“Well yeah I can, but why do I need to?”
“There’s just some people at the fights that aren’t the best people. I want to make sure no one gives you any grief.”
“I’ve never had problems before, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Chyna, you weren’t with one of the fighters either. Now you are, and some of them won’t be as friendly, especially since it’s me your with.”
“When you say I’m with you, what exactly do you mean?”
His eyebrows furrow and he gazes at me for a second before finally answering, “Kiki…You’re my girl. You know that right?”
“Well, I know we have this thing, and that I’m pretty crazy about you, and I haven’t had some good experiences and well I wasn’t completely sure…” Jace cuts off my rambling by bending in and laying another blazing kiss on my lips. I swear to Christ this man will have me walking around clueless if he keeps kissing me like this.
Once my heart is beating so fast it feels as if it may fly out of my chest, he pulls away, whispering against my mouth, “You’re my girl, Kiki.”
I don’t say anything, effectively speechless at his words…at his actions.
I nod, swallowing. My breaths are labored, wanting more of him.
“Okay, I’ll walk you to your door, but then I need to go soak my body in some Epsom salt.”
“Okay.” Unbuckling, I open my door. He meets me as usual and holds my hand until we get to my apartment door. “So, will I see you tomorrow?”
“Yes, after my fight. I can come over? There will be a party if you’d want to go?”
“Or you could just hang out here and skip the party?”
“All right, sounds good to me. Order us some pizza.”
“Okay, what do you like?”
He tips my chin up and kisses my lips a few times. Pulling back, his hand drops.
“I’ll like anything that you like.” He nudges my nose softly with his. “See you tomorrow, my Kiki.”
With that he starts walking towards his Jeep, so I call out loudly, “Good luck! Beat his ass, Jace!”
“I’ll do my best. Now lock your door!” he yells back, climbing into his vehicle.
I lean against my front door after locking the top lock, replaying his words in my head over and over, “You’re my girl, Kiki.”
I haven’t been anyone’s girl in a really long time. It feels new, exciting, and…it actually feels good.
Fight Night
I listened to Jace about riding with Aria and Gavin. I don’t want him to have to worry before his fight. He only has one left after tonight, and, if he wins, then he gets to go to Vegas. I shouldn’t think ‘if,’ but instead think of ‘when he wins these fights.’ Stay positive and he will do just fine. He is a very talented fighter.
We make it to the outdoor ticket window and Gavin gives them his name. The pudgy Hispanic guy pulls out an envelope and hands Gavin three green VIP wristbands. We each put our band on and head through the security checks to our preferred seats. There’s nothing really special about the VIP section; it’s just two rows in front of general admission. But being even inches closer to seeing Jace, is definitely worth the extra twenty bucks to me.
I lean forward so I can get Gavin’s attention. He’s sitting on the other side of Aria. “Hey, did Jace pay for our tickets?”
He shakes his head. “No, on fight nights the fighters get up to five free VIP tickets.”
“Oh, cool.”
The lights dim more and the overhead monitors play, showcasing the fighters for the night. The interviews always let me pick out which fighters I think will be assholes. I don’t know why I look for the cocky ones, but I always do.
Raven comes on the screen, bragging about how he will nail the King down tonight.
I hear Gavin growling, “Fucking prick,” as he watches the monitors.
“Has he fought Raven yet?” I lean closer to Aria so our conversation stays private.
“Oh yes, and Raven said the same shit about Gav, too, when it was his fight.”
“How do you not strangle them?”
“Trust me, I want to, but it’s best to just smile and look pretty next to the guys. Let them kick their butts in the cage, and then you come out on top for not losing your shit. It drives the losers even crazier and makes our guys look better.
“Hmm, pretty smart. I’ll try not to let it appear like they get to me, but deep down I just want to throat punch that cocky bastard.” She nods, rolling her eyes. At least she gets it and I have someone to talk about it with.
The featherweights come out and like always, I’m amazed that such little dudes have so much energy and drive in them for their fight. They slam into each other, one carrying the other around the cage for most of the time, attempting to take him to the ground, but it never works. The fight eventually goes to a vote, and the one Aria and Gavin were cheering for loses.
“That sucks.” I state the obvious and they both agree.
The middleweights come out all hyped up like they’re on speed or something. I always enjoy watching them; some of these fights turn out the best. They’re always really closely matched up and act like they’re on a death mission of some sort.
They go for a full round trading hits and kicks. The second round starts and I keep expecting someone to get knocked out. Instead, one of the fighters gets the other to the ground and locks him up in a Kimura hold. The guy taps out and we all cheer for the finished fight.
My stomach twirls crazily and grumbles. I’m so excited for Jace’s turn.
“Don’t puke,” Aria teases.
“I won’t. I’ll leave that for you.” I wink at her and turn my attention back, waiting to see him.
After a few minutes of what feels like the longest wait on earth, the cords of Avenged Sevenfold’s ‘Hail to the King’ rings through the speakers, and I know my man is coming.
Sure enough, as soon as the music hits, he walks out, shirtless. All of his perfectly cut muscles are on full display and his expression looks as if he’s ready to bring death to someone’s door. They check over his taped-up wraps and sweep over his body quickly. Everyone’s cheering around me, as the music blares ‘Hail to the King.’ We all know this song fits him perfectly. Gavin is good himself, but Jace is taking this sport by storm.
The announcers voice my very thoughts, introducing Jace as the much sought after fighter. They share that Jace has already been offered several contracts, but that he’s holding out to hit Vegas before he will sign with anyone.
He climbs the few steps leading into the cage. He doesn’t still, but stalks the cage, stretching his muscles. Each little stretch gives me a perfect glimpse at another shredded piece of him.
‘Bodies’ by Drowning Pool starts to play as Raven enters the small arena-like area in the event center. I have to give him props for his song choice, but I still think he’s a jerk for talking crap on the monitor.
After they check him over he makes his way over to the opposite side of the cage.
I swear with each time Jace paces, it looks like his body becomes bigger and meaner. This is the heavyweight division after all. These men are not small by any means.
They announce the rules again, calling for a clean fight, and Jace and Raven tap gloves. Instead of backing away, Raven jumps forward, sucker-punching Jace in the gut.
I gasp, jumping out of my seat and scream, “Nooooo!”
I don’t normally scream so loud and with the arena vibrating full of people, but somehow Jace hears me, a look of astonishment on his face. He’s not paying attention to Raven and gets hit in the kidneys.
All I can do is scream again and jump up and down. I can’t believe this is happening. He needs to stop looking at me. He blinks, staring at me and I do the only thing I can think of. I point at Raven and yell as loud as I can, “Get him!”
It’s like a switch clicks and Raven drives his fist into Jace two more times. Jace’s mouth gapes as if the air was knocked out of him. He starts to be
nd more at the waist like he’s going to hit the floor. Aria screams beside me, and Gavin is on his feet, clearly not believing what he’s seeing either.
Suddenly Jace rises up, so fast you don’t see his fist until it connects with Ravens temple.
Raven’s body sways for a second and then hits the floor like dead weight.
The auditorium quiets for a split second then everyone starts yelling excitedly, that Raven was knocked the fuck out. The fight didn’t even last minutes; it was over damn near as soon as it started. Jace just had to decide when he was ready to call it.
I never should have doubted him. I turn to Aria, hugging her happily. “That was fucking awesome!” I squeeze her tightly.
Gavin stands there, quiet, looking a little uneasy.
“Gavin, he did great!”
He turns to me, looking irritated. “Yep, great Chyna.”
I don’t know what his problem is, but instead of worrying about it, I turn back to watch them congratulate Jace. My gaze floats over the crowd and is met by the same icy blue eyes as my Jace, but this man isn’t Jace. He’s not built like Jace; he’s skinnier, with longer dark hair. He looks shifty, like maybe he does drugs or sells them. He just gives me the creeps inside.
“Come on, let’s go home so you can see your man when he’s done,” Aria calls, breaking the trance I was in looking at the weirdo.
“Okay, sounds good.”
I glance back to where the man was to get another look as we exit our seats, but he’s no longer there. I’ll bring it up to Jace, even if it’s nothing.
Gavin and Aria drop me off at my apartment and I leave right away to go pick up some pizzas for when Jace gets here. I even splurge and get breadsticks. I’ll be paying for it this week in the gym with all of this bread, but it’ll be worth it.
I don’t have any idea how long it’ll take Jace to get here, so I change into some yoga shorts and a tank top. It’s not the sexiest outfit, but he can see my curves and hopefully that will be enough to entice him. I don’t want to eat without him, so I’ll just relax on the couch until he gets here.
JACE
I shower and get dressed as quickly as possible after my fight. It’s not too quickly since my stomach hurts like a motherfucker. I can’t believe that asshat got so many hits in. It was that scream that got my attention. I’m always zoned out in my fights, but she was able to break through.
Once I heard Chyna, I had to look. With my past I just had to glance over to make sure she was okay. I remember the screams of my last girlfriend as she got her ass beat. I wish I had remorse, but after sleeping with my brother behind my back for so long, I got to the point of not giving a shit anymore.
“Hey, man.” My trainer comes in. “I have a few Vicodin in my bag but you’d have to take them today and tomorrow so it doesn’t affect your training.”
“Thanks, but I’ll just chew some Tylenol and be okay.”
“You sure? It’s no problem.”
“I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll leave you alone right now, but we have shit to work on.”
“I’m aware. Thanks for being here.”
“I’m always in your corner, Jace. I’m here if you need me.” I fist bump him and he leaves.
The door closes and I bend over and grab my gear bag, placing the strap on my shoulder. I turn, ready to leave and am completely caught off guard by my brother standing there in my dressing room. He looks the same as ever, clad in grungy looking jeans and a wrinkled shirt.
“The fuck are you doing here?”
“Really? That’s how you greet me after not seein’ me for so long, bro?” He shakes his head. “Pretty fucked up. You haven’t even been back to check in with Ma.”
“What do you want?”
“You don’t even wanna know how the crew is? We never abandoned you, Jace. You left us, remember?”
“You were sleeping with my girlfriend and making money off of my fights. I was going to go to jail with the shit y’all had me doing.”
“Nah, I never would have let you go to jail. Stop actin’ like a little pussy.”
“I’ll ask one more time. What. Do. You. Want?”
“And then what? You gonna try to fight me, too? You wanna fight your big brother now, Mr. Up-And-Coming fighter?” He mocks and I take a deep breath. He’s always done this. He’s been like this for as long as I can remember, constantly trying to pick fights with me if I didn’t do his bidding for him.
“Are you alone or did you bring your boys?” I grit, pissed off. I wouldn’t be surprised if he brought a bunch of those losers with him in case I didn’t give him whatever he’s after.
“I came alone. Ma’s been bitchin’ you haven’t come around.”
“That’s why you’re here?”
“I need a place to crash tonight. I was hoping you’d put me up. That’s not too much to ask my little brother, is it?”
“You can stay at my place, but I won’t be there. I don’t have anything there you’ll like to eat either.”
He shrugs, clapping me on the back. “It’s cool, we can stop by a gas station, and I’ll get some chips or some shit.”
“You going to follow me home?”
“I need to ride with you; I don’t have a vehicle here.”
“Of course not,” I mutter under my breath.
At least there isn’t anything at my apartment for him to jack. I’ll take my watch and social security card with me; otherwise, he won’t find any kind of money or drugs at my place. I learned a long time ago to keep anything like that in the bank so it can’t be stolen.
We stop at a convenience store, and I have to actually bite my tongue to keep from losing my shit when he asks me for money to get snacks. He must have snuck into the fights somehow in order to just show up like that and not have to buy a ticket.
While I’m waiting in the Jeep for him to get his food, my phone buzzes. I quickly pull it out of my gym shorts, thinking it could be Chyna.
Gavin’s name flashes across the screen, and I answer it immediately.
“Hey.”
“Jace, I saw your brother tonight at the fight.”
“Yeah, he found me. He’s here with me now at the store.”
“Be careful.”
“I will. Don’t worry, I got this.”
“No, Jace. He saw what happened tonight. He watched you get the shit kicked out of you while Chyna scream bloody murder.”
“Fuck!” I interrupt.
“I’m telling you, be careful. If he’s really as dangerous as you’ve told me about, bro, just watch out. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something happened to you or Chyna.”
“Got it, Gav. Thanks for calling. Is she home?”
“Yep, I dropped her off not too long ago. I’m with Aria now at the apartment.”
“All right, talk to you later, bro,” I say quickly and hang up as my brother climbs back into the Jeep with a bag full of junk food.
He grins at me, his teeth graying from years of drug use. He pulls a pack of smokes out of the bag and starts to open them.
“You aren’t smoking in here.”
“What? Since when did you become a little bitch about shit?”
“Look. This is my vehicle, you don’t like it, you can fucking walk.”
“Calm down, man,” he chuckles, putting his hand up. “I get it. You got this new life goin’ and shit.” He tucks a cigarette behind his ear and stuffs the pack in his pocket.
After a few minutes of silent driving, while I stew about what to do with him, we pull up to my apartment.
“You didn’t have anything with you?”
I look him over, taking in his dirty clothes. I know what that’s like; I used to wear the same grungy stuff. Now, it would never even cross my mind to wear something like that. It’s all about training gear and comfort. I want my clothes to compliment my body that I work so hard to get to look like this.
“No, my buddy dropped me off at the fight place.”
“Right
. All right I’ll show you around and get you some clean shorts.”
“You’re a good brother, Jace. I haven’t told you in a while.”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”
We unload and I grab what I need quickly, wanting to get to Chyna as fast as possible. I show him around since he hasn’t seen my new apartment. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s nicer than anything he’s used to.
When I leave, he’s in a clean pair of my shorts, posted up in front of my TV. Hopefully he doesn’t steal anything. He’ll probably scour my apartment for whatever he can find, but he’ll be sorely disappointed when he finds nothing.
I feel bad for taking so long in getting to Chyna’s place. Hopefully, she’s not too angry. I would have called, but I didn’t want my brother to butt in and ask about her. I don’t want her on his radar whatsoever.
I can’t get over how he just showed up. Thank God, he was alone. I don’t ever want to see anyone from my old life. I fought my ass off to climb my way out of the ghetto, and I don’t plan on going back. He has nerve using the excuse of my ma wanting to see me. Yeah right, she couldn’t give two shits about me. All she cares about is me giving her whatever money or prescription drugs I could get my hands on. I got so sick of having a life where no one really cared for me, just about what I could do for them. Now I only do for myself.
Fuck my ribs hurt. I grab some more Tylenol out of the console, eating them dry. I need something to take the edge off from that fight. Raven thought he’d get me by sucker-punching me. He was sloppy, though. As soon as he thought I was hurt, I hit him with an uppercut to make him shake in his shoes. He dropped, just like I knew he would. I’ve been doing this for far too long to have some inexperienced new fighter come in and think he would take me that easy.
I carefully make my way out of my Jeep, attempting to take it easy on my ribs, but nothing I do will ease the pain of sore ribs. No matter how you move, it always hurts them somehow.
Taking a deep breath I grab my bag and head to Chyna’s door. Knocking quietly at first gets me nowhere, so I ring the doorbell like five times. I’m exhausted at this point and just want to lie down and relax.
Unexpected Forfeit Page 10
