“Knock this shit off.” Leeza pointed a finger at me and her eyes went from flirty to ferocious. The Leeza I knew. “You act like you’re so good now. Don’t forget who you are, Zane. You’re the same loser you were a few months ago.”
“I don’t have to take this from you,” I said. “And you know what, I don’t have to let you take Sam. You probably didn’t even think about that did you?”
Leeza looked like she tasted something sour. “What are you talking about?”
“The custody agreement. You can’t just take her out of the state without me signing off.”
“Whatever,” Leeza said, and turned and headed across the porch. Then she turned back around. “You know what? I’ll just get a change in the agreement.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I said.
“Really? You were almost arrested less than two months ago. You’ve been fighting in a piece of shit bar. You took Sam to the press conference and got into a fight. Now you’re a UCC fighter. Yeah, I bet the courts would see it your way. Look, just get the money and we’ll go our separate ways. I kind of thought there was a little spark between us. I mean I can tell you want me again. I guess I was wrong.”
I had to eat the words I wanted to say. No need to go further into the hole with Leeza. “Just take care of Sam. Don’t get involved in anything that puts her in danger. I’ll get the money.”
She looked away sheepishly, and the anger evaporated. She crossed the creaky porch until she stood just a couple feet from me. “I’m sorry. I’m just stressed.” She raised her arms to hug me. “I think there’s a spark.”
Her arms were around me. I stood with mine at my side for a long moment. She nuzzled her face into my chest, and I felt her hips against my leg. Her hands slid down to the small of my back. I relented, and hugged her back.
“It’s just all real fucking hard, you know?” She looked up at me.
“I know,” I replied.
“Can’t we just be together again? Don’t you want to get me naked and have your way with me?” She batted her eyes.
Her pressing herself against me, and the thought of her naked, made me stir a bit down there. But I knew there was no way I could go through with it.
“Even if I said I wanted to, it can’t happen. We can’t be together again.”
“Yes, we can,” she pushed her hips against me and rubbed. “God, how I miss having sex with you. You were the best I’ve ever had.”
As she rubbed, I felt the stirring grow. I let out a long breath. “It can’t happen.”
Just then, I saw a car pull up on the street. It was Elizabeth.
“Oh, shit,” I said.
“What?” Leeza looked up at me with a wanting smile.
“It’s Elizabeth.”
“Who cares about her? This is me and you we’re talking about.” Her hand had drifted down to my ass.
“No, I mean she’s here.”
Leeza pulled away and turned around. She watched as Elizabeth sat in the car and stared at us.
“You’d better go,” I said.
“Why doesn’t she go?”
“Seriously, we can talk about this later.”
That seemed to placate her. “Fine, but we aren’t finished with this.” She looked me up and down and offered a flirty smile before strutting off to her car.
I waved goodbye to Sam, and turned my attention to Elizabeth. She still just sat there, staring.
Chapter 32
As soon as Leeza drove away, Elizabeth hopped out of the car. She wore a tight black top and skinny jeans that dove into tall black boots. She always looked stunning.
“What the hell was that?” She asked as she crossed the yard. “Were you about to make out with that bitch while your daughter was in the car?”
“No, of course not. It was nothing.”
“It didn’t look like nothing.”
I shrugged. “She’s just being the way she is. She was yelling at me ten seconds before that.”
“I bet,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t get it, Zane. Do you want to be with her?”
“No, that’s crazy. I want you.”
She didn’t look convinced. “Here,” she pulled an envelope from her back pocket. “Sam did this at school. I knew you’d want to see it. Just open it. I’ve got to go.”
“Wait! Please stay.”
“I can’t. I’ve got to think.” She spun around and left before I could protest.
I walked inside with my thoughts spinning. What the hell was I doing? Had I just damaged my relationship with Elizabeth? Probably so. After all, despite how things had been going, I was still a fuck up.
I walked inside and opened the envelope. It was a drawing of me with my arms raised and a belt in my hand. Below it, was Sam’s scribbly handwriting. I’m scard becuz my mom says we have to move to a new stat. I want to stay here. My daddy says that he will save me. He’s my tru hero.
I sat down on the couch with tears in the corner of my eyes. There was no way in hell I was going to let this mother fucker, Lorenzo, take my daughter anywhere. Before I knew what I was doing, my keys were in my hand and I was striding towards my Camaro.
Ten minutes later, I parked outside of Chuck’s Place. The parking lot was littered with potholes, and those potholes were filled with rain water. I walked up the crumbling ramp toward the front door right underneath the yellow sign with blue neon lettering that flashed Chuck’s Place, over and over.
The bar was dark and fairly small. A juke box to the right of the door, a pool table next to it, a dart board on the opposite side of the bar. There wasn’t but six or seven tables, and just two of them were occupied. Then there was the bar, and seated at it were two big guys I didn’t like so much.
Their backs were to me, Lawrence on the left, Lorenzo on the right. I sat down next to Lorenzo. “So what the fuck do you guys have planned in Texas?”
“What are you talking about?” I’d caught Lorenzo by surprise.
“I know you’ve got some shit going on down there that can get you in trouble.”
“Why the fuck do you care?” Lawrence butted in. “Not like you’re going to be there.”
“Yeah, but my daughter might be there.”
“You’re not very confident in yourself,” Lorenzo said.
“I’d be confident if I got on the card next weekend. If that happens you’ll have your money in a little over a week, and you can go get your ass thrown in jail in Texas all you want.”
“Whether you’re on the card or not, you’d better come up with the money, or you’re out of luck.” Lorenzo took a swig of his beer.
“The deal’s been done, and I’ve already helped you,” Lawrence this time. “Get your ass out of here before I get the urge to stomp your fucking face in.”
He was as big as a bear, kind of looked like one too. And he was a dangerous man. I leaned up over the bar and to my left so I could look around Lorenzo and fixed my eyes right on Lawrence’s black dots in the middle of his scarred fat face. Then I reached out and flicked Lorenzo’s beer bottle with my finger. It clattered onto the bar and started leaking beer.
“What the fuck man.” Lorenzo yelled.
I stood. “I’m leaving,” I glared at Lawrence. “Don’t want to get stomped.”
To my surprise, neither one of them did anything. I walked toward the door, and Lorenzo called out. “I get it, Zane. You’d just better do what you’re supposed to do, and I’ll do what I’m supposed to do.”
As I flung open the door, I wondered what the hell he meant by that.
Chapter 33
I’d tried to call Elizabeth a handful of times on Sunday night, and then went by the school during her lunch on Monday. She was in a meeting. Finally, she’d called on Monday night to tell me that she didn’t feel like talking and would call me soon. I felt like I’d been punched in my gut. She was the one I desperately needed. She’d floated in my life at just the right time, and now I was doing shit to push her out of it.
Now, it w
as late in the afternoon on Tuesday. I still hadn’t heard from her, and I had Mace shoved up against the fence in his gym. We were both dripping with sweat and exhausted. “One, two, one, two, grab, two! Tyson was yelling. I did as he said. I threw the jab, cross, jab, cross, and then I shot out the jab to Mace’s left forearm, gripped it and pulled it down in a smooth motion and shot the cross toward his chin.
“Good, good, good, it’s got to be smooth, no pause,” Tyson said. “Again, faster this time.”
This went on for at least ten more times.
“Okay, this time don’t grab, use the jab to open up the middle.”
I knew what Tyson meant, and shot the jab into the inside of Mace’s left wrist. It created an opening just big enough for the cross to shoot between his defenses and find its mark.
“Faster!” Tyson yelled, “Mix it up now, grab then push, grab then push.”
I did as he said even though my shoulders burned and sweat blurred my vision.
After a couple more minutes we were done. It was a fairly exhausting workout that focused on technique instead of athletic prowess. Jordan Powers was an ultimate athlete. I could hang with him in the athletic department, but I’d need to out-skill him to win.
We’d just finished working on takedowns from the clinch. Part of the plan was to pin him against the fence and dirty box and work for takedowns. If I could wear him out and frustrate him there, it would open up opportunities later in the fight.
Mace and I hit gloves, and he slapped his hand on top of my sweaty head. “Nice workout, Zane. Let’s see where your weight is.”
We headed to the scale. It read 193 pounds, just eight pounds away from the limit. “It’ll be an easy cut,” Mace said.
“Yep, benefits of fighting so often, no time to get fat,” I said.
Mace and Tyson were keeping up with the plan that I’d be fighting in four days. I really felt like I would be in the cage on Saturday at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. Intellectually I knew it wasn’t going to happen, but emotionally and physically I was there. I was in the last few days of my camp, and I was ready.
The front door opened. It was Leeza and Sam. Sam gave me a hug and then said, “Come on, Mace, I’m going to kick your butt.”
He laughed. “Bring it on little lady.”
They headed off toward the red mats, and Leeza stood in front of me with her arms folded in front of her while appraising my sculpted body. She was in tight pants and black boots, similar to what Elizabeth wore when she saw Leeza and me hugging. Leeza looked as good as always.
“You’re looking in shape, Zane,” she said.
“Thanks,” I offered.
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Listen, sorry if I was so hard on you the other day. Sometimes you just rub me the wrong way. It ended the right way though, didn’t it?”
I left the last part alone. “It’s all good,” I said. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Lorenzo and Lawrence went to Oklahoma City to do who the hell knows what yesterday, probably gamble. They’re still there. I was bored and Sam wanted to see you, so here we are.”
The mention of Oklahoma City made me think of Jordan Powers and Jake Sherwood. I’d gone on Cage Talk with Acosta yesterday. He had mentioned that both fighters had just arrived in OKC. He’d asked, “How bad do you wish it was you in Oklahoma City instead of Jake Sherwood?”
“You have no idea,” I’d replied. Because he truly didn’t and couldn’t have known how badly I wanted and needed to be in Sherwood’s place.
Instead, I was standing in front of Leeza who could make me want to get back with her at one moment and then make me want to run from her the next. “That’s cool. I’m training hard just in case something crazy happens and I get a call to fill in this weekend.”
“Chances of that happening are almost nothing, though,” Leeza said. “You aren’t going to come up with the money, are you?”
I shrugged.
“It’s okay. You know, if we give it another go this whole deal will be done. Fuck Lorenzo. He’s good and all, but you know I’m still crazy about you.” Her hand found my arm.
I started to reply, but the front door opened again. I was surprised to see Morris’ mammoth body lumbering into the gym. He’d only showed up here maybe two other times in all the years I knew him. He was smiling and holding his iPhone up high. “Mace, Tyson, come here. All of you guys are going to want to see this.”
Everybody gathered around as Morris did his best to keep us all in suspense. Sam had come up beside me and was leaning on my left leg. Mace and Tyson stood on either side of Morris. “Come on Morris, what do you got?” I asked.
He spread his thumb and pointer finger out on the screen of his iPhone so the text got bigger, then he turned the phone and held it up for all of us to see. The message was from Oliver Reed, and I couldn’t believe the words I was reading:
Morris, Sherwood is sick as hell, coming out both ends. Food poisoning or flu, not sure. We’re giving him until tomorrow evening. Will Zane be ready if needed?
My legs felt a little weak. Maybe I was getting the flu as well, because I felt like I was about to throw up. “Morris, is this for real man? Not some twisted joke, right?”
“Of course!” Morris said. “I mean of course it’s not a joke. It’s going to be you this weekend. I can feel it.”
The news sunk in, and everybody went crazy. I scooped up Sam and ran around the gym with her high in the air. She kept giggling, and then said, “What’s going on, Daddy?”
I stopped, realizing she didn’t have time to read the text. “What’s going on is there is a chance your dad will be fighting for the UCC belt this weekend!”
“Awesome,” she said. “You’re going to kick some butt, aren’t you?”
“Heck yes, sugar!” I almost added that it would also mean she’d be staying with me soon, but didn’t want to jinx it.
Moments later, Leeza and Sam left, but not after Leeza begged for me to let her come over and celebrate. Thinking about Elizabeth was the only thing that made me decline.
Mace, Tyson, and I were re-energized to go over more video and prepare even harder. It looked like I might be fighting at UCC 145 after all.
Chapter 34
Elizabeth looked up at me. “You’re sure there is nothing between you two?”
It wasn’t really accusatory, just a question, as if she was really trying to figure out exactly where everything stood. She’d called late on Tuesday night, after I texted her the news of the fight. She was ecstatic and told me she wasn’t mad at me, and she supported me one hundred percent. I so needed to hear that.
We’d met briefly on Wednesday after school. She said she didn’t want to keep me long because she knew I needed to focus.
She’d showed up now, just before school on Thursday morning, looking way too hot to be a second grade teacher.
“No, there’s nothing between me and Leeza. I’m crazy about you. I’m sorry if I haven’t shown it lately.”
“It’s okay. There’s so much going on for you right now. Listen, this is your time. I’ll be right by your side whenever you need me. Go kick Jordan Powers’ ass and get Sam.”
Her words pushed a surge of adrenaline through my body that settled in my chest. I looked down at her. “I will.”
She leaned in and hugged me hard, and then brought her mouth to mine. She kissed me deeply. “I believe in you.”
“You have no idea how much that means to me.”
She smiled, and kissed me again. “I’ve got to get to school, but I’m taking tomorrow off. I’ll be in Oklahoma City late tonight.”
We hugged once again. “Thanks, I wouldn’t be here without you.”
I watched her go, and then glanced back into my little house. The couch was against the wall, a Fighters Only magazine rested on one of its cushions. The TV was against the other wall. It was off. So many nights I’d stared at it while I lost my mind on booze and pills. Never again. The clock
above the TV was hard to read from my angle, but I could make out the time, 7:17 AM.
I pulled the front door shut and locked it. Then I pushed the screen door all the way into its place. It scraped on the wooden porch. I turned and walked away from it. Emotions flooded my chest and head as I shuffled through the still uncut grass toward my Camaro. It was loaded with a few bags, and I had my backpack slung over my right shoulder.
I climbed in the car and backed out of the driveway. When I returned, things might be so much different and so much better.
I’d gotten the call from Morris last night at just after ten. Jake Sherwood seemed to be feeling better and still wanted to fight, but Nick Lewis had made the call and pulled him. I was in.
I spent the next hour on the Underground forum because news of my replacement came just minutes after I hung up the phone with Morris. Then I spent about thirty minutes packing and fell into bed a little after midnight. It took me a good hour to go to sleep.
So here it was, early on Thursday morning, and I was heading down to Oklahoma City to fight for the UCC belt. I felt like I was in one of those dreams where everything is slightly distorted. You know it’s a dream because weird shit keeps happening.
The gas station down the street was yellow and grimy. Its two gas tanks looked beat to hell. I pulled in and filled up. Then I grabbed a six pack of giant water bottles and a protein bar and was pulling out of the lazy town of Erickson by 7:32. I was a little ahead of time because I needed to be at the UCC’s hotel, the Residence Inn-Bricktown, by ten to meet with a doctor and get a full check-up. Luckily, my last MRI, the one from a couple months ago that gave me the go ahead to begin this quest, was just within the timeframe required by the commission. Even though I’d fought three times since then, I wouldn’t need another. I’d also had my blood work done recently enough that it was an unnecessary formality as far as the commission was concerned.
I drove down North Grand, the gym was just a couple blocks away. I guessed that Mace and Tyson were finishing getting things together. They were both scheduled to arrive at four in the afternoon for the open workout.
The Comeback: An MMA Romance Novel (Book Two) Page 8