by H. T. Night
“Tommy,” Maya continued, “I think this idea of having a safe haven closer to home makes a lot of sense.” She nodded. “Tommy, it’s time for me to go.”
I looked at Maya and we were nearing ten minutes to werewolf lift-off. “Okay,” I said. Maya had cut me off, but there was more to what I wanted to say. “Maya, what about us?”
“Us?” Maya’s eyes looked perplexed. “What does that mean?”
“It means I am committed to a spirit. Seems a little foolish.”
“Nobody is asking you to be committed to me, Tommy. That is entirely on you.”
“But you want to know when I want to date,” I said.
“Is that what this is about?” Maya asked.
I looked at Maya and, with tears in my eyes, I said, “I haven’t touched anyone intimately since you. For a brief moment, I felt you. And you want to slide it under the rug and act like none of it happened. How long can I go without the touch of a woman?”
“Any woman?” Maya asked.
“A deserving one,” I said. “Maya, I am going to turn in minutes. I want you to know—you are the one I want. You are the only woman I ever wanted. But I’m changing. I’m progressing, and if I can’t touch you, I feel I will eventually need the touch of a woman.”
“Don’t say any more. You need to live your life and find all the treasures that are hidden in it. I’m not meant to be an anchor but a guidance.”
I looked at Maya, and she mouthed, ‘I love you’ and disappeared. I was left staring at empty air from inside of a cage. Speaking of which...
That was the last thing I remembered.
Chapter Thirteen
Over the past month, Josiah had won his fourth fight and I had won my 18th fight. I knew in my gut that we would face each other inside of the next two years if both of us stayed at the same weight.
I had a feeling I was going to see Maya soon. The last couple of times, she had appeared at the cage in the mountains.
I wanted to end that trend. It wasn’t the most inspiring place to have a romantic conversation.
Josiah had been slacking off, working-out wise. I had to admit, he had won all four of his matches so easily that I almost didn’t blame him for thinking the sport was too easy. I wasn’t the only one who has been noticing Josiah slacking off. There were rumblings at our gym that the Commissioner needed to teach Josiah a lesson and give him a top opponent in his next bout.
We would both find out who our next fights were tomorrow. They usually called me and I passed the information on to Josiah because, at this point, the kid hardly gave a shit.
I knocked on Josiah’s bedroom door.
“Come in,” he hollered. The fucker was so lazy.
“You decent?” I called out.
“Would I say, ‘come in’ if I wasn’t decent?” he hollered back.
I opened the door slowly, and I stood in Josiah’s hallway with nothing but a washcloth on. It was covering my groin. But nonetheless, it was only a large washcloth. Notice I said large. I motioned to my towel and said, “Maybe because you are secretly in love with this.” I flexed my stomach muscles as if I were posing in a muscle man competition.
“Save it for your girl groupies, bro. What do you want, Tommy?” Josiah wanted to laugh, but he wouldn’t give me the satisfaction. He stared on with his piercing blue eyes. He was dressed as if he was going to go run. I was impressed.
“I want to borrow some cologne,” I said. “Is that cool with you?”
“Go ahead. They’re on top of the dresser.”
I clapped my hands and did an extremely slow walk, making sure Josiah got a look at some Tommy. Josiah had an elaborate cologne collection. The dude liked to smell good. I gave him that.
I took his favorite cologne, Drakkar Noir, to mess with him. Josiah asked what the cologne was for. I made up a lie. I wasn’t ready to let him in on the secret. At least, not until Maya gave me the okay.
He tried shoving me out of his room when he said, “Now get out, so I can get ready for my run.”
I looked out the window and I saw Yari. She was in her red hawk form and she seemed worried. “Don’t run too far tonight,” I said. “I’ve got a weird feeling.” I looked Josiah in the eyes and was maybe more serious than I wanted to be. I didn’t want him to know I had noticed a bird outside his window.
“You do?” Jo asked. “Okay, I’ll be careful. I’ll run to the college and back.”
“Get back in an hour and you’ll be fine.” Yari flew away from the window and I sighed. “Yeah, an hour will be fine. One more thing, Josiah—the Commission is going to let us know tomorrow who we’ll fight next month.”
“I hope the Commission will give me a real fight this time,” Josiah said. “Maybe I’ll have a shot to move up in the rankings.”
I gave Josiah a hard time for not putting in the time as of late. He felt he deserved a top fight. I had other thoughts about my friend’s young career. I was oddly concerned about this run. Josiah was a big boy. I sure as hell couldn’t stop him from doing anything he wanted to do.
Chapter Fourteen
I went to bed shortly after Josiah left for his run. I woke up around two to go to the bathroom. I noticed Josiah wasn’t back. That worried me. I remember seeing Yari’s eyes. There was a concern that I’d never seen a bird have before.
I slept restlessly the rest of the night. I was ultra-conscious that Josiah had never come home. It pissed me off because I told him to come back because I didn’t sense it was safe last night. Especially after seeing Yari’s expression.
My anxiety had gotten the best of me. It was early in the morning and I decided to get some pushups and sit-ups in. I went to the living room and sprawled out on the floor as I usually did when I did pushups and sit-ups at home.
I was on my fifth set of sit ups when I heard the door open. It was Josiah. It was six in the morning. His face was flushed and he had obviously been in a fight. “That was some run,” I said from the carpet.
“You have no idea.” Josiah went to the kitchen and grabbed some milk out of the refrigerator.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I’m okay. Why?” Josiah sat at the table. He wasn’t okay. His brain seemed scattered, and now, I noticed he had bandages all over his body, as if he’d had a visit from Florence Nightingale herself.
“You’ve got a bandage on your wrist and a hickey on your neck the size of a basketball.” I got up from the carpet and made my way to the table and sat down.
“What can I say? It was a night to remember.” Josiah didn’t want to talk about it and that was apparent.
“Jo, you need to take it easy on the partying. Don’t forget, we find out who we’re fighting today.”
Josiah grinned. “This coming from the guy who partied away all his money,” he said.
“That was before, Jo. You know I have been working hard on getting myself back on the right track.” Josiah had no idea I had put most of my money away and was sitting on a bundle of cash. Close to one-and-a half-million. It pays to be a fighter.
“I know.” Josiah seemed like he understood. “I just need to get to bed right now. I’m utterly wiped.”
“So you’re going to skip your morning workout?” I said. “I mean, you can still run if you have a bandage on your upper body.”
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s still last night. Besides, I had quite the mixed martial arts workout last night.”
“Ah, hell. Don’t tell me you got into another fight.” I knew he had. Josiah never got hurt, so if he was sitting in front of me with bandages and a hickey, I could only assume some crazy shit went down last night. But Josiah was being very secretive. I never pressed him about anything other than working out. Maybe I was afraid to know what had happened. “You know we can get sued if anyone finds out who we are. We’re pro fighters and we can’t just go around fighting ‘regular Joes.’ You’re not fifteen anymore, bro, and you can’t just go around bashing people’s heads in.”
“I know. Tru
st me, I wasn’t intending to fight.” Josiah seemed to be telling the truth. He had been through a lot. It was written all over his face.
“Let me guess—you just couldn’t help yourself, right?”
“Tommy, look, when I wake up, you can rip me ten new assholes, but right now, I need to get some sleep.”
“All right, bro. Go to bed.”
“Thanks and good night.”
“It’s morning, jerk off. And you never even asked me about my date!” I didn’t go on one. It was fictitious from the beginning, but a little courtesy would have been nice.
“You can tell me all about it when I wake up,” Josiah said.
I had nothing to talk about because it never happened.
Josiah went to bed and I decided to go to the gym for a workout. I got a great workout in, but I was exhausted. It was nearing evening when I received a call on my cell. I recognized the number. It was a 619 area code. That was San Diego in these parts. That was the location of the California MMA Commission headquarters.
I was walking out to my car when my phone rang. I hurried and put my gym bag in my car, and I answered the phone.
“This is Tommy.”
“Mr. Jensen, how are you on this fine evening?” It was Bryan Cody, the man in charge. CEO of the whole shebang. I was definitely getting my next fight.
“How you doing, sir?” I said.
“I’m great, son. I’m calling you to tell you some odd news. Well, there is good news and bad news. The good news is we inked the deal with Juarez and you will have your title fight.” I knew it was coming, but it was exciting. Hearing about my title fight from the CEO was pretty cool. “But that’s not for another four months,” Bryan continued. “So, the Commission decided to give you a fight that will prove if you indeed deserve that shot.”
“Okay,” I said. I wasn’t sure where this was going.
“You see, Tommy, this is less about you and more about trying to make a point.”
“Just tell me what is going on, Mr. Cody. Save the apologies. What is happening? Who am I fighting?”
There was a pause. Then, on the other end of the phone, I heard Bryan say, “Josiah Reign.” I nearly fainted as I heard the words.
“What? Why? Josiah isn’t a tune-up fight. He’s a title fight.”
“I can imagine that the two of you have dreamed up a world where two best friends face off for the title. Well, that isn’t going to happen. At least not for your first fight. You are scheduled to fight Josiah Reign in three weeks.”
“Three weeks?”
“Tommy, are you okay? You sound scared.”
“I’m not scared. I’m just flabbergasted that we are fighting this early in our careers.”
“Like I said, it’s more on him. He’s acting like a big shot, missing practices, and I even heard he has shown up drunk to practice with his trainer.”
“Yeah, I also heard he had sex with half this town. Can’t believe everything you hear.”
“Josiah needs to grow up. I’m sorry you are the one that will teach him the lesson he desperately needs to learn. I gather you will let him know?”
“Of course I will,” I said.
“Well, this should be very interesting,” Bryan said with a laugh. “We expect you to win. We are actually sorry we couldn’t give you a better fighter. Josiah will be great, but we all know he has a lot to learn. Think about it. The kid needs to lose. You can’t have that kind of arrogance and be undefeated. I see signs worse than Floyd Mayweather. I am confident you will beat him, because he is exactly the kind of fighter you break down. Break him down, get him on the ground, and get him to submit with one of your fine and dandy submissive moves.”
“Fine and dandy?”
“Look, it’s no secret that you are where you are for two reasons. The first reason is exactly the advantage Josiah has. You two can brawl toe-to-toe with anyone. Never met two fighters that like fighting the way you two boys do. Tommy, the second thing you have that makes you great—Josiah doesn’t have that.”
“My ground game,” I said.
“Not just a ground game. You fight using your head. Sometimes brains win over hearts. Actually, most of the time that happens.”
“All right,” I said. I was done listening to Bryan tell me how easily I would beat Josiah. He had no idea what he was talking about. Josiah was the same guy who already thought he was the best thing to happen to MMA. “I’ll let him know,” I continued.
“We will need to see both of you for your physical and to sign the fight papers.”
“You got it,” I said. “I’ll let Josiah know what he has to do.”
“Hell, if the kid beats you, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing either. You know us. We can make either thing work. Just make it work to your advantage, Tommy.” With that, Bryan said goodbye and hung up the phone.
He went from Schick to dick in a manner of five minutes.
Chapter Fifteen
I sent Josiah a text. Get home. Now. Our gym was close and I knew I would be home in minutes. I pulled up to my house and Josiah wasn’t here yet. I parked my Mustang in the driveway and sat on our front steps. I waited to see Josiah. In about ten minutes, Josiah pulled up and parked his white truck next to my Mustang. He got out of his car slowly and walked over to me.
“So, what’s up?” Josiah asked, looking at me. I avoided eye contact. “Tommy, what’s going on?”
I took a deep breath. “You know, we got our matchups today. Aren’t you the least bit curious about who you’re fighting?”
“You know me, Tom. I genuinely don’t care. I fight my fight like an adrenaline maniac, no matter who it is. Look, if you’re pissed off that I took a day off from training—”
“Josiah, you have a tough opponent this time and you better start taking your training very seriously. Don’t be such a dumbass about your career.”
Josiah smiled. “Who did they give me? Don’t tell me that they gave me Marquez already.”
“No, your opponent is a little tougher than Marquez,” I said.
“Who am I fighting?”
I stood up and walked onto the lawn. I decided to do a little flair for the dramatic. I got into my MMA fighting stance and said, “Me!”
“You?! You’re kidding, right?” Josiah completely thought I was pulling his leg, but I wasn’t. The information I was giving him was very true and very serious.
“I wouldn’t have asked you to come straight home if it wasn’t true.”
“Can they do that?” Josiah asked. “I mean, everyone knows we’re practically brothers.” Josiah didn’t like the fight one bit. Neither did I. But what could I have done? We were at the mercy of the Commission.
“Josiah, they can do whatever they want. They are the Commission, man. They can make us fight a leopard in the ring if they want to.”
“I don’t understand. They told you this was only going to be a tune-up fight. They know I’ve knocked out everyone in the first two minutes of each of my fights. I’m anything but a tune-up.”
“It’s not your performance in the ring, Josiah. It’s who you are out of the ring.”
“What does that mean?”
Josiah needed a reality check and I was about to give it to him. “It means you don’t take being a fighter seriously, man. It means you get fat every time you’re done training. Don’t you think the trainers see that extra twenty pounds you’re carrying right now? They see you arrive late to do your training, and you’re always the first to leave. You’re looked at as being soft. Lazy!”
“That’s bullshit, and you know—”
“Josiah, they apologized to me that they couldn’t give me a better fighter.”
I should have left that last statement out. Josiah was a smart fighter. He would use the pain of my words to his advantage while training. I would too. But at the moment, my words sliced like a knife. I could see it in his eyes.
Josiah literally had his mouth open. “You’re serious?”
I nodded. Then I gave Josi
ah a large dose of reality. I told him I would be living with my grandma until our fight. It would just be too weird living together while we trained.
This was going to suck on all levels.
Chapter Sixteen
I went to my room and packed a lot of stuff. Three suitcases full of clothes and workout stuff. My grandma was a very kind woman who gave me my space and we watch Blue Bloods every now and again together.
I called her while I was in my bedroom and asked her if I could stay in my old room for three weeks while I trained. She was excited for me. She wanted to get her Scrabble on, like the old days. She was the one who taught me how to play and it was a game Josiah and I played from time to time.
“Hello, Grandma,” I said on my cell.
“Well, look who decided to call me—Tommy Jenkins. My grandson. But I am certainly glad to hear from you tonight.”
“I have a question for ya. How would you like a roommate for the next three to four weeks?”
“I would love that. I suppose the person in question is you. Are you fighting with the young guy you are living with?”
I laughed. “In more ways than one, Grandma.”
“Well, come over. I’ll wash the sheets on your bed. You know, I had the cable guy put cable on the TV in there just in case I had visitors who wanted to stay in the room. My first visitor is my dear grandson.”
“That sounds great.”
We said goodbye and I finished packing up my toiletries. I decided not to say goodbye to Josiah. I knew I would be seeing him in three weeks.
When I got to Verna’s, I set up camp in my old bedroom and wrote out my three-week schedule. My schedule included one new training session—counter boxing. I was going to have to improve my boxing skills to a whole new level going up against someone who was as punch-first committed as Josiah. If he landed any of those punches, just one could beat me. It was still the one kamikaze aspect of MMA. It was that way in boxing first. But a puncher, like Josiah, always can win against anyone. It would be my job to eliminate the punches he threw.