Page 5 of Crash
My phone pinged with a text and I picked it up, glancing at the screen.
Dean: Call me when you get the deets, bro.
Dean was my identical twin. We were both tall with dirty brown hair, green eyes and hard jawlines, but there were slight differences that set us apart. I had a dimple whereas Dean didn’t, but temperament was the big difference. Dean was hotheaded and a fucking smart–ass, and I was often told I was the more sensible twin.Calm and collected.I thought about shit before I did it, whereas Dean just dove straight in and messed it up. Guess who the cleaner was. From childhood until now, nothing had changed.
Unlocking the screen on my phone, I called my brother, knowing that he’d want to know what the quacks said. We’d been inseparable in everything, even fighting and our pro careers, up until now. He was back in Sydney with Coach Miller and Josie, still on course for the season…and I was rotting here in Melbourne, away from all the action. It fucking burned.
He answered the call immediately.
“What’d the Doc say?” he asked without saying hello.
“Six months.”
“Ouch.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, bro.”
“Anytime.” I wanted to punch the fucker already. “Listen,” he went on, “they know their shit. If they say six months, then that’s how long it will take to get back into the cage. You wanna be at one hundred percent.”
“Six months is a long fucking time,” I replied sulkily.
“Yeah, but if you come back too early and fuck your shoulder right up…”
“Fair enough, whatever, but what am I going todo?” Fighting was everything. I wasn’t good at anything else. Actually, I wasn’t so sure about that last bit since I hadn’t needed to try any other career. I’d been training for this since I was fourteen, and at twenty-four, ten years of my fucking life was a lot of turn my back on. I wasn’t about to do anything stupid.
“Did you talk to Coach about Beat?”
“Coach doesn’t need anyone,” I replied. “He said he had it sorted and to rest. I’m too wound up to rest.” The doctors said I could do some cardio but no weights or fighting. That equaled no punching bags or sparring. Running and cycling were pretty much it until their say so.
“Man, dare I suggest it?”
I narrowed my eyes, knowing exactly what my brother was getting at.
“You can always go and check out Ash’s new place,” Dean went on when he didn’t get a bite. “See what all the fuss is about.”
Ever since he’d opened the place, Ash had been big news in the fighting circuit. He’d declined an attractive contract in the league to branch out and do his own thing. Considering the fanfare that signaled his departure all those years ago, getting back in from a ban was a hot topic. His declining, along with his girl and my mate Ren, had only sent everyone into a tailspin. A lot of people thought he was brave, but more than that, they thought he was an arrogant tosser. It was all over the AUFC websites, the newspaper, all of it. Everyone was expecting his venture at Pulse to fail.
“I guess,” I replied.
“I know it’s an ass, being out for so long, but—”
“Yeah, I know,” I interrupted. I just didn’t like the fact my identical twin was still out there competing without me. He’d leave me behind,that’swhat I was worried about the most. “I’ve got nothing to lose, I guess.”
“That’aboy!” Dean exclaimed. “Scope it out for us.”
“Right.”
“Follow the Doc’s orders, too,” he reminded me. “You’ll be back in no time. Listen, I’ve gotta go, but text me.”
I sighed. “Later.”
“Later, bro.”
The line disconnected, and I tossed my phone into the center console. Check out Pulse, huh? I supposed I didn’t have much to lose other than some time. Ash and I had always gotten along better than he did with Dean. I hadn’t exactly beenbest mateswith the guy, but after everything he’d done for Ren with that douche, Hammer, from The Underground, it had me thinking twice. Especially when I found out what the guy had done for his little sister, Violet.
At the thought of the youngest Fuller, I felt my skin prickle.
It’d been years since I’d seen Violet, but it didn’t mean that I hadn’t stopped thinking about her. It was a missed connection, a chance I never took and lost out. I guess I regretted being a pansy ass fuckwit and not asking her out when I had the opportunity. There hadn’t really been anyone else since—or ever.A few girls, a whole lot of one-nighters.Nothing solid. There weren’t that many women out there who got the kind of schedule I had to keep. Violet would get it. Her brother was a fighter, an unconventional one but a fighter nonetheless.
