by Ava Ashley
“Hi, Jean,” I said when she picked up.
“Hey, sweetie,” she said, as always. “How are you doing?”
“I’m good,” I told her. “The usual. Babysitting right now.”
“That’s sweet of you to help your friends out,” she said.
“To tell you the truth, I think it’s helping me more than it’s helping them,” I told her.
“That’s the way it goes sometimes!” she said, laughing. “That’s why I volunteer at the homeless shelter. It makes me feel good.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I said.
“I don’t think so either,” she agreed. “It’s a win-win.”
“So, how’s Hunter doing these days?” I asked.
“He’s good, honey,” she said. “He misses you, of course.”
“Thanks, Jean,” I said. “I miss him too. How’s his ankle? Is he ready for the fight in a few days?”
“It’s doing a lot better,” she told me. “It’s not as good as a brand new, unbroken ankle, but it’s pretty close.”
“That’s great,” I said. “That’s about as good as it can be, at this point.”
“I know,” she said. “I’m a little worried about him, but to tell you the truth, I think he’s going to win.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “What makes you so sure?”
“I’ve never seen him so determined,” she told me. “I’ve never seen anyone so determined, actually. I think that makes all the difference.”
“I think you’re probably right,” I told her. I hoped she was right. I knew how badly Hunter wanted to win that title, and how the opportunity had been ripped away from him the year before. If anyone deserved to win, he did.
We exchanged some more pleasantries, and soon got off the phone. Avery woke up from her nap, and I took her for a long walk along the boardwalk. The sun was setting over the ocean, and I felt a calmness in my soul that I hadn’t felt for a long, long time. That afternoon, as I looked down at Avery and felt nothing but a serene, peaceful joy, I thought I was finally ready. After Betsy and Ted got back and I went back to my place, I got out my phone and gave Hunter a call.
I didn’t think I’d been that nervous about calling a boy since I was about thirteen years old. My hands shook as I dialed, wondering if he’d answer, and what it would be like to talk to him after all this time. After a few rings, he picked up, and the sound of his voice made me so happy that I instantly clutched my hand to my heart. God, I had missed him so much.
“Anna,” he said, “you’re calling me.”
“I am,” I said, laughing for no particular reason, out of pure joy. “How are you?”
“I’m great,” he said, “now that you called. Before that I was all right, I suppose.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” I said. “It’s really, really nice to hear your voice.”
“Back atcha,” he said. “How are you doing? What’s new?”
“I’m good,” I told him. “Nothing really is new. I’ve just been working, and spending time with Betsy and Ted.”
“That sounds pleasant,” he said.
“It has been really great, actually. Very therapeutic,” I told him. “So how has your recovery been going? How’s your ankle?”
“It’s good. I’ve been doing overtime at the physical therapist’s office, trying to get ready for the championship.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “Your mom told me.”
“What?!” he exclaimed. “You’ve been talking to my mom?”
“I have,” I admitted. “Almost every day.”
“Well, I’ll be,” he said. “And she didn’t tell me anything, the old sneak.”
“She’s good at keeping secrets,” I said. “I couldn’t really stand not knowing how you were doing after the accident, so I called her. And then we just kind of got in the habit.”
“I’m glad,” he told me. “She always liked you.”
“I always like her, too.”
“So, I’m really glad you called,” he said. “I was thinking about calling you myself, but I wasn’t sure if I should.”
“Oh?” I said. “About anything in particular?”
“Mostly I just wanted to hear your voice, and see how you were doing,” he said. “But also, I wanted to see if maybe you’d come to the championship? I’d totally understand if you didn’t want to, but it would mean a lot to me to have you there.”
“Of course I’ll go,” I said. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Really?” he asked, sounding like a kid whose mom just told him he could have the chocolate bar he’d been asking for all day. “Awesome. Oh man, that makes me so happy. Now I know I’m going to win.”
“I hope so,” I told him. “You deserve it.”
“Thank you, Anna,” he said. “Really, this means so much to me.”
“Anytime,” I said.
“Oh God, I can’t wait to see you there,” he said, still brimming over with happiness.
“I can’t either.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Anna
So, a few days later, I found myself getting ready to go to Hunter’s championship. I put on a little black dress that I had just bought a few days previously, and which I thought Hunter would probably like. I brushed my hair and clipped half of it back with a barrette, applied some mascara, and I was pretty much ready to go. A few minutes later, Betsy, my perpetual lifesaver, arrived to give me a ride. Luckily this match was in L.A., so we didn’t have too far to go.
“Wow,” Betsy said, “you’re looking hot.”
“You think?” I asked. “I hope so. I haven’t seen Hunter for a while, so I was hoping to wow him a little.”
“Girl, you have got it going on,” Betsy said, pulling out into the street and heading toward the arena.
When I got inside, I found my seat next to Jean and Bonnie, Hunter’s new agent.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, shaking my hand. “We’re glad you’re here. Hoping it’ll make Hunter win so we can get him the money he really deserves this time around. He’s one hell of a fighter.”
“You think so?” I asked.
“One of the best,” she told me. “I mean, look at this crowd.” She gestured around us. “They’re going nuts. Partly for that Jake character, but mostly for him.”
“Wow,” I said. “So what do you think his chances are of winning?”
“I think they’re pretty high,” she told me. “This Jake fellow is a good fighter, but he’s fairly young and inexperienced compared to Hunter.”
“True,” Jean put in. “He probably wouldn’t have won last year if Hunter hadn’t gotten hurt.”
“Same with this year,” Bonnie said. “That ankle is the only thing we have to worry about. It should be OK, though. He’s been doing great.”
“Oh boy,” I said, “I really hope it’s OK.”
I settled nervously back into my seat, hoping that the fight would go well. I liked Jake well enough, but I wanted Hunter to win so badly that a knot had started to develop in my stomach.
“Ladies and gentleman!” called the announcer, spurring an ecstatic cheer from the crowd. “Tonight is the night you’ve all been waiting for!”
The lights started flashing and the crowd went wild. I don’t think I was even smiling at that point, I was so anxious.
“So without further ado, please welcome tonight’s challenger, in the red corner, two-time finalist Hunter, the Skuuuuull Crusher, Fiiiinnnnn!”
Hunter’s music started and he came jogging into the arena, and the audience started cheering like crazy. I stood up and cheered for him myself, some of my nervousness dissipating as I got swept along in the excitement of the evening. When Hunter got to his corner, he looked up at the audience and found me right away. He smiled a soft smile, and waved at me. I put my hand to my heart, so happy to see his face even though it was far away, and waved back.
“Kick his ass,” I mouthed. I don’t know if he understood what I said, but he se
emed to at least understand that I was sending him words of encouragement.
“And now,” the announcer boomed, “in the blue corner, please welcome the reigning heavyweight champion, Jake, Mad Cat, Gooooormaaaan!”
Jake ran in and hopped up to his corner amidst the frenzied cries of the spectators. It wasn’t long before the bell rang, and the fight began. The whole time, I sat at the edge of my seat, wringing my hands in anticipation. I was worried more than anything about Hunter’s ankle, hoping that it would hold up through the fight. It would be terrible if he got hurt again, after all he had been through.
And for the first round, it did hold up. It was a good first round, with lots of kicks and punches, and surprisingly without them ending up down on the canvas. They both got in a lot of hits, but neither of them was clearly winning by the time the bell rang, and the first round was over.
Hunter slapped Jake on the back in a friendly way before heading back to his corner. I didn’t think that I would ever get over my amazement of the fact that they could stand there and punch each other in the face, over and over, and still be friends. Not just friends, but best friends. And it was not as if they were holding back, either. It was a pretty tough fight, with both of them really giving their all.
In the second round, things started to get ugly. It started out well enough, but then Jake landed a low kick to Hunter’s left leg, and I saw Hunter wince in pain as he went quickly down to the canvas. I gasped, and stood up in shock. Jake must have gotten him somewhere near his injury, and Hunter did not look good.
He kept fighting, though. Jake was on top of him, and at least for the moment seemed to be dominating the situation. I sat back down, and Jean reached over to take my hand. We both sat there, frozen in place as we watched Hunter struggle to get a leg up. By the end of the second round, Jake hadn’t yet won outright, but he definitely seemed to be in the lead. Hunter would really have to come out swinging if he wanted to take home the belt tonight.
And come out swinging he did. It was amazing, and I’d never seen anything like it. Granted, I was no cage fighting expert, but I’d watched a lot of matches. If a match goes to the third round, both fighters are usually pretty tired and things start to slow down a bit, no matter how much they want to win or how determined they are. And Hunter had just suffered a pretty damaging blow when Jake knocked him down, so he should have been hurting worse than usual.
But when the bell rang for the third round to start, he burst from his corner like a lion from his cage. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he had only just begun the fight, not just had a really difficult and painful second round. Jake fought back hard too, but it was no use. Hunter was on fire. I didn’t know what could have possibly gotten into him, but when that third round started I knew it was all over. He was going to win. He was going to be the CFC Heavyweight Champion, after one hell of a fight. I was a little afraid of getting my hopes up before the fight was officially over, but I was already so incredibly happy for Hunter.
Pretty soon, my prediction came true. Hunter knocked Jake down with a swift right hook, and Jake didn’t look like he was going to be able to get up. On the one hand, I felt a little bad for Jake. He was a really good guy, and I was sure he was hurting down there. But he was young, and he’d already won the championship once. Now it was Hunter’s turn.
When the announcer proclaimed Hunter the winner, I stood up with the rest of the crowd and cheered my heart out for Hunter. He had overcome so much to win the title, from childhood poverty to a broken ankle, and an accident just weeks before the fight. I couldn’t believe he pulled it off, but at the same time I wasn’t really that surprised. He was an amazing human being, and I didn’t think there was anything he couldn’t do.
Soon I saw him leave the ring and start making his way through the crowd toward me. He was trying to be kind to all the fans that were there for him, asking for autographs or to shake his hand. He stopped to shake hands and say thank you, but did his best to keep moving in my direction. I felt the butterflies in my stomach start going crazy as he got closer. It had been weeks since I’d seen him, and now that the moment for us to meet again was almost at hand I couldn’t contain my excitement. If he couldn’t get through the crowd to me, then I would have to go to him.
I started to push my way through the throngs of people, trying my best to be polite and not elbow anyone in the face if I didn’t have to.
“Whoops, sorry,” I kept saying. “Excuse me, sorry.”
I probably got a dirty look or two, but I didn’t care. All I was thinking about was how badly I wanted to be in Hunter’s arms, and to never leave them again.
When I got closer to him, the room seemed to go quiet, though that was probably just my imagination. Somehow everyone must have sensed that there was something important about to happen. Maybe it was the way we were looking at each other, I don’t know, but soon, the crowd parted so that there was nothing between us except a few feet of space. We both stopped and looked across at each other. Hunter broke into a huge grin and waved me over to him with his hand. Needing no more encouragement than that, I broke into a run, jumping into his arms.
“Congratulations,” I told him as he squeezed me tight, and my whole body tingled with happiness. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks, baby,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Hunter
And it was true; I really couldn’t have done it without her. After Jake got me in the ankle and I went down in the second round, I thought I was pretty much cooked. But then, during the break when I was getting iced down, I looked up to the crowd and fixed my eyes on Anna. Even from far away, I could see that her face was full of love and concern for me. I thought about everything she had been through, so much hardship and pain, and how she still managed to be the kindest, sweetest, most selfless person I knew. That took such unbelievable guts and strength on her part that I couldn’t help but be inspired. Anna was the wonderful, generous person she was, because she was a fighter. And compared with the pain she had to fight against, this fight was nothing. All I had to do was summon a mere fraction of her strength, for a few minutes only, and I could do it. So when the bell rang for the third round, I was more than ready. And I won the title, injury and all.
After the fight, I declined invitations to all the after parties and other nonsense that I wouldn’t have missed for the world just a couple of years before. After not seeing Anna for those weeks, which seemed more like years, all I wanted was to be alone with her. We walked out to the parking lot together, both eager to get back to my place.
But before we got the chance, I heard that old, familiar and not at all pleasant voice behind me.
“You think you can have it all, don’t you, you smug son-of-a-bitch,” I heard him say. Before I had time to turn around and confront him, I felt a blow to the back of my head, and fell down on the ground.
“Nate, stop it!” Anna yelled.
“You never would have won if you hadn’t gotten me kicked out of the league,” Nathaniel said, as he started to kick me in the ribs, legs, face, anywhere he could. I struggled to grab onto him and pull him down, but he had caught me by surprise.
“Now, I’m going to make sure you never fight again,” he said, kicking me in the skull as hard as he could. My head was ringing with pain as he kicked me again and again. “I’m going to break your bones, Finn.”
I was already all bruised and battered from the fight with Jake, but I wasn’t about to let Nathaniel get the better of me. He could use dirty tactics like sneaking up behind me all he wanted. I mustered my strength and picked myself up off the pavement.
“Like hell you are,” I said, and started going after him. At this point, a crowd had gathered in the parking lot. Fans were surrounding us, with their damned phones out filming the whole thing. I hoped someone had the presence of mind to call security.
In the meantime, Nathaniel was backtracking. I got in a few good hits to h
is jaw, and I could see that he was hurting. I could see Anna out of the corner of my eye, backed up against the car, looking terrified. I would kill him for doing this while she was there. I doubled my force, fought off my pain for the second time that night, and started teaching Nathaniel a lesson. I could see in his eyes that he was starting to get scared, and I hoped he would just run off. But that’s not what he did. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something black and metal. A gun.
I heard a gasp—and a few sharp screams—pass over the crowd as people started to back away. I put my hands up, not sure if Nathaniel had really gone so crazy that he would commit murder in front of hundreds of witnesses, right here in the parking lot.
“Look,” I said, “just calm down, man. Don’t do anything you’re going to regret.”
“You’ve already ruined my life,” he said, taking off the safety. “I don’t have anything to regret.”
He was about to pull the trigger, when out of nowhere a long, graceful leg came flying into view, kicking the gun out of his hands and onto the ground. I shook my head in disbelief at the sight of Anna, in her little black dress, standing there looking terrified yet determined. Shocked as I was, I couldn’t waste any more time. I tackled Nathaniel to the ground just as security came running from the arena. They had a hard time putting the handcuffs on him, as he was kicking and screaming with all his might. But pretty soon, they had him secured, and the crowd started to disperse. When it was clear we were out of danger, Anna came running up to me.
“Oh my God, are you OK?” she asked, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Yes,” I said. “Once again, thanks to you.”
I took her in my arms and pulled her in tight.
“You are the most ridiculously brave person I know,” I told her.
“I had to do it,” she said. “I wasn’t even thinking.”
“You’re amazing, Anna,” I said. “And I’m pretty sure that creep won’t bother us anymore. Let’s get the hell out of here, all right?”
