Challenge: A Contemporary MMA Romance: Oni Fighters Book 3 (19 page)

Seth couldn’t be any clearer and I didn’t blame him at all from what little I’d seen of his mother. He shrugged again. “Not much I can do about it. It was her call.” I could almost feel the little boy’s pain radiating out from him. Shadows filled his eyes. Then, he closed them and as if by magic everything changed. It was as if he’d pushed the dark away and the light was back. “There is a real benefit though.” He was about to make a joke. I knew him well enough that this was where he was heading.

“Okay, I’ll bite. What’s that?”

“Saves me a fortune on birthday and Christmas presents. I only buy for Rachel and, even then, I just give her a voucher to whatever is her current favourite store.” We both chortled at that.

“Well, that must save you a heap of time on Christmas shopping.”

“Yep.”

“I haven’t seen Rachel in ages. When’s she back in town?”

“She sent me a text the other day on my iPad. She’ll be back next week.”

“I like your sister, she’s fun. We’ve had some good times together over the years.”

“She is,” he agreed. “That also reminds me, I need to get a new phone. I’m sick of getting messages on my iPad. I’m guessing my old phone is toast.”

“So, it looks like car and phone shopping are in order.”

“Job for tomorrow.” He nuzzled his face into my hair. ”Do you know who you’re fighting yet?”

“Nope. Xan said the other day that I probably won’t know until about a month out. Apparently, they had someone then she got injured. I’m not worrying about it. I’m just training.”

“Fair enough. Just don’t let the guys work you too far into the ground they don’t know when to quit sometimes.”

“I’ll be fine.” And I would be. Hard work never killed anyone.

“I know. It’s just now that I have a girlfriend, I guess I’m supposed to look after her.”

I laughed. “Supposedly, although I reckon I’m pretty low maintenance.”

“Is that right?” He stirred.

“Yep.”

He slipped his hand between my legs and spread the slickness around. “This feels like it needs some maintenance.”

“I think that’s a never ending job for you handsome.”

“I’m not complaining.”

“Me either, but I’m going to take a rain-check. I know you’re used to having meals delivered three times a day. That’s not going to happen unless I get my butt out of bed and do something about it.”

“Never let it be said my girl isn’t practical.”

“Absolutely.”

His fingers had been playing all the while we’d been clowning around with stupid banter. Then, he hit a particularly sensitive spot and I sucked in a breath.

“Sure you want to take a rain check?” He looked at me with raised eyebrows and a knowing smirk on his lips.

“I think I’ve changed my mind.”

“I thought you might, you are female after all.” If he wasn’t injured, I would have whacked him one at that.

“Shut up and finish what you started, Seth.”

“Gosh, you’re a bossy thing.” He teased some more.

“Seth.” I gritted out.

“On it.”

“Gooooood.”

“
A
re
you sure you’re going to be able to sit through a training session?” We were almost at Onigashima. Seth had announced this morning that he had
cabin fever
and needed to get out.

“I’ll be fine,” he declared and looked around the new SUV I was driving a little more. It had been a hell-fire few weeks and I had to admit, I was impressed with how swiftly Seth managed to get stuff done, even from his mostly resting state.

He had a top of the range new phone the day after he came home and, not more than a week later, there was a knock on the door and a salesman delivered his new SUV, which was damned swanky. I certainly wasn’t complaining about having to drive.

Plus, he seemed to have managed to sort out a dozen other things and do his rehab two or three times a day.

I envied his ability to just “get shit done.” There was no hesitation or apparent time for questioning or second thoughts, he just ploughed on in and stuff happened.

“They’ve improved the interior in this model,” he commented, seemingly impressed. I guess the poor guy had bought the new vehicle essentially sight unseen, and it wasn’t even as if he had got to drive his “new toy” yet.

“This is the same as the old one you had, right? Just a new model?” My knowledge of cars wasn’t that brilliant.

“Yep. I decided you had a point. The last one saved my life. I’m hoping this one doesn’t get tested but, if so, I’ll trust it.”

“Please don’t tempt fate…”

“Not intending to, babe. Sometimes shit happens, unfortunately.”

“Well, let’s not go there, please.” He reached over and squeezed my thigh.

“Thanks for taking care of me, Soph. I never expected anyone to have cared as much.”

He meant every word and my heart ached and rejoiced at the same time. It ached because he’d gone through life thinking people really didn’t care. That was a tragedy in itself. Then, I rejoiced because he not only recognized that I’d been there for him, it also surprised and touched him. I meant something to him and that was special to me.

“You’re welcome. I’ll always be here for you, Seth, if you let me.” I cast a brief glance to my left. He was having a hard time accepting what I was telling him. That was okay. I figured it was going to be like desensitization. It would take time.

The more I told him I loved him and that I’d be there, then the less it would unsettle him emotionally. I knew it was not that he didn’t want what I was offering, rather he was struggling to manage the things he was feeling—feelings he didn’t normally let himself acknowledge or recognize.

He didn’t answer, just squeezed my leg harder. I could live with that for the moment.

A few minutes later, I parked out the front of Onigashima. Seth was supposed to be using his walker still, but he blatantly refused. I’d become more and more accustomed to making sure I was close by over the last few days. I wanted to be handy when he was moving around in case he needed to lean on me, not that he ever seemed to.

We headed for the door and a wave of nausea engulfed me. Whatever was in the industrial dump bin in the property next door stunk to high heaven. Smells could always make me queasy. That was rank and I struggled to breathe.

Seth cast a concerned glance my way. “What’s up, babe?”

“That smell, it’s turning my stomach.”

He looked around confused. “What smell?”

“That horrible smell like rotting garbage.”

“Nope, can’t smell it.” He shrugged.

“What? It’s rank and stinks like I don’t know what.” I hurried through the doors of the dojo, trying to get away from the offending odour.

“Your nose is super sensitive.”

“Obviously.”

“Good thing you like the smell of me.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively. He was right. I did love the smell of him. There was always a fresh, clean undertone to his scent, even if he’d been training.

“Yeah, weird,” I said off handedly as I tried to catch my breath.

“If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m irresistible.”

“Really. I know one thing for sure.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re conceited.”

“I could have told you that, Soph,” Xander joked from behind the reception desk, obviously overhearing our conversation. “Good to see you up and around, man.” He turned his attention to Seth.

The two men did their handshake/fist-bump thing. I never really did get that. I could do it, and it was used by a lot of martial arts practitioners—it still felt weird.

“Good to be up and around. Thought I’d catch my girl training. See what you’ve been doing with her.”

“All the usual, I’m just getting back into the hard stuff. I hear you’ve got some serious training of your own going on?” Xander nodded to Seth and the fact he was standing on his own steam.

“Yeah, it feels like I’m learning to walk again. I’ve been swimming so much, I’m beginning to feel as if I’m part amphibian. The baby steps are killing me. I just want to be back out on those mats with you guys and Soph.”

I like the way he added me separately rather than grouping us. It was easy to see both the excitement and envy in Seth’s eyes. He loved being in the dojo for many reasons.

He loved hanging out and working out with his mates. There was also the fact that marital arts chewed up lots of energy. Seth was a guy on the go all the time. So, that worked for him. I didn’t miss the hint of envy, though. There was no covering the fact that he would have dearly loved to be training with us today.

“And over-training or, in this case, over-rehabbing plays no part in his vocabulary.” I raised an eyebrow at Xander, who laughed and shook his head.

“Of course not,” Seth argued. “Speaking of training, aren’t you supposed to be getting out there. I’m keen to see my hot as hell girlfriend bring it to my mates.”

Dane ambled out to meet us from the other room. “What was that?”

“Seth was just mentioning how much he was going to enjoy Soph serving it up to us.”

“Really?”

“Just ignore him, guys. He’s only saying that because he gets all hot and hard when I start fighting.” I winked at Seth.

“Not denying it,” he said smugly and gave me a heated look.

Xander looked across at Dane with a dead pan expression. “And there was nothing going on between these two.”

“Nope, obviously not. We were all mistaken,” Dane agreed, nodding.

“Would you pair quit the gloating and find an injured man a comfortable chair to park his arse?”

“Who’s sitting down on the job?” Reed walked in and joined the conversation.

Right, that did it. I was done with this impossible conversation. “I’m going to get ready. You guys can sort yourselves out. I’ll see you on the mats.”

I headed to the change rooms and put my training bag on the wooden bench seat below the lockers. Another wave of nausea hit me.
What the fuck?

I sucked in a few deep breaths, desperately trying to get my guts under control.

Did I have food poisoning? Might have been that sushi I snuck last night. It was only raw fish and rice right? Not quite on my training diet but not that far off it.

It didn’t matter; I had training to do. I grabbed my gloves, mouthguard, and shin pads, then stuffed the bag into my locker.

Right, time to focus.

I had a fight in a few weeks.

I had this, Sophia Sommers MMA fighter. Yep, that was me.

Forty minutes later, I couldn’t have given a shit about any of that motivational bullshit. I felt GREEN and this damned bit of rubber in my mouth was making the sensation worse.

I could barely stand and then my vision became one long tunnel and my arms and legs refused to obey.

“What the hell’s wrong with you, Sophia?” was the last I remember before the blackness swallowed me.

I watched it all unfold in front of me in slow motion and there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do about it. Sophia had just kind of folded over and slipped to the ground. I would have called it graceful if I wasn’t so damned concerned.

I rose to my feet and lurched across to her as quick as my healing body would allow. Xander, Dane, and Reed were already crouched around her, and had rolled her onto her side in a recovery position.

“Is she breathing?”

“Yeah, she’s just fainted,” Dane replied confidently. “Must be a family trait. I recall Eden doing something similar.”

“I’ve never known it to happen before.”

“First time for everything, mate,” Reed chimed in, concern etched into his face.

“Hey, Soph. Can you hear me?” Xander brushed the stray hair back from her forehead tenderly and I immediately felt a hit of jealousy to my gut. Yep, he might be her brother-in-law, but that was my girl he was touching.

“Fuck,” I muttered. I couldn’t get down that low yet.

Dane looked up and realized my predicament. “We’ve got this, mate.”

“Yeah but that’s my girl,” I argued and right then, I meant every damned word. I hated not being there for her when she needed me. She’d been there the whole time for me.

Her eyes started to open and a fraction of the tension drained from my body.

“What happened?” she croaked and looked around at us all starry eyed.

“You fainted, Soph,” Xander filled in for her and pressed his hand to her forehead, checking her temperature or whatever the fuck he was doing. I wanted to scream
“get your hands off my girl.”

“What?”

“How do you feel now?” Reed asked.

And as if on cue, her eyes went wide with concern and her hand shot up to her mouth.

“Going to be sick.”

Dane sprang to his feet and charged across to the reception area and grabbed a rubbish bin. Just in time, he passed it to her as Xander and Reed helped her sit.

Poor Soph, she emptied her stomach and then the dry retching just kept happening. She was exhausted and sagged in Xander’s arms.

Dane had got a wet cloth to wipe her face. She looked a sickly shade of green.

“Did you feel okay before we started?” Reed asked more gently than I would have ever expected. The guy always looked and sounded like he chewed nails for breakfast instead of cornflakes.

She moved her head back and forth slowly. “Not really.” She managed.

“Then why the hell didn’t you say something?” Reed demanded.

Did he really need to have that question answered? There was no way he would stand for a slacker. He was reluctant enough to have anything to do with women and fights. He was unrelenting. The toughest trainer in the business.

“I figured I’d be okay. It must be a virus or something,” she defended half-heartedly.

Reed looked up at me. “You okay? Not sick? These sorts of bugs generally go through a whole household. You two can’t be around Xander if you’ve got a virus.”

That just pissed me off. I’d been involved in enough fight preps to know the score. “I’m fine. And Soph has been, too.”

Reed shook his head in frustration. “Well, something’s up. We didn’t do that much. She trains harder during normal sessions. She needs to see a doctor. I don’t want either of you here until she gets cleared by a doctor.”

“What happened?” Eden asked, charging across the mats and dropping down beside Xander. She’d just arrived for the day by the looks of things.

“Soph just had a little faint.”

“What! Why?”

“Don’t know,” Reed grumbled.

Sophia struggled to sit up and reached for the water bottle that Dane had also brought over to her. She took a few sips.

“I’m feeling a lot better. Maybe it was something I ate?”

“I don’t care. Your training is done until you get clearance from a doctor, not only for your own benefit but Xander’s.”

I watched her eyes narrow and I knew that look. She was preparing to fight. “Fine. I’ll go to the doctors but only because I would never do anything to risk Xander’s prep.”

Dane stood and offered Sophia a hand. “Come on. I’ll let Reed and Xander finish up. I’ll drive you to the doctor’s and see how you are.”

“We’ll be fine,” I snapped, not wanting Dane to be the one that was taking charge of my girl’s life.

Dane looked at me curiously. “I didn’t think you were driving yet?”

“No, I’ll take her.” Eden protested. “She’s my sister.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

“Good idea, Eden, you take Sophia off to the doctors and Dane can stay here and work with Xander. Just don’t catch anything for Christ’s sake. We can’t afford him getting sick,” Reed grumbled. Training came first, second, and last with him.

“Just give me a minute. I’ll be fine and we can go,” Sophia said, struggling to her feet. “Just drop us home. I’m not even sure I can get an appointment today. I don’t want to have to sit in a waiting room for hours. It won’t be great on Seth either.”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” She shot me a look that said she wasn’t buying it.

“Fine. Let’s just get out of here. You can call the doctors for an appointment on the way.”

Five minutes later, we were in Eden’s SUV, with her at the wheel. This was definitely not how I expected the day to go.

Ten minutes after that, we pulled into the carpark at the medical centre. Eden shut off the car and looked over her shoulder at Sophia.

“I’ll come in with you. I don’t want to risk you fainting again.” It was the bossiest I’d ever heard Eden.

“I’m fine,” Sophia protested weakly. Neither Eden nor I really believed her.

“Want me to come in?” I turned from the front seat to the back to ask her. I wanted to offer her support but kind of felt weird intruding between them as well.

She shook her head, no. “I’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s just something I ate. Hopefully, I’ll only be a few minutes.”

That was my Sophia, always so strong and independent. She didn’t want me seeing her down. I knew that feeling. In fact, I was very familiar with it.

Sophia hopped out of the car and walked slowly into the medical centre, flanked by Eden. I couldn’t help feeling as if I should have been there with her instead of her sister. It was my job to be there for her, wasn’t it?

“Fuck,” I growled.

Now I felt worried, useless, and pissed off.