Brooklyn's Baddest: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance

by Susan Westwood

  They circled and Jake waited patiently for Corbin to make the first move. Corbin jerked his chin up toward the seats where Masahiro, Koichi, and Lisa were sitting. “I see Lisa came to watch too. Did she get you signed up for this? Said she was going to support you and come to your fight?”

  Jake tried not to react, but the memory of Corbin coming on to her at the Momose dojo made his stomach turn. He gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw unwittingly, and Corbin saw him do it. Corbin laughed at raised his eyebrows.

  “Oh…. So that’s it. You like her! Well then, I’m glad she came to watch this match. She can see me kick your ass and then maybe I’ll take her home and show her what a real man can do to her.” He lunged momentarily toward Jake and Jake, thinking only of Lisa at that moment, blinked and tried to dodge, but Corbin spun and kicked, knocking Jake on the floor. Jake was back to his feet almost instantly, but Corbin had got in a hit, and Jake’s ribs were definitely hit hard. He concentrated on Corbin with everything in him.

  Corbin laughed and shook his head. “You know, I take that back. I might not go to all the trouble to take her home. I think I’ll just take her out to the parking lot and lay her out in the back seat of my car. That’s good enough for her. Maybe I’ll just put her face in my groin and see how good she can make me feel.” He laughed again, a little louder and Jake growled back at him, fighting the anger and hatred that was building up like a bonfire inside of him.

  Corbin nodded. “Yeah, I think that’ll do it. If she’s good enough, I’ll let her do it twice. I can’t wait to twist my hands in her hair and feel her lips wrapped around my-”

  Jake couldn’t stand to listen to him any longer. He plowed straight forward and leapt into the air to kick Corbin in the head, but Corbin dodged him easily and turned his body, throwing him off balance, slamming him to the floor and knocking the wind out of him.

  “Yeah, that did it! That hurt you Jake? Come on now, you pathetic little worm, get your ass up off of that mat and fight me! Do it!” Corbin reached for Jake’s gi, grabbing it and pulling Jake to his feet. Jake gasped for air and spun around to face Corbin, glaring at him with more hatred than he had felt in longer than he could remember.

  “That’s it Jake…” Corbin taunted him. “That’s it. She saw you just now, you know. She saw me kick your ass, she saw you hit the mat. It’s going to turn her on. She’s going to be so hot for me by the time I’m done with you. You’re going to be bleeding on the mat and she’s going to see what a real man looks like, and she’s going to be begging me to give it to her, and I will. Oh, I will… and she’s going to love it.” he circled closer, his eyes glinting like lightning.

  “Come at me, you little bitch. Come here and get me. You know you want to. Try… you maggot. Try to come and get even one little finger on me. You’re not going to touch me.” Corbin grinned almost maniacally, and Jake felt a tidal wave of rage wash over him, totally overtaking him.

  He dove toward Corbin again, going for a kick to Corbin’s torso, but Corbin flipped around and hit Jake square in the chest with his foot, knocking him to the floor again. Before Jake could even begin to know what was going on, Corbin was on him, striking him over and over until the buzzer sounded and he stopped.

  Jake looked up at him as Corbin bent over him and laughed. “That was like taking candy from a baby, Jake. Thanks for making this the easiest win I ever had. I’m going to go get your girl and take her to celebrate my epic win against you. She’s going to love the backseat of my car.” His hand flashed out and he struck Jake in the head before laughing once more and walking away.

  The referee came to him and helped Jake get to his feet. Jake was sick to his stomach; the cold steel knot there wasn’t going away. He limped toward the side of the arena where he saw Masahiro, Koichi, and Lisa rise up from their chairs. He made his way toward them and paused when he reached them.

  Masahiro would not even look at him, let alone speak to him. The older man grunted in disgust and turned away, walking out of the room in silence. Jake looked at Koichi. Koichi’s face was like stone and his expression was grim.

  “Be at the dojo first thing in the morning.” He said in a low and dangerous tone. Jake felt panic burn through his body at the sound of grave disappointment from his teacher.

  Koichi turned then and began to walk away. Jake turned to face Lisa, but she bit her lower lip and shook her head. Jake felt compelled to explain it to her.

  “Lisa, listen… I could have taken him. I know I could have, but he was saying this… this crap… all these things and I…” he stopped. He could see the same disappointment in her eyes that he saw in Koichi’s.

  “I’ll do better on the next one. I will. I promise. I know you have all put a lot of faith in me, and I…” he began, but she shook her head and looked away from him. He saw tears at the edge of her eyelashes, and one of them escaped down her cheek before she turned her back to him and walked away, following Koichi.

  “Wow. Tough room, huh?” Evan’s voice sounded over Jake’s shoulder. Jake turned to look at his best friend.

  “You have no idea. I shouldn’t have lost that match, Evan. I was so… stupid. I know better than to let an opponent get to me like that. I know better! I fell to such an idiotic ploy. Damn it!” Jake growled in exasperation with himself. He jammed his fingers through his hair and then flung his hands down to his sides in frustration.

  Evan nodded and reached up to lay a hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Come on buddy, let me buy you a beer and we’ll work it out. I got ya. Come on.”

  Jake sighed heavily and gave Evan a nod as his shoulders slumped. He had known better. The defeat was completely preventable, and he knew if he had been focused and concentrating on the fight instead of all of the crap that Corbin was saying, he could have won it. He got his bag and told Evan about it on the way to the bar, and through the entire night as he drank enough to try to make himself forget why he wanted to drink to begin with.

  It was three in the morning before he decided to try to walk home from the bar. He hadn’t made it far before a squad car pulled up and two policemen got out and walked over to him. He didn’t know either one of them.

  “Hey…” He tried to say as soberly as he could. “Is… is M’lon around? You seen him?” he slurred, trying to speak to them.

  One of them turned him, facing him toward the squad car as they pulled his hands behind his back. “You’re under arrest for public intoxication. You have the right to remain silent…” the cop began.

  “Mul… uh…” Jake’s head was swimming as he tried to make his mouth form the word that was in his head. He took a deep breath and focused intently on that one word. “Mul… doon. Mulloon… where’s he?” he asked with a half hope as he tried to hold his head still long enough to focus on the two policemen in the front seat of the car.

  They didn’t speak to him. Instead, they drove him to the Brooklyn police station, booked him, and asked him if he wanted to make a call before they put him in a cell. He nodded. He did want to make a call. Phone in hand, he dialed the number of the person he most wanted to speak to.

  The line rang for what seemed like forever before it was finally answered.

  “Hello?” she asked sleepily.

  “Lees… Lisa…” he said with a happy voice and slurred speech.

  She sat upright in bed as her eyes widened and sleep fell away from her like a shadow from the sun. “Jake? Jake is that you?”

  “Yeah, baby. S’me.” He grinned, relieved to hear her voice.

  “Oh my god… are you drunk? Where are you?” she asked as endless questions cycloned through her mind.

  “Not where I want to be.” He laughed a little and lowered his voice in an attempt to sound sexy. “I want to be in your bed with you. I want to-”

  She cut him off sharply. “You need to be in your own bed tonight and you better be at the dojo tomorrow!” she snapped at him.

  “Well…” he said, weaving where he was trying to stand. He looked slowly around him a
t the cells and the cop who was waiting impatiently for him. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. “I’m not going to be in my bed tonight. That’s for sure.”

  “What do you mean you won’t be in your bed?” She asked warily, feeling worry tense her body.

  He chuckled and shook his head. “I screwed up… again.” He began with a mumble. “Yeah I did.” He took a deep breath and looked up at grey wall where the telephone was mounted. “It looks like I’ll be spending the night in jail… unless you feel like… coming to get me.” He laughed a little. “You should come and… come and get me.” He struggled to speak as clearly as he could. “I want to spend the night…” he hiccupped, “I want to spend the night with you.”

  He heard her groan with disgust. “No! Damn it Jake! You had no business going out tonight and getting drunk! No. I’m not… I’m not going to do this with you. You have got to take some responsibility and act like an adult for once! Damn it!” she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. She was going to have to stand her ground. “No, Jake, you spend the night there. I’ll come get you in the morning. It looks like you have a lot of lessons to learn and the first one is that you have some serious responsibilities to yourself and to those around you who support you and are making sacrifices to keep you on the road to a better future!”

  She heard him sigh and moan almost simultaneously. “I gotta go, baby. They’re kicking me off of the ph-” the line went dead and she growled again in frustration. She put her phone down and flung herself backward into her pillow angrily, seething that he had taken such a bad turn. It was a long while before she was able to fall asleep. When the new morning woke her, she pushed herself out of bed with a heavy heart, knowing that it wasn’t going to be a good day, and feeling sick to her stomach about it.

  All the way to the police station she thought of everything she had done for him and how she had believed in him, wondering to what end it would come. She bailed him out and when he emerged from the area where the cells where, he looked like he had been homeless for a while.

  He lifted his eyes from the floor and gave her a half-smile, reaching for her as he neared her.

  “Don’t you touch me,” she demanded. “You need a shower and a change of clothes. You reek of booze. God I can’t believe you did that. You’re supposed to be training with Koichi all day! You think he’s going to take it easy on you because you’re hung over? Think again. He’s probably going to make it even harder on you, just because you’ve gone and done this to yourself.”

  Lisa turned on her heel and marched out of the police station straight toward her car as Jake followed her and held his hand over his eyes most of the way to try to block the bright sunlight. He was sure he had never had such a bad headache.

  He sank into the passenger seat of her car and groaned. “Look… it’s been a rough night and a rough morning, and the last thing I need is for Koichi or you to give me a hard time. I feel like I got hit by a truck, okay? Give me a break.”

  She flipped in her seat to glare hotly at him. “No! I am not going to give you a break, and Koichi sure as hell isn’t going to give you a break! You did this to yourself!” She drove toward the dojo, fuming with anger at him.

  “You did get hit by a truck last night. You got hit by Corbin, and he demolished you! I can’t believe you let him do that! What in the hell were you thinking? Were you thinking at all? Jake… you could have taken him! I know you could have taken him! He’s a cocky, irreverent jackass, and he isn’t that good at martial arts! Just because he’s won a few competitions… that doesn’t mean anything. He tries the same tactics every time! He finds your weak spot and dives in, and you let him!”

  Jake furrowed his brow and frowned, trying not to raise his voice. “I didn’t let him! He went after me by going after you! He was saying all kinds of… all kinds of nasty things, and I just-”

  “So what!” she raised her voice. “So what! You should know better than to pay any attention to a single word he says! He’s just an idiot trying to make you angry, and it worked! You should know that! You’ve faced that in your street fighting! You never let your opponent get the better of you! So he said nasty things about me. So what. Does that make anything he said true?

  No. No it doesn’t, but you didn’t think about that, did you? No. You didn’t think at all! Do you have any idea what we have all sacrificed to get you where you are? Do you have any clue what I’ve sacrificed to help you get going on this and succeed? You agreed to do it, so do it and stop failing yourself, and stop failing us!”

  He turned away from her and stared out of the car window. He knew that nothing he could say would make any difference to her. He also knew that nothing she could say to him would make him feel worse than he already felt; nothing was worse than knowing how disappointed she was in him. It was like hitting rock bottom for him.

  She had been right about Koichi running him through the ringer. When he had showered and dressed, Koichi took him into the studio and worked him out harder than he had ever worked out in his life, partly as punishment for getting drunk and being arrested, and partly for losing the match the night before. Jake had never felt sicker or been in more pain, and it lasted the full day. Even when he threw up twice, Koichi made him clean himself up and get right back to training. There was no slack, and he knew at the center of himself that he shouldn’t expect any.

  When the day was done, he stopped into Lisa’s office. She was sitting at her desk, and she looked up at him with a sour face when he walked in.

  “Hey.” He said. “I don’t want to disturb you, I just… I wanted to come in and apologize to you,” he said, looking directly into her dark eyes. “I know what you’ve done for me, and it means everything to me. I just… I’m sorry. I wanted to say it.”

  She leaned back in her chair and laid her hands on the desk in front of her. “Jake, I helped you because I can see so much potential in you. I can see that you would have a brilliant future if you worked for it, but I can only do so much. I can get you where you need to be to start, but if you don’t commit to your success and work hard for it, then there’s nothing at all that I can do for you.

  You’re the one who has to want it. You’re the one who has to go after it. If you don’t want it, or if you aren’t serious about going after it, then you can turn around and walk out of that door right now and don’t bother ever coming back. You’re the one who can make it work, if you want it to happen. If not, then don’t waste my time, and don’t waste your own.”

  She knew that it was harsh, but it was honest and it was the truth, and she knew that he needed a serious wakeup call.

  “I have been working for it!” he said defiantly, making himself keep his cool. “I have been working my ass off for it every single day and you know that! You’ve seen me out there in that water garden, and in the studio, busting my ass so that I can compete! I slipped up a little bit, and I’m sorry. I apologized. You need to let it go. I came back, I got my chops busted today, and Koichi kicked my ass hard. I paid for my screw-up. So you need to just back the hell off and let it go!” He glared at her.

  She shot up from her chair and leaned over her desk, her eyes burning on him. “I am not going to back off, and neither is Koichi! I don’t want to give up on you and see you go to prison! How many times do you think you’re going to be able to go before a judge with screw up after screw up before he throws your ass in prison? How many times Mr. Repeat Offender? Street fighting, public intoxication… who knows what else. It has to stop! If I’m going to commit to you, you have to take it seriously and commit to your own self and your success!”

  He sighed in exasperation and looked away from her. She wasn’t wrong about him going to prison; it had been worrying him since he’d sobered up from his night of drunken misery. “I know. Listen…” he turned toward the door and looked over his shoulder at her. “I didn’t come to fight with you. I came to apologize. I know that you’ve tried to help me and make sacrifices for me. I’m sorry I let you d
own. Maybe you could take a look at some of the work that I’ve done and see how far I’ve come and give me a little bit of credit for that. I’m still here. I’m still going for it. So think about giving me a break, okay? No one is perfect.”

  He turned then and walked out of the office and her shoulders fell as she looked down at her desk in silence. She was wondering if she had perhaps been too hard on him; if she needed to give him a little more breathing room, when her phone rang. The noise startled her from her deep thought, and she looked over at it and reached for it to answer it.

  “Hello, Bonnie.” She sighed.

  “Hello to you, too. I was calling to see how the big fight went last night, but it sounds like things aren’t good. Should I call you back?” she asked sympathetically.

  Lisa shook her head. “No, we can talk now. I just… ugh. Jake is… Jake is really hard to deal with.”

  “I bet he is. What happened? How did the fight go?” Bonnie’s tone changed from sympathy to concerned suspicion.

  Letting out a long breath, Lisa rubbed her hand over her forehead. “He lost. He fought Mike Corbin from Momose dojo and he lost pretty badly. He shouldn’t have; he could have won the fight, but he lost his concentration and got his ass handed to him in a big way. Of course Corbin gloated over it and made it worse.”

  “Oh no… Corbin’s that jerk who hits on you at all the fights, isn’t he? The brown haired guy?” Bonnie sounded disgusted.

  “Yeah, that’s him. He’s horrible. Anyway, as if the loss wasn’t bad enough; and it was bad, Jake had to go out after the fight and get drunk, then he got arrested and thrown in jail and called me in the middle of the night to come and get him. I didn’t of course, I just let him spend the rest of the night in jail and then I went and got him this morning.” She shook her head and leaned back in her chair. “Masahiro isn’t going to take much of this. He wants a champion, not a problem and even worse, an embarrassment. I can’t let Jake get away with this kind of behavior or he’s going to get kicked out of here, and that will be that.”