Fighting Shadows

by Aly Martinez

  I groaned, accepting my temporary defeat. “Does Q know you made rainbow cupcakes? The media is going to be there, Ash. I’m relatively sure he was assuming you’d make something a little more masculine for his professional boxing announcement.”

  Her mouth fell open in amused outrage. “Of course he doesn’t know! That’s the entire point of making rainbow cupcakes!”

  I shook my head in humor. Some things never changed.

  Heading to the back door, I clapped my hands and called, “Julio. Rico. Let’s go!”

  Julio came barreling around the corner with our one-eyed pug, Rico, hot on his limping heels.

  After closing the door, I started toward our bedroom to nervously change my tie for the tenth time, but a knock at the door rerouted me.

  “That’s Liv! Can you open that for her? She probably has her hands full,” Ash called, but before I even got to the foyer, Liv had already let herself in.

  “Too slow,” she said, walking in carrying half a watermelon shaped like a basket. Various fruits were carved into flowers, complete with a pineapple bumblebee on the top.

  “Wow. That is . . .” I began laughing, unable to complete the thought. “Rainbow cupcakes and a watermelon fruit basket. I see you and Ash have been conspiring.”

  She giggled. “Wait until you see what Eliza had made.”

  “Holy shit. You got her in on it too?”

  She nodded proudly. “Let’s just say, right now, a table-top ice sculpture of Quarry riding a unicorn is out for delivery.”

  My eyes went wide as I gasped, “No way.”

  “Yep,” Ash confirmed, walking over to take the fruit from Liv.

  “You do understand that I’m trying to market him as a professional heavyweight boxer, right?”

  They burst out laughing, throwing each other high fives.

  “You two are horrible. This is his career we’re talking about,” I said sternly as they continued giggling. With a resigned sigh, I gave up on the worthless attempt at a lecture. “Okay, let’s get out of here. I need to see this sculpture.”

  “Where the fuck is he?” Till boomed as we all huddled in Flint’s office at the gym.

  Eliza paced the floor while Flint ran damage control, assuring the numerous media outlets that Quarry was on his way.

  If he really was though, none of us knew. Quarry was officially two hours late to his own press conference announcing his much-awaited transition to professional boxing.

  Over the previous three years, Q had dominated every single facet of the amateur boxing world. He’d been widely followed because of his connection to Till and Slate, and Q did not disappoint. He was a virtually untouchable beast who was equally as charismatic inside the ring as he was out of it. Gracing the pages of sports magazines everywhere, he was the new golden boy in professional boxing—even though he had yet to even step in the ring. When Flint had scheduled an exclusive press conference months earlier, the boxing community had gone nuts with hopes and speculation that Quarry would, in fact, finally make the crossover. Hopes we all shared.

  Slate had held Quarry back for as long as possible, determined that his rise was not going to be the slow, uphill climb Till’s had been. And as much as it had ticked Q off, thanks to Slate and Flint, he already had six-figure contracts in the works.

  But that was all assuming we found him.

  “I’m going to kill him. He’s bitched for two years for this, and now, his dumb ass doesn’t show. That’s it. I’m dropping him. He wants to act like a little fucking prima donna, he can find a new trainer.” Till ran a rough hand through his hair then kicked an empty chair over.

  I quickly grabbed the brick and the frame off Flint’s desk, tucking them into his drawer before they ended up broken on the ground.

  Liv walked back into the room with her father, Leo, behind her. She nervously knotted her fingers as she said, “Okay, he’s not at his apartment. And no one answered at Mia’s parents’ either. Her car was parked out front though, so I’m pretty sure they’re together.” She shrugged. “I honestly have no idea.”

  “I tried tracking his phone—” Leo said, and Till quickly interrupted.

  “Why didn’t you do that two fucking hours ago?” Till’s eyes narrowed in a murderous glare I’d thought only Flint possessed.

  Leo stepped toward him, crossing his thick arms over his chest. “It’s dead, jackass. Calm the fuck down. It’s a goddamn press conference. You can always reschedule.”

  But it wasn’t just the press conference. No one had heard from Quarry since he and Mia had gone out to dinner the night before. Till was worried, and judging by the hole Eliza was pacing in the floor, so was she.

  “Right,” Till bit out, storming past him.

  Just as he got to the door, Johnson came flying around the corner and announced, “We found him. We need to go now.”

  “Don’t you fucking touch her!” I yelled through the burn in my lungs. Stepping protectively in front of Mia’s lifeless body, I blocked her from view.

  “I’m not going to ask you step away again.”

  I watched his hands form the words, but my brain was no longer able to process rational thought.

  No one is taking her from me.

  I sucked in a hard breath then snarled. “Back. The fuck. Up.”

  “You need to leave.”

  My chest heaved as I frantically tried to find a way out of my nightmare, but my mind was riddled with memories of her tiny body seizing in the passenger seat of my car as I rushed her to the hospital. “Fuck you. You’re not touching her. Ever.”

  “Quarry, please. She’s my daughter.”

  “She’s my life!” I roared.

  Her mother stepped forward, tears streaming from her deep-jade eyes—Mia’s eyes. “And you think she would have wanted this?” Her words never made it to my deaf ears, but I heard her voice break all the same.

  I couldn’t bring myself to consider what Mia would have wanted at all.

  I needed her.

  I lifted my shaking hands to sign when my voice lodged in my throat. This is not your decision to make. You don’t get to play God.

  Her mother shook her head in regret. “We didn’t make it. She did—six months ago when she found out there was no treatment for the newest tumor they discovered.”

  My legs buckled as the excruciating pain hit my gut.

  She knew. Oh my God, she knew all along.

  “You’re lying,” I declared. “She would have told me.”

  She shrugged. “Come on, Quarry. You of all people know how stubborn Mia was. She didn’t want you to worry.”

  I stumbled back a step.

  She hadn’t wanted me to worry?

  I was dying right alongside her. I’d have given anything to have more than just a few hours to adjust to the fact that I was never going to see her again.

  No.

  I wasn’t letting her go.

  I could fix this. We’d find some new doctors. Get a second opinion. She’d wake up and be fine.

  I’d fight for her, because she would have fought for me.

  “I don’t care. I’m unmaking her decision. I should get a say in this, and I say she lives.” I swallowed hard, packing my desperation down. “You will not fucking touch her,” I seethed, swinging my gaze between her parents.

  “I’m done.” Her short, overweight father stepped forward. “I will not stand here listening to you throw a temper tantrum at the side of my daughter’s deathbed. If there was hope, trust me, we would be clinging to it. But that is the shell of our Mia. She has no brain activity. People don’t just come back from that. We all loved her. But she didn’t want to live like this.” He choked on the admission.

  “Love. I love her. She’s not gone, and I will not let you take her from me!”

  He stepped even closer. “Either you get the hell out right now or I will have security escort you out.”

  I ground my teeth, and my entire body flexed, preparing for war. “Then make your call, becaus
e there isn’t a force in the world that could drag me away from her.” I menacingly bumped my chest to his, forcing him to stumble.

  Suddenly, a pair of hands slammed into my chest and Liv slid in front of me. I read her lips as she yelled, “Stop!”

  My head snapped up as Till, Flint, and Slate filed into the room. My shoulders slacked at the sight of reinforcements.

  “Get them out of here,” I barked at Till while nodding to Mia’s parents.

  “You need to come with me,” he replied with his hands and voice and then grabbed my arm.

  I snatched it away. “Fuck you.”

  When motion at Mia’s bedside caught my attention, I turned to look over my shoulder.

  Liv’s silent wails as she clung to Mia’s hand drained my soul.

  What the fuck is going on?

  My mind swirled as devastation sank in.

  She can’t be gone.

  Not Mia.

  MIA MARCH WAS TAKEN OFF life support less than twenty-four hours after her parents had produced a notarized do-not-resuscitate order dated six months earlier. We all attended her funeral, although Quarry’s presence was limited to physical. His mind seemed to be lost in her deceit while he watched his heart being lowered into the ground. The whole Page family rallied around him, but we all struggled to make any kind of headway as he retreated into his own self-inflicted solitary confinement. News of Quarry’s sudden loss hit sports pages everywhere, and Flint was flooded with phone calls as Quarry’s popularity skyrocketed.

  He hated every single second of it.

  We were all rocked by Mia’s death. Suddenly, forever didn’t seem as long anymore.

  After months of debating, Flint and I decided to start a family. I was just finishing up college when Flint and I welcomed Cole Page into the family. He was born with red hair that eventually turned strawberry blond. He had Flint’s bright-blue eyes and my wide smile.

  Having a baby was not as difficult as everyone had warned it would be. Cole was a blast. It was the second one who flipped our world upside down. I thought Flint was going to have a stroke when they informed us that I was already pregnant again at my first postpartum appointment.

  I cried.

  Flint just held Cole and blinked a lot.

  But in the end, when Chase was born looking exactly like his brother, we all laughed.

  Bottles, diapers, and sippy cups became our life. Time marched on, only at a slightly quicker pace.

  When the boys were two and three, we buried Julio in the corner next to the weeds in the backyard. I was a mess, but that day, I made the decision to go back to school and become a veterinarian. Flint was making excellent money, so upon graduation, I was able to volunteer at the local animal shelter. They were grateful for my free expertise, but Flint was slightly less than excited by the constant stream of injured animals parading in and out of our house. He sat me down one night and gave me a firm lecture about not being able to save them all. I rolled my eyes and kept trying.

  Over the years, Flint and I laughed a lot. We also argued a good bit too, but we always made up. I continued to dream, and Flint continued doing everything he could to fulfill them.

  The day Flint finally put his cane away for good was a big deal—even to Flint. I cooked dinner that night and then the boys and I danced around the living room singing “Eye of the Tiger” at the top of our lungs while Flint laughed in the corner.

  That night, as we feel asleep tangled in each other’s arms, Flint whispered in my ear just before I dozed off. “You stayed.”

  “Huh?” I mumbled sleepily against his chest.

  “You stayed and I’m walking.” He tipped my chin up to take my lips in a reverent kiss. “Maybe those weren’t dreams. Maybe they were our future all along.”

  My eyes popped open as I bolted upright. “Oh my God,” I breathed as my heart began to race. “Do you know what this means?” I swallowed hard.

  His eyes flashed with alarm. “Jesus, Ash, what the hell are you talking about?”

  “I really am clairvoyant!” I exclaimed.

  His shoulders fell as he glared, unimpressed with my joke.

  “No, wait! We’re both clairvoyant. Hurry, get up! We need to start training the boys to harness their powers for good and not evil.”

  Grabbing my waist, he flipped me to the other side of the bed and covered me with his body. “Funny girl, huh?” He began tickling me only to silence my howls of laughter with his mouth. Pinning my wrists above my head, he glided a hand between my legs, instantly finding my clit with his thumb.

  I threw my head back against the bed. “Oh God.”

  “What’s wrong, smartass? You didn’t see that in your future?”

  I rolled my hips off the bed, grinding against his hand. “Oh, I did. All of these years have been a meticulously crafted plan just to get to this exact moment. You better not disappoint me now.”

  He laughed as I began pushing the sweatpants off his hips.

  Seconds later, he was inside me.

  And he didn’t disappoint.

  Ever.

  FIGHTING SHADOWS

  THE END

  Fighting Solitude

  Winter 2015

  Quarry Page is just climbing through the ropes.

  Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, Aly Martinez is a stay-at-home mom to four crazy kids under the age of five, including a set of twins. Currently living in South Carolina, she passes what little free time she has reading anything and everything she can get her hands on, preferably with a glass of wine at her side.

  After some encouragement from her friends, Aly decided to add “Author” to her ever-growing list of job titles. So grab a glass of Chardonnay, or a bottle if you’re hanging out with Aly, and join her aboard the crazy train she calls life.

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