Joe hurled a white towel from my corner. It had to be him, even though I couldn’t see that far away. I felt it land halfway on my cheek, and saw the white cotton in front of my face. My fist slid up the mat and swiped it away.
“No.” I couldn’t hear my word, but I screamed it again. “No!”
It took everything I had to say it. It was a million times worse than the beating I’d taken in the yard from Joe. I didn’t know how I’d even get to my corner. The whole place was silent. I scanned the arena and the faces all came back into focus, slowly. Women, men, a few children—all covering their mouths.
All I could think was that I had my legs. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t attacked them yet. My legs were still good, and I could feel them now. He hadn’t severed my spinal cord.
I crawled up to my hands and knees. The sounds of the arena rushed back into my ears like a whoosh of air. But that was it. It was still stone silent. Nothing but a pressure change, like listening to a sea shell or when you chewed gum on an airplane.
I made it to my feet and staggered toward Joe, trying to make my way to the stool over by the gate. Cora and Logan leaped from their seats and sprinted to the cage. I stumbled in a crooked path and managed to land upright on the stool, but wobbled back and forth. I could barely turn my head, but I had to. I looked down at them with eyes almost swollen shut. “What are you doing here?” Blood mixed with drool when I spoke.
“We came to see you. To be with you.” Cora laced her fingers through the cage.
I had to rotate my shoulders to slap my hand over hers. Her skin was like lightning. It shocked my whole body to attention.
I looked down and a tear ran down Logan’s cheek. “H-h-hey, big man.”
“H-hey.”
“You have to quit this. You can’t go back out there again.” Cora’s voice was soft like a whisper, but her words dug into me.
Footsteps hammered the ground on the other side of me. I couldn’t turn to see, but I knew who it was.
“He’s going to kill you this round. He’s just waiting.” Joe sighed. “We need to run. Right now. Your legs are still good. I’ll throw this gate open and we can take off. I’ll put you over my fucking shoulder if I have to.”
My vision sharpened back to normal and I glanced around the arena. I saw men in black three pieces at every exit. I stared down the ramp where we came from the lockers. Two men in the corner. Same suits. Maybe more behind the curtains. They all had little ear pieces with coiled cables running down into their jackets.
That was just the visible muscle. Anyone in street clothes could’ve worked for Edmon too, watching the rest of security as back up.
Janet walked up. “You’re not thinking of going back out there, are you? You did good. You hit the monster. But this is just—”
“Enough!” I growled at all of them.
They all shot to attention. Even Joe.
Hot tears streamed from my eyes. I’d cried twice in the same day—once with Logan and once now. Unheard of. It’d be the last time tears came from my eyes at the hands of Edmon.
I whirled and beat my fist against the gate. Pain shot through my limbs, but I didn’t care. I’d had enough of people telling me I couldn’t win. I’d had enough of everyone’s fucking pity. “We’re not running anymore. I’m not running!” I stared at Cora. “You didn’t stay in the room. You came down here to face this. You didn’t run from what you were afraid of.” I took a deep breath and stared down every one of them. Joe then Janet then Cora and ended on Logan. “We do not run! Not this family! Not from anything! NOTHING!”
Joe threw his arms up. “This is insane, asshole. You’re a psycho.”
I smiled. Despite all that was going on, my family pleading with me to run, Joe threatening to throw me over his shoulder—I smiled at him. “We’re all psychos, sweetheart.”
He shook his head but couldn’t help but grin as he looked away. “It’s your psycho funeral. Make it count.”
“Get ready!” the ref called.
I stood from my stool. Stared at all of them once more. “This ends now.”
CHAPTER 45
Landon Lane
JOE PULLED THE STOOL OUT of the gate and closed it. He knew he couldn’t talk me out of it. He gritted his teeth. “End it then, asshole.”
The bell rang.
Sid charged out like a hunter with prey in his sights. His whole demeanor had changed—eyes more narrowed and focused. He licked his lips. Knew this was his time. They’d unleashed him. Third round, kill him. He looked hungry, ready to devour my soul.
I had to guess. Left or right. He’d probably made the same calculation. Always do the unexpected.
I guessed he’d come with a right. If he’d stuck to the same pattern, that’s what he’d have led with. But he’d recognized it earlier. I had to make a decision. Then it all clicked. There was nothing that surprised someone more than doing the same thing they’d already figured out.
If I was wrong, I was done. My body wouldn’t be able to take another blow from him at full strength coupled with my momentum carrying me straight into it.
I started to dodge the right before it even came. I watched his foot as I moved. I’d assumed correct. He surged forward with the right and my heart thumped at the sight. Epinephrine coursed through my body. It built in my legs and filtered up into my torso until it hit my chest like a shotgun blast in my veins.
Sid’s upper body twisted in slow motion. His right fist came around with perfect technique. Maximum efficiency.
I leaned out to my left, and his hand glided through the air just millimeters from my chin. I followed it with my eyes. Saw the surprise in his pale irises when he realized what was happening. I was dialed in on him. Ready.
At the same time, I rocked back and planted my right foot. I braced on my leg and brought my hand up next to my chin. My hips rotated, and I shoved off my back leg.
I’d use his own power against him. The same way he’d done it to me in the last round.
His momentum carried him forward through his punch. I came with the right to meet him head on. The goal was simple.
Take his fucking head off.
My fist collided with his face, right on his upper lip. It crashed into his nose and mouth. Every ounce of energy from my body transferred straight from my knuckles into his head. Some of his teeth exploded into his throat and he flew straight back. His legs kept moving forward and went out from under him. Clotheslined him right in his tracks. Sid’s feet kicked straight out and his back hammered the mat like thunder.
I could’ve kicked him in the face, but I needed to conserve my legs. If I broke a foot on his face it’d slow me down. I’d never recover. Instead I dropped straight down and crushed a blow right into his stomach. Blood sprayed out of his mouth and he spit his teeth out onto the mat.
I hammered his face with two more crashing forearm blows before he got his guard up.
Edmon ran around the side of the cage, about four feet away, screaming. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn’t hear him. Didn’t hear a damn thing. I was in tune with my surroundings. We were back on the island, but roles had reversed. It was me hovering over the monster this time while he clutched at his face to ward off any punishing strikes.
The arena roared to life. Camera flashes went off like supernovas, thousands at once. The sounds all rushed into my ears.
“Get up! You worthless piece of shit!” Edmon screamed his lungs out at Sid. He beat his fists against the fencing, then gripped it and shook it violently.
I wanted to turn and smile my ass off at him, but I wasn’t moving my attention away from Sid for even a second.
“Yeah, Dad!” I heard Logan squeal from my corner.
Sid belted out a roar and exploded up through me. He shoved me back to my feet and I stumbled backwards as he made his way up onto his tree-trunk legs.
I’d knocked out three teeth in a row on top. He cracked his neck with his fist and I waved him on. I wasn’t afraid of hi
s ass anymore. He was still flesh and bone. I wasn’t afraid of the island anymore. Just a blip in my past. A bad childhood. Millions of people had them. He was the lamb and I was about to skewer him on a spit and roast him over a flame.
Sid charged and went right again. It caught me off guard. I didn’t think he’d do it three times in a row. It was hard to get rid of habits, it seemed. Or he was smart enough to outthink me.
He’d lost some strength. Sid roared when he hit me, and knocked me down to the mat. But some of his finishing power was gone, or I didn’t feel it through the adrenaline. One or the other—we were on a level playing field now. I jumped back up to my feet and charged him.
It took him by surprise. He threw a quick jab that caught me in the nose.
I rocked back from his blow, and came back with one of my own.
We stood, center ring, the crowd on their feet, going insane.
The two of us traded vicious punches, back and forth, each one of us hammering with everything we had. It’d be him or me. I had something to fight for. He didn’t.
It seemed to go on for minutes. Right hands from hell, caving each other’s faces in. Harder and harder, increasing at an exponential rate. Someone would give out first, and it wouldn’t be me.
Fuck him.
Fuck Edmon.
Nobody threatened my family.
Nobody was taking them away from me.
The clock ticked down to 1:35.
One minute and thirty-five seconds with the rest of my life at stake.
I blasted Sid with a right. My punches grew stronger with each one that I threw. Each second closer to freedom.
Edmon bellowed from the side of the cage. Paced back and forth, pulling at his hat, beating on the cage, and screaming insults at Sid.
We traded even more punches, but Sid seemed to grow weaker with each one.
I crushed him with another blow. His arms slowed. He threw another right at me, but staggered around, wobbling. It was like a light slap. His arms went limp and dangled at his sides.
I smelled the chum in the water, like a shark circling. This thing was going to end with him on the ground.
I hammered him again. He stumbled back against the cage. Edmon beat on the fence behind him.
I threw another. He couldn’t even move. No energy left to dodge the strikes. He was a sitting duck. Burned out. Poor energy conservation. He’d never been tested like this before. That was the difference between us. I’d hit rock-bottom, multiple times. I’d been pushed to the other side, and came back stronger—fiercer. He’d been coddled and catered to, and he’d never had his ass kicked. He didn’t have a Joe that beat him to the brink of death in front of his family. That pushed him until he couldn’t go any further, past his breaking point. That was about to change.
The place went apeshit. Even louder than before. Raw energy rushed through the air. I breathed it in and harnessed it to throw another punishing blow. I’d do it for the next hour if I had to. I’d do it for the rest of my life. I’d do anything for Logan, for Cora, for Janet, for Joe, for Gus.
That’s what Edmon and Sid didn’t have. That’s what happens when you never love anyone and never surrender some of your power. You have nothing to fight for.
I screamed in Sid’s face and rocked him with another right. He stumbled sideways and took a knee.
Ten seconds left.
I screamed again and blasted him with a downward right. Landed it on his left temple. His head swirled around in a lazy circle, like a newborn baby trying to sit upright.
I crouched down and threw an uppercut into his chin. It lifted him a few inches off the ground and I caught him with a left cross on his right eye as he fell back down. It ballooned and turned bright pink immediately. Totally swelled shut. I grabbed the back of his head and jammed a knee into his face.
Five seconds.
I hit him with three quick lefts.
One second.
I whirled around with a right hand from the gods. All my energy focused on the final blow. Every milligram of every neurotransmitter my brain could pump out converted to fuel and channeled straight into his fucking face. I needed him out for the count. If it killed him, it killed him. He knew the score when he stepped into the ring. Him or me. He wanted to kill me the same way. A threat is a threat. Respond accordingly.
I drove into his head so hard he nearly ripped through the cage. The side of his head crunched against my knuckles. His neck wrenched sideways and his face twisted and compressed. A thick stream of blood arced from the corner of his mouth. It soared out through the air and rained down onto the floor. The recoil from the fence heaved him face-first back toward the mat. He crashed onto the ground the same way I imagined Goliath after David hit him with the stone from the sling. He was out cold.
I thought the roof might blow off the MGM Grand. It was like an avalanche rocked the building. The whole place shook and roared.
Joe threw the gate open and sprinted to me. He crushed me with a hug and lifted me up in the air. He spun me around and shook me back and forth.
“You crazy son of an asshole!”
I smiled down at him and screamed back. “Yippee ki yay, motherfucker!”
Logan rushed out onto the mat. I tapped Joe on the back.
He sat me down and grabbed me by the back of the neck. Our foreheads met.
“I was wrong. I doubted you.”
“It’s okay.”
I kneeled and let Logan tackle me. He giggled harder than I’d ever heard him in my life. I just went to my back and let him land on top of me. Flung my arms out flat on the mat. Totally spent.
A camera crew made its way in and filmed. Logan was on top of me and put me in the same armbar he always used when we’d play around at home. I pretended to tap out on the mat like we were back home in Montana wrestling on the bed. Everyone laughed and cheered. I picked him up and stood to my feet.
I stepped over Sid with Logan in my arms. Edmon was nowhere to be seen. Pussy. Tucked his tail and ran. Left the love of his life behind to fend for himself. It was what he was good at. I didn’t give a shit what my DNA code said. He was nobody’s father. Biology didn’t mean a damn thing, even if it was true.
Microphones jammed into our faces. A few medical guys came in and it took four of them to drag Sid to the side. He was still breathing, but unconscious.
I squeezed Logan tight and pushed through the cameras. “Out of the way!”
“Out of the way! Move!” Logan shoved a few of them too.
I grinned at him.
The sea of cameras and reporters parted. There she was.
Standing there.
Staring at me.
We walked over to her.
I stopped and sat Logan down. He ran over to Janet and she yanked him into a hug. Janet shook her fist at me with a grin on her face. She was proud. My heart swelled at the sight of her happiness.
I smiled at Cora.
She smiled back.
“Love you always.”
“Always,” she said.
I went in a little sideways and kissed her with the good side of my mouth. The arena exploded with cheers. Janet, Logan, and Joe smiled and watched, but for a second it was just her and me. Cora raked her fingers through my hair, and kissed me back, gently.
“Sorry, think my jaw is broken.”
“Oh my God.” She started to put her good hand up but stopped herself before touching my cheek.
“It’s okay. Do I sound all right?”
She nodded and grinned. “You’re talking a little funny.”
I’d feel it all tomorrow. Right then I didn’t care. I was a free man. We could all be together—a family. Go wherever we wanted—live however we wanted. We never had to worry about anyone coming for us. It all hit me at once. A burst of unadulterated joy ripped through my chest. All the weight in the world lifted from my shoulders. No more running. No more hiding.
Janet, Logan, and Joe walked up. Even Joe was grinning like an idiot.
&nb
sp; I glanced around at them. “We did it.” I shook Logan’s shoulder and messed up his hair. “We did it, big man!”
“You did it.” Joe grinned.
I shook my head. “We’re a family. We all did this. Every one of us.”
Cora’s good hand gripped mine. She squeezed it tight. I reached over and wiped the tears from her eyes with my thumb.
“Leave them there, babe.” She smiled. “They’re happy tears.”
Janet walked up and hugged me. She put her palms on my face and beamed. “I am so damn proud of you.”
I nodded. “Thank you.” I hooked an arm around her and looked at everyone else. “Let’s get out of here.”
A commotion rang out behind us. The referee walked over along with the president of the WMMA. They stopped in the middle of the ring.
I didn’t think anything of it. That’s how the fights always ended. They’d announce winners and all that stuff. I wasn’t going to stick around for any of that. We started toward the cage door when we heard a voice over the loudspeaker. My heart dropped into my stomach.
CHAPTER 46
Landon Lane
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. WE HAVE an announcement. After review, the bell rang before the final knockout blow. We’ll be scoring this bout by points.”
“What?” Joe screamed. “Bullshit! This is bullshit!” He charged toward them. I started to fear for anyone’s life that got in his way.
Janet grabbed him by the arm before he could go crazy on everyone. “Just wait. Landon might’ve still won.”
It was enough to keep Joe from mauling the announcer, barely.
I glanced over to see Sid was being hauled up to the locker room on a stretcher. Edmon came traipsing down the ramp. Walked past Sid. Didn’t so much as shoot him a glance.
He bounded toward the octagon and stepped up through the gate. The same devilish smile plastered to his face that I remembered from the island. He kept staring at Logan. I took a step in front of my family. He wasn’t going to sit over there and play the same mind games with them.
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