Chapter 72

Noon came and went, and Xander still hadn’t made up his mind about Tommy and his offer.

He spent most of the morning making a list of pros and cons, so far with the cons list far outnumbering the pros. Making it only as far as the gym parking lot, Xander was still sitting in his car reading over what he had come up with so far.

On the cons side, Xander listed everything that went wrong in L.A., plus anything that had occurred between them earlier on in his career. Those things were minuscule in comparison, but still irritated him about Tommy’s management.

On the pros side, Xander had only two things listed—someone to get me more fights, and someone to get me more money from fights.

Both of these outweighed the negative possibilities in Xander’s mind, so long as Tommy didn’t plan on screwing him over again.

That was mostly my fault though. Tommy didn’t force me to take steroids or to get black out drunk—that was all me. Maybe I’ve been too hard on him.

Xander crumpled up the paper and tossed it behind him onto the back seat.

All of the fights I’ve been getting have been amateur at best and pay next to nothing. I could use him.

Walking into the gym, Xander saw that Tommy was sitting in his office wearing a three-piece suit and crocodile skin shoes.

“Lookin’ rather fancy there, Tommy. What’s the occasion?”

Tommy took his feet down from his desk and sat up.

“You tell me, Xander. What’s the verdict? Have you decided?”

Tommy straightened his tie and suit jacket.

Xander took the contract forms out of his gym bag and set them before Tommy. Out of the corner of Xander’s eye he saw Johnny racing by the office window and soon after, a rapid knocking on the door.

“Open up, T! I gotta talk to Xander.”

Johnny kept knocking until he heard someone moving toward the door.

“What is it? We’re in the middle of something here, John.”

Tommy stood in the doorway, blocking Johnny from entering.

Shouldering his way in, Johnny grabbed Xander by the shirt and yanked him out of the office.

Johnny led him out of the gym. They stopped when they reached the alleyway, where Johnny figured they would have some privacy.

“I know that last time you were involved with Molly, you ditched her because you were afraid of messing up your fighting career. Things have changed though. She’s carrying your child now, and we both agree that’s more important than signing on with Tommy, right?”

Do you even need to ask that question, Johnny?

Xander nodded.

“Well then, don’t do this Xan. I know, I was the one to tell Tommy about you testing clean, but if you sign that contract you’re making a huge mistake and I can’t let you do that. Molly came to the gym the other day looking for you. I wanted to find out what was going on before I told you about it, so I asked Elodie why Molly would have just shown up out of the blue like that. El told me that Molly and that doctor guy, Scott, broke up last week. She’s single now, and it seems like she really wants to talk to you.”

Don’t go getting your hopes up, it may be nothing. But then, why bother coming to the gym? Why would she want to talk to me?

“Do you think she would want to talk to me about getting back together maybe? Well, not back together but… you know… together-together?”

Johnny shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know, to be honest. She didn’t really have a sense of urgency when she came in. She actually kind of looked relaxed. I think it might be a good sign, Xander. But I can tell you one thing, if you sign on with Tommy, he won’t let you be with anyone, especially not someone who has a baby.”

Let me? He can’t tell me what to do—not now anyway.

“It’s my baby. Not just anyone’s. And it’s Molly. If I choose fighting over her again, I won’t forgive myself for missing out on my one chance to have a real family. I know what I have to do.”

Xander jogged back into the gym, only slowing down when he reached Tommy’s door.

Inside, Tommy was filing his nails, and had poured himself a scotch.

It’s the scotch he keeps in his cupboard. The one he only drinks when he feels the need to celebrate. Oh man, he’s not gonna like this.

The door had been left open, and when Tommy noticed that Xander wasn’t looking overly enthused, he slammed his drink onto the desk.

“God damn, Xander, what did Johnny tell you? That I’m a slime ball and you shouldn’t sign on with me? What is it this time?”

Xander knew to tread carefully when Tommy was upset. He had been known to have a sharp tongue, and was unbothered by using it to bring others down.

“I can’t do it, T. And before you ask, no, it’s nothing personal. My decision has nothing to do with what happened before. I’ve taken responsibility for my actions then, and I want to take responsibility for my actions now. I have a child, Tommy. And the mother of this child is the very woman I said no to already on account of fighting under your rules. I can’t let her slip away again.”

Tommy threw the contract papers violently across the room. He turned his seat to face the back wall, and Xander could tell from his silence that he was trying to calm himself down before doing or saying anything further.

“Tommy, if it’s worth anything, I’m sorry. I truly am. It took you a lot of guts to show up at the stadium that night and ask me to fight for you again. I respect that.”

An eerily becalmed Tommy turned around from the wall and got out of his seat. Walking around the desk to Xander’s side, he pointed his finger to his chest and looked at Xander with the utmost contempt.

“You respect me? I don’t need your respect. You’re a low life scum who’s no better than the gum on the bottom of my shoe. I only needed you to fight for me because after the shit you pulled in L.A., no one worth a dime will touch me with a ten-foot pole. If no one will work for me, then who do you think is going to represent you?”

Xander stood up and cleared his throat.

“Me, Tommy. I’m going to represent myself. I’ll have more time for the baby and Molly, and less time to deal with this kind of bureaucratic shit. You’re a little man, Tommy. You always have been. Just a scared, little boy who needs other people to fight his fights. You’ve never faced a demon in your life that you could handle on your own. I hope you grow up someday, but I doubt you will. See ya around, Tommy.”

Xander didn’t notice that an audience was forming in the hallway. Johnny was standing there, slow clapping at Xander’s performance. When he discovered that there had been spectators watching from inside the gym, Tommy’s anger rose from sizzling to boiling over.

“Both of you! Get the fuck out of my office, and better yet, don’t you two ever step foot in this gym ever again. Good luck finding anyone in this town who will let you fight. I’ll make sure every bridge you ever built is burned right to the ground.”

Tommy picked up the papers he had thrown on the ground and shredded them into pieces, throwing the fragments of their potential contract at Xander’s face.

“I don’t care what you plan on doing, Tommy. You can tell everyone in this town that I’ve become a crack addict for all I care. I’ve got bigger and better things to think about now.”

Pushing through the crowd that had congregated in the hallway, Xander made his way to the parking lot. Johnny and two of their gym friends trailed behind him to his car.

“How’d you stay so calm in there, man? After all that shit Tommy said to you? I don’t know how you did it, I probably would’ve punched his lights out if he pulled that shit with me.”

“Like I said, I have bigger and better things to think about now. Johnny, I gotta go to her. I’ll call you later.”

Xander took off out of the parking lot, looking in his rearview mirror at the gym that had once been his second home. And Tommy, who at times had been like a father.

You taught me to stand up for myself, Tommy. I just never thought I’d have to stand up to you.