“What’s wrong?” Brett asks, eyes quickly scanning the room. “Are you okay?” he asks stepping inside. He towers over me then jumps back as I jump up from the toilet.
“I’m pregnant.” I smile and wave the little stick at him.
“Let me see that,” he says, grabbing the test from my hand and checking for himself.
“You’re pregnant,” he says quietly. “Fuck yeah! You’re pregnant!” he yells a little louder. Then he just drops to the toilet I was just sitting on. “Holy fuck, I’m going to be a father.”
It must really be sinking in. I shift nervously on my feet. I hope to God he’s not regretting it now.
“Come here,” he says while reaching out, grabbing me by the hip and pulling me close.
“Are you okay?” I ask and bite my lip. Now that it’s done I can’t exactly take it back. It’s going to break my fucking heart if he tries to back out now.
He drops the stick to his lap then presses his hand against my stomach. Leaning close, he tells my belly, “I can’t wait to meet you.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Brett
It’s time. It’s here. No more training, no more could’ve, would’ve, or should’ve. No, it’s time to win or find a new job.
Fuck, I am so amped up I am having a hard time standing still as they tape up my hands, and the gaming official makes his mark on the top of my closed fists. It’s all routine for him, and it should be for me.
But I’ve got the jitters.
Chase is here with me and so is Max. One is a retired champion, and the other I think is going to become the next champion. But me? I am still the wild card. Fuck. I try to calm down and listen t
o Chase’s words, but I think even he knows it’s just not happening right now.
I don’t have to wait long though. I hear the muffled voice of the announcer going over the fight before mine’s results. It was one-sided all the way. Niklaus dropped the guy he was fighting in the first fucking round and in the first minute. I hope mine goes that way, but Charlie hasn’t been knocked out. Ever. And he has only lost three times: one to the judges, one tap out, and one referee stoppage, and those were when he was a new fighter. Fuck.
Time for me to go to work. I hear the pounding on my door and walk out with Chase and Max following behind me.
They’re pounding my entrance song: Five Finger Death Punch doing Jekyll and Hyde. I step out from behind the curtain and walk towards the ring. I see on the ring apron the love of my life, strutting that fucking body of perfection while holding up a sign announcing the main event.
I don’t think she will be doing that next month. She is pregnant and I am happy as fuck. I got her sexy ass knocked up. She is also going to marry me. I had to ask her dad for permission and he gave it. I think he was more expecting me to get into it with him over him pushing Mandy to California. I want to, but I also know he was doing what he thought best for his kid. I don’t know what else to do but accept and move past that, we can’t fix it.
Mandy has never actually seen me fight before, I think quickly, and damn, I hope she doesn’t see me get my ass handed to me on a platter.
They announce me as the challenger in the main event, and then I hear a guitar strumming Country music as Charlie makes his way to the cage. He is dancing around to the music outside the cage, and looks like he is already celebrating a victory. Cocky fuck.
I shake my head as I stand in my corner and try to stay calm like Chase was coaching me. He has been saying I can’t blow my load early, I need to stay still and wait for my opportunity. Chase says on film Charlie is good, but his stamina is shit after the first couple of rounds. He thinks I can win if I just hold out a bit. He’s right, but this game plan is putting me off a bit. I like to fucking stand and trade blows, but Charlie is known for his very hard hands.
We go through the ref going over the fight rules, silently looking at each other. He smirks at me as he refuses to touch gloves and then turns his back to me as he walks to his corner. The absolute lack of respect is something new for him, at least to me.
Shit.
Fucker is getting under my damn skin. I can hear Chase telling me to ignore the games but it’s hard. Fucker is really testing my resolve to play it smart.
Max stands and yells, “You got this Brett!” as the bell sounds and I start my advance on Charlie.
We meet in the middle and instantly Charlie is throwing hard but controlled punches at me. He’s testing my defenses, seeing if I will go toe to toe.
I take a couple on the arms, and one on the chin. Damn, his hands are just as fucking hard as I remember. He hits like a fucking sledgehammer.
I trade a couple of kicks though to his thighs and a good one to the side of his stomach. He huffs out a loud breath as he takes the blow and pulls back.
I nod my head to myself as I advance, he didn’t like that, and I go for another kick. He lifts his leg and takes it to the shin before stepping in, and I barely have the time to dodge his fist as he goes to roundhouse the shit out of me.