“Easy for you to say, you’re the champ.”
“I took the title for the payoffs and out of respect for the business. Not to have a belt to brag about. I bet Paul would take a cut in pay to have the strap. That’s just plain stupid, at least on his part, might be a good thing for the promoters though.”
“Heck, losing has paid my bills since I was sixteen.”
“That’s called paying your dues, kid. With your size and looks you’re going to start making some serious money real soon.”
“I hope so, because I sure do miss Lizzie.”
“You’ll find your own ways of dealing with life on the road.”
“Such as girls like Odessa?”
William nodded, "She's my only addiction. About six months ago, I was having dinner over at the Lodestone and she was my waitress. Of course I noticed how beautiful she was. I mean look at her.”
Billy nodded in agreement.
“She wasn’t much of a waitress, but I still gave her a big fat tip just because I’d enjoyed looking at those legs of hers in a little short skirt. She thanked me then looked me right in the eye and said, ‘I want to fuck you to piss off Paul Bryson.’ Shocked the hell out of me.”
“I said, ‘I’m always up for pissing off Paul.’”
“And all of a sudden I was, if you get my drift. Next thing you know she goes over to his table and dumps a whole pitcher of beer right in his lap. I thought Carol Ann was going to kick her ass. So I grabbed her by the arm, took her up to my room. It was the best sex I ever had.”
"Is she worth it," Billy asked, trying to image how he'd ever be able to cheat on Lizzie.
"I’ve got two witches fighting over me like I’m some piece of meat.” He leaned back his seat and sighed. “Between the two of them throwing spells at me it’s a wonder my dick hasn’t just fallen off.”
William adjusted his blanket and Billy thought the champ was ready to crash when he said, “If you were see a girl wearing a pentacle charm, run for your life. It’s too late for me. Those two will most likely be the death of me.”
***
Billy spotted that red hair as soon as he came through the gate. Lizzie stood there waiting on him cradling a blue blanket to her breast.
“Baby, I missed you so much,” he went to kiss her, but the bundle in her arms kept him from hugging her the way he wanted.
“I have something to show you,” she said, pulling back the blanket.
Billy about jumped right out of his skin when he saw what it was – a baby – only it wasn’t a baby. It was her daddy’s grown face on the tiny little body of an infant.
A muscle bound baby that looked like it could kick every ass in the terminal if only she would set him down.
“Our son, isn’t he beautiful?”
“Billy, wake up.” He felt something tugging on his sleeve. “We have to pull our seats back up. We’re about to land.”
Billy recoiled from that freaky looking kid, almost falling out into the aisle as he jerked awake.
It took him a minute or two to figure out they were still on the plane. It had all been some kind of crazy nightmare.
“Bad dream?” William asked.
“I’ll say.”
Even awake he couldn’t get the sight of that man/baby out of his head. After doing some thinking he decided it must be a sign that Paul Bryson was, for better or worse, always going to be in his life. At least as long as he was involved with the man’s daughter. And as far as Billy was concerned, that meant forever.
Chapter 17
The wiry little Jap kept coming at Billy like he had caught him in bed with his girl. It wasn’t like he’d even seen a bed since getting to this Godforsaken country. It seemed like he had gone straight from the plane to the ring. Sitting in traffic crammed into a tiny taxicab hadn’t helped matters any. It was like waking up and having to get in the ring without even getting his morning coffee, much less a decent breakfast.
To make matters worse, this was the deadest crowd he had ever worked. This dude was kicking and punching the crap out of him and the audience was sitting on their hands. It was so quiet he could have cut a promo without a mic and still been heard on the upper deck. Except Billy didn’t speak a lick of Japanese and his opponent didn’t act like he spoke a word of English. That eliminated the possibility of him slapping in a resthold and telling Billy what to do to get a reaction out of these people.
He about knocked Billy’s chin off with some kind of spinning kick and all they got were a couple of aahs from the crowd. Hell, if that was all they were going to do, Billy decided to lay down and look at the lights for a quick three count before he got killed trying to get over. The dude covered him for the pin and finally they got a polite round of applause.
“Good match, no?” His opponent asked in the privacy of the dressing room.
“If you say so.”
“Good?” He asked William.
“Yes.”
He nodded, smiled and bowed at William and then Billy.
“I’m so sorry I stunk the place up,” Billy said as soon as the Jap disappeared.
William had watched from the back and Billy knew he was bound to be awful disappointed.
“You can’t expect the streamers in your very first match.” He patted Billy on the back with a sly smile.
“Huh?”
“Just watch my match.”
“You sure weren’t lying about them working stiff.” Billy eased down on a bench to unlace his boots. “What have I got to do to make them Japs pop?”
“Give as good as you get. It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about going out there and giving it your all. At least you made that guy look like a million bucks, just what Hasegawa wanted from you.”
***
“If you’re not sure what to say, just smile and nod because these aren’t people you want to piss off.” William reminded Billy right before they joined a table of Japanese men all dressed like the champ in expensive suits.
Billy had no intention of saying a word. He had already been warned this place was mafia controlled. The same Mafia family that had an interest in the wrestling promotion also owned the hotel where they were staying, this snazzy restaurant, and probably the whole neighborhood.
He wanted nothing more than a hot shower and a decent meal. Instead Billy had to put on his only suit and make this social appearance before they could go back to their rooms. From the looks of this place, you would have thought they would have gotten a nice long table with comfy leather chairs. Nothing doing - they had to take their shoes off and sit cross-legged on these little cushions on the floor.
They weren’t given menus to order. Not that it would have helped, unless they had pictures for him to point at. After a round of Sake, this dude at the end of the table started slicing these big knives and threw the remains on a grill right there in front of them. At least Billy knew he wouldn’t be eating any raw fish.
Billy tried not to show any disgust when a pretty little Japanese girl put a plate of some type of unidentifiable meat down in front of him. He wasn’t about to complain about their cooking, so he chowed down the best he could.
William worked a pair of chopsticks like he was born there. Billy gave it a shot, but nothing got anywhere close to his mouth. He could have kissed that gal when she shyly slipped him a good old American fork. After getting a taste of that stuff, he considered giving the fork back. At least the Sake was pretty good once he got used to the taste of it.
“See anything out there you like?” William asked after they had excused themselves to the restroom.
“As in?”
“They are going to offer us girls to visit with upstairs. Just so you know it is considered rude not to accept their services.”
So that was why William followed him into the john, more Japanese etiquette lessons.
“I guess I’ll just have to be rude cause I ain’t stepping out on Lizzie.”
“You don’t understand,” William said, shaking his
head, “It behooves the office for us to play along with the Mafia Dons.”
“I don’t care,” Billy insisted. I can’t do that to Lizzie.”
“You’ll do it for the office and for me.” William pulled out his wallet and handed Billy a ten spot. “You don’t have to have sex, but you’re going to go upstairs with one of those girls and stay there for an hour.” He folded the bill and gave it to Billy, “Give her this for the tip and thank her profusely.”
He reluctantly took the money.
“Don’t look so miserable about it. Getting a back rub from a pretty naked girl isn’t exactly water torture.”
“And what am I supposed to do if I, you know, get turned on.”
“You name it, those girls will do it for you. Lizzie won’t ever find out.” William assured him. “The thing with the geishas is kayfabed to all the women back home, even the arena rats.”
***
Billy really did head off to that room with the purest of intentions. Going up the stairs he told himself to be polite, kill a little time, and then give the girl the tip. All the while keeping his pants on.
Sounded easy enough.
Until the door closed and the cute little Japanese gal dropped her kimono to the floor. She was petite with a little lithe body like Lizzie’s, only her skin was creamy shade of burnt almond. She untwisted her hair and it fell around her breasts in dark silken waves. The girl turned in a slow circle just standing there for him to take in all her exotic beauty.
Billy backed up and tripped right onto the pallet that covered most of the floor space. She crawled up to him like a kitty cat on all fours ready to pounce.
Next thing he knew Billy was butt naked and she was all soaped up rubbing her smooth little body all him. There was no going back now. He tried to just lay there and not do any touching of his own. He really did. It was all just too much.
Too much Sake. Too much of her naked flesh. Too much temptation.
The way she ran her own fingers over the little mounds of her breasts, pinching her taunt dark nipples. Bringing them up to his lips for just a little lick. Her slick wet pussy sliding all up and down his body.
All it took was her hands on his cock. He shot off a load before she even got around to the fucking.
The Japanese girl licked the jizz off his belly like it was the best thing she had ever tasted. Then she started flicking her tongue up and down the shaft of his cock, over his balls and lower to where no chick had ever gone with her mouth before. Between that and an expert hand job, he got hard again in no time, at least for a couple of minutes before she got him off again.
Two loads and he still hadn’t fucked her.
“I’m sorry,” Billy apologized for his lack of consideration for her pleasure.
“Why you sorry?” She asked with a shy little grin.
“I didn’t… you know.”
“Is okay, I no fuck that way.” She gracefully wrapped her kimono back into place. “I virgin.”
She was out the door and gone before he could hand over the extra cash or even ask her name.
Chapter 18
That very weekend, with a little help from her newly acquired kid brother, Lizzie loaded up Billy’s Riviera and moved most of her things into her own apartment. It wasn’t much, but she was going to have it fixed up real nice by the time Billy got home from Japan.
At least she had a comfy and cheery bright yellow bathmat. A good thing since she spent the majority of that first weekend, and most early mornings, on her knees bent over the toilet bowl. At work she started keeping fresh trash bags in her desk so she could just grab for the wastepaper basket every time she got hit with another wave of nausea.
It wasn’t like she could call their family doctor. He played golf at the country club with her daddy and he was the last person she would want to find out about this. Lizzie just kept puking and putting off the inevitable. She checked her panties for even a hint of blood every time she peed. Part of her hoping for her period. Part of her hoping she was carrying Billy’s baby.
Finally she got out the phone book and called a clinic near work. It was easier talking to a stranger. She told them her symptoms and that she was late. The lady who answered the phone scheduled an appointment for the next morning.
So there Lizzie sat on Valentine’s Day, peed and pricked, sitting in a hospital gown with her feet in stirrups for the first time. At least they gave her a woman doctor because Billy was the only man she wanted down there.
“Everything looks fine, Mrs. Dalton.”
She had told them they had just gotten married and she hadn’t had time to get a new insurance card yet.
“Go ahead and get dressed. Someone will call you as soon as we get the results back from the lab.”
There was nothing left to do but go on to work. Martha left for the weekend as soon as she got in and Mr. Greenbrier was out showing some properties, so Lizzie had the place to herself.
A spray of red roses sat on the center of her desk. She opened up the card from the florist and saw that Billy hadn’t forgotten her all the way over on the other side of the world. How she wished he would be here to hold her hand when the doctor called.
It didn’t take long to read through her messages, return a few phone calls and finish up on some documents that needed to be dropped off at the bank on the way home. Knowing that she had three properties in escrow helped some in hoping that she and Billy and the potential baby would make it okay.
When her stomach started growling, she opened a can of tuna and poured the meat into a bowl mixed with Fritos. It sounded odd but that smelly slimy tuna was just about the only thing she could eat without getting sick. The corn chips just gave the mixture a nice little crunch.
She was thinking about opening up another can when the phone rang.
“Hey Lizzie.” It was Carol Ann. “Happy Valentine’s Day. Do you have any plans for tonight?”
“No.”
“My boys are on the road, so why don’t we go see that new Warren Beatty movie? I’ve got a huge box of chocolates we can split.”
Chocolates - Her daddy always got her and mother enormous boxes of chocolate every year. It wasn’t the cheap stuff either. We’re talking department store gourmet.
Lizzie hadn’t seen or heard a word from her daddy since the day he took the car. It had been Carol Ann who stopped by that Saturday with PJ, suggesting he help with the move. It had been Carol Ann who came to pick up PJ that evening with a warm macaroni casserole in hand. She said Daddy sent her, but Lizzie didn’t believe it, unless he had just wanted Carol Ann to spy for him.
The incoming call light flashed red and she asked Carol Ann to hold while she flipped to the other line.
“Hello Mrs. Dalton, this is Doctor Johnson from the clinic.”
“Yes.” Lizzie’s stomach lurched with a wave of nausea.
“Congratulations are in order. You’re pregnant.”
Whoa… it was real…
The doctor kept on talking but she was too stunned to make sense of it all.
A baby.
Lizzie and Billy were going to have a baby. She scheduled a follow up appointment and wrote down the name of the prenatal vitamins they wanted her to take before leaning over just in time for the tuna to come back up and hit the wastebasket.
The phone rang again. Carol Ann must have given up waiting on hold because she was back on the line.
“Lizzie, are you okay?”
“I’m… I’m pregnant.”
There was a sharp inhale on the other side of the line, “Your daddy is going to be livid.”
Just thinking about her daddy had Lizzie sobbing.
“At first,” Carol Ann said, obviously realizing how upset that had made her, “He’ll come around and you know I’ll be there to support you no matter what you decide to do.”
“There aren’t any decisions to make. Billy and I are going to have a baby.”
***
“How far along are you?” Carol Ann asked a
s she scanned the pharmacy’s vitamin aisle.
Lizzie did the math on her fingers, “Maybe five to six weeks. I have to go back to the clinic next week for another appointment.”
“We need to get you in with Dr. Holt. He’s the best Ob/Gyn in town. All the nurses rave about him.”
“I don’t want to see a man doctor.”
“Do you want me to check and see if there is a female with that practice?”
Lizzie nodded. There was so much she was going to have to study up on and learn. Right now it was all so overwhelming.
“These are good.” Carol Ann reached for the most expensive bottle of prenatal vitamins on the shelf.
“Wouldn’t these do the same thing?” Lizzie grabbed up the cheapest bottle. “I hate to spend so much money.”
“Your daddy is paying - with the money he gave me for groceries.” Carol Ann took the bottle out of her hand and placed the more expensive one in her basket. “He doesn’t seem to think I can go to the market just fine with what I make at the hospital.”
“Please don’t tell him.”
“I promise I won’t say a word. But you’re going to have to break the news to him eventually.”
“We’ll tell him after the wedding.”
“Is there anything else you need right now?” Carol Ann asked, changing to subject much to Lizzie's relief.
“I guess I’m good.”
Carol Ann stopped at the rack of books and read over the titles.
“There’s nothing like a good old fashioned who done it,” she said, tossing a couple of paperback novels into the basket.
Lizzie didn’t argue with her when she went up to the register to pay for the vitamins.
“Can I get a bottle of Emetrol please?” She asked the clerk.
“Having some morning sickness?” He asked Lizzie.
My goodness, was she showing already?
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