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A smug smile played on his lips. “Well you do always seem to get what you want.”
“I’m used to it.”
He pulled out and lay down next to me on the bed, our naked bodies practically glowing in the afternoon sun. “There’s something I want, too.”
I turned on my side to look at him. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“I want to beat Georgie’s best guy. Legit, in the cage. Prove to everyone he’s just a punk in a suit.”
“That’s going to take a lot of training and rehab.”
“Yeah. But I gotta do it. Earn back my title.”
I nodded. I had guessed this was coming. “A month? Give yourself a full month of recuperation, then do it.”
“Done.”
EIGHTEEN
ONE MONTH LATER
DILLON
“Tell me again,” I pleaded with her.
“I’m not going to say good luck again. You don’t need luck. You’re going to beat this guy without a problem! You have been working so hard.”
She was right, I had been. Ever since the doctor cleared me to start hitting the gym again, I’d been there eight hours a day, seven days a week. I had never trained so hard in my entire life, but I wasn’t going to let Georgie’s guy beat me again. And this time it was a fair fight. One-on-one, in the cage. And it was a legit fight, none of that underground bullshit that I thought I wanted. The purse was still good, enough to pay Leo back for the money that he had let me borrow to go into rehab. Plus a little left over for maybe a nice dinner for my mom and him.
I had known something was going on with them for years, but neither of them would ever admit it. But it seemed that my injuries had brought them closer together. Or maybe it was seeing Berkley and me overcome our obstacles. And I’d certainly thrown a few in our way. Rehab had been an experience. One I would never forget, and one I didn’t want to repeat. I thought about Berkley the entire time— she was the whole reason I was there. I could’ve gone on living and fighting with the drugs. But I couldn’t have gone on without her.
She gave me a quick peck on the cheek before leaving the locker room. I watched her hips swing back and forth as she slipped behind the metal door and out into the crowd. I could never get enough of her. Suddenly I was alone with my thoughts. A dangerous place to be for former addict. I still had some lighter pain medication in my bag in case I needed it for my face. And while I sat alone on the wooden bench I considered reaching and grabbing a few. It wouldn’t give me the high I needed, but it would make it just like any other fight. I hadn’t won in over two years without slipping some pills beforehand.
I don’t need them, I told myself. I walked over to the mirror above the sinks and looked at myself. My eye would never be completely back to the way it was. Reconstructive surgery can only fix so much. But it was a reminder of what had been. I felt a little bit like a monster, but that was the old me. Looking at the other side of my face, the clear tanned skin, the dark blue eyes, that was the new me. And that was the me I would be with Berkley going forward. No more pushing away, I was here to fight. For her, and for me.
Leo opened the door just a crack behind me and called in, “You ready, kid?”
I inhaled through my nose and clenched my fists under the wraps. “Damn straight.”
I put in my mouth guard and I followed him out, raising my arms as the crowd cheered around me. I lived for this. I got up into the ring within seconds and looked at the guy in front of me. He was only about three inches taller than I was, with a similar build. This certainly wasn’t the guy that Georgie was using in the underground. Those two had been gigantic, didn’t even look like regular human beings. But this guy? He was beatable.
I looked over my shoulder and saw Leo nodding to me lifting up his right hand to signal that I should open with my right hook. If I was fast enough I could block this guy’s first punch and get him in the side of the face before he even knew what was coming.
I heard the whistle blow, and the crowd around me was drowned out. The only thing I could hear was the beating of my own heart. Just as Leo had anticipated, the guy came at me first and I dodged him, standing back up and landing a right hook directly under his chin. He kicked me in the left side where I had broken those ribs, and I winced under the pain. But it was just pain. I could do this, without the pills. I backed up, giving some space between us and waiting for him to advance. When he finally did, I set off a roundhouse kick that got him right in the head. He was on the ground in a second—I heard the thump of his body hitting the floor. I sat on top of him and gave him a few more good punches in the face as I heard Leo yell, “Get him kid! Show ‘em what you’re made of.”
I landed one more good face shot before the ref pulled me off him. I turned around to look into the crowd and saw Georgie standing with a very unhappy look on his face. His guy was about to get beat, and he knew it.
The whistle blew again, and this time the guy advanced too fast for me to set my hands before he landed a blow to my face. My head was pounding but I kept going. I pushed ahead, putting us into a lock. After the ref separated us, I bounced around the cage a bit trying to figure out my next move. I wanted to look at Leo, but I didn’t want to lose eye contact with my opponent. He would take that opportunity to strike.
But he wasn’t as smart as I was. He looked at Georgie, who made a kicking motion, but I ran at him. A direct punch between his eyes and he was flat on his back, almost out cold. I knew what that meant. I was the victor. The referee held my arm up in the air and the crowd cheered my name. I ran down from the cage and searched the crowd for Berkley, finding her standing right next to Leo, who was clapping with a huge smile on his face. He was always proud of me, and I was lucky for that.
“You won!” She screamed. “Oh my God Dillon, you won!”
I took out my mouth guard and spit out a little extra blood before wrapping my hands around her face and kissing her with all the force I had just had in the cage.
I won the fight.
In the cage, and for her heart.
