Stand Of Honor (14 page)

Zane looked down at her
. She resembled an explosive device. He pulled her towards the same spot she had just had Faye pinned against, wrapping his arms around her.

“I’m yours, huh?”
Zane inquired.

“Damn right you are,” she huffed up at him.
She was still holding herself stiffly, not ready to forgive him for letting that skank touch him.  “You can dodge a flying fist from a two hundred twenty pound fighter, but you couldn’t move away when that greedy bitch grabbed you?”

He leaned down to kiss her,
yet she pulled back slightly.

“Why did you even listen to her
? Why didn’t you walk away?” He could hear the hurt in her voice.

“She’s pushy
. I knew she wouldn’t leave me alone if she didn’t get it all out. I wanted her to see that I wasn’t going to change my mind despite what lies came out of her cheating mouth.” Zane kissed her forehead. “Melanie, I despise her. She’s a liar and uses people to get her way. She’s means nothing to me.” Zane kissed her lips. “You’re the only woman I want in my life.”

He felt her body start to relax against his as she studied his eyes
, seeing he was telling her the truth.

“What are you doing here?
I thought we were meeting at the arena?” Zane asked.

“I wanted to ride down with you, and since Nick is here, I decided to just come by. Trish is going to meet me there
.” She threw Nick one of her angry looks, which he shrugged off with an amused grin. Obviously, he knew how to handle his sister better than he did. “Good thing I showed up, asshole.” She shoved at him again, letting him know he wasn’t off the hook yet.

Zane laughed
, scooping her up into his arms. “That’s right, good thing you did show up. You saved me. Have I thanked you yet? I’m going to reward you later.” Melanie laughed, however she still grumbled about saving his ass as he escorted her to his ride.

Faye’s words were never going
to get through to him. He would never have feelings for her again, but she had stirred up a lot of old memories. He had to block her from his mind and focus on the fight for now.

He put Melanie down and she hopped in the back seat.
“Hey, Linc,” she greeted the waiting passenger.

“Hey
, Mel,” he laughed. “I thought you were going to rip her head off, girl.”

“I tried,”
Melanie sighed, scooting over to make room for Nick, “but no luck. Damn thing stayed attached.”

Everyone laughed except Zane as he drove
them to the arena. Zane had been with Faye long enough to know that she would be back. She had an ulterior motive for coming by today, and whatever the reason, until she was satisfied, Zane had a terrible feeling they hadn’t seen the last of her.

Chapter 16

“In the blue corner, back in the cage after three long years, Zane Phillips!”

Zane heard the crowd erupt as
his name was announced. He was surprised so many people were cheering; he figured that everyone had their favorites and he had been long forgotten. He had received some fan mail in the beginning when the league issued the apology, but that had been a long time ago.

“And his opponent, in the red corner, Tobias Walker!”

Tobias stepped forward
without raising his arm for the crowd. He was abnormally quiet and subdued as he then stepped back. Zane noticed Tobias didn’t receive much applause; he had lost his fan base over the past few years.

Zane saw the intensity in his eyes
, recognizing that he would be fighting the Tobias from the past, not the punk he’d been for a while now.

The announcer continued, “As most spectators are aware, Mr. Phillips was wrongly accused of throwing a fight in the past.
Typically, fighters that have been out for over a year are required to fight in the amateur leagues before being allowed to fight in the professional league. However, we are not imposing this rule on Mr. Phillips. We welcome him back! Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the fight!”

Zane knew Nick’s vocal support had helped in the League’s decision
. Nick had proved again that he was a good friend. Zane knew he had made the right decision when it had been his turn to prove he valued their friendship.

The crowd got loud again
as Zane looked at the clock set to five minutes. He walked towards the center of the cage. Neither he nor Tobias attempted to touch fists. The hatred between them was almost tangible, but he could still see the anxiety in Tobias’s eyes.

The bell rang to start the fight.

When they started off circling, Zane could see Tobias looking for an opening, but Zane had no desire to wait. He faked left and then caught the side of Tobias’s head with a straight right. Zane followed with a left hook to his nose. His speed and accuracy caused the crowd to roar in response.

He watched with satisfaction as the blood started
to drip out of Tobias’ nose. As Tobias was blinking, Zane spun around and connected on a spinning back kick that knocked Tobias to the ground. Zane was quick to get on top of him and started swinging wildly.  Tobias covered up frantically, trying desperately to keep from getting knocked out.  He rotated slightly to the side to cover his face, exposing the back of his head, causing Zane to unintentionally strike the back of his head, forcing the ref to jump in.  Zane was pulled away and given a loud warning by the stocky referee.  Zane was docked a point, but had been so dominant in the first round, he knew he was still in the lead.

Zane looked at the clock
. There was still a minute left. God, he wished he could still be on top, pounding the shit out of him, but Tobias was too damn slow to get back up.

Zane cursed himself
. He wanted to drag this out. He’d gotten too eager with his attack and almost ruined the fight.  Fuck! He was mad at himself.

As he watched, Tobias slowly sat up.
He looked dazed, though not completely out of it yet. He heard the ref clear him to fight again, but by then, the round was almost over. Zane would take it slower during the next round. They let the clock run out and returned to their respective corners.

He sat on the stool and watched Tobias talk to his trainer.

“Shit, Zane, I’ve missed your ass in the cage; but you know he won’t make it past the next round if you keep this pace up,” Lincoln warned him while sounding like a proud father. Lincoln slapped him on the back. “I got nothing to say to you after that. You’ve got this.”

Zane nodded his head.
He had to force himself to hold back this round. He wanted to break something in the last round.

By the time that the
ref motioned for both fighters to return to the center of the cage, Tobias looked like he had somewhat recovered.

When the bell rang, Zane didn’t waste a second, his leg shot out and he swept Tobias’s legs out from underneath him.
Tobias fell on his back.
This is too damn easy,
Zane thought to himself. All the talk about Tobias at least giving him a decent fight had been bullshit. Tobias had never stood a chance against him.

Zane knew he couldn’t pummel him as much
as he wanted, or he would get pulled off again. He leaned back and punched at his ribs and stomach. Tobias tried to employ the techniques to get out of Zane’s hold, however Zane wasn’t letting him go. Tobias attempted to get a few punches in, but Zane was able to avoid those as well. The closest Tobias got was a slight graze across his chin.

As Zane leaned back to punch Tobias in the side of his head, Tobias was able to finally pull out of Zane’s hold.
Zane reached down to flip Tobias on his stomach and locked him in place then maintained his hold on Tobias for the rest of the round, letting go only when he heard the bell.

As Zane walked to his corner, he thought about which limb he was going to break during the last round.
He looked up at the crowd and saw Melanie screaming with everyone else. She was jumping up and down in excitement. When their eyes met, she gave him a fist pump and nodded her head. Zane knew that she was aware of what he was going through right now and that she was with him all the way. He nodded back before sitting down.

“You ready to end this?”
Lincoln asked him. He knew Zane wanted to hurt Tobias this round.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”
Zane had no remorse about what he planned to do next.

He stood up to return to the center of the cage.
As they stood there facing each other, he saw the frustration in Tobias’s face. All his supposed training hadn’t done shit for him.

When the bell rang, Zane lunged forward to spin Tobias around.
As Tobias fell forward, he kicked the back of Tobias’s knee. Zane heard the snap of his bone breaking as he fell face first into the mat.

Zane went to look down at Tobias as he rolled on the ground in pain.

“You’re done. Don’t bother coming back or I’m turning you into the commission. Zane saw Tobias’s eyes widen, he hadn’t really expected Zane to take away his career in revenge for Tobias’s own attempt at trying to destroy Zane’s credibility. Tobias had never had a clue who he was really dealing with.

The paramedics ran out to look at Tobias’s leg
and Zane turned, walking away without looking back. Lincoln stood silently in support. Zane was actually doing Tobias a favor this way. He could leave the league due to an injury instead of going through the legal process for framing him.

Eventually, Zane was announced the winner.
It felt good being back. Now he could start fighting towards the championship. He didn’t want to think about whom he had to fight in order to take that top spot. He put that thought away for the time being. He and Nick would deal with it when the time came.

He stepped out of the cage
, looking for Melanie. In a matter of seconds, she was throwing herself into his arms.

“That was incredible,” she said into his ear.
As she looked up into his eyes, he saw that she was fighting her tears. Her obvious emotions pulled at him. He’d never believed he would end up with someone so passionate for him. He picked her up, spinning her around to lighten the moment. She laughed and started whooping and hollering for everyone to hear.

“Thank you
, baby,” Zane said huskily.

When he set her back on her feet, he
looked up to see Trish and Nick walking towards them.

“Congratulations
, buddy,” Nick told him. “You’re even better than before.”

Zane looked him in the eyes and could only see how genuine and happy Nick was for him.

“That was amazing!” Trish exclaimed.

Zane
spotted several of the passing men looking at Trish as they walked by. He was glad they were looking at her and not Melanie so he didn’t have to fight anyone else tonight.

“Thank you,” Zane replied.

“Let’s celebrate! Where to?” Trish asked the group. She was always up for a night out, and she was already dressed to kill in a little black dress.

Melanie replied, “Trish, it’s only
five! Nick has a fight in a couple hours.”

“Oh, well
, afterwards then? Come on! I hardly see you anymore. We need a night on the town,” Trish pleaded with them.

“I have to fly out early in the morning, but you three should go out.
You two deserve it,” Nick replied.

Melanie looked at Zane.
“What do you think?”

Zane was ready to relax.
“Sure, you girls pick the place. We’ll go after Nick’s fight.”

Trish squealed and hugged him and Melanie both.
“Great, I’m going to go find a good seat for Nick’s fight. I’ll be back later.” Trish turned to Nick. “Good luck!” Melanie knew that her friend was going in search for more than a good seat.

“Thanks
, Trish.” Nick laughed as she left. They all knew she was a wild one. As she walked towards the seating area, she stopped to talk to a tall blond man. Zane figured they would be seeing him with Trish later that night.

“Good luck with the fight
, Nick,” Zane heard Melanie tell her brother.

“I know you got it
, Nick,” Zane told him. Nick would win easily.

“Thank
, guys. I’ll see you after.” Nick went back to get ready for his fight. As the light heavyweight champion, his fight would draw the most attention and the biggest crowd.

Melanie looped her arm through Zane’s.
“Wanna go back and change then come back for the fight?”

“That works for me.
Let’s go,” Zane replied.

They walked to the locker room together,
and Melanie waited outside while he went in to get showered and changed. As he walked towards his locker, he noticed it was partially open. He looked around, but there was no one else in the locker room.

He opened the lock
er the rest of the way. His bag was still there, yet as he unzipped it, he saw a yellow envelope resting amidst his clothes. They usually only delivered their instructions late at night at the gym. This was their way of telling him that he was always being watched.