Fight or Fall (26 page)

I walked out to the garage, peering outside, seeing that her car was here.

She was somewhere in the house.

I walked in the living room, in the kitchen, inside the guest room, in the gym, in the small office; she was nowhere to be found.

My girl was playing hide and seek with me today.

Fine by me.

“Ava…duchess…” I’d renamed her duchess because she hated princess. I had googled that shit. Apparently, duchess had a better connotation than princess. Sure, I could’ve stuck with princess, but what was the point in calling her something that she didn’t like? Plus, now that we’ve gotten the chance to get to know each other, deeply and intimately, Ava was fond of nice things, but she was never mean to people. She wasn’t like any of those pretentious, highfalutin members of Maxwell’s society. Her assistant Daria really liked Ava. And that type of respect, admiration, could only originate from genuineness. Ava was kind to everyone. She treated servers the same way she treated Hollywood royalty.

Climbing up the stairs, I made sure my footfalls were heavy, hoping she’d know I was coming.

The bedrooms upstairs were mainly unoccupied. Bee’s room remained as is. When we’d moved into Aunt Margie’s place, sometimes we spent the weekends here at my parent’s house. Aunt Margie had her own place. She could’ve sold our parents’ house, but she’d asked Bee and me if it was okay with us. At the time my parents died, Aunt Margie had informed us, after meeting with the lawyers to get a hold of my parents’ assets, that the house only had three years’ worth of mortgage left. With the amount of life insurance, liquid assets, and retirement money they had, she’d told us that if we wanted to keep it, we could. My sister was too young to make that decision, so I’d decided for us that, yes, I’d wanted to keep it. In hindsight, if I’d known my sister was going to be diagnosed with osteosarcoma, I probably would’ve said no. Bee’s treatments cost a lot of money, even with health insurance. It was because of the generosity and charity from both private and public funders that my sister was able to get the best treatment she had.

I heard small footsteps in the guest room by the end of the hallway.

“Okay, I’m going back down. I guess I’m eating breakfast alone today…” I spoke loudly, switching strides, pretending to go back down but stopped at the top of the stairs. Keeping my feet close together, I walked stealth mode. Upon reaching the end of the hallway, I opened the door, the sight that greeted me was…crazy awesome…fucking crazy awesome.

In the middle of the room, against the hardwood floors, a glossy red mat lay flat. Inside the 3.5 by 9.5 ft mat was a black race track. Two miniature, robotic-looking cars were at the starting line-ups. The blue one was emblazoned with TANNER RACING on the side, the red one didn’t have any words or logos in it, but looked just as cool. It was the latest Japanese game invention – a mix of racing, online gaming, and artificial intelligence. I’d been checking it out for months now. I never mentioned it to Ava. Leif, my game buddy, was the only one who knew. Apparently he’d squealed on me and now it was sitting here in front of me. She even had it customized. Damn.

“Happy, birthday boy?” Coming out of the tiny closet, Ava was still in her red silk pajamas. Her gray eyes lit up with mischief and her mouth quirked into a smile.

Reaching my side, she tilted her head. I lowered my lips to hers, kissing her, lingering on her lips, savoring her warmth, her scent. I couldn’t get enough of her. Before I forgot what I was going to say, I touched her right cheek with my thumb, murmuring, “So happy.”

She dropped her gaze to the floor where she had laid out her present for me. “I have no idea how to connect these things…it took me some time. I was going to call Leif, but it’s too early.”

“Hey.” I grabbed on her waist, pulling her closer to me. “This is the coolest thing someone’s ever given me.”

“I don’t know about that…” she said, her mouth smirking. “You haven’t seen what I have for you tonight. And you’re going to have to wait until tonight…”

Okay, my morning wood was now rearing to be tamed. I adjusted myself in my boxers, willing myself to hopefully last throughout the day. Could you blame me? My girlfriend was the sexiest woman alive. Just the sight of her toes gave me a hard-on. And after months of self-imposed celibacy, can you really fault me for not wanting to be inside of her every minute of the day?

“Why can’t I enjoy it now?” I negated, sounding like a kid who’s just been denied the last piece of cake.

Yep. I’m a friggin’ pussy.

“Because it’s for tonight, silly.” Her long, dark locks framing her face, her brows wiggling, she looked like she was set on this. “Do you like your gift?”

Finding my hands in her hair, I responded contentedly, “I’m stoked! I’m sure I can beat Leif’s sorry ass in this.” I bent down to touch the blue race car. “How did you manage to have this customized?”

Giggling, she sat on the floor. “I met the game designer in Japan a few months ago. I don’t remember getting his contact information, but I had tracked him down after Leif gave me an idea on what to get you.” Thanks Leif. “I called him about a month ago and he was more than happy to do it for me. Of course, I told him that I’d love to meet him for tea when I go back there to thank him personally.”

I leaned over and kissed her lips again. “Thank you, this is amazing. It’s not even out in the market yet. I was gonna have Leif’s lazy ass line it up for me when it came out…” Leif enjoyed camping out days before a hotly anticipated video game was available in stores. Many times in college he called me so he could eat, relieve himself, and take a much-needed shower and not lose his place in line.

“You’re welcome.”

I fiddled with the racing cars, admiring the craftsmanship, the brilliance behind the game. There’s a lot of work and creativity in designing games. I have the utmost respect for these creative thinkers. Video games allowed me to remain a kid and make my mind work as an adult. It allowed me to think of strategic ways of winning, to be ahead of my opponents, see things from different angles.

Finally, after chatting idly about the game, I heard Ava’s stomach rumble. Gotta feed my woman.

“Let’s go grab some breakfast and then I wanna show you something.” Helping her stand up, my hands may have lingered on her ass for more than a few seconds.

Before getting out of the room, I recalled her words. “While I’m extremely happy to get this custom present from you…there’s no way you’re meeting Gabe Kobayashi for tea. Alone.” I’d seen pictures of the dude. Not only was he a young genius, he also has a reputation for being Japan’s number one player – not just in games. At twenty-one and having most of his life locked up in a computer room to create these games, there’s no doubt in my mind that he had a boner for Ava.

She let out a few tiny giggles before saying, “I need food. I’m starving. Let’s go, birthday boy.”

Since it was the weekend, no one would be here.

“So this is the front desk, Tina mans all the calls from the 800 number. In the beginning we didn’t get a lot of requests, but through the years the requests have more than tripled. There’s such a great need.” I pointed to the small desk with a bunch of papers on top. I had bought every piece of furniture in this place. Opening those credit accounts with Staples, Home Depot, and Ikea made this endeavor a reality. It took almost two years to pay them off because I’d wanted most of the funds to go to the recipients and to the employees. Somehow Dia had managed to make everything work. With all the things she’s done, Dia was invested in children’s lives too. Coming from a middle-class family, she’d seen how difficult it was for her own parents to get the help that her younger brother with autism needed. We might not be together anymore, but she understood where I was coming from.

I held Ava’s hand as we walked inside the 2200 square feet, the office space I’d been renting for almost four years now. It wasn’t much. Everything inside it was simple, but as long as the employees and volunteers were comfortable, it was all that mattered. Rent had skyrocketed in the last year because of the new mall being built on Sahara Avenue.

Ava listened while I explained what the employees did. Tina was the front desk. Joe, a college student and Tina’s nephew, helped with the web page, and Jill was the one who communicated with Dia about the recipients and expenses. She was wearing sunglasses since it was so bright and sunny outside, and she hasn’t taken them off since we stepped inside the building. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. I figured if I kept talking she’d ask me questions if she didn’t understand.

A few steps away from the bathroom, I guided Ava into a large room. This room made everything worthwhile for me. She stepped inside and walked to the wall. A wall Tina had labeled MILO’S BABIES two years ago. Tina was a mother whose little girl was one of the first few that The Children’s Foundation had helped. At age thirteen, Jaynie was diagnosed with leukemia. I was coming back from Arizona at that time and wanted to check on my parents’ house in Nevada before leaving for the Nationals when I had received the call from Dia. Tina had sent a letter to our foundation and was asking for whatever help and support we could give. I had met with Tina, and while the foundation didn’t have the money to fund the treatment, we were able to assist her with her monthly groceries and utility bills because she had to take a lot of time off to stay with Jaynie in the hospital. When a family member is sick, there are things that are put in the back burner and left on a standstill. The Children’s Foundation’s goal was to provide assistance to make life a little easier for the parents and siblings in small, impactful ways. Jaynie is now in remission. She’s back in school, and since then Tina has been working for me in gratitude. We had her as a part-time volunteer, and initially she had refused to get paid because she also had a full-time job. After talking with her that her administrative skills were much-needed and that I could not accept her as a volunteer, she had agreed to be a part-time employee.

Ava’s shoulders started shaking as she read the letters that Tina taped against the wall. What started out as one was now almost a hundred. I had read each and every one of them.

“Does Brynn know about this?” She was still facing the wall, her thumb grazing at the colorful papers that the thank you letters were written in.

“No,” I admitted, plunking myself down on the small chair close to the door.

“Why not?”

“Because this is something I’ve wanted to do for her, for my parents, for Aunt Margie,” I replied, playing with my car keys in between my hands.

“Don’t you think she should know?” Her back was still turned, still reading some of the letters, pausing once in a while at the drawings.

“Ava, you know my sister,” I started. “If I told her she’d want to put all her money into this. I just want her to enjoy her life. Travel. Have fun. Buy all the kitchen and baking supplies she wants. Live her life. She’s missed out on a lot of things.”

Turning her body to face me, she took off her sunglasses, her gray eyes gazing directly at me. “Is this why you fight?”

I stood up, walked towards the wall, slowly tearing off the small sheet of yellow paper from where it was taped on the wall. “This is from Elvie. She was twelve when she wrote this…to thank us for buying her and her brother toys for Christmas... She didn’t make it past Memorial Day. Her mother informed us that the liver disease had progressed and she lost the fight.”

Grabbing a white paper with drawings of cars just above Ava’s head. “This is from Justin – he was psyched when a Disney mascot paid a visit to his hospital room after he successfully completed surgery.”

I eyed a pink stationary on the left lower edge, a little past Ava’s hips. “That one’s from Maxine, she’s the cutest little girl, who we send fairy and princess gift sets every quarter.”

Placing my hands inside my pockets, I took a deep breath. “Two months after Aunt Margie died, I got a call from a lawyer. He told me that Aunt Margie had left me with almost $124,000 in assets, after taxes. It was her life insurance, savings, and some bonds she had invested in. She left Brynn with all her jewelry and also our mother’s jewelry and her house in Henderson. The first thing I did with the money was to make sure that my sister’s school loans were paid off. I’d told Brynn about it and she agreed. The rest of the money, Brynn said it was mine, Aunt Margie had left it to me so I should decide on what to do with. I thought long and hard until I decided that building something like this, this foundation, was something that I wanted to do. Dia helped me start it.” Her eyes turned darker at the mention of my ex-girlfriend’s name. “The only relationship I have with her is this, Ava. Nothing past this. She was the one who called me a month before I signed with your father that the foundation didn’t have enough liquid assets to keep going.”

I paused and touched her face. “It’s easy to get money when you’re an athlete, especially a popular one. I was raking in a lot when I was swimming. But I lost a lot of corporate sponsors when the scandal with Kieran happened. My biggest sponsor, WaterTech, withdrew my contract. This, the foundation, what I started in honor of my family – the thought of losing this snapped me out of my coma. When your father’s company contacted me about Next Gen and informed me about the money, I didn’t think twice about it. I could make money as an engineer, but it would not amount to what my previous sponsors or what your father was offering me.”