“What happened?” His mom asked, close to tears. His father was grinning and so was I.
“Our son is a champion,” he said just before the announcer said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, your new middleweight Champion, Ian “The Axe” Axle.”
Everyone was on their feet now. The sounds of the crowd were deafening. The faces around us were contorted with excitement. Ian’s mom and dad were hugging and jumping up and down, and I couldn’t stop smiling. He won. He was a middleweight champion. I focused my attention back up front as he was presented with the coveted belt. He was bleeding from the cut over his eye, sweating buckets and smiling from ear to ear.
CHAPTER NINE
IAN
I stood there with my arm in the air and the heavy belt draped across my shoulder, trying to catch my breath and trying to believe this moment was really happening. I’d won. I’d spent the last three years eating right, taking care of my body, studying champion fighters and practicing until I nearly passed out. Part of me always knew that I could do this. The other part…the one in the recesses of my brain that only came out to play when it was least welcome…knew that it never would. Take that, asshole voice! I said.
After the ref congratulated me, the promoter came out and did the same. He whispered in my ear for me to wait for him in the locker room, he had “a few” guys he wanted to introduce me to. He put the microphone in my face and asked me how it felt to be the champion. My head was buzzing…I think I was overdosed on adrenaline. The only word I could think of was “Good.” It wasn’t brilliant, but hey, I’m a fighter not a scholar. I was a champion!
The doors to the octagon were opened and I was all at once flanked by the over-sized security guards. I went along with them like a good boy until we got right next to where my mom, dad and Alexa were sitting. I broke free and grabbed hold of the first one I could reach…my dad. He was startled at first, but suddenly smiled broadly and wrapped me up in a tight hug. Then he held me back to look at my face and said, “I’m so damned proud of you, son. You’ve come such a long way.” I felt myself choking up. My mom was staring at the cut over my eye.
“It’s okay, Mom. Just a flesh wound,” I told her.
She tried to smile, bless her heart. Then, she wrapped me in a hug too. I could see Alexa’s face over my mother’s shoulder and I was aching to touch her. My mother held me for what seemed like forever and before she finally released me she whispered, “I love you, Ian.”
“I love you too, Mom.” I looked up at Alexa then and she glanced nervously at my parents. With a grin I said, “By the way, Alexa and I are dating.” She smiled broadly then and jumped into my arms. I held her tightly until I felt Dean’s giant, calloused hand on my shoulder.
“We have to go, Buddy. Lots of people waiting to talk to you.”
“You guys will wait for me?” I asked them.
“Wild horses couldn’t drag us away,” Alexa said with a grin.
Dean ushered me into the back where there was a conference room filled with reporters waiting. I was a little overwhelmed with all of the cameras flashing and microphones in my face, but it was a good overwhelmed.
The reporters asked a lot of questions about my fighting career…where I started, where I hoped to go. They asked me how it felt to win the championship and who I thought I owed my success to. I answered the questions as well as I could, giving Dean all the props he deserved for all of the help he’d given me over the years. After about fifteen minutes, Dean told them that was it for now. A few of them asked about private interviews and who my agent was. I looked at Dean and he said, “Any of you that want a private interview wait for me outside the door and I’ll get you a number.”
After they all left I told him, “I don’t have an agent.”
“I know, kid. I’ll give the my number and finding one will be our first priority on Monday morning if you don’t have five of them knocking on your door before then…as I suspect you will.”
“Thanks Dean, for everything.”
“I just pointed you in the right direction. You did all the work. You did good, kid.”
He pointed me out a different door so I could make it to the locker room without going through the sea of reporters again. I showered and realized that I was so amped up from the adrenaline still that I was shaking all over. I felt like I’d just sucked down several energy drinks. After my shower the medic tended to my eye. He had to put in a few stitches and then he covered it with a bandage and said I was good to go. By the time I emerged back into the hallway, the reporters were gone and Dean was waiting for me. He handed me several pieces of paper with names and numbers on them.
“What are these for?”
“Agents, promoters, managers, sponsors…you name it kid. It’s all on for you now.”
“You too, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re still going to train me?”
“You have a lot more options now than a dried up old ex-con Buddy.”
I shrugged. “You kind of grew on me,” I told him. For a flash of a second I thought I saw tears in his eyes.
“Yeah, of course I’ll still be your trainer. You’re gonna be famous, kid. Are you ready for that.”
“I think I am,” I said with a smile.
“Alright then, keep your nose clean and I see you Monday morning.”
I left Dean there, looking like he was going to bust with happiness and went to find my family. That thought gave me another surge of energy. They were here, all of them. Even Emma was here. I could feel her, especially when I walked out that door and looked into Alexa’s eyes. Emma would always be here.
CHAPTER TEN
ALEXA
Ian came out of the back, freshly showered and with a bandage over his right eye. He was carrying his belt over his shoulder and grinning broadly. I was so happy for him, and so proud of him. His Mom and Dad looked happy too. It was the first time since Emma died that there didn’t seem to be something holding everyone back from enjoying themselves.
“Dinner?” Ian asked as he threw his arm around me and kissed the side of my face. It was kind of weird, but his parents didn’t seem surprised or upset in the least about us being together.
“You two go,” Ian’s dad told him. “We were so happy to be here son, and so proud of you.” His dad hugged him as we walked outside. “I think I’m going to take your beautiful mother on a date now if you don’t mind.”
His mother looked shocked and then she smiled, “Really?”
“How does Tony’s sound?”
“Amazing,” she said. She hugged Ian too and then me. Before she pulled away from me she said, “Thank you, Alexa. Thank you for taking care of him when I wasn’t able to.” I just nodded. I felt tears in my eyes and I was afraid I was going to start crying. Ian and I walked the to their car and then he looked at me and said, “Looks like it’s you and me.”
“Just how I like it,” I told him.
“What do you want to do?”
“Let’s go show off my boyfriend who just won the middleweight championship. After that, we’ll go back to your place and I give you your reward.”
He pulled me into him and said, “We could skip the showing off part.”
Laughing I said, “We could, but that wouldn’t be fair to the public. Besides, the anticipation will make your reward all that much better.”
I drove and we stopped first at a little restaurant where a lot of our friends hung out. I saw a lot of people that Emma and I went to school with there. I was worried when Ian and I first started dating about what people would think of us. Now, I could care less. I was so happy to be with him and so proud to be seen with him, I couldn’t imagine what anyone else thought being important at all. A few of the girls asked me point blank if we were dating. When I said yes, I saw nothing but envy in their eyes.
We sat down to eat and the waitress came over and said, “Ian, Sal says you can order whatever you want and it’s on the house.”
“Wow, tel
l him thanks,” Ian said.
When she walked away I told him, “You better get used to that. You’re the closest thing this town has ever seen to a celebrity.”
He looked almost embarrassed and said, “It’ll wear off.”
“Until your next title,” I told him. He reached across and squeezed my hand.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
“Everything. I think if you hadn’t been here after Emma died, I may have just shut down right alongside my parents. I honestly don’t think I could have done any of this without you.”
“You would have been fine,” I told him. “But for the record, I’m really glad I was here too. Going back to school would have probably just caused me to stuff the grief and try to ignore it. Staying here made me have to deal with it. I will always miss Emma…but it’s easier to remember her here, and I never want to forget.” He squeezed my hand again and I could tell that he felt the same way.
Ian ordered a steak and baked potato. Fighting always made him hungry. I had the chicken parmesan. While we were eating he said, “So what about school? Have you thought about when you’ll be ready to go back?” I had. I’d thought about it a lot. This semester was almost over and a few weeks after that, the new one would begin. I knew I couldn’t put it off forever, but I couldn’t imagine leaving him.
“I should go back when the next semester starts,” I told him. “But I really don’t want to leave.”
“I don’t want you to leave either. But, I also don’t want you giving up an opportunity to do better for yourself like I did either.”
“You did okay for yourself,” I told him.
He shrugged and took another bite of steak. After he chewed and swallowed it he said, “I guess, but now that I accomplished my goal of taking the title I really need to think about at least maybe doing some online classes. I don’t want to be one of those fighters that gets hurt and has no way to support himself because he has no skills.”
“What would you go to school for?” I asked him. I didn’t want to think about him getting hurt. I suddenly wanted to change the subject.
“I’d like to get into sports medicine,” he said.
“Like the medic guy who patches you up?” I asked.
“Yeah, kind of. I’d like to get a degree if nutrition and minor in fitness…maybe I could be a personal trainer or a consultant or something.”
I thought that would be a really great choice for him and I told him so and said, “I have the fall catalog at home. I’ll give it to you and you can check out the program.”
“Thanks. You know I’ve heard they practice things like massage and touch therapy with live subjects. Would you be interested in volunteering for that position?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Does it pay well?”
“It hardly pays at all, but it does come with lots of benefits,” he said. I grinned.
“I’ll take the job,” I told him. He laughed. I wasn’t kidding.
After dinner, we went to the eighteen and older club again where we’d met up with his friends the night I’d found out about his steroid use. It was basically the same crowd and everyone was really friendly. For me, things were a lot different tonight. That first time we’d come here, I was still so devastated from losing Emma and things with Ian were so new and so tenuous. I’d almost been ready to grasp at any reason that we shouldn’t be together then. I still had the feeling we were doing something wrong, I think. I remember thinking his friends were a bunch of losers. I think that I was judging them way too harshly, with way too little to base it on.
Ian got dragged away by some guys who were fans and while he was gone, his friend Brock and I were alone at the table. He smiled at me and said, “Ian seems really happy.”
“He is. He’s so excited about winning the title. He deserved it, he worked so hard.”
“You’re right,” he said. “He does deserve it. But I was talking about on a personal level. I haven’t seen him this happy in…well, probably ever.”
“Really? Not even back in high school?”
He smiled again. “None of us were really “happy” in high school. Unless you’re part of the popular crowd in high school, and we weren’t, the whole experience kind of sucks.”
I laughed, “Yeah, you’re right.”
He rolled his eyes then and said, “I’m sure you wouldn’t know. You seem like the kind of girl that would have had people flocking around you…boys and girls alike.” I did have a lot of friends in high school, but I wouldn’t say “flocked” and without a mother, I think I experienced a lot more angst than most. He went on and said, “It really all fell apart after Ian got expelled.”
“You guys all still seem pretty tight,” I said.
He nodded. “We are, now. Ian withdrew for a while and didn’t have much to do with any of us. That was hard. I know that you heard us joking about him getting into trouble, but the truth was, it was pretty upsetting to us all. He was so damned smart…it almost hurt me that he lost his scholarship. I didn’t know he was doing the steroids until he got caught, or I would have tried to talk him out of it. He never placed his faith on his brain. Instead, his self-confidence was based on being bigger and stronger.”
I felt bad hearing him say that. I felt bad for Ian, and all he’d missed out on and I felt bad that I had judged his friends so harshly. Joking about it was how they dealt with it now. I had let myself think that night they were all a bunch of losers and they didn’t care that he’d gotten into trouble. I guess it goes to show you that you shouldn’t judge people based on one impression alone. I was realizing lately that I did that a lot. I was going to start working on that. I felt his hands on my shoulders then and he bent down close to my ear and said, “Would you like to dance with a champion?”
“I’d love to,” I said. “Where is he?”
He squeezed my shoulders and said, “Watch it. I won’t let you hold my belt later.”
“Oh no! I’ll be good, I promise.” He pulled me to my feet with a grin and out to the dance floor.
We were dancing a slow dance and I had my head against his chest and my eyes closed when suddenly I felt my ass literally cupped in a pair of strong hands. He only hung on for a second, but it surprised me. So far, Ian hadn’t been one for public displays of affection. I squeaked and jerked forward so my pelvis was rubbing against his. He pressed his mouth to the side of my face and whispered, “Damn baby, you want me that bad?”
“Me? You started it, grabbing a handful of my ass like that.” He looked confused and then looked behind me. I suddenly saw his blue eyes go dark like they did when he was in the cage and I realized in that instant what was about to happen. It was Jeff, the guy who had been such an ass to him the last time we were here.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ALEXA
“Ian, it’s okay. Let it go.” I could see the veins pulsing in his neck as he looked at Jeff. Jeff knew he was pissed, but he only smiled. I wondered if he was drunk.
“Hey!” Ian said, acting like he hadn’t heard me. He still had one arm on my waist and suddenly I felt myself being moved behind him and he was face to face with the asshole. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, touching her?”
“Chill out,” Jeff said with a smug smile on his face. “I bumped into her. That ass sticks out, it’s hard to miss.” Either he was drunk or he had a death wish. Ian swung and connected and the smug bastard was now lying in the floor. The thick crowd had spread out and was now standing circled around like a bunch of middle school kids watching a fight. Jeff was sitting up, rubbing his chin. Brock pushed his way through the crowd and stopped when he saw Jeff on the floor. Mike and Danielle had been dancing too and they were standing there watching. Danielle looked amused and I wondered if he’d tried to play grab ass with her too.
“What happened?” Brock said.
“Crazy mo-fo attacked me, that’s what,” Jeff told him. “Somebody call the cops. I’ll bet he’s doing the roid’s again. That wou
ld explain his win tonight too.” No one moved. Ian was well liked and everyone here tonight knew that he’d just won that championship. No one seemed to like Jeff except for the girl he was dancing with. She must have only just met him.
“Fuck you!” Ian said. I’d never seen him so angry. I was suddenly worried about what would happen when the cops did get there.
“He grabbed my ass,” I said to the crowd, surprising myself. I wanted them to know Jeff had started this. I was terrified Ian would get in trouble and his career would be affected because of me. “He didn’t bump into me. He assaulted me. Ian was protecting me.” I looked down at the creep then and said, “I’ll be happy to tell the cops that when they get here.”
“What’s going on?” A deep, booming voice said. The bouncer had pushed his way through and was looking from Ian to Jeff. The bartender was standing behind him. Jeff was still looking at me like he was trying to gauge if he thought I’d cry sexual assault or not. I still had my hand on Ian’s arm and I guess the look on my face convinced him I wouldn’t hesitate to do it in order to help Ian. It wasn’t like I’d be lying anyways. Finally, he looked at the bouncer and said, “Sorry man, I got carried away with my moves and hit the floor.”
The bouncer looked at Ian again. Ian was still staring at Jeff. His breathing was heavy and his fists were clenched at his sides. I put my hand on his arm and slowly, I could feel him start to relax. “That what happened?” the bouncer asked him.
Ian looked at me then and I tried to convey with my eyes that this was the best outcome. He looked back at the bouncer and said, “Yeah, he tripped and fell into me. I stepped back and he hit the floor. I think he hit his face. He might need an icepack and a ride home.”
Best Friend's Brother #5 (Best Friend's Brother Romance Series - Book #5) Page 4