The Cocky Cage Fighter Six Book Box Set

by Lane Hart

  Despite beating the shit out of each other's faces, and Jude's repeated attempts to take Linc down, the two men both manage to stay on their feet the entire five minutes of the first round. I’m not sure if I even breathed but once or twice the whole damn time. When the bell rings to signal the end of round one, the referee has to jump in and pry Jude and Linc apart.

  In their corners they sit on stools and rehydrate. My dad and Dave towel their guy off and press Q-tips to the open facial cuts to try and stop the bleeding. White towels are stained red when the two coaches wipe the excess blood off the men. Giving them quick pieces of advice they heavily coat the wounds of each fighter with more Vaseline before the break is over.

  Halfway through the second round, Linc gets in a heavy right cross on Jude's chin, which throws him off balance and allows Linc to take him down to the canvas. Jude endures some damaging elbows to his ribs and fists to the side of his face until he maneuvers out of Linc’s hold and gets back to his feet. After that, he hits Linc with some leg kicks, weakening the other man’s stance and causing visible swelling across his calf. Seeing Linc off balance, Jude launches a flying knee to his face, but it's right when the bell signals the end of the round, the ref separating the two and giving them another break.

  At the beginning of the third of five rounds you can tell Linc and Jude are both wearing down. Their attacks are still brutal but just slower. When the two get locked up in each other's faces, grappling against the cage, Jude sweeps Linc's leg, taking him down. Just as quickly, Linc scrambles into side control over Jude, trying to pound his bruised ribs and blast the air from his lungs. Back and forth they go on the canvas, wrestling and throwing fists and elbows, fighting for control. It's hard to see what's going on from the floor level but suddenly the crowd gasps, and everyone's on their feet seeing something I can't.

  …

  Jude

  I grind my teeth into my mouthpiece, and use every bit of strength I have left to keep the sonofabitch's arm locked. He almost had me in a chock hold, squeezing my neck so tightly my vision narrowed to a bright tunnel. Sweat and Vaseline saved me, as I was able to wrench my slickened head free. As I dove backwards from his grip I brought his left arm with me. Slamming one of my legs across his neck and the other over his chest, I manage to trap the bastard, hyperextending his elbow with a brutal arm bar. Blood seeps down my face and into my eyes while the muscles in my arms shake. Linc thrashes wildly trying to pull free, but I can feel him weakening from the pain.

  "Submit!" I yell at him through my mouth guard and get a gruff, roaring "No!" in response.

  "Get out now or I'm calling it!" The ref, who's on his hands and knees beside us, warns the asshole.

  A few seconds later there's a loud pop, followed by Linc's howling curse and the ref pulling me off as he waves his hands, panicked, stopping the fight.

  The dumb fucker just let me break his goddamn arm.

  What had been deafening sounds from the crowd goes silent as we both lay exhausted, beat half to death and bleeding on the canvas. Linc's coach and team physician are called in to check on him, along with Jax and Coach Briggs.

  Fuck! I didn't want to win this way. Did I go too far and get carried away with my rage, or was it his fault for being too fucking stubborn?

  "What the hell just happened?" Jax asks.

  "Did you tap?" Coach asks me, wiping the blood off my face with a towel while Jax pours water down my throat.

  "No. He didn't...tap...his arm...snapped," I tell them through gasps for oxygen in my aching lungs.

  "Oh shit!" Jax mutters.

  I glance over and see Linc's still on his back as the physician begins to wrap up his left arm.

  "You won? You won!" Jax exclaims.

  Jax and Coach help me to my feet, and then I drain another bottle of water while watching them work on Linc. I can't stop myself from glancing out into the crowd and finding her.

  Sadie's on her feet like everyone else trying to figure out what just happened. Her hand is over her mouth, and she's blinking quickly to probably try and stop her tears. She was pissed at me before, but now she'll never forgive me. I guess we're even, since I'll never forgive her either.

  After Linc is able to get back on his feet with his arm wrapped ten times larger than the normal size with ice and ace bandages, the crowd lets out a loud sigh of relief and clap for him. The announcer explains that the fight was stopped after three minutes and fifty seconds in the third round before my arm is raised as the new undisputed IFC Welterweight Champion of the World.

  The thousands of fans in the arena scream and cheer for me. Victory has never tasted so bitter or trivial. I didn’t even feel this shitty after all my losses. Maybe because this time, I haven't just lost a fight. It feels like I've lost a part of myself that I’ll never get back.

  I've lost Sadie.

  …

  Sadie

  It's obvious from Linc's constant wince that he's in excruciating pain. All because of Jude. Before this fight I would've said that Jude is the gentlest fighter I know, which in its own way is an oxymoron but true, nevertheless. But now...he just permanently injured an opponent. Hurt him so bad it'll be months, if not years before he can fight again.

  If Linc is able to ever fight again.

  All because of me.

  "Sadie!" Senn calls over from their team's back table.

  "Yeah?"

  "Linc wants to know if you're coming with us," he yells.

  It's ludicrous that Linc is worrying about me after his horrible injury and loss of his long reigning title. But back to his question, am I going with them?

  I look over at my dad and Jude, who are both watching me. I don't want to deal with them, or be trapped in a car for hours listening to their shit either. Then there's Page and Jax who I'm sure I could ride home with, but they'll just make pleas on the two assholes' behalves.

  "Sadie?" Linc's deep voice carries through the crowd of people. When I find him his face is still tight with pain when he tilts his chin up as if to say, "Come on."

  I hold up one finger indicating I need just a minute and he nods. Damn it, I want my phone back. I push my way through the crowd of people circling the new welterweight champion. Jude's eyes widen when he sees me approaching.

  "How could you?" I ask

  "Sadie, I didn't-" he starts.

  "Never mind. I don't want to hear your bullshit. I just need my phone back," I say.

  Jude's dark eyes go from soft and almost apologetic to blazing fury in a heartbeat. I've never seen such a harsh expression on his gorgeous face before. The bleeding cuts and swelling from Linc's brutal hits only make him look more savage when he says, “I broke it after I got the last text, the one about you fucking him."

  I reel back from the venom in his tone. "What the hell, Jude?"

  Linc wouldn't have, would he? Was he just using me to piss Jude off before the fight? Was there anyone left who I could trust wasn't screwing with me?

  "We can get you another phone," my dad says. I ignore him standing off in my peripheral vision.

  "What I did...not telling you was wrong, but I didn't do it to hurt you, unlike what you did to me when you intentionally went off and fucked him," Jude snarls.

  "But you did hurt me!"

  "Sadie, I know you're upset, but this slutty shit you're pulling is uncalled for," my dad says to me.

  I stand there listening to them both insult me when I'm the freaking victim here! I'm the person they wronged! That does it. It's the final nail in the coffin.

  "Yes, I slept with him, but you two are to blame for that, not me," I respond as tears run down my cheeks, making my voice shake. "Right now I'd rather be anywhere than looking at either of you, so screw you both! I'm not going back with you. I'll find somewhere to stay until I start school at Duke."

  Walking away I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Stay with Brayden right down the street from Jude? Stay with my midlife crisis mom in Jersey? Heck no to both options. I'd rather take my chances
on a stranger.

  I wipe the tears away with the heels of my hands as I weave my way through the crowd to Linc and his team.

  "Hey, you okay, doll?" Linc asks, giving me a hug with his good arm. I half sob, half laugh against his chest, trying not to touch his injured arm.

  "Don't worry about me. The question is are you okay?" I respond, looking up at his bloody and beaten face.

  "Hurts like a son of a bitch. It might be your turn to provide me with some comic relief."

  "Sounds fair. Would it be enough to earn me temporary room and board, too?"

  "You don't have to do anything for that," he says.

  "Did you send Jude a text telling him we fucked last night?" I ask point blank while looking into his blue eyes. It's a shitty time to ask, but I need to know.

  "Hell no," Linc says surprised, at the same time Josh pipes up, and says, "He didn't, but I did."

  We both look over at the skinny kid, and then Linc pushes him with his good hand so hard the boy's ass hits the ground. "Mind your own goddamn business, you stupid fucker!"

  "I'm sorry, Sadie," Linc says to me, wincing and holding his sore, wrapped up arm with the slight movement. "How can I make it up to ya?"

  "Get me out of here?" I ask when more tears race down my cheeks.

  "Come on. I'll show ya around my home state," he says, putting his good arm around me. "Just as soon as we make a quick stop at the emergency room."

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Jude

  It's hard to think past the throbbing in my head, but I know one thing for sure. It's been eighteen days since I last spoke to Sadie. Eighteen long fucking days.

  Instead of getting better, each day is worse than the last. I haven't trained a second since the fight. Fuck it. I'm the goddamn champion, so what the hell's the point?

  I recorded the fight from the TV replay and watch it just to see her gorgeous face. Of course the media found out during the argument at the weigh-in that she had been my girlfriend and then left with Linc. They'd played that shit up during the entire fight, too. Seeing her beautiful smile is bittersweet, especially since she's looking at him when it lights up her face.

  I don't know where Sadie is and have no way to reach her. Well, I don't want to think about where she’s probably staying. Coach said she showed up in town fifteen days ago, grabbed some shit from the house, and then left just as suddenly before I could see her.

  "Jude!" Jax bangs on the bedroom door and yells, making me cringe at his brain splintering volume.

  "Go away," I say, barely above a whisper because it hurts my head to be any louder.

  "Get your ass up!"

  "No."

  "All right, I warned you," he says.

  I sigh in relief when he leaves and it's quiet again. Reaching down beside the bed I feel around until my hand hits the glass bottle then lift it to my lips. Empty. Fuck.

  My door flies open with a bang so loud it's excruciating, and then I'm drenched with cold water.

  "What the fuck!" I yell, coming out of the bed swinging. Water drips down my face, hair and unshaven beard, causing my cotton shirt and shorts to stick to my skin. "Now my bed's soaking wet, you asshole!"

  "That's the point. Maybe you'll finally get the fuck out of it," Jax replies, throwing the empty bucket to the floor.

  "Why? I don't have anything else to do. Screw it. I'll just go sleep in your old bed," I tell him, pulling off my soggy clothes and using them to mop off my face as I leave my room.

  I've been staying at my dad's house since the fight. Everything in my apartment only reminds me of Sadie since she helped me pick out all the furniture, and some of her clothes and girly bathroom things are still there. Then there's the bed we shared for weeks that I can’t stand to look at.

  "Jude, stop this shit! I'm worried about you. Like seriously fucking worried about you. We all are," Jax says as he follows me down the hall.

  "Leave me the hell alone."

  "Page talked to Sadie last night."

  "I don't give a fuck!" I exclaim. My jaw clenches at hearing her name.

  "She's still at Linc's place in Raleigh."

  "You think I don't fucking know that?" I yell. Hearing his name makes me want to break shit. I took his title and he took my girl. That's not even close to being a fair trade.

  "She said she's not screwing him." Jax feeds me the idiotic lie.

  "What-the-fuck-ever," I reply, squeezing my eyes shut like that will keep out the god-awful images. "Maybe not anymore, but she was."

  "They just sleep in the same bed."

  "Bullshit!" I throw myself down on top of the dry bed, certain my head is going to explode either from pain or from the thought of him and her in bed together. It's a toss-up. But there's no fucking way that sonofabitch sleeps in the bed with a woman as hot as Sadie and keeps his hands or dick off of her. Unless he's gay. And even then I wouldn't be surprised if she couldn’t tempt him enough to change his orientation.

  "So you," Jax pauses beside the mattress as if to emphasize the words for some reason. "YOU are telling me that a man and woman can't sleep in the same bed without fucking?"

  "Hell no."

  "So you lied, and you did in fact fuck Page right after my trial?" he asks.

  "What the hell? No, I'd never-" Then I remembered the weeks where Page was upset and cried all the time. I'd slept with her, just so she wouldn't feel alone. To try and provide some small piece of comfort since Jax couldn't be there with her.

  "Uh-huh," Jax says with a smirk when I glance over at him, thinking he has me.

  "That was an extenuating circumstance. You had just been sent away to prison! Page blamed herself and had just found out she was pregnant when you were being a dick to her. You told me to take care of her!"

  "Yeah, well Sadie thought you genuinely cared about her, and after weeks of thinking she loved you, found out it all started as a setup. A setup her own fucking father arranged for a goddamn fight! I'd say being hurt by your father and your first love at the same time would be pretty damn devastating to an eighteen-year-old girl. She misses you. You know that however shitty you feel right now, she feels the same way, maybe even worse."

  "No, the difference is she's moving on, with fucking Linc Abrams."

  "Do you know that for sure? You're just going to throw in the towel and never see her again?"

  "She won't talk to me."

  "Have you even tried to talk to her since the fight?"

  "How can I? I can't call her."

  Not that I haven't tried. Ever since I broke her phone, whenever I dial her number it goes straight to voicemail. I don't know if she got a new phone with a new number or just never replaced hers.

  "Then go see her. You know where she is."

  "I will murder the motherfucker if I see him."

  "They're just friends."

  "Bullshit!" I shout and I think I may have ruptured something in my skull. I press the heel of my hand against my temple to try and put it back in place. That's when I notice my hair is almost the length of Jax's and feels sticky, which is really damn disgusting.

  "Fine, then go see for yourself. What else do you have to do other than sit around here shit-faced drunk all day?" he asks before covering his nose. "You might want to shower and shave first, though. You smell like shit and look like hell. I should’ve added soap to the bucket of water before I threw it on you."

  "I don't remember the last time I had a shower. A week ago? It might’ve been longer."

  "Yeah, I don't doubt it. You're disgusting. And you've probably lost at least fifteen pounds. You look like a skeleton, bro."

  "I've lost the will to live," I joke but can't make myself smile even if my life depended on it.

  "Oh stop being so goddamn dramatic, you pussy. It's time to man. The fuck. Up. Hey Jude, don’t let me down. You have found her, now go and get her."

  Those words trigger a hazy memory. Or the lyrics rather. Lyrics I've heard sung a million times over the years because of my name, but no
one has ever sang it in the same lullaby way as she did.

  “She used to sing that to me, didn’t she?” I ask.

  “Oh yeah,” Jax grumbles. “All the fucking time. It was her favorite, which is why she named you Jude.”

  I don’t remember much about our mother, but I do actually recall that one small thing about her.

  “I was so jealous that you had your own song. Those first few years...I hated you because she loved you...but not,” he pauses, shaking his head and looking away. "The last thing she said to me was that she'd miss you. She'd miss you, but not me."

  "Jax, she was a bitch, and pissed because she'd gotten caught. It was her decisions that resulted in Dad making her leave, not yours. Stop letting that shit get to you."

  "You know I've always felt guilty for taking her from you. You cried for her for weeks, killing me a little more every damn day," he says, surprising me with his painful honesty. "I can't stand to see you hurting like that again, especially when there's a chance you can get Sadie back."

  Is there still a chance I can get her back? Yeah, but only if she's not with Linc and if she'll forgive me. I may have better luck getting struck by lightning.

  And have I even forgiven her?

  She intentionally broke my fucking heart with the one person she knew would hurt me the most to see her with. And even so, I still want to be with her. How fucked up is that? Sure Sadie, screw some other dude and I'll still want you back because I'm so crazy messed up in the head in love with you.

  This has the potential to blow up in my face when I see her with him...but that small chance, like the small chance I thought I had to beat him, is enough to convince me to at least go and find out. Find out so I can maybe have some closure.

  "Fine. I'll go to North Carolina." I face-palm myself in defeat. "But you and Page may have to come down there and bail me out of jail."

  …

  Sadie

  I'm pretty sure hell would feel comfortable after dealing with the unbreathable, blistering, humid July days in North Carolina. In a way it's fitting, since all hope seems lost. My life is now a miserable, living hell.