Finding Solace (20 page)

 
"I just
thought that Colt could take down anyone. It’s nice to hear the famous Colton
Jennings has a flaw, or two, if you count Sadie."

 
Colt was
across the room before I could blink. It was as if he swung while he was still
in the air.
"You stupid mother fucker.
You ever,
and I mean ever, talk about her that way again, I will
fucking
kill you." He was saying all of this while he continuously punched Geoff.
Geoff was trying to grab Colt around the waist to take him out but he stood no
chance. Dave and Bryan were trying to grab Colt to get him to stop while Shawn
just stood back smiling. The two finally restrained Colt and got him to the
other side of the room. Geoff’s face was starting to swell, but he was not done
and it showed. Shawn spoke at that moment. "Now that's what you get for
thinking to begin with. You might want to stop what you are thinking now and
realize whatever you’re about to do, the consequences will include me. Sadie
girl here is my business. You fuck with her again, and you will have me to deal
with."

 
"Same
goes for me." from Dave

 
"And
me." Came from Bryan

 
They both
let go of Colt and walked over to Geoff. Dave looked him in the eye.

 
"I
think you need to take a walk."

 
Heather and
I just stood back not knowing if all hell was going to break loose again. Did I
do something in a past life to this douche bag? Why are Colt and I his target?
Geoff huffed and then walked out of the room throwing the door open trying to
prove he was a bad ass or something. Didn't show that two minutes ago when Colt
kicked the shit out of him. Colt walked over to me still shaking out his hands.
When he was in front of me, he placed both of them on my shoulders. Looking at
me he said, "You are further from a flaw than anything I can think of.
Don't listen to a word that asshole said. Sadie, you are amazing." He
leaned forward and gave me a peck on the lips.

 
"So now
that that excitement is over, who is ready for some real fights to start?
Besides, I want to go find Jason before he has to go back and be with Mike for
the night." Heather had a point. We needed to get going. I looked over at
the clock and saw that it was already six thirty. Chills just ran all over my
body. I glanced back at all my friends in the room and said, “It’s time."

 
When we got
out of the cab at the event Colt stopped all of us from going in. "Now
when we get in there I want everyone to watch the girls. There will be every
kind of prick that walks the earth trying to get at them. Don't respond to
anything they say, just keep walking." I couldn't figure out why he was
taking the daddy role and all. Well that was until we walked in. Holy shit! It
was crazy. You had dudes that looked like peddlers, to women in fur coats. All
walks of life were up in here. I was waiting to see if I could spot Geoff,
seeing as he never came back up to the room. I guess he didn’t feel like
apologizing. I held onto Colt and had Heather in my other hand. People were
everywhere. It was a mad house. It felt like we walked five miles by the time
we reached the entrance to the arena that led to where we had to go. Mike
hooked us up with seats six rows back from the cage. I couldn’t believe my eyes
as we walked down the steps. It felt like we were in the cage and we were still
moving closer. We got to our row and I looked up. The place was massive to say
the least. It was already an almost packed house. I followed Colt but when we
finally came to the point where we could sit, Heather asked if she could have
the inside seat so she could sit next to Jason’s parents. Mike put us next to
his parents. Wow! I needed to thank him something fierce for doing this for us.

 
Heather
introduced all of us to the family, grandparents included. And guess what? I
finally met the infamous Tony. He was a mix of both Jason and Mike. Good
looking would not cut it, and extremely nice also. Their whole family was.
Geoff eventually walked in. Thank God Dave sat on the end so none of us were
near him. He kept shooting dirty looks down Colt and my way. Tony noticed and
asked loudly, "Is there a problem, asshole?" I wanted to laugh out
loud. Apparently we weren’t the only ones that thought that when we looked at
Geoff. Also that he was so much like his brothers.

 
"Nope, nothing with you anyway."
Geoff just didn't
know when to shut his mouth. How Dave found any redeeming quality in this dude
was beyond me. I looked at Colt and grabbed his hand. He was staring straight
ahead. Tony piped in again, "Considering this is my brother's girlfriend,
Heather, and this is her best friend, who I've finally gotten the pleasure to
meet, Sadie. This is Colt who helped Mike train. This is Dave and Bryan who I
have known for a while. And then there
is
you, and I
have no fucking idea who you are or where you came from. It seems to me, if you
have a problem with any of them, you have a problem with me." I felt Colt
stiffen up. I knew he didn’t like the idea that Tony was taking up his battle.
Just when I could tell he had had enough, and was getting ready to react, Geoff
got up and left. Good riddance!

 
Tony looked
at Colt and said, "What's that mother fucker’s problem?"

 
I answered,
"Me."

 
"This
has nothing to do with you, Sadie." Colt was quick to respond.

 
"Really, because it all started that night at Dave's?
He wanted to hook up with me. After that, I turned him down."

 
"Sadie,
I promise it’s not about you, just leave it." He snapped at me. I decided
I needed to go to the bathroom. Shawn said he would go with me, so I didn’t
have to walk through that madness by myself. We had to climb back up all those
freaking stairs before we got to the top and then went in search of a bathroom.
It is not like I really even needed to go. I just needed a break from crabby
pants. I turned to Shawn, "My name is not Geoff so why is he getting all
mad at me?"

 
"Sadie,
it really isn't about you. You have to promise me you won’t tell him I told you
this."

 
"Of
course I can promise you. Shawn, you’re one of my oldest friends. What are you
talking about?"

 
"Okay
so, did you ever hear anything about Shelley?"

 
I shook my
head no even though the name rang a bell. I could not place where it came from.

 
"Well,
Shelley was Geoff’s girlfriend."

 
Oh, now I
remembered. She was hitting on Bryan at Dave's party.

 
"She
and Geoff had been together a long time. When Geoff found out she cheated on
him, he dumped her.”

 
"Still
not seeing where I come in to all this?"

 
"Like
we have been saying, this isn't about you. Colt fucked Shelley, Sadie. She
cheated on Geoff with Colt. That's why he went after you. So he could get to
Colt. That's why he keeps making asshole comments about you. Because it pisses
Colt off. Do you see now?"

 
Holy mother
fucking shit!
That asshole.
I hope to God he didn’t
know she was with Geoff when he was with her. Now it all makes perfect sense.

 
"Wow. I
get it now."

 
"Can
you see now why everyone was only mad at him when he said something about you?
Whatever is going on with them is between them."

 
"Yeah,
I get it. I can't believe I have a small amount of pity for Geoff. But believe
me, it’s still small. He's still an asshole."

 
"Yes,
he is. He should have never brought you into this. The only thing that I can
think of is
,
you’re Colt’s only weakness."

 
"How do
you figure?"

 
"If
only you could see what we see, Sadie girl."

 
After we
used the bathrooms we made our way back down those awful stairs. If it’s
possible, the place seemed more packed than before. We finally trudged through
the crowd and got back to our seats. I didn’t think I was going to drink a drop
if it meant I would have to make that trip again. I sat back down and this time
Colt grabbed my hand. He picked it up and kissed the back of it. I wanted to
scream at him for being so stupid. But am I really a person that should judge?
Isn't that the very thing he taught me? Whatever mistakes we make in our past
are our past. They make us who we are. Too bad for him, his are following him.

 
I continued
to allow him to hold my hand. I was about to say something, when all of a
sudden I heard a loud noise. Realizing it was the microphone, I looked to the
cage and there was a man in the center holding it. He welcomed everyone and
thanked them for coming. A lot more was said but the last words stuck in my
head, "Let’s get it on." Now you need to understand that this is not
Mike’s fight. He's in the heavyweight division. There are several fights before
the finale. Colt leaned over and said so I could hear him over the crowd,
"Was that not so awesome seeing Joe Rogan live? This is fucking
amazing!"

 
I have
watched enough of these fights that I had to agree with him. This is pretty
amazing. The first fight was super short. The guy tapped out after only the
first minute of the first round. I bet his trainers are fired. The second fight
was about to start when Geoff showed back up and sat down to watch. I really
did feel differently about everything now. I wish he would leave me out of it,
but I can see why he wouldn't like Colt. He paid for his ticket regardless. He
had every right to sit in his seat and watch. Middle weight was always my
favorite to watch. They were so fast in their movements. This fight went to
decision. Most people used this time to go to the bathroom. I sat nervous in my
chair. After another ten minutes or so we all heard, "Welcome to the main
event. The fight you have all been waiting for.” I was so not ready for this!

 
The crowd
went wild. Everyone was out of the chairs. People were stomping their feet to
create added noise. My heart was pounding a mile a minute. Music started,
Avenged
Sevenfold’s
song
"Nightmare" came through the speakers. All attention went to the left
side of the arena. With everyone still on their feet, it was hard to see, but a
large entourage was making its way towards the Octagon. As men filtered out,
all of a sudden you could see Jason, and I knew this must be Mike's side. He
looked glorified, wearing all white, with patches covering his GI and a black
belt hanging around his waist. He surely made the art of Brazilian
Ju
Jitsu
proud. As he walked
closer, he looked nothing but focused. The announcer introduced him by age,
height, weight, reach and stat record. By this time he and his trainers had
entered the Octagon. He shed his GI which left him in bright orange shorts
covered with all of his sponsors. Then it started all over again for Reynolds’s
side. When all formal introductions were made, the two men walked to the center
of the cage. After all the rules were gone over, the dreaded words that were
going to start the fight came out of the announcer’s mouth, "Let’s fight.”

 
 
At first it seemed both men were just dancing
around each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Then like a
light switch, all hell broke loose. Mike started swinging and Reynolds
came
right back, punch for punch. Mike left himself open for
just one second allowing Reynolds to take advantage of it and had him on the
ground. Mike was quick to get out of it and then he was back on his feet in no
time. More punches were thrown. Kicks were going to the abdomen, chest and
head. It seemed feet were going everywhere. When the first round ended, it was
an even match. With five 5-minute rounds, it all seemed to be going in slow
motion. Round two went to Mike. Round three and round four definitely went to
Reynolds. It was the final round and both men were exhausted. Once again they
were on their feet. Punches were going everywhere they could land one. At one
point Mike got a little too close and gave up the advantage. Reynolds grabbed
his head and pulled it down, slamming into his knee. When Mike came back up,
blood was everywhere. You could tell he was disoriented. That's when everything
started to go downhill. Reynolds grabbed him around the waist and ran with him,
shoving him into the fence. In this position Mike continued to punch him in the
back of the head but Reynolds had body blows going at Mike like a windmill.
There wasn't much Mike could do as far as defense. He just tried as hard as he
could to keep punching but he was getting so tired. Reynolds let up on Mike
just enough for him to come off the fence, which was a necessity if he wanted
to take him down to the ground, which he did. The crowd went nuts. Mike was on
his back and it looked like it was all over. I was ready for it to be also. I
couldn't take anymore. Mike was receiving blow after blow to the head. But
somehow he managed to get his feet up around Reynolds’s neck. He squeezed so
hard that Reynolds stopped punching, and within seconds he had Reynolds flipped
over on his back and Mike was on top of him. Reynolds used his legs to wrap
around Mike's center. He was trying to punch Mike in the head. It didn't seem
like Mike was trying to block anything, but we all knew he was strategizing.
Waiting, for his time, and then it happened. Mike had gotten a triangle choke
hold on Reynolds. Everyone in the arena was going fucking crazy including me.
He was going to do it. Holy shit, he was going to do it. But then he did
something else. He let go long enough to get between Reynolds’s legs. He rocked
back on his heels and just like that, Mike was on his feet with Reynolds’s legs
still wrapped around his waist. He was standing up holding him and then he
dropped him and all of Mike’s weight came down on top of him. Reynolds’s head
bounced off the mat and then he was out. The ref ran over to verify Reynolds
was unconscious. When his arm went up, everybody started jumping up and down,
screaming and hollering. I jumped into Colt’s arms. It was unbelievable. Mike
did it! No one could believe it. Mike just kicked the ass of an undefeated
champion. He was the new heavy weight champion. Holy shit!