The Silencer: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (8 page)

Jason

The last thing I remember was being in my car and driving to meet a boxer who was going to help me prepare for my fight. My opponent was apparently a bit of a striker so I wanted to be ready for him.

Lying in my hospital bed, I struggled to open my heavy-lidded eyes. It felt like it took every ounce of energy that I had just to look around the room. I looked down to see that I was lying in a bed with a cast going halfway up my arm.

Damon was sitting to my right while a doctor was writing something into a chart. Everything was so foggy, I wasn’t sure what was going on. I looked to Damon for answers.

“Damon,” I winced in pain. “What’s going on?”

“You were in a pretty bad car accident,” he placed his hand on my shoulder. “The doctor is waiting for tests to come back, but for right now you’re going to have to take it easy for a while.”

“What? I can’t do that. I need to go train. I gotta be ready for my fight.”

“You have no idea what you’re saying right now, Jason. You aren’t going to be allowed to leave for a little while. The doctors are going to do a cat scan to make sure you don’t have any head injuries. Just relax for a bit and they’ll get you all taken care of.”

When I tried to move, it was as though a bolt of lightning passed through my body. Suddenly, everything hurt. My head hurt. My back hurt. Most of all, my arm was in fucking pain. The doctor in the room noticed that I was starting to moan. He walked over to the side of the bed, hit a button on the machine next to me, and within seconds, the pain was subsiding and my eyelids felt like they were being weighed down.

Just then, Shelly came rushing into the room. My eyes were closed but I could hear her. I wanted to say something to her but it was as if none of my body parts wanted to work. I couldn’t lift a hand. I couldn’t open my mouth. I couldn’t do anything other than lie there going in and out of consciousness. I fought with everything I had to stay awake so I could hear what Damon was saying to her.

“He apparently lost control of his car as he was getting off the highway and went into an embankment. Fucked his car up pretty good but fucked him up even worse. They say he’s lucky to even be alive, let alone not be more seriously injured.”

“Oh my God. What have they said is wrong with him?”

“So far, it looks like it’s only a fractured arm. They’re going to do a cat scan on him but they’re pretty sure his head and neck are fine. The problem is, they’re saying he’s going to need at least six weeks to heal. He’s got his big fight in just over a month.”

“Well, he needs to focus on getting better. That fight can wait.”

“No can do little lady. I’ve got a sold-out venue that paid to see Eric Dodson fight and that’s what I’m gonna give them. If Jason can’t be ready, I’m gonna have to put someone else in his place.”

“If that’s what you have to do, then so be it. It’s not worth him being permanently injured. What about his fight in two weeks?”

“That one is going to be canceled. Jason was going to be the feature attraction for that fight so there’s nothing to juggle around. I’ll just have to find a new main event. Listen, though, I know that you don’t get this whole fight thing. Unless you’re a fighter, you don’t understand. I’m going to give Jason every shot in the world to be ready for this fight against Dodson. If I have to get a new fight, it’ll have to be a last-minute decision.”

“I understand that, but you heard the doctors. They said he needs at least six weeks to recover. If his fight is before that, it won’t be possible.”

“You obviously don’t know Jason like I do. He’ll do whatever it takes. If there’s a chance he can be ready, he’ll make himself ready. We can’t let any of this get out. This injury has to be kept a secret.”

“I can’t believe this. This is so dangerous.”

CHAPTER TEN

Shelly

Jason was in the hospital for two days before they would release him. They wanted to keep him even longer but I convinced them to let him come home with me. The doctor even told me that the only reason they were letting him go was because I was an RN.

“Do you want to stay at my place or yours?”

“Whatever makes you happy, babe.”

The pain meds seemed to have put him in a much better mood, probably the best mood I’d ever seen him in. “Okay, Rocky, we’ll go back to my place,” I teased.

He would be much easier to take care of at my apartment and it would also be a lot easier to get to and from work. His whole body was sore and it was difficult for him to move around. Even just getting him up and down the few stairs inside my apartment was a challenge as banged up as he was.

Although he struggled, I managed to get him inside. He was dying to take a shower but there was no way that was going to be possible, at least not yet. My priority at that time was just getting him undressed and into bed, just not in the same way as the last time he was in my apartment.

Once I got him into bed and helped maneuver him into a semi-comfortable position, I turned the television to Fox Sports and went to get him some water so he could take his pain meds.

“Your prescription says you have to take your pills with food. You want me to make you something?”

“A grilled cheese?” he asked.

I made his food and handed it to him with his meds. He patted the bed beside him and rubbed his hand in a circle along the covers.

“Thanks,” he said. “Come have a seat.”

“I should probably let you get some rest. Besides, I’ve got a kitchen to clean up.”

“That can wait. I want to talk to you.”

I sat next to him and he pulled me close with his good arm. “You have no idea how you make me feel,” he started. “I get all these feelings when I’m with you that I can’t even explain. You’re so important to me and I’m glad you’re in my life. You’re so nice to me and you’re so good to my brother. You mean so much to me and I never want to lose you.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I ran my fingers through his hair. “I think what you do for your brother is beyond brave, and it’s sexy as hell. I gotta admit, the first time I saw you—like
really
saw you—I was impressed. I saw a hardworking man who was raw, gritty and passionate about the things he loves.” I looked him in the eye, “I can get behind that.”

“This,” he kissed my hand, “is why you’re different from all the rest. I’ve never dated anyone like you. As a matter of fact, I’ve never really dated. But me and you? We’ve got this.”

I’d never seen such a soft side of him. Most of the time he puts up a shield and doesn’t let anyone in, but today he let that guard down. I was able to see a side of him that probably nobody else had ever seen. Not his brother, not other girls, nobody.

I laid in bed next to him while he drifted off to sleep. I was so grateful to hear the beautiful words that he had just said to me and I was so happy that we were in each other’s lives, even if it did mean that I was putting my career on the line. He was worth it.

Lying next to Jason, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Jason

I woke up with the sun shining directly into my eyes. I have blackout curtains all over my apartment and my sudden blindness was a great reminder of why. The only thing blocking the outside world was a set of white blinds and they were doing a shitty job at the moment. The sun was coming in right in between two of the slats and it didn’t matter which way I turned my head, they were determined to blind me.

The pain in my arm was intense. It was a searing, burning sensation. I started to reach for my pain medication but decided against it. I’d seen the effect of drugs on other washed up fighters and I knew the odds of getting hooked on painkillers that I needed were low but why risk it? I hoped that if I ignored the pain long enough, it would go away.

I managed to get out of bed, the intense pain getting worse and worse the more I moved around. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 9:30 in the morning and knew that Shelly must have already gone to work.

Slowly, memories of the day before came creeping back into my mind. The memories were hazy and I couldn’t recall everything that happened. One thing that I was certain of was the fact that Shelly had brought me back to her apartment and taken care of me.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve never had anyone to take care of me. It was nice to see that I could count on her to be there for me. Aside from my promoter, I never let anyone get close to me.

My cell phone was sitting on the end table next to me. I called Damon and told him to come and get me.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Why don’t you just stay there where you have someone to watch over you?”

“She’s not even here because she had to go to work. Just come get me, there’s a few things I need to do.”

“Alright, fine,” he hesitated. He knew I wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“I’ll text you her address. How long are you going to be? I’ll try to be ready by the time you get here.”

“Give me about thirty.”

I was determined to get myself ready to go while ignoring the pain. In the bathroom, I discovered that it was damn near impossible to piss with a fractured arm but I was eventually able to get the job done.

I struggled to get myself dressed. You would think that the shirt would have been the hardest part. While that hurt like hell, I had the biggest difficulty with my shoes, specifically getting them tied.

While I was waiting for him to show up, I started thinking about about yesterday. I was still so confused about what had led up to the car accident. It was all so foggy. It was like any other day. I was driving like normal and thent he next thing I knew, I woke up in the hospital. It was like there was no middle ground.

My main concern was my career. I was going to have to find some way to make it to the fight with Dodson. That kind of opportunity would never arise for most guys and there was no way I was letting it slip through my fingers. I had worked too hard to get where I was and I wasn’t backing down.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Jason

After showing up an hour later, Damon made it back to my apartment, somehow managing to hit every bump and pothole along the way. There was no way that I could hold off on the pain meds any longer. My arm was burning and the pain had started to make me nauseaus. About a half-hour later, my head was spinning and I needed to lay down. I was asleep by the time my head hit the pillow.

I was out cold when I was jolted awake by someone knocking on my door. I tried to ignore it but the knocking continued. I looked at my phone and saw that it was 2:00 in the afternoon.

I swear to God that if this is some crackhead banging on the wrong door, I’m going to hit them over the head with my cast.

I looked through the peephole, expecting to see one of the neighborhood thugs or a local crachkead on the other side. Instead, I saw that it was Shelly knocking on my door.

What is she doing here at this time in the afternoon?

Shelly

My day had gone to shit much faster than even I had anticipated. I had only been at work for an hour before I was called into Angie’s office. I was starting to wonder if these little meetings were going to become a daily occurrence. Apparently, she wasn’t satisfied with the way she had laid into me the day before and couldn’t wait to do it again. Before I knew it, I was on my way out the door and in my car long before my shift was scheduled to be over.

When I got home I was surprised to see that he was gone. No note, no phone call or text, nothing. I’m not even sure how he would have left, unless he called for a cab.

As I began straightening my apartment, I tried calling him but he didn’t pick up. While I was washing the dishes, I remembered that I had his promoters phone number. I gave him a call to see if he knew where Jason might be as I dried my hands on a dish towel.

“Is this Damon?” I asked.

“Yes it is, who is this?” he replied.

“Damon, this is Shelly. I just got home and noticed that Jason isn’t at my house anymore. He didn’t leave a note or anything. Have you heard from him today?”

“Yeah, I did. He called me this morning and had me come pick him up from your apartment. He wasn’t in the best of moods, though but I don’t blame him. He’s been through a lot lately.”

“Is he still with you now?”

“No, he had me drop him off at his place. As far as I know, that’s where you’ll find him.”

“Thanks Damon,” I grabbed my keys. “I appreciate it.”

I parked my car in his driveway and didn’t even think twice about the thugs standing in front of his apartment complex. I was more concerned about getting to Jason and making sure that he was okay. He’d been acting odd ever since he had the car accident.

Knowing that he was likely to be knocked out, I banged on his door. When I didn’t get an answer, I banged even harder. When I still didn’t get an answer, I banged as hard as I could.

“What?” Jason yelled as he yanked his door open. He was groggy and trying to figure out what was going on. “Damn girl, why are you banging on my door like you’re the cops or something? People don’t like that around here.”

I tried to be strong. He had plenty of his own issues to deal with and I was sure he didn’t want to be bothered with mine but I had to talk to someone.

“I tried calling you but didn’t get an answer. How come you left my apartment?” I asked as I stormed by him and into his apartment.

“I didn’t think it was right for you to be taking care of me. I’m a grown ass man and I should be able to take care of myself.”

“That’s fair enough,” I said, just barely keeping myself together.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?”

I lost it. All of my sadness. All of my anger. All of my emotions came pouring out of me.

“I got suspended from work today,” I said in my shaky voice as tears started streaming down my face.

“Why? What happened?”

“It was that bitch Candace. Her aunt is my boss so she ran right to her to tell her that I’m dating a resident’s family member. She ran and snitched on me like a third grader.”

“That’s messed up. So what happened?”

“Well, yesterday, my boss made me go into her office for a meeting where she grilled me and laid into me for like an hour. I denied everything because they don’t have any proof at all. She couldn’t do anything to me. Today, Angie called me into her office again. She told me that she didn’t think I took our talk yesterday seriously so she was sending me home to give me some time to think about it. It’s only for 48 hours but this is still bullshit.”

Jason took his good hand and started running it through my hair as I leaned into him, literally using his shoulder to cry on.

“It’s going to be okay. Everything is going to work out the way it’s supposed to,” he assured me as he stroked my hair.

“Do you really think so?”

“I know so. If things are going to work in my favor, they’re going to have to work in yours too.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, looking up at him

“I’m not really sure. It’s probably just the drugs making me talk shit. All I’m saying is that you’re going to be fine. You said yourself that it’s only for 48 hours. Use that time to recharge your batteries and get back in there. When you go back, though, act like it’s just another day and that none of that other shit happened. Let them know that shit don’t faze you even if, inside, it’s driving you crazy.”

Jason was right. It wasn’t the end of the world. If nothing else, I could use it as a mini-vacation. Hell, it would be nice not to have to look at Candace for a couple of days.

“So how are you feeling?” I asked him.

“Sore and exhausted,” he replied. “Damon canceled my next fight. There’s no way I’ll be ready to fight in time.”

“I’m sorry Jason. I know that you were looking forward to your big fight.”

“Oh, the big fight is still on. I’m not letting anyone take that fight from me. It’s my only shot at making it big. The president of Championship Cage Fighting is going to be in attendance. I have to make sure I make a great impression.”

“Jason, you can’t do that. You have no idea what kind of impact that can have on your arm injury. It’s not possible for it to be healed in time for the fight.”

Before I was able to get another word out, Jason bent in and started kissing me passionately. I’m not sure if that was his way of telling me to shut up, but if it was, it was fine by me.