Page 99 of Keep Your Guard Up
“Well, I’m renaming it to Old Man Larry.” He laughed, referencing the man who came down to Knock’s once a fortnight to complain about all of the cars parked along the street.
“Fair enough,” I said, chuckling. “Hey, Chance?”
“Yeah, Sunny?”
“How long are we gonna do this for?” I asked.
He paused.
“What do you mean?” He sat up, leaning on an arm to stare down at me.
“This, Chance.” I pushed up onto my elbows. “All of this sneaking around. When will it end?”
Silence.
His eyes left mine, disassociating into the long grass in the distance. Second by second, new nails would secure his walls back up into place. And with fight week beginning in two days, he was already in a different form of hell that I couldn’t relate to. Any of the cash fights I took on were at my walkaround weight, just a cash grab.
“I only ask because I may need to pre-order six-dozen energy drinks—”
“I don’t know,” he interrupted. His blank, emotionless tone told me Chance had vacated the moment.
“Hey,” I mumbled softly, placing a hand on his now turned shoulder. “Where’d you go? Come back to me.”
“I’m here, Mari,” he replied, running a hand down his face. “Just … don’t push me on this. Not on something I don’t have any control over.”
“What do you mean you don’t have control?”
“She can ruin me. With one Instagram post, she can ruin me. As soon as she tells the world that it was me who put hands on her, no one will ever believe me.” He gently shrugged my hand off, before picking it up and brushing his lips over my knuckles. The muscles in his biceps were popping since he had already started to drop his calories. His big weight and water cut wouldn’t start until fight week. But from my understanding, this was the point when the brain fog and depletion really kicked in.
“What if you told the world first?”
He went as still and rigid as stone.
“The fans, the world, everyone. What if you told them first?”
A second of silence, of taking a moment to think, before a sad, deflated laugh left his lips. “You think anyone will believe me? You think anyone will believe the number one heavyweight contender in the Ultimate Fighting League got beaten by his wife?” Another laugh. “You’d be insane to think that.”
“Well, I believe you,” I said, feeling my heart rip clean in my chest.
“You and no one else,” he said bitterly, too late again. It was something I’d noticed since his weight cut had started.
“Does that not count for anything?” I asked, swallowing the shake in my voice.
“Not for my career, no.”
“Right.” I stood, brushing the few leaves I’d managed to lay on. “I’d better get home.”
“Why?”
“I’m sorry for what happened to you, Chance.”
Those blue eyes flared.
“I’m sorry that you fell in love with the wrong person, and that she used and abused you and your heart and your money. But I can’t do this forever.”
“Sunny—” he started.
“I deserve better than this,” I said.
