Mario reminds us we’re practicing and we take turns maneuvering take downs on each other until we’re both drenched in sweat. A crowd forms around the ring, some of the regulars stopping to watch our show.

“Boys!” Mario yells, grabbing our attention. “You want one minute full strength to have at it. I’ll climb in and ref.” We both nod.

Mario calls the start of the fight and I waste no time. Instead of dancing around the ring, showing off some meaningless fancy footwork and wasting my energy, I attack with all my might. A strong right makes my opponent wobble, but he quickly regains his footing. So I throw a roundhouse kick that lands square on his chest and it takes him off guard, knocking the wind out of him. I use the element of surprise to my advantage and easily take him to the ground. Mario gave us a minute, but I had him down and out in thirty seconds.

I shower and walk to Mario on the way out. “You look really good in there. You know who that guy you just put to shame is?”

I shake my head.

“Your weight class, won six out of eight. Ranked a nine.” He shakes his head and chuckles. “Did you think I was blowing smoke up your ass every day telling you that you were good enough to make it?”

I force a smile, still feeling defeated even though I just won. “Yeah, but I need a fight against a guy who’s probably ranked like that guy.”

“Can’t help you there,” he pauses, “but you got an inside connection.”

I furrow my brow.

“The guy running the fight,” he reminds me, “Vince Stone. I seem to remember seeing a small mention in the paper once that you were related to him,” he adds sarcastically, considering it was the headline for weeks.

Chapter 31

Jax

Thunder crashes in the sky, echoing through dark, ominous clouds. The plane shakes and bounces through the turbulent late night sky, reminding us of who’s really in control. Mother Nature. And she’s one pissed off woman right now.

The flight attendants sit strapped in their jump seats looking haggard from the weary day of travel. The dimmed cabin lights that are supposed to help passengers relax on the evening flight only serve to help bring attention to the flashes of lightening that explode in the sky.

Eventually we land in Vegas after what seems like the longest four hours in history. I’m about ready to hop over the seats to get past the twenty passengers standing in the aisle trying to pull their luggage out of the overhead compartments. I need out of this god damn tin can!

Fights start tomorrow, but my weight class pre-qualifiers aren’t until the day after, so I have some time to rest and try to get myself matched up with Caden. I deliberated for hours over asking anything from the brother I’ve barely even met and hated since I found out he existed. But eventually, my need to beat the shit out of Caden and settle Lily’s score once and for all outweighed my own animosity and hang-ups with my half-brother. In the end, all he did was be born anyway. It was our ass**le father that set all the destruction that would come later in life into action.

I check into Caesar’s Palace, the place is crawling with jacked guys obviously here as contestants or devout fans. Sleep comes easily for the first night in a long time, exhaustion finally kicking in. The time change west works for me, I sleep later than I normally would, yet I’m up an hour before I’d ever get out of bed back in D.C. Throwing on some sweats, I decide to go for a run, beat the rise of the Nevada heat.

Walking through the quiet lobby, I catch sight of a woman from the side. Long wavy auburn hair, a straight nose and high cheekbones. My suspicion becomes abundantly clear as I move closer.

“Liv?”

She turns, a look of shock on her face at seeing me quickly turns to confusion. “Jax? What are you doing here?”

“I came for the fight. Guess I don’t have to ask what you’re doing hanging around near a fight anymore.”

She smiles. “Are you fighting?”

“That depends.”

She furrows her brow, “On what?”

“On you talking your boyfriend into helping me.” I grin mischievously.

“Oh no.” She holds up her hands, gesturing there’s no way in hell she wants any part of whatever it is I’m talking about. “Last time I got between the two of you, it didn’t turn out too well.”

“Well that’s because he thought I was trying to hit on you.”

“And you weren’t?” She arches an eyebrow.

I chuckle because she has me dead on. “Okay. So maybe I was. But I’m a one woman man and my heart belongs to another woman.” I smirk and wink. “Try not to be too devastated. You had your chance.”

She shakes her head. “You’re going to cause me trouble aren’t you?” She asks wearily, although there’s a smile on her face.

“Probably. But you’ll help me anyway.”

She sighs loudly. “Come, sit and have coffee with me and I’ll see what I can do.”

***

It’s almost eight at night before my cell phone rings. When I didn’t hear from Liv all day, I figured Vince had no interest in helping me and I’d already decided what I was going to do in my head. I’m entering the Open no matter what. Brady’s right, I need to work on things I want to change in my life as a long-term strategy. Winning back Lily is important, but so is fighting. I’ve wasted so much time already, I’m going to really go for it. Gone are the days of living a life that makes me feel dead inside. I’ve got enough money to live for a long time, I’m about to start really living.

“Hey,” Liv says when I answer. “Sorry it took me so long. Vince was busy all day doing press work and I didn’t get to speak to him alone until tonight.”

“How did it go?”

“Well…,” she trails off.

“He’s sitting right there, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“He won’t help me?”

“Vince would like to talk to you himself.”

“Let me guess, he’s not happy I approached you?”

“Very good,” she says cryptically. I picture Vince sitting right near her while she’s talking, steam billowing from his ears.

“When can I talk to him? Qualifiers start in the morning.”

“Can you come up to room 3200?”

“I’m walking out the door right now.” I waste no time grabbing my keycard and heading up.

The irony doesn’t escape me as the elevator climbs its way to the top level of the building. I’ve cut out the excesses in my life, checking into a regular room, yet my brother has the entire top floor penthouse suite. The same brother who didn’t grow up with any excess…whose mother struggled while things were handed to me on a silver platter by our father. The heavy pendulum finally swings the other way.