Stronger with You (With You Trilogy)

by R. J. Sable

  “It’s okay,” I nodded. “But, try not to hurt each other too badly, okay?” I pleaded. “I don’t think I’d survive another ambulance trip with either of you.”

  “We promise,” Jason nodded. “Right, Craig?”

  Craig looked pensive for a second and I scowled at him.

  “We promise,” he nodded, ruffling my hair.

  “If you ladies are done, it’d be nice to get on with it,” Simon chimed in from the sidelines.

  “Alright, alright,” Craig sighed, standing up and walking over to him. “Jesus, it’s like being married. Except you can’t cook so you’d be a shit wife.”

  “Pfft,” Simon scowled. “You’d be the wife.”

  I grinned at the two of them, relaxing somewhat. It wasn’t going to be fun watching them fight but they both seemed to want to do it.

  “You sure you’re okay with this?” Jason asked me, pulling me up and walking with me over to where the others were.

  “Yeah, if it makes you happy,” I smiled, feeling a little better.

  “I love you,” he grinned, giving me a sensuous thank-you kiss.

  “I love you too,” I grinned back.

  Craig gave Josh and Grayson a few tips after observing for a while and sparred with both of them. Simon chipped in and had a few good pointers as well.

  “You’re such a balanced fighter, what’s your secret?” Josh asked Craig when they took a break to drink some fluids.

  Craig shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. “A healthy dose of luck.”

  “It’s not luck, mate,” Simon clapped him on the back. “I’ve seen you sparring with your brothers. Those guys are fucking animals.”

  “I wouldn’t let them hear you say that,” Craig answered dryly.

  “I wouldn’t,” Simon laughed. “Seriously though, your brothers are some of the best fighters I’ve ever seen.”

  Craig shrugged again. Simon seemed to get the message and dropped it, moving back to the mats.

  A lot more people were starting to arrive. Despite the fact that most people in the room were there to spar or train, a lot of them seemed more interested in what Craig was doing. The more people that arrived, the less playful and happy Craig became. I watched as he slowly retreated into himself, adopting the persona he often used around my brothers, particularly around Karl and Matt when they were in a bad mood.

  “What d’ya do, Simon?” Craig asked with a frown as they broke off again. “Send out a fucking flyer?”

  “Don’t look at me, mate,” Simon shrugged. “I just talked it over with the club owner.”

  “If they want a show they can wait until the fights start,” Craig scowled.

  “We can do this another time if you want, Carter?” Jason offered.

  “Nah, it’s fine,” Craig sighed, rolling his shoulders a little.

  I stood on the sidelines listening to the “that’s Craig Carter” whispers and rolling my eyes at them. I felt a little sorry for Craig. He didn’t ask for the attention and obviously didn’t appreciate it.

  Simon broke off sparring with Josh and came to stand by me, shooting a few meaningful glares at the gathering crowd, which they seemed oblivious to. He went off to usher people away with a few colourful threats. I may not have found Simon to be the most enjoyable company, but he obviously cared a lot about Craig and I appreciated that. I smiled at him and watched Jason sparring with Josh.

  Hearing two familiar female voices approaching, I turned towards the door. Who let them in? I groaned inwardly at the sight of Shana and Lottie. The two of them were both wearing tiny shorts and tank tops, which seemed a little ridiculous considering where they were.

  “Hey, pretty ladies,” Grayson greeted the two of them.

  They both fluttered their eyelashes at Grayson as they giggled their helloes.

  “Hi, Jamie,” Lottie smiled at me.

  I smiled back and returned to watching the guys. They noticed the newcomers and broke off their sparring once more to come over to us.

  “For Christ’s sake, this just gets better and better,” Simon groaned, looking pointedly at Lottie and Shana. “No bunnies back here.”

  I was secretly delighted that he thought they were cage bunnies.

  “Bunnies?” Shana frowned.

  “They’re not bunnies, Simon,” Jason laughed, looking over at the two girls and giving them a slight smirk.

  “Could have fooled me,” Simon grunted. “Whatever. They can’t be back here.”

  “Why not?” Shana scowled. “She’s here,” she pointed at me as though I was mouldy yoghurt again.

  “That’s because she’s my sister, yeah?” Craig scowled, wrapping his slightly sweaty arm around my shoulder and giving Shana a disgusted look that made it really hard to hide my grin.

  “Easy, Carter,” Jason soothed. “She didn’t mean anything by it.”

  Craig raised his eyebrow at Jason and shrugged it off, nodding to Simon that he wanted to spar some more and disappearing back to the mats with him.

  Shana and Lottie obviously didn’t take the hint because they hung around. Josh went off to hold a punching bag for Grayson, leaving Jason with me and the other two girls.

  “Have you started fighting again?” Shana asked Jason.

  The fact that she knew he used to fight annoyed me immensely. It meant the two of them were close enough to have talked about it, despite the fact they’d obviously slept together and Jason insisted he only had one-night stands.

  “Thinking about it,” Jason shrugged. “Depends how this goes.”

  “Are you fighting Craig?” She asked.

  The fact that she called my brother by name annoyed me even more.

  “I am,” he nodded, winking at me before he returned to the mats, walking over to where my brother and Simon were to observe them.

  Lottie and Shana talked amongst themselves and I tried not to listen, mostly because I doubted I’d want to hear what they had to say, especially once I heard them discussing Craig’s physical attributes. I was relieved when Craig called me over to pass him his water bottle, but less relieved when the girls followed me.

  “How’s it going?” I smiled at him.

  “Fine,” he nodded, taking a huge sip of water.

  “You’re really good,” Shana smiled at him, pouting her glossy lips like a duck.

  “Yeah?” Craig said curtly, raising his eyebrow.

  I wondered what standard she was using to decide Craig was a good fighter. I doubted she had much experience and I was pretty sure Craig wasn’t in the habit of listing off the titles he’d won just to hit on women. He wouldn’t cheap the sport he loved so much in that way.

  “Jel-” Craig started but then broke off, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Will you go fill this up for me?” He asked, holding up his water bottle.

  “Sure,” I nodded, accepting the bottle and making for the water fountain at the far end of the room.

  I wondered briefly why he’d broken off. I smiled to myself because I wasn’t sure I wanted Shana to hear Craig calling me Jelly. I loved their nickname for me, because they mostly used it in an affectionate fashion, but I had a feeling that Shana would try and use it against me somehow. I didn’t want her to ruin it for me. That girl definitely has it out for me.

  I didn’t understand why she disliked me so strongly, so quickly. Was it really just because I was with Jason? That didn’t feel like reason enough. She seemed to really hate me. I sighed as I filled the water bottle and took it back over to Craig. The group was all standing together now.

  “We were going to head into town afterwards, you guys should join us,” Shana said enthusiastically, her eyes darting back and forth between Craig and Jason like a child trying to decide which slice of cake looked bigger.

  I sort of hoped she decided on Craig. The lesser of two evils. I definitely wanted her to stop fluttering her eyelashes at Jason and I doubted it would bother me too much if Craig decided he wanted to sleep with her as long as she didn’t try and lord it over
me too much.

  “I was just gonna hang with my little sister,” Craig shook his head, smiling at me as I passed him the bottle.

  “Yeah, I’m not really feeling much like town either,” Jason shrugged apologetically.

  Shana pouted like a duck once more and sidled up to Craig, putting her hand on his bicep.

  “Are you sure?” She cooed. “We could have fun?”

  Craig smiled at her tightly but I wasn’t buying it. He was giving her the look he usually gave me right before he pinched the back of my arm for rolling my eyes.

  “They could come back to ours?” Josh offered, looking at Jason.

  “Fine by me, it’s up to Carter though,” Jason nodded his head towards my brother.

  “You mind sharing me?” Craig grinned at me.

  “I’m used to it,” I smiled. I rarely got one on one time with my brothers, at least not the nice kind we’d been having so far.

  “I have to get up early tomorrow,” Craig said. “So as long as it’s not too late.”

  “Awesome,” Lottie smiled.

  Craig motioned for me to follow him and we walked to one side, away from the others.

  “You okay?” He asked, frowning. “You didn’t look to keen on the idea.”

  “Shana doesn’t really like me,” I shrugged, trying not to let him know how much she bothered me.

  “She’s a bit… enthusiastic, isn’t she?” He grinned.

  That was a polite way of putting it. I was pretty sure she’d drop down on her knees in front of him if he asked her to. I once again contemplated asking him not to sleep with her but I knew it wasn’t my place.

  “Don’t worry,” he grinned. “I promise not to ignore you.”

  “Thanks,” I rolled my eyes without thinking and then jumped back because I knew a pinch was coming.

  “I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that,” he smirked, his playful smile returning and putting me at ease. I definitely liked Craig when he was like this. The backs of my arms liked him even more.

  Chapter 23

  Saturday, 9th February 2013

  I listened to the nearby crowd talking and felt my heart pounding hard in my chest. There was a group of people stood just close enough to the judge’s area that I could hear what they were saying.

  “What was his name?” A girl asked.

  “Jason Reed,” someone answered.

  “I’ve never heard of him,” the girl said.

  “Someone said he’s banging Carter’s little sister,” a guy laughed.

  I cringed inwardly and turned violently red outwardly. God, this is horrific. I glanced up at Simon behind me and he smirked down at me. I was to stay with Simon until the fight was over. Craig and Jason had been very insistent.

  “No way?” The girl cried out. “This is gonna be a blood bath!” She sounded a little too happy.

  The hall was chock-a-block full, not quite as busy as the room in Derby had been but definitely more packed than I’d seen it before. Jason seemed surprisingly nonplussed about being back in the cage for his first fight. I felt he should have been a little more nervous, especially considering he was fighting Craig. They’d said it wasn’t personal but I couldn’t help feeling that my relationship with the two of them made it very personal.

  Previously, when watching a fight, I’d known exactly who I wanted to win. I’d be on team Craig, or Grayson, or Josh, or even Simon. This time I couldn’t decide who I wanted to win. The little sister in me didn’t want Craig to lose, he trained so hard and devoted so much of his time to MMA. It had, in part, made him who he was by giving him the strength to stand up to Karl and Matt. He didn’t always stand up to them, but he knew he could and that was enough.

  The girlfriend in me didn’t want Jason to lose because he’d already lost to Ian and Karl and I wasn’t sure I could watch him get hurt again. Craig trained a hell of a lot but so did Jason. He’d sparred with pretty much everyone except Jake over the holidays and he’d kept up for most part. He sometimes sparred with the guys at the gym whilst I used the cardio equipment. He trained hard and deserved a win as much as Craig did.

  “What’s he doing?” Simon scowled.

  Jason and Craig had been going back and forth relatively easily in the match until that point but Craig had suddenly picked up the pace and begun moving rapidly and in calculated moves. He managed to pin Jason to the floor in a fairly painful looking twist variation of an armbar.

  Nobody answered Simon because none of us knew. I watched Craig frown on stage and he landed a few more blows to Jason but he just took it and tried to break free. There were only thirty seconds left and it looked like Jason was in agony from the uncomfortable position Craig had him pinned in.

  Craig shouted something at Jason but he didn’t answer and Craig looked even more pissed off. The round ended and Craig released Jason immediately, his scowl replaced with a smile as he helped him up from the floor.

  “Why didn’t he just tap out?” Josh grimaced. “Carter almost broke his fucking arm.”

  The others shook their heads in disbelief and I frowned as I tried to figure it out. Is that what Craig was saying? Was he trying to convince Jason to tap out? Jason was stubborn as an ox, I doubted he would have tapped out even if Craig had broken his arm.

  As Jason stood up, I could see that he was bleeding from his lip but not too badly. Craig looked almost completely unscathed. The two of them did the whole manly-sweaty-hug thing, which made me smile, and waited for the judges’ decision. I was stood close enough that I could hear the judges talking, but not what they were saying.

  I glanced up at the cage again and saw that Craig and Jason were just chatting away, neither of them seemed that bothered to hear the results but the judges made their decision regardless. The referee raised Craig’s arm into the air and he grinned a little and turned to shake Jason’s hand.

  The crowd was cheering but I was just glad it was over. They both looked so happy. Ben had said how much Jason enjoyed MMA. I knew the same was true for Craig and it made me glad that they could do something they enjoyed together, even if it would probably give me a heart attack in my early twenties.

  Simon gave me a gentle push in their direction as the two of them came out of the cage and made their way through to the back room. I was hesitant to force my way through the crowd of people trying to clap Craig on the back or get him to sign their breasts but Simon and Josh cleared a path and guided me through to the back room.

  I looked a little awkwardly at the two of them as they unwrapped their hands. I wanted to hug both of them but I knew that whoever I hugged first would probably rub it in the other one’s face. Thankfully, the decision was taken out of my hands because Simon took Craig aside and I was left with Jason.

  I grinned at him and jumped up into his arms, letting him lift me from the floor.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, stroking his lip gently where it had been bleeding.

  “Of course,” he answered with his million-dollar smile. “Are you?”

  “I’m not the one that got beaten up by Craig,” I teased.

  Jason laughed. “Beaten up?” He scoffed. “Do I look beaten up to you?”

  I raised my eyebrow at him as he set me down and looked pointedly at his lip.

  “Pfft,” he dismissed it. “That’s nothing, you probably won’t even be able to see it tomorrow.”

  “Come here, Jelly,” Craig grinned, walking back over to us.

  I stepped towards him and gave him a hug too, not caring that he was a little sweaty because, let’s be honest, it was his hoody he was sweating on.

  “Still my lucky charm?” He asked, grinning down at me with his lop sided grin.

  “For now,” I smiled. “But I didn’t want either of you to lose,” I pouted.

  “Reed did way better than expected,” Craig grinned, looking over at Jason.

  “Yeah,” Simon chimed in. “I’m almost impressed,” he nodded. “But only almost.”

  “I thought we’d be getting
you back in a body bag,” Grayson laughed.

  “What the hell, guys? Where’s the love?” Jason pouted.

  “If you got back into MMA for real I wouldn’t have had such an easy time of it,” Craig shrugged.

  “Do you need me to remind you of the score?” Jason grinned. Jason had received nine points to Craig’s ten.

  “Don’t push your luck, Reed, we both know we were taking it easy,” Craig shrugged.

  “Because of me?” I asked uncertainly. I wasn’t sure if it made me happy or sad that they’d taken it easy.

  “Mostly,” Craig shrugged. “But also because we were just doing it for kicks.”

  “No point your brother injuring himself on a fight like this when he has title fights coming up,” Jason nodded.

  “Anyways, my point was that if you were back into training you might be able to beat me again one day,” Craig shrugged, grabbing his towel from his bag and heading to the showers.

  “Again?” I asked at the same time as Josh and Grayson.

  “You’ve beaten him before?” Simon frowned in confusion.

  Jason just shook his head in amusement and headed for the showers himself, leaving me with the others.

  “Have they fought before, Jamie?” Grayson asked me.

  “He mentioned that they had a few times, but it was years ago. He didn’t say who won,” I answered, realising that I’d never asked. I’d actually just assumed Craig had won by the way Jason was talking about him as if he was some sort of celebrity. I felt a little guilty for not asking Jason about it, but at the same time he never seemed that keen on talking about his past.

  When everyone was ready, we walked back to the house, Shana and Lottie in tow. They seemed suspiciously tipsy considering there was no alcohol served at the fight. Shana’s handbag looked questionably heavy and I suspected she might have a bottle in there.

  Lottie seemed to have set her sights on Grayson but he didn’t appear to mind too much and I caught him grinning conspiratorially at Josh a few times. That left Shana hovering around Craig and asking him a million different questions. I chatted happily with Jason, interrogating him about his previous fights with my brother. Apparently, they had now balanced up their fight history because Jason had beaten Craig on two prior occasions but only lost once.