The Silencer: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (12 page)

Looking back, it may have made me seem like a huge bitch but I was ecstatic when I heard the news, especially after what the bitch had pulled with my boyfriend. It was nice to finally see karma give someone what was coming to them. At the same time, I was sad that the residents hadn’t come to me. They could have confided in me at any time and I would have had the situation looked into for them.

As soon as I was alone, I called Jason to tell him the good news. I also told him about her calling his opponent about his arm, which made the firing even better. Angie ended up leaving for the day, presumably to go be with Candace, so Maggie and I had a personal celebration in her office.

Jason

My arm was fucking broken thanks to the little bitch that worked with Shelly. It didn’t matter what lengths Damon and I went to so that we could keep the injury under wraps, it still got back to my opponent. I was surprised his team didn’t bitch out of the fight by alerting the athletic commission. Of course, it was more of a bitch thing to use my injury to get an advantage over me. It was the only way he had a chance against me and he knew it. My injured arm wasn’t such a big deal while I was choking the consciousness out of him with my legs. I had a feeling that he and I would be standing across the cage from one another again. Next time, I’d make sure I knocked him out with my fists.

As pissed off as I was to learn that my arm was fucked because of someone else being shady, that didn’t change the outcome of the fight. I came out on top and that was all that mattered to me. I was still a little irritated that I gave that skank an autograph. Maybe she could go on the net and get a couple bucks for it. She’d need all the cash she could get since she got her ass canned from her job. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.

When Shelly walked in the door, I could see the happiness radiating out of her. Not only did she no longer have to deal with the girl at work, but she was also guaranteed to get the promotion that she’d worked so hard for.

“I think we should go out to celebrate your promotion,” I told her.

“You sure you’re up for that?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m just talking about dinner or something. Not like I can drink on the pills the doctor gave me anyway. I’m pretty sure they’re tranquilizers. Besides, I never got a chance to celebrate my victory. We can at least celebrate yours.

“Okay, but you’ve got to let me take a shower first.”

“That’s fine, you want me to get in with you?” I asked playfully.

“You know you can’t get in there with that cast right now.”

“So what I’m hearing is that you’ll be giving me a sponge bath later?”

“We’ll see. I’ll get ready as fast as I can.”

While I was waiting for her, Damon called my cell phone. I figured he was just calling to check on me so I let it go to voice mail. He would usually text me if I didn’t answer so I was surprised when my phone started to ring again. I decided that I’d call him after Shelly and I had a chance to go out. Just as I was about to set my phone back onto the table, the text message alert went off.

Hey fucker, quit ignoring my calls. I wanted to let you know that the big wigs from CCF weren’t able to make it to your fight. I’ve got a connection in their office so I sent a DVD in for them to look at. Hopefully, some good will come from that. I was very impressed with the heart you showed and think they will be as well.

I was a bit pissed that I hadn’t fought in front of any of the people who could make my career but I thought it was cool of Damon to send in footage for me. I had serious doubts that it would get in front of anyone who mattered, though. I suspected it would be like musicians who send in demo reels that nobody was expecting. It would make it as far as the mail room before being tossed in the trash.

When we were out having our celebratory dinner, I told her about the text message.

“That’s great news. As soon as they see how you fought back, there’s no doubt they’ll be impressed.”

“Yeah, maybe. Of course, that’s if anyone even sees it.”

“Damon said he knew someone working over there right?”

“He did, but Damon also talks a lot of shit.”

“I don’t know. I have a good feeling about it. I think they’ll see it and be impressed.”

“I hope you’re right. It would be amazing if they’d consider bringing me in. Hell, I’ll fight in the preliminaries for a while if that’s what it takes to get noticed. I just want to get in there and make a name for myself. I’ll do whatever it takes to get out of the shithole apartment that I live in and make enough money to get a new place for me and my brother….and you.”

Shelly paused mid-bite and looked up at me as if trying to figure out whether or not she heard me correctly.

“Shelly, I know that I’m an asshole. It’s who I am and it’s probably who I’ll always be. At the same time, you seem to be able to bring out another side of me that I didn’t know existed. I feel like I try to be a better person whenever I’m with you. I know I don’t have a lot of money. I’m not sure if I ever will. There is no way I can give you the world as far as my bank account goes but what I can give you is my heart,” I told her as I slid out of my chair and got down on one knee. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you and hope you want to share your life with me. Will you marry me?”

Her eyes filled with tears as I showed her the straw wrapper that I folded to make a makeshift ring.

“Yes,” she responded, barely able to get the word out.

I slid the wrapper onto her finger and whispered into her ear.

“I promise you that by the time we get married, I’ll replace that wrapper with a ring that’s as beautiful as you are.”

She wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a kiss. With tears streaming from her eyes, she couldn’t talk, even though she wanted to. Instead, she sat back, looked at me and smiled.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Shelly

Jason might not have been able to drink but I didn’t let that stop me when the waiter noticed I was being proposed to and brought out a complimentary bottle of champagne. I’m not a big drinker but I managed to finish the bottle by myself. I put the blame on my nerves. After being proposed to, I couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking. The champagne helped keep me calm.

I couldn’t wait to get into work the next morning. I know I didn’t have an actual ring to show off but I had one hell of a story to share. I poked my head into Maggie’s office but she hadn’t made it in yet. While I waited for her, I filled my time gloating to all the CNA’s.

The smile could not be wiped from my face no matter how hard I tried. It didn’t take long for some of the residents to notice that I was in such a great mood. I was always friendly and smiled when I went into their rooms but I guess I was being especially joyful that day. I even had one of my elderly residents ask me about.

“You seem like you’re in a very good mood today,” he said with a thick accent that always reminded me of Russian.

“I’m always in a good mood when I come in here to see you, Arthur,” I jokingly replied.

“No, no, no. You’re always nice but you look like you’re glowing today.”

“Well, that’s because my boyfriend proposed to me last night.”

“You’re getting married? I always thought you and I were going to get married.”

“I’m sorry, Arthur. You never asked me. Why did you wait so long? I’ve been available all this time.”

“Story of my life. You better tell him to make sure he treats you right or else he’s going to have to answer to me.”

“Okay, I’ll let him know. That should keep him in line, that’s for sure,” I assured him as I looked up and saw Maggie walking down the hall to her office. “You behave now and I’ll be back around later.”

I updated his chart before running down the hall to catch up with Maggie, who was just getting into her office.

“Guess what!” I yelled, causing her to jump at the sound of my voice.

“Jesus Christ, Shelly, you scared me half to death,” she replied, attempting to get her wits about her. “What is it?”

“I’m engaged!”

“You’re engaged?”

“Yes! Jason asked me to marry him at dinner last night. Isn’t that great?”

“Does he make you happy?”

“He does. He really, truly does.”

“Then that’s great news.”

She smiled and hugged me as she congratulated me on my engagement and told me that she expected to be receiving an invitation to the wedding in the mail. I assured her that she would just before I started to feel dizzy and queasy at the same time.

“Is something wrong, dear?” Maggie asked as I pulled away from her and sat down in one of the chairs in her office.

“I think so. I feel a little nauseous.”

“Are you ill?”

“No, I think it’s a combination of drinking too much champagne and not getting nearly enough sleep last night.”

“Drinking again?” Maggie joked. “Is that all you kids do these days? I think you’re turning into a little bit of a lush.”

“Me? No way. I can barely hold my alcohol as it is. There’s no way I’d ever survive as a lush. Anyway, I’m going to go to the bathroom and splash some water on my face.”

“Okay sweetie, take care of yourself.”

I tried my best to get through the rest of the day. I managed to finish everything that needed to be done but I felt so run down all day. I hoped I wasn’t getting sick as I hated the thought of missing work, especially when I was so close to a promotion. I figured if I could just make it until it was time to clock out, I could go home and get a good night’s sleep.

Not long after lunch, my cell phone alerted me to the fact that I had a text message from Jason.

Hey babe, call me right away. It’s IMPORTANT!

Jason

It seemed like it was taking her forever to call me back when, in reality, it had been less than a minute before my phone started to ring.

“What’s going on? Is everything okay?” she asked, sounding like she was freaking out.

“Calm down, everything’s fine. I just got some news and I couldn’t wait until you got home to tell you.”

“Okay, so tell me.”

“I just got a call from the president of CCF. A courier took my video over this morning and they watched it immediately. Apparently, I was already on their radar and had no clue. I didn’t think they even knew who I was.”

“That’s great! What did they think of the fight?”

“He couldn’t believe that I would get into the cage with an injury like that. He basically told me that I was an idiot and shit like that would never fly in his organization.”

“Oh, so he called you to do what? To berate you for making a bad decision that he didn’t agree with?”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I was so bummed out thinking that I fucked my chance up. I was just being as polite as I could. I was all yes sir and no sir, letting him know that I understood what he was saying to me. Then, from our of nowhere, he said that he wanted to offer me a contract with CCW.”

“Really? They want you to fight for them?”

“They do. They’re going to send me a sample contract in the mail to look over and then they’re going to fly me to Atlanta in a couple of weeks so I can sign the real thing.”

“What about your arm? Do they know you’re not going to be able to fight for a while?”

“He said he was going to give my arm time to heal before getting me in touch with some of the teams that other fighters train with. I told him that I wanted the team who cornered me during the Dodson fight. I’m going to have to train out of Chicago for a while, though. That’s where their gym is.”

“So you’re going to be gone?”

“I’ll be gone for a little while but I won’t be gone permanently. I’m doing this for my brother and I’m doing this for us. I’m finally going to be able to afford to bring my brother home, get us all a nice place to live and put a real ring on your finger. It’s still gonna take me a while since I won’t get paid until I fight but I’m that much closer to making my dreams come true. I’m that much closer to making all of our dreams come true.”

“That sounds really good but it’s not like you’re going to be able to stop fighting just because you bring your brother home. You’ll be traveling all the time and I’m still going to have to go to work. Who’s going to take care of your brother when I’m not home.”

“I’ve thought of that. As much as I want to, I’m not going to be able to bring him home right away. I figure with two, maybe three more years of fighting, I’ll be able to save enough if I pinch every penny I can. Once I have enough to buy a house outright, I’m going to retire from the cage and bring him home. Once I take that step, I’m going to open an MMA gym in Detroit to pay the bills. Maybe I can train the next generation of fighters.”

“You’ve really put a lot of thought into this, huh?”

“Other than you, it’s pretty much all I think about. Why don’t we go out tonight to celebrate?”

“No way mister! I’m still trying to recover from last night. When I come home, I’m going to bed.”

“You’re such a lightweight. I’ll let you get back to work. I just wanted to let you know the big news.”

I hung up the phone, excited about what my future held and thinking about the kind of life I was going to be able to provide for my brother and my future wife.