by Jessie Cooke
I heard the knock on the door. This time it would be Cassie, I’m sure. I reached out and grabbed the edge of the coffee table and pushed myself up until I was standing on my quivering legs. I sucked in the deepest breath that I could manage and let it out slowly. Cassie knocked again and I managed to say,
“I’m coming Cass.” I reached down and picked up the offending envelope and shoved it in the top drawer of my desk before I got to the door. With one final deep breath, I pulled open the door and smiled at my best friend. Nobody knew my father’s secrets…not even Cassie. It was the only thing she didn’t know about me…the only thing I never wanted her to know.
13
Brock
I wasn’t part of the event at Planet Hollywood. It was for the new fighters. I went along with Mick under the pretense of showing him the ropes. When I picked him up I was surprised to see that he cleaned up pretty decent. Bradley told them to dress nice, but he didn’t want them in suits and ties. He wanted them in something that would still show off their muscle. I wondered if Mick could cover his up if he tried. He was wearing a blue Henley shirt with short sleeves that stretched across his biceps and a pair of jeans with no holes in them. His hair looked clean and it was pulled back neatly and not just knotted up at the back of his neck. He jumped into the Charger, and said,
“Dude, awesome wheels.” He was like a throwback to the eighties.
“Thanks, man. What do you drive?”
“I don’t own a car. The bike is all I need. I’m a one vehicle man,” he said, laughing at his own lame joke.
“What kind of bike do you have?”
“Got me an ’87 Harley Red in cherry condition.”
“Cool. Mine’s a 2000. I’ve done a lot of upgrades to it. How’d the drug test go?” He looked away and said,
“It went fine. That little secretary is hot.”
I laughed. “Don’t let Lucy hear you call her a “secretary,” she doesn’t like that.”
“Yeah? She didn’t say anything to me about it…that could be because most of the time we spent together she had her lips wrapped too tightly around my cock to speak.”
“No way!” Lucy worked at the training center for seven years. In all that time she’d never so much as kissed a fighter…at least that’s the story. I know enough of these guys to know that if they’d been the first to tap that, I would have heard about it.”
“Yes way,” he said. “For a little bitty thing, she’s got some powerful suction.”
I laughed. “I don’t want to hear the details…but thanks.”
He laughed to and said, “Your loss, best afternoon, evening, and night I’ve had in a long time.”
“No fucking way!”
“Way,” he said. “Started with a BJ at the training center in the bathroom and ended in my bed…that was after the erotic tour of the front hall, living room, bathroom and kitchen.”
I was dying, “How the hell did you manage that? Lucy doesn’t date fighters.”
“Dude, I wasn’t dating her, I was doing her.”
“As far as I know that’s been tried by nearly every fighter in the club. How the hell did you manage it?”
He shrugged, “I can’t divulge my secrets,” he said with a grin. “I will tell you that my neighbor had a great time as well.”
“Now I know you’re lying. Lucy…Miss ultra-professional in on a threesome? No way…I’d have to hear that from Lucy or your neighbor before I believed it.” I pulled the car up to the valet area of Planet Hollywood. As we stepped out of the car Mick said,
“One of these days you can come by and meet her.”
“Her?” This guy was killing me. He did not have a threesome with Lucy and some other chick…did he?
“Yeah. She’s older…thirty-five, I think. She’s still hot though.” He pulled open the door to the casino and said, “She’s not available all the time though, only when her husband goes out of town on his business trips.”
“You are such a fucking liar.”
He laughed and shrugged, “I don’t care if you believe me or not. I’m still getting all that pussy.”
I was shaking my head at him when suddenly Lizzie came into view. My entire life I heard people talk about being with someone who took their breath away. I finally knew what all of the fuss was about. She was wearing a green bikini top and boy shorts…my colors. My girl.
“Hey baby.”
“Hi.” She was stacking paperwork on the counter of the kiosk. She seemed distracted and not as happy to see me as I was to see her.
“How’s it going?” I looked over and saw Cassie. She was surrounded by a group of young guys that looked like they were still in high school, yet talking to them about signing up for an exhibition bout with one of our new guys. I’d be willing to bet that was why Jacob wasn’t here. He’d be trying to pick a fight with every guy that got close to her…not good for business.
“It’s okay,” Lizzie said, “Busy already and we just started.” She didn’t look up from her paperwork while she was talking.
“Baby, is something wrong?”
She finally looked up at me and smiled. Her smile looked false and her eyes looked worried, or sad. “Nope, everything is good. I better go help Cass.” She came around from behind the kiosk. She smiled again and turned to go over where Cassie was at. I grabbed her arm, not hard but just enough to stop her. She looked down at my hand and pulled her eyebrows together. “What are you doing?”
“Tell me what’s going on. Did Lance call you…or Ian?”
“No. I haven’t talked to either of them. Everything is okay Brock. I have to work.”
She pulled her arm. I let go because I didn’t want to hurt her and I watched as she went to join Cassie. They walked back and forth, handing out flyers to passerby’s and answering questions. I worried over her for a bit and then trying to distract myself, I went over to where the rookies were. I was standing there bullshitting with a guy named Vic while Mick and the other rookie Jamie were taking pictures of a group of girls when I suddenly felt a small hand on my back. Automatically thinking it was Lizzie I picked up my arm…and some strange blonde woman stepped into it and pressed into my side.
“Whoa! I’m sorry miss but I’m just here visiting. I’m not part of the event.”
She stuck her lip out which looked ridiculous on a thirty-something year old woman. “You don’t remember me?”
“No, I’m sorry, I…” Shit! Treasure Island. That was the night Jacob left with the blonde with the big tits and Lance and I hooked up with her roommates. She was from Ohio or one of those obscure states…I have no idea what her name is. “Treasure Island,” I said. She put her hand on my shoulder and I took a step back. I didn’t want to embarrass her or hurt her feelings, but I didn’t want Lizzie looking over here and seeing her hanging on me either. The step back didn’t discourage her. She reached out and ran her fingernails down my arm and said, “Let’s go upstairs…you’ll remember….”
I stepped back again and laughed, nervously. “No thanks. I’ve changed my ways a little bit since then.” She put the palm of her hand on my chest and this time before I could react she was suddenly jerked back away from me. I looked on in shock as sweet little pregnant Lizzie got in her face.
“Keep your hands off him!”
The blonde woman…whatever the hell her name was said, “You keep your hands off me, bitch.”
Lizzie raised her fist. It wasn’t her hand…no open palm…it was a fist and it was brought in front of her face like a fighter. She was going to sock this woman and as strangely turned on as that thought made me…I knew the fall-out from that would not be good for Lizzie. I stepped between them just as my sweet girl threw her punch. It caught me in the center of my chest and it hurt.
“Ouch!” she said, shaking out her hand. “Shit Brock! Why did you do that?” Her voice was loud. People were starting to stare.
“Baby, you need to calm down,” I said in a low tone.
“Calm down? She had
her hands all over you and she called me a bitch! Get out of my way.”
“No baby. You don’t want to do this…”
“Do you protect all the bitches you’ve screwed or only the special ones?”
Before I could answer that ridiculous question, blondie stuck her head out and said, “You got at least part of that right, screw me he did…it was fantastic too…” The blonde reached up and touched my back and I felt her double D tits press into my back.
Lizzie went after her like a pole cat. I literally had to lift her off her feet and hold her over my shoulder to carry her to a private spot. Cassie was looking at us with big eyes. She was horrified. Mick and the other guys looked amused. I saw Cassie approaching the blonde chick. Good, she’d get rid of her while I calmed Lizzie down. She was now pounding her fists into my back and trying to kick me in the nuts. I found an alcove and sat her down on her feet. She let go of one more punch, this time connecting with my gut.
“Are you finished?” She didn’t answer me. She just stood there and glared. “You’re not going to tell me what that was about? Baby, please. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“You have to ask? She had her hands all over you. Who the hell is she anyways?”
I bit the inside of my lip to keep from smiling. I didn’t want her to hit me again. “She’s some chick I hooked up with way back before you, babe…it was even before Jacob and Cassie got together and before Lance…”
“She’s old.”
The laugh escaped a little bit. “Yeah, she is, I guess.”
“Is that your type, Brock? You like the old ones? Maybe I’m just like my mother always has been for my dad…for show so that no one knows just how twisted he really is…”
She was freaking me out. What did her mom and dad have to do with this? “Baby, I’m sorry that woman touched me. I moved her hand and I stepped back and I was just about to tell her that I had a girlfriend…before you went off on her. I’ve just never seen you like this. Baby, what is this really about?”
“I told you what it was about. That woman was feeling you up in public. Would you stand by while some guy that I had fucked put his hands all over me?” I winced. Just the mention of it bothered me. The answer to that was an unequivocal no. I would kill him…or at least make him wish that he was dead.
“No, you’re right, I wouldn’t. But it’s over now, okay? She won’t do it again. You scared her. Hell, you scared me.” I tried a smile but she wasn’t looking at me. Her eyes were focused on something behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Cassie had gotten rid the blonde somehow. “She’s gone baby.”
“Good.”
“Is there something else?” She looked at me defiantly and I could tell that she was going to say no…but then her eyes clouded and filled with tears. “Lizzie? What is it, baby?” She was still staring at something behind me. I turned again and tried to follow her gaze. Cassie was trying to manage the quickly gathering crowd alone. Mick and the two other new guys were talking shit to some of the guys signing up to spar with them. Bradley just showed up and he was embroiled in a conversation with two men. Shit! That must be it. One of the men was Michael Saint…Lizzie’s father. “I’m sorry baby. I know you said you don’t get along with your dad. Is that what’s wrong? Is this going to be hard for you?”
Almost too quiet for me to hear and with a look of complete anguish on her face she said, “My father has very specific tastes in women…girls, I guess I should say. He likes them young…really young.” I didn’t know what to say to that…or why she would even bring something like that up right now. She was in such a strange mood that I was afraid of saying the wrong thing. She was still staring at him and she looked almost like she was in a trance. Then she lowered her voice again and said, “I need to tell you something before it comes out in the papers.”
“Okay, baby.”
“When I was fourteen my Daddy invited me to go on a trip with him to Colorado. It was the first time in my life he wanted me to go anywhere with him. I was so thrilled. We stayed at a ski lodge and while he was busy with his tournament, I met this girl…she was a year older than me but she was nice and we hit it off and became good friends. My father came back to the room on our last night there in a really good mood. The girl…her name was Samantha. She and I were there, hanging out in the hot tub and watching movies. Daddy won his tournament. He was drunk already, I think. He was kissing and hugging us and he ordered a bottle of champagne up to the room and let us drink with him to celebrate. Neither one of us had ever had alcohol before….” Jesus, I was scared to death that I knew where she was going with this…but I hoped to God that I was wrong. She was still staring at him and talking in that flat tone. She had one lone tear rolling down her cheek.
I reached out and wiped her tear away. “Baby, let’s go home. You can tell me about all of this, I promise. You can talk all night if you need to and I will listen…but let’s go home and do it, okay?” If she was about to tell me what I thought she was I wasn’t sure that I would be able to stop myself…
She shook her head and said, “It was the only time he ever said he loved me…”
14
Brock
“Keep your hands up, Brock. Do you think Jacob is going to spare that face of yours just because it’s pretty?” Lee was all over me today. He knew I was distracted and it was pissing him off. I was supposed to be training for the biggest and most important fight of my career, but I was having trouble focusing. I couldn’t stop thinking about Lizzie and what she’d told me. As soon as she’d said the words, I could tell she regretted them. I don’t think she even meant to say them aloud…it was like she was having a flashback or something. All I knew at that moment was that Michael Saint was a dead man…but when I turned to go towards him, she’d grabbed my arm and pleaded with me not to.
“I couldn’t stand being responsible for you getting into trouble, Brock.” She took everything on herself. Somehow, she had blamed herself for what that monster did to her when she was just a kid…and she had blamed herself for everything that happened since…and I knew that she would blame herself if I did what I wanted to do that day and landed in jail…so I had backed off. It wasn’t over though, not by a long shot. That son of a bitch never paid for what he did to her yet she pays for it every day. My mind would never be able to reconcile that.
Smack! A giant fist hit me in the right temple. “Shit! This isn’t a real fight, Clay.” The kid was an eighteen-year-old powerhouse that Lee literally recruited off the street. He walked up on a fight and when the kid finished taking down three gang bangers who had attacked him, Lee brought him back to the gym. He was like a stray cat, Lee fed him and he kept coming back. He’s a good kid, but fighting is all he knows and sparring is not his thing.
“If your hands were up there where they’re supposed to be, that wouldn’t have connected.” Damn Lee for stating the fucking obvious. He’d been telling me to focus for two hours now. I was trying, but there was just so much shit going on. After I took Lizzie home that day and got her all tucked into bed…she asked me to give her some time. That was two days ago, and I haven’t heard from her since. I was trying to honor her request…but it was making me a little bit crazy.
Clay came at me again, this time going for my gut. I blocked that one and knocked his hands down. Then I brought up a left uppercut…probably too hard and caught him on the chin. He stumbled and I took the opportunity to dive in and take him down. I used his own beefy arm to fold across his neck and cut off his wind. It was the first time in the three weeks the kid had been coming here that I saw a trace of fear in his eyes.
“Okay, you proved your point,” Lee said, “But remember, Jacob’s not going to wait around for you to get motivated. If your head is not in that octagon, he’ll eat you alive.” I just looked at him. He’s telling me how awesome my best friend is. I’ve been at every single one of his bouts. I’ve watched him train. I’ve watched him take down men that outweigh him by nearly a hundred pounds with one
punch. I know how dangerous Jacob can be in the octagon…but none of that was why I didn’t want to face him. Lee looked at his watch, “I think that’s enough for now, hit the showers.” I held my hand out and helped Clay up. He gave me a grateful, goofy grin. I had to smile back at the kid. He’s me, eight years ago…only maybe not quite as angry. I clapped him on the back and grabbing my water I climbed through the ropes of the practice ring and headed for the showers. Lee and I were using the back room…it was ridiculous, but Jacob’s trainer insisted that we not work out together or even in the same room and preferably not at the same time. It wasn’t like we both didn’t know the other’s strengths and weaknesses already. I stopped for a second as I passed through the other room. They had Jagger in the ring, sparring with Jacob. I could tell by the big man’s wide-eyed look that he knew he was out of his league. I headed in to shower and found Lance in the locker room.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“How is Lizzie?”
“How is she…or is she still pregnant?”
“I don’t want to fight with you Brock. I just haven’t seen her in a while and she doesn’t return my calls…I just hope she’s doing okay.”
I sighed. Being mad at Lance would be a lot easier if he wasn’t genuinely a nice guy. He’d been staying at Ian’s almost exclusively over the past few weeks. I missed him at the apartment…it was lonely there without him.
“She’s hanging in there,” I said, at least as far as I knew.
“That’s good,” he said. “Brock…I never meant for her to get hurt.”
“I know.”
“I’ve been trying to talk to her, but she won’t see me…”
“I know. She’ll talk to you when she’s ready.”
“Are you and I ever going to be okay again?”