Jake charged like a freight train.
He might as well have run into a buzz saw. Oliveira countered the double-leg with a hard sprawl. He rained down a hell of punches and kicks that left Jake wobbled.
“Jake’s rocked!” he dimly heard the pay-per-view announcers say into their microphones. “That combination hurt him.”
Jake backed up. They were right. The combination Oliveira waylaid him with had left him dizzy. His ears were still ringing. He gave his best poker face. Oliveira had to suspect nothing. If Oliveira smelled blood he would pounce. Jake would not be able to defend himself for long. The fight would be over before it even started.
Jake slowed his movement. Any sudden movement and his leg might buckle and reveal the damage Oliveira had done. Jake brought his hands up and scowled.
It worked. Oliveira didn’t realize just how badly he had hurt Jake. It only took a few seconds to clear the cobwebs and blow out the dust. Jake was returning to normal and his body was helping him. Oliveira’s strikes had lit Jake up, but they hadn’t finished the job. Jake’s body was dumping adrenaline to meet the challenge.
This was the wake-up Jake needed, the wake-up to remind him what he was here to do. Oliveira’s fists had reached the man deep inside Jake that still wanted to win.
He felt the strength of ten men flow through his body as his muscles flexed and his limbs fell into fight position. It felt for a minute as if he could see every hair on Oliveira’s body, every pore, every bead of sweat. He heard the voice of every fan in the arena, fifty thousand crystal clear sounds merged into one.
Oliveira closed in and threw a looping right hand that seemed to Jake to be in slow motion. Jake dodged it effortlessly and threw his jab-cross-hook combination with all his might. The left hook crushed Oliveira’s jaw, but it felt like nothing. That’s how Jake knew it was something. It was like hitting a home run in baseball. When you connect perfectly it feels effortless.
Oliveira stumbled and the arena erupted. He regained his composure immediately and smiled.
That’s right motherfucker.
Jake was back.
He dimly heard the PPV announcers again. “Ladies and gentlemen we’ve got ourselves a fight!” one said.
You’re goddamn right we do.
Lisa
Chapter 21
Changed
Lisa sat with Janis watching the screen with their friends. The fight was in the hotel right across the street, only minutes away, but every sports bar on the strip was showing it, and everyone was talking about it. If she had to hear one more time how much of an underdog Jake was she was going to punch someone herself.
She hadn’t seen Jake since the open workout. She had wanted to be there for him during the weight cut but was too ashamed. She had watched in horror as he faced off against Oliveira after the weigh-in. Jake had looked gaunt, and drawn out. He looked like a pale shadow of his true self.
She put her hand in her pocket and felt the two tickets Jake had given her. Floor seats. Janis would be so pissed to know Lisa had tickets for both of them and had squandered them. Lisa chuckled darkly imaging Janis going googly-eyed over the fighters. Janis would have probably tried to hit on them as they were entering the cage.
Round one was done. The commentator was calling it for Oliveira, 10-9, though he had remarked it was closely contested and could go either way depending on how the judges scored it.
The urge to run to Jake’s side and support him through this fight was almost overwhelming. She wanted to be there for him, to give him what little strength she could.
It was pointless, though. He didn’t need her strength. Tonight he would find a ring girl, or maybe all of them, and do as he pleased with them. Sara, the gorgeous blonde one had been right. Lisa was just holding him back. She felt a physical stab of pain in her heart at the realization.
The fighters were on their stools. One minute between rounds was hardly enough time to get their energy back. The camera was focused on Oliveira’s corner, but they were all speaking Portuguese. Lisa’s attention wandered around the bar.
Through the darkness of the bar, she saw two men laughing having a good time. One of them from the back kind of reminded her of her ex-boyfriend Roger. The memory of him brought a cold feeling of dread over her. If he was here he would probably be telling her how she needed to dress better, or carry herself better, or otherwise commenting on how she wasn’t good enough. Never good enough. She shuddered and shook the thought of him away.
The man she watched from behind bent his head to his friend’s as if to tell him a secret. When he did he gave him a quick kiss on the neck. If Lisa hadn’t been watching for that split second, she would have missed it. She was sure no one else in the bar caught it.
The man stood up and turned to her. He had two empty beer glasses in his hand and was smiling as he walked back to the bar. He looked to be on top of the world. His eyes made contact with Lisa’s just as she saw his face. His smile instantly vanished as the bottom fell out of the world for both of them.
He didn’t look like Roger. He was Roger.
He stood there in shock looking at her.
She was spinning, trying to process what was happening, what she had just seen. She felt dizzy and put her hand on Janis’ shoulder to steady herself. When she did Janis turned to her, then followed her gaze to Roger.
“That son of a bitch,” Janis said. She started to get up to take some fight to him, but Lisa held her.
“No,” Lisa said. She cleared her throat. “I...I got this.”
Lisa stood up from their booth and walked over to Roger who still stood dumbstruck.
“Hi Roger,” she said when she reached him.
He stood silent for a moment. “Hi, Lisa. How long have you...been watching?”
“Long enough,” she said.
“Did you see...”
“Yes,” she said.
Roger took a deep breath and exhaled. When he did he seemed like a man that had just taken the weight of the world off his shoulders.
He was nodding his head. “I’m glad, actually. It’s a relief.”
He looked directly into Lisa’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Lisa I know–”
“It’s fine, never mind,” Lisa interrupted.
“Please, Lisa, let me say this. Hell, I’ve practiced it a hundred times. I’ve wished I would run into you for so long now. To...explain. To apologize. I mean, I know there’s no excuse and words are cheap. I just...I still need to say it. I haven’t had the courage to find you myself, so I’m glad it happened this way. I know I hurt you, Lisa,” he said.
As he talked Lisa could feel the tears welling in her eyes. She was over him. Long over him. But the wounds were still raw.
“Fuck, I probably did a number on you,” he continued. “I was a bastard. I just...I couldn’t admit to myself what I was and I took that all out on you. The more I tried to turn you into...a guy, the more I hated myself for it and the more I took that out on you. And...god, the terrible things I would say to you when we...tried. I’ll never forgive myself for that.”
“You...” Lisa struggled not so much to find the words but to accept the reality. “You’re gay,” she said.
Roger nodded his head. “Yeah. Out, more or less. The team didn’t take it well. I knew they wouldn’t. Not playing football anymore, but a lot happier. I’m kinder to myself. Steve is...” he motioned to the man he as with. “Well, never mind that,” he said.
Lisa thought back to the pain of her time with Roger, the disastrous attempts at sex, all of the terrible things he had said to her. The whole time, he was disgusted with himself, not with her. It was something in him that made them wrong for each other. It wasn’t something in her.
As she stood there in dumbstruck silence she heard the announcer shout on the television, “He’s rocked! Jake’s rocked!”
She looked up at the television screen mounted on the wall.
“No!” she screamed as she brought her hand to her mouth.
&n
bsp; Jake was wobbling on his legs as Oliveira unloaded a terrifying flurry of strikes into his head. Jake’s face was bloody and barely recognizable. She glanced at the round counter. While she had been talking with Roger, they had finished the second round and started the third.
Jake was stumbling. Oliveira had him pressed against the cage. The ref was inches away, preparing to jump in and stop the fight. Jake was barely managing to defend any strikes and taking more damage than any man should ever take.
The ref made a move to separate the two men just as the bell stopped the round. Oliveira turned and walked back to his round, but Jake seemed lost, disoriented. His corner came and helped him to his stool.
“How is Jake Mata still standing?” one announcer yelled.
“I don’t know, but he’s was seconds from a ref stoppage right there. He may be concussed. At this point, he’s definitely down three rounds, and that last round was probably a 10-8. Jake’s going to have to finish Oliveira to win this fight!”
Panic seized Lisa’s heart as she watched the man she loved hurting. The corner cam was on Jake and she could see from the way he was acting that his head was still not clear. They were about to send him back in to fight that monster!
She had to stop it. The fight didn’t matter to her anymore. She wanted Jake safe.
She turned from Roger, leaving him standing there holding his empty beer glasses.
She ran to Janis and pulled the two tickets from her pocket and shoved them in Janis’ face.
“I need your help!” she said.
Jake
Chapter 22
Doubt
Jake sat on the stool trying to hear what his coaches were yelling at him.
He couldn’t, even though they were inches away. His head was foggy, his ears were ringing.
What round was it? He tried to focus, to count the rounds he had been through. Four? Was this the fourth round?
Their game plan was a shattered wreck. Oliveira had dismantled Jake bit by bit over the last three rounds. When Jake had connected with that sweet left hook he was sure he was back in the game. But Oliveira’s chin proved much stronger than Jake had ever given him credit for. Jake had since landed several shots flush on Oliveira’s jaw.
Oliveira ate them like candy. It was as if Jake was punching away at a wall of granite. He had done just about as much damage.
Jake’s mind raced through his options. He had thrown the kitchen sink at the guy and none of it had worked. He could see Oliveira was tiring. Why wouldn’t he? It was hard work beating the shit out of another man.
Oliveira had tired from throwing and landing punches and kicks. Jake was a man on the edge of consciousness. He was bloody, broken.
Buried under the pain caused by Oliveira’s fists and knees, elbows, and legs, was the deeper pain.
Lisa, where are you? I need you.
The bell rang. It was time to fight...again. Jake pulled himself off his seat. He felt like he weighed 400 lbs. His arms were lifeless blocks of lead hanging at his sides.
Get your fists up idiot.
He knew he had to protect himself, but his shoulders had nothing more to give. No matter how he tried he couldn’t raise his fists to his head. He held them low, at his chest, where they would offer fuck-all for protection.
Oliveira bounced around on the other side of the cage as if he was ready to go another five rounds.
“Fight!” the ref called.
Jake held his position. Even walking across the cage to meet in the middle took too much effort.
It didn’t for Oliveira, though. The Brazilian walked straight up to Jake and continued where he left off the last round.
He smashed Jake against the cage and rained a hell of elbows and knees into Jake’s broken body. With each hit, Jake felt a little of the life leave him. He wouldn’t be able to take it much longer, even if he wanted to, and he definitely didn’t want to.
That was the scary part. It was one thing for his body to hurt, of course it wanted to quit. But when his mind wanted to quit that’s when he knew he was breaking.
Without Lisa next to him, it didn’t seem to matter much anymore. She was his girl. He had thought he had made that clear. Maybe the thing with Cole had scared her off. He knew it was extreme, but she needed to know there was nothing wrong with her. She needed to know how men desired her. If only he could have shown her himself, maybe she would have stayed.
But he had wanted to keep his strength, to starve the lion. For all the good that had done.
Oliveira reached back behind Jake’s head with both hands. He laced his fingers together behind Jake’s neck. He yanked down hard on Jake’s neck, bending Jake over, just as he brought he knee up into Jake’s face.
Stars exploded in Jake’s mind and his body crumpled to the canvas.
Lisa
Chapter 23
Unbroken
Lisa and Janis ran through the hotel lobby toward the arena entrance. They had crossed the street from the sports bar in seconds.
“Janis, they’ll try to stop me,” Lisa said.
“I won’t let them,” Janis replied. She was running right behind Lisa.
As they neared the entrance to the arena an usher stopped them. Lisa flashed the tickets at him and he motioned for them to continue.
They ran into the arena. It was dark, but the cage was lit up by a hundred flood lights. Massive screens the size of houses hung over the cage. They showed close-ups of the fight to the thousands of fans in the nosebleed sections.
They ran down the aisle to the floor seats, showing their tickets to the ushers whenever stopped. As they ran Lisa looked up at the giant screen and saw with horror that Oliveira had Jake on the ground. He was raining hard elbows into Jake’s face that Jake only barely managed to deflect. One of every three or fours elbows would make it through Jake’s guard. It would slam into his head causing it to bounce sickeningly off the mat.
The bell rang ending the fourth round. Oliveira forced himself off Jake and returned to his corner, exhausted from the work he had done on Jake.
Jake was slow to get off the canvas. He propped himself up on an elbow as he looked around the cage for his corner. He was facing the wrong side of the cage, oblivious to the shouts of his cornermen from behind him.
One of his cornermen finally ran into the ring, lifted Jake up and carried him limping to his stool.
Lisa and Janis were nearing the cage. A thick velvet rope staffed by security guards separated the floor seats from the cage.
They were coming up to Jake’s corner.
Janis sprinted in front of Lisa at the security guard in front of them. She threw herself into his arms and clamped her mouth on his as she pressed her breasts into him. With one arm, she reached behind her and lifted the velvet rope and Lisa slid under and bolted to Jake’s corner.
You’re the best, Janis.
Janis had bought Lisa just enough time to get lost among Jake’s cornermen. The guard couldn't identify her.
Lisa looked back to see two guards rushing in to take Janis into custody.
“Lisa, what the hell are you doing here?” It was Cole.
Jake turned around and squinted outside the cage. “Lisa?” he mumbled through his busted face.
“Jake!” Lisa shouted. “Help me up, Cole,” she said.
Cole lifted her up onto the edge of the cage bringing her face to face with Jake.
Jake put his bloody hand on the cage and Lisa pressed hers to his. The clock was ticking away. They only had seconds left before round five started and Jake’s corner was screaming at Jake to focus.
Jake ignored them.
“Lisa...you came,” he said.
Lisa fought back tears. Oliveira had busted up her man. His face was barely recognizable. Her heart sank to see him this way.
“Jake, you don’t have to do this. Please stop!” she begged.
“Lisa, this is what I do,” he said.
“Jake, look at you,” she said as the tears erupted. She ha
d wanted to be strong for him, but was not prepared for how he looked up close.
“Lisa,” he managed to say through his bloody mouth, “are you my girl?”
“Yes, Jake. Yes!” she said through her tears. “I’m your girl.”
The ref yelled at Jake’s corner. Time was up.
Jake felt Lisa’s hand through the holes in the cage with his bloody, trembling fingers. He smiled at her and rose off the stool as his cornermen ran out of the cage.
Jake
Chapter 24
Bull
“He’s down all four rounds, with at least a couple of those being 10-8 rounds. Would you say he’s going to have to finish Oliveira to win this fight?” one announcer asked the other.
“Yes, for sure. Listen, a decision win is not possible for Jake at this point. He has to knock Oliveira out, or submit him,” the other answered. “There is no other way.”
Their words faded away as Jake focused on Oliveira across from him. The Brazillian was breathing hard. The effort had fatigued him, but he had sustained little damage.
Jake knew he was a bloody pulp.
He willed his fists up to protect his head and found this time they went there. He felt lighter, springier.
Lisa had made it. Joy filled his heart. She was by his side. She was his girl. Nothing else mattered.
The realization brought with it another realization. He didn’t care if he lost the fight or not. He just wanted it over. He just wanted to be in Lisa’s arms. To hold her, to kiss her.
Time to finish this one way or the other.
“Fight!” the ref yelled as he threw his arm down.
This time, Oliveira hesitated.
This time, Jake rushed.
Set it up, he thought, as he charged in. As he neared Oliveira he threw a quick double jab at Oliveira’s face. It worked. The punches didn’t land, but Oliveira had to raise his hands to deflect them. It left his midsection wide open.
Bull: An MMA Stepbrother Romance Page 11