Tyed(72)

Dawson arrives at Ty's side, along with two more of his trainers, and applies a layer of petroleum jelly to his face to prevent cuts. Dawson is constantly speaking, as Ty stares into the raised cage and nods, looking like his mind is far away from everything and everyone else here.

Then he climbs the steps, pauses at the gate to the cage and does this thing again, where he touches the tattoo with my name and looks up to the sky.

I love you too, baby, I want to scream.

The lock clicks, Ty and Vasquez bump fists with their gloved hands and the fight begins.

My heart is about to jump out of my chest even before they touch each other. In fact, they spend the first few seconds jumping around in circles. I decide to look away, not wanting to see how this one plays out. I still think the XWL is human cockfighting. I feel Cam fidgeting beside me and hear a loud Awwww from the crowd. It echoes in the arena and it makes me want to faint and wake up when it's all over.

"You want to see this," Cam tells me. "Open your eyes."

I slowly open my eyes and watch Ty sitting on top of Vasquez, pounding on him for what seems to be at least two minutes straight. There's blood everywhere. I'm fighting the scream that's stuck in my throat, because blood makes me want to vomit. I get dizzy before blood tests, so this is definitely not my scene. To top that off, in a matter of seconds, Vasquez manages to flip Ty over, and now he's on top of him.

Through the wire, Dawson yells up to Ty, "Lock your foot down! Push your hip! Ty! Ty! I'm talking to you!" He is frantic, screaming loud enough to be heard even with all the chaos and noise around us. That's when the first round is over and I take a deep breath.

Four more rounds to go.

I don't bother opening my eyes even once during the next twenty minutes of fighting. I don't respond to any of the ahhhs and the ohhhs. I don’t open my eyes during the rest periods between rounds. I wait patiently even when the place explodes with cheers and people scream their assess off at the end of the fifth round. That's when I hear the announcer officially crown Ty Wilder the XWL welterweight champion. He’s won by a decision

I open my eyes and watch the president of the XWL walk straight into the cage and hand Ty his new belt. The belt he’s worked so hard for. The belt that broke us apart in a way.

"This is your cue to go try and ask him if he'll talk to us before they whisk him off for the official TV interviews."

At first, I can't seem to move, but when Cam literally shoves me out of my chair, I run toward the cage and hook my fingers into the net.

I wouldn't be able to get so close to the ring if it weren’t for my super-great seat, but since I have a journalist tag, I can get away with a lot of things.

Ty looks exhausted, sweaty as hell, and there are fresh bruises and blood on him. Also, he's panting like crazy, the adrenaline pumping. He notices me after a few seconds and turns around to face me.

Heart stops beating. Brain shuts down. Hormones are raging.

He is coming over. Squatting down, he doesn't smile, just kind of wrinkles his forehead as if he's trying to figure out whether he is imagining this or not. He makes me feel home again. I missed this. I missed him.

"You deserve this," I mouth, tilting my head in the direction of the gigantic gold and silver belt. "Champ."

He leans into the net, and I lose sight of everything around us, but I'm pretty sure people are wondering who the hell I am and why is he paying attention to me, instead of celebrating his victory.

"Yrrr wamaminvivoo?" he asks.

"What?"

He spits his mouthpiece into his hand, this time asking clearly. "You want an interview, huh?"

I shake my head. "I'd love one, but I want you more."

His eyes soften immediately.

"You can start by giving me your number. You haven't done that in...well, never." He is slurring his words slightly, but I'm sure he'll be okay. He turns his back to me and before I know it Jesse appears by my side with Ty's phone, handing it to me. He's opened a new contact. I enter the number with a grin.

Jesse bites his upper lip, obviously worried by Ty's behavior. "He grew his virginity back while you were gone, just so you know."

I can't help but grin even wider. My eyes cling to Ty as he talks to an attractive female TV reporter inside the cage. I don’t care about her. I'm just so freaking proud. At the end, he won. And he did it all by himself.

Ty twists his head and points at me with this crooked smirk of his. There's a shitload of noise in the arena, but I'm close enough to hear when he shouts, "When you get that interview, don't forget, I’ve got ammo on you."

"What ammo?" My brows shoot up in surprise.

"First date? Your cell phone playlist. Ring any bells?" He sticks his tongue out at me.

Damn! He said he was going to use Phil Collins against me when I become a journalist.

And I did, partly because of him.





Chapter Twenty Two


It's the middle of the night and I hear a knock on my hotel room’s door. I know who it is. I've been waiting for Ty, and I haven't slept a second. It took time for him to get here, since he was caught up with all those interviews, the last one with Cam for Diablo Hill magazine. Yes, he met Cam in the lobby at 2 a.m., and then he even skipped all the after-parties just so he could come back to me.