Doomsday Love: An MMA & Second Chance Romance (23 page)

T
he gym looked
much different during the day.

I grabbed my satchel and tossed it around me, marching for the front door of the Dawg Pit.

It’d been seven days since finding out his grandma died, and I hadn’t heard from Drake. Kylie hadn’t heard from Oscar, either. We hadn’t seen them at Animal House.

Yeah, I thought at first he was taking time for himself. But I called constantly. I text him repeatedly. He never responded.

Sighing, I pulled the door open and was nearly suffocated by the smell of rusty iron, sweat, and musty body odor.

There was a girl around my age behind the help desk.

She was fit, her hair pulled up in a tight ponytail, wearing a blue shirt with the words Dirty Dawg Pit monogrammed on the chest of it.

She saw me and looked confused. “Hi,” I said, meeting at the desk.

“Hey?” She looked me over. “Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for Drake Davenport? I know his Dad owns this gym.”

She frowned. “Who?”

“Drake…?”

“Oh! You mean Doomsday?”

“Yeah—him. If that’s what you know him as.”

She folded her arms. “Oh. Well, he’s not here.”

“I assumed he’d be here since he’s not at work or at the Animal House?”

“Maybe he’s not in the mood to see you,” she retorted.

I raised a brow. “Excuse me?”

“Look, we get girls like you coming in here all the time asking for fighters. If the boys don’t want to see you, they don’t want to see you. Doomsday is hard to find anyway. He only shows up when he wants to show up, and that’s mainly just for the fights.”

“I’m not just some girl looking for a fighter,” I snapped. “I’m his girlfriend. I haven’t seen him in a week.”

“Hey, Jessica!” I heard Otto’s voice from a short distance away and my heart sped up a notch as I looked towards him. I was glad to see him. When all else failed, I had a twin to fall back on.

Otto’s eyes moved over to me and he smiled. “What’s up, Jenny?”

“Nothing, Otto. I just stopped by to see if Drake was around.”

Otto wrapped his arm around Jessica’s shoulder. “Is she being a bitch to you?” he asked. “’Cause you know I can get her fired,” he teased.

I shrugged. I didn’t care if she kept her job or lost it. Wasn’t my problem.

Otto watched me for a few seconds. When he realized how serious I was, he looked at Jessica and told her to take off for a few.

“I got it,” he said. She nodded and walked away, going through a swinging gray door. I watched her go, but it was when she disappeared and the door stopped swinging that I saw the wide, rectangular window right across from me. And sitting right there looking at me was Drake’s dad.

Flex.

His eyes were like hot coals, his nostrils flared. He had a stack of papers in his hand, his brows stitched together, his jaw ticking.

I tore my gaze away.

“You haven’t heard from him either?” Otto asked.

“No,” I whispered. I looked at the exit. “Do you think we can talk outside?”

My eyes darted over to where Flex was again. Flex was standing now. Otto saw him coming for the door so he walked around the counter, ushering me out.

“Otto!” Flex shouted, but he didn’t look back.

He continued out the door and down the sidewalk until he spotted my car. “Shouldn’t have come here. Drake would be pissed that you did.”

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t know that, because he hasn’t been talking to me!”

“Listen, Jenny, I haven’t heard from Drake since last Friday. We picked him up from the hospital and dropped him off at home the other night and that was it.”

“I heard Mrs. Richman died?”

Otto’s face grew solemn and he looked down at the pavement. “Yes. Grandma Marie.” He shrugs a little, holding his hands out. “She wasn’t our grandmother by blood, but she took us in and treated us like it. We grew up around her, too, but we weren’t as close as Drake was to her. The hospital kept trying to call him since he was next of kin but they ended up calling my mom. We had no other choice but to cremate her. Funeral costed too much and Drake wasn’t answering so we handled it.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, rubbing his upper arm.

“It’s cool.” He put on a warm smile. “Anyway, we left Drake at home after he told us he was cool, but Oscar said he would be back to check on him after his shift. Well, Oscar went by there afterwards and Drake wasn’t there. He figured Drake went to get something to eat or something so he waited… but Drake still wasn’t there. He sat there for three hours and nothing. He called the gyms but no one saw a sign of him.”

“So… what are you saying? That he just disappeared?”

Otto shrugged. “He had a fight yesterday but didn’t show up. Flex has been asking about him too since he’s losing money. No one knows where he is right now, Jenny.”

“W-well where would he go? Can you think of a place? Somewhere he’d hide for a while?”

“The only place he hid was at Grandma Marie’s house. But he’s not there. We’ve checked everyday. Oscar is out looking for him now. Trust me, we’re worried, too. The last thing we want is find out he’s been tossed in jail for doing something stupid.” Otto rubbed his jaw roughly. “Grandma Marie was pretty much all he had left, other than us. She was important to him. I know he’s hurting, but when he hurts, he’s not smart. If we don’t find him, he might end up ruining his damn life.”

My eyes burned, but I looked away quickly, puling out my car keys. “I understand,” I whispered. “If you find him, you’ll tell him to call me?”

Otto nodded and then capped my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jenny. I really am. As soon as we hear something, I’ll reach out to you.”

“Okay. Thanks, Otto.”

He nodded and stepped back. I rounded my car, opening the door. He walked away and I watched him, but when I climbed into the car, I heard Flex’s voice again. I could see him through my rearview mirror.

“He probably got pissed at her, threw one of his damn tantrums, and she told her parents about him—had him tossed in fucking jail or some shit! You know they’re rich. They can get whatever the fuck they want.”

“Fuck off, Flex!” Otto fumed. “She wouldn’t do that to him.”

Flex was loud on purpose.

I wanted to respond, but I didn’t. I’d heard a lot about Flex through his only son, and the one thing Flex loved most was drama. Conflict.

He was childish, so I chose to be the bigger person in that moment.

I started the ignition and I drove off quickly, but my heart was hurting more and more with each mile away. I had no idea where Drake was.

I wanted to cry so badly and I ended up doing just that as soon I arrived at home and locked my bedroom door behind me. I lay in bed, tears thick in my eyes, clutching C.C. in my arms.

She smelled like him. He usually rested his head on her belly when he snuck in late at night.

God, where was he? Where could he have gone?

Why wouldn’t he talk to me? Why wouldn’t he just let us help him?

Drake could have been miles away by now. He could have been anywhere, and unfortunately no one knew of his whereabouts. I thought surely he’d tell Oscar and Otto, but he didn’t. On purpose.

He didn’t want Flex to try and manipulate them into telling him where he was.

He was smart… but he was also being very, very stupid.

I wanted to understand, but I just couldn’t. How could he just leave like that? How could he go without telling me—or at least letting me know he was somewhere safe?

Someone knocked on my door.

I looked up, and when Dad walked in, I scowled instantly. Maybe he wasn’t showing up because of them. Maybe he was too ashamed to come back and talk to me because of the way Mom treated him. Like he was scum of the earth, never to be respected.

Dad stopped at the end of my bed and called my name when I looked away.

“What?” I mumbled.

“I have something for you… something you might like.”

I sat up, swiping my eyes. Dad looked at me warily and sat on the edge of my mattress. “What is it?” I asked.

He had a thick packet in his hand but before I could read whom it was sent from, he grabbed my shoulder and I looked up at him.

“Why are you crying, Jenny?” His voice was calm. It seemed unusual to hear it this calm and this concerned. His sentiment seeped through his pores. I could almost feel it, and it wrung my heart.

“It’s nothing,” I murmured.

“It’s something.” He swallowed thickly. “Is it… that boy?”

I avoided his eyes and didn’t respond.

“Did you two… um… break up?”

“No.”

“So what is it then?”

I looked up at Dad and his eyes softened, assuring me I could tell him. “You won’t tell Mom?”

“I won’t.”

“Swear to me, Dad. I don’t want her to know any more about him. Not after what she did.”

“She is your mother, Jenny,” he sighed.

“Yes, but a real mother is supposed to be understanding and honest. She isn’t supposed to try and pin him for breaking an entering.”

“I understand.” He scratched his chin. “I won’t tell your mom. I promise.” He smiled down at me.

I nodded, side-eyeing him. “I haven’t seen him since that night Mom caught us.”

“Why not?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I called and called, sent him text after text. Nothing. I found out, though, that his grandmother died and she was all he really had left as a parent, you know? He lived with her.”

“What about his dad?”

I scoffed. “His dad is a piece of crap. I’m sure you already know that.”

“I’ve heard things,” he stated, more like he knew a lot of things.

“I know you see him and you think he’s a bad guy, but he’s actually a really good person. He’s hard to read by most people because he makes it that way. I’ve known him since I was ten. We were friends in fifth grade. He was a nice boy and still is. He’s just a little… lost… and he feels abandoned.”

“I see.” Dad looked down at my hands as I messed with the tips of my fingernails. “Well, I’m sure he will reach out to you soon. But hey, look at this.” He picked up the packet with a smile and handed it to me.

I read the label and grinned. “Oh my gosh,” I gasped. “You think…?”

“I know.” He smiled.

I tore what was left of the packet open and read over the letter.

“Harvard may have turned you down, but Yale is just as good,” he announced.

“Oh my gosh, Dad!” I squealed as I hopped up, throwing my arms around his neck. He chuckled as he hugged me tight, and in that moment I forgot all about my worries. This was huge—some good news to get me past the bad for just a few seconds.

“You’re a smart girl, Jenny. I expected nothing less.”

I released him, grabbing the paper again. “Oh, I can’t wait to rub this in Mom’s face.”

“Hey now,” he scolded. “There will be no rubbing anything in anyone’s face. We’ll tell her over dinner tonight. I’ve already arranged it. Dinner should be ready within two hours.”

“Great.” I smiled and Dad stood, walking towards my door.

“Get cleaned up, okay? I’ll see you down in a bit.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

Dad wavered by the door, gripping the knob. “Uh…about that boy. If he doesn’t end up calling to make things right, just try and focus on your future. You have so much ahead of you, Jenny. So much. I’d hate to see you waste it all on someone that isn’t even sure about you, let alone himself.”

I watched his eyes carefully, and he was serious.

Very serious. And he cared, a lot more than I thought.

“I’ll see you at dinner.”

I nodded, and he took off right away, leaving no room for me to say anything else.

* * *

“
S
o
… Yale?” Mom asked. She folded her arms as she entered my bedroom. Her back pressed against the frames of my door. We’d just eaten dinner, and when I told her the news she wasn’t as ecstatic as Dad. As a matter of fact, she changed the subject all together.

I nodded. “Yep.”

“Harvard would have been much better.”

“Yale is just as good,” I declared.

“But it is second best. Not first, like Harvard.”

I drew in a breath, lowering my guitar to my lap. The song I was coming up with was the only thing distracting me from reality, but now that she was here, my reality was back and rolling.

“Okay, Mom.” I looked at her. “Is that all?”

“No, that’s not all. I have a list of everything you’ll need for your apartment. Your father and I are doing the shopping for it. We want to make sure it’s suitable enough for you.”

“Why don’t you just let me get a dorm?”

She scoffed. “Like I’d let a Roscoe live on a campus dorm. There have been millions of bodies in and out of those rooms, in those hallways—all over. That’s not happening.”

“Okay. Whatever you want,” I mumbled, lifting my guitar up again.

I felt her looking at me. “Make sure you’re at your singing rehearsal tomorrow morning.”

“I know. 10:30. I’ll be there.”

“Good.” Mom walked out of my room quickly and when she was gone, I pushed off the bed and shut the door.

I checked the time on my phone. It was only eight. I needed to talk to Kylie. I needed to tell her my good news, of course, but I also needed to rant.