"I'm on the pill. I have been for years, but I have to ask you, any diseases I need to worry about?"
"No. I get tested regularly. What about you?"
"Same. I'm sure it will be just fine."
I got up to go to the bathroom and clean up the mess we made. He came in behind me, grabbed the washcloth, ran it under warm water and them pressed it between my legs cleaning me off. He stayed behind me. I could see him in the mirror and he could see me. We never left our eye lock. He just moved forward and rested his chin on my shoulder.
"I'm glad that happened with you, Sadie. I don't mean I'm glad it happened. I mean, if it had to happen, I'm glad it was with you."
"Me too, Colt."
We finished cleaning up and then got dressed and went to find all of our friends. It was only a couple hours before we would be leaving for the fight tonight. I was ready to get a drink and for reality to set in. He was not mine.
When Colt and I made our way down to the lobby, we found the whole gang. I gave everyone a hug and it was then I noticed Mike wasn't there.
"Where is Mike?"
Dave answered before anybody else."He went to meet up with his brother and parents."
"Are they staying here in the hotel?"
"I think so.”
Jason walked over and clarified, “Actually, my grandparents live a couple of blocks away. My parents and Tony are staying there. Mike is with his trainers."
"Are you going to go over there or are you hanging with us today?"
"Heather and I had breakfast with all of them this morning. I'm meeting up with them later again, so I'm all yours if you want me. I'm intrigued now after your performance upstairs."
Before I could laugh or more or less even respond, Colt was right there.
"Not cool, dude."
"I'm just teasing her, okay. I meant no harm. Besides, Heather has her beat by a mile. I'm not giving up what I got for nothing."
"Good to hear."
"I'm right here boys. Colt, I think we need to find a place where we can get something to eat."
"Worked up an appetite, did you?" Jason just couldn't help himself. Before Colt got mad, I quickly said, “I walked right into that one didn't I?"
"Sure did, Sadie."
Colt grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Jason before I dug my hole deeper. We walked back over to the larger group and I asked if anyone was hungry. When Shawn said he was starving, Dave, Bryan and Geoff agreed that food sounded like a good idea. Jason and Heather weren't hungry but they came with us anyway. Being it was already eleven thirty, I was forced to skip breakfast food and eat lunch.
We all walked around downtown Chicago arguing about what sounded good. Trying to agree on one place with this many people was a pain in the ass. I was getting crabby because I was so hungry. All hope seemed lost until Jason found a sub shop that he said was great. He visits his grandparents often and eats there every time he is here. At this point, I could eat my arm off so a sub sounded great. After I scarfed my entire sandwich down, we decided to check out the Navy pier. Colt and all of the guys from out of town had never been. I have to say, it’s a must see if you ever get the chance to come to Chicago. After we all went there, everybody wanted to see something different, imagine that. I convinced Colt that we needed to go to the American Girl Doll store to grab something for Maddie. To say that he was a little overwhelmed when we walked in would be an understatement. Trying to make a decision on which girl to pick was probably the easiest part of the whole thing. Then there was the DVD and the accessories. We left three hundred and fifty dollars later, but I knew there was going to be one happy little girl at the other end of this excursion we were taking. Next, was the Lego store, I never had any idea there was a little boy that was hiding inside Colt or how excited he was to see all of the things made from Legos. It was actually kind of cute. By the time we were done sightseeing, we realized we needed to get back to the hotel to start getting ready for the fight that night. The cab driver was crazy and traffic was horrible. It took almost an hour to get back. Everyone else was at the hotel by the time we got there.
Heather and I were back to sharing a room while we got ready. I showered first because I knew it was inevitable I would be doing her hair as well as my own. I chose a pair of black skinny jeans, a bright purple, quarter length sleeve backless top and paired it with silver strappy four inch heels. Silver dangle bracelets and huge silver hoops. I was contemplating wearing my hair up when Colt peeked in the door and said he loved it down. I agreed to wear it that way for him but when I turned around to grab my hair brush he came up behind me and grabbed my ass. He leaned in so his mouth was right at my ear.
"Never in my life did I think the view from behind would be better than seeing your beautiful face. Today is the exception. Damn girl, you are going to get me in a fight tonight with this outfit. It doesn't help that you have an ass that I could bounce quarters off of. I think I will just walk behind you all night. That might save me a beat down or two."
"You're just being silly, Colt"
"Oh no, he's not, Sadie. Colt, my man, you’re screwed." Jason patted Colt on the back and then went to see how Heather was progressing.
After another hour of hair and makeup, Heather and I were ready to go. The guys had been ready a long time ago, so they started the party early in their room. When we walked in, it was a sight for sore eyes. Four of the most gorgeous men God graced our planet with were sprawled out around the room with beers in hand. I say four because Jason had left a while ago to meet up with his family. We got cat calls and were whistled at when we walked in. Both Heather and I spun around, only to egg them on. Bryan got up to grab us a beer and then we just had to sit back and wait until it was time to go.
"Is anybody else nervous?"
I turned to Heather and responded, "Absolutely!"
Dave looked over and said, “Mike will be fine. It won't be an easy win, by any means, but he can hold his own against Reynolds."
"I saw him training the other day and that dude is a machine. I'm just excited to watch this in person," said Shawn.
"Colt, didn't you wrestle around with Mike? How did he hold up against you?" Apparently now Geoff wanted to kiss Colt’s ass. Colt came back with," Mike has skills even I don't have. He is going to kill Reynolds." I was proud of Colt to not make this about him, but Geoff kept going. I wasn't sure if he was kissing his ass anymore or trying to start a fight.
"But didn't I hear you wrestled for team U.S.A back in the day. You’re supposed to be some big shot that E.I.U was lucky to get. How does he know more than you?"
What the fuck is this dude's problem? Does he just want to be Colt? He always does shit to get a rise out of him. It makes no sense. I looked over at Colt and he was squeezing his hands into fists. Dave tried to save the day, "Geoff, you do understand that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and wrestling have some similarities but aren’t one in the same. There are going to be things Mike does that Colt doesn't predict and vice versa."
"I just thought that Colt could take down anyone. It’s nice to hear the famous Colton Jennings has a flaw, or two, if you count Sadie."
Colt was across the room before I could blink. It was as if he swung while he was still in the air. "You stupid mother fucker. You ever, and I mean ever, talk about her that way again, I will fucking kill you." He was saying all of this while he continuously punched Geoff. Geoff was trying to grab Colt around the waist to take him out but he stood no chance. Dave and Bryan were trying to grab Colt to get him to stop while Shawn just stood back smiling. The two finally restrained Colt and got him to the other side of the room. Geoff’s face was starting to swell, but he was not done and it showed. Shawn spoke at that moment. "Now that's what you get for thinking to begin with. You might want to stop what you are thinking now and realize whatever you’re about to do, the consequences will include me. Sadie girl here is my business. You fuck with her again, and you will have me to deal with."
"Same goes for me." from Dave
<
br /> "And me." Came from Bryan
They both let go of Colt and walked over to Geoff. Dave looked him in the eye.
"I think you need to take a walk."
Heather and I just stood back not knowing if all hell was going to break loose again. Did I do something in a past life to this douche bag? Why are Colt and I his target? Geoff huffed and then walked out of the room throwing the door open trying to prove he was a bad ass or something. Didn't show that two minutes ago when Colt kicked the shit out of him. Colt walked over to me still shaking out his hands. When he was in front of me, he placed both of them on my shoulders. Looking at me he said, "You are further from a flaw than anything I can think of. Don't listen to a word that asshole said. Sadie, you are amazing." He leaned forward and gave me a peck on the lips.
"So now that that excitement is over, who is ready for some real fights to start? Besides, I want to go find Jason before he has to go back and be with Mike for the night." Heather had a point. We needed to get going. I looked over at the clock and saw that it was already six thirty. Chills just ran all over my body. I glanced back at all my friends in the room and said, “It’s time."
When we got out of the cab at the event Colt stopped all of us from going in. "Now when we get in there I want everyone to watch the girls. There will be every kind of prick that walks the earth trying to get at them. Don't respond to anything they say, just keep walking." I couldn't figure out why he was taking the daddy role and all. Well that was until we walked in. Holy shit! It was crazy. You had dudes that looked like peddlers, to women in fur coats. All walks of life were up in here. I was waiting to see if I could spot Geoff, seeing as he never came back up to the room. I guess he didn’t feel like apologizing. I held onto Colt and had Heather in my other hand. People were everywhere. It was a mad house. It felt like we walked five miles by the time we reached the entrance to the arena that led to where we had to go. Mike hooked us up with seats six rows back from the cage. I couldn’t believe my eyes as we walked down the steps. It felt like we were in the cage and we were still moving closer. We got to our row and I looked up. The place was massive to say the least. It was already an almost packed house. I followed Colt but when we finally came to the point where we could sit, Heather asked if she could have the inside seat so she could sit next to Jason’s parents. Mike put us next to his parents. Wow! I needed to thank him something fierce for doing this for us.
Heather introduced all of us to the family, grandparents included. And guess what? I finally met the infamous Tony. He was a mix of both Jason and Mike. Good looking would not cut it, and extremely nice also. Their whole family was. Geoff eventually walked in. Thank God Dave sat on the end so none of us were near him. He kept shooting dirty looks down Colt and my way. Tony noticed and asked loudly, "Is there a problem, asshole?" I wanted to laugh out loud. Apparently we weren’t the only ones that thought that when we looked at Geoff. Also that he was so much like his brothers.
"Nope, nothing with you anyway." Geoff just didn't know when to shut his mouth. How Dave found any redeeming quality in this dude was beyond me. I looked at Colt and grabbed his hand. He was staring straight ahead. Tony piped in again, "Considering this is my brother's girlfriend, Heather, and this is her best friend, who I've finally gotten the pleasure to meet, Sadie. This is Colt who helped Mike train. This is Dave and Bryan who I have known for a while. And then there is you, and I have no fucking idea who you are or where you came from. It seems to me, if you have a problem with any of them, you have a problem with me." I felt Colt stiffen up. I knew he didn’t like the idea that Tony was taking up his battle. Just when I could tell he had had enough, and was getting ready to react, Geoff got up and left. Good riddance!
Tony looked at Colt and said, "What's that mother fucker’s problem?"
I answered, "Me."
"This has nothing to do with you, Sadie." Colt was quick to respond.
"Really, because it all started that night at Dave's? He wanted to hook up with me. After that, I turned him down."
"Sadie, I promise it’s not about you, just leave it." He snapped at me. I decided I needed to go to the bathroom. Shawn said he would go with me, so I didn’t have to walk through that madness by myself. We had to climb back up all those freaking stairs before we got to the top and then went in search of a bathroom. It is not like I really even needed to go. I just needed a break from crabby pants. I turned to Shawn, "My name is not Geoff so why is he getting all mad at me?"
"Sadie, it really isn't about you. You have to promise me you won’t tell him I told you this."
"Of course I can promise you. Shawn, you’re one of my oldest friends. What are you talking about?"
"Okay so, did you ever hear anything about Shelley?"
I shook my head no even though the name rang a bell. I could not place where it came from.
"Well, Shelley was Geoff’s girlfriend."
Oh, now I remembered. She was hitting on Bryan at Dave's party.
"She and Geoff had been together a long time. When Geoff found out she cheated on him, he dumped her.”
"Still not seeing where I come in to all this?"
"Like we have been saying, this isn't about you. Colt fucked Shelley, Sadie. She cheated on Geoff with Colt. That's why he went after you. So he could get to Colt. That's why he keeps making asshole comments about you. Because it pisses Colt off. Do you see now?"
Holy mother fucking shit! That asshole. I hope to God he didn’t know she was with Geoff when he was with her. Now it all makes perfect sense.
"Wow. I get it now."
"Can you see now why everyone was only mad at him when he said something about you? Whatever is going on with them is between them."
"Yeah, I get it. I can't believe I have a small amount of pity for Geoff. But believe me, it’s still small. He's still an asshole."
"Yes, he is. He should have never brought you into this. The only thing that I can think of is, you’re Colt’s only weakness."
"How do you figure?"
"If only you could see what we see, Sadie girl."
After we used the bathrooms we made our way back down those awful stairs. If it’s possible, the place seemed more packed than before. We finally trudged through the crowd and got back to our seats. I didn’t think I was going to drink a drop if it meant I would have to make that trip again. I sat back down and this time Colt grabbed my hand. He picked it up and kissed the back of it. I wanted to scream at him for being so stupid. But am I really a person that should judge? Isn't that the very thing he taught me? Whatever mistakes we make in our past are our past. They make us who we are. Too bad for him, his are following him.
I continued to allow him to hold my hand. I was about to say something, when all of a sudden I heard a loud noise. Realizing it was the microphone, I looked to the cage and there was a man in the center holding it. He welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. A lot more was said but the last words stuck in my head, "Let’s get it on." Now you need to understand that this is not Mike’s fight. He's in the heavyweight division. There are several fights before the finale. Colt leaned over and said so I could hear him over the crowd, "Was that not so awesome seeing Joe Rogan live? This is fucking amazing!"
I have watched enough of these fights that I had to agree with him. This is pretty amazing. The first fight was super short. The guy tapped out after only the first minute of the first round. I bet his trainers are fired. The second fight was about to start when Geoff showed back up and sat down to watch. I really did feel differently about everything now. I wish he would leave me out of it, but I can see why he wouldn't like Colt. He paid for his ticket regardless. He had every right to sit in his seat and watch. Middle weight was always my favorite to watch. They were so fast in their movements. This fight went to decision. Most people used this time to go to the bathroom. I sat nervous in my chair. After another ten minutes or so we all heard, "Welcome to the main event. The fight you have all been waiting for.” I was so not ready for this!<
br />
The crowd went wild. Everyone was out of the chairs. People were stomping their feet to create added noise. My heart was pounding a mile a minute. Music started, Avenged Sevenfold’s song "Nightmare" came through the speakers. All attention went to the left side of the arena. With everyone still on their feet, it was hard to see, but a large entourage was making its way towards the Octagon. As men filtered out, all of a sudden you could see Jason, and I knew this must be Mike's side. He looked glorified, wearing all white, with patches covering his GI and a black belt hanging around his waist. He surely made the art of Brazilian Ju Jitsu proud. As he walked closer, he looked nothing but focused. The announcer introduced him by age, height, weight, reach and stat record. By this time he and his trainers had entered the Octagon. He shed his GI which left him in bright orange shorts covered with all of his sponsors. Then it started all over again for Reynolds’s side. When all formal introductions were made, the two men walked to the center of the cage. After all the rules were gone over, the dreaded words that were going to start the fight came out of the announcer’s mouth, "Let’s fight.”
At first it seemed both men were just dancing around each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Then like a light switch, all hell broke loose. Mike started swinging and Reynolds came right back, punch for punch. Mike left himself open for just one second allowing Reynolds to take advantage of it and had him on the ground. Mike was quick to get out of it and then he was back on his feet in no time. More punches were thrown. Kicks were going to the abdomen, chest and head. It seemed feet were going everywhere. When the first round ended, it was an even match. With five 5-minute rounds, it all seemed to be going in slow motion. Round two went to Mike. Round three and round four definitely went to Reynolds. It was the final round and both men were exhausted. Once again they were on their feet. Punches were going everywhere they could land one. At one point Mike got a little too close and gave up the advantage. Reynolds grabbed his head and pulled it down, slamming into his knee. When Mike came back up, blood was everywhere. You could tell he was disoriented. That's when everything started to go downhill. Reynolds grabbed him around the waist and ran with him, shoving him into the fence. In this position Mike continued to punch him in the back of the head but Reynolds had body blows going at Mike like a windmill. There wasn't much Mike could do as far as defense. He just tried as hard as he could to keep punching but he was getting so tired. Reynolds let up on Mike just enough for him to come off the fence, which was a necessity if he wanted to take him down to the ground, which he did. The crowd went nuts. Mike was on his back and it looked like it was all over. I was ready for it to be also. I couldn't take anymore. Mike was receiving blow after blow to the head. But somehow he managed to get his feet up around Reynolds’s neck. He squeezed so hard that Reynolds stopped punching, and within seconds he had Reynolds flipped over on his back and Mike was on top of him. Reynolds used his legs to wrap around Mike's center. He was trying to punch Mike in the head. It didn't seem like Mike was trying to block anything, but we all knew he was strategizing. Waiting, for his time, and then it happened. Mike had gotten a triangle choke hold on Reynolds. Everyone in the arena was going fucking crazy including me. He was going to do it. Holy shit, he was going to do it. But then he did something else. He let go long enough to get between Reynolds’s legs. He rocked back on his heels and just like that, Mike was on his feet with Reynolds’s legs still wrapped around his waist. He was standing up holding him and then he dropped him and all of Mike’s weight came down on top of him. Reynolds’s head bounced off the mat and then he was out. The ref ran over to verify Reynolds was unconscious. When his arm went up, everybody started jumping up and down, screaming and hollering. I jumped into Colt’s arms. It was unbelievable. Mike did it! No one could believe it. Mike just kicked the ass of an undefeated champion. He was the new heavy weight champion. Holy shit!
Finding Solace Page 13