“Can I at least get the fight over with first?”
Walt smacked my shoulder and snatched the bottle of water Tao had previously shoved in my hand from me.
“By all means, ride that luck and get in there and win this damn fight,” Walt said, and Tao snorted.
I looked across to Marco and his trainer, who was working on getting the brow bleed to slow, and I knew. “I’m going to win. I can feel it. I just wish...”
“That your dad was here?” Tao finished for me, and I nodded. He knew my history, so did Walt.
“Who says he’s not, Lucio? But—”
“But?” I questioned before Walt finished.
“He’d be proud no matter the outcome because you’ve worked and trained to be where you’re at. You didn’t let your past dictate your future. Not everyone has the fortitude to push themselves. You were a kid who made bad choices. Now go show everyone else what I’ve known since the first day you stepped into the ring at my gym,” Walt said, then took a step away from the ropes.
“What’s that?” I asked as I stood for the beginning of the next round.
“One day, you would be a champion,” Walt said and squeezed my shoulder. “Be nice if you could prove me right today.”
“I agree with Walt. Now quit dicking around and do it,” Tao said and stepped out of the ring with Walt.
I glanced over my shoulder at Tao and Walt, and they both grinned. Shaking my head, I turned and walked to the center. Win or lose, the support and love from the people around me would always be there.
Of course, I preferred to win.
The fourth round started, and Marco aggressively came at me. The consecutive punches he threw, I was lucky to have blocked them. Silently thanking all the time spent using the speed bag.
Next came a kick, which made contact with the outside of my thigh and had me staggering. The blow wasn’t hard enough to take me down, but it had me fighting to gain my balance. Once my balance was under control, I advanced. Marco was ready when I kicked out from my side, and he countered. His kick landed at the back of my knee, buckling it and taking me down. Straddling my back, he grabbed my arms to halt any hopes of pushing up while he tried for the pin. With my arms trapped at my back, he pushed down with his weight, and I knew the fight would be over at the end of the count if I gave up now.
I rocked my hips and gained no purchase with the way his legs were positioned on the outside of me.
“Come on, Lucio! Show him who the belt belongs to. Toss him off!” I wasn’t sure how Livi’s ordinarily soft voice reached my ears, but it had.
“It’s almost over, Moretti. You’ll never be good enough to take the belt from me,” Marco said, speaking for the first time during the bout as the referee began the countdown. Later, he’d kick his own ass for opening his mouth.
“The only part in that statement that’s true is it is almost over,” I said through gritted teeth as I squeezed my eyes shut and arched my back as far as I could extend. The move raised my chest off the mat, and though the strain on my body was almost more than I could handle, I knew it was only temporary.
As the referee hit seven in his countdown, Marco adjusted his weight forward in an effort to push the top part of my torso down. The move cost him. When the weight on my hips lightened, I opened my eyes and took advantage of Marco’s mistake. I used my legs to tilt to the side, which caused him to slip from my body.
Marco tried to hang on, but as the referee hit eight, I tossed Marco the rest of the way off. Once he released my arms, and even though they tingled from the odd position they’d been in, I pushed to my knees and was on my feet before ten came out of the referee’s mouth.
While Marco rose to his own feet, he watched my movements. I would recall the look on his face for days. Wasting no more time, I went after him. I delivered one blow after another with an intensity I hadn’t had before.
With the majority of my punches landing, my onslaught had blood flowing from his lips and nose. Unaware of how much time was left in the round, but wanting it over, when Marco swayed, I backed away just enough and completed a one-eighty kick. The move allowed my foot to make contact under his arm. The power behind it caught him off guard and knocked him off balance, allowing me to move in.
Wrapping my arm around his neck, I placed him in a ‘V’ hold. Applying pressure, I stopped the flow of blood to his brain with the move, and it wouldn’t take long for Marco to lose consciousness.
“You might need to rethink the comment about me not being good enough to take the belt from you,” I said close to his ear.
Though Marco grabbed my arms in hopes of loosening my hold, it was a wasted effort. Within milliseconds he tapped out, giving me the win by submission.
Both of us stood in the center of the ring, and when my arm was lifted as the new champion, I didn’t think anything would ever top that moment.
At least that was what I thought until I held the belt in my one hand and my other hand curved around Livi’s waist after Tao had helped her enter the ring while he cleared a path to me.
“I knew you could do it, Lucio,” Livi said as she looked at me and smiled.
In her eyes, I saw everything—the life we would share—the children we would have together.
“Baby, with you beside me, I can do anything,” I said, bent my head and captured her lips.
Fate had brought her to me.
She was my home.
She was my destiny.
Epilogue
Lucio
TODAY MARKED THE TENTH anniversary of the loss of my dad. I laid in bed with my arm draped over Livi. My hand splayed on her protruding stomach, where our child nestled, then waited for the familiar weight of regret to settle on my shoulders as it had done in the past. Then again, when the anniversary of Davis’ death rolled around.
It didn’t come. It hadn’t in a couple of years, though I continued to wait for it to reappear.
The tiny kick against my hand brought a smile to my face. It seemed my daughter sensed my thoughts and decided to remind me that somewhere in between the worst two days of my life, she would be making her appearance.
I gently rubbed my hand in circles to try to settle her movements, but instead, she kicked again. This time the movement had Livi shifting. I lifted my hand away so she could roll to her back. When I rested my hand back on her belly, she placed hers on top of mine and squeezed.
“I believe your daughter has her days and nights mixed up,” Livi said sleepily.
I chuckled. “Oh, I see how it’s going to be. She’ll be my daughter when she’s unruly.”
I shifted to my back as Livi turned toward me. She laid her head on my shoulder while her belly rested against me. No sooner than she settled in, I received a kick to my side.
It was her turn to chuckle. “Yes, she is,” she replied and patted my chest.
I took my hand from her stomach and used it to run my fingers through Livi’s hair. “I’m not sure you should play in the concert next week.”
“I’ll be fine. I have almost a month before my due date. After this performance, I’m out on maternity leave anyway.”
I couldn’t be more proud of Livi. She was accepted to the Boston Symphony Orchestra six months after auditioning.
“I know I don’t say it enough, but I’m proud of you, baby.” I kissed the top of her head.
“You do tell me. You also show me. You will always be my light, Lucio.”
“Ha! You’re the one who brought me from the darkness first.” I chuckled when she smacked my chest. I figured we would be going back and forth over who was whose light when we were old and gray.
“What time is it?”
Reaching to the nightstand, I lifted my phone to check the time. “Five fifty-two.”
“Ugh, you know who’s going to be—” Before Livi got a chance to finish her sentence, a voice shouted through the monitor.
“Mommy. Mommy. Mommy!” Each time our son called out for her his voice grew louder.
“I’ll get up with him. You get some more sleep,” I said, and after Livi scooted over, I got out of bed. After grabbing my pants off the chair, I headed to the bathroom to take care of my business before I took care of Joey’s. Joey was short for Joseph. We named him after my dad.
“Thanks, honey,” Livi said on a yawn as I pulled the bedroom door open.
“Anything for my girls.” As I walked out, I’m not even sure she heard me.
Once in the hallway, I slid the door closed as quietly as I could and made my way to Joey’s room, where I could hear him rattling the side of the bed. When I reached the doorway, he started bouncing in place and smiling. It never failed to amaze me how much he looked like me. He was my splitting image with his dark brown hair and deep brown eyes.
“Daddy!”
“Yeah, you got me this morning, buddy. We’re going to let Mommy sleep a little longer while we fix breakfast.”
“Pancakes!”
“Sure thing. After we get your diaper changed.”
“I pooped,” he informed me, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. We'd been trying to get him to use his potty chair; he just wasn’t quite ready, though. It didn’t keep us from trying every day. Livi had high hopes we wouldn’t have two in diapers.
“Pretty sure the smell gave you away.” I grabbed what I needed and got to work. “Guess who’s coming today?” I asked to keep him occupied. If not, it would take longer to get him changed.
“Who?”
“Grammy. She’ll be here around lunchtime.” Every year on the date my dad died, my mom and I spent the day together.
“Grammy brings me candy.”
I shook my head. “Yes, she does.” I lifted him out of his bed, and he yelled, “Mommy!”
“I thought you were sleeping,” I said over my shoulder as I reached for the dirty diaper.
“Your daughter changed that.”
“Still moving around. Maybe some food will settle our daughter down. Little man wants pancakes.” I turned to face Livi, and she rubbed her belly as she blew out her breath in short bursts.
“Oh, shit.”
“Shit!” was repeated by Joey, and even in pain, my wife cocked her brow.
“Sorry. Let me get my phone, and I’ll call Mom and tell her we need her to come now.”
“Done. I did it before I even got out of bed.”
“Okay, good. The contractions just started, so we got a few hours. Took twenty-four hours before Joey was born. She is early, though.”
“About that. I might have been in labor yesterday evening when I thought the tiny contractions were Braxton Hicks. They’re five minutes...” her water broke and ran down her legs, hitting the floor, “apart.”
I SAT IN THE HOSPITAL chair, holding Lucia Constance Moretti, my daughter, and watched my wife as she slept.
At twenty-six now, I’d exceeded my dream of success in the MMA. I had a talented wife, two kids, money in the bank, and a home in the suburbs.
I’d learned it was okay to fail as long as you didn’t give up. Life came without a manual or warranty and needed to be lived as if there was no tomorrow. It wasn’t to say I wouldn’t have more regrets over my lifetime, I just refused to let them define me.
I was living proof there was more than one path to follow.
Livi’s and my relationship was fast. It would be seen by most as an insta-love story. When actuality, it was so much more.
Two young people whose lives crossed at different points until it was time for them to meet. The story had been in the making for almost seven years—it just waited for Livi and me to grow up enough to put all the pieces together.
We’ve gotten off to a good start, but our story is long from finished.
Acknowledgments
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who has followed me on my writing journey. Your support has and is much appreciated. You make the hours sitting in front of the computer worth it.
Carson
About the Author
CARSON MACKENZIE ENJOYS writing romance with a real feel inside the stories. She writes with the belief, not every man is a jerk, and not every woman needs saving.
Carson lives in the South with her son, a Great Dane, and two adopted shelter dogs that keep the household in line. Books have always been a part of her life. There is nothing better to her than curling up and relaxing with a good story and losing herself in someone else’s world for a few hours.
Writing stories and growing as an author with each book is her goal. She wants to reach the level where a reader knows when they see her name on a cover, they can trust in the fact there will be a good story as they flip through the pages.
Carson’s journey into writing has only been for a few years. As she’s finally starting to settle in, she can’t believe she waited so long to start.
Follow Carson at Amazon, Goodreads, or Facebook.
Books by Carson Mackenzie
Black Hawk MC
Speed
Crusher
Devil
Ghost
Jag
Coast
Flirt – June 2020
Haven MC
Snatched
Hawk’s Bounty
Keg’s Revelation
Crank’s Deception – TBA
Wild Bill - TBA
Desert Phoenix MC
Apache’s Downfall – TBA
Irish’s Resolve - TBA
Standalone
Her Way or No Way
Touched by the Music
Touched by the Music Page 10
