H.T. Night's 8-Book Vampire Box Set (8 page)

“It’s the rest that you can’t tell me
about?”

“Not at this moment. But I can tell you that
Atticai is the one who started calling me Lena.”

“Your name isn’t Lena?”

“You don’t remember? My name
was—is—Donna.”

“Sorry. I remembered your face, but I never
knew your name at Eisenhower.”

“Wow, no wonder why I hated jocks so much in
high school. You didn’t even know my name.”

“Hey, we never talked. We didn’t have a
single conversation.”

“Trust me, that was all you,” Lena said.

“Why is that?”

“I had a little crush on you.”

“You did?” I was extremely surprised to hear
that. I wouldn’t have thought a girl like Lena would have given a
second glance toward a guy like me.

“Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have your
picture hanging in my locker or anything, but I thought you were
pretty cute.”

“I wish I would have known.”

“What are you talking about? You didn’t even
know my name. You’re were too busy dating cheerleaders and drill
team girls.”

“I never dated those types of girls. It
might surprise you, but I have always been interested in girls like
you.”

“What type of girl do you think a girl like
me is?”

I paused. “A thoughtful loner, who thinks
independently and doesn’t care what ‘pop culture’ tells her to be
like.”

Lena smiled. “I guess that is me. And you
liked that?”

“Yeah, because believe it or not, that is
how I am. You know, but as a guy.”

“I figured that what you meant. I didn’t
think you were having a gender identity crisis.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Lena. I knew your face
in high school. You were someone who I thought was hot, but thought
I had zero chance with. I figured girls like you hated guys like
me.”

She laughed. “Trust me—we did. No one knew I
was secretly crushing on you.”

“How funny,” I smiled at Lena.

“Oh, don’t start getting all cocky on
me.”

“I’m not getting cocky. Life is funny;
that’s all. We never spoke in high school, but yet, after one
night, you trusted me enough to let me help you.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“What I mean is, at the time, you were all I
had. If you turned out to be a creep, too, like those frat boys, I
was shit out of luck. You not only turned out to be a fantastic
guy, you kick more ass than any man I had ever seen.”

“Your boyfriend isn’t too bad in his own
right.”

“Yeah, but he has an advantage.”

“What advantage is that? That he is so
tall?” I laughed.

Lena looked at me as if she would open up to
me about something, but then held back. Lena paused and took me in.
Her eyes penetrated through me. “I want to trust you, Josiah,” she
said. “I hope I can.”

“You can, Donna,” I said, winking at
her.

“Please don’t call me Donna. I hate that
name immensely.”

“So, why did Atticai rename you Lena?”

“The reason is a little bit on the weird
side,” Lena laughed.

“Trust me, nothing you tell me about Atticai
would make me think he’s any weirder than I already do.”

“No, this is pretty weird—even for Atticai.
Okay, fine. Donna was his mother’s name.”

I paused. Atticai’s fear of an Oedipus
complex factoring into their relationship swirled in my brain like
curdled milk in hot coffee. “You’re right. That is pretty freaking
weird. But I kind of get where he was going with the name change
request.”

“I know. Right?”

“Your order is up!” The old man from behind
the counter yelled out. I got up and grabbed the tray and filled up
my Diet Coke. I brought the tray over and set it on the table. Lena
tore open her burger wrapper and took a giant bite.

“I’m so hungry,” she said, wiping her
mouth.

“Apparently so.” I watched as he devoured
her hamburger.

Lena looked up from her burger. “Can I ask
you a personal question?”

“Sure,” I said. I started to eat my fries
first, as I always do. I think I secretly have a salt
addiction.

“How much do you get paid to fight?”

“I’m fairly new in the sport. So, I get paid
the minimum.”

“Which is?”

“About five thousand a fight.”

“Wow! That’s not bad.”

“It’s not for other fighters. When you only
fight every three months, it ends up being a pretty remedial
job.”

“Then why choose that profession?”

“I’m hoping I’ll get better and to win over
a larger fan base. The idea is to get proficient enough to get on
pay-per-view. That’s where the real money is.”

“Well, you’re as tremendous a fighter as
I’ve ever seen. I’m sure you’ll get the big pay-per-view fights in
no time.” Lena took a couple more bites of her hamburger. I decided
to start on my own hamburger. It tasted delicious. This old man
behind the counter could make a pretty tasty burger.

When we were done, I took Lena home. I knew
she had more on her mind, and somewhere along the way in the
conversation, she held back for whatever reason. I dropped her off
and was just about to pull out of the driveway when I got a text
from Tommy. It was a short text: ‘Get home. Now.’

Chapter Ten

I pulled up to my house and Tommy was
outside sitting on the porch steps. I got out of my truck and
headed over to him.

“So, what’s up?” I stood there looking at
Tommy. He wouldn’t look me in the eye. “Tommy, what’s going
on?”

He hesitated. “You know, we got our
match-ups today. Aren’t you the least bit curious about who you’re
fighting?”

“You know me, Tom. I genuinely don’t care. I
fight my fight like an adrenaline maniac, no matter who it is.
Look, if you’re pissed off that I took a day off from
training...”

“Josiah, you have a tough opponent this time
and you better start taking your training very seriously. Don’t be
such a dumbass about your career.”

I shrugged. “Who did they give me? Don’t
tell me that they gave me Marquez already.”

“No, your opponent is a little tougher than
Marquez.”

“Who am I fighting?”

Tommy stood up and walked onto the lawn. He
got into the MMA striking stance. And he said, “Me!”

“You?! You’re kidding, right?”

“I wouldn’t have asked you to come straight
home if it wasn’t true.”

“Can they do that? I mean, everyone knows
we’re practically brothers.”

Tommy laughed. “Josiah, they can do whatever
they want. They are the Commission, man. They can make us fight a
leopard in the ring if they want to.”

“I don’t understand. They told you this was
only going to be a tune-up fight. They know I’ve knocked out
everyone in the first two minutes of each of my fights. I’m
anything but a tune-up.”

“It’s not your performance in the ring,
Josiah. It’s who you are out of the ring. ”

“What does that mean?”

Tommy was getting himself worked up. “It
means you don’t take being a fighter seriously, man. It means you
get fat every time you’re done training. Don’t you think the
trainers see that extra twenty pounds you’re carrying right now?
They see you arrive late to do your training, and you’re always the
first to leave. You’re looked at as being soft. Lazy!”

“That’s bullshit, and you know—”

“Josiah, they apologized to me that they
couldn’t give me a better fighter.”

My ego wounded, my mouth dropped open.
“You’re serious?”

He nodded. I knew this wasn’t easy for
him.

“They apologized for not getting you a
better fighter? And they were talking about me?”

He nodded again. “Look, Josiah, I know
you’re tough, and I know what you can do. So, I’m telling you right
now that you better train seriously. If I easily kick your ass, the
Commission will think you threw the fight, and that would be worse
than if I lost to you.”

“I can’t believe you assume that you’re just
going to kick my ass. Do you have any idea what I’m capable
of?”

“It doesn’t matter how tough you are,
Josiah. You and I both know that. When two fighters are as skillful
as we are we are, the winner is always the person who trains the
hardest and who is the smartest. You and I both know I have you on
both points.”

“Says you,” I replied.

“When you measure who has the edge, between
you and me, it’s me, Josiah. Me.”

This was the first time in my life I ever
wanted to punch Tommy in the face. How could he say these things to
me? He was in my corner in each of my knockouts. He saw how easily
I manhandled all of my opponents. The nerve of him, thinking he
could just roll me over!

“Look,” I said, raising my voice, feeling
that familiar surge of adrenaline. It was all I could do to control
myself. “Do what you have to do, and say what you have to say to
try to get in my head, to beat up my ego, to get your edge squared
away out of the ring. Before you get in it, with me. Because there
will be no mercy in that ring. None.”

Tommy stiffened, but didn’t reply.

I blasted on. “Tommy, I’m telling you right
here and now that this is the worst thing that could have happened
to you. You’d better train Rocky Balboa-style. I will not be easy
on you. In fact, I will be the exact opposite. I’m going to kick
the living shit out of you.”

Tommy had a cocky smirk on his face. “Good,
that’s what I want to hear. Our fight is in 24 days. I think it
would be best if I stayed over at my grandma’s house until the
fight. You know how I get. All machismo. It will be just too weird
running into you each day. We’ll end up beating each other’s cocky
asses over the last protein bar in the house before we ever set
foot in the ring.”

“Do what you have to do,” I repeated. “And
don’t eat too much of your grandma’s cooking, or we’ll see who’s
too fat on fight day!”

“Hey, you smell like burgers and fries,”
Tommy said. “Cut that shit out.”

I brushed past him into the house. I went
straight to my room, where I stripped off my shirt and jeans. They
did smell of burgers and fries. Now, just in my boxers, I dropped
to the floor and cranked out 4 sets of 50 pushups. If Tommy wanted
me at the top of my game, then that’s where he was going to find
me.

Chapter Eleven

I spent the next two weeks training three
times a day.

My days started with a five-mile run and
then a four-hour gym session. Each evening I did a six-mile run,
just because I could pull it off. One thing I knew I could count on
was that my legs were going to feel heavy, and little Daphne was
always there to greet me before each run with a loud hawk
squawk.

Each night before bed, I would visually play
out my game plan against Tommy. My strategy was simple: I was going
to strike. I was going to throw a storm of punches and kicks until
I knocked him out. My arms and legs would be a blur. Tommy’s
strategy would be to get me to the ground. Tommy loved to do
submission moves, but there was no way I’d ever give him that
chance. Never get under Tommy. I knew this from watching him fight.
And he had watched me fight, too, and knew my own secrets for
wining.

At the gym, I practiced my ground game with
Mike Flores. Mike Flores was an ex-MMA fighter who had to quit
cause he blew out his ACL in his knee. Mike had been in my corner
in each of my fights, along with Tommy. Mike thought it was naive
of me to think that I was just going to knock out Tommy in the
first two minutes. We both figured that I needed to go over some
ground defense.

So, I did. I worked out intensively with
Mike Flores. And as the first week came and went, I had forgotten
all about Lena and her crazy friends.

On a Saturday night, with seven days to go
before the big match, I decided to take the night off. I was
craving a slab of ribs from Hotlanta, a barbecue joint that served
up some incredible quality old-fashioned soul food. It was in
Riverside, which was about a half hour away, give or take traffic
conditions. I could use a pleasant drive. I showered up and put on
my only black T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. I was in the
bathroom combing my hair when I heard a knock on the front
door.

I finished the last bit of styling of my
beautiful locks and went to answer it. I opened the door and found
Yari standing there. She looked incredible. She wore a long white
dress that looked like something out of a romance novel. Her hair
was fixed up, and her bright red lipstick made the color in her
hair stand out.

“Hey there,” I said, surprised as hell.

“Hey, yourself,” she said, in a sultry
voice.

I peeked out the door and saw that she
seemed to be alone. There wasn’t even a vehicle in sight. “Do you
want to come in?”

“Sure.”

“What were you looking for outside?” she
asked.

“I don’t know...I thought maybe you had your
friends with you.”

“Nope. Just little ol’ me. Sorry if you’re
disappointed.”

I grinned. “I’m anything but disappointed,”
I said. “I was just surprised to see you, that’s all.” I sat on my
couch. Yari walked over and sat next to me, with about a foot
separating us.

“I hope it was a pleasant surprise,” she
said.

“It was a very nice surprise. You look ‘off
the hook’ tonight.”

“Thanks. ‘Off the hook?’ I have never been
told that before,” she giggled, almost girlishly. Which was odd
coming from her. She normally behaved with an air of confidence
that only the most beautiful women seem to have. You know, the kind
of women who receive a steady stream of compliments by every man
that enters their vicinity. “You’re looking nifty, too. Were you
going somewhere?”

“I was just going to get a bite to eat.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “By yourself?”

“Yeah, I do most things by myself these
days.”