Believe

by Natalie Gayle

  I’d pieced together some of Eden’s story, although large gaps remained. I could only imagine what she’d been through. “They have a way of kind of getting under your guard don’t they.”

  She giggled. “Take a seat and I’ll get us a drink. Would you like a wine or something else? That’s funny; you’ve even got the fighter lingo down.”

  I groaned and winced. “Whatever you’re having to drink will be fine. Can I make a confession just between us?”

  “Sure.” Eden was such a warm person, I immediately felt at ease with her. Besides, what I was about to say was hardly a secret.

  “The fighting still has me scared silly. I hate violence. I was in an abusive relationship previously and I must admit, it’s been hard to come to terms with the fact that I’m in love with a fighter. How did you manage it?”

  She joined me on the sofa and placed a glass of wine on the coffee table in front of me.

  “To be totally honest it’s never bothered me. I guess I was in such a self-induced cage when I met Xander that I never gave it much of a thought. Plus, I had no bad experiences from the past to shape my thinking other ways. Now if he’d been a fireman…that might have been different.” We both smirked a little at her joke.

  “How did you cope in Vegas seeing him in the cage? I saw some of the footage on the net. It looked brutal.” Eden nodded as I was talking.

  “It was brutal and tough. I’ve never been so excited and terrified in my whole life. Poor Len probably still has the indentations from my nails, on his arms. I guess though, I just had to trust that he knew what he was doing. There was never any question for me on how committed to the fight he was. It was my job to support him.” She took a sip of her wine. “You’ll be fine. This week will be crazy tough on both of you and the fight won’t be easy, but once it starts I’d be surprised if you’re not up there cheering like mad for him. I was!”

  There was no denying Eden had actually enjoyed the process, and was very proud of what Xander had achieved. I wasn’t Eden, though.

  “I haven’t decided if I’m going yet. Reed’s changed the plans and he’s leaving Sunday night. If I go, I’ll head down Thursday or Friday. I’ve got Isaac to think of as well,” I said quietly.

  “What?” She looked at me with huge eyes. “You have to be there for him. He’s going to need you more than anything this week.”

  “I keep hearing it will be tough and brutal, but isn’t that a good reason for me to stay away? Won’t I just be in the way?”

  “No,” she shrieked. “The opposite. He’s going to be so weak and depleted. Xander was irritable and exhausted. All he wanted to do was lay on the bed or the lounge holding me and watching movies.”

  That sounded suss to me. More like Xander was taking the opportunity to get a little sexy time. The look I had on my face must have mirrored my thoughts.

  “You’re wrong. He wouldn’t touch me in a sexual way until after the fight. I don’t know if Dane will be the same, but Xander has particular rules about fights and prefight sex. So no, he just wanted me close. I guess he felt like crap, and was feeling needy. When I saw how much he was hurting, there was no way I’d deny him anything.” Then she looked away and back at me. Was it regret I saw on her face. “Please don’t say anything about the prefight sex stuff. Xander is very private when it comes to that. Dane may know, but I doubt it. Reed didn’t even know the extent. He has his reasons and they’re his. The only reason I said something was because Dane is Xander’s best friend and I know Xander would want the best for him and that is you being there for him, Ari.”

  I was beginning to realise just how deep the relationship ran between our men. “I won’t say anything, and thank you for sharing. I guess I never really had much of an idea what brutal meant.”

  “What I’ve told you is nothing. Don’t be shocked to walk in and find him completely submerged in a bath that is so hot, there’s steam rising off it.”

  “What?”

  “Yes, I have a fear of hot water and I walked into that. All that was poking out above the water was his nose. These guys will do anything to strip the water weight out. Xander had a sweat suit there just in case he needed it. He was totally prepared to exercise for hours in it if he needed to.”

  I was stunned. “Oh my God! I never realised it was so crazy intense. Dane has talked about it. I guess it hadn’t really registered with me until you explained in more detail.”

  She was nodding again. “Yeah, it is. He’ll look horrible for weigh-in. Really jaunt and almost sick, but when he does the re-feed…” Eden fanned herself with her hands. “HOT. Seeing them actually fight is really sexy in a primitive sort of way.”

  I couldn’t help, but wriggle uncomfortably. “I haven’t actually seen him fight or even train.”

  Eden’s eyes were out in sticks. “Never? Oh, wow you have so missed out. Your boyfriend is so hot when he fights.” I glared at her, suddenly feeling a bit defensive. “Well, he’s not as hot as Xander, of course…at least in my opinion.” I let the younger woman try and dig herself out of the hole she’d fallen into, then we both giggled.

  “It’s okay, I know what you mean.” What had I been stupidly missing out on?

  “I spent a lot of time at Onigashima in the lead up to Xan’s fight. Dane was there the whole time training with him. I’m sure I could have made a wad of cash selling tickets to that show. Ah Seth is hot too, if you like that cocky larrikin type.” Not particularly, but I got the drift.

  Then I began to wonder if he’d purposely been keeping such a big part of this from me because of my initial reaction or because he didn’t want to include me. A part of me felt hurt, although I understood.

  “It’ll be different this time though. This time I get to sit ringside and not have to worry. Xander will be the one with the bucket and sponge this time.”

  “You’re going?” I don’t know why that surprised me, but it did.

  “Of course. We’ve been married three weeks. If Xan is going to be in Melbourne, then I’m going to be in Melbourne. Plus, Dane and I kind of bonded… I want to be there for him…” I knew she was talking about the night she was attacked. “Xander actually suggested I bring my sisters with me and make it a girl’s weekend as well. I think that’s so he won’t feel bad if he’s off spending most of his time with Dane. Not that it worries me. I know how these things work now.”

  “You do, and I feel like a compete novice.”

  She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I’m so experienced…one campaign and one fight.”

  I giggled. “Well that’s one more than me.”

  “True, very true.” She saluted me with her wine glass. “Seriously though, Arianne, you have to come and the sooner the better. He’s going to need you. But before that, I think you need to see him train. Xander mentioned something about a training session on Sunday morning. I think it’s time you saw your man in action. I’d plan for some quiet time in the afternoon…”

  I had seen him in action. I’d seen him take down Marcel. Seeing him train would this be different? Would it change my new, fragile opinion on violence?

  Chapter 27

  Arianne

  “I hope you brought a book or something. You’re probably going to be bored.” He looked a little annoyed as he pulled into the carpark of the infamous Onigashima.

  “Don’t worry about me; I’ll be fine. You just focus on what you need to do.”

  Isaac had already undone his seatbelt and was out of the truck. He was already heading over to greet Xander who I could make out through the door. So much for the five minutes of initial shyness he had on Friday. That seemed to be long gone.

  “That’s what I’m worried about,” he muttered more to himself than me.

  I put my hand on his arm to stop him. “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged my hand away. “Nothing. I’m just feeling irritable.”

  I let him go. The fight was less than a week away and he seemed more and more uptight. I would be, too, if I had to
get in some steel cage and fight with some guy called the “Wildman”.

  So this was the start of hell week. Great!

  The dojo was not what I expected at all. It was light and airy with thick mats and big mirrors everywhere. It was also spotlessly clean and tidy.

  “Ari over here.” Eden stepped out of the office area and waved over to me. She pulled me into a hug. “I’m so pleased you decided to come in.”

  “I thought about it. You were right. It would be very poor form not to have even seen my boyfriend train.”

  “Ah yeeep! That would definitely be breaking the girlfriend rules.”

  I looked around some more. “Is it just us here this morning?”

  “Yeah, I think so. It’ll be Xan, Dane and Seth training. Reed will be yelling instructions. That’s his thing. We might get one or two students drop by if they see us here, but they won’t interfere. They all know how important these last sessions are.”

  She motioned for me to join her at a little table and chairs in the corner, that gave me a view of the whole training area. “I had Xan put this in here. That bench gets hard on your butt.” She motioned to the long bench that ran the wall. Isaac was over the other side of the floor with Xander.

  “What’s Xander showing him?”

  “Um, looks like he’s running through the various sorts of pads and what they use them for.”

  “Isaac is totally besotted by it all. I’ve never seen him so keen on any sport. In fact, the only thing he has shown the same level of interest and intensity for is tech games.”

  “Well, that’s great,” Eden said enthusiastically.

  “Is it?” I was still sceptical. “I’m just so worried about him becoming violent. His father did.” Xander was now running Isaac through some warm up exercises. Dane and a tall blond-haired guy had been over in another section of the mats doing stretches.

  She nodded her head. “I can understand your concerns given what you mentioned, but look at Xander and Dane. I don’t know two more gentle and caring guys. Sure, they can be fierce and demanding. Particularly when they use that Sensei voice”.

  “Sensei voice?” I asked her.

  Eden looked up at me with amusement in her eyes. “You know the one. The one where their voice lowers and you dare not disobey.” The she glanced around before leaning over and whispering in my ear. “The one that gets you hot and bothered.”

  Oh yeah, I knew what she meant.

  Just then, a big strapping man walked in and dumped a duffle on the bench seat. A couple of seconds later, the guys all moved over to talk with him, Isaac included.

  I started to worry.

  Isaac was probably in the way. I made a move to stand. Eden must have figured what was worrying me.

  “Leave it for the moment. If they don’t want him involved they’ll send him over here. Dane and Xan are both brilliant with kids. They deal with kids hero-worshipping them here every day. Reed can be very gruff though.” Now, I really was worried. This Reed character looked like he chewed nails for breakfast.

  Dane was introducing Isaac to Reed and he looked unsure and seemed to instinctively move closer to Dane. Reed looked directly at Isaac with a hard face. “Right Isaac, your job is to stay beside me and watch. No talking unless I ask you a question. This is serious business.”

  The next thing that came out of his mouth stunned me. “Yes Shihan. Oss.” He moved sedately and stood beside Reed. It must be killing him to be so still. I had no idea how he was doing it.

  “Seems Isaac’s been paying attention,” Eden said, sounding impressed.

  I could only nod.

  “Right get started,” Reed demanded. Xander, Dane and Seth all lined up, dropped to the mats, and started doing push-ups. “You can give me a set of twenty to start with as well, Isaac.” My son followed suit, dropped to the mats, and started mimicking them on his spindly arms.

  A couple of minutes later Reed called the next exercise. This went on for about twenty minutes. Then the real session began and Isaac moved back to Reed’s side.

  “Looks like Reed is going all out. He did this with Xander, too. He’s going to have Dane fighting Xander and straight after that Seth. They’ll keep rotating until he calls time. Reed wants to make sure that Dane has a fresh fighter the whole time. It will be insane for him.”

  I held my breath a bit and watched in awe.

  Reed had Xander and Seth set up as two stations. Dane moved between the two of them throwing punches and kicks, which Xander and Seth threw back in a flurry of arms and legs. Then they’d crash to the ground and grapple for control. I’d never seen anything like it. The speed and the raw power was mind blowing—so intense.

  The more I looked, the more I saw the strategy and the calculation of angles to gain supremacy in their exchanges. Out and out aggression and brute strength was evident, but there was so much more. It was athleticism and perfection.

  I looked up and saw Eden studying me with a grin on her face. “Oh yeah, you get it now.”

  “I don’t know what I really expected but I guess it wasn’t that. There’s so much…”

  “Control perhaps?” she finished for me when I struggled to find the words.

  “Yes. You’re right, though. They’re hot.” She nodded in agreement and we both sat in silence watching our men do battle against each other in what was apparently training, however, it looked like an incredibly intense combat.

  There was something overwhelmingly sexy about watching them flex and strike, sweat dripping from their magnificent athlete bodies.

  “Watch the hook, Dane. You’re losing power when you’re tiring because you’re not planting your lead foot,” Reed barked. It looked perfect to me. Maybe I was biased.

  “Reed seems like a hard arse.”

  Eden smiled. “He’s actually a big teddy bear and loves the guys like little brothers. He just gets obsessed during a fight prep. It’s killing him that both the guys have women now. Reed hates women involved in fight preps, apparently. Xander refused to give me up during the prep. Reed was decidedly unhappy about it.”

  Wow. Dane had probably been dealing with that as well—silently. What else had he been personally going through to get to this fight. Yet somehow, he dealt with my shit and kept me happy. I was a little overawed.

  A couple of hours later, long after Xander and Seth had quit sparring, Reed called time on the bag and pad drills he had Dane doing. Sweat ran from Dane; every few minutes he’d been grabbing a towel while he was taking a short rest to wipe the excess from his body. I’d had no idea how he’d done it.

  That session was insane.

  Commitment and dedication is what Dane had shown me today.

  Finally, he looked over at me and I read the weariness in his face. “Just going to grab a shower.”

  “Sure.” I didn’t blame him.

  Reed moved over and I held my breath. “So you’re Dane’s woman.”

  That had me bristling. “Yes, I’m Arianne and yes, I’m Dane’s woman, as you put it.”

  Reed narrowed his eyes at me.

  “Give it a rest, Reed. Really? Is this helpful?” Eden chastised him, which surprised me.

  “He needs to be 110% focused over the next week,” he grumbled.

  “He also needs a little downtime, comfort and affection,” Eden put in for me.

  “Hmmph,” was the answer. “Dane said you’re not coming in until later in the week. Wasn’t even sure if you were coming.”

  I didn’t quite know what to say. It turned out I didn’t need to say anything—Reed beat me to it. “Make sure you get there no later than Thursday, Wednesday would be better. He needs to be settled. If you’re not there, he’ll worry more. You both think I didn’t notice in Vegas him fretting over you.” He didn’t say anything just turned and left.

  “Did that really happen?” I asked Eden.

  “Yeah, he’s seriously stressed out over the fight. The more stressed he gets the surlier he is. You wait, Saturday night after the fight, he�
��ll be quite pleasant. Well, at least that’s how he was in Vegas.”

  Well I guess that settled it. I was going to Melbourne and somehow I’d have to manage to stay out of Reed’s way and well, Marcel…I didn’t even want to think about that.

  One thing was certain. Tension was going to be running high until after the fight.

  “Hey Xander, we’ve got a pile of media dudes making the carpark look untidy,” Seth called out. My stomach lurched and I saw Eden stiffen.

  “Yeah, it was bound to happen.” Xander called casually, walking over from his office towards us. Dane chose that moment to come out from the locker rooms as well; he was looking a little more refreshed.

  “What’s going on?” He looked around at our little huddle.

  “Press are here, man.” I watched Dane go from relaxed to on edge, in a heart beat. “Don’t sweat it. I’ve got an idea.” Xander looked at Eden. “Gem, you up for taking one for the team?”

  I’d figured out after hearing him say it a couple of times, Gem was Xander’s pet name for his wife. It suited her perfectly and the affection in his voice when he said it—almost reverent.

  Something unspoken passed between them, then she smiled a little slyly and raised her left hand admiring the sparkling rings. “I don’t think the press have had a good look at my wedding rings. How remiss of them.” Xander grinned and I realised what they were planning.

  “Dane give your keys to Seth. Seth, we’ll keep the press busy while you take Dane’s truck and head round to the next street. Dane you should be fine to slip out the back way. I don’t think the press have wised up to it yet.”

  He took his keys from his duffle and passed them to Seth. Xander offered a hand to Eden and pulled her up.

  “Thanks, man.” Dane bumped Xander on the shoulder before bustling Isaac and myself towards the hallway that lead to the locker rooms.