Meant for Me (A Second Chance standalone) (22 page)

The fight was over and I won. I couldn’t fucking believe it.
For a moment, I thought,
Maybe I can do this … maybe I can pursue a dream I
thought was lost so long ago.
It was all in my grasp if I wanted to take
it, but the question was, did I want to? Erick never approached me nor did I
see him in the crowd during the fight. I had no idea if our deal was still open
or if he decided I wasn’t good enough. In a way, I didn’t care because I knew I
was
good enough.

Jake had invited Matt and his people along with ours to a
private room for drinks. With Claire by my side, I walked on air for the rest
of the night. She watched on in amusement as Matt and I bantered back and
forth, both claiming we kicked the other’s ass. He reminded me so much of
Austin and how we would do the same thing.

Matt clapped me on the shoulder and extended his hand.
“Well, Mason, I can’t exactly say it was fun getting my ass kicked in the
fourth round, but it was definitely a fight I’ll never forget. Maybe next time
we should settle on the draw,” he joked.

Guffawing, I shook his hand and responded, “I doubt there
will be a next time. However, I am honored that you wanted to fight me.”

Matt scoffed, furrowing his brows. “What? Why wouldn’t there
be a next time? After tonight people will be lining up at your doorstep to
represent you. What’s holding you back?”

My eyes wandered over to Claire who was smiling and laughing
at Tyler.
Would she honestly like this life?
Following me around from
fight to fight just to watch me get beaten and bruised for a title. It wasn’t
just my life I had to consider … it was hers.
She
was my life.

Chuckling, Matt glanced from Claire then back to me, a
knowing smirk on his face. “Ah, I see. I think I get it now. If I had someone
like that beauty of yours I’d probably want a different life too. Anyway, if
you change your mind and you’re ever out in California give me a call.” He
pulled out his wallet and handed me one of his cards.

When I glanced down at it, I couldn’t believe the
coincidence staring at me in the face. “Actually, I’m moving out to California
in a couple of weeks,” I told him. The card said he was in Santa Rosa which was
only a short distance away from Claire’s home.

“Really? Where are you moving to?” he asked.

“Claire’s vineyards are out in Sonoma. I also have family
out there as well. I guess being alone in North Carolina kind of lost its
appeal.”

“Dude,” Matt scoffed, thumping the card in my hand, “then
you have every reason to hit me up. I’m right down the road from you basically.
If you don’t, I’m going to hunt you down and kick your ass.” He clapped me on
the shoulder and looked down at the time on his watch. “Speaking of California,
I leave tomorrow morning to go back. Take care of yourself, Mason, and stay out
of trouble. Sometimes I hate coming out this way. It seems like there’s always
trouble around every corner.”

“Yeah, I know,” I remarked in all seriousness. I was the one
who always went after it.

Matt said his good-byes to everyone and even said something
to Claire that made her smile and shake her head. Once he left, I joined her,
Tyler, and Jake.

“What did Matt say to you?” I asked, sidling up to Claire.

She chuckled and wrapped her arm around my waist. “He told
me to wear you down and get you to join the UFC again when you move out to
California. He also asked if he could have permission to kick your ass if you
don’t.”

“And what did you say?”

Poking me in the side, she smirked up at me and said, “I
guess you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?”

Knowing her, she probably gave him the address and told him
to come just to mess with me. With Claire, there was no telling what she would
do. It was one of the things I loved about her. She was spontaneous, which was
something I had never been. I needed spontaneity in my life.

“Mason, I want you to have this,” Jake insisted, holding out
a thick, hefty envelope. Taking it from him, I lifted a brow and asked, “What
is it?”

Smiling mischievously, he winked at Claire and pointed to
the envelope. “Just open it and stop asking questions. I figured since Claire’s
leaving tomorrow this might be the last night I see you. I’ll send the other
half when I get everything sorted out.”

Other half of what?
I wondered. Sliding my finger
under the seal, I pulled it open and almost lost my shit when I saw what was
inside. I didn’t even have to count it to know there was at least twenty grand
in there.

“What’s all of this?” I asked incredulously.

“It’s your down payment for the night. I wanted it to be a
surprise,” Jake beamed. “I’ll have to send you the other amount when I get all
of the funds situated from the pay per view. It’ll be about a week from now.”

“I can’t accept all of this. It’s too much.” I tried to hand
him back the envelope, but he wouldn’t take it.

Claire gently pushed it back toward me and said, “You
deserve it for everything you went through tonight. You earned it, Mason. Just
take it.”

The glare she gave me was all it took. I would have another
fight on my hands if I didn’t take it. I hadn’t held that much money in my
hands in a long time, not since I fought before. Yeah, I was bad with money
then, but over the years I became responsible enough with taking care of my mother
to where I knew I couldn’t blow money on stupid shit anymore. In my hands, I
held half a year’s salary for me.

Sighing, I nodded at Jake and said, “Thank you, Jake. I
really appreciate it.”

“No problem. Just make sure you two don’t stay strangers,
okay? Maybe next time you come down to visit you could stay with me instead of
at a hotel. I have a cook that can make food better than any of the five star
restaurants around here.”

“We will definitely keep that in mind,” I replied.

Jake said his good-bye to Claire, hugging her tight, and I
gave them their space so she could say her farewell to him. It was getting late
and I knew she needed to get back to the hotel to pack for her flight tomorrow
morning. Stephen came up behind me, patting me on the back with a firm hand. “I
want to thank you for letting me coach you, son. You made me proud up there.
One of these days I hope to see Tyler make it to the big time.”

“He will,” I insisted confidently. “Just have faith in him
like you did with me. I also want to thank
you
for helping me. Your
guidance helped me out a lot.”

Stephen nodded and walked away, leaving me with Tyler who
put his arm around my shoulder. “You know you wouldn’t have won tonight without
me, right? I was, indeed, the person you sparred with over the past week, not
to mention who made you better, and probably suffered a concussion in the
process.”

Coming into this mission and meeting Tyler that first night
in the club, I never expected him to be as down to earth and genuine as he was.
I thought he would be a complete douche bag just like all the other club
bouncers I’d met in my time, but he took me by surprise.

“I’m sure you’ll live,” I teased, slapping him on the arm.
“Anyway, good luck with the fighting. I wish you all the best.”

He winked slyly. “Thank you, I’m going to need the luck.
Although, I do have a strange feeling I’ll be seeing you on TV soon. Maybe
we’ll get to see another encore of you and Matt, only this time fighting for
the championship.”

Yeah, in my dreams.

I couldn’t even think about that at the moment. The only
thing going through my mind was trying to find another plan of action. What was
I going to do about finding Erick and getting where I needed to be?

When we got back to the hotel, I took a shower, bandaged up
my wounds, and took a bunch of Ibuprofen. The adrenaline coursing through my
veins dulled the pain of my swollen cheek and the nasty gash above my left eye,
but come morning it would throb like hell along with the rest of my body.
Sitting on the bed, I watched Claire move back and forth from the wardrobe as
she packed up her things. I didn’t want to see her go, and now that Erick never
found me after the fight, I had a strange feeling I was going to be here a lot
longer than I expected.

“What are you going to do when I leave?” Claire asked as she
folded up her clothes.

The whole car ride back to the hotel she was bouncing on
air, excited that I’d won, and wouldn’t stop talking about the fight. However,
once we got in the room and I recommended she pack her things before morning,
everything changed. I knew she didn’t want to leave, but I
needed
her to
go.

Sighing, I scooted across the bed and put a hand over hers;
stopping her from refolding the same shirt she’d been trying to fold for the
past five minutes.

“Claire, stop,” I demanded gently.

She dropped the shirt and turned a tear-streaked face my
way.
Oh hell, why did she have to cry? She hardly ever cries.
Taking her
hand, I pulled her down beside me and held her in my arms, breathing in the
raspberry scent of her skin. For so long I never thought I’d touch her silky,
golden skin or make love to her again, and now I had to let it go when I’d just
gotten it all back.

With her back to me, I couldn’t see her face, but I could
hear the soft sound of her cries as she tried to hide it. “I know you want me
to tell you to stay, but I can’t,” I murmured sadly. “I’m only looking out for
you, baby.”

“I know,” she whispered. “I’m just worried about you. With
me not being here with you I won’t know if you’re okay or not. The agony of not
knowing what’s happening to you will be torture.”

Holding her tighter, I kissed the back of her neck to
comfort her. “I’m going to be fine, Claire. You have to trust me.”

As soon as I said that, my phone on the desk buzzed with an
incoming text. “Who do you think that is?” Claire asked suspiciously. “You
never get texts this late.”

Sliding off the bed, I walked over to the desk and picked up
my phone; the name on the screen read ‘unknown.’ Claire stared at me curiously
as I read the text.

Unknown:
Meet me in the lobby downstairs ~E

Knowing I couldn’t tell her who it was, I chuckled and
pretended it was a wrong number. “I think they have the wrong number. This
person asked if I wanted to order a pizza and chicken wings.”

Claire smiled and licked her lips. “Mmm … actually, that
does sound pretty good about now. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a
good pizza.”

Quickly, I texted the number back.

Me:
I’ll be there in 5.

Deleting the messages, I ambled back over to Claire who
started folding the same shirt again. “Do you want me to go get us one from
downstairs?” I insisted, tilting up her chin with my finger so she’d look at
me.

She shook her head and grinned. “No, it’s kind of late for
all of that. However, you know what would be good? They used to be my favorite
dessert when I was here before.”

If it required me to go downstairs then I’d get her anything
she wanted. “What do you want, baby?” I asked.

“Do you remember walking by the café downstairs and seeing
all of those pastries? Well, let me tell you, the chocolate ones are absolutely
amazing. If I didn’t want to watch my weight I could’ve eaten about a dozen of
them in a day.”

Why women cared so much about being super skinny was beyond
me. I personally loved it when a girl had more than a handful to grab onto. I’d
seen pictures of Claire when she was doing the whole ballet thing and I had to
say she was much hotter now with the curves. If she wanted to eat pastries
every day I would still love her no matter what.

Tilting my head, I kissed her on the lips and reached around
her back to grab her ass, making her squeal. “You stay here and finish packing
and I’ll go get some of those pastries. I might have to try one myself. Maybe
I’ll get you a dozen of them so it’ll make your ass a little bit bigger,” I
teased.

Playfully, she scoffed and hit me on the arm. “Hey, what is
it with guys and big butts?”

Chuckling, I grabbed my wallet off the nightstand and headed
for the door. Before turning the knob, I winked back at her and replied, “It’s
nice having something to grab on to when you’re riding my cock, and not to
mention, it makes walking behind you a lot more enjoyable.”

Exasperated, Claire rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Fine, get me two of them then. I’ll eat them both for you.”

With the biggest grin on my face, I nodded and opened the
door. “You got it. I’ll be right back.”

As soon as the door shut, the grin vanished and I headed for
the elevator. It was time to find out my next move.

As soon as I got off the elevator I saw him. Dressed in an
expensive gray suit and a watch that had to cost more than my truck, he sat
there in sheer confidence or most likely it was arrogance.
Smug bastard.

When he spotted me walking toward him, he got to his feet
and grinned. “Well, well, look at you. How does it feel to know you beat a
Heavyweight champion?”

“It feels pretty damn good other than the pain I know I’m
going to feel in the morning,” I replied. “Were you there? I didn’t see you.”

He motioned toward the seat opposite him. “Of course, I was
there. You left with the others before I had a chance to get to you. Please,
have a seat,” he offered politely. “Does Claire know you’re down here?”

I sat down and said, “Yes, she knows I’m down here, but she
doesn’t know I’m with you. Which means I don’t have too long before she starts
getting curious.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?” he asked, gazing curiously at me.

Nonchalantly, I shrugged and lounged back in the chair,
playing it coolly. “There are some things I want her knowing and some I don’t.
I didn’t think this was one of those things I’d want her involved in.”

“Good call,” Erick agreed. “So I’m assuming you’re still
interested in what I have to offer?”

“You’re damn right I am. Just tell me what to do.”

Erick leaned forward in his chair and lowered his voice. “I’m
going to warn you this isn’t for the faint of heart. From what I’ve seen of
your fights in the past and of your reputation I don’t think that’s the issue
here.”

“What’s the issue then?” I remarked impatiently.
I wish
he would get to the fucking point already.

“My issue is this,” Erick began, “I need to know how far you
would go to win. How far would you go to earn say … five million dollars?”

“Five million dollars?” I exclaimed, eyes going wide.
Leaning forward in my chair, I glanced around the room quickly and lowered my
voice. “You’re shitting me, right?”

That was a lot of money just for a fight.

“No, I’m not shitting you, Mason. So again, the question is
… how far would you go to earn it? Would you steal for it?”

Now we were getting somewhere.
“Yes,” I answered,
settling back in the chair.

Erick moved closer. “Would you lie for it?”

“Yes.”

“Would you break your opponent’s arm for it?”

I smiled. “Gladly.”

“What if the price upped to ten million? What would you do
then? If you knew you could get away with murder, would you kill for it? Let’s
say, take for instance, Chase Benfield. After he basically attacked Claire and
was about to do who knew what with her, would you have had the guts to follow
through?”

My smile vanished and the thought of Chase with his hands on
Claire made my blood boil. I
wanted
to kill him that night; I wanted to
rip his head off with my bare hands so I’d never have to see that smirk on his
face ever again. Not only would I have done it for her, but for every other
female he’d probably terrorized and most likely raped over the years. I knew
what Erick’s game was, but even I couldn’t deny the truth in my answer. I would
kill anyone that ever tried to hurt Claire in that way.

“I would do more than kill him,” I answered through clenched
teeth. “I would make him suffer ungodly amounts of pain before I did him and
everyone around a huge favor of wiping his miserable fucking existence off this
planet.”

Erick was stunned speechless for a second, his mouth wide
open, before bursting out in laughter. “Whoa, that was intense. I guess it’s a
shame you’re not going to be fighting him then. I have a lot of people betting
on you so bring all that you have to the table. The rougher you play, the more
you get paid, understand?”

He held out his hand, and not thinking twice, I shook it. “I
understand completely. I’ll be ready.”

Pleased, Erick smiled and nodded his head. “That’s good to
hear. I’ll have someone pick you up here tomorrow afternoon at four. Be ready
for a tough competition because it’s not going to be easy. If you win you’ll
get the sponsorship and the money. All your dreams will come true. Oh yeah, and
make sure you come alone. I don’t think you’ll want Claire there.”

Getting to my feet, I checked the clock on the lobby wall
and groaned. I’d been gone way longer than expected. “You don’t have to worry
about that,” I told him quickly. “Claire’s leaving tomorrow.”

“Oh,” he muttered, pursing his lips. “I figured she would be
with you while you were here. I’m sure Wade will be disappointed about that.
The whole time Claire’s been in town she’s all he’s been able to talk about. He
was really torn up about her not forgiving him for what happened.”

“He’ll get over it,” I snapped. “He doesn’t deserve her
forgiveness for what almost happened to her. He can rot in hell for all I care.
It was his fault to begin with.”

Erick sneered, his eyes gleaming mischievously. “That’s
true, but before I leave I have one more question.” Grinning, he came up to me
slowly and lowered his gaze to his hands, pretending to be interested with his
fingernails. “So you said you would steal, lie, and even kill for ten million
dollars, with one of those being an ultimate sin. However, I’m curious to know
if you’d give up something else as well.” He finally looked up at me, lifting a
brow with that evil smirk on his face.

I didn’t like the way the conversation had turned, and I
certainly didn’t like the excitement in his eyes when he faced me. The more
time I spent around the man, the more it felt like he wasn’t even human. He was
a complete sociopath with psychopathic tendencies. There were so many people in
the world like him it was ridiculous, and they were always the ones to watch
out for.

“I don’t think there’s much else I could give up other than
my soul,” I replied blandly.