Believe

by Natalie Gayle

  PAID, a date and a receipt number.

  Ah, he was infuriating! I did a tally in my head. A few dollars short of three thousand dollars. It was a big help and regardless of how pissed I was, I did feel better at not having to stretch money to pay them—that wasn’t the point.

  I read back through the notes.

  This is me doing that because I need to, not me trying to own or buy you.

  What about my needs? It was my need to provide for my son and me—he’d taken that away.

  I reached for my phone, figured the time and typed off a quick text message to him. I’d pay him back every single cent plus interest. They’d be training now. I’d hear from him in the morning.

  Then I picked up the shiny piece of plastic in the document wallet and ran it through my fingers.

  The temptation was high.

  He was all but begging me to use it. It would be so easy to let Dane fix this. Let Dane take care of us…there was no way I could. The scales would soon become so unbalanced; I’d never work my way out—never be free.

  There was only one answer to this problem and at least I’d make one person very happy. I picked up my phone and made the call.

  “Good evening, my dear. What a pleasant surprise to hear from you.” We both knew it was a lie. If I hadn’t called him then, it was only a matter of time before he’d be tracking me down.

  “Good evening, Leo. I need to get back to work this week.”

  “Most excellent news, Arianne. I’m very pleased to hear that.” The next bit he might not be so pleased about…If I was going to do this, the terms needed to be more favourable in my direction. After all, I was the one taking the risk, and one thing I had decided, which Dane would absolutely agree with, was I needed to finish the gambling. Now I just needed Leo to agree to it.

  “I’m renegotiating the terms of the arrangement, Leo.” There was silence on the other end of the line and my heart lurched into my mouth. Leo wasn’t someone you messed with, however it was now or never.

  “Yes…” His voice was wary and a little chilling. It was never what Leo said, rather his tone and what he didn’t actually say, that was often more concerning.

  “We split the profit fifty/fifty or I’m out.” There was an amused chuckle on the other end of the call. My demand was a bluff and we both knew it.

  “I’ll go to thirty percent,” he responded coolly.

  It was now or never. I could let my fear control me, or I could take control of this, and make potentially one of the biggest gambles of my career.

  “It’s fifty percent Leo or I’m out. I’m the one running the risk. Those are my new terms.”

  Once again, I was greeted with silence and the beat of my own heart hammered in my ears. How would he respond?

  “You’re not the only player in this town Arianne…” Fear gripped me. Had I pushed too far? It seemed like he left me hanging for an eternity.

  “You just happen to be one of the best and well you are—family. Well played, my dear. I’ll have Arnie pick you up tomorrow.” He disconnected the call for which I was grateful. I didn’t want him to hear me gasping for words at my win. I’m almost certain, in the last tone of his voice, I heard admiration.

  This was the last step between me and getting out. A few good days was all I needed at my new split and I’d have enough to get me through until next year. I glared at the credit card before shoving it back in the document wallet. I’d have that damned money this week—next week at the latest. Before Dane got back, I’d have the money to repay him and plenty to get me through until next year.

  The school could wait that long.

  I really didn’t want to fight with him about this—I’d just fix it on my own.

  Dane

  Every day seemed like an eternity. The only guy in this outfit at the moment that seemed truly in his element was Reed. Xander was training like a madman and I was doing my best to match him, which wasn’t easy. My fight was four weeks after Xander’s, so I had a little more time, but not much. He also had the advantage of the experience of doing this all before. We were still yet to discuss my fight and that suited me just fine. It was almost as if we didn’t talk about it, then it wouldn’t be real.

  Midway through the first week we were in the gym, sitting side by side pedalling on bikes, when I finally got to turn my phone on after training all morning. Seconds later the text messages started to come through, in a cacophony of beeps. As always, my excitement rose when I got one from Ari.

  I read it with mixed emotions.

  She’d found the bills paid and my girl wasn’t happy. I knew it was a risk, but there was no way I was leaving her to sort that mess out by herself with me on the other side of the world. That was not the sort of guy I was. Now I was just going to have to deal with the fallout.

  I can’t believe you paid those bills without telling me. We will talk!

  A thank you would have been fine, although I didn’t actually expect or even want that. It would have been easier if she just said nothing and let me do it. Couples didn’t thank each other for paying the bills. They just paid them and moved on, because that was part of life. It was all part of sharing life experiences and creating something. I guessed I was going to get something else and it wouldn’t be quite as pleasant.

  “Something up?” Xan asked me from the bike beside me. I hadn’t intended to talk to him about Ari. However, Xander seemed about as unhappy as I was with our current woman situation. I didn’t need him to directly tell me, to figure, that he was missing Eden like crazy. Those two had gotten very close over the last couple of months. I decided to go with the misery loves company approach. We were both miserable without our women, we might as well enjoy the pain together.

  “Ari just found out that I paid some of her bills and she’s not happy about it.”

  Xander gave me a questioning look. “Is Ari the woman you mentioned the other day?”

  “Yeah, she is. Arianne is her name.”

  “So what’s the deal with her man? You never said.” He looked over at me and shook his head. “Fuck me. Reed told you to keep it to yourself, didn’t he? Don’t even bother. I already know the answer. I can just imagine…I want his mind on the fight not getting distracted with other stuff.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah that about sums it up. In our defence mate, we didn’t know how you were going to come back.”

  “I haven’t stepped into the cage yet.”

  “No, but you’re training harder than ever and I’ve got no doubt at all you’ll get this done.” I wasn’t blowing smoke up his arse. It was the honest to God truth, as far as I was concerned. Xander looked awesome and was so focused. “Light’s Out” wouldn’t know what hit him.

  “Thanks man, I appreciate the support and the faith. Now tell me about this woman of yours.”

  And I did. I spent the next twenty minutes bringing him up to date and fuck me if it didn’t feel better just to have him know.

  Keeping stuff from your best mate sucked.

  By the end, Xander sat there pedalling and shaking his head. “So she was the reason you found Eden that night. I’ll be forever grateful to her. That could have all turned out so much worse. Some higher power was sure looking out for her that night.”

  “Yeah. Just glad I was there.”

  “Me too! So your woman has a problem with accepting help?” He motioned his head at my phone indicating the text message.

  I chuckled, that summed it up perfectly. “Ahh yeah…you might say that. Her ex-husband made her feel as if there was a price tag or payment required for every little thing.”

  “Pity you didn’t put a bigger hurt on his arse when you had the chance,” Xander said philosophically. It was unlike Xander, he wasn’t one to use his skills outside the cage or in fact even to suggest this sort of thing. Marcel just had a way of getting under our skin.

  “Yeah, I’ve thought that more than once as well. Although, at that stage, Ari was still totally averse to violence. If I’d gone h
arder, then she might not have changed her mind. She’s still far from comfortable—small steps.”

  Xander shook his head and gave me a chuckle laced with irony. “You’d have to pick the woman that was averse to violence, wouldn’t you? Nothing like doing shit the hard way, man. Eden’s got some issues, but at least she doesn’t have a problem with me fighting.”

  “You don’t get to pick who you fall in love with, I guess.”

  “No, you don’t. I was just going to help Eden out, show her a few things…” We both chuckled.

  We pedalled some more in silence. Then I couldn’t stand it any longer, today seemed to be the day for confessions. “Are you hurting as much as I am?”

  “How bad are you hurting?” he asked me warily.

  “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck continuously since this prep began.”

  “Yeah. I think it’s safe to say, it’s the same truck that’s hit me, too.”

  “Number plate says REED.”

  “That’d be the one,” he agreed.

  “Cool, just checking I wasn’t the only one.”

  “Nope. I can’t wait till Eden gets here.”

  “Fuck, at least you’ve got that to look forward to.”

  “That I do. You’d best sort that mess out or you won’t even be getting any via technology.” He motioned his head towards my phone.

  “Yeah…I’m not confident how that’s going to go.” Confident or not I was still sticking by what I’d done. A man looks after his family. That’s what I’d been doing. Ari just need to get used to it not coming with strings attached.

  Xander and I pedalled sedately for another hour. It was all about some long slow cardio and burning calories, but not taxing the body too much. We’d already ripped up the bags and rolled around on the mats for hours. Seth and Reed had headed off to scope out the facilities or something.

  I enjoyed it just being Xander and me. Like it always had.

  I took a long shower when I got back to my room and reviewed some of my business reports. All looked good from what I could see.

  Maddie and Macey were helping out with martial arts orders, and deposits from the servo were good. That made me feel better. I still had solid cash flow while I was off trying to capitalise on some of my other skills.

  The ping I’d been waiting for finally happened. I’d sent Arianne a message as soon as I got back to the room. She should be still in bed, just woken up.

  I loved how she looked in the morning all sleep tussled and sexy. My dick was getting hard just thinking about it.

  I clicked the dancing icon and a couple of seconds later I was connected. She looked just as I expected.

  “Good morning, Miss.”

  “Morning,” she said with a sleepy smile.

  “Sleep well?”

  “Not really. I woke up a few times.”

  “And I wasn’t there to help you get back to sleep…” her lip curled up a little and I knew she’d picked up on exactly what I was referring to.

  “I’m mad at you! You can’t be bombarding me with thoughts of sex.”

  “Yeah, and being mad at me wasn’t the first thing that sprang to mind this morning when you woke up, was it? Let’s be honest here.”

  She rolled her eyes and I wondered if she’d forgotten I could see her! If I’d been there I would have nipped at her ear or tweaked a nipple for giving me sass like that. “You’re right, I guess. It still doesn’t mean I’m happy with what you did. I get it, but I don’t like it and I didn’t need it…and I don’t want to argue with you over it.”

  I couldn’t help the chuckle. “I can live with that, Miss. I just didn’t want to be over the other side of the world and have you out there risking yourself.” She seemed to stiffen for a second on the video feed and then relax. Maybe the feed froze? Bandwidth was always a problem.

  “We’re fine, I’m going to have to get up in a second to get Isaac off to school. What have you been up to? Out bedding starlets?”

  I let out a huff. “I’m looking at the only woman I want to bed. Unfortunately, it’s with the aid of technology. Nah, we’ve just been training all day. I was just doing some bookwork. But all this talk of sex and seeing you laying there, is sure making me horny. Is that one of my T-Shirts you’re wearing?”

  “Yes, I like the smell of it,” she said a little sheepishly. “It smells like you and I guess I like it around me. Does that make me sound weird and needy?”

  “Nope. It just makes me want you more. Pull the bottom up, Miss. I want to see your breasts.”

  She giggled, but did as I asked.

  “What?” I demanded.

  “You’re using that voice again.” She was wriggling and I knew that if I’d been there, she’d be rubbing up against me like a cat wanting to be stroked. What was I doing on the other side of the world when I had that at home?

  “You wearing panties?”

  “Yes.” It came across as a breathless whisper.

  “Then lose them.” She put the phone down and shimmied out of the panties as I asked, before picking it up again.

  “Now put the phone where I can see your pussy. I want to see how wet you are for me.” I was pushing her again, but I knew she’d do it. Ari liked me instructing her to be bad.

  “You had better not be recording this…” She moved the phone and my dick moved from hard to impossibly hard and I slipped a hand into the loose training shorts I’d thrown on.

  “Only in my mind, baby. Now I want you to stroke...”

  Then I heard the unmistakable sound of the door knob to Ari’s room opening… “Mum.”

  She was already in action dragging the covers up and fixing her shirt.

  “Whatcha doing?”

  “Just chatting to Dane,” a breathless Ari, covered not very convincingly, but Isaac hopefully wouldn’t pick it up.

  “Can I talk to him?” Isaac yelled and jumped onto the bed next to her. My hand slid out from my shorts. Yeah, hard to be interested in sex now!

  “Hey, man,” I said as she moved the phone over so he could see. Now they just looked cute with their heads together on the pillow.

  “Hey Dane, what have you been doing?”

  “Just training buddy and I was talking to your mum because she just woke up.”

  “I did, too. When are you coming home?”

  “Isaac we went through this yesterday,” Ari chastised.

  “About ten days, man. Xander fights next week. Then I’ll grab a flight a day or so later.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  “Are you going to train today?”

  “Yep, right after school.”

  “Good man.”

  An alarm went off on Ari’s phone. “We’ve got to get up, Isaac. Say bye to Dane and go get dressed.”

  “See you, Dane.”

  “Have a good day, mate.” Isaac might be a challenge at times, but he was generally obedient and certainly willing to please. He rarely argued with Arianne, which was great.

  Once he’d left the room I switched my focus. “Now where were we?”

  “Not going to happen now Dane,” she said with a little warning in her voice.

  “But I so wanted to watch. It was like my own private ...”

  “Don’t finish that sentence.”

  “Guess the mood is lost.”

  “Ya think? Really Dane I have to go, otherwise we’ll be late.” I knew how tight she cut things in the morning.

  “Okay Miss, be good and remember I love you.”

  “Love you too, big guy.” She put her fingers to her lips and blew me a kiss.

  Reluctantly we both ended the call.

  It was going to be a long ten days.

  Chapter 22

  Dane

  “I’ve got something I want to talk to you about.” We’d sat down and ordered drinks in a quiet lower floor bar at the hotel. Xander was up in his room resting with Eden. He was on the cut and felt like shit. Reed had pulled me aside after our last session. Weigh-in for Xa
nder was tomorrow. These last couple of days were a living hell, particularly if you were struggling to make weight.

  This was the part of the prep I was really dreading.

  “What’s up?” I wondered curiously.

  “I was speaking to Parker Cook, the promoter for your fight, earlier in the day. They’ve got problems.” Shit, that didn’t sound good. I started to feel nervous just thinking about it.

  “You know how the feature fight is the Middleweight Championship?” I nodded my understanding. “Well, Jason Pettigrew just got injured and can’t fight.”

  “Shit! What happened?” I’d met him once or twice. He was a good guy.

  “He was out training doing a ride on his push bike or something and got knocked off by a car.”

  “Is he going to be okay?”

  “Yeah, but he won’t be back in the cage for at least another six months, maybe a year. He busted up his leg and his wrist pretty badly. Lucky, he didn’t get himself killed.”

  “Fuck that’s terrible.” Then I started to realise what Reed was telling me. The fight would need to be postponed, that would mean my fight would be off, too, and the whole knock on effect. No guaranteed fifty grand or more to get Ari out of trouble. “They’re cancelling, aren’t they?”

  “They can’t. Too much money already invested. Too much exposure, ticket sales, because it’s such a big card.”

  Yeah, that all made sense. The budget for these things ran into the millions. You didn’t book stadiums that seated thousands of people and have massive prize pools and advertising budgets and it not cost money. “So what’s all this got to do with me?”

  Reed looked me fair in the eye, but didn’t speak for a couple of seconds. That alone, made me feel uneasy. “They’ve approached me asking if you would be prepared to take Jason’s spot.”

  I felt as if I’d been winded. WHAT THE FUCK!

  “I know it’s a shock.”

  Finally, I managed “Why me?”

  “Parker was watching you and Xander train the other day. He saw what you guys were doing and came straight to me. They can get a guy to fill your spot at the Light Heavyweight weight, but they’ve got no one this close for a middleweight shot.”