The Ballerina & The Fighter (Book 1) (22 page)

She twisted to look at me a
frown marring her features. “Are you involved in any of this?”

I shook my head. “No.” Truth
but not quite and I prayed to God after tonight it would all be truth. I was
crazy thinking I could keep her and be more involved with the Triad than I
already was. At least now I had a chance. I could have a life with her. Tonight
after the fight I would tell her how I felt about her. How I’d always felt
about her.

It was surreal walking into
the dressing room with Ivy beside me. Tsang was with us as well as two
bodyguards. I watched Ivy as she looked around. There was a massage table, a
bench, a couple of chairs, an open closet and a bathroom, a long mirror hooked
to a wall.

“Not bad for a dressing
room,” she said.

I grinned, I was pretty sure
it was a good size for a dressing room for one person. It had been specially
designed for these mixed martial arts tournaments that involved blades. So it
was wide enough for me to stand at one end, stretch out my arms while holding
my eighteen inch swords and still have room between the tips and the walls,
behind me and at my sides. As well as room between me and the anything else in
front of me.

“Sit down, stay with me a
while longer. Then Tsang will take you to your seat, front row, right?” I
glanced over my shoulder at Tsang who’d taken one of the two chairs in there.
He nodded. I placed my case with my blades on the floor near the table. When my
trainer came in the bodyguards left. I introduced Ivy to Master Lee. Then I
striped down to my briefs and laid on the table for him to give me a rub down
to get the blood flowing in my muscles. When he was done, I got dressed in the
loose black kickboxing pants I preferred to fight in.

Uncle Tsang stood up then. “I
think it’s time for me to take Ivy to our seats and get her settled so you can
finish preparing. And remember what I told you and what Joe told you. He’ll be
watching too, it’s all arranged.”

I nodded my head then turned
to Ivy. I grabbed her crutches and helped her to stand, then I placed one under
each arm. I put my arms around her waist and touched my forehead to hers. “Wish
me luck.”

“Good luck,” she said.

I raised my head and looked
into her beautiful brown eyes, the hint of green in the center shown within and
I smiled. Yes I was going to win because this girl deserved me to do nothing
else but my best. “I’m going to kick his ass.” Then I gave her a quick kiss and
stepped aside so she could get by.

“I’ll see you as soon as it’s
over.”

She turned to look at me.
“You better win. I didn’t come here to see you lose.”

Tsang walked out with her and
as soon as the door closed behind them I began to prepare my mind and my body
for what lay ahead and what I had to do. I was ready. I had trained for this
moment most of my life, even if I didn’t realize it until recently. I put all
thoughts other than what I had to do out of my head and centered myself,
entering that place of complete and utter calm I have no problem reaching
before a fight.

Finally, it was time. I
followed my trainer and a couple of other helpers out to the arena. The place
was about half the size of a basketball court and I knew it would be packed. A
sort of raised platform, about two feet off the ground, would be in the center.
Not a ring exactly, there were no ropes, or even a cage, more like a stage.
Because it was a stage, my opponent and I were about to put on a show. A
dangerous one. I neither looked to my left nor my right, just straight ahead,
my gaze remained on the red dragon on the back of Lee’s shirt. We climbed up
the steps on the right side. As soon as my foot hit the stage I heard the roar
of the crowd again, my opponent had entered from the other side. I saw his
hands raised in the air. Fucker. I didn’t bother to grin. I would not waste any
unnecessary energy. I turned my back on his entrance and faced Lee while I did
a few moves with him to keep me limber and focused. It wasn’t until I turned
around and saw my opponent that I froze in surprise. But only for a moment,
then I smiled.

Jai. Those sons of bitches
switched fighters. This was why I was being pushed so hard to throw the fight.
At first it didn’t make sense to me. My opponent was just as well ranked as I
was although we’d never fought before. The odds should have had us even, with
me having a slight edge because I’d never lost a fight. He’d lost twice but the
wins he had were brutal and very decisive. Jai ranked much lower and he leapt
over other fighters for a shot at the prize. Now I understood why they wanted
me to throw the fight. His bastard of an older brother was damn well behind
this. I grinned when Jai and I locked eyes across the stage; he and the rest of
them were in for quite a show tonight.

Once the referee took the
center stage, Jai and I moved over and stood on either side of the referee
glaring at each other. Neither of us listened as he gave us the usual
instructions. We each took a step back, then the referee signaled by raising
the red ribbon he held in his hand and lowering it between us. Then the fight
was on.

We went into defensive
stances assessing each other. I zoned out on everything but the man in front of
me. My entire focus was on everything about him, including when he blinked just
before he moved to strike, but I was already moving to counter what his body
broadcasted to me loud and clear.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ivy

When I got to the row of
seats down in the front I saw a familiar head of blond hair already seated
there. I had told Maze I would have come by myself and sit with his uncle, but
I was glad he’d invited Dante. It was good to see a friendly face. I wasn’t
exactly sure what to expect but the place was packed. The crowd looked no
different from the people who came to watch me dance other than the fact the
crowd was predominantly Asian, although there appeared to be a few other
nationalities peppered here and there. Dante stood up when he saw me. Because
of my leg I took the seat at the end of the row, and placed the crutches down
beside me. Dante was already seated in the seat next to mine. I quickly
introduced him to Maze’s sorta uncle. Tsang sat on the other side of Dante and
one of his bodyguards sat next to his boss. I also noticed the second bodyguard
who’d been with us moved into the row behind us and sat one seat behind Tsang.

I turned my attention back to
Dante and leaned closer to him. “Thanks for coming.”

Dante shrugged. “What are
friends for, and besides I’ve been dying to see one of these things. And these
are fucking front row seats. Don’t get better than this. Your boy has some
serious pull. I did an internet search on him and he’s well known in the
martial arts fighting world. And no shit he has never lost a fight. There’s a
boat load a money riding on this match.”

I had no clue what winning
one of these things netted and didn’t really care, but hopefully it was worth
all the effort and punishment on their bodies I know most athletics put into
their sport. Out of curiosity I asked. “If he wins, what’s the prize?”

“Five million but that’s not
on the internet. When I came in I was given the chance to place a bet.”

My eyebrows tried to rise to
my hairline. “WHAT!”

Dante merely nodded.

“Holy hell.” I shook my head
and stared at the stage. “Did you place a bet?”

“Hell yes, on your boy.”

I noticed Dante turn his head
to say something to Mr. Tsang, after a minute Dante turned back to me. “Mr.
Tsang wants to know if you’d like anything to drink.”

I leaned forward so I could
see Maze’s uncle and he me. “Thanks, but I’m good.”

“You sure, we still have a
little time before the fight starts.”

Dante and I both declined and
sat back settling into our seats.

“How was the performance?” I
noticed Dante hadn’t said a word about it and knew he wouldn’t until I brought
it up. I wasn’t going to hide from it. That would be impossible.

He turned to me and said, “I
missed you like crazy. Christy has no where near your perfect timing. I almost
dropped her once because she’s a little heavier than you and she missed two
cues.”

As much as I wanted to gloat
I couldn’t. “She’ll get it. You only had all of what really, less than a week
to work with her? The more you dance together the more in sync you’ll become.
But don’t get too comfortable.”

He snorted. “As if. But I
don’t care how long she and I dance together it won’t be like us. We fell in to
sync the first time we took the stage.”

I could only nod in
agreement. Everything he said was true; we’d just naturally known each other’s
rhythm. It’s also why we were best friends. Even at the beginning if I wanted
more, in my heart, Maze stood in the way. He was always there, like a mental
emotional block to anyone I met, that I might have otherwise wanted to get
closer to. That and the fact, at first, I thought Dante was gay. Finding out he
was bi never changed my feelings for him, that we were only ever going to be
friends.

The roar of the crowd behind
us was my first clue something was happening. One of the fighters entered the
arena. The people behind us stood and applauded and then an announcer took the
stage and introduced Maze. The noise in the place got louder. At first I
couldn’t see him all the bodies were in the way. But he walked right down the
side aisle then up the steps. His head never looked left or right, but seemed
focused on some far point in front of him. He walked with his hands hanging
loosely at his sides, with a smooth easy gait. Surprised he didn’t wear gloves
or tape on his hands, but he told me this was different from what I might know.
Once he got on the stage, he only turned to face the crowd once and bow. Then
there was another roar louder on the other side of the room. I turned around,
but again the people standing blocked my view. The announcer came on and gave
the name of the other fighter. I didn’t recognize it, no surprise there. But
when the young man took the stage and they stood there facing each other I
realized he looked familiar.

It wasn’t until they began to
fight I understood why his opponent looked familiar; he was one of those who’d
try to mug us in the alley in Little Italy. My sharp intake of breath had Dante
taking my hand resting on the armrest and squeezing it. I think he thought my
reaction was for the kick the other guy aimed at Maze’s head, but Maze ducked
it easily and swept his own foot out to trip the other guy, who went down on
his butt. But he leaped up between one blink and the next and stood back on his
feet.

The fight was fast and
furious. Half the time their hands moved in nothing but blurs, I could barely
register who connected and who missed. Maze was right; this was not the kind of
fighting I’d seen him do on the beach or even in the alley. This was on a whole
different level. And it both excited and scared the shit outta me that he could
fight like that. We were close enough to the stage I heard the power of some of
their kicks and punches as they cut through the air or connected with flesh.

The fight seemed to go on
forever, but was probably less than ten minutes and it was pretty clear early
on Maze was the better fighter. To me he blocked more hits from his opponent,
and Maze’s punches and kicks when they connected got more of a reaction. The
other guy would either hold onto the area that got hit and back away or go into
defensive moves while Maze kept pressing and took advantage of it.

Eventually, Maze must have
gotten tired of playing with his opponent because it seemed like he could have
ended this fight anytime he wanted to. He leaped into the air and did a spin
kick, his foot hitting the other guy on the side of his face and he went down
and the crowd went wild. The referee walked over to Maze and pushed him away
from the other guy, then the referee knelt beside the man who still hadn’t
moved. He looked up over the heads of the crowd. I wasn’t sure what he was
looking at. But then he crossed his arms over his chest and opened them wide.

“OUT! Round to Maze!”

Before Maze’s name left his
mouth the guy on the ground rolled to his side but it was too late. He shook
his head and someone else from his side of the stage came out and helped him
up. My gaze during the entire time kept drifting back to Maze. He merely stood
on his side of the stage, arms hanging loosely at his sides and his feet spread
wide, ready for anything. His gaze remained glued to the guy on the ground.
God, he looked savage. I’d never wanted him more.