Challenge: A Contemporary MMA Romance: Oni Fighters Book 3

by Natalie Gayle

  “It was the start of it. Mum couldn’t cope with being by herself. She immediately went out and found herself another guy—problem was, that guy didn’t want me.”

  There was a level of bitterness and hurt in his words that was unfathomable. “They got married shortly after my dad died and, from then on, mum did her best to keep me out of the house at all times.”

  That confused me. “How could that be? You were just a little kid, weren’t you?”

  “Four when he committed suicide. Five when she remarried. And you’d be surprised how easy it is to get a kid out from under your feet when you have the money to do so.”

  Money to do so. Then, I remembered his mother—perfectly dressed, groomed and accessorized. Yeah, that fit.

  “As soon as I was old enough, which was pretty well straight away, she had me at sport from the time I left school in the afternoon, until dinnertime. Which I always ate in the kitchen, then it was off to bed. She ate later with him.”

  The “him” came out in the same tone you would have used if you’d just stepped in dog shit.

  My heart ached for Seth. It was so clear. He’d been a lonely little boy that had just lost his father and then his mother had seemingly deserted him to her new “love.”

  “It was even worse when Rachel came along. Don’t get me wrong, I love my half-sister but I know I also resent her at the same time.” He scruffed his hand through his hair and tugged at the short strands. “Fuck, I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this. I never talk about this shit. Ever.”

  “Maybe that’s exactly it? Maybe you need to tell someone. I’m touched that it’s me, Seth. You can tell me anything. I’d never betray you.” As I said it, I knew I meant every word.

  “Thanks, Soph, and I trust you, I guess, otherwise I wouldn’t have told you.”

  I could have chosen to be hurt by his words but instead I chose to take them as he intended. It took a lot for Seth to trust. That was partly why he’d shied away so strongly from relationships and kept everything on the superficial, I was sure.

  There was still a lot more to this story, I was almost positive, but I wasn’t going to push him if he wasn’t ready to tell me more.

  “It can’t have been easy.”

  He shrugged as much as anyone can lying down with another person lazed against them. “I survived. It was easier after I meet Xander and Dane. The first few years sucked. We moved around a lot. I was always having to change schools and sports.”

  So much more became evident then. I’d lay good money that’s when he’d developed the easy-going jokester type personality. That was his ticket to fitting in when he’d moved time and time again.

  “Where were you born?” For some reason, I’d always assumed he was a local boy.

  “Melbourne. Then we moved to the Northern Rivers of New South Wales when I was a baby. Dad was big into art and, apparently, that’s where the strongest art community is. When he checked out, mum moved us straight back to Melbourne and we bounced around down there for a bit until my step-dad moved us up to be closer to his family on the south side of the city.”

  “You mean the Brisbane city, just up the road?”

  “Yeah. My step-dad’s parents had a farm that they cut up into housing blocks over at Chandler. Made a good whack of cash off it. God knows that’s what my mother was after. That’s all she ever wants—money. They live in a big joint over there at some estate. I’ve managed to avoid it for the last few years.”

  The bitterness in the way he referred to his mother was telling. There was some deep rooted resentment there.

  I didn’t want to comment on that, I’d only be going by assumptions anyway.

  “That sucks.” What more could I say? It was true. It did suck. “I guess you’re not looking at changing the status quo with your mum?” I don’t know why I asked him. I guess it just seemed so awful that he was estranged from his family.

  “Nope. Mum made her intentions towards me clear very early on.”

  Seth couldn’t be any clearer and I didn’t blame him at all from what little I’d seen of his mother. He shrugged again. “Not much I can do about it. It was her call.” I could almost feel the little boy’s pain radiating out from him. Shadows filled his eyes. Then, he closed them and as if by magic everything changed. It was as if he’d pushed the dark away and the light was back. “There is a real benefit though.” He was about to make a joke. I knew him well enough that this was where he was heading.

  “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s that?”

  “Saves me a fortune on birthday and Christmas presents. I only buy for Rachel and, even then, I just give her a voucher to whatever is her current favourite store.” We both chortled at that.

  “Well, that must save you a heap of time on Christmas shopping.”

  “Yep.”

  “I haven’t seen Rachel in ages. When’s she back in town?”

  “She sent me a text the other day on my iPad. She’ll be back next week.”

  “I like your sister, she’s fun. We’ve had some good times together over the years.”

  “She is,” he agreed. “That also reminds me, I need to get a new phone. I’m sick of getting messages on my iPad. I’m guessing my old phone is toast.”

  “So, it looks like car and phone shopping are in order.”

  “Job for tomorrow.” He nuzzled his face into my hair. ”Do you know who you’re fighting yet?”

  “Nope. Xan said the other day that I probably won’t know until about a month out. Apparently, they had someone then she got injured. I’m not worrying about it. I’m just training.”

  “Fair enough. Just don’t let the guys work you too far into the ground they don’t know when to quit sometimes.”

  “I’ll be fine.” And I would be. Hard work never killed anyone.

  “I know. It’s just now that I have a girlfriend, I guess I’m supposed to look after her.”

  I laughed. “Supposedly, although I reckon I’m pretty low maintenance.”

  “Is that right?” He stirred.

  “Yep.”

  He slipped his hand between my legs and spread the slickness around. “This feels like it needs some maintenance.”

  “I think that’s a never ending job for you handsome.”

  “I’m not complaining.”

  “Me either, but I’m going to take a rain-check. I know you’re used to having meals delivered three times a day. That’s not going to happen unless I get my butt out of bed and do something about it.”

  “Never let it be said my girl isn’t practical.”

  “Absolutely.”

  His fingers had been playing all the while we’d been clowning around with stupid banter. Then, he hit a particularly sensitive spot and I sucked in a breath.

  “Sure you want to take a rain check?” He looked at me with raised eyebrows and a knowing smirk on his lips.

  “I think I’ve changed my mind.”

  “I thought you might, you are female after all.” If he wasn’t injured, I would have whacked him one at that.

  “Shut up and finish what you started, Seth.”

  “Gosh, you’re a bossy thing.” He teased some more.

  “Seth.” I gritted out.

  “On it.”

  “Gooooood.”

  18

  Sophia

  “Are you sure you’re going to be able to sit through a training session?” We were almost at Onigashima. Seth had announced this morning that he had cabin fever and needed to get out.

  “I’ll be fine,” he declared and looked around the new SUV I was driving a little more. It had been a hell-fire few weeks and I had to admit, I was impressed with how swiftly Seth managed to get stuff done, even from his mostly resting state.

  He had a top of the range new phone the day after he came home and, not more than a week later, there was a knock on the door and a salesman delivered his new SUV, which was damned swanky. I certainly wasn’t complaining about having to drive.

  Plus
, he seemed to have managed to sort out a dozen other things and do his rehab two or three times a day.

  I envied his ability to just “get shit done.” There was no hesitation or apparent time for questioning or second thoughts, he just ploughed on in and stuff happened.

  “They’ve improved the interior in this model,” he commented, seemingly impressed. I guess the poor guy had bought the new vehicle essentially sight unseen, and it wasn’t even as if he had got to drive his “new toy” yet.

  “This is the same as the old one you had, right? Just a new model?” My knowledge of cars wasn’t that brilliant.

  “Yep. I decided you had a point. The last one saved my life. I’m hoping this one doesn’t get tested but, if so, I’ll trust it.”

  “Please don’t tempt fate…”

  “Not intending to, babe. Sometimes shit happens, unfortunately.”

  “Well, let’s not go there, please.” He reached over and squeezed my thigh.

  “Thanks for taking care of me, Soph. I never expected anyone to have cared as much.”

  He meant every word and my heart ached and rejoiced at the same time. It ached because he’d gone through life thinking people really didn’t care. That was a tragedy in itself. Then, I rejoiced because he not only recognized that I’d been there for him, it also surprised and touched him. I meant something to him and that was special to me.

  “You’re welcome. I’ll always be here for you, Seth, if you let me.” I cast a brief glance to my left. He was having a hard time accepting what I was telling him. That was okay. I figured it was going to be like desensitization. It would take time.

  The more I told him I loved him and that I’d be there, then the less it would unsettle him emotionally. I knew it was not that he didn’t want what I was offering, rather he was struggling to manage the things he was feeling—feelings he didn’t normally let himself acknowledge or recognize.

  He didn’t answer, just squeezed my leg harder. I could live with that for the moment.

  A few minutes later, I parked out the front of Onigashima. Seth was supposed to be using his walker still, but he blatantly refused. I’d become more and more accustomed to making sure I was close by over the last few days. I wanted to be handy when he was moving around in case he needed to lean on me, not that he ever seemed to.

  We headed for the door and a wave of nausea engulfed me. Whatever was in the industrial dump bin in the property next door stunk to high heaven. Smells could always make me queasy. That was rank and I struggled to breathe.

  Seth cast a concerned glance my way. “What’s up, babe?”

  “That smell, it’s turning my stomach.”

  He looked around confused. “What smell?”

  “That horrible smell like rotting garbage.”

  “Nope, can’t smell it.” He shrugged.

  “What? It’s rank and stinks like I don’t know what.” I hurried through the doors of the dojo, trying to get away from the offending odour.

  “Your nose is super sensitive.”

  “Obviously.”

  “Good thing you like the smell of me.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively. He was right. I did love the smell of him. There was always a fresh, clean undertone to his scent, even if he’d been training.

  “Yeah, weird,” I said off handedly as I tried to catch my breath.

  “If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m irresistible.”

  “Really. I know one thing for sure.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You’re conceited.”

  “I could have told you that, Soph,” Xander joked from behind the reception desk, obviously overhearing our conversation. “Good to see you up and around, man.” He turned his attention to Seth.

  The two men did their handshake/fist-bump thing. I never really did get that. I could do it, and it was used by a lot of martial arts practitioners—it still felt weird.

  “Good to be up and around. Thought I’d catch my girl training. See what you’ve been doing with her.”

  “All the usual, I’m just getting back into the hard stuff. I hear you’ve got some serious training of your own going on?” Xander nodded to Seth and the fact he was standing on his own steam.

  “Yeah, it feels like I’m learning to walk again. I’ve been swimming so much, I’m beginning to feel as if I’m part amphibian. The baby steps are killing me. I just want to be back out on those mats with you guys and Soph.”

  I like the way he added me separately rather than grouping us. It was easy to see both the excitement and envy in Seth’s eyes. He loved being in the dojo for many reasons.

  He loved hanging out and working out with his mates. There was also the fact that marital arts chewed up lots of energy. Seth was a guy on the go all the time. So, that worked for him. I didn’t miss the hint of envy, though. There was no covering the fact that he would have dearly loved to be training with us today.

  “And over-training or, in this case, over-rehabbing plays no part in his vocabulary.” I raised an eyebrow at Xander, who laughed and shook his head.

  “Of course not,” Seth argued. “Speaking of training, aren’t you supposed to be getting out there. I’m keen to see my hot as hell girlfriend bring it to my mates.”

  Dane ambled out to meet us from the other room. “What was that?”

  “Seth was just mentioning how much he was going to enjoy Soph serving it up to us.”

  “Really?”

  “Just ignore him, guys. He’s only saying that because he gets all hot and hard when I start fighting.” I winked at Seth.

  “Not denying it,” he said smugly and gave me a heated look.

  Xander looked across at Dane with a dead pan expression. “And there was nothing going on between these two.”

  “Nope, obviously not. We were all mistaken,” Dane agreed, nodding.

  “Would you pair quit the gloating and find an injured man a comfortable chair to park his arse?”

  “Who’s sitting down on the job?” Reed walked in and joined the conversation.

  Right, that did it. I was done with this impossible conversation. “I’m going to get ready. You guys can sort yourselves out. I’ll see you on the mats.”

  I headed to the change rooms and put my training bag on the wooden bench seat below the lockers. Another wave of nausea hit me. What the fuck?

  I sucked in a few deep breaths, desperately trying to get my guts under control.

  Did I have food poisoning? Might have been that sushi I snuck last night. It was only raw fish and rice right? Not quite on my training diet but not that far off it.

  It didn’t matter; I had training to do. I grabbed my gloves, mouthguard, and shin pads, then stuffed the bag into my locker.

  Right, time to focus.

  I had a fight in a few weeks.

  I had this, Sophia Sommers MMA fighter. Yep, that was me.

  Forty minutes later, I couldn’t have given a shit about any of that motivational bullshit. I felt GREEN and this damned bit of rubber in my mouth was making the sensation worse.

  I could barely stand and then my vision became one long tunnel and my arms and legs refused to obey.

  “What the hell’s wrong with you, Sophia?” was the last I remember before the blackness swallowed me.

  Seth

  I watched it all unfold in front of me in slow motion and there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do about it. Sophia had just kind of folded over and slipped to the ground. I would have called it graceful if I wasn’t so damned concerned.

  I rose to my feet and lurched across to her as quick as my healing body would allow. Xander, Dane, and Reed were already crouched around her, and had rolled her onto her side in a recovery position.

  “Is she breathing?”

  “Yeah, she’s just fainted,” Dane replied confidently. “Must be a family trait. I recall Eden doing something similar.”

  “I’ve never known it to happen before.”

  “First time for everything, mate,” Reed
chimed in, concern etched into his face.

  “Hey, Soph. Can you hear me?” Xander brushed the stray hair back from her forehead tenderly and I immediately felt a hit of jealousy to my gut. Yep, he might be her brother-in-law, but that was my girl he was touching.

  “Fuck,” I muttered. I couldn’t get down that low yet.

  Dane looked up and realized my predicament. “We’ve got this, mate.”

  “Yeah but that’s my girl,” I argued and right then, I meant every damned word. I hated not being there for her when she needed me. She’d been there the whole time for me.

  Her eyes started to open and a fraction of the tension drained from my body.

  “What happened?” she croaked and looked around at us all starry eyed.

  “You fainted, Soph,” Xander filled in for her and pressed his hand to her forehead, checking her temperature or whatever the fuck he was doing. I wanted to scream “get your hands off my girl.”

  “What?”

  “How do you feel now?” Reed asked.

  And as if on cue, her eyes went wide with concern and her hand shot up to her mouth.

  “Going to be sick.”

  Dane sprang to his feet and charged across to the reception area and grabbed a rubbish bin. Just in time, he passed it to her as Xander and Reed helped her sit.

  Poor Soph, she emptied her stomach and then the dry retching just kept happening. She was exhausted and sagged in Xander’s arms.

  Dane had got a wet cloth to wipe her face. She looked a sickly shade of green.

  “Did you feel okay before we started?” Reed asked more gently than I would have ever expected. The guy always looked and sounded like he chewed nails for breakfast instead of cornflakes.

  She moved her head back and forth slowly. “Not really.” She managed.

  “Then why the hell didn’t you say something?” Reed demanded.

  Did he really need to have that question answered? There was no way he would stand for a slacker. He was reluctant enough to have anything to do with women and fights. He was unrelenting. The toughest trainer in the business.

  “I figured I’d be okay. It must be a virus or something,” she defended half-heartedly.