No Safeword: Matte - Happily Ever After (Safewords)

by Candace Blevins

  Ethan shook his head. “No. The rules for our closed-door spars are she can hit and kick full strength as long as she doesn’t strike a joint the wrong way. I can grab her, grapple with her, sweep her legs, take her down, and throw her, but I don’t strike, punch, or kick.”

  “From the little I saw, I think I’d like to talk to her about becoming a more active part of your training.”

  “Yeah, she’s picked up a few tricks, listening to you over the past weeks.” He shook his head and admitted, “She damn near kicked my ass, and I’ve asked her to fight me full-out in front of you, so you can coach me out of some of the holds she got me into.”

  When they circled back by the house forty minutes later and Sam joined them, Jerrod maneuvered until he was riding beside Sam.

  “Tell me about your husband’s black eye?”

  * * * *

  Sam glanced at Ethan, who shook his head and said, “I’ve already admitted you came close to kicking my ass. He wants to see us spar, later.”

  Looking back to Jerrod, Sam acknowledged, “He was being too careful of my shoulder and I slipped out of a few holds because of it. I have learned more from listening and watching you than I realized, and the wing-chun has also given me a huge advantage against him, but it wasn’t a fair fight. If the odds weren’t stacked in my favor he’d wipe the floor with me.”

  “Maybe so, but you got close enough to give him a black eye, and I watched you put him on the ground.”

  “I hadn’t realized how much of an advantage the wing-chun would give me until I started sparring with him again.”

  “Wing-chun won’t help in the cage with someone in your weight class. If you’re looking at eventually letting us put you in a fight, I’d recommend jiu-jitsu or muay-thai if you want to take on a new discipline.”

  “I already hold a black belt in jiu-jitsu, and I’ve had extensive training in silat, which kicks muay-thai’s ass.” She was quiet as they rounded a corner, and then continued. “When I started the wing-chun I was still in rough shape and needed something I’d never learned before. It served its purpose and now that I’m engrossed I’d like to keep at it, but I’m not in a formal black belt program so I have no timetable or specific goals.”

  * * * *

  It was the next evening before Jerrod managed to get them to spar for him, and when the session was over Sam fell to the mat and declared, “I’m too tired to make it to bed. Just turn the light out and I’ll sleep here.”

  Ethan fell on the mat beside her. “If you’re hoping I’ll carry your ass upstairs you’re out of luck. Damn, but that was an incredible session.”

  “Why, because Jerrod showed you how to counter my moves?”

  “Hey!” Jerrod exclaimed. “I showed you how to counter his, too.” He walked into the hallway and turned back to them. “I’m going upstairs to make three huge salads. Get your asses up the steps in the next five minutes.” As he climbed the steps Sam heard him mutter, “Who’d have thought I’d be using someone’s wife to help train them for a heavyweight bout. No one’s gonna believe this one.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Ethan flew to Atlantic City a week before the fights, and Sam met him there three days later.

  Jerrod had told her they’d have someone pick her up at the airport, but she was shocked when Dave found her as she collected her luggage. She soon learned his plane had arrived shortly before hers and he hadn’t made a special trip.

  Sam walked with him to the rental car counter in silence after her attempts at small talk fell short.

  He didn’t speak until they were driving out of the car lot. “Didn’t mean to be rude but I don’t deal well with airports. How was your flight?”

  “I got felt up twice, so I guess it was a good day. How about you?”

  He laughed. “No one felt me up, which makes it a very good day for me. Jerrod tells me he thinks we have a winner on our hands. Are you prepared for what comes next if Ethan makes it to one of the final rounds Saturday night?”

  “I’ll support Ethan however he needs me to, but I’d like to hear your take on what comes next.”

  “Lots of media attention, possibly some sponsor offers. As his manager I’ll handle a good bit of it and will only bring the things to him I feel he needs to take seriously.”

  “And future fights? How long will he have between them?”

  “Hard to say. If he makes it to the end of the night he’ll be qualified to fight in Vegas in three months. No guarantees I can arrange a fight, but he’ll be qualified so I can at least try. If he fights and wins in Vegas, and manages to pull off the crowd appeal, it’s likely I’ll be able to get him a pay-per-view slot in another couple of months.”

  “You know he wants the title, right?” she asked.

  “Jerrod wouldn’t be training him if he didn’t.” Dave glanced at her, and back to the road. “Jerrod also tells me we may want to look at putting you in a few fights, to see how you hold up.”

  “I get the feeling you don’t think much of women fighters.”

  “Not true. I’m interested in any fighter I can make money promoting.”

  Sam laughed. “I love your honesty.”

  “Nice to be loved for something.” Sam thought his smile might be genuine, but couldn’t tell for sure.

  “As far as what we need from you this week,” Dave said, “I want you to be seen coaching your husband as much as possible from now until fight day. Spar with him, yell at him to keep going, talk strategy to him while he’s sparring with the people Jerrod brings in for him to work out with. Get in front of the cameras at every opportunity. We need him to be a media sensation if we want a title fight this year.”

  “No problem, I can do that.”

  “Good. You’ll find a suitcase of clothes in your room. We’d like you to wear them in the training area. Tell the concierge your name and he’ll have a room key for you. You and Ethan are in a suite with a hot tub.”

  “If I like your clothes I’ll wear them. If not, I’ll wear what I brought.”

  “Wearing what we provide will get more media attention.”

  “And being myself will serve me better in the long run.”

  He gave a slight shake of his head. “I’ll see what you show up in the first day before we continue this conversation.”

  Dave pulled into the valet parking line and Sam got out and retrieved her suitcases while he dealt with the attendants. Someone helped her load her bags onto a trolley and walked her inside, where she told the concierge her name and he walked to a podium, unlocked a drawer, and retrieved a room key with a sticky note.

  “Here you go, Miss Levi. I hope you enjoy your stay with us.” He handed another note to the bellhop and herded Sam towards the elevators.

  The bellhop was settling her bags on the stands when she arrived in her room, and she tipped him and locked the door behind him. Ethan’s things were here, and she lifted a shirt, held it to her nose, and inhaled.

  God, she missed him so much.

  The clothes Dave provided were what she’d expected — mostly spandex items she was sure would reveal more skin than she was comfortable showing.

  She retrieved bike shorts and a sports bra from her suitcase and matched them with a t-shirt. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, rejoicing she could do this with only the slightest twinge of discomfort now, put her room card in the sports bra, and headed towards the training facility.

  She had to ask directions a couple of times, but when she finally found Ethan her heart beat faster and she felt like she needed to sit down. The training facility was beyond state of the art, and he looked every bit the professional athlete as he worked in a cage on the far side of the room.

  She realized people were looking at her as she made her way across the wide expanse, but she only had eyes for Ethan. He saw her as she neared, and vaulted the cage before taking a dozen rapid steps to her — just short of running. He lifted her in a bear hug, swung her around, and gave her what was probably the tamest
kiss he could manage, but it was still steamy and Sam pulled back when she started hearing wolf-whistles.

  Ethan looked up and said in a loud voice, “I haven’t seen my wife in more days than I want to count. Deal with it.”

  He led her to his section of the facility and waved the man still on the mat away. “I’m going to spar with her a bit, if you don’t mind.”

  The man looked to Jerrod who motioned him away as well, saying, “Far be it from me to try to separate the love-birds.”

  “I need to work with someone who’s fast,” Ethan said to Sam. “Jerrod has some great people for me to work out with, but none have your speed.”

  Sam talked as she put protective gear on her hands, feet and head. “I thought you were just following Dave’s orders.”

  “Dave’s orders?”

  “Yeah, he wants me to make sure the media gets lots of video of us sparring.”

  “Funny. No one mentioned it to me.” He didn’t look amused. “Are you okay with it?”

  “If it gets you to a title fight faster, I’m all for it.” She started to tell him she wasn’t wearing the clothes Dave had provided, but decided maybe this wasn’t the right time.

  “This is my thing, not yours,” he said. “If you aren’t comfortable in front of the cameras I won’t put you there.”

  “We’ve already talked about this. I’m here to support you however I can. If you don’t want me in front of the cameras with you, that’s different, but if I can help by drawing more attention to you? We should do it.”

  Ethan looked over her gear and backed up. “Ready when you are.”

  Sam plowed into him with several combinations, and flew back when he tried to grab her. He let his arms go loose, ready for her as he watched, but she still managed to dive in with some body shots, deflect another grab, spin behind him, deliver a simulated elbow to the ribs, and back off again.

  “That’s a new move,” he said.

  “Compliments of Luca. You aren’t the only one who’s been busy the past couple of days.”

  Ethan came at her and Sam went into a quick sprawl to knock him off center, and then pushed forward and up, using the momentum to lift him off the ground, spin him a little, and slam him onto his back.

  Jerrod stepped forward and leaned over Ethan to look down at him before looking up to Sam. “I know Dave wanted you to spar for the media, but I’m thinking maybe we don’t show his opponents how to beat him?”

  Ethan popped to his feet and smiled at Jerrod. “Won’t do them any good to try unless they’re as fast as Sam.”

  Jerrod waved his arms and stepped back, so Sam dropped into her fighting stance and motioned for Ethan to start.

  When Jerrod next interceded, Sam looked around to see the entire room watching. Her face flamed red and she left the cage and walked to the edge of Ethan’s training area.

  “You’re a hit.” She jumped at Dave’s voice, then turned to glare at him.

  “And you can’t pick out clothes for shit. Where’d you go? Whores R Us?”

  Dave smiled. “As it turns out, what you’re wearing is fine. I withdraw my request for you to wear the clothes I provided. If we ever make it to the point where I’m managing you for your own career, we’ll have to outline this sort of thing in the contract, though.”

  * * * *

  Sam’s phone rang while she was doing incline crunches with Ethan the next day. She stepped away and answered.

  “Kirsten! You wouldn’t believe how crazy it is here!”

  “Oh, I’ve seen the crazy. Do me a favor and go to YouTube and type in your name and Ethan’s name, then call me back.”

  Sam did as her friend said, and stood in shock as she watched edited clips of her spar with Ethan the day before. They’d condensed about twenty minutes down to four minutes, with her flipping him as the finale, several times in a row, both full speed and slow-motion.

  She called Kirsten back and said, “Okay. So, that happened over about twenty or thirty minutes, but edited that way it looks like he can’t hold a candle to me. Somehow, I don’t think that was Dave’s intention.”

  “I dunno. I mean, it’s had over three hundred thousand hits and it’s only been up since this morning. If he wins, it won’t matter. It’ll just make you look that much more bad-ass, right?”

  “I’m not going for bad-ass, thank-you-very-much.”

  “Well, you’re all over it so you may as well embrace it.”

  “Thanks for letting me know about it. I’m gonna show Jerrod and see what he thinks. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Jerrod watched the video with his face frozen, neither upset or happy, and Sam wasn’t sure what he thought of it. He returned her phone and said, “Dave’s good, and he knows what he’s doing. He handles the media and I handle the training. It’s not what I’d prefer, but we’re going to trust his expertise. How do you feel about it?”

  “A little mortified. I mean, I don’t want people to start saying he can’t even take on a girl, you know?”

  “Oh, I don’t think they’ll say that. You have obvious skill, and you aren’t just any girl.”

  Sam sighed. “Dave has us getting dressed up to go to a show tonight, and he’s apparently going to arrange for some photo ops while we’re decked out and on a date.”

  Jerrod put his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Like I said, we trust Dave to get us where we want. Fighting good can only get you so far — you have to get the media’s attention so the money people know you can bring in eyeballs. I’ve seen excellent fighters who were never offered the fights they needed to get into the top ten, much less the top four.”

  “And only the top four or five make it to the big shows, right?”

  “Exactly.”

  * * * *

  One of the coaches in a nearby ring, a tiny little shit, seemed to take great pleasure in annoying her. He felt the need to give random guidance on how to spar with her husband, and while it wasn’t terrible advice, he gave it with such a condescending attitude she wanted to wring his neck.

  However, she opted to ignore him, and pretended she couldn’t hear him.

  As she was giving Ethan strategy while he sparred with someone Jarrod had brought in, the little shit came to stand beside her and said, “Hey, Bruiser-Chick, you understand our sport well, for a woman.”

  “No, I understand the sport well, period. Gender doesn’t mean shit if you know how to use your brain.”

  He laughed and said, “We make fun of the men who bring their wives and girlfriends to the training area. You’ve made him a laughingstock by not only being here, but kicking his ass.”

  Sam laughed. “Not a single person has laughed at him to his face, and I doubt they will. Now, go back to your own area.” She mentally added, you little prick, but didn’t say it out loud.

  She never got his name, and didn’t really care to. She tried her best to keep her back to him, but he always seemed to find a way to be in her line of sight as he worked with various fighters around the room. She couldn’t be sure, but thought he was purposefully trying to antagonize her, so she determined to not let him know how much he annoyed her.

  But if he called her bruiser one more time, she just might show him how much of a bruiser she could be.

  She saw him watching as she stepped into the cage with Ethan, and turned her back to him. Ethan looked to him, and back to her, but she just shook her head. She hadn’t talked to Ethan about him and didn’t intend to. Her husband had enough to worry about right now without her adding to it.

  The little prick stood outside the cage and talked to Jerrod as she and Ethan sparred, and the two of them yelled advice. Jerrod seemed to think it fine, so she didn’t say anything.

  * * * *

  Dave sent someone to their suite with a rolling luggage cart full of dresses. Sam had worried they’d be trashy, but was pleasantly surprised to see serious name brands.

  She wasn’t as pleasantly surprised with the price tags, though. She called Dave and asked, “Who’s p
aying for the dresses?”

  “I’ll cover the expenses now, but they’ll come out of his purse.”

  “I don’t need a four thousand dollar dress. I brought a few that’ll work just fine.”

  Dave sighed. “Let me talk to her.”

  When the woman got off the phone she told Sam she had some other dresses to show her, and pulled a few out with four to six hundred dollar price tags. Not name brands, but still classy and elegant.

  Sam ended up with a beautiful dress that showed her good curves and hid the ones she didn’t like. It also hid her scar, which was the deciding factor.

  As she and Ethan dressed, she told him about Dave’s offhand comment about possibly managing her.

  “Between Dave and Jerrod, it’s starting to sound like fighting in the women’s division may be a real possibility.”

  Ethan looked thoughtful as he said, “You have experience in all the disciplines needed. Your ground game would need some work because most of the bantams are strong on the mat, but I think you’d be fine with the rest. It’s a whole different ball-game than the organized tournaments for a particular fighting style, but you already know that. Are you interested?”

  Sam shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe, but I’m not sure I’m up for fight after fight. I certainly don’t want to do it all in one day, but I don’t want to have to fight once every couple of months for years before I get a shot at the title, either.”

  Ethan motioned her to turn around, and zipped her dress as he said. “I’m betting Dave will make hay of the media attention around you, too. He’s planning to use it to get me a title fight, how much do you want to bet he finds a way to fast track you, too?”

  * * * *

  Dave provided tickets for a risqué acrobatics show, and Sam was in awe at the artistry combined with athleticism and grace.

  She noted people taking pictures, but hadn’t realized anyone was taking zoomed pictures of Ethan and her until Dave emailed them some links the next morning.