Last Chance To Fight (6 page)

Soon we went back to the beach blanket with Ted and Betsy, and of course little Avery. She really was such a cute kid. Anna and I took a turn watching her while Ted and Betsy went for a swim, and I thought maybe that would be a good time to tell Anna about my past. It felt wrong, sitting there with her and Avery, feeling practically like a family already. With Anna, I always felt right at home. At the same time, although it felt wrong to keep something so important from her, I didn’t want to ruin the moment. I just wanted to pretend everything was perfect, for a little while. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t help it. I just wanted to keep feeling good.

“So, Anna, I’m having a great time. But I have to go. I have to go back to San Diego tonight. I need to train in the morning, and then I’ve got that tournament semi-final in the evening.”

“Oh,” Anna said. “OK.”

“Oh, are you disappointed?” I asked, nudging her.

“Well, I thought maybe you’d want to come over to my place later,” she admitted, somewhat shyly.

“Is that right?” I said, leaning closer. “Well, not tonight, honey. You’re going to have to wait. I’m going to make you beg for it.”

Anna’s jaw dropped open, as she sat there speechlessly looking at me, trying to figure out if I was serious.

“Soon enough, darling,” I said. “Anyway, I really do have to go. But do you want to come to the semi-final? It’s a big match. If I win this one, I get to go to the final. And if I win the tournament, I get to take on the champion for the title. And then there will be nothing left for me to do except rule the world.”

“Wow,” she said, sitting up. “That’s exciting. You really want me to go?”

“Yeah, of course. I can pick you up and bring you there. Will you be free around six?”

“Sure, that sounds great.”

“OK, see you then,” I said, getting up.

“I’ll be staying at Betsy’s, I think,” she told me.

“Oh, really? OK,” I said. I thought that was a little strange, but I didn’t worry too much about it.  I leaned down to give her a goodbye kiss. “Also, just so you know, I’ve been doing my exercises every day like a good boy.”

“Is that so,” she said, a sly smile spreading across her face.

“It is. And that means you owe me my reward,” I reminded her.

“I suppose I do.”

“After the fight. You’d better be ready,” I said, cupping her face in my hand. I pressed my lips against hers to give her a long, deep kiss. When I let go, she opened her eyes slowly, languorously.

“I’ll be ready,” she purred.

T
he next day, I woke up early and went to the gym like always. Since I had a fight that evening, though, Clive took it a bit easier on me during training. Just some light exercise, and the rest of my energy I’d have to save up later for the match.

I had been working pretty hard lately, and was looking forward to an easy day at the gym. A couple of my buddies in the league were there, Jordan and Wayne, and we took turns lifting weights, spotting each other, and busting each other’s balls.

“Hey, Jordan, I heard you got a new piece of tail,” Wayne said as he stood over Jordan, who huffed and puffed under the heavy weights and didn’t answer.

“Yeah, I hear she’s a looker,” I said, and Jordan glared at me silently.

“You’d better not leave her alone with me,” Wayne remarked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

“You’d...better...shut...the...” Jordan panted as he struggled.

“Don’t hurt yourself now, Jordan. You could drop that weight right on your skull, and then who would comfort... what’s her name again?”

“I’m...not...telling...you...you...fu—”

“Now, now. It’s okay, I’ll figure out who she is so after you accidentally kill yourself, I can make sure all her needs are met. If you know what I mean,” Wayne said, unable to keep from laughing.

“God, you’re such a dick,” Jordan said at last as he put the weight back on the rack and sat up.

“What? I only have her best interests in mind. Don’t be so selfish. Do you want her to just sit around and dry up after you die?”

“You’re lucky I don’t kick your ass,” Jordan said, tossing his sweaty towel at Wayne.

“Gross, get that nasty shit away from me,” Wayne said, laughing. “All right, it’s your turn, Finn. Get on that bench. I can’t wait to give you shit.”

“What the hell do you have to give me shit about?” I asked, getting down on the bench.

“I heard that the world-renowned bad boy Hunter Finn is back in town,” he said with a wink.

“What are you talking about, dumbass?” I said, taking the weight in my hands and starting to lift.

“I heard you have a new piece of tail too,” Wayne said. “Jake told me.”

“Jake? How the hell does he know?” I said quickly, confused, and then instantly realized my mistake.

“So it’s true!” Wayne shouted. “I told you,” he said, turning to Jordan.

“Yeah, yeah,” said Jordan.

“So who is she?” Wayne asked, batting his eyelashes. “Who’s the lucky piece of tail?”

“Listen, she’s not a piece of tail. I told you, I don’t do that shit anymore.”

“I know, I know. You are a reformed sinner. I still don’t believe it.”

“Well... believe it,” I panted, getting a bit tired from all the talking and lifting.

“I believe it,” another, annoyingly familiar voice piped in from behind me. Although I hadn’t had the extreme displeasure of hearing him for over a year now, I knew exactly who it was. He always showed up when you least wanted him to.

“Nathaniel, I can’t believe you’re showing your face around here,” I said, using all my breath just to make it clear I hated the guy. Not that he needed any reminder.

“You don’t own the place, Finn,” he snarled back at me.

“No,” I said, putting the weight on the rack and sitting up. I was going to need all my energy to talk to that idiot. Not only that, but I wouldn’t put it past him to try to kill me while I was lifting. “I just thought you’d be a little ashamed, considering you’re not even allowed to fight in the CFC anymore.”

“Only because you’re a cheating piece of shit,” he said, getting up in my face. I knew there was no use arguing with him. Once a douchebag, always a douchebag. There would be no changing his mind.

“I’m not the one who failed your drug test, Nathaniel. You did that all by yourself,” I said as nonchalantly as possible. Above all, I couldn’t let him get to me. That’s exactly what he wanted.

“Get off your high horse,” Nathaniel hissed, and then I saw his anger turn to an even uglier, smug self-satisfaction. “Besides, I know all about that sexy piece of ass you’ve been getting lately.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Anna. I know all about her big tits and that fine ass,” he said, licking his lips lasciviously.

“You’d better watch it or I’m going to mess you the fuck up,” I said, getting quickly to my feet. There was a lot of shit I could take, but not that. When that piece of human trash actually spoke Anna’s name, I thought I was going to explode.

“Whoa, hey man, calm down,” Jordan said, touching me on the shoulder. “He’s just trying to get to you.”

“Yeah, and I’m going to get to him. Right through his fucking skull,” I said, pushing Jordan’s hand off of me.

“What’s the matter?” Nathaniel asked. “Don’t like it when other people talk about your little slut?”

“That’s it!” I shouted, and lunged at him. It took both Wayne and Jordan to hold me back. “I’ll rip your fucking head off!”

“Dude, calm down,” said Wayne. “He’s just trying to mess with your head because he knows you’ve got a fight tonight.”

“Yeah, maybe that’s it,” said Nathaniel. “Or maybe I know more about your little slut than you do.”

“Just let him go,” Wayne said as I started to lunge again. Nathaniel started walking toward the door, and I wanted with every fiber of my being to run after him and pound his face in.

“Save it for the fight tonight,” Jordan put in.

I knew Wayne and Jordan were right. I couldn’t afford to get this worked up over such a useless asshole.

“All right, I’m OK. You can let me go,” I said, letting my muscles relax. After a minute Jordan and Wayne figured I’d calmed down enough to let my arms drop.

“Man, what a douche,” Wayne said.

“No shit,” said Jordan.

It was only after I’d calmed down a bit that I realized the whole thing was a little weird. Of course, it wasn’t weird for Nathaniel to act like a total dickhead, but what was up with all that shit about Anna? How did he even know her name? I couldn’t think of any explanation, so I tried my best to put it out of my mind. I couldn’t be distracted at the fight tonight. It was good to have a little bit of anger to work out in the ring, but not a blind rage. I needed to be able to think straight. So I concentrated all my effort on pushing Nathaniel and all of his bullshit out of my mind.

E
ven though I didn’t think Nate would come back to bother me again, I decided it would be best to stay at Betsy’s for a few more days. I wanted to get settled into my new home, but it wouldn’t be worth it if he came back and something worse happened than last time. I definitely didn’t want to feel like I did when Betsy had to come and get me. I was a total mess.

“Hey,” she’d said as I got into the car that night after Nate’s visit. “What’s going on? Are you all right?”

I told her everything that happened, and for a minute, she sat there silently.

“That’s so weird,” she said eventually. “I’m sorry. Has he ever acted like that before? Or was that just totally out of the blue?”

“It was pretty out of the blue,” I said. “I’m trying to look back and see if there were any warning signs. I guess maybe a few.”

“Like what?” Betsy asked. “Do you think he’s dangerous? Should we go to the police?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t think it’s that bad. I guess I had noticed him being a little bit controlling before.”

“How do you mean?” she asked.

“Nothing at all quite like this,” I told her. “But like when I tried to break up with him before I left. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“Yeah,” Betsy said. “That is weird.”

“I didn’t think it was that weird, or that big of a deal, until now.”

“Well, now you know,” she said. “I think you should probably stay with me for a while.”

“Would that be all right?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said. “Are you kidding me? I’d love to have you stay forever.”

“Thanks, Betsy,” I said. “You’re a good friend.”

As I thought about it in the days that followed, a few more warning signs that maybe Nate wasn’t such a nice guy started to come back to me. They were little things, things that didn’t seem important at the time. Like when I had said something offhand about an ex-boyfriend and he got angry and jealous about it. But I guessed it didn’t matter much now. He and I were through, and hopefully he’d forget about me while I was staying at Betsy’s and that would be that.

The day after our trip to the beach, I was pretty much dying with excitement to see Hunter. He had gotten me all worked up while we were swimming together, and I had kind of been hoping he would come home with me that night. But he made me wait, which put even more pressure on me as I got ready for his fight. I finally had the opportunity for Hunter to see me wearing something other than yoga pants, and I didn’t want to waste it.

Betsy and I had gone shopping earlier and bought a few new outfits, one of which was a short, strappy blue sundress I thought he would like. I had just put it on when Betsy popped her head into the guest room to check on me.

“Damn, girl,” she said with a smile. “I can’t remember the last time I got all hot and dressed up for Ted. I’m glad you’re here so I can live vicariously through you.”

“I’d be happy to watch Avery for you so you can live non-vicariously,” I offered.

“Oh sure, maybe someday. It’s more fun to watch you get ready, though. To tell you the truth, I’m a little bit lazy,” she confessed.

“That works for me,” I said. “You can help me get ready.”

“With pleasure,” she agreed. “What do you need?”

“Hunter is going to be here any minute. How should I wear my hair? Up?”

Betsy scrutinized me for a minute, then walked up to me and piled all my hair on top of my head. She stood there looking at me, screwing up her eyes and saying nothing. I was starting to feel a little self-conscious.

“I’m going to say down,” she said at last. “But you look hot no matter what. So it doesn’t really matter.”

“Thanks, Bets. Wearing it down is easier anyway,” I said, and ran a comb through my hair. I wasn’t sure I looked as amazing as I wanted, but it was a lot better than my workout clothes, so Hunter should be happy. I didn’t have much choice, however, even if I’d wanted to change, because just then we heard a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it!” Betsy offered, while I was putting the finishing touches on my eye makeup. Just a little eyeliner to make them stand out, and that was it.

“Have you told him yet about your ex showing up?” she asked.

“No, not yet,” I admitted. “I guess I should tell him tonight. I didn’t want him to get all mad and flip out. But I guess he wouldn’t know where to find the guy, anyway.”

“Yeah, you should tell him. He’s got to be wondering why you’re staying here. Anyway, he’s waiting. I’ll go get him.”

Soon I heard Hunter and Betsy greet each other enthusiastically, and it made me smile that my best friend and my boyfriend got along so well. Boyfriend, or whatever he was, anyway.

I gave one last glance in the mirror and decided I was ready, turned off the light and headed to the living room to meet up with Hunter. The butterflies were already working up a storm in my stomach, anticipating everything that would happen after the fight.

I couldn’t help but notice Hunter’s eyes light up when I walked into the room. He stood up with a sweet smile and reached for me, giving me an old, familiar feeing in the pit of my stomach. It was a warm feeling, a kind of certainty about another person that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Anna,” he breathed. “You look...” Hunter stopped, unable to find the right words.