Page 155 of Heal Me, Love Me

“I went to Keaton’s fight in Vegas and ran into Devon. He asked if I was still fighting at middleweight.” I stayed where I was, too irritated to sit back down. “He didn’t care how Florida was going, or ask about Atlantic Combat or my last fight. He only wanted to know if I was still at one eighty-five.”

“That’s oddly specific,” Grant noted.

“Yeah. That’s my point.”

“You think Devon pushed for this?”

“I think he had a reason to ask if I was still fighting at one eighty-five.”

“What if he did?”

“What do you mean?” I inquired.

“So what if Devon asked because he was already thinking about this fight? What changes?”

“It means this wasn’t a coincidence. He knew enough about us to deliberately put our names together.”

“That changes how the fight came about, but does it change whether accepting it would be good for your career?”

I let out a short laugh. Ignoring his question, I responded, “You’re serious?”

“I am.”

“He’s using us.”

“Maybe.”

“That’s your answer?”

“My answer is that Devon having an angle doesn’t automatically make this a bad fight.”

“It makes it a setup.”

“It makes it a fight with a story,” Grant corrected. “Every fight at this level has one.”

“I know how they’ll sell it. That doesn’t mean I want any part of it.”

“You don’t have to like how they’ll sell it. You don’t have to trust Devon. Hell, you don’t even have to trust the promotion’sreason for wanting the fight. But none of that changes the offer in front of you.”

I looked away from him because I hated how calm he sounded, while I was reeling.

The better pay, the HydraRush deal, and almost three months to train should’ve felt like the perfect deal. Instead, all I could think about was standing across from Keaton in a cage, gloves on, cameras pointed at us, while everyone around us pretended it was just another fight.

“You’re asking me to ignore what this is?” I asked.

“No, I’m asking you to decide what matters most.”

My attention cut back to him. “That’s supposed to be better?”

“Yes. This is your career we’re talking about.”

“It’s Keaton.”

“I know.”

“No, you know we’re friends and used to train together. You don’t know why I can’t look at this as just another fight.”

“Then tell me what I’m missing, because when you two first came to Atlantic Combat, before you signed with me, I told you then that one day you might fight each other.”