I wasn’t stupid. “The minute the others find out you bet on me they’ll think we crossed them.” I looked back and forth between both men but neither said a word. Joe’s tug on my hand turned my attention back to him again. He pulled himself up using my hand. There was more strength in his grip right then than before.
“Listen to me, Maze, stay out of it. Tomorrow is your night. Win the fight and live your life. Make me proud.” The intensity of his words and trying to sit up must have drained him; he fell back onto the pillow and closed his eyes. His chest rose and fell like he fought to catch a breath. Then he seemed to calm down and he opened his eyes, taking a deep breath. “They gave me something to help me sleep just before you came in. I don’t think I can keep my eyes open much longer. Come see me in the morning, Maze. Tsang brought me a laptop earlier so I can watch the fight, he’s going to have someone videoing it so I can watch.”
“All right, I love you, Joe. I’ll see you in the morning.” I squeezed his shoulder.
“I love you too, son.”
We were never a really touchy feely family. The kind of touching Joe and I usually did had to do with my training, but for the second time in as many days I bent over and kissed his brow. Tsang got up and grasped his arm and the two men nodded at each other. “I’ll take care of him, Joe. My word,” Tsang said.
“I know,” Joe said and closed his eyes.
I texted Ivy while we were in the elevator leaving the hospital.
Maze: ‘Be there in 20.’
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ivy
Maze and I faced each other on the bed without a stitch of clothes on, just staring and touching. He would touch my hair, my chest, my arm and I did the same. Tracing the patterns of the ink all over his body. We didn’t make love last night, he just held me in his arms. He had a fight later tonight. He finally told me about it, he didn’t want to keep it from me. No more lies between us.
“I want you to be there,” he said, running his finger around my ear. “But at the same time, I know violence bothers you and in truth it’s not a world for you.”
I took his hand and kissed his palm. “If you want me there, then I’ll be there.”
He sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want you there. Well I do, but I don’t. I don’t want you to see that side of me. The cruelty.”
“I already have. Twice. And I didn’t run away. And there is no real cruelty inside you. You do what you must when you fight.” I smiled.
He shook his head. “That was nothing. This is raw, no holds barred. The more barbaric aspect of martial arts. Have you even seen a boxing match or marital arts for real or on TV?”
I nodded. “Both on TV.”
“Well this is worse. This isn’t the kind of stuff that looks like boxing or wrestling, it’s fast and brutal. The only real rule is thou shall not kill. But maiming happens.”
I ran my hands over his body, making sure there wasn’t anything missing. The thought of him being maimed or forced to do that to someone made my heart beat hard in fear. I couldn’t bring myself to ask if he’d ever maimed anyone. I couldn’t see any obvious scars on him other than the one on his eyebrow. But I’d heard once that tats are sometimes used to cover up scars. When I’d first met him years ago he’d only had a couple of them, the dragon on his side, and a band around his ankle and wrist. Now he had more, a full sleeve on one arm, writing that ringed his collar bone, it said ‘Bring on the dragon’, one around his bicep and another across his back. I sat up a little to closely examine the tats on his arm; I couldn’t see anything other than the beautiful art work.
“Do your tats cover up scars?”
He grinned. “I have rarely been marked but there are a few nicks and yeah some of them do.”
I nodded peering hard, trying to find a scar but still couldn’t tell. He pointed out one to me and if I squinted I could sorta, kinda see that part of the scroll work within the cross on his inside elbow might have been a scar. I began to laugh. “If you hadn’t pointed that out to me I would not have seen it. And I’m not sure I do even now. I love your tats.” My gaze flashed to his and I realized something else, too. I loved him. So much. Whether my ankle healed or not was important to me but it would not be the end of my world, as long as he was a part of it. I knew what I had to do.
He planned to leave from here to go home and get ready there before heading to the venue where the fight would be held. It didn’t escape my notice that he didn’t tell me where it was going to be. Other than it’s later tonight.
“I’m going with you,” I said.
He shook his head. “Babe, no.”
Maybe I got it wrong; maybe he really didn’t want me there. My chest rose and fell, my heart hurt. “Don’t you want me there? To be with you?”
He leaned forward and kissed my forehead, whispering against me. “More than anything. I want you with me always.”
“Then I want to be there always with you, for you.”
He pressed up against me so I felt the way his heart rate picked up, like he was scared of my answer to his question but he asked it anyway. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He kissed me then, rolling over me and taking the kiss deeper, but just as quickly rolling away from me, groaning and raised his arm to place it over his eyes.
“I’m sorry, babe, you have no idea how much I want to be inside you right now. But I can’t and it’s killing me. No worries though. I’ll use the frustration tonight to fight and afterwards…” He lowered his arm and turned his head to look at me. “Afterwards, I’m all yours to play with my tats or anything else all you want to, but I get to return the favor.” He brushed his finger over my nipple and had it hardening on contact.
I smiled. “I like that.”
He lowered his hand and sighed. “But I still have to get home to get my stuff, and I want to stop by the hospital first to see Joe. So let’s have some breakfast and then head to the hospital.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Is it okay if we eat here? I can run out and get us something,” he offered.
“There’s stuff in the refrigerator but not sure there’re any eggs.”
He laughed. “I better tell you now I really don’t cook. I can boil an egg, fix a sandwich, but I need a lot of protein this morning and I don’t want you cooking for me. Not that I’d mind but not while you’re on crutches. Can you even cook?”
I smacked his shoulder and he laughed. “I’m kidding, you know that. I don’t care if you do or don’t.”
“I can, Dante taught me. He’s a great cook.”
“He would be,” he mumbled. “Well, tell ya what, you can teach me and then I’ll cook for you. It’s my job to take care of you until you’re back on both feet and even after.”
If I weren’t already in love with this man, I’d have fallen in love with him then.
We took separate showers; Maze said he didn’t trust himself to take a shower with me. So while I took a shower first, alone, he went out to get us some breakfast. After I finished I went into the kitchen and got the kettle going. I just poured a cup when Dante walked out of his room. He was dressed and carried his dance bag with him. The performance was this afternoon but it was still too early for call.
“You’re leaving early,” I said.
“Yeah, in a few. Some of the cast are meeting for breakfast then going over.”
“Oh.” The door opened and both of us swung our gazes in that direction. I’d given Maze my key so he could let himself back in just in case I was still in the shower.
He walked in and nodded to Dante. He placed the bags on the table in the kitchen and then kissed me. “Where are the plates?” Maze asked.
“The cabinet to the right of the sink,” Dante said.
“I’m glad you’re here, I need to ask you a favor,” Maze said as he grabbed a couple of plates and put them on the table. I began to pull stuff out of the bag.
“What did ya get?” I asked.
“
For you, I got a ham and cheese omelet. For me, I got an everything omelet along with a stack of pancakes and sausages.”
“Holy shit,” Dante said. “Do you eat like that all the time?”
“No, but on fight night I stock up on the protein and carbs for breakfast,” Maze said.
Dante nodded. “What is it you need, man?”
Maze sat down and finished dishing out the food as he answered Dante. “Ivy wants to come watch me fight tonight. The venue is pretty safe, lots of bodyguards around but I have to be in the arena and I don’t want her there by herself, even if she wasn’t on crutches. My uncle will be there but I thought it would be good for her to have someone else with her, too.”
“I’ll be fine, besides Dante has a performance,” I said. His gaze shot to mine. I told him about the performance, but we hadn’t talked about it since. The one I was missing. I was sort of trying really hard not to think about it.
“What time is the fight?” Dante asked.
“Ten, the door will open about an hour before.”
Dante nodded. “I can make it. Do you want me to bring her with me?”
“No. I’ll already be there with, Maze.” I spoke up staring hard at Maze. I wanted him to know I meant to be with him. I wasn’t running away from any aspect of his life.
“Fine. Thanks, man. I’ll leave your name at the door,” Maze said.
After breakfast Maze and I took a cab over to the hospital. He decided it was better for us to go there first then back to his place. His uncle, Tsang would pick us up from there to take us to the arena. I was glad, a little nervous hobbling into the hospital room on crutches to meet his step-father. But he seemed really happy to see us; he even hugged me after Maze introduced me as his girlfriend. My heart did a funny little leap at that word. I immediately liked Joe and he seemed really sweet.
“She’s a ballerina,” Maze told Joe and there was pride in his voice.
“I’ve seen the Russian ballet a couple of times,” Joe said.
“What! How do I not know you ever went to the ballet?” Maze asked. The shocked look on his face was priceless and both Joe and I laughed.
“It was when you were little and your mother was still alive. She loved the ballet. She used to dance, too,” Joe told him.
Maze shook his head. “Another thing I didn’t know.”
Then Joe turned his attention to me. “What happened to your leg?”
I told him. I was happy my voice didn’t wobble over the story, especially the part about how dancing would depend on a few factors. Like how well the tendons healed, and then the really hard part strengthening my ankle again.
“Maze can help you there,” Joe said.
Maze nodded. “Yeah I told her that. And no worries, this will work.”
“I will most definitely take him up on that.” And I would. I was willing to try anything that would help. I had nothing to lose.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Maze
I knew Ivy was nervous. I couldn’t even hold her hand. She needed both hands to maneuver the crutches. I was glad Uncle Tsang brought along an extra bodyguard tonight. When he’d come to the house to meet us earlier, one had stayed outside in the car and the other had come into the house with Tsang but Hasser went everywhere he did, even the bathroom. Ivy seemed a little confused at first as to why Tsang needed a bodyguard but she didn’t ask any questions. I saw in her eyes though they were there.
Tsang took us to one of the many restaurants he had an interest in in Chinatown for an early dinner, not quite as heavy as breakfast for me since I fought in a few hours. Then he took us to one of his condos to rest before the fight. He left Ivy and me alone but would return to take us to the arena. It was there in Chinatown, not far from the condo, walking distance in fact, but it was raining heavily.
“I like your uncle. Is he your step-father’s brother?”
It was a logical question, since they were both Chinese and I obviously was not. “No. He’s not blood relation. Joe and Tsang are like brothers, they think of each other that way, so when Joe adopted me so did Tsang.”
We sat on the couch just relaxing, the television was on but neither of us were really watching it. I lay back at the end of the couch with one leg against the back of the couch, the other on the floor. I’d dragged the coffee table over so Ivy lay with her back resting against my chest, one leg up on the couch next to mine, and the other on the coffee table. Suddenly the sound of thunder crackled outside causing the wall of windows in front of us to shake a little. Ivy jumped against me. I wrapped my arms tighter around her.
“Shhhh, it’s okay. I didn’t know you were scared of thunder.”
She snorted. “I’m not. It’s the suddenness, the unexpected noise that makes me jump.”
I smiled into her hair but she couldn’t see me. “I got ya.”
“Why does your uncle need a bodyguard?”
And there it was, the question I knew she’d been dying to ask me ever since she met him. I sighed. “I don’t want to lie to you but my uncle, while he is a legitimate business man… He owns a few restaurants in Chinatown and a few other businesses as well, but he also has business rivals and he has ties that don’t always walk the straight and narrow.”
“What!”
“So you’ll understand if the less you know about the reasons why he might need a bodyguard the better, and leave it at that.”
She twisted to look at me a frown marring her features. “Are you involved in any of this?”
I shook my head. “No.” Truth but not quite and I prayed to God after tonight it would all be truth. I was crazy thinking I could keep her and be more involved with the Triad than I already was. At least now I had a chance. I could have a life with her. Tonight after the fight I would tell her how I felt about her. How I’d always felt about her.
It was surreal walking into the dressing room with Ivy beside me. Tsang was with us as well as two bodyguards. I watched Ivy as she looked around. There was a massage table, a bench, a couple of chairs, an open closet and a bathroom, a long mirror hooked to a wall.
“Not bad for a dressing room,” she said.
I grinned, I was pretty sure it was a good size for a dressing room for one person. It had been specially designed for these mixed martial arts tournaments that involved blades. So it was wide enough for me to stand at one end, stretch out my arms while holding my eighteen inch swords and still have room between the tips and the walls, behind me and at my sides. As well as room between me and the anything else in front of me.
“Sit down, stay with me a while longer. Then Tsang will take you to your seat, front row, right?” I glanced over my shoulder at Tsang who’d taken one of the two chairs in there. He nodded. I placed my case with my blades on the floor near the table. When my trainer came in the bodyguards left. I introduced Ivy to Master Lee. Then I striped down to my briefs and laid on the table for him to give me a rub down to get the blood flowing in my muscles. When he was done, I got dressed in the loose black kickboxing pants I preferred to fight in.
Uncle Tsang stood up then. “I think it’s time for me to take Ivy to our seats and get her settled so you can finish preparing. And remember what I told you and what Joe told you. He’ll be watching too, it’s all arranged.”
I nodded my head then turned to Ivy. I grabbed her crutches and helped her to stand, then I placed one under each arm. I put my arms around her waist and touched my forehead to hers. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck,” she said.
I raised my head and looked into her beautiful brown eyes, the hint of green in the center shown within and I smiled. Yes I was going to win because this girl deserved me to do nothing else but my best. “I’m going to kick his ass.” Then I gave her a quick kiss and stepped aside so she could get by.
“I’ll see you as soon as it’s over.”
She turned to look at me. “You better win. I didn’t come here to see you lose.”
Tsang walked out with her and as soon a
s the door closed behind them I began to prepare my mind and my body for what lay ahead and what I had to do. I was ready. I had trained for this moment most of my life, even if I didn’t realize it until recently. I put all thoughts other than what I had to do out of my head and centered myself, entering that place of complete and utter calm I have no problem reaching before a fight.
Finally, it was time. I followed my trainer and a couple of other helpers out to the arena. The place was about half the size of a basketball court and I knew it would be packed. A sort of raised platform, about two feet off the ground, would be in the center. Not a ring exactly, there were no ropes, or even a cage, more like a stage. Because it was a stage, my opponent and I were about to put on a show. A dangerous one. I neither looked to my left nor my right, just straight ahead, my gaze remained on the red dragon on the back of Lee’s shirt. We climbed up the steps on the right side. As soon as my foot hit the stage I heard the roar of the crowd again, my opponent had entered from the other side. I saw his hands raised in the air. Fucker. I didn’t bother to grin. I would not waste any unnecessary energy. I turned my back on his entrance and faced Lee while I did a few moves with him to keep me limber and focused. It wasn’t until I turned around and saw my opponent that I froze in surprise. But only for a moment, then I smiled.
Jai. Those sons of bitches switched fighters. This was why I was being pushed so hard to throw the fight. At first it didn’t make sense to me. My opponent was just as well ranked as I was although we’d never fought before. The odds should have had us even, with me having a slight edge because I’d never lost a fight. He’d lost twice but the wins he had were brutal and very decisive. Jai ranked much lower and he leapt over other fighters for a shot at the prize. Now I understood why they wanted me to throw the fight. His bastard of an older brother was damn well behind this. I grinned when Jai and I locked eyes across the stage; he and the rest of them were in for quite a show tonight.
The Ballerina & The Fighter (Book 1) Page 14