Defying the Odds (17 page)

Even with his cap pulled low over his eyes, Clay was easy to read. He seemed oddly calm and completely unaffected by the buzz of the crowd. His shoulders were stiff and straight. His stride was confident, and Melody hoped with all her being that he’d have a reason to remain so self-assured.

Clay and Romeo entered the ring.

She fell silent, feeling the pound of her heartbeat reverberating in her ear. Why had she agreed to come? Clay didn’t even know she was here. A surge of cowardliness slammed into her, and she was desperate to flee before the fight started. The idea of Clay getting beaten by this man, of sitting there watching him take abuse she understood better than she wanted to—this was Melody’s idea of hell.

“I can’t do this,” Melody said in a wild panic.

Jules just reached over and grabbed Melody’s hand in a powerful show of unity, her grip shockingly tight. Jules squeezed her fingers nearly to the point of pain, making it obvious Melody wasn’t the only one who wanted to run away.

“I’ve been to dozens and dozens of these fights, and it never gets easier,” Jules said in anguish. “I’m so sick of this sport.”

Melody had just been introduced to the sport, and she was already sick of it. She could hardly imagine poor Jules, who’d been watching both her brother and Clay compete for years and years. It was like witnessing a train wreck, seeing the two fighters facing off with only a referee to stop something truly terrible from happening. Melody was so frozen with fear the only thing she could focus on was Clay’s bare chest, which was now slick and smooth. He must have shaved for the fight. His hair was shorter too, leaving it standing up in inky black spikes as he bounced up and down on his side of the ring, loosening his shoulders, his fists held up as the referee stood between the two fighters.

The referee in black stepped back, and Clay and Romeo met quickly in the center of the cage, their gloves touching. Then they both bounced out of reach, their stances springy, gloves held up. Melody could feel Clay’s concentration from across the room, but Romeo’s was also noticeably intense. It wasn’t even surprising when he flew at Clay, looking like a wild bull, throwing his fist into Clay’s jaw before he could respond to such a swift move.

Jules squeezed Melody’s hand tighter. “Shit.”

Clay punched back, but Romeo got two more hits. Romeo was stunningly fast for such a big man. He had a crazed air about him, reminding Melody of a street fighter, someone with nothing to lose. It was a boldness she didn’t know if Clay could match. When Romeo threw another wild punch, Melody was about to close her eyes and pray for it all to be over, but Clay managed to push him against the cage before she could.

“Get him to the mat, get him to the mat,” Jules chanted next to her as if silently willing Clay into action.

Romeo fought back. His knee continually kicked up, trying to jab at Clay’s side, hitting suspiciously near his groin, but Clay held him there in a strange headlock, making her realize this was a very different sport than boxing.

“What is he doing?” Melody asked, wishing she understood more of what was going on.

“Take him down,” Jules snapped in response, making it obvious she had eyes and ears for what was happening in the center of the arena and nothing else. “Get him to the mat.”

Clay getting Romeo to the mat seemed really important to Jules, but it never happened. Romeo managed to maneuver away from Clay, fists flying in that wild fighting style that was terrifying because it was so fast and unpredictable. Melody might know very little about boxing and even less about Mixed Martial Arts, but she surmised one thing from watching the fight unfold. Romeo’s power was in his speed and fearlessness, whereas Clay’s was quiet, controlled, and structured. If Romeo was the hare, Clay was the turtle, taking hits,
then
pushing Romeo against the cage, obviously trying to wear him down. It just didn’t seem to Melody like the turtle could win against this level of raw anger.

When the round ended, Melody found herself breathing a sigh of relief because it meant Clay was getting a reprieve from the pain.

“That round went to
Wellings
.” Jules took a deep breath, obviously happy for a break from the tension of watching. “I
dunno
, Melody. This is, um…”

“Yeah,” Melody agreed, understanding perfectly.

This was agonizing.

The break was brief. Clay sat in his corner, and a man Melody didn’t know was doing something to a large, bleeding cut above his eye. Wyatt and Clay’s coach Tony shouted a bunch of things, waving their arms around as they yelled, and Melody had to admit Clay looked pretty uninterested in whatever they were trying to get across to him.

She watched the close-ups of him on the big screen. Clay seemed more dark and brooding than ever. His chest glistened with sweat, his eyes hooded and intense as he stared ahead while his team yelled orders and the guy treating his eye did something to that cut above his eyebrow that
had
to be painful.

Clay might be getting his ass kicked, but he didn’t seem to be too concerned about it.

If she were the opponent, that would be unnerving, especially to a man as wildly passionate as Romeo. When the second round started and the two men were facing off in the cage once more, Melody watched Romeo’s face on the big screen. He was more traditionally handsome than Clay, with a smooth, Italian complexion and classic features. He watched Clay with trepidation as he bounced from one foot to the other, looking for the right moment to strike. There was
a shiftiness
to his presence that told Melody he might be more unnerved by Clay’s stoic nature than he let on.

The second round went much the way of the first, with Romeo punching and kicking like a crazed beast whose very life breath depended upon it. Clay would retaliate by pushing him against the cage, holding him there until he broke away, only to hurt Clay once more. Clay’s hits were minimal, his kicks even less so. He had another cut under his other eye to match the one above his eyebrow.

This was turning out to be, sadly, a one-sided fight.

Melody was starting to be glad she’d come to Las Vegas just so she could hold Clay after it was over, because this was horrible to watch. She wanted to look away, but she felt like she’d be betraying Clay if she did. If he was going to suffer through getting beaten in front of thousands of people in the arena and countless others across the country who
were
watching it on television, the least she could do was keep her eyes open.

Clay was back in his corner, his face still apathetic as they treated the new cut. Wyatt was yelling; then he was pointing to the crowd. It threw Melody off, her exhaustion working to her disadvantage. She was watching the interaction on the big screen instead of staring at them directly. She didn’t figure out Wyatt was pointing to where she and Jules were sitting until Jules suddenly surged out of her seat, pulling Melody with her.

“She’s here! She’s here watching you get your big ass kicked!” Jules burst to life when she suddenly had twenty seconds to convince him Melody was really there in Las Vegas. She waved one arm, the other one holding Melody’s hand in the air. “You see her! Tell me you see her!”

Melody’s ears were throbbing. She’d had no idea Jules had lungs like that. Despite the pulse of light and sound, Melody was inclined to believe Clay really did hear Jules’s screams. As it was, other people in the crowd were looking at them in stunned amazement, a murmur rushing through the crowd as Jules continued to jump up and down and demand attention in a way only a Conner could.

Like most people in the audience, Melody watched Clay on the big screen and saw him squint to see past the lights and the dark wire of the cage. Melody would have thought it was impossible to actually spy them in the crowd, even with Jules throwing the mother lode of all attention fits. She saw it with her own eyes, the recognition on Clay’s face, the way his lips parted and the first emotion of the night passed over his features as his head whipped around and he glared at Wyatt.

“He saw us.” Jules panted, a sob of relief bursting out of her. “It’s
gonna
be okay. I think it’s
gonna
be okay.”

Melody wasn’t so sure. She studied the look of sheer fury directed at Wyatt and was willing to believe Clay was going to beat someone, but she wasn’t so sure it was Romeo
Wellings
.

Clay looked like he wanted to kill his best friend.

Jules sat, still breathing heavily, and Melody sat with her. She glanced around at the other spectators, seeing everyone staring at them. She felt like a bug under a very big microscope and turned back to look at the cage, watching the seconds tick by until the fight started once more.

Pretending to be invisible didn’t work. The guy next to her, a big hulk of a man with a neck as thick as his head, leaned uncomfortably into Melody’s personal space. He smelled strongly of beer. His gaze ran leeringly over Melody sitting there in her floral print dress and sweater. “You got a little crush on Powerhouse? You think you’re his girl?”

“Back off, buddy,” Jules growled, actually reaching around Melody to shove the man’s shoulder. “Stay in your own goddamn seat.”

“I’m a lot more available than him, you know.” He ignored Jules’s shove as he waggled eyebrows at Melody. “I’m a fighter too.”

“Big fucking deal,” Jules said menacingly, obviously not used to being dismissed. She leaned over Melody once more, light eyes narrowed furiously as she got in the man’s face. “You look at her like that again, and I will
end
you!”

The guy pulled back, looking stunned at Jules’s viciousness. Then he threw his hands up in a show of surrender. “Chill out, lady.”

“You fucking chill out,” Jules barked as she stood up and waved her arms to usher Melody to the other seat. “Move over. We’re trading seats.”

Melody wasn’t going to argue with that. She took Jules’s seat, glancing nervously around them once more, seeing they were attracting more attention than ever. She was starting to learn an outing with Jules was its own little adventure.

Jules fell down into her new seat, looking as pressed and polished as ever in her fitted black pants suit. She cast dark, menacing glares at her new neighbor, who looked genuinely scared of her.

“I think I
wanna
take some of those self-defense classes you teach,” Melody said in awe, because that was one of the most impressive things she’d ever seen. If there was a class to give a woman that much self-assurance, she wanted to take it. “How much are they?”

Jules gave her a secret wink and smirk that was very reminiscent of Wyatt.
“On the house.”

With all the excitement, Melody missed the shuffle that brought the fighters back to the center of the cage. She looked up at the big screen, seeing Clay’s scowl as he bounced up and down, waiting for the fighting to start. His eyes kept darting sideways, and it looked like he was looking to where they were sitting. Front row, they were pretty darn close to the cage. Melody had to wonder if he’d seen what happened with their neighbor, considering Jules’s tendency to draw attention to
herself
.

Melody forgot the excitement with Jules when the fighting started. Much like the other two rounds, Romeo jumped at Clay, fists flying. Clay took the first punch and then threw his shoulder into the other guy, his foot hooking around Romeo’s calf, knocking his feet out from under him. The sound of two heavyweights slamming to the mat made an echoing thud across the arena. It
happened
so fast Melody gasped out loud; one second they were boxing, the next Clay had Romeo flat on mat.

“Yes!” Jules jumped out of her seat, arms raised.

She wasn’t the only one. The whole crowd surged forward at the first sharp jab of Clay’s fist connecting with Romeo’s jaw. Then Clay was beating on Romeo with intent, somehow holding the huge man pinned to the mat as his right fist flew hard and fast, hitting over and over again in a display of raw fighting skill that was remarkable. It was the first point in the fight where Melody covered her eyes, because it was too painful to watch. Clay was pounding on him like a jackhammer, beating at his skull faster and meaner than Romeo ever could. For his part, Romeo’s arms flailed as if trying to deflect the rain of blows long enough to protect his head.

Then the energy in the crowd changed. A different sort of vitality surged through the arena that was tangible. The announcers were screaming, their voices bouncing off the walls, but the cloud of excitement made them hard to understand. Melody lowered her hands curiously, finding Romeo on the ground as officials hurried into the cage. Clay stood behind the referee, still looking harsh and intense,
his
chest rising and falling in hard, heavy breaths as if prepared to jump at his opponent once more.