Fighting for Love (Second Chances #4)(78)

Releasing a heavy sigh, I opened my eyes and nodded. “I got this. I’m not going to let anyone down tonight.”

Before I could put my earphones in my ears, Garrett charged through the door, his chest heaving up and down. “I’m sorry I’m late,” he sputtered. “Traffic’s a bitch out there tonight.” With a wide grin on his face, he handed me what he had in his hands. “I thought you might want to see this. I was going to show you the originals last weekend when I stopped by your house, but I was sent these today. They completely changed it.”

Holy shit, I thought, staring wide-eyed at what I had in my hands. “Is this what it’s going to look like?” I asked.

Garrett nodded. “Yeah, that’s the final one. I didn’t know how you would take it considering the circumstances, but I think it looks great.”

It did look great. “Was this Shelby’s idea?” I asked curiously.

“No, she doesn’t know. Bryan said he decided on this just today. Once he read the article he knew he had to put a picture of you and Shelby on the front. He agreed it was her best work yet; very powerful.”

“Can I keep this?” I asked, holding up the cover mock-up.

“Yeah, it’s yours, but put it aside so we can go. You’re on in like two minutes,” he announced, rushing me out the door.

To get pumped up, I put my earphones in and cranked up the volume so that Five Finger Death Punch was all I could hear instead of the cheering crowd for that worthless cocksucker, Kyle. My heart thumped wildly in my chest and my adrenaline was through the roof. I had waited for this moment for too f*cking long.

I just wish Shelby was here to see it.

Carter signaled for me to walk, so I took my earphones out and handed them to Garrett. This was it. Once the black curtain pulled back, I took a deep breath and strutted out to the beat of my song. Tonight it was “A Warrior’s Call” by Volbeat.

Keeping my gaze focused on the ring, I intentionally didn’t look toward the left where Shelby’s seats would’ve been. I knew she wouldn’t be there, but to look would only confirm it. The disappointment would only break down my focus, so I kept my head up and kept walking; secretly pretending she was there the whole time, watching me.

Once I got into the ring, the audience cheered and I did my usual circle around the ring, wearing the arrogant smirk the crowd loved. The announcer, with his black suit and slicked back white hair, acknowledged both me and Kyle with a nod before addressing the crowd. “All right, ladies and gentleman, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. For the Heavyweight title we have two fighters that have gone head to head for years, but only one victor will reign over the gold.”

Pointing over to Kyle, he said, “On one side of the ring we have Kyle ‘The Demon Slayer’ Andrews who’ll be competing to try and win back the title he lost three years ago to the one and only UFC bad boy, Matt ‘The Destroyer’ Reynolds. The tension is high, folks, and judging by the looks on these fighters’ faces we’re going to have an intense grudge match tonight.”

“Fighters, if you will?” he asked, motioning for us to join him in the center of the ring.

Kyle leered at me like the smug bastard he was, but I kept my face blank, emotionless. He thrived on response, but he wasn’t going to get it.

“Okay, gentlemen, you know the drill. When you hear the bell you may begin. Good luck,” the announcer instructed before vacating the ring.

“So where’s Shelby?” Kyle asked with a smirk on his face.

Getting into stance, I grinned and said, “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Well, I haven’t seen her here, so I’m assuming you two couldn’t work things out. What a shame. I might have to give her a call.”

Focus, Matt. With my teeth and fists clenched, I anxiously waited on the bell to ring, my muscles ready to strike out. Hurry the f*ck up before I explode.

Ding, ding, ding.

I was ready to strike, and my fist flew the second I heard the bell. Kyle didn’t have time to block the right handed uppercut, so when I connected with his face, blood spewed out of his nose and mouth. I smiled a real smile for the first time all week.

“Get ready, cocksucker, because it’s going to get a lot worse than that.”





“WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME,” I snapped, pushing my way through the crowd, wearing the ‘Team Matt’ tank top Gabriella let me borrow. Jace settled on a simple navy blue T-shirt, jeans, and a Duke Blue Devils baseball cap that I’d never seen him wear … ever. I didn’t even know he liked Duke.

I heard them call out Matt’s name, and if he looked over at the seats he wouldn’t see me there. Dammit, that’s not what I wanted. I wanted him to know I was with him, supporting him. Traffic was terrible coming into Sacramento, and if it wasn’t for my exceptional weaving in and out of traffic skills we would’ve never made it.

From the pale look on Jace’s face I probably almost gave him a heart attack in the car. Or it could’ve been because I found out something he kept from me; something that we witnessed together and would always stay ingrained in my mind.

“Were you ever going to tell me you gave him my journals?” I asked, rushing to find our section of the arena by the labels posted over the doors.

In a way, I felt like it was an invasion of my privacy with Jace sneaking off with them, but I wasn’t unhappy that Matt had them. I didn’t exactly want him to know my inner demons, but he needed to know everything; even the parts that weren’t exactly pretty.