Stand Of Honor (27 page)

“Baby
, you don’t need to sign up for your GRE. You already have your FUCK ME degree.”

Melanie lowered herself to his waiting cock
, sliding it deep within her clenching pussy. Her hips slid up and down his length before Zane decided to roll over, pinning her underneath him.

“When I watched your fight with Macey, I felt every punch she threw your way. I don’t feel a fucking thing during my o
wn fights, but I felt every second of yours. You fought your way into that cage with her and deserved to win that match, but baby, you were a champion before the fight even started.”

He stared down into her beautiful green eyes that could shine with humor or fire depending on her mood, seeing love for him in the soft green depths.

“You keep fighting your fights in the cage, but I want you to know that you don’t have anything left to prove.” Zane’s mouth covered hers, his tongue sliding into her mouth as his dick thrust in and out of her slippery warmth.

“I used to watch you when you and Nick practiced together
. You were smaller than him when you began training. A skinny, little runt next to my big brother. Then you started getting older and stronger, and Nick had to work harder to win his practice matches against you. I still remember that day you beat him for the first time. I look back now and realize it was probably the beginning of the end for you in my father’s eyes, and I think you knew it, too. That’s why you never accepted his apology. When Nick came home from the match that day and told me you had been banned, I knew there had been a mistake. I had watched your practices enough to know…”

Zane began moving faster within her
. Her arms circled his neck, and her hips thrust up against his.

“Know what?”
he groaned.

“That you were to
o honorable to cheat. You would never deliberately throw any fight. You couldn’t even stand to let Nick win unless he deserved it. You always stood your ground. A champion always does.”

Zane plunged inside of her as he felt her come on his cock
, not holding his own back any longer. Exhausted, he fell to her side. Melanie rolled over, throwing her leg and arm over him.

“Woman, I think you
’re Nick’s secret weapon. I don’t think you left me any strength for tomorrow’s fight.”

Melanie yawned, patting his chest.
“If I did, I’ll take care of it in the morning.”

*
  *  *

“Ladies and Gentlemen
, welcome to the light heavyweight championship fight! This is THE fight of the night. In the blue corner, weighing in at 195 pounds, Zane Phillips!”

Zane listened to the rowdy crowd
. This was the biggest fight of the year and it was a sold out crowd. He was the first challenger in a long time to be considered a true contender. The odds were split almost down the middle. There was no clear favorite in this match up.

The announcer continued, “In the black corner, the reigning champion, weighing in at 204 pounds, Nicholas Brooks!”

The crowd got even louder.

Zane knew this would be the hardest fight of his life
—Nick was the best for a reason. So many others had failed at taking the title, now it was Zane’s turn to try.

He looked back at Lincoln
, who was a rock. He looked up at Zane and nodded his head, giving Zane that extra boost of confidence. He then turned to look at the center of the cage. It was time.

Nick and Zane approached the center and shook hands.
No words were necessary as they both took their fighting stances. Zane heard the bell ring.

They started circling, waiting to see who would attack first.
Zane had mentally prepared himself to not see Nick as a friend during the fight and he knew Nick had done the same. But fuck, it was harder than he’d thought it would be. He sensed Nick was battling the same feelings. Zane looked at the clock, thirty seconds were already gone.

“Fight!” Zane yelled at Nick.
Nick indicated his agreement for them both to quit being pussies and came in for the attack. Now the fight was on.

Nick was able to land his first punch onto the side of Zane’s jaw, but Zane was able to dodge the next one.
Nick was strong, however Zane was fast. Zane knew he couldn’t let Nick get too many blows in; it would be too hard to recover from the brute strength of those punches. Nick threw his weight at Zane, yet Zane was able to shift to the side and land a punch to the side of Nick’s head. Nick quickly recovered and swept Zane’s legs from underneath him.

Zane fell on his back as Nick jumped on top
, getting several blows in to Zane’s ribs and head. When Nick reared back for a harder punch, Zane was able to get some hits into Nick’s ribs and a hard punch into his stomach.

While Nick recovered from the last hit, Zane was able to thrust hard enough to throw Nick to the side.
Zane took the opportunity to get behind Nick and wrap him up. It didn’t take long for Nick to escape the hold. He was able to pull himself out of Zane’s grip and roll away from him.

Nick was quick to get on his feet
, and Zane did the same. They started circling again, both looking for an opening. This time, Zane was the aggressor. He faked a punch then kicked Nick in the side. Nick barely flinched from the kick and was able to get a punch into Zane’s face. They went back and forth, each applying a series of punches and kicks until they heard the bell ring.

They
then each turned to go to their corners. Zane took a water someone handed him while Lincoln started talking.

“You’re holding your own, but you’re not winning,”
Linc said bluntly.

“I know
, he’s like a fucking brick wall,” Zane replied. Zane was frustrated with himself. He wanted this fight.

“He seems slightly weaker with the gut punches, if you can strike more there, it should give you some more openings,” Lincoln suggested.
They both knew how formidable Nick was in the cage
—
he never seemed to feel pain. They both knew it was going to take some trial and error in the first round to figure out the best way to beat him.

Zane heard the ref call them back for the second round.
He bumped fists with Nick as the bell rang to start.

Zane didn’t waste a second
. He went right in with a kick to Nick’s stomach. Linc was right, that was his Achilles heel. He saw the grimace Nick tried to conceal and knew he had to take advantage to win the fight. Nick was quick to recover and protected himself as he went towards Zane to retaliate with a quick series of more kicks and punches. Zane was able to avoid of few, but Nick landed more punches than he missed.

Zane felt himself wearing down
. He fell back to avoid the next punch. Nick had put a lot of momentum into that last punch and went slightly off balance, giving Zane another opportunity to kick him. After the kick, Zane ducked down and was able to get in an upper cut to Nick’s jaw then stepped back to put some distance between them.

Zane lunged forward to get some punches into Nick’s ribs.
Nick leaned into Zane and shoved him back towards the cage, yet Zane was able to slip out of his grasp before he got thrown into the cage, getting behind Nick to push him face first into it.

As he put all his strength into keeping Nick against the cage and throwing punches into his side, Nick pushed back and took them both to the mat.
Nick landed on top of Zane, but Zane was ready and able to quickly maneuver to Nick’s back. He put Nick in an arm lock that allowed him to break it if Nick didn’t escape quickly or tap out.

“Tap the fuck out,” Zane growled in Nick’s ear.

“NO!” Nick yelled back at him. Nick started to slip out of Zane’s grasp. Fuck, Zane had to treat him like he would any other fighter in this position. He snapped his arm. The ref quickly stopped the match and the crowd went silent.

“Shit man, why didn’t you tap?”
Zane couldn’t believe how this had ended.

“Quit being a pussy
. I thought I was about to get out. I was wrong,” Nick panted while he grimaced in pain.

The paramedics came out to look at his arm while Zane stood back to give them some space.
He looked up as the crowd started to cheer. They were so bloodthirsty, enjoying the sight of someone getting a broken bone, however he felt like shit about it.

Zane
stood in his corner while they adjusted Nick’s arm, and he overheard them say they were going to take him to the hospital. Nick told them he wanted to hear the announcement before they took him away. Zane saw one of the paramedics argue with Nick and he almost laughed out loud. He could tell she was one of those women that didn’t appreciate this sport.

If Nick was bossing people around, he was going to be okay.
He’d seen those types of breaks before. Nick would be okay in a couple of months.

Nick got to his feet and walked to the center of the cage.
He grinned at Zane as they waited to hear the official words.

“The winner, at four minutes two seconds in the second round, and the new light heavyweight champion, Zane Phillips!”

Zane took in the cheers and applause.
He had waited for this moment for so long. He looked over at Nick.

“Congratulations
, Zane,” Nick said whole-heartedly. Zane leaned in to give him a chest bump and quickly backed off when he saw the pain in Nick’s face.

“Go to the hospital, dumbass,” Zane ordered him.

Nick nodded his head just before the paramedic barked at him to follow her, but he noticed she checked his eyes first to make sure he was okay to be on his feet. Nick was in good hands.

He followed Nick out of the cage and saw Melanie standing there with tears in her eyes.
She was staring at Nick as he came down the steps. Before she could say anything, Nick spoke.

“I’m fine
. Nothing that won’t heal. Go congratulate your man,” Nick said as he walked past her. Melanie glared up at him for not stopping and stared at his back as he walked away. Then she turned to Zane. He saw the mixture of emotions on her face. Nick’s nonchalant attitude had seemed to help calm her as she approached Zane.

She smiled that sweet smile of hers
and then reached up to give him a tight hug.

“Congratulations
, sweetheart. I’m so happy for you, but I’m going to kick your ass later for breaking his arm,” she said in his ear.

Zane laughed out loud and gave her a sloppy kiss for everyone to watch.
He held her close and whispered in her ear, “I love you, too.”

*
  *  *

Nick climbed into the back of the ambulance for the ride to the hospital.
He was used to pain and it typically didn’t bother him, but his arm was throbbing and he just wanted something to dull the pain. He lay on the stretcher and closed his eyes. He sure as hell wasn’t going to ask for anything. He was too tough to admit how much his damn arm hurt.

He forced himself to relax as one of the paramedics started the ambulance and headed to the hospital.
The other paramedic took a seat next to him to check his vitals.

“Open your eyes,” he heard a voice command him.

He opened his eyes to a light and squinted.
She went through a quick exam and called in to the hospital to let them know they were coming in with a patient. She efficiently summed up the extent of his injuries and other conditions she had noted during the exam.

He closed his eyes again
. He was feeling slightly dizzy and wanted her to leave him be. As he started to drift off, he heard the other paramedic start talking to her.

“Do you know who that is?”
He could hear the excitement in the driver’s voice. Nick was used to gawking fans and started to tune them out.

“I think I heard the announcer call him Nicholas, why?”

“That’s Nick Brooks! He’s been the light heavyweight champion for years. This is the first fight he’s lost in forever.” The paramedic had clearly kept up with Nick’s career. No doubt this would be a story to tell his friends.

Nick kept his eyes closed
. He didn’t want to be pulled into their conversation. He wasn’t in the mood to put on his typical act for the fans.

“Oh
, please, Chase, you watch that crap?” Nick could hear the groan in her voice.

He was intrigued
. He had never heard someone call MMA crap. Since he had practically been raised in the cage, he was always around people that appreciated the art of the sport. This woman definitely wasn’t one of those people.

“Hell
, yeah, I watch it! It’s awesome!” Chase stated with enthusiasm.

Nick opened his eyes to look at her
, catching her disgusted expression as she filled out her paperwork. She turned back to Nick and caught him staring up at her. He gave her a smirk and she narrowed her eyes at him.

Finally, a woman that didn’t look at him for what he did for a living.
The fact that she hated what he did made things much more interesting…