by Vicki Essex
Maybe Dom had never realized it before because he’d been on his own for so long.
“Listen,” Hector said. “I don’t know what you’ve got going with Fiona…but for what it’s worth, she’s not a weakness, okay? Family and people who love you give you strength. They give you a reason to fight. They’re like…the corner men in your heart.”
Dom waved a flight attendant down. He needed a stiff drink.
“Okay, so it’s cheesy. But it’s true. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re totally alone in that cage, Dom. If you’re bringing your opponent’s family into the cage, then you need your own posse, get me?”
Dom mulled that over. Was he still alone in his fight? He’d always had his trainers, his agent, a legion of fans…but he wanted more. And he knew who he really wanted cheering him on. But Fiona had made her feelings clear when she’d left his house after their night together. And yet he couldn’t believe he’d simply been a one-night stand to her. She just wasn’t that kind of woman.
It’d be up to him to convince her of that.
IN SALMON RIVER, the guys dropped Dom off at his place, where he unloaded his things. Then he changed and jogged to town. After the long flight and drive, he needed to shake off this restlessness. The guys had taken the SUV and said they would meet him at Five Elements once they’d stowed their gear at the motel.
Jogging up Main Street, Dom noticed a hulk of a man leaning against a blue sedan. He stood there smoking a cigarette, staring straight at him. A bad feeling crept up Dom’s spine.
The man looked away first.
Dom stepped into the dojo, and was only slightly surprised to find Sensei Miwa there. When he’d called him in Osaka, he’d braced himself for a tirade about honor and responsibility. Instead, Mako had promised he’d take care of things, and told Dom to focus on Bruno.
The youth class was just ending. Sandy-haired Sean waved at Dom as his friends stopped to chat before leaving.
“Sensei.” Dom approached Mako and bowed so deeply his forehead nearly touched the floor. “Welcome home.”
Mako didn’t look the least bit disappointed in him. “Same to you, Domo-san. How is Bruno?”
Dom related everything that had happened at the hospital. “I’m sorry I had to leave the dojo, Sensei.”
“All journeys to enlightenment take us off the path now and again. Tell me about what you’ve done to this place. It’s looking quite splendid.”
Dom started to point out the repairs, but his attention shifted when he glanced out the big windows. The man with the cigarette had made his way up the street and was waiting outside.
He headed straight for Sean as the boy exited the dojo.
Dom couldn’t hear their exchange, but he saw the way Sean shrank away. The man was saying something, extending a hand toward him. He backed away again as the man crouched down imploringly.
Sean tried to dodge around the stranger. The guy grabbed him by the wrist, tugging the tiny boy toward him. Alarms blared through Dom and he crashed out the door.
“No, Dad! Let me go!”
The fear and desperation in Sean’s protest drove Dom forward. He tackled the big brute, wrenching him off the boy and spinning him away. His heart pounding, he planted himself protectively in front of Fiona’s son.
“What—”
“Dom!” Sean said, relieved.
“What’s your problem?” The big man regained his footing. “I was just trying to have a conversation with my son.”
Dom stared, his pulse banging in his throat. “You’re Mitch.” It came out low and breathy.
“Do I know you?”
Mitch. The man who’d made Fiona’s and Sean’s lives miserable. A man who’d threatened and bullied his own family. A grade-A bastard.
Dom’s fists tightened as he sized him up. He had to be at least six-three and 250 pounds. Heavyweight class, definitely.
Dom could take him.
One reason. I only need one reason…. Calm down. This was not the Way. He did not beat up guys he didn’t like simply because he could.
“Did he hurt you, Sean?” he asked over his shoulder. He wasn’t taking his eye off Mitch. Not for one second.
“I’m okay.”
“Go to the bookstore,” he said very quietly. “Go to your mom. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
“Sean! Wait!” Mitch ordered. But the boy didn’t answer as he crossed the street. The man turned on Dom with a snarl. “Who the hell are you? This is none of your business.”
He kept his voice even, though his anger was simmering to a boil. “I’m Sean’s teacher.”
“And I’m Sean’s father. You’ve no right to interfere. Sean!” Mitch started after him, but Dom stepped into his path. “Get out of my way.”
“It’s obvious to me Sean doesn’t want to talk to you. Leave him alone.”
“I said get the hell out of my way.” Mitch planted his hands on Dom’s chest and shoved. Hard.
It was like pulling a trigger.
Dom let his weight fall freely, but used the momentum to spring back up on coiled legs.
Then he lunged. He dodged the fist aimed at his head and blocked the other ham-handed swing that would have caved in a lesser fighter’s chest. Dom slammed his knee into Mitch’s midsection, and the man dropped, but not before one of his fists caught Dom in the side. The blow crumpled his control.
This man had hurt Sean. Fiona.
Reason was buried beneath the avalanche of emotions suddenly pouring through him. Mitch struck out wildly even as he crashed to the ground. Dom’s anger ratcheted up with every glancing blow, every clumsy slap. He leaped on top of Mitch’s chest, pinning him down. He pummeled the bulky, meaty man into the sidewalk, fists swinging. He didn’t even notice the sweat dripping down his forehead, stinging his eyes.
“Stop! Dom, stop!”
Hands pulled at him. But he didn’t let up. This was the monster who’d hurt Fiona. This was the bastard who’d made Sean afraid—
“Domo-san!” Mako’s harsh bark sliced through the haze. Dom halted abruptly.
Hector and Kyle grabbed him under his arms and hauled him off Mitch. They had him in a tight hold though he wasn’t struggling to break it, and were shouting at him, talking him down.
But Dom didn’t hear what they said. What had he done?
Brett stooped over Mitch, checking that the guy was still breathing. Blood oozed from his face. “Call an ambulance,” the kickboxer muttered. A half-dozen cell phones appeared in bystanders’ hands.
Dom stared. Where had all these people come from?
Then he saw the woman standing above the prone Mitch. Fiona had her arms wrapped tightly around her son. They both stared at Dom, faces pale. Tears streaked Sean’s cheeks. The sight snapped him right out of his haze.
“What did you do?” Fiona whispered.
Dom looked down at Mitch, then at Sean. The boy flinched.
He looked at his hands. His knuckles were smeared with blood.
Oh, God.
“Mitch…” Fiona got to her knees beside her ex.
“I…I’m sorry—” Dom began, stepping toward them. Fiona shot to her feet, putting her son behind her.
“Don’t touch him!” She’d taken the first defensive position, eyes locked on Dom. “Stay away from my son.”
“Fiona—”
“Why?” Betrayal and bewilderment lay thick in her words. “Why’d you do this? He didn’t do anything to you.”
“He… Sean…”
“What? Self-defense? You hit him until he stopped moving.”
A siren wailed from some blocks away.
“Get out of here,” Fiona said quietly. Her body was shaking. Her eyes brimmed with tears. “Leave. I never want to see you again.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
MITCH WAS A MESS. Two black eyes, a broken nose and pinkie finger, three fractured ribs, a bruised kidney and lots of scrapes and bruises. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Most of the wounds were superf
icial, the doctor had said, but he’d still need a few days to recover.
And yet the sight of his battered face didn’t upset Fiona as much as that last glimpse she’d had of Dom as, resigned, he climbed into the back of the police cruiser, hands cuffed behind him.
“Excessive force.” That was what Sheriff Taylor had told her when he spoke to her in the hospital later that evening. She’d gone with Mitch in the ambulance—he had no one else—and when her ex regained consciousness, he’d given the sheriff a blustery statement.
“I just wanted to see my son!” Mitch had railed in a rusty voice, wincing. “Who the hell did that guy think he was? Why were you letting my son hang out with him?”
She’d tried to calm him. “Mitch, listen to me—”
“No, you listen. I don’t want my boy hanging out with…with psycho nut jobs!”
It was on the tip of her tongue to call him on his accusation, considering how he used to treat her and Sean.
“What the hell were you thinking, letting that asshole be around our son? Are you stupid? I swear, I’ll fight for custody of Sean if I see that man near him again.”
Her heart plummeted. This was the Mitch she knew, and his threat wasn’t idle. He would fight for Sean, and he’d do it just to hurt her and everyone else around him.
During the following week Fiona brooded over Sean’s and her future. She wanted to pack a bag and move somewhere Mitch would never find them. But it wouldn’t solve a thing.
The Salmon River rumor mill churned, the scandal of Dom’s arrest unavoidable. It was all over the national sports pages: “Dominator” Payette Charged With Aggravated Assault; Upcoming Championship Fight Up in the Air; UFF Great’s Fall from Grace. A few reporters came to town and nosed around, but the tight-knit community put up a wall of silence so thick it was practically impenetrable. Thankfully, no one came to Fiona’s door or pointed in her direction. No one made the connection between the victim, Mitch, and his ex-wife and son. The reporters weren’t as concerned about the victims or the circumstances as they were about the hot-button issue of how violent MMA was. Wasn’t this proof, after all, that the fighters were just testosterone-driven cavemen?
No one set the record straight about what had transpired that day, though. Even Sheriff Taylor kept his comments to a few brief words about the altercation and how cooperative Dom had been. The townsfolk were protecting their own, and for once, that included her and Sean.
She learned later that Dom had been released on bail and had gone to Las Vegas. His bail conditions allowed him to travel and continue his training. The UFF had refused to cancel the much-anticipated welterweight championship match. Hadrian Blackwell, president of the Unlimited Fighting Federation, had even flown to Virginia to vouch for Dom. It wasn’t as if the fighter could just disappear, after all. Dom would be recognized anywhere he went. So keeping him in Vegas where he would be under constant surveillance was ideal, Blackwell argued. The judge had agreed.
“Goddamn celebrities,” Mitch griped when he heard the news. He slammed a fist against the rail of his hospital bed and threw the TV remote across the room. “I take a few dollars from a bunch of rich snobs and I get jail. He beats the crap out of an innocent man and gets to go to Vegas? That’s bullshit.”
“Mitch.” His language and temper were as foul as ever.
“I’m calling my lawyer.” He picked up the phone and glared at her. “Dumb bitch letting my boy be with that bully. Next time it’ll be you.”
Fiona ran out of the hospital room, her heart in her throat. Mitch hadn’t changed. Not at all. He was still his toxic, hateful self.
Mitch was an ass, but Fiona couldn’t help but blame Dom for this mess, too. She hated herself more, though. She should have been grateful to have seen Dom’s true colors at last. But all she felt was wretched.
How could she trust her feelings for Dom when they’d led her astray? Mitch, her parents…she couldn’t trust anyone would pull through for her when they’d been sources of such great disappointment. And Dom had disappointed her, too.
Fiona hurt most for Sean. Her son refused to believe for a second that Dom was anything but a hero. He’d vehemently defended the man, explaining to the sheriff how his father had tried to hurt him. But Beau told him it was up to the courts to decide Dom’s verdict, and that Sean’s statement wouldn’t likely help the fighter’s defense.
For her son’s sake, Fiona tried to return some normalcy to their lives. Sensei Miwa continued classes at the dojo. The intensity with which Sean studied and practiced was unlike anything Fiona had ever seen. One morning, he jogged into town at 6:00 a.m., sending Fiona into hysterics when she woke up to discover he wasn’t in the house. Grounding him only resulted in him training in his bedroom like a prison inmate. He was unstoppable.
She worried that his anger was fueling his dedication. He looked as if he wanted to hurt something—or someone—really bad. Even Mako noticed his intensity.
“Your son is very distraught,” he said to her while Sean was changing after class.
“It’s this whole business with his father…and Dom.” She felt her chest constrict, just saying his name. “Have you heard from him?”
Mako shook his head. “He’s on blackout. His match is coming up, and he’ll be training nonstop. No one except his coaches will see him until the fight is over.” He peered at her with his dark eyes. “How are you doing?”
She shrugged. “The best I can, I suppose.”
“You are a good mother.” The old sensei placed a hand on her shoulder. “I wouldn’t worry about Sean. Every child has difficulties, trying to piece together what is good and bad, right and wrong, and then making sense of it. That is how they become adults. Even Domo-san had his dark days. More than I can count.”
This glimpse into Dom’s little-discussed youth piqued her interest. “He mentioned he lived with you for a while.”
“More than six years, actually. He was a lot like Sean when he was young. Directionless. Always angry, full of energy. So much unharnessed potential. And he was tough. Like a rock.” Mako’s smile was sad. “Some people think you can only beat that kind of hardness out of a man. That you have to break him in order to make him into something else. But we are like clay. If we warm it, knead it and give it room, it becomes soft and malleable.”
Fiona snorted. “Yeah, well, my ex-husband is about as malleable as a brick.”
“And yet bricks do crumble. It takes much more patience, but even they can be weathered to smoothness.” He paused in thought. “You are like glass, Fiona. Under extreme heat, you, too, will become soft and malleable, but when you cool, you are hard and strong, but still beautiful and delicate.”
Fiona figured he meant it as a compliment. “Thank you.”
“Sadly, those were not my words.” Mako chuckled. “Domo-san told me this one night over a cup of tea.” His eyes twinkled. “He is very much enamored with you, you know. He doesn’t wax poetic with great ease.”
Fiona glanced away. Despite everything, she missed Dom.
Her cell phone rang. A glance at the call display told her it was the family lawyer she’d retained in case Mitch decided to act on his custody threat. Mako suggested she use his office to take the call.
The news sent Fiona’s spirits into a nosedive. Mitch’s lawyer had contacted Fiona’s lawyer, but all he’d said was that Fiona needed to go talk to her ex right away.
Her stomach churned uneasily. For Sean’s sake, she really didn’t want to drag this out. She had to work through this with Mitch somehow. If the courts had decided he was ready for parole, they might decide to give him a chance with his son. The judge could be convinced that Sean’s father deserved visitation rights. She didn’t want Mitch back in their lives. But it wouldn’t be up to her if this went to court.
She came out of Mako’s office to find her son kneeling on a mat in his street clothes. Sensei Miwa sat in front of him. They both had their eyes closed.
Fiona sat down to wait, knowing it could b
e a while. Dom used to lead the women’s self-defense class in meditation at the end of each session. It was time to reflect and seek inner peace, he’d said. Ideally, they were searching for Zen—that perfect balance of mind, body and soul, and enlightenment. Mentally exhausted by the past few days, she realized she could seriously use some of that serenity now. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply and steadily.
She tried to blank her mind, but the swirling thoughts all focused on the man who’d become the center of their lives. He was her calm in the eye of the storm. She pictured him sitting in that narrow vortex of light and space, a bright center of a dark whirlwind.
She must have drifted off, because the image suddenly shifted and the hurricane swallowed him in a violent sweep.
She jerked awake, nearly slipping off the bench, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She’d told herself countless times she shouldn’t care about Dom, not after what she’d seen him do to Mitch. But the thought of anything happening to him made tears burn her throat.
How could she have let her guard down around him? How could she have let herself get close? Dom had put a man into a coma with his fists. Mitch could have been next…or maybe she would be. Or Sean…
“Mom?” Her son stood in front of her, his expression serious. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” She forced a watery smile. “Hon, I have to go talk to your father at the hospital. I’ll take you to Josie’s first.”
“I want to see Dad.”
She was taken aback. “Are you sure?”
He glanced behind him at Mako, who watched him steadily. “Yeah. I mean, he wanted to talk to me, right? If I’d just talked to him when he came to see me…” He trailed off, scowling down at his feet.
“Hon, none of this is your fault. You know that, don’t you?”
Sean nodded. “Does Dad still want to see me?”
“I think he would like that very much.” She hesitated. “But only if you’re sure you want to.”
The boy’s face was sober and serious. “Sensei says we must face our fears to overcome them.”