Tyler's Undoing (Gloves Off #1)(5)

We made a bet. He told me I wouldn’t be able to handle his workout regime and I bet him that I could. Several of the other fighters in the hotel went along with us to Tex’s barn to see if they could handle it too. Luckily, I won the bet–and his money–but even to this day, I considered his makeshift gym to be one of the hardest workouts I’d ever done.

Tex was off in the corner wrapping his hands and putting on his gloves.

“It’s not exactly the prairie here is it? Miss your cows?” I teased.

“Ya’ll can keep your fancy lights, city boy,” Tex jested. “Ya’ll don’t know what you’re missing.”

I slapped him on the back and laughed. “Actually, I do and you’re more than welcome to keep the cow shit. Hey, listen, I need you to do a favor for me.”

Tex’s brown eyes lit up. “Oh? And what exactly would that be?”

Moving a little closer, I smiled and nodded over at Paxton. “The guy you’re fighting is Paxton Emerson. Since I’m not allowed to fight tonight, I need you to send him a message.”

Devilishly, he smiled. “You mean like a physical type of message?”

I nodded. “He seems to have a problem with listening. I need to make sure he stays away from this girl I know.”

“She your lady friend?”

“No, but we’re good friends,” I said, keeping my eyes locked on Paxton. “The last thing she needs is to get involved with him.”

“Don’t worry, city. I’m fixin’ to make sure he gets the message loud and clear.”

“Good, but I think it’ll be fun to give him the message myself. Just get him ready for me.”

Tex guffawed. “With pleasure.”

Once the club closed, I was free. I could do whatever the hell I wanted.





WORD OF MY afterhours fight with Paxton got back to Gabriella pretty quickly. I woke up the next morning to a slew of text messages, and let’s just say the ignore button was my friend. Why bring it up, if she didn’t want me to fix the problem?

My plan had worked. First, he was pissed because of Tex’s message, which provoked him to come after me. When he came up to me, he said he wasn’t going to leave Gabriella alone—that she would ‘give in’ to him eventually. Well, the moment those words left his mouth, I reacted instantly. There were no rules, just full on street fighting out in the parking lot. I think more people enjoyed that than the actual fights inside.

“Do you want to talk about last night?” my father asked. “You know Jake is going to be pissed as hell.”

Huffing, I pounded my fists into the bag, sweat dripping down my face and into my eyes. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” I snapped. “It was after hours.”

“On his property, son. What if Paxton pressed charges? You could lose your spot in the UFC.”

“That’s not going to happen. If you knew the real story, you’d know he was the one who started it all . . . I just happened to finish it.”

My father glared at me, his jaw tense. “Either way, you should compose yourself like a normal human being. You may fight for a living, but that doesn’t mean you handle real life situations like you’re in the ring. I expect better from you.”

“Oh, Steven, give the boy a break,” my mother chided as she walked into the gym. “I heard what happened and the other guy deserved it. Lighten up on him, sweetheart.”

My mother knew what she was doing because my father finally got off my back and started in on her, following her to the front desk. “That’s not the point, Mary,” I heard him hiss. “The boy needs to learn to control his temper.”

“I wonder where he gets it from?” she teased, winking slyly at me over her shoulder.

Since our receptionist left for nursing school, my mother had been taking the day shift answering the phones. She seemed to enjoy it, but it was actually my job to find a replacement. Unfortunately, I hadn’t found anyone I liked.

Now that my father’s attention was diverted, it was time to put in my hours of training. I had a Heavyweight title to work for.





“HOW IS YOUR grandma doing today?” Bree asked as I got into her little silver car.

I didn’t think I was being so obvious, but she must have noticed my sadness as I walked out of my grandmother’s house. As always, I smiled and tried to stay hopeful, even though I knew there wasn’t going to be much time left. “Well, her nurse showed up about an hour ago and we talked for a little while, discussing what the plan was for when . . .” Closing my eyes, I bit my lip and blew out a shaky breath, hoping I wouldn’t break into tears. I couldn’t even finish what I wanted to say.

Bree reached over and took my hand, squeezing it tight as she pulled out of the driveway. We were headed to the gym to work out because she was a good friend and thought I should get out of the house and spend some time in an environment where I could let my mind go free. I knew she was right, I just needed someone to drag my ass there.

When I came to take care of Nana, I knew it would be difficult when her health went downhill. Knowing, and seeing it actually happen, are two completely different things. At first, she was so full of life, but then the cancer started to spread and slowly took over.

My family, a.k.a. my mother and my older brother, had wanted to put her in a nursing home. This way, they wouldn’t have to worry about her. But I couldn’t bear to see that happen, so I moved to Las Vegas over a year ago, specifically to take care of her. I had no clue what I was going to do after the cancer took her from this world. Would I stay here or move back home to California? I just didn’t know.