He spotted her, but instead of looking at him she was talking to a woman sitting next to her. He couldn't see the woman's face as she was turned toward Amber, but something seemed vaguely familiar about her. Then Amber caught his eye and she turned to him, giving him a little wave but with a weird expression.
As he was about to wave back, the other woman turned to face him as well and he almost tripped over his own feet. He stumbled, but then regained his balance by grabbing onto the ring just as he got to it.
What the fuck is my mother doing here?
The blood sped through his veins causing his face and body to get hot as his heart rate sped up. He was clenching his fists and staring into the crowd, barely aware that the referee was calling his name. He shook his head, snapping himself back to attention and hoisted himself up and under the rope.
He was barely aware of Carlos being introduced next, his eyes never leaving the two women sitting side by side, watching him not 20 feet away. What the fuck is she doing here, and how did she know to find Amber? As he gazed at his girlfriend with a raised eyebrow, she mouthed an apology and he could feel his blood boiling even more. Sorry? That means she had a hand in this somehow.
The announcer was giving the crowd the details of the match, though they hadn't changed for any of the fights that night. Three rounds of five minutes each with one minute of rest in between. He was taken by the arm and he walked duly along to the center of the ring, only then realizing that Carlos was there and ready to fight. They touched gloves and the bell sounded, snapping him to attention.
Carlos wore his full Golden Dragon gi, and Joel was fighting shirtless and in loose pants, as usual. The big man's hair was slicked back in his standard pony tail and he was glaring at Joel with eyes the color of midnight. Before he'd even had time to raise his hands after touching gloves, Carlos' fist shot forward, catching Joel on the chin. He had side stepped just a little too late to avoid the blow, but it was enough that the attack hadn't hit him full force, although it did snap his head to the side quickly and daze him. His hands went up in defense instinctively, blocking the follow up blows that Carlos tried to deliver.
The men circled each other, Joel struggling to remain focused on the fight instead of what was going on in the crowd. Why would Amber invite his mother to this fight? What the hell was she thinking?
He threw a few quick jabs at Carlos but he easily blocked them, returning a punch and then a spinning round house kick that Joel ducked. Normally he would have seized the opening Carlos had provided with the kick and attacked before he dropped his leg, but his mind was too unfocused and he thought of it a split second too late.
The men again resumed their defensive postures. So far, there had been very little action, and the crowd was starting to yell. Joel saw the big match clock counting down with only a couple of minutes left in the round. As soon as it was over, he would get to the bottom of why the hell his mother was here and get Amber away from the bitch, even though he knew that Amber had to be the reason she was here in the first place. How else would she have tracked me down?
Carlos threw another roundhouse kick and it caught Joel in the ribs before he'd had a chance to block it, again letting his thoughts slow his reaction. However, as his arm was already on its way down for the block, he ended up grabbing the other man by the calf even as he winced in pain from the kick.
With his leg trapped, Carlos threw a punch toward Joel's head but he was ready, blocking it with his free hand. He took a step forward, pushing Carlos and causing him to hop backward on his one grounded leg and bend forward for balance. As he did so, Joel lifted his knee and grabbed Carlos by the head with his hand at the same time, driving his leg up and crashing it into Carlos' nose.
He felt the heat of fresh blood explode against his pants as Carlos let out a roar, pushing back with a burst of adrenaline and freeing himself from Joel. But the damage was done, and his nose was a steady stream of blood that left crimson raindrops and streaks across the top of his white uniform.
Joel went to advance again, but Carlos held him off until the bell rang, signalling the end of the first round.
Chris was waiting in Joel's corner as agreed, giving him a quick drink and talking quickly. "Good ending, Joel, that one rocked the fuck out of him. I think his nose is broken." His friend's missing tooth was the only dark spot in his smile.
Joel smiled back, knowing how Carlos felt right now. His own nose had fully healed since his fight with the Executioner, but it would never be as straight as it once was. He used that as a reminder not to ever let himself get caught unprepared again. As he thought about it now, he decided to use it as a reminder to not let himself get distracted, either. Both problems could be equally dangerous. I'll deal with my mother and Amber when this is done. Now it's time to focus.
The bell rang and he headed back toward Carlos. His corner had stopped the bleeding in his nose for the moment, but Joel knew it would be tender and ready to open up again at the slightest touch. Which meant he had a target.
This time, the two men came out swinging. Joel threw punches aimed at hitting Carlos in the face again, and Carlos blocked and continued to deliver an assault of his own. Both men were caught multiple times, and half way through the round there was blood drawn on both fighters and the crowd was going wild. Joel had a cut over his eye that was dripping down his face, blurring his vision, while Carlos' nose had opened up again and his own eye was swollen.
Despite the conditioning Joel had been doing to build his stamina, he was starting to feel the heaviness in his arms and legs as he continued to exert so much energy in his attacks. Carlos was breathing heavily as well, and with less than two minutes left in the round the men found themselves in a clinch, holding each other around the shoulders and using the time to rest while also making slight adjustments to their stance in an effort to find some advantage against the other fighter.
With less than a minute to go, Carlos made a quick move, grabbing Joel around the neck and pulling him as he stepped outside his legs, yanking him down and landing on top in a side mount. He began to drive his elbow down onto Joel but only got a few hits in before the bell sounded to end round two.
"Okay, let's look at that eye." Rock House had a cut man for Joel to use in his corner, and he applied pressure and a quick acting coagulate to stop the bleeding while Chris spoke to Joel.
"The way I figure it, you had round one and round two was a toss-up, but may go his way because of that last throw. I think you had it until then, though, so it's hard to say. But assume you need to win this last one. Of course, a knock out or submission would be better..."
Joel nodded, figuring the match the same way and he stood up just as the bell sounded to start their final round. He doubted he'd be able to knock Carlos out, but a submission wasn't out of the question. But a win was a win, and he'd take a decision from the judges if it came down to that. He just needed to give them a reason to vote his way.
As soon as they met in the center, Carlos threw a punch that Joel caught with his wrist; he then leapt in the air, spinning his legs up over his head as he pulled on the limb in an attempt at a flying arm bar. Carlos came crashing down with him and Joel almost had him locked in, but the Hispanic was able to wrench his arm free at the last moment before he could apply pressure.
As Carlos tried to roll off, Joel grabbed his leg, locking it within his own and grabbing the ankle as he worked on a knee bar submission. Carlos rolled to get out, Joel rolling with him and continuing to apply pressure. Carlos' leg was bent at what Joel knew was a painful angle, but the fighter refused to give up, continuing to work on freeing his leg. He was able to turn enough to reduce the pressure, so Joel switched tactics again, grabbing the other man's foot in a heel hook, toe hold combo.
Carlos grabbed Joel's own leg, trying to apply an ankle hold of his own and forcing Joel to release his own hold to defend against his own foot snapping under the intense pressure of Carlos' submission attempt.
He was able to pull
himself free, managing to continue his assault on Carlos. His submissions weren't finishing his opponent off, but at least they were keeping his opponent on the defense instead of the offense, which meant that points should be flowing mostly in Joel's direction. He attempted an arm bar, and even a rear naked choke, both of which were defended by Carlos. Carlos, in turn, was only able to hit Joel a couple more times with elbows to his face as the two men struggled on the ground. The hits weren't hard, but he did manage to open up the cut above Joel's eye again.
It wasn't long before new stains were appearing on Carlos' gi, adding fresh patterns to the stained fabric. Joel wouldn't let the injury stop him, though, as he continued his relentless ground assault on his opponent. By the time the bell rang to end their match, he knew he had done enough to win the round.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Amber
As soon as the bell sounded, Amber leapt to her feet along with the roaring crowd. The finish had been an exciting mix of grappling and wrestling which gave the round an exciting contrast to the pounding of the previous one, but that wasn't why she had stood up. Joel was bleeding, and she wanted to get over to see if he was okay.
The match had been a close one, but from the murmuring of the crowd around her, Joel sounded like he'd actually pulled it off. In the ring, he was surrounded by fighters from Rock House, some of them lifting his arm victoriously, all of them with smiles on their faces and patting each other on the back. Shawn Rock was right in the middle of it, his smile biggest of all. She couldn't even see Joel's face as everyone crowded him.
On the other side of the ring, Carlos looked in even worse shape than Joel, but his friends were also holding his arm up. To Amber's eye, they didn't look quite as confident. She pushed her way past the cheering audience, making her way to the ring. It would be a couple of minutes before the official decision was read, and she just wanted to see Joel's face and tell him how proud she was of him.
Grabbing the bottom rope, she hoisted herself up so that she was on the outside of the mat, looking over the top. Through the crowd, she saw Joel. His face had been wiped clean of fresh blood and someone had taped up the cut over his eye so that it was no longer dripping down into him. He saw her and immediately started to make his way over, his face a mask compared to the joy around him.
The other fighters saw where he was headed so stepped back to give him privacy with his girlfriend as they continued to congratulate each other and await the final result.
"What the fuck is she doing here," Joel said as soon as he was within earshot. He was glaring down behind Amber.
She turned to see Linda Slater standing below. Damn. It's bad enough that she came at all, why the hell didn't she stay in her seat until I could explain things?
"Joel, I can explain-"
"Joel, honey, my beautiful strong boy!" Linda was calling out from the floor, and there were tears coming down her face.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Joel hissed at Amber, his eyes bright blue flames.
Amber shook her head, "I think you need to-".
She was cut off by the announcer. "Ladies and gentlemen, the judges have come to a decision!" The other fighters crowded around Joel again, lifting his arm and guiding him to the center of the ring where Carlos already stood with his teammates. The referee took the arms of both fighters.
"After three rounds, the judges have scored as follows. Judge David Page sees the fight as 48 to 47 for Alvarez." The crowd became louder with a number of boos coming through the noise.
"Your second Judge, Amin Zofu, sees the fight 48 to 47, Slater." This time, the crowd went wild, clearly agreeing with Zofu.
"Your third and final judge, Fiona Gelles, scores the fight 48 to 47 for the winner by split decision, Carlos Alvarez!" The crowd went crazy, with people yelling and booing. Inside the ring, chaos erupted as well. Rock House fighters looked angry and began to shout at the announcer, the ref and down at the judges tables. A couple of them began arguing with members of the Tiger Strike camp. Both Shawn Rock and Marcus Flores had to step in and stop what looked to be imminent fights.
Joel looked stunned as well, not seeming to listen to a couple of men that were standing next to him. A fighter with blond hair, streaked with red dye put his arm around Joel's shoulder and was shaking his head.
"What happened?" Amber heard Linda call out from below. "Joel lost?"
Amber looked down at her and nodded.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Joel
"This is bullshit, what a crock of shit!" said Chris, his arm around Joel as he spoke into his ear to be heard over the booing of the crowd.
"What a corrupt bunch of assholes. Figures this would happen here. Shawn should have pushed for an independent venue!" he continued.
Joel was stunned at the decision, but his mind was focused on other things. He cast a sidelong glance at Amber. She was looking down at the floor below the ring, talking to his mother. His mother. He wondered again what the hell she was doing here. Did she think this match was going to win Joel some big money and she could somehow cash in now that her husband was dead? Joke was on her if that was the case, even if he had won the cash prize was only a few hundred bucks as a token gesture from the two training camps. Not that he would have given her a penny anyway.
"I'm sorry, Joel. That's completely an ass backwards decision. You deserved that win." Joel looked up to see Blake standing in front of him.
"Thanks," Joel mumbled. It must have really been unfair if Blake was even on his side.
The sounds of the crowd were starting to die down as the angry mob took their feelings out into the street now that the event was over.
Off to the side, he could see Shawn and Marcus arguing.
"They must have fixed it somehow," Chris was saying. "Bought off the judges."
At the mention of the judges, Joel glanced over at the table. Zofu had already left, but Fiona and David were still there talking. From his angle, he could see David staring at Fiona's chest through her top. Shaking off Chris' arm, Joel walked over to the side of the ring and looked down at them. Aware of being watched, they both returned his gaze. When David saw it was him, he turned quickly away. Fiona just smiled and winked.
It hit him like a fresh punch to the nose, he knew exactly where he'd seen her before, and it wasn't from TV. Fiona had been one of the girls who had been sitting topless with Carlos the night they agreed to this fight. She gave him one last half smile, as if she knew he recognized her, and then she took David's hand, leading him away toward the front door.
Joel closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. It was odd, but the loss didn't even bother him now that he knew it was fixed. The match meant nothing, really. He glanced over at the crooked and battered face of Carlos who was talking to another fighter. I got what I wanted out of it.
"Joel!" he turned to see Shawn Rock approaching. "Joel, I'm sorry about all of this. I don't know what happened with the judging, but something was clearly not on the up and up. I spoke to Marcus, I don't think he had anything to do with it but I can't be sure. But in my books, you won that fight hands down."
"Thanks Shawn," he said.
Shawn cocked his head toward one side of the ring. "There are a couple of people who want to talk to you when you have a minute."
Joel sighed. All he wanted to do right then was talk to Amber and find out what the hell his mother was doing here and then go home. He was still angry that she brought her at all, and he would definitely be having another talk with her about privacy and boundaries, but at the moment he was so overwhelmed with everything else that was going on that he didn't even want to think about that conversation.
He looked over at two men standing at the edge of the ring, talking to some of the fighters. They were middle aged, and wearing jeans and loose fitting shirts. Likely fans that wanted to tell him what a great fight he'd had, and that they thought he should have won. He really didn't want to hear that again, but since Shawn was asking he couldn't say no. Maybe they
were friends of his.
"Just give me a few minutes, okay? Let me go and get cleaned up and then I'll come back out."
Shawn nodded and patted him on the shoulder. Joel walked back to Amber and slipped between the ropes. He jumped down and then helped her follow. His mother stood by, staring at him with a big smile on her face, as if the past had never happened and they were finally being reunited after years of being kept apart by something other than her own betrayal.
He glared at her, satisfied only when he saw her smile falter against his withering gaze.
"Joel," she said, reaching forward to try and take his hand, but he pulled it away.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" he said.
"Joel," she said again, this time keeping her hands to herself but wringing them nervously in front of her. "I can't believe you're here. I'd almost given up hope of ever seeing you again. I was afraid you were..."
Silver and Chrome: A Bad Boy MC Romance Page 61