One Last Fight - Part Two (The One Last Fight Series Book 2) Read online

  “Do you?”

  “No, I don’t really know, Rafe. I don’t know about life on the inside and what you’ve been through. But I assumed it was hard and you changed.”

  “The men in there, they become animals. It turned me into an animal, just trying to survive and watch my back all the time. Out here, you can talk things out. There’s all kinds of ways to solve problems. Not in there. You’re trapped. There’s no one to help. The different gangs all have rules and grudges. You piss off the wrong people and you’re done.” Now that I’d started talking, I couldn’t stop. I go on and tell her about standing up for a Mexican and pissing off the other gangs. How I got the shit beat out of me just for trying to help someone.

  “They broke my nose, collarbone, gave me a concussion, and about a dozen deep cuts that required stitches, like this monster.” I pull the side of my shirt up and take her hand, then run it up the jagged scar on the side of my lower back. “Sixteen stitches for that one.”

  Lily sucks in a breath.

  “I’ve wondered where those came from,” she says softly, pain in her voice.

  It’s not like I’m a stranger to injuries but that particular scar reminds me of the injustice and warped politics on the inside.

  A long time later, I feel her hand on mine. “It’s over now.”

  “I know. But in some ways, it’s never over. I worked hard to get rid of those nightmares, and now they’re back. I don’t know what to do about it. I have to have a clear head so I can fight.” I suddenly realize that’s what I’ve been worried about.

  “Rafe?” She touches my arm but doesn’t leave her hand there. “I’m here for you.”

  I need to hear that but I’m not ready for it at the same time.

  “Reintegration wasn’t easy either. Three years of that... of watching my back, and then I’m suddenly on the outside, trying to live a normal life again.” I turn my hand over and slide my fingers through hers. The contact feels nice, comforting, like the friendship we used to have. I suddenly notice the moon is gone. We’re not in complete darkness, but close to it.

  “You made it work, Rafe. You’re living your dreams despite all that. Remember that, okay? Remember you’re a fighter and a winner.”

  “Thanks,” I whisper. “What I’m trying to explain is, I have to make decisions to survive. Staying away from you is one of those decisions.”

  She pulls in a quick breath. Then it’s quiet for a long minute. I can tell my words stung her even though I don’t look over.

  “Why?” she finally asks, the hurt in her voice loud and clear.

  I want to tell her more about the nightmares, but I feel too exposed already. And I would only hurt her if I tried to explain that seeing her brought them back. And maybe it’s even more than that. I know the truth now about what happened, but can I trust her to stick around if things get hard again? Lily is the only person I’ve ever said “I love you” to, and then she took off on me when she couldn’t handle the guilt. I don’t have an easy life. Things might get fucked-up again.

  Instead of explaining, I change tactics and ask, “You haven’t been waiting for me all this time, have you?”

  A long pause.

  “Waiting for you?”

  “I mean, I tried to go on with my life, after prison at least. You had to. I know that. You must have dated other people.”

  “Oh.” After a minute, she admits, “Yes, I’ve dated. There were a couple of serious relationships.”

  I don’t like the thought of her with another guy, but I’m glad she didn’t wait for me. It makes what I need to do now easier. Still, a minute passes before I’m ready to hear any more. “And...?”

  “I wasn’t always emotionally there. It was hard with my mom, especially when she died. I dated but I didn’t let anyone in. Then later I was going to school and super busy. That ended a relationship that might have gone somewhere.” She hesitates and I turn her way again. “And...”

  “Tell me.” I use her line on her.

  “Some guys aren’t into dating someone who was a stripper. There was that. And then there were the guys who really liked it, but they... they had expectations about me then.”

  My jaw clenched. “They’re assholes then. You don’t need either of those kinds of guys.”

  Lily makes a noise—a laugh? I bump her arm. “What?”

  “It’s just funny to hear you say that. You were so against it.”

  “Of course I was against it! You were my girl. I didn’t want you taking your clothes off for other guys.” I force myself to relax my hand so I won’t hurt hers. “I wanted the best for you. I tried to give you other options, but don’t let anyone ever put you down for doing what you had to do.”

  She doesn’t say okay but she doesn’t argue either.

  “You didn’t pick your mom getting sick any more than I picked my no-good con artist dad.”

  She scoffs. “We did get dealt a bad hand. But maybe not so bad. We had each other. That was the other thing that messed up my relationships. You.”

  “Me?” So she had thought about me while we were apart. About us. She had to. But I’d been so angry before I figured she didn’t.

  “You were always there in the back of my mind.”

  I squeeze her hand, then let go to move my arm over her shoulder. “Are you happy?”

  “Sometimes.” Lily leans into me and rests her head on my shoulder.

  She’s about to ask me the same thing so I throw in, “And after everything we’ve been through, you still thought we had a chance again?”

  She swivels her body to face me.

  “Rafe, I wouldn’t have come on this show if I didn’t believe we have a chance. Will we make it work? Are you going to try? I don’t know. I just know I had to try.”

  I don’t have any answers for her.

  You hurt me before, I think, but I don’t want to say it and hurt her now.

  “It worked the other night,” she reminds me.

  “It did. It was great. Mind-blowing.” I reach out and touch her face. We’re so close I could kiss her. My body reacts as I picture it, a slow, lingering kiss leading to more. Instead I lean over and find her mouth for a quick second. Then I get up. “We should get back so we can catch a little sleep tonight.”

  I offer my hand. It’s too dark to see but she must sense it. I help her up and we walk back slowly so we won’t trip, fingers weaved together. I want to tell her the good that’s been in my life, so I tell her about getting out of prison, training for MMA and Mic finding me, then agreeing to be my manager.

  “I had to keep busy when I got out. Time to think wasn’t a good thing. So I was in the gym and local MMA center all the time. I mean, I had a job too, so my life was work and training, and going to meetings to help with the nightmares. Then one of the men at the club dropped out of a competition and the MMA club manager put me in for a local fight. That’s where Mic saw me.”

  “He just took you on?”

  “Well, he saw me there, and then he started showing up at my center. He was on the side of the ring watching me a lot, and then one day he said, ‘You’re serious about this, aren’t you?’ and I said, ‘200 percent,’ and then he said, ‘You wanna prove that?’ And that’s when he started training me, but he didn’t take me on for another month.”

  “Wow, guess he wanted to make sure you were committed.”

  I almost comment, but that word committed hangs in the air. A long time ago, I never questioned having Lily in my future. She was a given. Hell, she was my center. Then she shattered everything and left me with only hurt and questions.

  Now I can’t picture my life with her in it. How can I just overlook all of our past and go on like everything is fine?

  We reach the house, and I don’t want to explain what’s going on inside my head. So I pull her against me for a long hug. “Sleep well, okay?”

  “You too.”

  There’s more to say, but not now. I kiss her forehead and leave.

  Chapter
Three

  Lily

  “Lily?”

  It’s Kara’s voice. I jerk awake and sit up, startling so bad she laughs at me.

  “I thought you were going to sleep all morning.”

  “Jesus, what time is it?” I rub my eyes and try to focus on the clock by the bed. It’s almost eleven. I never sleep this late.

  “Didn’t sleep well?” she says.

  “No. Too much on my mind, I guess.” It’s true, too. After I got back and crawled into bed, I still couldn’t sleep. I kept wondering what Rafe and I accomplished last night.

  “There’s some kind of announcement in half an hour, and I was worried you’d miss it.”

  I groan and head to the bathroom for a quick shower. I’m on a high from talking with Rafe, but at the same time I know we’re on shaky ground. Part of me is angry, too. I want to yell at him and tell him how I feel, and how he’s being stubborn. I almost want to make him pay for ignoring me all week, but that’s not my style. And I don’t really want to hurt him, or worse, lose him. I’m just so frustrated it’s hard to think straight. But, at least I know what happened the other night, and why he’s been so distant. I take a long, slow breath, closing my eyes and letting the water run down my face.

  Afterwards I slip into jeans and a tank top and head downstairs. I find everyone gathered in the big room. Rafe, Liam, and a few of the show’s staff members are standing along the wall, talking amongst themselves. I watch Rafe until he glances my way. We share the briefest moment before he turns away again. Did last night mean anything to him?

  “There you are,” Kara whispers to me. “Are you okay?”

  I start to answer her when Rafe turns and meets my gaze again, his dark eyes brooding. Is he thinking about last night? We stare at each other until I smile just a little. He breaks into a small smile too. My heart lifts out of my chest.

  I glance back at Kara. She has a knowing expression on her face but doesn’t comment.

  “We have a surprise for you for tonight!” Liam calls out as we find seats on the couches. Mel and Samantha are on one couch, both giving sideways glances at the others to size up their outfits. Mel’s in a white tank top that’s loose like it’s a guy’s shirt, and it hangs way too low. Zuri and Heather have claimed the other couch. They don’t dress like Mel, but I can tell they’re trying to look their best. Zuri’s black tank top and leggings are both skintight. That leaves Kara on the loveseat. She makes room for me and I sink gratefully into the soft leather.

  The cameras are already rolling. “Rafe, take it away.”

  “Ladies, tonight I’m taking you into my world.”

  That gets everyone’s attention, including mine.

  “We’re having a fun night out, starting at four when we’ll meet out front. I’m taking all of you to a high-profile fight with front-row seats. We’re watching Lance Palmer versus Marcos Campos de Almeida. It’s gearing up to be an awesome match.”

  All of us start talking to each other until Liam claps his hands. “Now, you heard Rafe, we’re leaving at four. So you have some time to get ready!”

  Mel, Heather, Samantha, and Zuri rush for the door like they need every minute of the next four hours to get ready. I roll my eyes at Kara and then catch Rafe watching me. Warmth fills me. We shared something new last night. It wasn’t just about discussing the past. We built new memories.

  “So...” Kara steps beside me and crosses her arms. “Should we go shopping?”

  I turn, mouth open. Kara doesn’t strike me as the type of girl who loves to shop, but she might want to get a break from this place too. It sounds so nice to get my mind off all this, so I tell her, “Yes, let’s get out of here for a while!”

  ***

  A little before four, Kara and I go downstairs. She’s in a dark green halter dress. She tried to go for something long again and I talked her out of it. She’s killing it in the halter top. I probably shouldn’t be helping her look so good, but I honestly don’t want to compete with her. We had so much fun shopping together. It’s not like Rafe will make his final decision based on physical appearance, anyway.

  I went for a little black dress with a swirl of sequins starting by my right breast and winding down to the hem of the dress on the left side.

  “Damn, we’re looking fine!” Kara says, popping her hip. When we walk out the front door, we find the others waiting, all decked out in dresses as well. Mel eyes us but doesn’t say anything. She’s wearing a black dress too, with cutouts on the sides to show her stomach and hips.

  A limo turns into the lot and rolls up next to us. A second later Rafe steps out of the back. He’s wearing a black blazer over a white shirt and black slacks. That doesn’t hide his wide shoulders or powerful physique. Just the opposite, actually. His expensive clothes hug his ripped form. I see the glint of a silver necklace just above the shirt collar, drawing my eyes to the softer skin there. My blood starts racing, and I find myself daydreaming about kissing and nibbling on his neck. I hold my breath, waiting to see if he’ll notice the extra effort I put out.

  “Good evening, ladies. Wow, all of you look absolutely amazing!” He smiles as he surveys the group. I feel let down but a second later his gaze sweeps over me and back to my eyes. My stomach coils with desire. I’ve never found anyone else who can make my body catch on fire with just a passing glance. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready and excited!” Heather chirps, extra excited. Everyone is stepping up their game now.

  “Step right in! We have a fun time ahead of us.” Rafe steps aside and waves a hand toward the door.

  Samantha reaches the limo first, and Rafe rewards her with a kiss on the cheek. She blushes and then disappears into the backseat. Mel is next. She leans into Rafe as he bends to offer her the same chaste kiss he gave Samantha, but she turns her head slightly at the last moment, and his lips brush the corner of her mouth. She feigns a startled face, which quickly melts into a sultry smile. She slides her hand down his chest and then slips gracefully into the back of the limo. I shake my head and try not to notice the way Rafe’s gaze follows her until she’s out of sight.

  Rafe continues to greet each woman with a kiss on the cheek, and I take a step back, trying to ignore it and protect my heart. But it’s out there for the trampling, and there isn’t anything I can do about it. I end up being last. Rafe turns, his dark eyes appearing even darker than normal, like a deep dark forest brown.

  Are you just playing this game? I want to ask. Or do you not know who you want?

  I feel my face change and know I’m giving him a defiant stare.

  “Lily,” he says, suddenly pulling me into his arms. I’m startled—everyone in the limo might be able to see, and he hasn’t made any public displays of affection like this in front of the others. “You asked why I had to stay away from you the other day,” he whispers by my ear.

  Now I’m even more surprised and intrigued.

  “You said to survive, but I didn’t understand.”

  “I thought you brought back the nightmares.”

  I pull back and stare at him in disbelief. Why would he think that? And how could I make his nightmares come back? I shake my head, confused.

  “I’ll explain more later.” He leans close and kisses my cheek, lingering there, then he traces a finger around my mouth.

  “Rafe, are you coming?” someone calls from inside the limo. He waves me in first, and when I sit down inside, I’m overwhelmed with the smell of leather and everyone’s perfume. They’re all looking at me, wondering what Rafe and I just talked about. Rafe slides in on my other side. Normally he sits between two women. I glance his way. What’s going on in that head of his? I heard him the other night when he mentioned nightmares, but I must have missed how serious it was, or even what they were about. I have to assume being on the inside... so why would seeing me make them come back? Am I just a reminder?

  Rafe reminds me of something good in my hard life back then. He was always there. When things got bad, I could sneak over t
o his trailer and tap on his window and we’d go talk late into the night. We talked about our dreams all the time, how we were going to make something of our lives. We talked about all the things we wanted to do together. Even then, Rafe had loved the idea of ringside seats to a big fight like this.

  “This isn’t exactly how we pictured it,” I say quietly to Rafe. His brows come together for a second, and then he smiles.

  “But here we are, going to a big fight.” He remembers too.

  Suddenly all the perfume in the car gets to me and I sneeze. A second of silence follows.

  “Bless you,” Rafe says.

  Mel laughs and Rafe turns to me and says, “Don’t mind her.”

  “Thanks,” I tell him quietly. Nice start to the evening. I shake it off, though, as we head into the city. It’s early still but people are out. We arrive at the event center and it’s already crowded. The driver opens the door and we spill out, drawing the attention of the crowd. Yeah, one guy with all these women, and then the camera crew. A car pulls in behind ours, and Liam and Mike step out. Everyone turned out for tonight’s event.

  “Mr. Maddox and company, right this way!” I hear a voice and turn to see we have an escort. Fancy. Everyone vies to be next to Rafe, and I don’t push my way through. But he waits for me, arm out, so I walk next to him.

  “Rafe Maddox!” A twentysomething guy waves, and Rafe stops to sign an autograph for him.

  “Dude, I didn’t know you’d be here tonight! Having some fun, huh? Looks like you’re killing it!” He nods at all of us.

  “I’m taking my friends out for a night,” Rafe says, and I have to admit it’s about the best answer he can give to that. He gives me a quick smile that makes my stomach tighten. “And we have to get going. Thanks for your support, man!”

  We get to skip the lines and go straight to our seats, a boxed-off section right up by the cage. As soon as we’re seated, two servers come by for drink orders. The energy in the building is contagious. It’s filling up fast with excited fans, and a lot of them recognize Rafe. Music blares behind the noise of the crowd.

  Kara grabs my arm and says, “I wasn’t sure I’d like this, but wow. First-class treatment, too.”