by Jones, P. A.
“Hell with them.” I made a ball of the paper and threw it in the trash. “I can’t take this crap. I need to get back in the MMA, Coach. You know how precious it was for me two years ago. And do you want to know why I never called you in last two years?” I exhaled.“Listen, I was afraid I would do something you would regret if I contacted you again or get back in MMA. But look at me. I’m healed and kicking ass to get back in the MMA.” It was frustrating, I wanted to punch someone and throw things.
“There is a way, Tristan. If you are that desperate, you can participate in a league. But it’s more dangerous than the professional league.”
I remembered the moment when Chase was holding his gun on my forehead. I didn’t fear the bullet because I’d nothing to lose. I was in the same situation again, after losing Nikki... “I’ve nothing to lose coach. Tell me the way. How can I join this league?”
“It’s an underground MMA league. I know one coach there and he can train you.”
“What? Underground MMA league?” I remembered Nikki’s dad was into that. “Jordan family is in it, aren’t they?”
“They are one of the small players of the whole picture here.”
“How do you know all this?” He was an official; he wasn’t supposed to know all this.
“Well, what should I say? It’s my job to keep tabs on all the unofficial things.” He took out a paper and wrote a number on it. “If you want to go ahead, call this number. Coach Hardy. He can get you in it.” He stood up and patted my shoulder. “It was nice seeing you, son. Like your parent, I would suggest not to go on that road, but I know you wouldn’t listen and end up somewhere else. So this is the best way to keep tabs on you.” He hugged me.
“Thanks, Coach.” I hugged him back.
Back to present.
I opened my wallet and took out that paper. Coach had written something else on that paper along with the number.
‘Call me when you get out of this dirt.’
He was right. The underground league was nothing but dirt, money and politics. But the thrill I got in every match was the only thing that kept me alive. The thrill kicked my butt every time I was in the ring. I couldn’t let that go, not yet.
I wiped my sweat with a towel lying nearby. It was time to get back in action. I’d lined up three matches in NYC, but before that I had to get all the info on the business Nikki was in. I had to make sure she was protected, though she was with that jerk. You deserve better than this, Nikki, and I’ll make sure you get what you deserve, even if I have to die for it.
The paper my old coach gave me flew in the air and vanished somewhere; maybe there was no going back again.
Chapter 5
Tristan
Trisha entered my room with some documents in her hand. “Did you get the information?” She was a very efficient girl, and I knew she wouldn’t come empty-handed. I’d been waiting for her for last two hours.
“Hmm?” She was wearing glasses for the first time.
“I said where were you? I’ve been trying to reach you for the last two hours.”
“But I left you a message,” she said innocently, trying to look at me from her dark blue frames.
“Why are you wearing the glasses?”
“I had an appointment with the optometrist.”
“For what?” She was confusing me. She didn’t answer a single thing I asked for.
“Have you gone nuts, dude? Why would anyone go to see an optometrist?”
“I guess eye issues.”
“And why would anyone wear these freakin’ glasses?” She looked crazy when she scowled at me through her specs.
“You look…weird.”
“And that you got after all these questions?” She jumped her shoulders in air.” I got minus power two glasses.”
“Again, why did you go to the optometrist?” Heck, everything was confusing.
“You are nuts, really nuts.” She sat next to me and dropped the pile of papers on the small table. “Here is the balance sheet for Jordan's.”
I was amazed to look at the huge stack of documents she’d gotten. “All this? How did you do it?”
“It’s there on the internet. Someone leaked it last month and as per the docs, your sweetheart ain’t doing good. She is neck deep in bad credit. I don’t know much about accounts, but I know one thing: only God can save her from this shit.”
That was a worrying situation. If she failed, then she would lose Stephen and that idea didn’t sound good in any way. “How bad is it?”
“Tristan, don’t bail out now. Look at this,” She gave me a page having some figures.”They have eleven percent of total company's bad credit and they were just two percent of the total business."
It rang some bad bells in my mind. “Can we cover this loss with our money?”
“Are you crazy or what?” Her pupils widened; she looked at me like I was from mars.
“No...you are not getting me here.” I shot my eyes to the paper, and my shoulders tensed. “I mean, if we play with them, will it cover their losses?”
“No, not at all. But if they become your contract sponsor and cover you for a winning championship, then yes.” She collected the papers in one neat bundle. Her neatness and disciplined work was the backbone of my success.
“That’s the plan, then.” That bought me some hope; I could do that for her. She deserved more than that, at least. For Stephen’s safety it was nothing.
“You have a contract, Tristan. And if you break it, you owe more than a million dollars to the current company.”
Now that was a show-stopper, but I knew one guy who could help me with this. “Did you try Peterson? He is a clever guy and he can find a way out of this.”
“Already did, but he is out of town. He will be back in couple of days,” she said, holding a pen in her mouth and looking at the papers from the gap between her glasses and brows. She looked cute like that.
***
“Sir.” A waiter was calling me while I was busy doing some in-suite practice. It was my off day from regular practice, but to keep myself busy I’d brought a home gym in the suite and started training on those off days.
Trisha knew that, so she never came to disturb me during these periods.
“What?” I didn’t bother to stop pulling the weighted rope above my shoulder.
“Someone named Gerome is waiting for you.”
“Gerome?” I couldn’t recognize that name for a second, but then the memories flashed in front of my eyes like a moving picture. Nikki’s husband. “Tell him to wait for a minute.”
I stopped my exercise and turned off the loud jazz I was playing. When I trained in the suite, I always listened to something loud. It pumped my energy to higher levels.
“Shower time.” I turned on the music in the bathroom and let the water run over my hot body. I loved the way water played with my body after exercise. I always felt Nikki’s presence when I took a shower after a workout. Water ran over every line of my muscles like Nikki was moving her tongue through them.
A chill ran through my spine as I thought about Gerome sitting outside. He was waiting for me, and I was daydreaming about his wife. Really can’t help these feelings.
I grabbed the towel and dried myself while thinking about those red, lush lips of Nikki Jordan. I want to crush your lips in my teeth, Nikki. I hadn’t seen her in the last six months, but the sexual attraction for her remained same. Heck, it had increased tenfold.
***
He was sitting on the couch reading a newspaper. The cologne he used was dark and intense. I could smell it from feet away. I didn’t like the scent of it.
“Anything interesting in the news today?” I asked as I entered the library.
“Oh, hi.” He dropped the newspaper and stood up to shake hands with me.
Some distant corner of my heart was pleased to see him respecting me. That corner was jealous of him for being her husband.
“Unplanned visit? Or did you already book an appointment wi
th my manager?”
“Unplanned. I was hoping to meet you and ask if you’ve thought on the proposal. I hope you have at least given a thought, for Nikki and her business.”
“Why do you think I would do that? I’m no longer friends with your wife.” My heart shattered in pieces while I said those words. My heart still couldn’t believe that she could be with someone else. I wanted to be everything for her, but she was far away from me. I didn’t even know if she even thought about me once in a day.
His face turned dark, as I if I’d said something bad. “Well, you know how much I love her and how beautiful she can be.” He looked away and wiped his cheeks clean with a white handkerchief. “Did you think about the offer?”
“I did, but my lawyers haven’t given an opinion yet. I hope you understand there are many implications if I break my current contract. And for starters, you don’t seem to have so much money to offer as well.”
“Would you at least do this for Nikki?” he asked.
I glanced at him. I’d expected to see some compassion, but I could only see the greed.
“I don’t know, man. What if the contract bites me in the ass?” I was ready to leave my contract for Nikki, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. “But if I do it, it will be only for her.” I sighed. That was the actual truth.
“Do you still have feelings for her, Tristan?” He looked in my eyes.
I tried to search the meaning of his question in his dark green eyes, but I only found hostility; he was hiding something.
“Why do you want to know? Does it make any difference to you?” I looked deep in his eyes, but the truth wasn’t present there. His green eyes were filled with different emotions.
What is that you are hiding from me, Gerome?
“No, nothing like that. Nothing that you can do here. I thought...”
“I’m not trying to get your wife under my sheets, dude. You should clear your thoughts before thinking that way. I don’t know what she told you about me, but I don’t have any interest in her anymore.” I was lying, but I would have killed myself instead of ruining her relationship with Gerome.
“Don’t pretend like you haven’t slept with her. But remember one thing. The closer you go to her, the more she will suffer mentally and…” He cut his sentence and stared at me like a cunning wolf.
My temper went off the charts; he’d just threatened me over Nikki. I pushed him back against the wall, and a punch hit beside his ears hard. The vibrations went back in my punching hand.
The skin around his ears vibrated by the force of air I exerted.
“Never say anything about her. Next time, it will be your face that gets the beating.” Blood red rage clouded my eyes.
“I’m sorry, Tristan. I didn’t mean to threaten you. I was just a little anxious.” He took hold my hand and moved away his face. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to provoke you. You can understand. I came back after almost two years and ...”
His tone changed exponentially. The threatening layer was gone and he was doing a puppy impression the next moment. A second ago, he was showing me attitude and now he was begging me.
The angst I held for him wasn’t gone yet. I grabbed his collar and squeezed it in my fist. “Listen, Gerome, I don’t care if you are the real husband or real father. If you ever touch her with bad intentions, that would be your last day on this earth.” My body was vibrating. I was an inch away from smashing him on the ground. “I ain’t an angel anymore and I can crush you like an insect if I want.”
“Tristan, what are you doing?” Trisha shouted from the main door.
I released the jerk, but before that I looked in his eyes. I warned him silently not to touch Nikki.
Trisha was holding her hand on her mouth; she was afraid.
“Hi.” I tried to smile at her, but it didn’t work so I went back to my room and banged the door closed. I could have killed him if I’d stayed one second longer.
Chapter 6
Nikki
I sighed, and leaned back on the chair to relax.
She was alone.“Hi.” The petite blonde shook my hand and sat in front of me. She was none other than Trisha. She was wearing a formal business suit and high heels, and she looked mature. Maybe the closeness of Tristan had taught her some lessons.
She’d called a meeting to discuss the contract. I was afraid that Tristan would be there, but Gerome told me that he wasn’t coming. My biggest fear was to face Tristan after so many months. He had changed a lot and I doubted how well things would go between us. I bet that wouldn’t be either good or entertaining. Hence, I was reluctant to go at first, but as the owner I needed to be there. But he wasn’t there and I could relax and enjoy the coffee while listening to the business talks those folks were doing.
“Hello, Nikki, and hello Gerome.” Trisha shook his hand. She was holding a bunch of papers. They must be contract papers. “And sorry, Mr. Scott couldn’t come and visit with you folks. He is busy in a fight right now.”
My stomach started hurting suddenly. I sweated in the middle of winter. Tristan was in a fight, an underground league fight where anything could happen. I’d seen these fights. People got really injured in those, worse injuries than in the official MMA league. I heard people killed each other sometimes, and sometimes they get injured so badly that they didn’t wake up again. A sudden cold gasped my chest. I had always been afraid that I would have to see him get hurt someday, but it was inevitable. I was here to make him play even more deadly and dirty for my company. Am I so evil? Why am I doing this with him? But do I have a choice here? My son Stephen was on the line here; for him, I would do anything.
“So finally we are here to discuss the business,” Gerome said with enthusiasm.
“Yes. Here are the contract papers as requested by Mr. Scott. He signed them already. I would suggest that you go through them closely and then sign them here.” She called him Mr. Scott; maybe she was just playing safe. But I knew what she meant to him. What’s so special in you, Trisha? Your cute curls up there, or it’s your hourglass figure? No, it couldn’t be her figure. I had better features than her, maintained even after a pregnancy. She was cute, but she wasn’t sexy-looking.
“Nikki.” Gerome shook my shoulder.
I quickly moved my hand and hit Trisha accidentally.“Yes.”
“Ouch…” Trisha cried in pain.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I hadn’t meant to hurt her. It was foolish of Gerome to startle me from my daydreaming.
“Nikki, what are you thinking? I’ve called you three times already.” Gerome’s voice rose a bit.
I didn’t like the way he was talking to me. I decided to warn him once we got home.
“Sorry, I was thinking about the contract. So, what money we are looking at?”
“Surprisingly, no money at all,” Gerome said, smiling.
My eyes darted to the paper. “I don’t get it. Is he working for free?” The words float from my mouth; it was really surprising.
“Technically not, but theoretically, yes,” Trisha said. “You still have to donate some money to charity as his fees. But he will work for free,” she said while her eyes fixed on the papers.
“Still Alien.” I said, my brows jumping up.
“Well, technically he can’t play for you as his contract doesn’t allow it. But we sat with our lawyer yesterday and there was a clause that he could play for charity with any team.”
“And why wouldn’t he take that money instead of charity? We can show it as charity and pay him, actually.” The idea of him playing for free didn’t suit me. I didn’t want any of his favor after what he did to me.
“He said it’s a birthday gift for Stephen. He also said you can’t decline it.” She responded confidently; her hands moved to her chest. She was prepared for every question.
“Fair enough.” Gerome spoke. “We are happy with the contract. We will sign it and send it back to you tomorrow.” He was literally jumping in happiness.
“But, it will be
one series only. I hope this will solve at least some of your problems,” she said innocently.
Did she really mean it? Or showing her attitude? Why hadn’t he come? My mind was full of questions, but none was answerable.
“Thanks a lot, ma’am.” Gerome shook her hand again and again.
I frowned at him and pulled him away from her. “Thanks, Ms….”
“Call me Trisha.” She smiled and shook hands with me.
***
“Are you ready, sweetheart?” Gerome entered my room while I was putting on my necklace. “Let me help you.” He came forward, adjusting the lock of the necklace. His hands touched my neck in the process.
I shivered. I wasn’t get used to his touch before now. “Thanks.” I said, looking at him from the mirror. He was wearing a green suit, complementing his green eyeshade. “You are looking nice today.” I admired him. His body was perfect from the outside, his suit and trousers fit his well-maintained body. I wondered when he got time to exercise. I always saw him drinking or working on business.
“And you are looking gorgeous.” He brushed his lips on my cheek and quickly walked away. A kiss from him after almost four months. The last time he’d tried that, it didn’t go well. He ended up with a kick in his groin. I must give credit to Tristan, who taught me basic self-defense skills.
I giggled. “Still afraid of the kick!” I winked.
“No.” His face turned red. “Nothing like that. I thought you didn't like it.”
“Anyway, we still have time. I don’t want to go to this stupid function. And why are we having it, anyway?” Trisha had arranged a signing event for Tristan. Her motto was to lift my company value through this. At least, that’s what Gerome told me.
“A thousand times, yes. Shall I write it on my head as a tattoo?”
“No, you would look foolish.” I smiled, but my mind was afraid, like I was thrown back into the dark ages. I was dwelling in Tristan’s thoughts. Six months since I’d shared a common space with Tristan. I knew how he looked, I knew he was in the same city working for my company. But standing next to him, shaking hands with him, would be too much for my small heart. My body was already resonating from inside. He had an intense effect on me. What would it be like to stand next to him and look into those endless eyes? I didn’t have the answer, but my mind was all anxious at that moment.