Fearless

by Maya Rossi

  “Eddy?”

  “Yep.”

  “You were always too classy for them anyway, take a chance, Ava. Leave.” Brayden turned them over so he was on top. He made a place for himself in the notch between her thighs. Slowly, he ran callused hands up and down her thighs. Heat flooded through her and Ava moaned raising her legs to curl it around his waist.

  “My love,” he whispered.

  Ava carded her fingers through his hair, using her tight grip to draw his head down. “Make love to me, Brayden Marshall.”

  Chapter seventeen

  The media tagged it the fight of the century. They billed the fight to shatter the record number of viewership in boxing history. It was the first time Ava got to watch a fight where the crowd were quiet rather than rowdy.

  “I’m sorry about that asshole,” Robin led the way to their seats, “I hope you’re not feeling down about not being up there, you’ve been quiet.”

  “Nah, I’m good.” Following her fall out with Eddy and Nance, Frank dropped way down the pecking order. “Brayden says I should leave.” He had urged her many times to leave and she just might.

  Robin shook her head. “Sistah? Your relationship with Brayden? It has me shooketh. Talk about an upgrade. There was absolutely no reason to work with them, your abandonment issues delivered you to them.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “You mean how you went where you were needed so you could do the dumping and hurt them in the process rather than they dumping you?” Robin arched her eyebrows dramatically.

  “This is one time I’m glad Ryan is a top tier fighter,” Deborah Highland said. “I get to be treated like a Queen.”

  Brayden had gotten courtside seats for all of them except for Deborah who he didn’t know. Or won’t care about if his last call to Ryan was anything to go by.

  “So, who you got?” Robin shouted over the screams from the crowd.

  The attendance for the fight was mind-boggling. With the tickets sold out three times over, it was safe to say everyone wanted to see the most anticipated fight of the year.

  “Who you got?” Robin asked right against her ear.

  “My head says Brayden--”

  “We got the fight of the century baby,” Steve crowed reaching up to drag Ava off her feet. “How are you doing?”

  Ava forced a smile. “I’m fine.”

  Robin squeezed her hand. “Just take it one round at a time.”

  Ava wrinkled her nose. “Why does that sound sexual?”

  With a light laugh, Robin smacked her hand. “You’ve just got a dirty mind.”

  “You know, Brayden is actually under the most pressure. He’s under pressure to equal the record for the most wins at forty-two,” Steve said, taking his seat just behind the girls. “He can’t lose.”

  Deborah frowned her disapproval. “Ryan can’t lose either. Whose side are you on anyway?”

  Steve shrugged. “I don’t dislike anyone of them, I’m just going to have a good time and pray they don’t kill each other. The build up has been intense. But seriously, I think this might be it for Brayden. Coming off that shoulder injury, he’s the underdog here.”

  Ava stared into her drink. “Me? I just want the fight over with.”

  “Is Eddy still acting like an ass?” Robin inched up on her toes as if searching for Eddy. “We can run up on him right now and no one would know.”

  Slinging her arms around Robin, Ava smiled. “Come on, let’s just get this fight over with. Honestly? Thank goodness I’m not working today.”

  “Round by round, remember?” Robin frowned. “You think that’s what the fighters tell each other in the ring?”

  “Some do,” Ava agreed.

  “Especially when they’re running out of gas,” Steve added from the back.

  Deborah rose. “I need to get Amy, promised her she’ll get to see her father before the walk in, then it’s bed for her.”

  Ava frowned. “You’ve never done that before.”

  “Try telling a six-year-old who believes she’s now a big girl she can’t do something.” Deborah sighed. “She turned six last month and ever since we’ve been getting a list of dos and don’ts for a six-year-old.” She winked. “Don’t worry, she’s not staying though, just gonna wish her father luck. I’ll be back.”

  “Remember when Adam had that phase?” Robin asked Steve.

  “It was hell,” Steve retorted.

  “Why?” Ava asked.

  “Because he changed the rules every fucking morning.” Steve ticked it off his fingers. “Today, it might be a four-year-old can take his own bath, thank you. Tomorrow, it might be, I can walk to school by myself.”

  They were still discussing the antics of children when Deborah returned. “What did I miss?”

  Unlike other fights, the crowd grew silent as the fighters entered the ring. Ryan went first as the challenger and he looked good but a bit grim too. Brayden followed with his simple to the point of stark walk in, he just walked out without looking sideways, eyes aimed on his waiting opponent.

  Soon, it was time. The announcer made the introductions. Ava closed her eyes, fighting to control her breathing. “Watching a fight for fun, for work and with the stakes high is very different,” she murmured to Robin and Deborah.

  “I go through different phases for each of Ryan’s fights.” Deborah leaned forward, raising her voice to be better heard. “The calm him down phase--”

  “Calm him down?” Ava interrupted, surprised.

  “Yeah, they get very nervous before these fights. All this bravado and posturing at the weigh in? They are just posturing. Then there’s the calm myself phase. Preparing for fights is also a different ball game.Training, coaches, mails from fans wishing him victory in the fight or wishing him dead because he’s nothing but a — cue language. But the worst is the day to the fight. Ryan? He doesn’t sleep. He paces, let’s me or the coach talk him down--”

  “It’s a sport,” Ava said, “he should have fun. Why should he be nervous?”

  “I will be nervous,” Steve inserted. “I’m not a boxer, but I’ll be nervous, don’t tell anyone that or I’ll deny it,” he grumbled.

  Deborah held her gaze. “It’s not a sport, it’s a brutal sport.”

  “True, but--”

  “Many end up with irreversible injuries, brain damage.” Robin shrugged. “You know I’ve never cared for boxing. I only got into it because you loved it too much.”

  Ava was quiet as she watched the introductions go on and on. With his many titles, Brayden’s took particularly long.

  The air of anticipation in the stadium had the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. What made it worse was the almost total silence. Like the crowd knew they were witnessing greatness and wanted to watch it without distractions.

  The obvious animosity between the two fighters didn’t help matters. By the time the ref indicated they touch gloves, the tension in the stadium had stretched to its limit. Unsurprisingly to all, they refused to touch gloves.

  At the sound of the bell, the fighters went at each other hard. It was immediately clear this won’t be a fight but a brawl. A record number of punches were thrown and an even higher number connected. The stats after the exhilarating round one showed Ryan landed sixty percent of the punches thrown.

  How would both fighters keep this insane pace?

  “Fuck fuck, that round was madness,” Steve said, discussing with a guy seated at his side.

  Ava tuned them out. Round two went the same as the first, just as quick and even more ferocious. By the fifth round, both fighters were hardly recognizable with their swollen faces. You could hear a pin drop in the silent stadium. Because of the speed and skill of both fighters, they were gassed by the sixth round.

  Ryan more so. In the sixth round, he listed to the right and barely kept his balance. The crowd gasped. Many jumped to their feet.

  Dancing forward and back, Ryan approached Brayden, clearly saying something, maybe egging h
im on. Brayden took the bait. They exchanged quick jabs at lightning speed. With a daring grin, Ryan danced away, making a ‘come on’ motion with his gloved hands. Cockily, he lowered his guard, jawing at Brayden.

  He took a step forward. He listed again, this time to the left. His right leg skidded across the canvass. He fell.

  Deborah jumped to her feet, hands covering her mouth. She began chanting, staring at the clock as the ref began the count, “Get up, baby, get up.” She cupped her hand over her mouth and screamed. “Get up, Ry. We can do this.”

  For a second no one moved. Someone from the back began discussing Brayden’s legendary status. Ava moved her gaze from Ryan to Brayden. Like the ring general he was, he paced the length of the canvass, waiting for his challenger to either rise again or bow out in defeat.

  When the ref made a frantic motion at the ringside doctors, Ava jumped to her feet, heart in her throat. With a loud cry, Deborah ran for the ring, pushing to the front with superhuman strength.

  Brayden took off his gloves and edged closer to the small crowd around Ryan trying to revive him. He screamed, shaking uncontrollably. He placed both hands on his head, shaking his head, looking close to tears.

  The medical team shooed everyone off to work on Ryan. Orders were barked and commands obeyed at lightning speed.

  It was no use, Ryan Highland had suffered a massive heart attack and was dead before he even hit the ground.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ryan Highland dead.

  The referee’s count down.

  The stoppage.

  The fear.

  The image of Ryan’s prone still body, laid out on the canvass, dead.

  Brayden shivered. The bedroom door opened and Jack walked in. Both men stared at each other. Then Jack shook his head slightly.

  Tears trailed down Brayden’s cheek. “I killed him.”

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Jack said. “They said it was a heart attack.”

  Brayden shook his head, eyes aimed at the wristwatch Ryan gifted him after the fight with Ortiz. “I took the last punch and now he’s gone.”

  “Sheriff Mason’s here.”

  “Is he?” His voice was toneless, flat.

  “I called him.”

  “I don’t care.” Brayden inhaled harshly, welcoming the burn in his lungs. “Ava?”

  Jack’s mouth thinned in disapproval. “I’m sure she’s doing well.”

  “She released another article?”

  “I think she controls the station now.”

  “Good for her,” Brayden sighed, ignoring Jack’s sarcasm. “She deserves it.”

  Two weeks since Ryan’s death and Ava had released more than a dozen articles chastising, shaming and destroying him. Where was the reputation mother wanted him to protect for Benjamin? None of it mattered. Nothing mattered anymore. Not with Ryan Highland gone.

  “A life for a life,” he whispered.

  “Jesus, Bray, it wasn’t your fault.”

  He replaced the watch inside his bedside drawer. “Announce that I wish to organize a press conference. Make sure Ava receives a special invitation--”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jack said. “We should put Ava on lock down, those articles are destroying you, painting you in a bad light--”

  “I don’t care.”

  “The federation is checking everything, every punch, every statement your body language. The scrutiny is--”

  “I don’t care!”

  Someone shoved the bedroom door open without knocking. Luke entered, chest rising and falling in agitation. He paced the full length of the floor, hitting his fists against his opposite palm repeatedly. Brayden closed his eyes, stealing himself for more bad news. It couldn’t be worse than Ryan dying from a punch he threw. It couldn’t be about his father.

  Jack rolled his eyes. “Dude, it can’t be worse than--”

  “It is worse, I missed it, we all did. It was my job--”

  “What?” Brayden forced past tender throat.

  Luke gripped his hair in hand, tortured eyes capturing his. “Ryan Highland and Ava Miller were siblings.”

  “What?” Jack whisper-asked.

  “They were siblings, same father, same mother,” Luke confirmed.

  “Two brothers,” Brayden whispered.

  “What’s he saying?” Luke asked.

  “Nothing, just go handle the fallout, you know what he wants,” Jack said.

  “The foundation.” Luke nodded and left.

  Round six

  Chapter nineteen

  One year later

  “One, I blamed him for Ryan’s death. Two, I embarrassed him at the funeral, and called him a murderer. Three, he offered donations to the Highland foundation, and I rejected him publicly. Four, I wrote damning articles--”

  “Not the first,” Robin quipped.

  “That caused the boxing federation to scrutinize his actions leading up to and during the fight. Five, I published private conversations, hearsays, especially the one where he threatened to kill Highland--”

  “He shouldn’t have used those words,” Robin replied.

  Ava glared her into silence. “It’s a normal language in boxing to want to ‘destroy’, ‘kill’, ‘maim’, your opponent. But I took it out of context, embellished it and tore his reputation to bits.” She exhaled. “I wouldn’t forgive me.”

  “Your mistake was hiding your relationship with Highland, I told you it made no sense. He’s the brother you’ve been searching for all your life, you should have shown him off. Be proud.”

  “I did it for that useless job, didn’t want it said I rose on the back of my brother’s name to the top.”

  Robin arched an eyebrow. “Where are you now?”

  “Rock bottom,” Ava said flatly.

  “It wasn’t all your fault anyway if that’s any consolation. The man had issues with his foundation, those rumors didn’t help matters coming out around the time Ryan died.”

  “Don’t forget I did the one thing Brayden always hated. I took issues from his personal life, the foundation, his estranged family, Hannah, I just ran with it.”

  “You were hurting,” Robin shook the bottle lightly.

  “What I did was unforgivable and hypocritical--”

  “Careful with the grammar!” Pressing the bottle to her cheek, she grimaced. “Don’t forget to add how foolish you looked when one of his employees was arrested for the foundation scam.”

  Ava laughed without humor. “You think Brayden will care about that? His reputation meant everything to him.” She covered her face with both hands. “I didn’t even try to spend time with Ryan because I was still angry he left me with Mama. I didn’t go out with him for dinners even though he pressed. I kept our relationship a secret even when he begged.” She laughed mirthlessly. “Then he dies I turn into some avenging angel.”

  “We all need one,” Robin murmured. “Sorry,” she said at Ava’s heated glare.

  Robin reached forward to wipe Max’s lips with a napkin. She cooed at the baby and he smiled. “Where do you think he is?”

  “No idea.”

  “I’m sure you’ll find the answer if you think hard enough.”

  “I’m not thinking,” Ava replaced the kettle inside the cupboard and shut it closed with her hip.

  “And that has been your problem.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Robin held up a content Max like an item at an auction. “Do you really think you can get away with raising this wonderful boy by yourself?”

  “Brayden doesn’t want a family let alone a child.” Ava walked out to her tiny but homey living room.

  Robin followed, hitching Max up on her shoulders. “Give the man a chance or you’ll fall even more in my book.”

  Shocked, Ava turned. “What--”

  “If Brayden was my brother, I will kill you for what you did.” Robin laid Max onto his crib, taking a minute to play with his fingers and toes.

  “I don’
t--”

  “I honestly don’t care what you think. What’s fair is fair and what’s right is right. Make things right, Ava.” She leaned down to kiss Max’s cheek. “My beautiful boy, this woman has a date with an impatient husband. See you, take care of mommy, eh?”