by Day, Laura
He could spend the entire night at the gym and Marie would understand. She would smile knowingly and with a light kiss tell him to go knock 'em dead. She got it. She understood how important this was to him. She wasn’t threatened by it. She was perfect in almost every way.
From here he would head to nationals. It would be nothing but huge arenas and well-publicized fights. He could hire additional trainers, not that he was planning on getting rid of Hayden, but something about Hayden’s reaction to Marie wasn’t sitting right with Axel. It was like he refused to change his mind on Marie. They had the long-standing rule about dating and Axel had broken it, sure, but look how much better he was. Hayden refused to recognize it. He still stuck to his guns that this relationship was a bad idea.
Almost every conversation between the two men began with Hayden demanding to know if Axel had broken it off with Marie. Every time Axel responded with no and Hayden would sigh dramatically and shake his head. Then the lecture would begin. It was like Hayden was refusing to see the truth that was right in front of him: being with Marie was only making Axel stronger, not weaker.
After Axel’s massage was complete and he was freshly showered, he headed out. He was spending the night with Marie. She was going to make him dinner and then they would put Cate to bed and then have the entire night with each other.
“Axel, a word?” Hayden asked.
Axel whipped around and saw his trainer standing in the doorway to the office. He walked back inside and Axel followed. He owed Hayden that much. They had come up together; they had done everything together. But Axel was beginning to think that he had outgrown his old trainer.
Axel sat down in the couch in the office and Hayden leaned against his desk and stared down.
“You still with Marie?” Hayden asked. His voice was low, but he stared at Axel when he asked the question. His eyes were boring into Axel’s and he had an intense look on his face Axel couldn’t recall ever seeing before.
“Yes, and I hope you notice I’m fighting better than ever. I know you’re unhappy about it, but I think we need to change the rule about dating during training. All training programs need to grow and change as the athlete grows. This is just a small change. Everything else can stay the same, but this one thing needs to change.”
“Let’s talk about Olivia,” Hayden said.
“What’s there to talk about? I was green when I dated Olivia. I was a wet behind the ears twenty-one-year-old. I had no idea what I was doing-”
“You met her a month before a regional championship, your biggest fight to date,” Hayden interrupted. “You fell head over heels. I remember you coming to me and telling me all about her. She was beautiful and smart and charming. Blonde hair and blue eyes and nothing but curves for you to hold onto. You were smitten with her. You promised me things would be the same. Then you start missing practices because you were hung over. You were out late last night with Olivia. Olivia wanted to check out the local club and you were too sick to come to training. She was just using you to get into the best bars and clubs around town. Then the night before the championship, the night before, she gets into a fight with you, complains you’re not paying enough attention to her. She breaks it off with you and you’re devastated. You were slated to win that fight and you got knocked out in the first round. It was embarrassing and it took two years for your career to recover. Two years and that was just a regional championship. This is the Northeastern Belt that’s up for grabs. You fuck this up and your career could be over.”
Axel let him speak. He wanted to interrupt a dozen times, but he could tell the other man had been practicing his speech and Axel decided it would be better to let him let it all out. Memories of Olivia came flooding back to him. God she had been gorgeous and a real firecracker in the sack. And Hayden was right: she had Axel wrapped around her little finger. She said jump and he asked how high. He was desperate to please her. Looking back, he was embarrassed at his younger self. He had no idea what he was getting himself into with Olivia. Now he would see a girl like that coming and he would avoid her like the plague. He stared at the wall behind Hayden’s head and listened until, finally, it was his turn to speak.
“I don’t deny that Olivia was a huge mistake. I can see that now. But Marie is not Olivia. She’s better than that. She would never ask me to compromise my career. It’s not fair to blame Marie for what Olivia did. And I would remind you that I haven't missed a single practice. I haven’t been out partying or coming in hung over. I’ve told you, it’s different this time. I’m different. I’m more mature now and I think you would trust me on this.”
“You really choosing this girl over me? I’ve been with you since you were fifteen years old, Axel. This isn’t your career; it’s our career. What happens to you happens to me, too. I’ve given up everything for you-”
“What have you given up?” Axel demanded as he stood. “Because from my vantage point it looks like I gave you a job and a purpose. You had nothing before you started training me. You have a job because of me; you help run this gym because I own it. I’m hearing a lot about sacrifice on your end and nothing about the things my success has brought you.”
“So that’s how it’s gonna be? Now suddenly I’m just a leech hanging off you? I’m the one who got up at five in the morning so I could have everything ready when you woke at six. I’m the one who’s there right beside you when you’re training. You don’t drink, neither do I. You don’t see any women, neither do I. I thought we were in this together. Now I see otherwise.”
“Come on, Hayden,” Axel said throwing up his arms. Why did it feel like he was arguing with a disappointed girlfriend right now? “I’m not choosing you over Marie. You are putting yourself between me and her and I don’t want you there.”
Hayden took a step back as if he had been slapped.
“You’re my trainer, but from now on, I think that can only exist in here, in the gym. Outside of this place, you can’t tell me what to do. I know what I’m doing. I know my body better than anyone else. I’m telling you she’s good for me and you’re ignoring me. How am I supposed to work with that? You won’t look at the evidence. I’m better now, not weaker.”
“And what about whatever she’s running from? What if that guy comes looking the day before a fight and you get the shit kicked out of you with no time to recover? What then?”
“What if I get hit by a bus? What if a meteor hits the earth and all life is extinguished? You can't think like that, man. Anything could happen at any time, but we still have to live our lives.”
They were both standing. Hayden seemed almost out of breath. He was leaning against the desk and shaking his head. There was a dangerous looking sneer on his face. But Axel was done with him. Maybe it was time to get a new trainer.
“This, by the way, isn’t helping my mental game,” Axel said through clenched teeth. “Fighting with my trainer is not the best way to prepare for my biggest fight. So I’m gonna go,” Axel said. “And this is the last time we have this conversation.”
Hayden shook his head but said nothing as Axel made his way to the door, walked up the stairs and left the gym.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Wow, this is beautiful,” Marie said running her hands over the delicate and intricate stitching on the back of Axel’s red and blue robe. Axel Connelly, the letters were straight and even and very well done.
“Thanks,” Axel said with a knowing smile. “Uh...my mom made it for me.”
“Ooh,” Marie crooned, holding the robe tightly. “That’s so sweet. Your mom made your robe for you.”
“Just the stitching, and don’t mess it up. It’s good luck,” he chided. Marie smiled over at him from the passenger's seat as she carefully refolded the robe and put it back in the box. He was taking Marie for a weekend in Philly. Cate was staying with Ingrid, so it was just the two of them. Axel had some promotional stuff to do for the fight on Sunday, but the rest of the weekend was reserved for anything they wanted to do.
> She had been flattered and thrilled and when he came with the offer. She had never had a vacation away from her daughter and she felt a little guilty about how much she was enjoying it. But it certainly was nice to not have to chase after a five-year-old or wonder what she might be getting into. Marie allowed herself to settle back into the seat as Axel sped down the highway towards the city.
“For dinner we have reservations at Zahav. It’s supposed to be the best restaurant in Philadelphia. After that I know of some clubs we can go to, if you want. Then we can go back to the hotel and...” he drifted off and looked over at her with a smile. “Then on Sunday I have to do some work for the fight. Hopefully it won’t be too boring for you.”
“I’m excited to go,” Marie said, “and if it get’s boring, I can always leave and do some shopping.”
“Fair enough. Although it’s gonna be a little strange with you and Hayden there at the same time.”
“You two still haven't spoken?”
“We talk, but it’s only business. I feel like something broke between us and I’m not sure how to fix it, or if I even want to.”
Marie didn’t know what the fight was about. Axel just said that they were disagreeing over the training regimen. It made her nervous, though. This was such a big fight and she really wanted Axel to do well. She was desperate for him to win. She had heard that some athletes forgo sex in the days up to a competition and secretly she wondered if she was the reason Hayden and Axel had been fighting.
The hotel was probably the nicest Marie had ever seen. They weren’t just in a room, but an entire suite. There was a large kitchen, a dining room with a long, shining wooden table, a living room with several leather couches facing a big screen TV, and then in the bedroom there was a huge four-poster bed in the center of the room. Marie stood in the middle of the room and stared around her with her mouth hanging open. It was funny: Austin used to brag about getting hookups and deals from hotels. He would show off average looking rooms like they were something special. This would have blown his mind. He had never been in a room half as nice as this.
The thought made her a little giddy and once the bellboy had left Marie wrapped her arms around Axel’s neck and pulled him down for a kiss. Her tongue slid over his as his hands went around her waist and he pulled her flush against him. She smiled as she kissed him and he smiled back as his hand reached down and squeezed her ass.
There was a knock at the door and after a moment Axel released her. Marie pulled her skirt down and Axel smoothed his shirt as he walked to the door. The concierge stood in the doorway and next to him was a huge gift basket. It was so big it needed to be pulled on a cart. It was wheeled into the room and Marie stared in awe at bottles of champagne and cans of caviar and dozens of other expensive items she would get to break into later.
“Are you like famous or something?” she asked a little breathlessly. It was half a joke and half a real question. She knew Axel was well known in the fighting community, but she didn’t think he was famous enough to warrant this kind of treatment.
“Not to brag,” he said as he tipped the concierge and closed the door, “but I really am famous.”
Marie shook her head and walked out onto the balcony. It was a warm day and the city below teemed with life. Back home in Arizona the streets would have been empty at this point in the day; the relentless sun and heat would have driven everyone indoors. But here women in sundresses and men in sharp suits sipped iced coffee as they strolled down the street.
She was one of them now. A happy person. She never would have thought it possible. She was so used to misery that she had stopped expecting anything better. But now here it was. She could look down on those people and not feel envy. Their happiness only improved hers. For the first time in her life she could honestly say she was perfectly happy.
They ate a sumptuous dinner. It was seven or eight courses all picked out by and prepared by the chef. A wine came with each dish and they sat back and relaxed and ate their meal over the long course of several hours. Marie had never tasted food this good. Everything was cooked perfectly, everything spiced so the flavors were compounded to delicious new tastes and sensations on her tongue.
And dinner was just the beginning. He took her to a bar downtown. They took a black car and made out in the back seat as the driver raised the partition. He parked in front of a club in Old City where about three dozen people stood waiting in line. But Axel just took her hand and led her to the bouncer.
“Axel! My man,” the bouncer said as he moved the rope aside. “I got my money on you versus Castellano.”
“Then the next time I come here, my drinks are on you. You’ll have the money to pay for it,” Axel said clapping the man on the shoulder.
From the line Marie could hear people whispering Axel. Axel Connelly. The MMA fighter. He’s supposed to be really good. She felt flushed and tipsy. The club was dark with only the occasional lights flashing down from above. They were blues and purples and pinks and occasionally it looked like the entire world was changing colors. Axel led her onto the dance floor, his hands on her waist guiding her through the thick crowd.
She felt shy at first with so many strangers around her, but as they made their way through crowd Marie began to feel lost in a good way. She was surrounded by people, but none of them were looking at her. She blended in with them; she was one of them. In a way it felt like she and Axel were the only people in the very crowded club. They kissed. His hands were on her waist. She felt breathless. His lips were on her neck and his hands were grabbing her ass.
She pulled herself away from him before they went too far. He released her, but they danced closed together. Marie swayed with the music feeling lost in the moment. Nothing else mattered except the song that was playing and Axel still being close. Everything else faded into the background as one song became another and she danced until her legs almost gave out underneath her.
It was past midnight when they left. Back in the car Axel slid his hand up Marie’s thigh and she let him with a giggle. She felt drunk on love. Drunk on how she felt when she was with him. She had no worries at that moment. Not a single thing bothered her. It was perfect.
They tried to maintain their composure on their walk across the lobby to the elevator. Only Marie was barefoot. Her shoes were killing her and once they were in the lobby she slid out of them and sighed in pleasure when her feet hit the cold marble floor.
“Act natural,” Axel said and with heads held high they strode through the lobby and tried desperately not to laugh. Once they were alone in the elevator he pressed her back against the mirrored wall and kissed her deeply.
She kissed him back, her hands grabbing at his shoulders and pulling him closer. “God you’re strong,” she whispered as he kissed her neck. Her hands were on his shoulders and she could feel his muscles through the fabric. Pectorals and other muscles she couldn’t name bugled and rippled beneath her fingers.
Axel came up with a chuckle and kissed her again. They barely managed to keep their clothes on as they made their way to his suite.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Axel worked the bag as he waited for Marie. They had returned from Philadelphia two days ago and he hadn’t seen her since. They had texted, but it wasn’t enough and already he missed her. He didn’t like having to go entire days without seeing her. It seemed like too much time. He didn’t trust it. He wanted to see her every day.
She was late, but only three minutes. It wasn’t too strange. Sure, she had always been on time or earlier every other time they had met, but that didn’t mean something was wrong. Maybe something had happened with Cate. Maybe there had been an issue at the mansion. He checked his phone but there were no missed calls or texts. He returned to the bag, punching and jabbing at it as the minute hand moved and she was five minutes late.
Hayden was gone. It was their new routine. Marie was not mentioned between them. If Marie was at the gym, Hayden was somewhere else. He acted like Marie didn’t exist and
it was starting to make Axel mad. Hayden’s immaturity was starting to be a real problem. The thought had at first seemed inconceivable, but now Axel was seriously thinking of getting rid of his lifetime trainer. It wasn’t an easy thought. He had no idea how he would do such a thing.
When she was eight minutes late he couldn’t take it anymore. He took off his gloves and started walking to the stairs determined to go and find her himself. He was at the foot the stairs when the door opened and she appeared. The bright lights lit up her dark brown hair and she gave him a nervous smile as she hopped down the stairs.
“Sorry I’m late. It was just a thing with Cate.” She wasn’t looking him in the eye. She was making a show of taking off her long sleeve t-shirt and taping up her knuckles. She was busying herself to distract him. But he knew better. She was lying. Something was up.
“No worries, but don’t make a habit of it,” Axel said. “Let’s go do some sit-ups. “Marie, lay down on a mat and began to lift herself up as Axel held her feet. He counted as she completed each sit-up and he waited for her to speak.