Redemption(Struggle #3) (14 page)

“Good work
, Nathan. I couldn’t believe you jumped on him. Great reflexes.” Gavin chattered in excitement when I went back to check with medic. The pain was killing me, and if I was going to win the next match, I’d have to win it quick. The medic applied some more gel on my ribs.

“He is no match for you
, Nathan. Just be there and save your right side. You can easily kick his ass now.” Mason handed me some water.

“He is faster than ever
, Mason. Do you think I can try the leg hooker?” That was the move he taught me in the last championship.

“That may be overkill for you. You can’t put pressure on your right side. But if you can take a single hit on your right chest, then go for it. It will finish him off.” Mason said.

“Roger that.” My brain was already working on various moves I could try on him. I had knocked him out and that meant he would be angrier, and he might try some foolish moves. I just needed to build on that momentum.
You are going to pay for what you did, Peter.

Peter was back in the ring.
The crowd was going wild again. They were crazy about the match.

Before the match started again
, I asked the speaker to give me the mike.

“Guys and
gals of L.A., I know you are freaking excited about this match and I’ll make sure that you enjoy it by defeating your champion, Peter. I will crush him down like a dog and pee on his dead body,” I screamed from the bottom of my lungs. The crowd started shouting over my voice.

I looked back at
Peter; he was looking at me with red eyes. He was shooting daggers at me and I liked that. I wanted him to get angry, more angry. I gave him my middle finger. “Suck it up, champ.” Adrenaline rushed in my veins and my heart started pumping more blood to my arms and legs.
Hell, I am ready for anything you throw at me, Peter.
I even forgot my pain.

The r
eferee rang the bell and the match started. Third and final match.

Peter was enraged from the start and he h
eld nothing back. He dashed at me with punches and kicks. I only had to block him and laugh at him. I wanted his rage to go over the top. He had played enough with kids; now it was time to teach him a lesson.
He must lose his cool and today is the day.
I taunted him again. He charged with a fist, giving me an opening. I balanced on my left leg and hit his chest with my knee in a semi-circular kick. It sent him flying back to the corner. He held his chest with both his hands. His face twisted in pain.

“First blow
, champ. You are going down,” I growled, and with my hands I invited him for an attack.

His eyes had the first hint of pain and fear.
I liked it; my wicked self laughed at him. The animal in me woke up to kill him.

“Come on
, Peter. Don’t be a pussy. Your fiancée was more of a warrior than you,” I teased him. And that was the moment he lost his cool. He roared and came running towards me. I groaned hard and jumped in the air, throwing a circular kick at him. My kick hit him on his shoulder and he rotated forty-five degrees, opening his face wide open for me. I wasted no time and hit him hard on his left cheek. His head gear flew off again. Surely, there was something wrong with his headgear that day. He fell back on the ground.

But
I wasn’t yet satisfied. I jumped on his chest and hit him with punch after punch before the referee pulled me back.

Gavin and Mason came to hug me
, and then I realized the pain in my chest again.”Fuck you guys, take me to the hospital,” I roared in pain.

Eva

When Nathan left New York, I went to stay with Chloe couple of days. I felt relaxed sleeping on my old bed, after the aerobic and exhausting almost nightly sex with Nathan. But still, I missed him so much. I missed his touch, his love, everything. I couldn’t even sleep well the first night in the dorm.

“Did you
make any decision about your scholarship?” Chloe asked.

“Where
is the teacher?” I changed my sitting position on the couch while watching TV and enjoying my coffee.

“Sleeping.”

“Did he move in with you already?” He had been here since yesterday. But I never saw him come out of her room.

“Not yet, but we are thinking
about it. As school is ending, I’m thinking of taking a job somewhere nearby, and then we’ll rent a place for us. It’s so exciting, Eva.” She came and hugged me tightly.

“At least it looks like
it is.” I could see his presence everywhere in our dorm. His clothes, shoes, slippers. Still, I wasn’t convinced with the way she was heading with this guy.

“You didn’t answer me. What about
the scholarship?”

“I’m going to search for a job
; I don’t have my mom’s card anymore. Even Nathan is going through some financial crisis and I can't be a burden on him.”

“Why
not? Isn’t he supposed to support you as your husband,” she asked in sarcastic voice.

“I don’t care what he
is supposed to do. I only know that I need to be more supportive than this.”

“What crisis is he going through? Why do
esn’t he join some boxing league and earn some money through it? I heard that last time he went to the finals.”

“No,
I don’t want him box. My heart stops beating in fear that he will get injured.”

“But what about his passion
, Eva? Isn’t boxing his die-hard passion?” Chloe inquired.

She was right. Deep down in my heart
, I knew I shouldn’t come between Nathan and his passion. “But what if he gets injured?” I still tried to save my pride.

“
Anyone can get injured, Eva. Even you got injured while running and look, you overcame  it, right? Running is your passion and you had been living for this one.”

She made me think hard
er and deeper about Nathan’s passion.

“Even if you accept this scholarship, it would only
be because of your passion. This fuels your life, dear. And I know how much you got pissed off at your mom for coming in between you and your passion.”

Chloe was right.
I suddenly felt good about the scholarship. My family business was important and very well-settled, but working there didn’t feel right. If Nathan didn't have come to Canada, I might had  run back to N.Y..

“It’s final
, then. I’m taking the scholarship. Along with school, I’ll do some part-time job as well.”

“What about his passion
, Eva?” she asked again.

My mind wasn’t ready for him to box. But she was
right. I just couldn’t take away his passion only because I was afraid. “I’ll talk with him about this. I think I’m ready to talk it over.”

***

“Ready for school?” Chloe asked me while I was brushing my teeth. It was Monday. Nathan was supposed to come home tomorrow.
One more day to be in his arms again.
I remembered his pecs, his muscles and how it felt to be in his bare arms.
Hell, why can’t I get enough of him already?

“Yes, we will travel in my van. Just give me ten minutes.”

“What? It’s a ten-minute walk from here, dear. Why do you have to flaunt your van?” She giggled.

“I want to show it to Cooper
, so she will report it to my mom.” I was thinking evil thoughts that moment.

“You and your mom. It seems that you are back on track to be
a pain in the ass.”

“Anyways, I’m going to fill
out the scholarship form today and then we will celebrate.”

“Ye
ah, party for us. I’ll invite Terry as well.”

“Your teacher
? You know you are gonna get him in trouble someday.”

“What kind of trouble?” She raised her eyebrows.

“I don’t know, may be a pregnancy!” I ran away from her and locked myself in the bathroom. She followed me and thumped on the door for a few seconds.

“I’m gonna kill you for this
,” she said, laughing.

A f
ew hours later, I was filling out the form to join the new university. When I signed it and gave it to the chancellor; a burden lifted from my chest. Finally, I was on the right path. Happiness filled my heart.

“Here
I come, new college,” I muttered and got out of the office. I went straight to the canteen where a few of my friends were waiting for me. Terry was there as well, the moment I entered the canteen.

“Here comes the champion
,” Chloe shouted.

“Ye
ah to the champ.” Terry followed her. I joined them to celebrate my new journey. It was fun. The new college meant I would have to spend at least three days full-time in classes and then the other two days I would spend playing the designated sport, and the classes included the range of subject from rehabilitation, coaching, referee science etc. It was so good to only look at their schedule. My main interest was, of course, the running.

“Hey
, Eva, Nathan is your current boyfriend right?” Noah asked me suddenly.

“Yes, why?”

“He’s on the news. Check it out.” He gave me his cell. He was playing some news on it.

Nathan’s face was featured and a video was playing
, showing two medics putting him on a stretcher and taking him to an ambulance. My heartbeat stopped. What had happened to him? I spoke with him only yesterday and he was all right.

“What is this
, Noah? What happened to him?” I couldn’t think of anything.
What happened to my baby?

“Noah can you rewind it? Is it on
YouTube?” Chloe asked him.

Noah repl
ayed the video, It was news for a boxing fight. One day, three fights and Nathan won over Peter in two out of three matches. I watched it, shocked. That was not in any of his plans. He lied to me.

Chapter 19

Nathan

“Hey buddy, how are you today?” Gavin asked. He
had come to visit me in the hospital.

“It’s painful
, dude. He really fucked my ribs. Doctor said that I would need at least two months before I can start training again. They even asked me to stay in the hospital for a complete day so they could examine me. But I showed him taste of his own medicine.” I chuckled.

“We didn’t have
a chance to talk about your wedding yet. How is she?”

“Her name is
, Eva. And she is going to kill me for this.” I looked at my bandage. Telling her this would be signing my own death warrant. But I’d decided to tell her the truth and I would for sure. “Where is Mason?”

“When
I walked to your room, I saw him talking with someone.”

“Hello
, Mr. Brown.” Charlie from ACORD Sports Company came in.

“Hey
, Charlie, how are you today?” I asked.

“I should ask you that. You fought marvelous
ly back there. Our Managing Director. is so impressed with you and he want to offer you a contract for a complete year.” He grinned. His company must have made lots of profit from those matches.

“Sorry to interrupt, but
I don’t think it is a good idea right now.” Mason entered the room with an unknown man. I raised my eyebrow; he was behaving mysteriously. He glanced at me and winked. “For now, Charlie, the check you promised would do.”

“Yes
, of course.” Charlie took out a check and gave it to me. He looked a bit disappointed.

I better keep my mouth shut. Mason must have some
reason behind all this.

“
But still if you want to reconsider the money, our offer is open for five hundred thousand per annum.” He smiled and shook my hand. “It was nice doing business with you, Mr. Brown.” Then he walked out of the room.

Mason took the check out of my hand. ”That w
ill go to the bank directly. You are not getting anything to spend right away.”

I smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’m a married man now and my duty doesn’t allow me to spend money on junk anymore.” I looked at the other man with him.

“Let me introduce myself. I’m Marshal
l from Pacific Sports Company and we would like to sign you as our brand ambassador.”

I looked at Mason. It was strange to me.

“Don’t worry, they will pay you more than ACORD and they are a legitimate company. You rest for today; we will meet their crew tomorrow.

He looked at Marshal
.. “Let’s go, Marshall, we should let the champ rest for one more day.”

They both went out, but Gavin was still there talking with someone over the phone.
I heard Pacific Sports in his conversation. After a few minutes, he put down his phone and looked at me with a smile.

“Don’t worry about this company
, dude. I checked with Samuel and they are our sister consultant. So you are working with us now, and when Sam is in charge, there will be no harm to you or anything related to you.”