Page 63 of Fight for Forever

“Couldn’t have put it any better,” I laugh.

“It’s a good job you have a smart team around you.”

I’d filled Perry in when we met two days ago, and we all agreed to re-arrange our original fight. He’d fought Marris too and beat him. He sympathized with all the bullshit I’d gone through, then mused that his team wasn’t as stringent as Sam is.

I’m pretty sure he went back to them afterwards about changing their policies.

“Yeah, I hear that.”

We shoot the shit while everyone gets set up. When they call us over, Perry lifts a hand for me to slap. Then he glares.

“Ready to put on a show?” he asks.

“Bring it, chicken.”

He laughs and socks me in the arm.

This. This is what it should be like.

Fighters working together like athletes. Respecting one another and only putting on a show for the fans and reporters. Sam never comes to shit like this. I like to say it is because he’s camera shy, but he just hates people. Even the ones he is around most of the time.

My eyes find Megan after that, making sure she is still okay. She’s standing off to the side, sipping on a bottle of soda. When she sees me looking, she gives me a little wave. I grin back at her.

I wouldn’t usually bring her along to something like this, but it’s a closed set, and no one is going to bother her. After last night, I’m not ready to let her out of my sight just yet either.

We talked after a couple of rounds of pretty epic ‘missed you’ sex. It gutted me, knowing she was so insecure and second guessing herself about me. I made a promise to her and myself, that I would do everything in my power to never make her feel like that again. I don’t have a clue where things are headed, but I hope she’s at my side for a long time.

We’re mic’d up and settle into our seats. It’s going out live across one major network. My PR team has been hyping up that I’m about to respond to the rumors for the past twenty-four hours. People have been desperate to get to me for an exclusive, but this is happening my way.

And it’s going to be the biggestfuck youto Kelvin Marris.

The man interviewing us is under a very strict directive not to even mention his name. I’ll respond to no questions about him, his problems with me or any of the shit he’s said.

I’m only going to address allegations of doping made against me, provide the evidence that I have not, in fact, ever cheated in my entire damn life.

And announce my next fight. With Perry Jackson. Not Kelvin Marris.

If he wanted to implode his whole fucking career and reputation. He did it with fucking style.

Once the interview is done and I’ve shaken all the hands I need to, I go grab Megan and we head out to my car. I turn off all notifications, set my phone on silent and lock it in the glove compartment. I’ve had enough of this shit. All I want is to be with my girl.

We spend an entire week together, only separating so she can go to work, and when I have to head into train. My official fight regime isn’t starting for another month, given we put the fight back a few weeks to accommodate some stuff Perry had lined up. I’m getting as much time with her as I can.

Despite the way things have changed for us, I’ll still stick to my routine.

A month of no sex.

I’m fucking insane. Keeping my hands off her for that long is going to kill me. The only saving grace is, Meg is taking this as seriously as I do. She wants me to win. So she will keep the temptation to a minimum, provided, of course, she doesn’t give in.

She’s even alluded to the possibility of watching the fight. I won’t lie. The thought of having her ringside makes me feel amazing, but I won’t subject her to it if it’s going to trigger her or do anything to upset her. Whatever she decides, I’ll be there for her.

When we come up for air, and I turn my phone back on, I don’t bother reading all the notifications. Sam hasn’t kept me abreast of what went down after the interview, because he doesn’t care about shit like that.

Malice filled me in a couple of times, mostly to tell me that the legal team are filing a defamation suit against Marris, he’s been dropped from the fighters roster and not a single person in the sport wants anything to do with him.

For our first trip out, rather stupidly, I take her to Angelina’s again, where she is welcomed with more attention than I get, especially because Angelina is still salty about me ghosting her.

Rookie fucking mistake.