted his head and looked at Tony, not Rick. “Sally?”
She smiled at the sound of her name.
“Ooooh! You know who I am and everything? I must be famous already! I got a call earlier. From Dan? Someone contacted him, to set up a fight? Sandra Millet. She’s had three professional fights. I don’t know if I should take it or not.”
Next to him, Adam smiled, his face friendly.
“Tony here was just talking you up to me. Trying to find you a place at my camp, for training? I need to see you work first.”
Anthony nodded, since the woman seemed way too excited.
“I pretty much said you were a possibly decent fighter. Worth looking into if you can keep things going like you have been.” That sounded better than what he’d really said, but was close enough Adam nodded.
“We can set up an interview? That’s in New York, if that works for you?”
The woman was practically vibrating. Just with happiness, not drugs this time.
“That does work. Really well, I bet. Thanks Tony! Here I was starting to think you didn’t like me.”
Standing up, he went to help Jen, since she always did the fancier meals. It wasn’t hard, but meant that he wasn’t there for the conversation. Which meant that he got to hear about the plans for his future when he got back to the table.
Rick spoke, seeming no more than his usual calm self.
“So… Adam was just saying that you could go and live with him, after your fight? Unless you want to stay here?” It was hard to tell what was supposed to be the right answer. His face was just too blank.
Trusting in his act, he crafted a Tony answer. One that he doubted was going to make anyone happy.
“Or I could go and visit, this next summer for a few weeks?” He waited, figuring that everyone would be trying to get rid of him. Instead everyone at the table, except for Sally, relaxed and started breathing again.
Seeming happy with that answer.
Even Adam.
Anthony wasn’t surprised on that score at all.
Chapter eleven
Anthony was a bit amazed the next day. Adam had left at about nine, to get to his hotel, after making arrangements to see Sally working. With Rick. The two even got along. It didn’t seem strained or anything either, like they might actually be friends. The only thing that had been a pain all night was Lexi, who’d tried to call at eight. To chat with him about her day.
Tony was polite about it, but did let her know that there were people there, so he couldn’t do that. In his head he was grumbling a little bit, however. Anthony knew that she didn’t intend to put out. Worse, he even agreed with the reason. He was a kid and doing that would be a career ending option for her. As it was Sally still was having a bit of trouble, since a lot of people believed the lies that Simpson had put out.
So for him it was a complete waste of time. He thought about it for a moment and realized that was just the truth. He was friends with Steve and Denny too. Neither of them tried to call him up each day to just hang on the phone. They were around each other all the time anyway.
Tony was trying to be nice to the woman though, getting that she probably felt a bit lonely or something. Which was silly of her. Finally, after his short run the next day, which was five miles, done at close to his best speed, he came up with a plan. It felt a bit off to him, since it wasn’t a thing that would be on a sit-com at all. Not even the old ones from the eighties that seemed to love doing the wrong thing for a good reason and then resolving the situation in half an hour.
That one had occurred to him.
It wouldn’t even be that hard. He could steer her at one of the other guys, who was older, available and good looking enough to catch her eye. Instead he just focused on his practice that day, learning to kick better and strike with his elbows and knees in a legal fashion. Then, just before lunch he sparred with Denny for nearly a full hour. It was intense. He had to control where the other fighter went, so that he could stay
close enough for infighting. Denny knew that, so kept moving around and away, not getting stuck in the corners at all.
Donaldson was going to be better than he was at managing what the other fighter was doing, he thought, so tried to flow into the right patterns. Becoming the other fighter for a bit. It more or less worked. He thought. Denny and Rick both seemed pleased with the results and Adam looked baffled. He didn’t have anything else to do, so had come to spy on the potential competition. That was what he claimed anyway. He spent almost his entire time there watching Tony.
Sally was going to be sparring with a few different people after lunch, which he was going to miss, personally. He had school. Tutoring. That day it really was math heavy, but he got a neat book on it, that he was allowed to take home to do practice questions out of. If he could get Lexi to not call him constantly at night, he’d have whole hours to spend reviewing things.
Still, doing that on the phone was kind of cruddy, so he waved to her after Janine left, as she was getting off of work. She smiled at him, like he was being cute.
“Tony! I was just going to catch something to eat. Want to come? I need to get back for my BJJ classes, but my place isn’t too far.”
Feeling like he was about to be a jerk he shook his head.
“Nope! What I want is for you to start treating me like your trainer, not some kind of boyfriend surrogate. You have to be focused right now. I know you aren’t in training for a fight, but that just means this is a valuable time for you to get things together. Training, your dating life, whatever is important to you. You’ve had all that practice talking to me, so figure out who’s going to be your new guy and make it happen. In a few months you’re going to be going into the cage for real, against a person that wants to win. The better you live now, the easier that fight will be for you.” He smiled, trying to seem friendly, but even the act in his head was cringing away.
Not just because he was being a tool either.
On some level he really did like Lexi and would have loved to get with her. That wasn’t his job at the moment, but it hurt, pushing her away. She was very good looking, being blonde, decently fit and perky. She also had a nice personality and wasn’t that hard to talk to, even on the phone for hours. Yeah, it was a waste of time for both of them, but that didn’t mean some little part of him didn’t want her for himself. If he hadn’t, then he would have had this talk with her weeks before.
The girl bit her bottom lip, which was too sexy to be an accident.
“Oh… Um… Oops? I didn’t mean it that way…”
He nodded, forcing himself to go a bit wide eyed.
“Of course you didn’t. The thing there is that you need to have a clean image. It isn’t enough to just not be with me because of my age. You have to be able to show that you aren’t. As it is people will probably start talking soon. Jen thinks that you’re into me and Ashley keeps snickering and talking about safe sex every time you call. Just the rumors could hurt your persona later, so we have to fix that now.”
Then he closed one eye and held it for a while, thinking.
“Even if I am all that. I mean, how could you help yourself, right? And don’t for a minute think I wouldn’t be trying to work this situation around if I were a few years older. As it is, I kind of need to get home and take a cold shower, so it isn’t you, just the situation. So, stop doing that stuff and work your plan.”
No one could hear them and he felt like he was being a smug little jerk, but Lexi shook her head, a bit of regret showing on her face.
“I get the idea. So, are we still working together, or did I ruin that?”
Tony shrugged.
“Of course we’re working together. If we weren’t then I’d probably be going home with you right now, hinting at the perfection that is me…” He gestured slowly down his body, which actually got her to follow along with her gaze.
Then she snickered.
“Okay. Well, I need to go and hide for a bit. This is embarrassing, you get that, I know you do.”
He really did, feeling that himself.
“Fine, hide for an hour, but be back for your night class. Running in the morning, too. You’ll be fine. Like a cat. Always landing on your feet.”
Then he turned and left, carrying his gym bag with him. Regret filled him as he did it. Lexi was hot. If she hadn’t been willing to be with him, as in for real, she wouldn’t have spent that much time on him, he was willing to bet. For a moment Anthony wondered what would have really happened if he’d just gotten her to like him and saw her, in secret.
The thing there was that he knew the real answer. Probably nothing much at all. Even Rick and Jen wouldn’t have ratted her out for have a relationship with him. The only real issue would be in the press, where a simple denial on his part would keep anyone from thinking that it had happened at all.
Except once, out of maybe a hundred times, where someone saw something and got a picture of them kissing, or doing something harder to deny. Then it might be bad. For her. He’d be fine, since no one would really do a lot more than pat him on the back and tell him that he’d done a good job scoring with her.
Sighing and feeling like crud, he walked home, trying to get his head around the whole thing. There was a gentle feeling inside of him that he was going to regret not having done anything with her, while he had the chance. Even if it was the better option for her. Then, no one had ever claimed that doing the right thing was always going to be easy. Not even that it would always make sense.
That night after spending two hours doing math problems that were on the edge of what he knew how to do according to the test he’d taken, Rick and Jen came in. A bit late, but they both seemed happy enough.
Jenny walked over to him directly and gave him a hug.
“A certain someone told me that you broke up with her?”
He nearly didn’t get that one, but stuck his tongue out and grinned.
“Since I’m not seeing anyone, that would be impossible. Yeah, I had the world’s most stupid talk with Lexi. Thankfully she didn’t act like I was being too huge of a moron or anything. And before you both ask… Yes, I get that I probably could have slept with her and no, I’m not gay. It was harder to do than it sounds like. So, you know, tell me that I did the right thing and how there are billions of women in the world?” Anthony tried to look hopeful, but Rick just laughed at him like he was kidding around.
Then he nodded.
“You really did do the right thing. The adult one. I can see how it might not feel like it at the moment… It will get worse when she starts dating some other guy, by the way. The thing there is that it’s still the right thing to do. There’s no real way for this one to end well. Especially since you’ve been helping her train. I’m kind of worried about Nick and Raul as it is.”
That got Tony to sit up and tuck the practice math back into the book. It wasn’t an assignment or anything, just a good idea.
“Is… Something going on there? I’ve been a bit wrapped up in my own training to notice.”
Shaking his head, slowly, Jen made a face.
“Not exactly. It’s just that Raul has been cut off, back in Brazil. Most of his life there is strained now and he can’t just go back home. Nick wants him to stay, but there are visa issues and things like that. They haven’t been fighting about it, but there are external pressures.”
Which was a lot more important than him sanctimoniously talking at some woman who probably thought of him as a puppy dog anyway. He thought that he could see the basic structure of the problem. Almost like it was a fight plan.
It was Nick and Raul against the government and the family and fighting world in Brazil. The trick would be getting part of that out of the way. The social pressures back home would be the hard part, since Brazil had their own way of thinking as far as what men were supposed to be doing. That didn’t often include other guys being in bed with them. Not as far as Tony knew.
The government could be gotten around by getting mar
ried. A thing that everyone would already know. That was legal, as long as it wasn’t being done just to get a green card, Anthony knew. Even then, as long as they stayed together for a few years, that wouldn’t be too big of a deal. A few years before Deirdre had nearly married a guy from Mexico, in exchange for a place to live for both of them. It hadn’t panned out, because she loved to party too much for the guy, so he’d taken another option.
It was an idea that could work.
Deidre’s friend had been a machine operator back in Mexico, on a device that was complex and that there were only a few of in the states. So he’d gotten in by claiming that he had a high level, special skill that almost no one else did.
“Has Raul tried claiming that his abilities as a fight trainer are needed here? I mean, they let singers and actors in, so it isn’t less valuable than that. If that doesn’t work, there’s marriage, but…” It would seem a bit put on, since the men had just come out.
Jen didn’t act shocked by either idea, just taking a deep breath.
“That one won’t fly. He already got with a lawyer on it. Marriage can work, but no one knows if the government will allow it. Two men… That’s a new thing still. The problem is that Raul is pretty certain that he’s burned all his bridges back home. So if he goes back, he might be doing it with no resources.”
It was a problem, but if there was only one thing that would work, they’d have to take it. Even if it was going to fail, or Nick had been using the guy for free sex while he got the best trainer available.
“Then… When’s the wedding? We should do a big thing up for it, to help it look real?”
Rick made a face, then looked away.
“They’re still debating it. You really think they should do it? You’re always going off to church, isn’t that a sin in the eyes of God or something?” The words were a bit tense, as if he really didn’t want to bring up the topic.
