Fighting for Love (Second Chances #4)(79)

“He needed to read them, Shelby. I know they were private, but if you want him to trust you then he needs to know it all. Although, I have to admit I could’ve foregone what happened at the cemetery,” he admitted sadly. “Now that was a private moment that broke my heart. If you weren’t in the car with me I’m pretty sure I would’ve cried like a damn baby.”

Like me, I wanted to say.

When we pulled up at the cemetery, I saw Matt’s truck parked on the side of the road, or at least a truck that was exactly like his. Jace didn’t seem to notice, so I drove around until I could get a glimpse of my family’s plot. The moment I saw Matt broken down on the ground I shattered into a million pieces. I wanted to run to him and hold him while he cried, but it was his moment with Madelyn and I didn’t want to interfere. Instead, I sat there and watched him with a fractured heart, sobbing my eyes out.

“Are you going to tell him you saw him there?” Jace asked.

Once I found our section, I stopped at the entrance and sighed, trying hard to keep the burn behind my eyes at bay. “No, I’m not going to tell him,” I replied. “That’s something I feel should be between him and Madelyn.”

Taking his hand, I quickly pulled him along behind me. “Now come on, the bell’s about to ring.”

Matt had on a pair of white and black fighting shorts with a pair of black gloves, and he was in full fighting stance. He was so focused on Kyle that he didn’t see me and Jace take our seats. The second the bell rang, Matt moved so fast with an uppercut to Kyle’s jaw that I barely saw his arm move. The power of it radiated through the room. Kyle’s head snapped back and blood splattered in an arc across the mat from his mouth and nose.

I had never seen Matt move with such speed and dominance before in any of his fights. He fought to win, even if that meant hurting his opponent, but I could see it in his wild eyes that he wanted to hurt Kyle and not just to win the fight. His ultimate goal was to punish him and I was going to enjoy watching it.

“Okay, Shels, the smile on your face is kind of creepy. Hopefully, I’ll never get on your really bad side,” Jace noted.

Keeping my eyes on the fight, I chuckled. “What can I say? He deserves it. I just wish Matt would look over at me so he’d know I was here.”

“You could always stand up and scream,” he teased. “That would get you noticed. However, I’m pretty sure that Garrett and Carter will see you out here and tell him.”

Ding, ding, ding.

“Wow, that was fast,” I chimed.

Breathing hard, Matt went to his corner and grabbed the bottle of water Carter handed to him, guzzling it down while nodding his head in reply to what he was being told. Kyle spent most of his minute reprieve by wiping the blood off his face and yelling at his coach. Matt’s chuckle could be heard from where I sat, and arrogantly so, he kept his gaze on Kyle the whole time. He demolished him in the first round and now he was getting cocky.

We all knew what happened to people when they got like that … they made mistakes. Matt had never been one of the fighters to let his ego get in the way, but he had so much animosity toward Kyle that eventually it had to get to him.

“Am I the only one who thinks this is bad?” I muttered nervously. Sitting on the edge of my seat, I chewed on my thumbnail as Matt and Kyle met back in the center of the ring.

Jace agreed, “He’s letting round one get to his head. Kyle’s not looking so good, but all it takes is one wrong move and he’ll get his energy back if he catches Matt off guard. Let’s just hope Matt continues to pound him.”

Ding, ding, ding.

Matt struck fast again, swinging his body around in a roundhouse kick, but Kyle deflected and ducked under Matt’s foot. Before Matt could get back into his fighting stance, Kyle caught him off guard with a one-two punch combo. Kyle was coming back full force and swung his fists left and right. For the round so far there wasn’t a second their bodies stopped moving or even took a break for that matter by circling around the ring, and they still had another minute to go. Matt’s left side of his face dripped in rivulets of blood from a gash above his eyebrow, and the whole area had already started to swell and turn purple.

Just like me, Jace had planted his elbows on his knees and leaned over, bouncing his foot up and down; it was a nervous twitch we both possessed. In another life I swear he had to have been my brother.

“This is a good fight,” he said. “I just hope we get to see the end of it. I thought it would be over by now, but it’s not.” Looking down at his cell phone, he held it up to me and pointed at the time. “We have to be in the car and on the way to the airport in ten minutes in order to make our flight.”

Anxiously, I glanced at the clock and then back up to Matt. “Come on, Matt, you can do this,” I whispered. I couldn’t leave without knowing he won the fight.

The bell rang and off they went to their corners. This time Matt had a scowl on his face as Carter yelled at him and threw a bottle of water in his lap. Come on, let’s get it going. I only had five minutes left until Jace was going to drag me out of the arena. Another minute down and now I only had four left.

Ding, ding, ding.

It was the third and final round and Matt started off strong, but he was angry and I could see it in his stance; he wasn’t focused. His goal was to make Kyle pay for what he did. I think he cared more about punishing him than defending his Heavyweight title.