Brave

by Natalie Gayle

  “On the other side of me is Luke “Lights Out” O’Donnell. He’s a fighter that’s won by knockout on every single occasion, bar the fight he lost to “Pretty Boy” here, just over four years ago.” The din in the room had become a buzz. “I’m not going to say anymore at the moment, rather, I’m going to turn it over to you to ask these magnificent fighters the questions you’re all dying to know the answers to.”

  The room had been broken into quarters and there was an official taking questions from each section. The front left quadrant was first to go and they were moving around clockwise.

  Just like at home the first few minutes were spent asking the easy questions. I’d answered about three of four straight-forward questions about my preparation. I was wondering when the dirt was going to come out. It always did.

  “How have you acclimatised to Vegas, Xander?”

  “Great. I’m well over the jet lag. I don’t mind the climate. So I’m feeling fit and comfortable with all that.” I leant back a little from the microphone and didn’t miss the snarling.

  “You won’t be too comfortable after this fight.” This comment came from “Lights Out.”

  The comment didn’t go unnoticed by a few of the reporters in the front sections.

  “Care to explain that comment a little more “Lights Out”.” The reporter whose turn it was asked.

  Luke laughed in a smug, sardonic kind of way. “Absolutely. “Pretty Boy” here, won’t be so pretty after I’ve finished with him and he’s going to be anything but comfortable with the hurt I’m going to put on him tomorrow night.”

  The gallery of press all seemed to turn to me. “How do you feel about that Xander?”

  I shrugged my shoulders trying to appear as nonchalant as possible. The press were hanging on my every word. “Nothing I haven’t heard before. I recall Luke saying something similar before our last encounter. If memory serves me correctly, it was Luke that was damned uncomfortable the next day. Six cracked ribs, a sprained wrist and a torn groin from what I recall, oh, and a hell of a headache from the knockout I gave him.” A ripple of laughter rolled through the room.

  Once again, I could feel my opponent glaring and sneering at me.

  “Xander, Luke’s ring name is “Lights Out”, but maybe yours should be “Death Punch”. The vast majority of your wins have also been from knockouts, not to mention your last fight resulted in the death of your opponent and fellow fighter, The Cobra. How do you feel about that?”

  My mind raced as I tried to think of what to say.

  “If you’re asking whether I’m going to change my ring name. No. Reed here monikered me with it and it’s not something I’m going to mess with. As for what happened to Colton, well, I’m sure you’ve all read or heard it before. I’m very regretful for the accident that occurred. I really don’t have anything more to say about it.”

  The question moved to the next section. “How do you feel, “Lights Out”, getting into the cage knowing you’ve only ever been beaten by “Pretty Boy” and knowing he killed his last opponent, whether it was accidentally or not?”

  Luke laughed almost hysterically and I wondered what he was playing at. Maybe it was some strange ploy? “I’ve won my last ten fights since then, at a much higher level. “Pretty Boy” here hasn’t even been in the cage. What do you all think is going to happen? Come on people do the math…” Oh no, he couldn’t stop there could he? He took it a step further and crossed the line. “I’ll tell you what’s going to happen; he’s going to end up looking just like his freak show girlfriend. That way they’ll be a matching pair.” Luke glared over at me, cockiness and putrid dripping from his lips as he chuckled at his own pathetic attempt at humour.

  That was the lowest of low blows. I started to rise from my chair anger ripped through me. Fuck him. Reed slammed his hand down on my thigh and pushed his considerable weight on it.

  “Sit down. He’s just trying to wind you up,” Reed hissed in my ear. I knew it was the truth, but it hurt. No man should have to listen to the woman he loved being attacked; let alone in a public forum being beamed to millions of people. But even more to the point, Eden shouldn’t have to go through this. This was hateful and so hurtful.

  I was terrified she’d run and I wouldn’t blame her. I glanced past Reed to my left and saw they were all standing now. Dad had his arm around her shoulders and Dane was on the other side. Seth was at her back. It was as if they were shielding her from the hurtfulness and all I could think about was that she was going through this because of me. They were shielding her from the crap that she was facing because she was with me. It was my job to protect her as her man. I was doing everything but, it seemed.

  I took a deep breath and I realised every eye in the place was on me. It was so silent the place was eerie.

  Right then, I made a decision.

  I rolled my jaw and took a deep breath to calm the beast that was raging inside me, wanting to tear out Luke’s hateful throat.

  “I mistakenly thought this fight was between the two of us, Luke.” My voice was quiet but steely and I had no doubt everyone knew my level of rage and control.

  Luke butted in. “It is “Pretty Boy”. Unless you need your girlfriend to help you out. She’s looks as scary as hell—you haven’t fought in a long time, after all,” he joked and there were a few smirks from his camp. Others chose to look embarrassed.

  Rage engulfed me but I had to keep it together; I couldn’t stoop to his level. I wouldn’t degrade myself or Eden like that. My mind whirred with options and possibilities. What should I say? All the while the press looked on like hungry sharks, waiting for me to say or do something. They could smell the blood.

  I turned to look my opponent in the eye. “Luke, I don’t normally engage in prefight bullshit, but today I’m going to make an exception, because today you’ve managed to degrade our sport, which is supposed to be honourable, to a whole level that is just all kinds of screwed up.”

  Luke was almost jumping up and down in his seat now. I wondered if he was on some interesting drugs because he was behaving like a demented madman. “What you don’t like us poking a little fun at your girlfriend? It’s all part of the deal man. You were the one that decided to go out with her. I would have thought the “Pretty Boy” could have pulled a pretty chick.” Gasps went up around the room but Luke kept on carrying on.

  I couldn’t believe my ears. My temper had moved to nuclear now. My fists were clenching on top of the table and I did nothing to hide it. Reed leaned on my leg some more to stop me from standing. The press were silent, but mesmerised as they looked between us.

  As much as I wanted to rip him limb from limb, I couldn’t do it now. Right now words were my only weapons and I had to use them carefully—very carefully.

  “So you want to bring Eden into this Luke? Then let me tell you a little bit about her.” My eyes moved from Luke who almost looked like he was salivating at all this rubbish to glance briefly to my left and Eden’s face. It was ashen and grief stricken. I only hoped what I was going to do wouldn’t make it worse for her.

  “You’re right, Luke. Yes, Eden has some scars, as you’ve so cruelly pointed out. You really think she or I didn’t know that? But do you know how she got those scars Luke?”

  Luke looked over at me with a stupid grin on his face but said nothing, just shook his head like the belligerent idiot he is. The press remained silent, hanging on my every word.

  “I didn’t think so because if you’d bothered to do your research there’s no way you would have made those comments. Eden got those scars…mate.” I gritted my teeth and spat the word. He was anything but friend tonight. “By choosing to head down a staircase into a floor engulfed in flames to find her sister who was trapped by the flames. She walked into a fire to find her sister.” Gasps went up around the room and the faces I could see in the half-light were full of surprise, awe and shock.

  “I can’t think of much of a braver thing to do, but you have the audacity to sit her
e and fire pot shots at her scars. You’re a real hero, Luke.” My voice dripped with sarcasm. “It’s people like you that disgust me. With your celebrity status, you could be building people up and inspiring; instead you choose to be a bully and try to attack people. Why do you feel the need to do that? I can only think it’s because of your own insecurities.”

  Luke went to say something.

  “I’m not finished and I think the only thing left for you to say right now is an apology,” I thundered, my voice reverberating around the room. Luke sat back and suddenly looked very small and his crew seemed to not know which way to look.

  “Eden makes me want to be a better person every day. I love her for that, and many other reasons I doubt you’d ever understand. Yes, she has scars, and she doesn’t feel great about them. But she also doesn’t let them rule her life. Everyday she gets up and works her butt off to be the best sister, daughter, girlfriend and person she can be. She’s the bravest person I know and those scars are a constant reminder of just how brave she is. I couldn’t be prouder to call her mine.”

  I got up. I was done. This conference was at an end as far as I was concerned. I was just about to head from the stage when I couldn’t resist one last comment.

  I leant back over the microphone. “Let me promise you one thing, Luke; the only lights that will be going out tomorrow will be yours.”

  The press erupted into a frenzy of questions and security had a mountain of a job to manage it. I didn’t care.

  Simon and Tina came rushing up towards me their faces stricken. I didn’t care.

  All I cared about was getting to my girl.

  That’s all that mattered to me.

  Chapter 32

  Xander

  I pulled Eden into my arms as soon as I reached their spot behind the screens. I didn’t say a word just held her tight. The noise from the uproar in the room was overwhelming.

  Her tears soaked through my shirt and I hurt for every single one of them. I could only imagine the pain of having all that put out there for the world to see, to pick over and give commentary on. No one deserved that. What Luke had done was unforgivable.

  We needed to get out of here. I was still raging inside and I needed to know how bad the wounds to Eden were.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I yelled to my group over the noise. I bundled Eden to me the best I could and the four suits moved as one to form around us. Five minutes later we were all in the safety of our suite.

  What a clusterfuck!

  I flopped down on the sofa and pulled Eden with me into my lap. I still had no real idea what she was thinking. The only positive was that she hadn’t bolted yet. That had to be something, surely?

  Reed and Dane sat down on the sofa opposite. Dad prowled in front of the windows and Seth leant against the bar that separated off the kitchen and dining area. I could tell they were all too stunned to really understand what had happened.

  “In all the years I’ve been around fights of all types, I’ve never seen something like that. Trash talk is one thing that’s well just…fucked.” Dad opened the proceedings. “Sorry, Eden. I didn’t mean to swear but nothing else quite covers this.”

  Eden sat up a little straighter. “It’s okay, Len,”she said quietly reaching for a tissue from the box on the table beside the sofa. “It’s not exactly a surprise that it happened.”

  “No, it’s not,” Len said, still fuming.

  I looked between the two. Shit had just gone down big time with Luke, but there was more to come I was sure. These two knew something more—they were referring to something else. I didn’t miss the look between them.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” I demanded in a quiet voice.

  Eden stiffened in my arms and whispered, “Damn.” Then she cast a little sideways look at dad. He had a look on his face that screamed “Busted”.

  “Right. Who’s going to spill the beans?”

  There was another exchange of glances, before Eden went on. “I ran into a little trouble at uni.”

  “What the hell, what happened? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t tell you because I wanted your head focused on the fight, not my problems.” Her voice held an edge.

  “Well, my problems have become your problems it seems. And quite frankly I don’t give a fuck about the fight if it means you’ve had to hide stuff and suffer in silence because I’m involved.” I moved out from under her and stormed over to stand by the windows as well. I needed to be on my feet and free to move. I was so keyed up and pissed off.

  “Okay, I get your annoyed but I handled it. It was cruel and hurtful and all the usual, but it’s also made me stronger. That’s exactly when I decided not to let the hateful people win anymore. That’s the point when I decided I wasn’t going to take it anymore.”

  I gritted my teeth. What had happened for her to have this type of epiphany? “Tell me,” I pleaded. God, what had she been going through for me?

  She nodded her head and had a look of resolve on her face. I couldn’t believe how strong she was. I was waiting for her to dissolve into hysterics or something.

  “It was my last exam on the Friday before we left. I went in and sat down at my usual seat. When I opened the exam packet it had half a dozen pages that were screenshots from social media pages. There were some pretty ugly photos of my scars and lots of nasty comments.”

  I couldn’t believe what she was telling me. “What the hell? What did you do? How did they get in the exam papers?” My brain was struggling to take it all in and make sense of it.

  “Fortunately, I’d studied till it was second nature so I did the exam on auto-pilot. Then I showed the whole lot to the exam supervisor and lodged an official complaint. I’ll chase it up when I get home.” I was staggered at how calmly Eden was sitting there.

  “Do you have any idea who did this?” I asked trying to keep the fury from my voice. Who would do something so horrid? How could this happen?

  “I don’t have any evidence, only a feeling but I think it was Cindy. I caught her giving me a funny look, kind of like she was expecting me to do something,” Eden admitted.

  “Trouble making bitch,” I snarled.

  “She’s always been bad news, mate,” Dane piped up.

  “It’s not the first time she’d tried to start shit and not just to you. I know she did some stuff at high school,” Seth added.

  “It doesn’t matter if she did or didn’t. I realised in that horrible two hours that the stuff they were writing and saying was their problem. Not mine.” Eden’s voice was strong and full of conviction. “Because Xan is in the public eye, there are always going to be small minded and insecure people. Yes, it is hurtful and horrible but it’s a reflection on them not me. Isn’t that basically what you called Luke on tonight? I realised you were far more important to me than taking to heart what people were ever going to say about me, Xander. If that is the price for loving you, then so be it.”

  Hell, it had been a day for disclosures. It wasn’t a secret that we loved each other but I’d declared exactly that in front of millions of people and now Eden was doing the same in front of my father and my closest friends.

  “But the point is, you shouldn’t have to pay a price to love me,” I raged in frustration.

  “I don’t disagree with you, Xander, but it’s not the way the world works. You and I should know that better than most. But what you did down there tonight? Nobody other than my family has ever stood up for me like that, certainly not publically.” There was a resignation in her voice, an acceptance of her fate and while I guess, that it was good to know she was accepting things she couldn’t change, it didn’t make it right. Not one little bit.

  “But that’s just it, Eden. I shouldn’t have to stand up for you like that. God knows I will every time because I love you more than anything but it’s just…not right.” I was so angry and frustrated I could barely speak.

  That’s what was killing me.

  I just felt so po
werless to protect her.

  I stormed into the bedroom stripping as I went. I needed to hit something badly. Work off this rage. Figure out what I should do.

  A few seconds later I was in my workout clothes.

  “Xander, what are you doing?” Reed barked.

  “What does it look like?”

  “You need to rest, not train.”

  “Like I can rest and relax when all I want to do is tear the heads off every last fucker that ever dared to disrespect her.” I grabbed a towel from the stack and another couple of water bottles.

  “Give me an hour, Eden.” I pressed my fingers to my lips and threw her a kiss. She gave me a little smile that spoke of acceptance. She understood what I needed to do and she was okay with it. Eden got me. When did she get so damned solid?

  “Don’t go too hard,” she cautioned.

  I just gave her one stiff nod.

  “Fuck me; this is going to be a circus,” Seth muttered, moving to the door.

  “Boys,” Reed barked and they followed me into the elevator.

  A few minutes later we were in the hotel gym. Fortunately, there’d only been one middle aged guy in there using the treadmill. He’d taken one look at all of us and made a bee line for the door which Seth was now standing guard at.

  Dane had thoughtfully grabbed some pads and gloves from his room. Now I was pounding away, trying to work out the mad. Reed was sitting on an exercise bike watching on pensively. I could tell he was wondering if the whole fight was about to go down the toilet.

  Hell, no!

  There was no way I wasn’t walking out of that cage as the winner tomorrow night. That fucker was going down in the worst way.

  I wanted his blood.

  I wanted to take out every last hurtful and hateful comment that had been directed at Eden on his worthless hide. Fuck him and everyone else that thought it was okay to be so damned cruel. The familiar feeling of impact and burn throbbed through me. Nothing ever worked quite like hitting bags or pads.