Take Me On (32 page)

West

“Knees, West! Use your knees!” It’s the first clear voice in the chaos. A knee goes up, then another. A sharp hit into the ribs and Matt stumbles back. I push off the cage, my legs more Jell-O than muscle, but I’ve got to keep going. Three rounds. Three rounds for Haley.

The bell rings and the ref slides in between us. The world circles and I raise my arms over my head and press my forehead against the cage, fighting for each intake of air. Everything throbs and the exhaustion is enough to cause a loss of consciousness.

Then there’s a face on the other side of the fence and I swear I’m fucking hallucinating.

“Where the hell is your guard?” she shouts.

Damn if she doesn’t sound like Haley. “I’m tired.”

“Do I look like I care? You’re getting the hell pounded out of you. If you want to tap out, then tap out, but don’t stand there and let him win.”

I glance around as best as I can with my eye swelling. Does the world see me talking to the hallucination? Does no one give a fuck I’m losing my mind?

She’s beautiful and strikingly real. “I love you.”

Her fingers curl around the fence and touch mine. The coolness of her fingertips against my hot skin causes me to close my eyes. Fuck, she seems so real. “Open your eyes, West.”

I do and those dark, gorgeous eyes dig deep into mine.

“John, we’ve got a problem.”

There’s commotion behind me and a hand goes on my arm. “Turn toward me, son.”

The voice is John’s, but I’m not interested. I’m only interested in what’s in front of me...only interested in her touch. I’m fucking lost in my own mind, but I don’t care. If I turn away, she’ll be gone and I can’t live through that again.

“West,” she says calmly. “Let the doctor look at you.”

“You’ll go away,” I answer. “I don’t want you to go away.”

She presses her nails into me, penetrating deep enough to cause pain. “I’m real.”

The air slams out of my body and I lose my grip on the fence. “You’re what?”

John slides in front of me. “What’s your name?”

“West Young.” I yank my head to the right to see Haley again. “She’s here.”

“She’s here,” he repeats.

Another man blocks my view of Haley and he takes my hands. “Look at me.”

I do. He asks a few more questions and I answer while trying to shake the cobwebs out of my head.

“Can you fight?” he asks.

Haley holds on to the fence and stares at me like she’s actually worried. Like she’s actually in love with me. “Fuck yeah.”

I swing around and face Matt again in the center of the ring with the ref between us. The son of a bitch glances over at Haley, and when he meets my eyes again, I smile. “You ain’t got nothing.”

“Clean fight, boys,” says the ref.

“What the fuck did you say?” demands Matt.

I hold out my fist and Matt bumps it. “I said you ain’t got nothing. No girl and no hit.”

We break apart and I keep my arms at my sides. Haley spent months drilling it into my brain to keep my head on straight, to keep my emotions in check, because if I lost it, I’d lose the game plan and the fight. The same has to be true with the bastard across from me.

The yelling, the cheering, the world fades out and a sense of calm washes over me. Two things remain in my world: the asshole in the cage and Haley’s voice. “Guard up, Young.”

It’ll go up—when I’m ready.

Matt and I dance around each other and I pump my fist into my chest. “You ain’t got nothing.”

Matt jerks with the statement and I throw my arms forward and back, begging for the hit. “Nothing. Hit me all damn day. You ain’t got it.”

Abandoning his form, Matt lunges and I allow the free shot to my head. I turn with the impact and jump back at the same time. Fire consumes his eyes when I smile at him. “Nothing.”

His crew yells at him and I laugh because they see what Matt doesn’t. I’m mentally taking the show, but Matt’s lost in my words. I nod my chin for him to try again, but this time when he attacks, I pull up my guard, watch as he lowers his, then ram a two-one combination into his face.

Haley

“Kick series! Kick series!” I bang on the cage.

West has taken control and he solidly kicks Matt’s side. Matt doubles over. Good God in heaven, West has struck a knee-bending blow. He could do this. He could stand for all three rounds.

The ref slides between Matt and West and checks Matt to make sure can continue. My eyes meet West’s and I nod my approval. “Keep that guard up.”

Matt waves the ref off and West refocuses on the fight. Matt’s trained and he’s experienced. He slipped into emotion and he won’t allow the mistake again. He’ll want retaliation and he’ll want it on the floor. “Stay off the floor,” I scream. “He wants the floor!”

Matt surges forward and West sidesteps the wrong way. Both of them slam to the ground and the cage vibrates with the impact. The crowd goes insane.

Matt tries to throw a knee over West to straddle. His elbow and forearm go after West’s air passage and West scrambles to move away, but Matt’s too trained to allow easy release.

“Kick your hips up! Get under his legs!”

West thrusts up and Matt crashes into him, sending him back down. He presses his forearm into West’s windpipe.

“Kick your hips up!” I yell again. “Under his legs!”

But West panics with the loss of air and his hands shoot to Matt’s arms. I bang against the fence. “Listen to me, Young!”

The reaction is instantaneous. He thrusts back up again and Matt’s grip loosens. The crowd hollers their approval when West ducks and rolls out of the hold and brings the fight back to their feet.

Matt and West round each other. The crowd claps in unison, waiting for either to attack. I glance at the ticking clock. “Thirty seconds!”

Three rounds of three minutes each and the end is near. His first competition and I know he needs to finish it out. Both of them sway with exhaustion. Matt stomps forward and West reacts by jumping out of the way. Matt will go for the knees again.

We trained for this moment. I dragged West through the mud and back again. At this point, it has nothing to do with strength, but everything to do with heart.

“Kick series!” I rattle the cage. “Kick series.”

West wipes at the sweat over his eyes and begins the dance on the floor. His legs switch as he searches for the right moment. Sensing an attack, Matt parallels, then strikes.

Matt throws a cross and West blocks and lands a front kick into his chest. Matt stumbles and I join the crowd cheering. West continues the attack, pinning Matt against the cage.

The entire arena stomps on the floor when the bell rings and the ref pulls West off Matt. West circles the cage, pounding his fist to his chest and the crowd eats it up.

With palms up against the cage, he leans into me. I wish this was the movies. I wish I could rush the cage and wrap myself around him, but there are rules and there is respect and later I’ll show him my love and gratitude. “You did it.”

West sucks in air and latches on to my fingers that I weaved through the fence. “I didn’t win.”

“I don’t care.” The decision by the judges against him should be fast. Matt scored more punches. He dominated the fight, but West stood three rounds and he sent a message to everyone within earshot of the cage: West Young has heart and he never gives up. That, in the fighting world, makes him dangerous.

He rests his forehead against the cage and I press mine against the same spot. Our fingers touch and I close my eyes, wishing we were alone.

“You’re worth it.” West is black-and-blue and bloodied and swelling. His body has been hammered and brutalized and cut. “You are worth all of this.”

“I love you,” I whisper.

The ref approaches West from behind. “Decision’s in.”

West flashes me that same glorious smile as the first day we met. “I already won.”

West

Jax enters the small room wearing a shit-eating grin. Since I walked out of the cage with my defeat set in stone, the kid’s become my new best friend. He tosses another gallon bag of ice to John. “Haley’s about to kick some ass if we don’t let her in soon. How’re you holding up?”

Sitting in a chair, I’m down to my briefs and John’s adamant his granddaughter isn’t witnessing me exposed. John’s wrapped two bags of ice on my shoulder where something popped out, then repopped back into place during the fight. I hold a bag to my eye, and he sets another one on the knuckles of my right hand. “I’m fine.”

“Remarkably, you are,” says John. “But I can’t start training you again until you heal. This swelling needs to go down.”

I rub my jaw, then work it around. There’s not a spot on my body that isn’t pounding and the shock of John’s statement is enough to numb the pain for a second. “Training?”

“Payment due on the first of the month and you’re required to practice at least five days a week.”

“Bullshit,” coughs Jax. “He requires seven.”

John checks the bag of ice on my shoulder. “You’re not tapping out after your first fight, are you?”

It hurts to smile. “No, I’m not.”

“Good.”

A knock on the door sends Jax into a laughing fit. “I told you, Hays, you aren’t seeing him until he’s got...” Jax swings the door open and the words fade away.

He scratches the back of his neck and chances a glimpse at me. “It’s some guy claiming to be your dad.”

Denny or Dad? The thought floats before I can stop it. I nod and the door widens to reveal my father. He’s out of place in a pair of jeans and a collared polo shirt.

“Come on, Jax.” John stands. “Let’s go keep Haley from starting a brawl.”

The door shuts with a loud click and the only sound in the room is the ice shifting in the bags. I pop my neck to the side, finding myself too damned tired for a screaming match. “Whatever it is, can we argue about it later?”

Dad slips into a seat across from me. An hour ago, John sat in that same chair and offered me more fatherly advice than my own supposed father had my entire life. “I told your mother you’re still alive.”

“Thanks.”

“Call her. She’ll want to hear your voice.”

“I will.” I stretch my shoulder and wince. “Mind keeping me on your insurance for a little longer?”

Dad’s face moves up as he smiles and I raise my eyebrows in response. What the hell?

“You’re good at this,” he says. “It was awful watching it, but at the same time, I smacked the guy next to me and told him you’re my son.”

I chuckle, because I got nothing to say. I take it back. I do know what to say. “Did you always know I wasn’t yours?”

The smile slips off his face and I sort of regret my choice of words, yet, I don’t. This conversation needs to be had and there’s never going to be an appropriate time or place.

“Yes. Colleen had been sick for a long time and let’s just say there was a breakdown in communication between me and your mother and I’m aware how babies are made.”

I nod, the truth not making me feel much better. “Why did you stay with her? She cheated.”

“I loved her. Denny loved her first and I stole her away from him and then when things got rough I abandoned her and Colleen. She needed comfort, and when I didn’t give it, she ran to arms that were still open.”

Fuck. I toss the bag I’d been holding to my eye into the trash. “You’re real live and let live about this.”

“I love her, West. She loves me. When you feel like that about someone, you find ways to make it work.”

My heart aches—Haley. Was what I did to her different?

“You say you love her, but you wanted me to break up with Haley. You told me to trust you, that a girl would be my worst downfall. Is that how you see Mom? Do you really love her or has it all been a show this entire time?”

My dad ages ten years with each second that passes. He appears smaller, grayer and weary. “I loved your mother from the first time she poured a beer over my head because she’d heard my type of lines before.”

My eyes widen and my lips twitch up and down. My mother poured a beer over Dad’s head? My father used pickup lines on my mother? Who the fuck are these people and part of me is loving every second. Watching my reaction, Dad’s mouth tilts up. “I think you can understand why your grandparents were less than thrilled with me.”

Dad’s parents are picture-perfect conservative and stuck-up. “Then why did you push me so hard on Haley?”

The happiness vanishes. “Because the road with your mother was difficult. From the moment we met, nothing was easy. Life threw everything it could at us and sometimes we won and other times we failed. But through it all, never doubt that I loved her and never doubt that she loved me. While that’s true, my choice to be with your mother, her choice to be with me—it made life complicated and we suffered because of it. You have to understand, West, that when it comes to your children...you don’t want hard. You don’t want to see them hurt.”

I readjust the ice bag on my shoulder, acting as if it’s slipping, but I really need a break from the intense. There’s a sadness within me and this happiness that has got me all screwed up. My parents love each other and that’s...that’s something to hold on to, but to know they’ve experienced pain, too... It somehow makes them human.

Dad leans forward and rests his combined hands in the gap between his knees. “What I said is true. You may not share my blood, but you are me through and through. Not just the stuff that drives me up a damn wall, but the stuff that makes you, you. Your sense of humor, your tenacity, how you love your family.”

Dad lowers his head and I wipe at my eyes. I’m tired. It’s why I’m emotional, but somewhere deep inside the young kid that followed this man around like he was a god rejoices.

There’s an edge in his voice, a brokenness that doesn’t belong to a man who owns the world. “You may not want it, but you’re my son. You have always been my son. You will always be my son and I love you.”

I want to say I love him back, but there are still parts of me that need to heal—internal parts—unseen hurts that need space and air. “I can’t come home. Not yet.” If ever.

“I know. I knew it the moment you threw your first punch in that cage. You’ve found something, a direction, a path I’m not allowed on, but let me at least be a spectator. Give me the chance to meet you at the finish line.”

My own voice cracks. “Okay.”

“Okay. And so you know, I’m not abandoning you. Your room’s still yours. So’s your car and credit cards. I’ll still give Haley the scholarship.”

“I’ve got to do this on my own. The temptations you’re scared about me returning to... They belong to the world at home. I’m a boy there and here...”

“You’re a man.” Dad squeezes the only nonbruised part of my body and repeats, “You’re a man.”

“Did it bother you?” I ask. “That I ended up working with Denny?” A pause. “That I’ll still be working with Denny.”

“Yes,” he answers quickly. “It does. As far as I’m concerned, you’re my son. Not his, but I understand your need to know him. Just...just at least consider offering me the same chance that you’re giving him.”

I nod, but he knows it’s not really an answer. It’s something I’ll need to think about. Dad stands and I can’t let him walk away like this. “Tell Mom I’ll be there for family dinners.”

The small smile on his face tells me I nailed the first board into that bridge the two of us are trying to rebuild. “She’ll like that. I’m proud of you, son.”

With a shut door, I find myself alone. I sigh and rub my hand over my head. Six months ago, I thought I owned the world, but I really owned nothing. Now, in the eyes of the world, I’ve lost everything...

“West?”

My head snaps up and my heart stutters. I’ve lost absolutely nothing of any value. My lips slant up and, out of respect for her grandfather, I grab a towel and stick it over my lap.

Haley’s laughter tickles over my skin. She tilts her head and that sexy, silky hair tumbles over her shoulder. “You’re letting John get to you.”

I wave at my body. “I’m not in the position to be taking on any more fights.”

Her hips sway as she strolls over to me. “Don’t worry. I have your back.”

I crave for her to curl her body over mine, but instead she drags the chair Dad abandoned moments ago next to me. She sits in it and laces our fingers together. “I should kick your ass for what you did.”

I chuckle. “Which particular event would the ass kicking be for?”

“Any of it, but mainly that you broke up with me so I could go to school for free.”

Damn, Haley’s always been direct. “I wanted you to have a chance at a future. I couldn’t stand in the way of that. At least I thought I couldn’t. By the time I understood my mistake, you were gone.”

“I didn’t come back for you,” she says. “By taking the fight you sped up my timeline, but I came back for me. You and everyone else were right—I had lost my fight and I wasn’t engaging. You tapped out on me, but I tapped out, too.”

“It won’t happen again,” I say. “Me tapping out. I learned my lesson.”

“Me, too,” she responds.

I think about her words. That there could be another meaning. “If this is you trying to let me down easy, then be warned I plan on fighting for you.”

Haley smiles and I like that her eyes lighten with it. “I’m not going anywhere, Young.”

“We have a lot to talk about.” Exhausted, my head settles back against the wall.

I want to know what helped change her mind and where she’s going to be living now that she’s home. I need to tell her about my dad, my biological dad, about her tuition to college, a ton of things, but I’m too damned tired.

“We can talk about whatever you want later.” Haley rests her head on my shoulder. “Right now, I’m focusing on the whole happy you’re alive. You scared the hell out of me when I first arrived. You weren’t focused and Matt was pounding you to pieces.”

“I was focused.” I focused when I heard her beautiful voice. I turn my head, nuzzle my nose into her hair and inhale her sweet fragrance. She’s here. She’s honest to God here. “You mean everything to me, Haley.”

“I love you,” she whispers as her fingers squeeze mine. After a second, she rocks our joined hands. “Sometimes, after a fight, I wanted silence. Just time to clear my head.”

Silence. I exhale. Silence would be nice. “Will you stay with me?”

“For as long as you want me.”

“Then be prepared to stay for a long time.” I close my eyes and enjoy the sensation of Haley’s fingers tracing my arm.