by P. S. Power
He’d done it so far, at least that Tony knew of.
Still, as they ran, faster than they normally did on the front six of their twelve mile run, Tony had time to think. Mainly about what was going to happen that day. The question of who was coming to meet him that he needed to be around for was central to that, as well. The best option that he could think of was people in the press. He hadn’t done any interviews so far and Rick hadn’t pressed him to.
There had been requests for that however, since a kid beating a pro fighter was a big deal to some people. His reasoning was different than most would guess, when it came to avoiding that kind of thing. It probably seemed like he was being secretive. Maybe just totally focused on his next fight, or training. That was kind of true, but the truth was that Tony Winters wasn’t going to let anyone get away with bad mouthing or insulting Ichihiro Saka. The press would want him to do that, he was willing to bet. Stirring things up, so that the other guy would feel bad about losing to a boy.
The thing there was that he hadn’t been a bad fighter at all. Not ready for Tony that day, but he had no delusions that the next time would be different. Even thinking about fighting again was mainly because everyone else there didn’t get the idea yet. To them Tony could fight, so would want to. They all shared dreams like that. Except for him. He just didn’t want to lose what he had going on there.
Still, if that meant fighting, then he would.
So he ran faster, not noticing that they had to double back to collect everyone else at one point, having added three miles to the thing they were doing. Then he and Steve pushed harder, trailing people on their shorter part of the run behind them. Scattering them out. He felt like crud the whole time and was gasping when they stopped in front of the Winters Gym sign. That was yellow and blue. The thing looked clean and shiny above him.
Steve walked around, as he just stood there, both of them breathing harder than normal. It took a while for Nick and Jen to get there, with Rick a way behind them both, since he was hanging back to stay with Denny and a few other people that had bothered to get out with them that day for the exercise.
No one seemed all that happy when they got in. Jen actually scowled at him.
“What the heck, guys?”
He nodded, kind of understanding her. They’d run the whole thing fast. Enough so that he kind of hurt from it still. Steve had to be pained as well.
“This is our last long run for a bit. Fifteen miles. Steve and I need to take a break on this, so someone else will need to lead the longer runs for you all. Just for a week or so. I’m going to be gone anyway.”
Rick made a face at the words, but nodded.
“Right. We need to talk about that…” There was a tone to his words that Anthony didn’t like. It was the kind of thing that people used if they were about to take away something that you’d wanted. The trip to the store was canceled, because they were too hung over, or you weren’t getting a present for your birthday, because all the cash had been spent on drugs the night before.
He just nodded, not caring at the moment. Tony even faked a smile, but didn’t get one back from anyone. Whatever was going on, it wouldn’t be good. It couldn’t. He knew that on a level that nearly caused him to snarl at people for taking so long to get in on their run.
They all waited there however, even if it took almost half an hour for the others to get in, since the slower people just needed more time. When they got there, he clapped his hands and made himself play Tony for them.
“Good job, everyone. Great work, really. Everyone needs to be really careful today and drink plenty of water. Even if you’re going off to work. Keep everyone up on that, if you get a chance? Heat stroke won’t help you train. Better to take it easy than to burn out because of that.” Some of the people were in heavy training and he kind of expected one of them to glare over the words, but Rick moved forward and actually nodded.
“That’s the right call. Some things are going on here today and we will be having press in and out, so keep that in mind too? Most of this is on the MMA side. Nick, you’re up, like we talked about yesterday?” He waited, as if the man was going to pull back at the last minute.
Instead there was a sweaty and tired seeming shrug.
“I’m gay and coming out today. I’m dating Raul… So if that’s a problem for anyone, send me a letter and I’ll get right on that?” There was a fairly charming smile to go with it and one of the women that had been near the back of the back frowned over it.
She was an amateur fighter, on the boxing side of things, so Tony wasn’t all that worried. If she had something against people like that, she didn’t really have to work with them. Rather than say anything about that part though she just grumped a bit.
“Writing letters? Who does that? Email. It’s a thing now… Jeez.”
Then, chuckling a bit, they all went in for the day.
Chapter four
Rick had Tony shower and get into regular clothing that day. It was older stuff and felt a bit tighter across the shoulders than it had before. Most of his things had been gotten second hand, so he looked like he was about twenty years out of date, as far as style went. Nicely retro. It was dressier though, being clothing that he normally wore to go to church on Sundays.
The people coming in were all press, which meant that Nick and Raul were on tap for the day really. As Anthony had figured, it was kind of a huge deal. At the same time, it really wasn’t. At least not on the MMA side of things. Both men that had offered to fight Nick left the chance open, not caring at all if he liked dudes. The word had been leaked too and another fighter put in a bid for a fight as well, probably figuring that it would be good publicity for him. At least his team was thinking that.
Tony ended up looking at things on the web that day, scouring the sports sites for news. There was some controversy, but it wasn’t really anything that big. Some people in the comments sections just wanted to know if Nick was going to be tested for diseases before fighting. He was, which was slowly making it into the articles. Most fighters were checked out anyway, so that wasn’t some big deal. A bit rude, asking for it to be done, but that was the only real fear that anyone could have.
It wasn’t until nearly one that the first negative press started coming in. That was from the number four ranked person in Nick’s organization, who said, flat out, that he’d never fight a gay man. That got the number two person to come forward and say that he didn’t care what people did in the bedroom. It started an argument. Which was kind of the point.
By the end of the day both Nick and Raul were trending on Google and Nick was on Twitter. So, it had gotten attention in a big way. Not all bad either.
No one was interested in him however, as far as he could tell. Not until later in the day, when Rick waved him over, standing by an older woman in a light blue dress. She seemed tall for a woman and had short gray hair that was nearly white. Younger through the face, however, meaning she looked to be in her mid-sixties or so, at a guess.
Tony walked over with two cold bottles of water, since that had been his gig for the day so far. Everyone that was willing to drink the stuff got some, so he jogged over, smiling and handed each of them one of the blue labeled things.
The woman had very blue eyes and was about an inch taller than he was, making her about five-nine or so. She was lean looking, but not hard like a fighter. She did smile fairly well though and took the bottle that was held out, opening it instantly and taking a sip.
“Thank you, Tony. I was just talking to my son about you. I’m Samantha Winters.” She didn’t go on to the next obvious portion of things. That she was his grandmother.
A person who he figured as being dead his whole life. Deirdre had never spoken about her at any rate. Then, she wasn’t chatty about anything except what was going on that day, for the most part. She rarely even planned a week ahead. It had made growing up around her tense. She’d leave for a few weeks and he’d honestly never known if she was coming back. Finally,
he’d learned not to care.
“Hello!” He tried to seem bright and cheery about things, even though he felt a bit ambushed. If this was who he was supposed to meet and Rick had been keeping it secret, then there was a good chance that he was going to be sent off with the woman that day.
It would explain why Rick had been acting funny and said they’d needed to talk about his going off to help Sally with her sparring practice. It was a change of plans, but he could survive that. It meant not making this woman angry at him instantly however.
Rick smiled and moved in beside Anthony, patting his back.
“He’s great, mom. Hard working and I’ve never met anyone with more of an innate sense of things as far as fighting goes. Nice, too. Since he got here, he’s worked almost every single day to try and help other people out.”
It was a bit of a hard sell, but the woman, Samantha, smiled at him. When she did that Anthony could see his own mother in her eyes. Probably because she was faking it more than a bit. Probably thinking that Tony was evil incarnate and about to be pressed on her, so that Rick and Jen could be rid of him. For a second he felt a bit like a used car.
Never mind all the dents, there’s a great engine in there. He thought the words hard enough that it took willpower to keep his face bland after that. The woman nodded a little then, staring at him.
“I’m just in town for the day. A few hours. I came to meet you, but my son told me that if I broke into your schedule, he’d disown me. I mean, seriously? I’m love and light itself, being treated like that.” She winked at him then, almost playfully. “So, I get you for three full hours before I have to start driving home. Would you like to go for some ice cream?”
Tony smiled, then shook his head.
“No, thank you. I’m on a diet. For training. They actually feed me enough, but I pretty much can’t eat junk food. I… We could talk, I guess? If you want?” She was family of his, even if a stranger, after all.
That was supposed to be important.
Rick smiled then.
“See? I told you. Why not go into the lounge?” That they had one of those at the gym was news to Tony, but it was clear that he didn’t know everything about the place yet. His uncle led them to a door that he’d never opened, which had some sofas and fake plants inside of it, as well as a four-person table with wooden chairs.
It was clear that he wasn’t going to stay at the moment, since he looked at the door, his face shifting a little bit. Anthony got the idea and nodded.
Then he explained it to Samantha, because she’d just walked into the place.
“One of our fighters just publicly came out this morning. Gay, not as a Republican. I don’t know about that one. So Rick has to go and help manage the press, I bet. Abandoning me here, to face the deadly family I don’t know. I’m all tired from the run earlier too, so I bet I can’t escape very easily.” He smiled about it all moving to sit across from where Samantha settled.
The older woman tilted her head and smiled slowly.
“I can see that one being a problem for you then. Don’t worry, despite what you might have heard about me, I don’t really bite.”
Rick left then, not even waving goodbye. Anthony glared at his back a bit, then smirked a little, shaking his head.
“Honestly? The only thing I ever heard about you was that you were nice.”
The lady gave him a rather stern look then and seemed not to believe it.
“Deidre said that? A bit kinder than I would have thought. We didn’t part on good terms. Mainly over you. She left home at seventeen, pregnant. We, your grandfather and I, had suggested she get an abortion, or place you for adoption. So instead of bowing to pressure, she left.”
The news was different from what he’d ever heard, so he just sat there for a second.
Then shook his head.
“Really? She never talked about either of you. Rick either. I’d always thought you were dead or something. To be honest, she always told me that she wanted to have an abortion and that it was too late by the time she got around to it. Then she could never quit figure out how to give me up for adoption, until I was too old for anyone to want.”
The woman across from him looked angry for a few seconds, her face set and very hard.
“That’s a horrible thing to tell anyone. Especially since she’d clearly been trying to get pregnant on purpose. She was too young, but wanted a baby so badly. It happens sometimes. She tried to trap Adam that way. A friend of Rick’s? They were both into fighting and martial arts and were nearly inseparable. Until a certain young girl managed to get his best friend into bed and catch a child.”
That was a much different situation than he’d ever heard about, but really, no one had bothered to tell him anything really.
“Adam Forsythe? I know nothing about him, except that he’s a dirty fighter in the ring. He does MMA stuff?”
For some reason the woman just seemed baffled for a moment, then nodded.
“I don’t know him now, but back then he was a sweet enough boy. English. He had a lovely accent. Older than Deirdre by enough that he should have known better, but young enough to have his head turned by a pretty face. You look like him. It’s those cheekbones. The same nose as well. Have you met him? Or, no, you just said that you didn’t know much about him.” She seemed slightly annoyed for a moment, then shrugged.
“So, you plan to be a fighter when you grow up?”
Tony shook his head, then shrugged.
“Not really. I’m kind of thinking of going into medicine. If I can get my grades around and come up with the money for it. Something where I can help people. I might change my mind, but that’s the current plan.”
The woman smiled at him then, her eyes going wide.
“Oh? Now that’s a nice profession. Rick was talking about you like you had a long term career already mapped out as a fighter. Though to be fair, he was only talking about what you had planned for the next few weeks. I think I rather assumed the rest of it.”
He could see that one. Rick was nothing if not focused on his job. Anthony was trying to help him with that, so everything probably seemed geared in that direction at the moment. It kind of was, since Tony had been putting everything he could on that path.
“So, I guess I should give you the breakdown on my life and then you can tell me about everything else?” It seemed efficient and probably why she was there.
There was a pleasant nod and Anthony nearly lied, glossing over most of the negative parts of his life. Tony however forced him to sit up straighter, since being honest was one of the things that good people did. The act needed him to be that. Even for this woman he didn’t know.
Then he spilled almost everything. There was some holding back and a bit of generalizing, but he covered the drugs, the older women and the crimes. Also his love of reading. He hadn’t opened a book in months, not having the time. It was one of the things he was looking forward to when he got back to school. Getting to take the time for things like that again. Even if he had to train eight hours a day, that would leave him one or two for homework, which meant textbooks.
When he got to the end of everything, the woman stared for a while, then forced a smile that was horribly fake.
“There are two kinds of people in this world. Those that have bad things happen and break into a million shards of glass and those who become stronger from it. Good to see that you’re picking that last one, Tony. Now, some things about the family?”
There was a lot of interesting data in that. Including things about Deidre that he never would have guessed at all. Like how she’d been on the swim team in high school and done pretty well at it. Also how she’d been a social, butterfly, which made total sense to him. How Rick had done four years in the Marine Corps before moving into professional fighting. She was even able to fill in a bit about the fact that he’d both had a career and still fought, occasionally.
The interesting part there being that Rick Winters was actually a big name, i
n certain circles. Not as a promoter or trainer, or not only that, but as a fighter.
MMA, not boxing at all. That was pretty different than what Anthony would have guessed, to be truthful.
Then the woman filled in the bits about herself and her husband.
“Howard is in insurance. On the board of Prudential? Not direct sales, though he used to do that when he was starting out. He’s planning to retire, in a few years. I doubt he will. That man loves his work. I was always a house wife. You know, cleaning and cooking, the whole June Cleaver thing?”
Anthony knew what a housewife was, in theory.
“June Cleaver?” He had to ask, but the question got a smile.
“Right! Old television program. It isn’t very important. So, Tony. I came here to see if you wanted to move in with Howard and myself? Before you say yes, I have to point out that Rick told me that he wasn’t going to allow that. It would take a lawsuit to pry you away from him and that Jenny of his. She’s a sweet girl, isn’t she? Too young for him, but that has its place, I suppose. My point here is that we will fight for you, if you need us to.”
Anthony didn’t know how to respond to that and interestingly enough Tony, the act, had a few questions.
“Um, you just admitted that your plan was to have me killed.” People could debate abortion as murder or not, but if it was about him, Anthony knew the answer pretty clearly.
The woman smiled, rather than being insulted. She was smart enough to get his point however.
“Things change? So, is that a yes or a no?”
He smiled then and took a deep breath.
“A no. Thanks for the offer however? That is… really nice to hear. Did Rick actually say that? About not letting you take me away?”
The woman nodded then, her face serious.
“Oh, definitely. He means it, too. Well, I think we can call that settled then. I’ll just have to get my grandma act on by giving you presents and money the next time we meet. I should have brought some this time, but I kind of drove down directly and didn’t think of it until you handed me that water.”