Brave

by Natalie Gayle

  Brave

  Oni Fighters Book 1 — A Contemporary MMA Romance

  Natalie GAYLE

  EBS

  Contents

  Copyright

  Please Note

  Preface

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Epilogue

  A Gift To You!

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by the Author:

  Copyright © 2015 by Natalie Gayle

  DIGITAL EDITION

  ISBN 978-0-9875142-5-7

  All Rights Reserved

  By payment of required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this Book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of copyright owner.

  ISBN: 978-0-9875142-5-7

  Created with Vellum

  Please Note

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The reverse engineering, uploading, and/or distributing of this Book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.

  Preface

  Well, Brave is new territory for me. I saw a photo and I had a whole storyline pop into my head. It was tragic and beautiful—a story of being brave enough to face and overcome your fears.

  There are parts of this book that some people may find confronting. I apologise in advance if you find those pieces tough. They were probably the pieces I had a hard time writing too.

  But even though there are some “tough” and confronting aspects to the book, the overall story is written to be uplifting and encouraging. I want you to be connecting with Eden and Xander and cheering them on.

  Like always I have done a lot of research in putting together this book and I have had a lot of expert advice. I hope I got everything “right”. If I haven’t, it’s through no fault of the experts and professionals assisting me—rather a fault of my own.

  I hope you enjoy Eden and Xander’s journey as much as I did writing it.

  Love

  Nat

  This book is for every one of us.

  At some stage in your life the demons inside will start to claw and gnaw. You’ll realise the hardest demons to defeat are the ones inside.

  To do that—you’ll have to be BRAVE.

  #Brave

  Prologue

  – Twelve years before

  Xander

  The first time I realised Eden Sommers existed I was fourteen years old and she couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven. I was still a boy in so many ways, but a young man in others. I remember the day so vividly. It was almost as if, that was the day I started to see the world with variations of colour, texture and emotions. That was the day I realised that everything in this world had a depth to it—one of joy and a depth of despair.

  It was a spring afternoon, warm but not hot. She was sitting in the neighbourhood park with a couple of other girls that looked a little younger than her. They sat with their legs crossed, Indian style, joining the little white clover flowers together to make a daisy chain when I first realised what pure beauty was.

  Her loose strawberry blonde hair caught the light and cloaked her in almost a halo like effect as she laughed with the two other little girls beside her. She was very young and incredibly pretty in that little girl sort of way. But none of that’s what hit me like a cricket ball to the gut.

  No, what struck me was the total picture.

  The beauty of that moment in time, something I’d never experienced before.

  It was as if time had stood still just for me to see this picture.

  The sound of her laughter floated across the park to the footpath where I was making my trek to training. It was almost like music to my ears and her face just seemed to light up with joy as she giggled with the other girls.

  I realised then, that I was looking at pure joy. Happiness, in its most base and pure sense. It was also innocence, an inner contentment and joy something I’d never seen before that day, or even realised existed.

  Here were three girls unknowingly enjoying every facet of life in its purest and most simple form.

  They knew, no evil, pain or tragedy in the world. They expected only good.

  And there should have been nothing else but good for them.

  A hollowness settled deep in my stomach. I knew then that things would never be that way for me. I doubted if I’d ever feel or experience that sort of joy and beauty. I just could never imagine myself feeling like that.

  My eyes had suddenly been opened to contrast.

  Part of me was jealous; part of me wished I were their age again, free to do something as simple as what they were doing. I wanted to experience the young boy version of what these girls were enjoying. I wondered what it was. But that’s the thing with life. You can never go back. Only forward.

  “Where the hell you go to, mate?” my friend Dane called and I finally pulled out of my awake stupor.

  “Sorry, just daydreaming I guess.” I joked.

  He laughed and slapped me hard on the shoulder. Dane had been walking beside me when I drifted off into my own head. It was something I did from time to time. My teachers were always complaining about it. A lot of the time my head was the place I preferred to be.

  “Best not do that in class. Sensei Ron will have your arse.”

  Dane was right, we needed to get to class and I needed to focus. Sensei had chewed me out just yesterday for losing focus. We walked on for a little while, but something kept dragging my mind back to the girls. I needed to know more about the girl with the strawberry blonde hair. I didn’t know why then, but I just did. I needed to know the name of happiness, I guess. I needed to be able to put a name to the box marked “happiness and beauty” in my head.

  “Who were those girls?” I tried to sound nonchalant and relaxed. Dane would think me weird for wanting to know the name of the girl who was years younger than us. He’d had his eye on some cute little red head that was new in our class at school for the last couple of weeks. So far she was ignoring him.

  “Why the hell do you care?” He looked at me strangely and suddenly I felt dirty as if asking was something wrong or forbidden. But
it wasn’t like that. I didn’t think of her like that at all. I wanted her name, to complete the picture in my head. It was a moment in time and a picture of happiness. I wanted that to take with me.

  Shit, if I’d had a camera I would have snapped it—but I didn’t, so my memory would have to do.

  I shrugged my shoulders and started to bullshit. “I don’t, I just noticed her around the other day and figured she had to be someone’s little sister. A few of the older girls were hassling her. Thought I’d mention it to whoever her older sister was.”

  Dane nodded and seemed to buy my bullshit. Sensei was big on making sure kids in the neighbourhood weren’t being picked on or bullied. He was always bashing into us the importance of looking out for those not able to really take care of themselves.

  “Her name’s Eden Sommers. She doesn’t have a big sister that I know of. In fact I think she’s the oldest and those two were her little sisters. They moved into the old Johnson place a couple of weeks back.”

  I cringed at just the mention of the Johnson place. It was the most run down, ramshackle house in the neighbourhood. My dad was always bitching because it hadn’t been condemned yet, and that it was dragging the real estate prices down.

  Dane went on, “My mum dragged us all over there to introduce us.” I could tell this kind of embarrassed him. Dane thought he was a bit beyond that sort of stuff now. He lived right across the street from the Johnson place. Although, I guess it should be called the Sommers place now. “You know how she is.” he offered almost in apology.

  I did know how Dane’s mum was. I also knew that I wished I had a mum—let alone one that gave as much of a shit as his mum did. She tried to mother me at any opportunity she got and I lapped it up. When you didn’t have a mum, any woman that showed an interest was welcomed. This embarrassed Dane, but I didn’t really care. He didn’t know how lucky he was and if his mum was mine, no way would I be so embarrassed.

  I never knew my mum. She died when I was just a baby—some sort of complication. I didn’t talk about it, because people would just say “sorry” and get all uncomfortable. That would make me feel uncomfortable then, so it was easier to avoid that subject if I could.

  My dad said he never regretted having me because having a baby was exactly what she wanted. I’m not sure I believed him. I wanted to, but I just never really felt it. He tried not to dwell on it for my sake. But it was always there in the back of my mind. Just something you know.

  So that’s how I came to notice Eden the very first time. I was on the way to karate training. That’s what dad wanted me to do, so that’s what I did. I was good at it. So I did it some more, and some more. In fact, I kept it up for a lot more years—the rest as they say, is history.

  * * *

  Three Years Ago

  Xander

  The crowd was deafening, as I headed back to my corner for the minute reprieve between rounds. That minute was both a blessing and a curse. Sure, it gave me a little break, but I’d just about had the guy when the buzzer had sounded. The adrenalin was flowing freely through my body and I felt great—almost euphoric. I wanted this done. That Oceania Title belt was mine. Next step towards the World Championship Title. It was so close I could taste it.

  Reggie slapped me on the back as I bounced over to join my corner men. “You okay, Son?”

  He was a wily old bastard and had been my corner man since I’d had my first fight a few years ago. His hand shot out and I spat my mouthguard into his waiting palm, in between shuffling from foot to foot. I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t want to wait. This needed to be over.

  My trainer, Reed, towelled my face and shoulders off as Reggie squirted water into my open mouth. I sloshed the first mouthful around my teeth to remove the unpleasant metallic taste of blood, mixed with the rubbery taste of the mouthguard. Mouthguards always seemed to suck the spit right out of your mouth and make your tongue feel like it was three times bigger than normal. Reggie held a bucket and I spat out the offending liquid, before he squirted more water into my mouth, this time to drink.

  “Right, Xan, you’re doing great. Now you need to finish it off. He’s weak on the ground. Take him down. When he goes for the next combination, block and look for the slow retraction of the punch. Use it to step through and take him down to the canvas. Then go to work.”

  I nodded taking it all in. Reed was a genius at spotting a fighter’s weakness. If Reed said he had a slow retraction, then he did, no questions about it. It was my job to find it and find it I would.

  “Make sure you stay out of range of the leg kick. It’s got a shitload of power and he nearly caught you last round. Don’t get suckered in. He’s deceptive.” Reed got right in my face and his voice was all I heard even though the crowd was chanting my name.

  “Pretty Boy, Pretty Boy,” they called. The noise was so loud it reverberated around the stadium and the whole place felt like it was experiencing an earth tremor. I normally hated that name Reed had given me, but nothing was going to dampen my spirits tonight.

  “Pretty Boy” was the ring name Reed had given me years ago before my first big fight. He’d given it to me, ribbing the shit out of me; claiming I needed to stop worrying about getting hit and just get in and do the business. It’d pissed me off then and it still grated now. Sometimes worse than others—now, funnily enough, wasn’t one of those times. Somehow I’d avoided getting my face mangled in all the fights I’d had. I liked to think it was my superior skill and reflexes. Maybe it was just dumb luck, but the “Pretty Boy” moniker still held. Hell, if I won tonight, I was ready to embrace it!

  The seconds were ticking down. Reggie pushed the mouthguard back into place and Reed wiped a little more petroleum jelly over my face.

  “You got this. Finish it quick,” he got in my face and demanded.

  I nodded unable to speak. There was only one acceptable answer.

  The buzzer sounded and I bounded into the centre of the cage. “The Cobra” advanced looking a lot fresher than he had at the end of the last five minute round. This was the fourth round. I didn’t want to do another five minutes after this. Fuck, I didn’t even want to do the full five here.

  He came at me with a flurry of punches in quick succession. My arms automatically moved tight to my face and head to guard. I’d learned long ago to keep my hands up and defend. It was the cardinal rule of staying alive in the cage.

  The leg kick was coming; I could sense it. I weaved to the left and got my body out of the way a fraction before he could land it. Regardless, I still felt the air rush past my thigh as his leg burst harmlessly through right where I’d just been.

  I moved in from the side and landed a solid left hook to his jaw. I felt the satisfying recoil from the force of the connection ricocheting up my arm. There was nothing like the feeling of landing a solid blow on your opponent. This is what we trained for. We were modern day warriors with all the blood lust of our ancestors.

  The Cobra swayed slightly and righted himself before I advanced. Rather than defend he chose to attack and then let loose with the punch combination that Reed had been expecting. Reed was right. He was slow with his retraction. That gave me the perfect opening.

  I stepped through and wrapped my leg around his, a split second later we were both on the canvas—me straddling his hips. I didn’t waste a moment. My fists rained down on his face. Even the lightweight leather of my hand coverings didn’t stop the skin from ripping open with the force. I caught him just under the right eye, and a fine line of red instantly formed. Then my next hit was to his nose and I’m sure I broke it before I delivered the third to his right cheekbone.

  There was no way he could take much more of this.

  Tap out mate.

  Let me have my title.

  I drew my right fist back and prepared for the knock out blow. If he wouldn’t tap out then it would have to be a knock out. I was winning this fight.

  My right fist was on its way. In the fraction of a second that blow took to land, I s
aw desperation, pain and a hint of defeat flicker through his eyes as he turned his head to avoid another front on hit.

  I tried to pull it, I swear to God I did! Somewhere deep inside the bloodlust I knew before I even connected.

  My fist connected hard to his left jaw and I felt the firmness of the canvas push back at me through the other side of his jaw. It was a sickening feeling and I reeled back with my sweat-laden torso.

  I watched The Cobra’s eyelids descend over unfocused pools of black surrounded by blue.

  It was the knockout blow.

  There was no coming back for The Cobra from that one.

  I staggered to my feet, all the elation gone.

  The title meant nothing now.

  I’d just killed a man in sport.

  Chapter 1

  Eden

  “Hey Eden wait up!” I glanced over my shoulder and saw it was Cindy. Great. Just what I needed—not. Cindy was “that” girl. You know the one. The girl that is just a little too pretty and a little too perky and oh so damned annoying because she knows both of those things and she plays those cards all too frequently. I did my best to plaster a smile on my face, but kept my eyes and face averted down.

  “Hey Cindy.” My voice was quiet, even to my own ears.

  She moved up alongside me with that overly happy and in your face way she has. Her white blonde ponytail even swung with a perky bounce.

  I knew there were only two reasons she could be talking to me. Probably one actually, but the other was kind of connected. I waited for it, playing this little internal guessing game with myself, wondering just how right I would be.

  “So, Eden, I was hoping you could lend me your notes from our Communications lecture. I know how you love to help out a friend.” Yep, I’d guessed it. She wanted my notes. But the way she said it was the bit that really cut. “Help out a Friend.” What a load of garbage. Cindy was no more my friend than, Garrett Forbes, the illustrious star of the university football team, was hot for me! Heck, occasionally he’d even offer me a pitiful smile. No girl wants to see pity on the face of the hottest guy around. That’s what hurts the most. The pity.