False Illusions (False #1)

by A. Cramton

  Sinking to the floor I hold my head in my hands.

  Madison St. Cruix was the best I never had.

  The next day is worse. I wake up with a pounding headache and an empty bottle of whiskey next me on the floor. How the fuck? I can’t even think about how I ended up here. My body is aching. Fuck, more like my hands are killing me.

  I pull myself off the floor and that’s when I see it. The damage I caused. The glass coffee table is shattered in pieces. The couches are turned over. Fuck there’s glass everywhere.

  My hands. Oh shit my fucking hands are covered in cuts and blood. What did I do?

  “El, man.”

  I look up to see Chris standing by the entry way. The look on his face tells me I fucked up. I see the pity in his eyes and I can’t stand it. Looking away I shake my head. Is this what love does? It breaks your soul? It ruins the dreams you created?

  My hands. Did I break them? Fuck.

  “Chris. My hands,” I barely choke out. I’m going to lose it. The tears threaten to spill.

  Chris is at my side in a second. “Let’s get you to the hospital, El. I’ll have the housekeeper clean this all up. Okay?” He talks to me like I’m a broken child.

  Only thing I can think about is my dream that could all be ruined because I played with fire knowing it would all crash and burn.

  The whole hospital visit is a big blur. I remember being seen by a doctor but that’s it. Am I broken? Can I still fight?

  Javi is back. He doesn’t say much to me as he cleans my hands and wraps them in clean bandages. Chris hands me pain pills that I got a prescription for and I take them without a fight. I normally don’t take medication.

  One thing I do notice is that the bed sheets are new. I don’t smell her anymore and it kills me. Chris has taken my phone so that no one can bother me.

  These pills make me feel funny, but the pain is gone. Not the pain in my heart. No that’s still there reminding me that Madison caused it.

  She never said I love you back.

  It isn’t until a day later that Javi and Chris are fed up with my pity party for one. Cold water splashes my face causing me to jump out of bed.

  “What the fuck!” I shout at them. They are standing a few feet from my bed.

  “Time to train, El. You have a fight in less than a month. We let you mope for a day, now it’s time to be gangsta.” Javi tosses the bucket on the floor. “Get dressed.”

  He’s right. This wasn’t me to mope around over a girl. I had way over my five minutes to be emotional. Now I have to go out and be gangsta.

  I have a Champ to beat.

  The Lonely- Christina Perri

  It’s been a week since I walked out on Yoel. A week since I heard his voice. He hasn’t picked up one of my calls or responded to any of my texts. He didn’t even say anything when I sent him a copy of my first article. Nothing. Dead silence.

  The days have dragged, and there were hours where I would just stare at my charm bracelet or the picture of us that made a home on my nightstand.

  Chelsea told me she heard Yoel messed his hands up, but was still training. Poor Chelsea, she was constantly in the middle of our problems.

  The fight was in a couple of weeks and I have been debating about showing up, but I know he doesn’t want to see me. If he did we would be talking, right?

  I inspect the phone in my hands. The bottle of wine I just consumed is giving me a liquid push.

  Scrolling to his name I push call.

  It rings and rings.

  “Madison,” It’s Chris. My heart sinks.

  “Chris.”

  “You have to stop calling him. Look, He needs to be focused and it’s not helping that you’re fucking with his head,” he hisses in a harsh whisper.

  I’m taken aback. “Why is he ignoring me?” I pout. Damn wine.

  “You know why.” And I do know why. I walked out on him.

  “How’s his hands?” I ask softly. “Chelsea told me.”

  He coughs out a laugh. “He got drunk when he got back from New York and tore up his hotel room. “ He huffs out a breath. “Just leave him alone.”

  Tears start to spill out my eyes as I shake my head. “But I love him, Chris.”

  “Well you sure showed him that by walking out.,” he snaps. “Just stop. If he wants to talk to you after the fight then okay, but don’t ruin this for him. He’s been working a long, hard time to get here. He needs to be focused. You were engaged to the Champ. Stop acting like you don’t know how this shit works!”

  His words feel like a slap to the face as the line goes dead. He hung up on me.

  Talk to me after the fight? I wanted to be there for the fight. I want to sit in his corner and I don’t care that the press are going to tear me a new asshole for being on his side.

  Yoel has gone out of his way to get to me, now it’s my turn. I just hope he doesn’t wait a month to hear me out.

  Monday morning couldn’t have come fast enough. I walk into the office on a mission. Making a straight line to my desk neighbor. I have a plan and it includes him.

  Carter is sipping a cup of coffee when I plant my butt on the edge of his desk and bat my eyes.

  His green eyes narrow behind his glasses. “No.” he looks back to his computer.

  I huff. “But you don’t even know what I was going to ask.” I pout.

  “I don’t want your boyfriend to kill me. I like the way my face is, thank you very much.” He dismisses me.

  I don’t move. “I need you let me be your plus one to the press box at the fight.”

  This gets his attention. He swirls his chair in my direction. “Wait. What?” He frowns. “Are you telling me he didn’t give his girlfriend seats?”

  I wince. “I may or may not have messed up a little bit and he won’t talk to me,” I rush out.

  Carter smirks leaning back in his seat crossing his arms. “And what do I get out of this.”

  This was the hard part for me. “I can give you some dirt on Marcus.” I offer. “Well I can give you answers that you need.”

  He doesn’t look convinced, “And how would you know this information.”

  Groaning I face-palm myself. “I’m his ex fiancé,” I mumble.

  “What?” He holds his ear. “I didn’t hear you.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m Marcus Wellington’s ex-fiancé !” I snap at him. “Now can you help me or not.”

  His eyes go wide. “Holy shit.” When I lift an eyebrow he nods. “Sure. You can be my plus one.”

  With a huge smile I thank him and go to my desk. I need a plane ticket and prayer. The thought of using my parents’ crossed my mind, but I had a plan. I couldn’t let him see me until after the fight. I would give Chris that, but I refuse to let him go back to Atlanta without hearing me out.

  The next week and half are the longest of my life. At night I have to force myself not to call Yoel, and during the day I daydream at my desk when I’m not feeding Carter information on Marcus and his cheating ways. I eventually spilled my guts to him and Nick one night when we had drinks after work.

  They now knew I was a ‘Ring hoe’ which they tried to tell me I wasn’t. I was, and they couldn’t tell me any different. Emma felt the need to give me a hug every hour. She was a lightweight, but she was sweetheart.

  Now here Carter and I were at the airport, and now my plan wasn’t sounding like a good idea. I wrote and deleted and rewrote my notes over and over.

  The more the security line moved, the more I felt the need to find a restroom and throw up the breakfast I forced down this morning. The fight isn’t until tomorrow night, but Carter suggested we fly out tonight to give me time to get my nerves together. I appreciated him at this moment.

  “You’ll be okay,” he tells me as we settle in our seats. “It will all work out. You can tell he’s crazy about you.”

  I look out the window. “I hope you’re right.”

  He smirks. “I know I’m right, now relax.” He pushed his headphon
es in his ears.

  I take a deep breath. I can do this. Carter is right, Yoel told me he loves me. You can’t switch emotions like that off like a light switch. For my sake I hope that wasn’t possible.

  Energy- Drake

  This was it. Every fight I won, every bruise, every black eye came down to this moment. The last two weeks have been the realest for me. I trained harder than ever. I went to sleep and woke up swinging.

  I have been on edge all day for this moment. This was my dream. My hard work put to the test. My family was watching, my loyal fans were out there screaming my name. My fucking name.

  My now healed hands are wrapped and ready to be put in my gloves. My black and gold shorts are tied, my robe covers my naked torso.

  The locker room is quiet except for the chatter between Chris and Javi. Rico is even here sitting in the corner. Javi talked me into letting him be here, but I was still pissed with him.

  My mind briefly moves to Madison and how I wanted her to be here, but I doubt she would be since I haven’t answered any of her calls or texts. It’s been a Madison free two weeks. No one brought her up and I wasn’t left with my phone at night. What happened the day I came back from New York was a wake up call.

  It’s time to be gangsta.

  I hop off the table and jog in place to get warmed up. Marcus was the champ, for now.

  Chris walks up to me with my gloves in his hand. “You ready for this shit, El?”

  “I was born ready.” I smirk. “This is my time.”

  “Hell yeah, it is.”

  Chris laces up my gloves as Javi massages my shoulders and forearms. The tension doesn’t leave. I’m about to fight for the fucking title. Shit just got real, and it was not time to rethink shit now.

  “Let’s go.”

  The walk to the ring was a long awaited walk. The walk of my life. The walk of my dreams. Chris on my right, Javi on my left and Rico behind me. Only thing missing was Madison, but I couldn’t think about her. Thinking about her will get me knocked out.

  I hear the announcer announce me. “Twelve time undefeated, weighed in at two-thirty is Yoel ‘El’ Gonzalezzzzzzzz.” The crowd screams as Mobb Deep’s Shook Ones starts playing. This song alone gets me hyped and I start two stepping to the ring, my head bobbing to the lyrics. Marcus is already in the ring glaring at me as I duck in the ring.

  The best part is about to come out. Locking my eyes with Marcus I yell out.

  “Ain’t no such thing of half crooks.”

  His frown shows me the phrase is lost on him and that makes me smirk. The crowd goes wild with that. They know what’s up.

  Chris takes my robe off and squirts water in my mouth before I meet Marcus in the middle of the ring.

  The referee spouts out the rules that I have heard too many times. My eyes don’t leave Marcus. I know how he fights and he won’t catch me slipping.

  He grins as we touch gloves. “You ready to get your ass beat, Chump?”

  “Like I beat your girls pussy last night?” I cock an eyebrow. “I was born ready, bitch.”

  Fuck him.

  The bell dings and Marcus is already trying to run circles around me.

  This was his ‘tatic’, but it wasn’t going to work.

  “Stop running like a bitch,” I shout at him. Marcus smirks and goes in to throw a jab, but I duck and land a punch on his right cheek making him stumble.

  He recovers quickly taking his stance and throwing fake shots at me. Come on pretty boy I’ve watched too many tapes to be fooled.

  “Is that why your girl left you, because you box like a bitch?” I taunt. His face turns red. Yeah get mad.

  As much as I wanted to throw Madison in his face I don’t. She’s more than a taunt to me.

  Marcus comes in swinging but I dodge them by side stepping him and throwing a quick hit combo to his face. Blood gushes from his nose and the bell dings making us go back to our respective corners.

  “El, what the fuck are you saying to him?” Chris squirts water in my mouth and as Javi wipes my face with a towel.

  I shrug. “Just fucking with him.”

  “Keep it up, he’s getting tired. Guess that’s what happens when you get cocky and stay at the club all night,” Rico chimes in.

  I move my head side to side getting the cricks out before hopping back up as Marcus makes his way back. The bleeding from his nose has stopped, but there was a new look in his eyes.

  He didn’t like that I was handing his ass to him. Too bad he’s getting ready to lose that belt.

  We touch gloves again before the bell goes off starting the second round.

  This time Marcus isn’t trying to run circles, this time he’s trying to knock me out.

  I duck one hit to get a punch to the right side of my head. Jumping back I regain my stance. He wants to end it this round? Game on.

  I duck and side step the next three punches he throws at me. I’m usually known for being a right hand fighter but I’ve been working on my left hand lately.

  Rule one: Never sleep on your opponent.

  Marcus swings wide to his right, I duck as I switch my footwork bringing my right foot forward and bring my left arm into a uppercut hitting him right on his chin.

  Marcus falls. He falls hard. The Ref runs up and starts counting down. I hold my breath until he yells.

  “Out!”

  The crowd is going crazy. Of course there are some boos, but I don’t give a fuck. I just knocked out Marcus.

  Holy shit. I’m the new champ.

  My team runs up to me shouting and waving their hands around.

  “El, you fucking did it!” Chris is all smiles.

  Javi is shaking his head, but grinning. “Really. You had to knock him out on the second round?”

  I mock gasp. “He was trying to knock me out. It was survival, bro.” I laugh as the announcer walks up with the belt. That sexy ass gold belt.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, win by a knock out. Your new Heavyweight Champion is Yoel ‘El’ Gonzalezzzzzzz.” He raised my right arm as Javi fastened the belt around my waist. This is real life. Except the person I wanted to share it with isn’t here. My eyes swept the front rows of seats and I don’t see her. I see her parents standing up clapping. Her mom throws a wink my way. Odd. Chelsea is next to them. When I give her a questioning look she just frowns and shrugs. She’s not here.

  Chris leads me out of the ring. “Time to change and face the press, Champ.”

  Champ, that sounds really fucking good.

  I’m the motherfucking Champ.

  After a quick shower and changing I make my way down the hall to where the press was. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to reporters. My high was coming to an end, and the right side of my face started thumping. I’m sure I had a heartbeat growing there. Fucker got a good hit on me.

  Chris was walking beside me with Javi and Rico.

  “Can’t we just skip this. I honestly don’t feel like doing this.”

  Chris laughs and slaps by back. “You know you have to do it. Besides, you’re going to want to be here. “

  Well that was vague as hell.

  I take a seat in the middle of the long table with my team flanking me. Chris was right next to me.

  I answer almost every question thrown at me. There wasn’t much to say. I won by a knock out. They wanted to know my training secrets. Well if I gave them that they wouldn’t be secrets, now would they.

  Javi holds his hand up after I shoot him a look. I was done with this shit. “One more question,” he says.

  I’m glancing at my phone really quick when I hear Chris.

  “Last question. You with the blonde hair, third row.”

  There isn’t any text or call from Madison and I frown. I know I’ve been ignoring her but I was at least hoping for a good luck text, maybe congratulations on my win.

  “I have a question.”

  My head snaps up and right in front of me is the girl of my dreams. Her blonde hair is in loose curls, her fac
e fresh of makeup.

  I try to hide my smile. “What’s your question, baby doll.”

  Mirror- Justin Timberlake

  It takes me a second to process what he just said. He called me baby doll. That’s a good sign, right? I can’t take my eyes off of him. Even though the right side of his face is swelling up, he still looks sexy. His hair's a mess, and his hard chest is covered by a grey hoodie.

  Yoel arches an eyebrow and Carter nudges me. Oh right. Questions.

  I go to read my note card.

  “Do you do it for the money, or the glory?” Generic I know, but I’m nervous.

  His eyes narrow in thought. “Neither. I do if for the respect. The money is just a bonus.”

  I nod understanding then tilt my head. “Is there someone special in your life?”

  Chris smiles and nudges Yoel who hasn’t taken his eyes off me. His tongue sweeps over his bottom lip. The moments tick by and my heart begins to drop.

  “There is someone,” he says slowly. “Her name is Madison.”

  Yeah, my heart is swelling in my chest right now and I can’t hide the smile on my face.

  Curious eyes flicker between Yoel and me, but my eyes never leave him. His never leave mine until a chair screeching back breaks our contact.

  “Aren’t you Madison St. Cruix?” a report shouts. “How did you go from Marcus to the new champ?”

  This is what I knew would happen. They are about to eat me alive. Soon they are all shouting questions my way. Carter is quick on his feet and pushing me out through the reporters. I don’t get a chance to look back at Yoel who I hear yelling.

  Carter doesn’t stop pushing me out until we are outside and I have a chance to breathe.

  “Out of all the questions we worked on you pick that one?” He shakes his head and hails a cab.

  “That question told me everything I needed to know,” I try to explain as he pulls me into the back seat with him. “He still loves me, Carter.”

  “Of course he does. Everyone in that room could see it. He said your name,” he tells me. “By the way, thanks for telling me you were the Madison St. Cruix. I knew you looked familiar. “