Page 69 of Rush
“You’re really intimidating, you know that?”
Ash chuckled and shook his head. “You coming or not?”
27
Ryan
Two weeksof nonstop training and AUFC 54 was finally here.
Sitting in my private change room in the bowels of Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne’s East, I listened to the din outside. People were walking to and fro outside the door, announcements were trumpeting out of the loudspeaker, but there was one thing I couldn’t hear. The crowd amassing inside the arena.
I’d seen it all before. On the television and all the times Cole and I had picked up tickets for the fight nights that had been staged in our hometown. The lights, the music, the scantily clad girls, the television crews, the fans…and the fights. Man, the fights were something else.
To see those men toe the line in one of the elitist championships in the world was mind-blowing. I’d wanted to be up there for so long, and now I was about to become one of them.
Glancing up at Cole, who was pacing back and forth in front of the television mounted on the wall, I scowled.
“Do you have to do that?” I asked. “It’s distracting.” He was more amped up than me, and he was only here to watch.
“You’re going to smash Markov,” Cole said, cracking his fist against his palm.
The door opened, letting in a wall of sound, and closed as Ash appeared.
Glancing at Cole, he said, “Scram.”
“Scram?” he asked, throwing his hands into the air. “Who says scram, old man? No one, that’s who.”
“Cole.”
“Fine, fine.” To me, he said, “Good luck, bro.”
Nodding, I watched as he disappeared out into the hall, likely to find his way into the arena.
“How are you feeling?” Ash asked when we were finally alone.
“Good.” I nodded and stretched my arms. “Ready.”
He pulled out the magazine he had stashed under his arm and slapped it against my chest. “You need to see this.”
Frowning, I opened it to the page that had been marked with a yellow Post-it. When I saw the photograph of Jade, my heart twisted and leapt all at the same time.Fucking Jade…
Scanning the headline, I wasn’t sure what kind of game this was.Fortune, Fame, and Fakery. The Rise and Fall of Jade Forsyth…a Modern Tragedy, by Kevin Merritt.
My blood ran cold, and I shook my head.
“What is this?” I asked, not even sure if I wanted to know the answer.
“Jade came looking for you at Pulse this morning,” Ash explained. “She asked me to give you this.”
Tossing the magazine aside, I shook my head again. “No.”
“Mate, I think you should read it.”
“Why should I?” I said with a snarl. “Why should I give her the time of day when she was so hell-bent on using me to get over her own pity party? If you hadn’t noticed, I’ve got a career-making fight in half an hour.” What a fucking time to bring up this shit.
“I know she hurt you,” Ash said. “She’s trying to make it up to you. She said she’s trying to be real.”
“She said?” I asked, the vein in my forehead throbbing. “She spoke to you?”
