Naked Choke (A Stepbrother MMA Romance) (15 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

My mom, Duke, and Austen packed up the car half an hour ago
to head up to the tournament. I'm also driving to Denver today, but for a
different reason. Overall, I'm proud of myself for getting a job I didn't know
anything about and committing to going to college. I feel like I'm going after
what I want for the first time in my life. But something inside me still feels
empty. And with every day that passes that I don't talk to Logan, the fact that
he's what I'm missing becomes clearer and clearer.

I rehearse what I'm going to say to Logan as I navigate the
highway. I know the street where the Muay Thai gym is, so I'm going to park
myself outside it, all day if I have to, until I see him. There's no way Logan
would have completely given up on his training, he's far too driven, so my
theory is that he's training there full-time now.

After Austen told me he'd slept with that girl, I felt let
off the hook, like my guilt didn't have to hold me back anymore. I'm finally
free to pursue Logan, and that's what I'm going to do. He's been ignoring all
my calls and texts, and now his voicemail is full, so I'm going to go see him
in person. And I know today will be rough on him, with his brother taking part
in a tournament that he'd love to fight in. Maybe he'll want to see a familiar
face.

I park in almost exactly the same spot where I pulled over
on my way back from Colorado State. I grab my purse and walk down the sidewalk,
examining the storefronts for the gym. A half a block down, I find it, marked
only by an unassuming poster in a storefront with the windows blacked out. I
try the door: locked. There aren't any hours listed on the poster, so it could
be that it's not even open today.

I turn around, glancing around the street. I spot a coffee
shop across the street and cross toward it. The smell of roasting beans and a
smiling cashier greets me as I open the door.

"What can I get for you?" she asks.

"Actually, I was wondering if you knew anything about
the Muay Thai gym across the street. Do they open late on Saturdays?"

"Oh, they closed down last week, actually. The owner used
to stop in here for tea, and he said he got a training offer out in California
that he couldn't pass up."

"OK. Do you…I…" I trail off, feeling completely at
a loss as to what to do next. This was my one lead on Logan's whereabouts.
"Thanks," I finally say as she gives me a confused look.

I head back out onto the sidewalk. My eyes fill with tears.
I was so excited about the prospect of seeing him today, even if he didn't want
to see me. Just catching a glimpse of him would have relieved some of my longing.

I hear an alert from my phone and dig it out of my purse.
Four missed calls from Maya. Shit. I quickly call her back.

"Are you OK?" I ask as I hear her pick up.

"He's here!" she exclaims.

"Who?"

"Logan! He's here at the tournament. And he's fighting!"

* * *

I fly across town to the Pepsi Center and park in the lot. I
turn in circles in the midst of the crowds streaming inside until I finally
catch a glimpse of Mike's head shining in the sunlight.

"How is this possible?" I gasp after I run over to
them.

"You explain," Maya urges him. "You
understand it better than me."

"Story is, Logan went to visit Dan Black at the AFF
headquarters in Vegas and asked to fight today."

"But he's not allowed to. He's in a different weight
class."

"Yeah, but with Black's permission you can fight in a
higher
weight class because Logan's the one taking on the disadvantage. Black put him
in a training ring with one of his seasoned fighters and was impressed enough
that he let him fight today. Plus, he loves the publicity for the league."

"What do you mean?" I ask with a frown. "What
publicity?"

"Brother versus brother! People love that kind of
story."

"Wait, Logan and Austen are going to be fighting each
other?"

"Not right away, or maybe not at all. Black put them in
different brackets, so they'll only fight each other if they beat everyone
else."

"Well, maybe Logan will be OK, right?" I ask,
glancing between them. "I mean, he did knock out Austen that day."

"Yeah, but from what I hear, Austen was recovering from
a wicked hangover. Plus, Logan's never even been in a semi-professional fight.
Duke kept telling him he wasn't ready." I feel a wave of nausea roll up
from my stomach. "And—"

"There's more?"

Mike sighs. "If you thought Austen was bigger than
Logan, wait'll you see these guys. Most of them cut weight for the weigh-in, so
they probably weigh fifteen pounds more than Austen, which means—"

"They've got thirty pounds on Logan." I run my
hands through my hair, panicking at the thought of Logan getting pummeled in
the ring. "This is crazy! Logan shouldn't be allowed to fight!"

"Black just wants to sell tickets. He's got a business
to run."

I take a deep breath. "Have you seen Logan yet?"

Mike shakes his head. "He's in the fighters' area. I
can't go back there."

"What about Duke?"

Mike lets out a low whistle. "I've never seen him so
pissed. He managed to get a face-to-face with Black, but Black stuck to his
guns. Logan gets to fight."

"When's his first one?"

"Wait, you're going in?" Mike asks worriedly.

"Well, yeah, to support him."

"You think he wants that?" Maya nudges Mike, but
he keeps going. "Sorry, it's just I saw that scene in the parking lot, and
what Logan really needs today is to focus."

"He might be right, Cat," Maya agrees quietly. My
face falls, and she reaches forward and takes my hand. "So we'll stay
hidden in the back. There are hundreds of people in there. No one's going to
notice us.

Mike nods. "Alright, I better go rejoin the team. Duke
wants us cage-side to show support for Austen." He gives Maya a gentle
kiss on the cheek and heads back inside.

"What if he gets hurt?" I whisper.

"He's not going to get hurt. Well, OK, he is going to
get a little hurt because of how they punch and kick each other but it will
only be a little. He's a fighter. This is what he's been training for,
right?"

"His coach left last week. That means he's going in
there alone."

"Come on, let's go inside. It can only be worse in your
imagination."

Chapter Twenty-Eight

My jaw drops as we stare across the vast space of the arena.
At the center lies a lone cage, though right now it's empty. A couple of
reporters speak to their cameras shouting over the raucous crowd in the
background. Excited fans stream around us carrying packets listing each
fighter's bio and attributes.

"Look!" Maya says, pointing up to the Jumbotron. I
bite my lip as a photo of Logan scrolls by.
Logan Riggens
, it reads.
Fighting
weight: 190. Team/Trainer: None.
I grab a packet from an AFF staffer and
flip through until I find the bracket.

"OK, here's Logan, and here's Austen," I say
pointing to opposite sides of it, then counting the blank spaces until the
winning slot. "Single elimination, and there are sixty-four fighters, so
if you win, you'll have fought six times."

"That seems like a lot for just two days."

"It is. It's meant to be brutal, to weed people out.
First four rounds are today, then semifinals and finals tomorrow." Just as
I finish speaking, an announcer's voice blasts over the sound system.

"Welcome to the American Fighting Federation's Light
Heavyweight Domination Tournament. Sixty-four fighters enter, but only one will
earn the right to call themselves an AFF fighter. The first fight of the day
begins now!," he continues, and people swarm down the aisles to get to
their seats. The lights dim and then spotlights fly around before focusing on
the entryway from the locker rooms. "From Team Apex, fighting at Two
hundred and five pounds, Austen Riggens!"

"Come on!" I say, grabbing Maya's arm as we rush
down toward our row. The crowd goes crazy, clapping and stomping for their
hometown boy. I catch a glimpse of his handsome, chiseled face as he walks in,
backed by Duke and Raul.

"Look, there's Mike!" she says as we find our
seats. She waves to him even though there's no way he could see us. In a space
this large and with our seats this far back, he definitely didn't need to worry
about my presence distracting anyone. "He gets to sit on the floor because
Duke got the team VIP tickets."

"Fancy," I reply distractedly, squinting to see
the rest of the faces on the floor as Austen's competitor is announced. No sign
of Logan. The crowd settles down as the fighters take to their corners. I watch
Austen jump up and down before his father reaches up to smear something on his
face.

"What's that? Vaseline?" Maya asks in confusion.

"Makes it less likely that their skin will split when
they get hit," I explain. "Mike isn't tutoring you?"

"Ours is more of a physical relationships," she
replies with a smile.

"Whoa,
what?
" If there was one thing that could
distract me at this moment, it was that revelation.

"Look, I'm not going to give you all the dirty details,
but let's just say that Mike might be dominant in the cage, but in the bedroom,
he likes to be—"

"No! Really?" I gasp. "I'm not going to be able
to look at him without blushing, you know that right?"

The referee beckons Austen and the other fighter forward,
they touch gloves, and then bounce apart as the fight begins. My gaze works
around the cage systematically, scanning each area for Logan's dark hair. He
must want to size up the competition, or he could be trying to avoid his family
and old team. I spot my mom in the first row, seated next to Team Apex. They
all rise to their feet suddenly, cheering…

"Holy crap!" Maya exclaims.

"What? What happened?" I reply, looking around in
confusion. When I look back to the cage, Austen is standing up from the ground
and pumping the air triumphantly.

"Austen did a thing with the other guy's arm and the
other guy tapped out!"

"An arm bar?"

"Sure!" I glance up at the Jumbotron. Only
forty-five seconds of the match have passed, and Austen already secured a
victory. "Wow, Mike said he was great but that was amazing! It happened so
fast I could barely tell what was happening, and all of a sudden the guy was
hitting the floor. You see Logan yet?"

"No, he must be in the lockers. Let's see, if they're
doing this side of the bracket first…" I scan my fingers down the page.
"Then Logan won't be up for a bit." I watch Austen being
congratulated by his father, my mom, and his entire team. I wonder if Logan can
see them, too. "I need to eat something. You want anything?"

I head back out of the stands to get a soft pretzel, but it
does nothing to quiet the gnawing queasiness in my stomach. I'll finally get to
see Logan, but this isn't at all how I pictured it. I wipe my hands on a napkin
and toss it in the trash before heading back in to sit down. Maya is leaning
forward, rapt, while I sit back in my seat, barely processing the fights going
on in the arena below. One thing I do know for sure is that no one got a
submission as fast as Austen just did.

I feel Maya grab my arm. "Here he comes!" she
whispers, just as the announcer's voice rings out, sending Logan's name echoing
throughout the space.

"…Riggens! Brother of Austen Riggens, he's fighting due
to a special dispensation from CEO Dan Black!" I see someone in a crisply
tailored suit stand up by a floor seat and give a wave. The man himself. The
lights shine on him for a moment before swinging around to the path from the
lockers. I grasp Maya's hand tightly as Logan makes his way toward the cage.
Unlike the rest of the fighters, he's alone. No entourage of coaches follows
him. I squint as hard as I can to see him. He looks different than the last
time I saw him. He's got a closely cropped beard, and he looks thicker.

"He put on more muscle," I murmur. "He must
have been working on that ever since he left." But it's really his effect
on me that's remarkable. I feel safe and worried, relieved and constricted all
at once. I want so much to be able to talk to him, and it's completely
impossible.

"Whoa," Maya breathes as his opponent steps into
the cage. "I mean, Logan's huge, but that guy's
huge
huge."

"Shit," I mutter as I stare at him. I've watched
Logan fight before, and that final match with Austen was no regular sparring
match, but this is different. This other fighter must have cut a ton of weight
to qualify, and he's out for Logan's blood. The referee calls them together and
they touch gloves.

"I don't think I can watch this," I suddenly blurt
out, and jump out into the aisle before sprinting out toward the concessions.

"Cat!" I hear Maya call just as a wild cheer rises
up from the crowd. Was that Logan getting hit? I can't stay to find out. I
crouch against the cement walls outside the gate with my hands over my ears,
trying to drown out the announcers' commentary. The sounds die out for a couple
minutes but then start again. Round 2. Then another break, then Round 3.
Finally I hear someone poke me in the shoulder and look up to Maya's smiling
face.

"Logan won by unanimous decision! Everyone's going
crazy for him!"

"Really?" I gasp. We run back into the arena and I
see the referee still holding Logan's hand in the air. I wince as I see the
swelling on his face. He didn't escape scot-free like Austen, which is only
going to make his next fight tougher. I glance toward the seats where Team Apex
was before, but they're empty.

Maya shakes her head. "How come Logan doesn't look
happy? He's not even smiling."

"He doesn't want to win one fight," I answer,
recognizing the cold look of concentration on his face. "He wants to win
the whole thing."