He headed toward the door, then turned. “Colby . . .”
She held her breath. Please say you forgive me and that you love me.
“Thanks for . . . everything.”
Disappointment nearly strangled her, but she smiled as she nodded, knowing if she tried to utter a sound, he’d hear her heart shattering.
Chapter 17
“Colby, you have another visitor,” Shannon buzzed her office for the twentieth time the next day. By now she knew what to expect—another Xtreme Fight League fighter.
“Send them up, please.” Since that morning, one after another had shown up at her office. At first, she’d been nervous and had asked for security to be on stand-by. She knew the fighters all knew by now what she planned to report that evening on her first live, on-air broadcast on Knock Out Sports, as she’d sent a report to the Nevada State Athletic Commission the day before and they’d temporarily shut the doors of Xtreme Fight while they carried out their own investigation. But she didn’t know how the fighters all felt about the organization being shut down.
They’d shocked her.
Each one had come prepared with a written statement outlining the commission codes they’d seen violated within the Xtreme Fight League and their own personal accounts of being forced to fight injured or of having their contracts broken. She had a stack on her desk—enough supporting evidence for her story and to hand off to the Athletic Commission—more than she ever could have hoped for.
“Hi,” Joe Sapiro said, poking his head into her office a minute later.
She smiled. “I was wondering if I’d see you,” she said. “Come in.”
He did. And he handed her a file folder. “Here’s mine.”
She took it. “Thank you. And I know that you are the one who got the other fighters on board with this, so thank you. I really appreciate it.”
He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets, looking slightly embarrassed. “I was already out, so I had nothing to lose, really, but some of these guys are taking a huge chance closing down the one organization that always gave them a fight.”
“So why are they doing this?”
“Because they know they should. And they all loved Marco and his family. We’re all hoping if you have enough of these, you won’t need their story,” he said.
Her mouth went dry. So, there was a catch. “Joe . . .”
He held up a hand. “It’s your decision, Colby. Either way, you’re doing a great thing and we are all thankful that you got involved in this.”
She nodded. So many times over the last few days, she’d desperately regretted getting involved in the first place. If she could go back and change things, never step foot inside the Xtreme Fight League . . . would she? The thought was driving her mad and there was nothing she could do about it. “Thanks, Joe.”
When he left her office, she sat at her desk and scanned the pile of letters. All of these fighters agreed she was doing the right thing. She just wished she could fully believe that herself, in her heart.
* * *
“Why are you watching this, man?” Tyson asked, coming into the office where Dane sat watching that evening’s Against the Ropes broadcast.
“It’s like a train wreck. I can’t look away,” he mumbled. On screen, Colby sat behind the reporting desk, and to the rest of the world, she appeared confident, calm, and relaxed.
But he knew her well. She licked the corner of her lip ever so briefly when she was nervous, and she was doing it now. He knew doing this story hadn’t been an easy decision for her to make, but allowing himself any sympathy or understanding for her would break him completely and he’d collapse like a house of cards.
Damn, he missed her. Seeing her on the television only reinforced how much. He craved her touch, her kiss, the smell of her honey-scented skin, and the way she shivered beneath his touch.
Unwelcome memories flashed in his mind and he pushed them aside.
Tyson pulled up a chair next to him as the show’s coanchor handed it over to her.
“Hello, everyone. I’m your new cohost for the program, and tonight I have a breaking news story that will change the sport of MMA.”
“She’s got that right,” Tyson said next to him.
“You think she’s doing the right thing, don’t you?”
Tyson sent him a look. “Don’t you? Come on, man, we both know that Cameron Bennett is an asshole. He wasn’t treating the fighters fairly, and he was breaking all the governing rules of the sport.”
Dane remained silent. He just wished this didn’t have to involve him, drag his past out into the open again, and hurt the Consuelos family.
“Over the last few months, I’ve done some investigating into the Xtreme Fight League.”
He leaned forward on his elbows.
Parker came into the office. “This the story?” she asked quietly, sympathy in her voice.
Tyson nodded, taking her hand and pulling her down onto his lap.
Dane clenched his jaw. The couple’s love for each other had been destroying him all week. Seeing two people so madly in love had only reminded him of the two months he’d spent with Colby. He stood. “You can have my chair,” he grumbled.
Parker shot a look at Tyson and he nodded. “He’s heartbroken. Let’s give him a break,” he said, kissing her cheek as she moved over to Dane’s abandoned chair.
“Thank you,” he mumbled, folding his arms across his chest as he sat on the edge of Tyson’s desk to continue watching.
On screen, Colby talked about the history of the organization, the various fighters who had started out there . . .
Come on, get to it. This was torture.
“Tonight, we are hoping new evidence suggesting the league has been ignoring and at times blatantly breaking the fight commission’s rules will be enough to shut down the organization.”
His heart raced. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the desk.
She held up a stack of papers. “These are all letters from the organization’s fighters confirming everything I discovered about the league. There are countless testimonies about doctor’s notes being ignored, fighters slipping through to the fights without meeting weight requirements, athletes fighting without the proper gear . . .”
She continued, reporting the incident she’d overheard between Cameron Bennett and Joe Sapiro, which had resulted in him walking away from the organization and landing him a contract with the MFL. She listed the various commission codes that had been broken over the last few years and the investigations that had gone nowhere . . .
He waited. Anytime now, she’d mention the Consuelos fight and the world would know the truth.
“So, as of yesterday the doors of the Xtreme Fight League closed as per the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The Las Vegas Police Department is remaining on site to deal with any conflict that might arise, but fighters and employees of the organization are asked to stay away for safety and ease of the investigation into the claims. The organization will face fines upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and their reopening is pending restructuring, new management, and proof of regulation compliancy, but a future for Xtreme Fight looks unlikely.” She paused. “That’s tonight’s story. Thank you for the warm welcome . . .”
He didn’t hear the rest as he stared at the screen. She hadn’t mentioned him or the Consuelos family. She’d done the story and had successfully managed to shut down one of the more dangerous fighting organizations in the state without reopening his freshly healing scars or hurting Eva and Josh.
Tyson turned to look at him. “I guess a few other people thought she was doing the right thing too,” he said.
Dane nodded. “Guess so.” His mind reeled and his stomach was a mess of nerves. The stress of the last few weeks and that day in particular as he waited for this broadcast to air had been the only thing making it poss
ible to resist calling Colby or texting her or showing up at her house.
Walking away from her after the fight had taken every ounce of his remaining strength and it had been fueled by hurt and disappointment. Those feelings were melting away now as he stared at her beautiful face on the television, one he’d missed so much. And without them, he was powerless to the overwhelming sensations of love and longing he felt for her.
When Dane glanced toward his friends, they were both staring at him. “What?”
“We’re just wondering why the hell you’re still standing there,” Tyson said.
“Yeah, me too,” he said, grabbing his training bag and heading toward the door.
* * *
Hearing a tap on her office door, Colby quickly gathered her things. “I’ll be right there, Martin,” she said, grabbing her purse. The network had insisted that for the next few days, she be escorted to her vehicle by a security guard. A lot of people were pissed off about her story right now. She wasn’t afraid or nervous, but neither was she about to be careless. A few screened, angry phone calls to the station that evening gave her enough hesitation. Until things were finalized and the dust settled, she would be careful and stick with Martin.
However, it wasn’t Martin’s voice that replied. “Take your time.”
Her head shot up. Dane stood in the office entryway. Martin stood behind him in the hall. “You okay with this guy escorting you instead?” the guard asked with a grin.
She nodded numbly. “Uh, um . . . yeah, I’m fine,” she mumbled, her hands shaky as she set her phone to go to voice mail and then logged off her computer. She was stalling, but she was terrified. What was he doing there? Had he seen the show? She hadn’t heard from him since their awkward moment after his fight and she had started to put aside any hope that he would contact her.
“Great view,” he said, entering the office as a plane soared past.
That depended on the state of her heart. Up until that moment, it had been a gut-wrenching view. Every plane that had passed that week had been an unneeded reminder of the night he’d taken her to watch them take off . . . a reminder of his touch, of his kiss, of his words.
Finally, with nothing left to do, she summoned the courage to turn her attention to him again. In the pair of those ripped jeans she loved so much, a black T-shirt and baseball hat, he was the best thing she’d seen all day, but he still hadn’t said why he was there, and she dared not get her hopes up. “Okay, I’m ready,” she said as strongly as she could.
He crossed the room in three quick strides. “I’m ready too,” he said, grabbing her waist and pulling her into him.
Her heart soared and she eagerly moved toward him. She breathed in the scent of his soft cologne as she rested her head against his solid chest, enjoying the feel of his strong arms around her.
“I’m ready to finally move past all of this,” he said, pulling back slightly to look at her. “And it’s all because of you.”
She swallowed hard. “You saw the show?”
He nodded. “I did, and I realized you were right to broadcast the story, but the truth is, none of it matters. Not to me, not anymore . . . All that does matter is you. The last few weeks without you have been unbearable. You’re on my mind from the time I open my eyes every morning and the thought of never being with you again has been making me crazy.”
His words were ones she’d longed to hear, but hadn’t thought she ever would again. “I’m so sorry I lied to you and hurt you.”
He shook his head. “I know why you did—I’m still pissed that you didn’t tell me the truth from the beginning—but I forgive you,” he said, kissing her forehead.
“Why? I mean, you trusted me and I let you down,” she said. She didn’t want to question it, she just wanted to accept it, but she couldn’t believe he was standing there, with his arms wrapped around her. “I hate myself for that,” she whispered.
He lifted her chin. “No. Don’t do that. I hated myself for too long for something I’d already had forgiveness for, don’t you do it.”
She hugged him tight, knowing it wouldn’t be that easy. She’d hurt him and she was determined to spend the rest of her life making it up to him. She couldn’t believe she was getting this chance, but it was one opportunity she didn’t plan to pass up. “I love you, Dane,” she whispered.
“I love you, Colby. Thank you for giving me my life back,” he said as his mouth met hers and his kiss delivered a knockout punch to any lingering traces of doubt.
Jennifer Snow writes contemporary romance fiction. A member of the RWA, the Alberta Writers Guild, SheWrites.org and the Canadian Authors Association, she is the author of Fighting the Fall and Breaking Her Rules, among other novels. The first book in her small-town Brookhollow series, The Trouble with Mistletoe, was a finalist in the 2014 Golden Quill Contest and the Aspen Gold Contest. She is also a freelancer, with articles appearing in RWR Magazine, Mslexia, Southern Writers Magazine, Westword and Avenue Magazine.
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