Challenge: A Contemporary MMA Romance: Oni Fighters Book 3

by Natalie Gayle

  Right then, I knew I had no further future at Tanner Properties, I just needed to keep this job until I could find something else. I was seriously struggling to remain cordial. All I wanted to do was tell him to stick his job up his arse sideways.

  “Yes, that’s correct.”

  “Well, I haven’t broken the terms of that discussion, so I’m at a loss to see the issue?”

  He huffed and puffed a little before his face pulled into a hard scowl. John did not like to be challenged. “You can have your two weeks leave. I hope you realize how inconvenient your timing is.”

  I sat up as if I’d been slapped. No one chose when they had an accident.

  “Thank you. I’ll keep in touch and let you know how things are going.”

  I rose from the table and went to leave, my coffee untouched.

  “Sophia, I recommend you keep it to the two weeks leave you are owed.” The look in his eyes was cold and hard.

  Rather than answer, I nodded stiffly. Words escaped me at that moment, smothered by the rage I felt at his insensitivity. If I opened my mouth further, I was almost certain to regret it.

  If having Seth laid up wasn’t enough, it suddenly seemed like I was going to be looking for a new job as well.

  My hands shook in frustration and fury on the steering wheel all the way to the hospital. I couldn’t even begin to describe how angry I was at the way John had treated me.

  For the last year, I’d worked my butt off for that prick. Each day, I’d gone to work diligently and done every shit job and met every request he’d thrown at me. Not once had the arsehole said “thank you” or given me a hint of praise. Praise I could do without—common manners were another thing.

  Something else became clear to me as I drove to the hospital. I’d been kidding myself. I’d been convincing myself I just had to work harder and keep proving my abilities to him—prove to John that I was worth mentoring. I’d never critically looked at our working relationship.

  Fucking idiot.

  I’d been used.

  I had two weeks to figure out what I was going to do and so much of that depended on how Seth was doing.

  When I walked into the ICU a little later, I was greeted by Xander and Eden. They saw me from beside Seth’s bed and immediately came over. We went into the family lounge.

  “What’s up?” Eden took one look at me and knew there was something wrong.

  “I’ve just come from talking to my boss about some time off.”

  “Didn’t go well?” There was worry in her eyes.

  “Nope…he’s a prick. He begrudgingly let me have two weeks holiday leave but that’s it. You’d swear Seth conspired to have the accident just to cause a problem for him…seriously, ahhhh.” I felt like screaming in frustration and I probably would have if I hadn’t been in the middle of a hospital.

  Xander and Eden looked between them. Something unspoken was said and I saw her nod slightly to him. They were so right for each other. Whenever they were in the same room, they just seemed to gravitate to one another. Two pieces locking into place—yin and yang.

  “How about we try and fit in a training session this afternoon? Dane’s going to come in around lunchtime. We could train then you could head back here for the evening.” My brother-in-law knew me well. Xander knew I needed regular activity, otherwise, I started to go stir crazy.

  Martial arts training served as activity, plus, it was something I loved to do. In fact, just last week, Xander had suggested I might want to start working towards fighting seriously. There was an amateur card coming up in a few months. I was keen to give it a shot. It seemed like the natural progression for me from all the training I did. I had no idea if that would even be possible now.

  I glanced over at Seth and I felt torn. “Umm, I…”

  “A couple of hours out of here will do you good,” Eden suggested. She didn’t say that none of us had any idea how long we’d be here. For that, I was thankful. Somehow, it was easier if we didn’t voice the obvious.

  “Okay, Gem, let’s go get something to drink. I’m sure Soph will want a bit of time with Seth.” If I didn’t know the context, Xander’s words could have almost been dirty. Yeah, I could forget anything like that with Seth for the foreseeable future; right now, all I could think about was him opening those stormy blue-grey eyes again. Then, I started to panic about what would happen when he did.

  Seth was still very much an unknown quantity to me. He went to great lengths to keep everything light and easy between us, just two friends hanging out, that liked to take it further frequently—very frequently. We’d both sidestepped the conversation about our relationship status. Instinct had told me it would have him running for the hills.

  They wandered off for a while and I headed into Seth’s room. A middle-aged looking woman was taking his obs and writing in his chart. She looked up from her notes when I moved in.

  “Hi, I’m Nancy. I’ll be Seth’s duty nurse till three.”

  “Sophia.”

  “That was your sister and her husband before?”

  “Yes. Eden and Xander.”

  “Ah, newlyweds.” She had a soft look in her eye. “Now we need to get this fine fellow up and around—functioning again. You need your man back. You can give me a hand to clean him up if you like.”

  Nancy took me a little by surprise. She moved with a very pragmatic and determined air. Maybe it was because she was older. I had absolutely no question she was highly competent and used to doing things her way.

  “Um…” I said, moving to the visitor’s chairs to drop my handbag.

  “Up to you, but I know if I was you, I’d feel better doing something.”

  When she put it like that…

  “I’ll be back in a few seconds with what we need.”

  True to her word, she was. Not only was Nurse Nancy a whirlwind, she was super efficient and I gathered she left many of the younger nurses in her wake.

  “So, what do you need me to do?” I asked as she came back in wheeling a trolley with supplies and a big basin of water.

  “How about I do the official washing and rinsing, then you can follow on with some moisturising lotion? The constant exposure to the air-conditioning in here really dries out the skin and the in-activity doesn’t help either.”

  “Am I allowed to do this?”

  She gave me a withering look that was somehow more playful than chastising. “You’re his significant other, aren’t you?”

  I nodded, not quite trusting my voice.

  “Then, you’re allowed. I dare say there’s nothing here you haven’t seen before.”

  At that, I giggled and I’m sure I blushed a little. “Ah, no.”

  She gave me a wink. “Aren’t you the lucky one? Girls were drawing straws over who was going to take this shift. I figured I needed to put a stop to that. You don’t need that. Benefits of being the senior around here.”

  “I guess it’s understandable, but thank you.” I meant it too. I wasn’t above feeling a little annoyed at all the looks he was garnering from the female nurses.

  “Also unprofessional. Nope, your man here is just a couple of years older than my eldest, Troy. He’s safe with me. I’ve scheduled a couple of the male nurses for the remainder of the week to take the other shifts.”

  “I’m sure it would have been fine.”

  “You know girls…”

  “Oh, I do.” I knew better than most what girls were like.

  “You like him shaved or with…what do you kids call it…scruff?”

  “Scruff is fine. He often lets it grow for a few days, then either shaves it off or trims it really short.”

  Nancy began the bed bath routine, efficiently lathering sponges, soaping then rinsing off the area before finally patting that section of his body dry.

  “He sure puts some work into this body,” Nancy chatted as she worked on one shoulder and arm then the other.

  “Martial arts. We train a lot. Seth used to be a pro-fighter. Now, he main
ly trains for fun and helps a couple of our friends train. Xander, who you met before, is one of them,” I explained.

  “He’s the one that the girls were all giggling and whispering about—some big deal?”

  “Yeah, you could say that. He won a massive fight in Vegas a few months back. He starts serious training for the World Title any day now.”

  She nodded, taking that all in. “What about you? You said you train too?”

  “I do. I’ve trained with Xander for about three years now. I’ve trained with Seth quite a lot since he came home as well about six months ago.” Immediately, I realized my potential error. I shouldn’t have put a timeline on our relationship.

  “Whirlwind romance, hey?”

  “Something like that. We sort of noticed each other the first night he was home, and that was kind of it. I knew him from afar as a kid. His sister is a friend of mine.” It wasn’t quite true but it would certainly do for the purposes of this conversation.

  “Happened just the same with my Tony. We met one night at a party and boom, that was it. Thirty years later, we’re still together, better than ever. When you know, you know!”

  She was working on his legs now and I had moved around to run more lotion down his arms. I’d never tire of the feel of touching his hard muscles, I just wished so much he was awake to touch me back.

  “I’m not supposed to say anything but I’ve got a feeling he’s going to wake up soon.”

  I looked up at her. “Why do you think that?” If I was going to hope, I wanted to at least try to understand her reasoning for it.

  “The doctor removed the intubation before, and I’ve noticed a bit of muscle movement. Over the last few hours. Just little flutters. If you pay attention, you’ll see it. It won’t hurt at all to have you give him a good firm massage as you rub that lotion in. His body will remember your touch, even if he doesn’t so much at the moment.”

  I followed Nancy’s instructions and massaged a little firmer, treating him more as if I would if everything were normal.

  “Are his feet normally ticklish?” Nancy asked with mischief in her eyes.

  “Yesss…”

  “Now’s your chance. Give them a good old tickle and see what happens.”

  I squirted some more lotion into my hand and rubbed it into his feet firmly. Then, I went to tickle him when something occurred to me.

  “I’m not sure this is a good idea. Seth has got a mean kick on him and it seriously hurts if he lands it.”

  “I thought you’re a fighter. Aren’t you supposed to stay out of range?”

  “Good point, well made.” I ran my fingertips up the sole of his foot and tickled. He flinched!

  “Did you see that?” I screeched.

  “I sure did.”

  I tried it again and got the same reaction.

  “You going to wake up for your pretty lady, Seth? I’m sure she’d like you to be keeping her company here.”

  Nancy spoke to Seth as she patted him dry.

  I stared at his face and wondered if I’d imagined it or did his eyes move?

  She efficiently finished the remainder of his bath and packed up her trolley while we both chatted and I rubbed in more lotion.

  “Right. I’ll be back in a little while to do some more obs. Looks like the doc wants to talk to you.”

  I was so busy massaging and chatting with Nancy that I hadn’t noticed the doctor approach.

  “How are you today, Sophia?”

  “Well, thank you.”

  “And how’s our patient?”

  I didn’t want to sound too excited. “He seems a lot more responsive. He flinched quite noticeably when I tickled his feet and I’m sure his eyes have been fluttering.”

  He nodded, not commenting one way or the other. “Well, that’s something. I just wanted to let you know that the orthopedic surgeon assessed him this morning. He’s scheduled the operation for later this afternoon. The swelling has receded enough.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?”

  “All part of the process. We need to get his pelvis stabalised, then, if all goes well, he’ll be able to recover from the fracture as well as the TBI.”

  “TBI?”

  “Sorry, Traumatic Brain Injury. That’s what we call these.”

  It sounded terrible and what’s more—terrifying.

  “Seth is still in a coma however, there has been no sign of further swelling or any bleeds in his brain. That’s great news, from our perspective.”

  It was the professional answer. “But don’t get my hopes up for him to come out of this on a particular timeframe.”

  He gave me a warm smile and a nod. “You got it in one. Small steps. They’ll be taking him to theatre around two I think.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Dr. Wilkinson gave me a reassuring pat on the arm before turning and moving on with his rounds.

  I stepped over to the bed and took Seth’s hand firmly in both of mine. “Well, Seth, anytime you want to wake up would be just fine. I need to know so many things, but most of all I need to know you’re okay.”

  I felt the tears threaten to fall again. They had been a most unwelcome companion the last few days. I hated crying. It wasn’t who I was at all.

  Right then, nothing in my life felt right.

  Seth

  Nothing felt right—not bad, just not right. Was I awake or was I dreaming?

  Why did I feel like I should be doing something? I just couldn’t remember what. The fog kept getting in the way. “Move fog—move.”

  Why wouldn’t it move?

  I should be doing something—shouldn’t I? The warm darkness wouldn’t let me up, it had me in a hold I couldn’t break—couldn’t figure out the counter-move, couldn’t see or feel where I was being held to form a plan.

  So tired and my limbs felt like they were rooted to the earth.

  Too heavy to move. Couldn’t make them understand they needed to do something—should do something. What? Why weren’t they working?

  Voices faded in and out. I should have spoken. Couldn’t speak. Voice wouldn’t work.

  Soft touch felt good, felt right, familiar—soothing.

  The darkness was beckoning me again. So tired…couldn’t fight it.

  “Seth.” I heard my name. What? Who?

  Need more sleep…so tired.

  Mmm, warm soft, so sleepy

  Maybe later…maybe I wouldn’t be so tired…

  6

  Sophia

  “Come on, Soph, make it count. You’re running at half speed. This the best you’ve got?” Xander’s voice drilled into my brain as I tried to pick up the pace and the power on the combination punch, kick drills, as we were training together at Onigashima.

  I’d done nothing exercise wise for the last few days, but I was dead tired even though I felt restless and irritable.

  “Yeah, that’s it; better. Keep your guard tighter.” The guard was always the first thing that went when fatigue hit. “Come on. One more round then we’ll call it quits. We’ve gone hard.”

  It was true, and totally normal. Our motto at Onigashima was to “train hard to fight easy.”

  The last drill was agony.

  “Nope. Not finishing on that, Soph. Land that rib kick like you mean it.”

  My breath was coming in huge, ragged pants and sweat was burning my eyes. Perfect. Exactly what I needed. I just wished I had more energy to give. The mind was willing, the body was feeling the fatigue.

  I drew back my leg and made sure I gave it full hip rotation, then let fly with everything I had, plus some.

  “Yeah! That’s more like it! One more…come on.”

  “Ahhh!!! You always want more,” I yelled as I repeated the process and jammed that kick in hard.

  “Just want to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Okay, take a break and hold the pads for me.”

  He didn’t have to ask me twice. I fastened the large, hard leather belly guard that swamped just
about all my torso. Then, I slipped my hands through the elastic restraints on the Thai pads and settled them down my forearms.

  I really enjoyed these one-on-one sessions with Xander. Since Eden had married Xander, things between us had changed as well. These private training sessions were common and the line he so strongly enforced regarding his relationship with students had essentially been rubbed out where Tori and I were concerned. I guess it made sense. We were now technically his sisters.

  No longer was I a student; now, I was family. That provided me an even greater level of automatic respect around the dojo. Although, I didn’t care for it that much. I’d worked hard to earn people’s respect for my dedication and focus to training and learning. That was the sort of respect I preferred rather than the by-association kind.

  With respect came responsibility. I felt the pressure to present a good example for the other students, particularly to the lower belts.

  I did love that I was now at a level where I could workout and train with the likes of Xander, Dane, and Seth. It was one thing to train with them, a total other to hold your own doing it. That was where I’d reached of late. I wasn’t deluding myself by thinking I was in their caliber, just that I could put up a good show and was getting better for training more with them. If you wanted to get better, you needed to train with people that were better than you—the best.

  I held the pads up and Xander got to work pummeling them with punches, at what I guessed was about fifty percent of his capability. We were training. It was about conditioning and technique.

  The other thing we never did in a formal class was talk unnecessarily. When it was just the two of us, that rule relaxed, mostly. Occasionally, Xander would use the Sensei voice or give a particular look. That was all it took to let me know we were back to formal.

  Neither of us seemed to be particularly chatty at the moment except for the speaking we needed to do the drills. My mind kept wandering back to Seth. He’d be in theatre now. It had actually worked out perfectly. He’d gone to theatre and we’d disappeared to train instead of staring at four walls, or worse, being subjected to endless quantities of daytime television.