Hold 2

by Jayne Blue

  “This is just the beginning.”

  Cassidy

  She was still stunned by Zeke’s public declaration and after they had tied up all the loose ends of the event, there he was. Zeke Powell was back from a several-day disappearance, during which she had fallen for Craddock, and was humiliated again.

  She guessed they both knew a little bit about that. She had packed up a crate full of stuff and was dragging it on a cart behind her when he blocked her exit.

  “Well, congratulations. You handled that 21C guy like he was in kindergarten.”

  “Thank you. I meant what I said.”

  “Why did you have to do that?” She did not want to get into it but he could not let things go.

  “I want you to know how I feel.” Zeke said.

  “I heard you got a phone call after the fight.” She changed the subject. Cassidy did not want to ruin Zeke’s day. She did not want the love drama to interfere with the fact he just changed the course of his career with one fight.

  “I did, Meyer Thompson offered me a contract.”

  “Oh my gosh!” She rushed forward and hugged her friend. He beamed and that handsome face nearly lit up the entire darkened arena.

  “I know. I’m freaking out!” He lifted her a bit off the ground and their faces were dangerously close as he put her down. Cassidy stepped back and tried to keep the awkwardness at bay, keep it light.

  “You deserve all good things Zeke. That’s wonderful.”

  “It isn’t Tough to the Top money, it’s actually on the low end of the pay scale for 21C League but it’s a start and I’ll be on the pro circuit now.”

  “You’re a star; you’ll be getting Preacher’s Son endorsements in no time.”

  “You’ve learned the biz well. Let me take you home. I owe you.”

  “What? No you don’t. I think I owe you.”

  “You got me this fight, Sawyer told me.”

  “I did, but you won it all on your own.”

  “At least let me drop you at the GWG. They’ve got a party going on.”

  “Deal. I have no idea where Sawyer is and he was supposed to be my ride.”

  When they arrived at the GWG, it was hopping. It was packed with fighters, Craddock fans, Zeke fans, and Great Wolf bikers. Cassidy was certain it was the strangest assortment of testosterone she had ever seen.

  And one beacon of estrogen, Bess. Cassidy made her way through the party, with a plethora of fist bumps and high fives and hugs to find Bess and Sawyer deep in conversation. Hmm? What was that?

  Sawyer saw her and he picked her up in a Wolf hug, as he liked to call it.

  “You’re one good fight promoter missy!” He said to her.

  “I’d say I was a good list checker offer and phone caller. You made it happen.”

  “And you got me Zeke, The Preacher’s Son is making GWG look pretty good, G-Man, Craddock and Zeke, it’s a badass trifecta!” He looked over at Bess. “Oh, ‘scuse the language, ma’am.”

  “You're excused.” Bess smiled.

  “Well that was fun," she said to Cassidy.

  “Right? Did you get Dylan home okay?”

  “No problems at all he and Henry got along perfectly. We saw him right to the door,” Bess explained.

  “Thank you. I know being there with all Craddock’s fans was important.”

  “He loves his brother.” Bess said.

  “Yes.” A tap on her shoulder interrupted their conversation. It was Zeke again.

  “Can I get you anything?” Zeke asked.

  “No, I’m good. Actually I’m about to head out, how about you Bess?”

  “Well I lost that hot biker so I’d say the evening's charms are about expired.”

  “NO,” Zeke insisted. They were both startled by his insistence. “Please let me, it’s on my way.”

  “Okay, let’s get our coat’s Bess.” They left what seemed like an agitated Zeke as they got their stuff. As the women had a second alone Bess warned Cassidy.

  “You need to let him down very clearly or get back with him. This is not a good situation if you’re stringing him along.” Bess admonished.

  “I thought I had let him down.”

  “Not hard enough.” Bess hugged her and was off.

  Zeke drove her to her apartment and turned off the car. They sat for a moment.

  “I love you Cassidy, I forgive you for being with Craddock. You were confused. Please come back to me.”

  “You forgive me? Maybe I don’t forgive you for lying in the first place.”

  “I told you why, I apologize for that. It was wrong.”

  “And Craddock was a mistake, I shouldn’t have fallen again, but I did. I love him, he does not know it and I am working on unloving him. Is that a word?”

  “You love him? I think it’s just lust.”

  “You think that low of me?”

  “No, I just, I think you should love me.” There was nothing more heartbreaking than a man professing his love and you cannot say it back. Not in the way they meant it.

  “I do love you but you know it’s different. We started out as friends and I ruined that.”

  “I don’t want you to say that, that what we had was in any way bad. It was not. We were great together.”

  “You’re right. But you deserve more and I deserve to be alone.”

  “What?”

  “Not as a punishment but I need to be me on my own, without Craddock and sadly without you.”

  “You’re making a mistake.” Zeke gripped the steering wheel and she saw his knuckles going white.

  “Probably,” she said as she leaned in, putting her head on his shoulder. She did not want it to be painful between them.

  “Please don’t.” She saw his Adam’s apple go up and down.

  “I just wanted to end it in a good way.”

  “Well it’s not. Not for me. Get out please.” His words stung but he was polite to a fault.

  “Zeke I...”

  “I can’t look at you. I have to be away from you.” Half a second after her food hit the sidewalk he slammed the door to his car and zoomed off.

  It felt awful, hurting a good man, a man she loved, but it would be worse stringing him along. Wasn’t that what she had done before? Had she been dishonest with him? She did not think so. He deserved someone who felt the way he felt and not someone who had turned to him for comfort.

  Cassidy walked up to her place and her head was pounding. The adrenaline of the day was crashing down and all she wanted to do was crawl into bed. She had no idea what came next, paying for school, forgetting about Zeke and Craddock, all of it so overwhelming. She put the covers over her head slept.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Craddock

  “This is half of what you promised.” Meyer Thompson handed him a check for $500,000.

  “You get the 500K for the purse for the final fight, no negotiation. But if you read the fine print of your Tough to the Top the contract with 21C is impacted by your reaction to temptations.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  “It’s a way to protect my assets from the poor decision making abilities of hot head athletes. The NFL does the same.”

  “You said one-million for my first 21C deal.”

  “Yes, and you nearly banged an associated producer on television. I would say you are flawed and I saw it and I am going to protect the 21C in case you fuck up. If you don’t after a year will re-negotiate.”

  “You’re going to sign me for two-million bucks. Today.” Craddock matched Meyer Thompson’s stone cold gaze with his own.

  “What’s behind your delusional idea that you can out negotiate me?” It was true Meyer Thompson was a master at this. Craddock knew it. But there was one thing Meyer did not know.

  Craddock pulled out his phone and opened his camera roll.

  “Let me show you a little behind the scenes of your producer, Tracy.” Video of Tracy played. It showed the producer and Julie Walters.

  “I said make you
r voice a little deeper. She has a deep voice.”

  Meyer looked from the screen to Craddock.

  “Why am I watching video on your phone of Tracy?” He smirked, still not clear what was going down. Craddock actually felt better about that. Like Meyer was not in on it. He would be easier to work for if he was not a slimy douche bag.

  “Maybe this next scene will help.” Craddock pushed play again.

  “Julie one of us had to give him the Ambien, Tylenol isn’t going to get this done. Fucking A, I’ll do it.” This time you could not see him very well but it was Tracy. Julie had covered her ass and started recording shit Tracy asked her to do. A lot was not great but some of it was. He was betting enough of it was.

  “Now go in this and rub his cock, press your tits up against him.”

  “I don’t want to do this. He’s totally drugged up now.”

  “Ha, yeah the fighter’s defenseless. This is an acting job and if you want to keep the acting job, you go on. No need to fuck him unless you want to. But do get him going Cassidy.”

  Craddock paused the camera video.

  Meyer Thompson was stunned and speechless. He was clearly processing the information and figuring out what to do with it.

  “I do not think you had anything to do with this.” Craddock knew pushing Meyer Thompson into a corner was a very bad idea. Thompson was a fighter, too. If he were attacked, he would swing. Craddock was trying to make a deal not an enemy.

  “What’s your play then?”

  “I will sign with 21C for three million bucks, that’s on top of my purse of course. I will fight like hell. I will go where you say. I will do whatever you think this league needs right now. I will also not press charges against the producer who drugged me and set up a non-consensual sex scene with me. In fact, I probably will not even testify if Julie Walters, the young actress in these clips, sues for sexual harassment, which she might. I’d maybe return her calls.”

  “Yeah, very good advice there.” It was an admission that he Thompson believed what he saw on Craddock’s phone.

  “She will be calling you after our deal is done.” He had told Julie how he was going to play it. Meyer Thompson leaned forward and a calm decisive but very corporate wave came off him towards Craddock. Then he began.

  “A couple of things. I want to assure you that I am as disgusted as you are by the actions of this rogue, unethical, and disgusting producer. He was instructed to not do anything of the kind, or I would fire him and make some calls so he never works again. I want to offer my sincere apologies on behalf of the 21C and Tough to the Top. I may be a dick but I have always run this company with integrity. This does not reflect my or the companies values.”

  “Thank you.” Craddock was hoping the corporate bullshit was over and Thompson was getting to the meat.

  “Now, there’s no fucking way I’m signing you for three million dollars. You are new, unproven, and you may have a lot of new likes and followers but fans are fickle. We will see if you can sustain your career in the ring and not fuck up your image out of it. All unknown elements. However, you did bring in the highest ratings this show has seen in its six-year history. For that reason, I will give you two million. The highest deal I’ve ever signed a new pro for.”

  Perfect. He shot for three because he knew there was no way! He would have taken 1.5! He kept a stone face just as Meyer did.

  “It’s a deal.” Both men stood up and shook hands on it.

  “One more thing, my home base will be at the GWG in Grand City. And Whitey’s my guy.”

  “Your team is up to you. GWG Grand City is clearly a hotbed of good fighters. I will be visiting. My brother even lives there.”

  “Cool.”

  “I don’t know who we’re going to pair you with but be ready, six week recovery, and then it’s go time.”

  “Gotcha, boss.” Craddock turned to go.

  “Flynn?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I am really sorry about Tracy, that’s me saying sorry I brought someone in here that was so unethical.”

  “I accept your apology. Thank you.”

  Cassidy

  She was back to worrying about rent and tuition. The excitement of the fight, Craddock and Zeke winning, it was easy to forget about her immediate living situation. The immediate situation was that tuition for the next semester was due very soon.

  Her headache from the night before was gone but the headaches of today were multiplying.

  The ring of the GWG phone startled her out of mind numbing budget calculations.

  “Great Wolves Gym, Grand City.”

  “Cassidy! You need to come over here to help. I-I-I...”

  “Dylan what is it? Are you okay?” Poor Dylan was losing it, panicked and crying; but that could be anything from burnt toast to a mistake in his DVR recording.

  “It’s mom. She is not right. It’s not right.” Oh, no this was bad.

  “Honey I’m going to call 911 and come over. Don’t be afraid. The ambulance is coming and so am I.”

  “Ok, hurry. Mommy is in trouble.”

  She called 911 and then yelled into the GWG.

  “Someone needs to give me a ride. Right now. Right now!” She felt her own panic rise as the seconds ticked by.

  No less than a dozen fighters were by her side. She looked at Whitey.

  “I think there’s something wrong with Craddock’s mom.”

  “Jessie take her. Don’t crash on the way. I’ll call Tom.” That’s right, Craddock and Dylan’s Uncle, Cassidy had forgotten he was also an option.

  Jessie patted her on the shoulder as they made the quick drive to Craddock and Dylan’s. An ambulance was had pulled in just ahead of them with their lights flashing. Good, that was good, medical professionals.

  “I’m scared at what we’re going to find Jessie.”

  “We’ll just be there for Dylan.” Jessie was the most solid individual she had ever met. Cutting right to the way they could practically help. When they got in, she was glad she had the hunk of man, which was Jessie, to deal with the raging man-child, which was Dylan.

  “Mom’s not moving she’s not moving! She’s the wrong color and I...I...I...”

  “Dylan, it’s okay, the paramedics will take care of her.” Dylan flailed his arms and a lamp crashed to the floor.

  “Mom’s going to be so mad about that! I broke it!” Cassidy tried to approach him but he was out of control.

  “Jessie, go see what you can find out from the paramedics while I, ugh, while Dylan and I calm down!”

  “Yep, stay back from him. He’ll knock you on your ass in this mood.”

  One of the paramedics yelled from the kitchen. “If he doesn’t stop we’ll have him arrested. We have to work here.”

  “DYLAN!” Cassidy tried to grab his arm to get his attention and it sent her flying back into the wall, just as Jessie predicted.

  “Oh, Cassidy, you’re my friend and I hurt you and I... I...”

  “DYLAN ERIN FLYNN,” she knew his mom called him that when he was in trouble, “You help me up this instant.” She put on her best mom voice. It worked.

  “Okay, okay.” He came over and helped her. She softened immediately. Chaos bread chaos with Dylan and she needed to lower the temperature of his anxiety.

  “Let’s sit here, by your legos and clean them up. Red in the red box, blue in the blue.”

  “What about Mommy.” He was calling her mommy something he had not done before; the situation had him regressing.

  “The doctors are helping her. We help her by cleaning up this mess. Come on now, green in the green bin.” They continued putting the room in order. Dylan effectively redirected for a moment.

  Jessie came out and nodded to her. A very bad nod. Then he said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Dylan, we’re going to drive to the hospital and your mom is going in the ambulance. Okay?”

  “Where’s your coat?” Cassidy asked and she directed Dylan to the front of the house.

  “She�
�s coded, they have a feint heart beat but it looks very bad. Someone needs to call Craddock.”

  At that point, mercifully, Uncle Tom walked in. This was a family matter and the Flynn family had a lot to get through. Cassidy would help get Dylan to the hospital but after that, she would, well, she had no idea after that.

  Craddock

  He was on the plane home after his meeting with Meyer Thompson feeling pretty self-satisfied. He had the cash, a plan for the cash and he was headed home. Mom was going to freak, Dylan was getting a big screen and Cassidy, well she would not take a gift, but he still had a way for her to share in his damn fine fighting and negotiating skills.

  His phone started buzzing the second he landed. When would the texts die down from this fight? Agents, offers, weirdos, it was annoying. As he waited at the baggage claim of the Grand City Airport he final looked down on his phone, which was still going bananas.

  Messages from Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Uncle Tom, Jessie.

  He called his Uncle Tom.

  “What’s going on?”

  “You need to get to the hospital fast; your mom doesn’t have much time.”

  What the holy hell? His mom didn’t have much time? She was fine. What was happening? He broke every speed law in the state and parked illegally at the Grand City St. Vincent Hospital. She was in a cardiac care area.

  He ran passed Jessie, Dylan, Cassidy; he needed to see his mom.

  When he saw her, he was not sure if it really was her.

  She was so tiny, hooked up to all kinds of things.

  “Craddock Flynn?” A doctor in the corner was looking at a tablet of some sort.

  “Yeah, my mom? She had cancer but they said it was gone? What’s going on?”

  “She’s on life support, we’re keeping her going so you can say good bye. She has a blood clot that has gone to her heart. She’s signed a no-extraordinary measures form.”

  “A what? Do whatever it fucking takes.”

  “She’s brain dead. I’m sorry. Everyone wanted you to be able to hold her hand. Say goodbye.”