Page 6 of Rush
“So you actually earn money in MMA?” Jade asked, turning to look at me.
“Yeah, a bit. I’ve had a few minor fights, nothing big, though. And I’ve been lucky enough to get a grant to help with my training. Once I break out into the league, there’s the chance to make really good money. Not just from winning but endorsements and corporate sponsorships.”
“Wow, it’s a whole thing,” she murmured. “You turned inciting brawls at house parties into a career.”
Memories of crashing rich kids’ parties when I was seventeen started to flood back. A group of us would go, try to feel up as many private school girls as we could, then pick fights with their snotty nosed boyfriends. All out brawls would start somewhere around then, and the neighbors would call the cops to break it up. I’d legged it over many a backyard fence in my time.
I snorted. “It’s not quite like that. Pro fighting is more about discipline and the code than anything. It’s not brawling.”
“If you say so.”
“What about you?” I asked, changing the subject as the traffic started moving again. “What did you end up becoming?”
“A workaholic,” she replied wryly.
“Still intense, huh?”
She shook her head, her curls bobbing around her face. “Dedicated, more like it. I love what I do…” There was a pause, and I sensed a but coming. “I wonder if that’s why he…”
“Hunter didn’t cheat on you because you were working too much,” I said sharply. “He cheated because he’s a douche. If he had a problem, he should’ve been a man and talked to you about it. Plain and simple.”
Jade stared at me, looking as if she was about to burst into tears, but nothing came. That was strength, right there. To be so hurt and still able to keep it together.
“I work in publishing,” she said after a moment. “I’m head of marketing.”
“A highflier, huh?”
“Yeah.” She turned away, her gaze locked on the city outside her window.
When the taxi finally arrived at the hotel, she slipped the driver a twenty and change while I retrieved her bag from the boot. Wheeling it inside, I waited with her as she organized a room for the week.
“You good?” I asked as the girl behind the desk began typing on her computer.
Jade nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be okay.”
I glanced at the exit. “So I’ll see you, then?” I asked the question, more out of politeness than anything. The odds of seeing her again were slim to nonexistent. Maybe that was for the best.
“Sure.” There was a moment of hesitation, and old feelings began to rush to the surface.
Bad timing, dude, I thought to myself.The story of your pathetic life.
Stepping around her, I began to walk away and shoved my hands into my pockets. Wrapping my hand around my phone, I realized I’d forgotten to text Ash.
“Ryan?”
I turned at the sound of Jade’s voice and stared at her across the hotel foyer.
“Why did we ever stop talking?” she asked, her green eyes sparkling.
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
A sad smile pulled at her lips, and she turned as the girl behind the desk handed her a room key. Backing away, I ducked out of the doors and wandered down Swanston Street, leaving Jade and the Mercure behind.
I knew the answer to her question, but telling her the truth wouldn’t change anything. She was hurting after catching her dick of a fiancé ramming his cock into another woman in her bed. Her life had been turned completely upside down, and hashing out the past would do more harm than good.
So I did the same thing I did back then.
I walked away.
