Chapter 19
Fight Day
The day is here, all the training and all the hard work comes down to today. Rhett the last few, days has had his head in training, and nothing else. Spent Thursday and Friday at Terry’s house, to focus and I wanted that too, him to focus.
Helen kept me up to date with what was happening with CeCe, they have started her medicine and has been told that she is not allowed near Rhett, unless he comes to her, but Rhett was told it is best if he stays away from her for a while. He told them that he will be leaving to go back to Vegas in a week or so, the doctor thought it would help CeCe move on from Rhett.
I told him that he needs to put CeCe to the back of his mind. He has a fight and needs to focus on that, CeCe is being looked after by some good doctors, and they said they would keep him up to date, but the best thing for him to do is leave her alone. He wasn’t all that happy about it, but he knew that it was for the best. He said before he leaves, he would like to see her, and the doctor told him that he would have to see how she is by then before he agrees to it.
Helen told me that Rhett had woke up last night with a nightmare, he thought something had happened to me. Terry calmed him down and called Helen so she could tell Rhett that I was fast asleep in bed. He went back to bed but called me first thing in the morning to make sure that I was really okay. I told him not to worry, and I will come to the arena with Helen and Jay.
I’m not going to lie and say this morning was easy, because it wasn’t, not just the morning, the afternoon was just as bad, getting ready to come to the arena was worst. I changed my clothes about ten times, in the end, Helen and Amy stopped me going back up the stairs, they said I looked perfect for the evening. I went with a baby blue dress as we are going straight to the pub for the New Years Eve party, and I wanted to look nice for that too.
The drive over wasn’t any easier, and Helen noticed as she held my hand to stop me from pulling my band, so instead I tapped my fingers on my legs anything to help relax the nervous inside me. Jay tried to really hard to start conversations with me about anything, but I wasn’t really in the mood to talk, and he knew that. Jay told Amy a few things about Rhett and me, mainly because she wanted to know why he’s so protective over me. He came over on Thursday and asked Rhett and me if it was okay to let her know, Rhett said it was okay, and I know that Rhett trust Jay with his life, so I agreed too. He did tell Amy that Rhett is not his best friend but brother, and if she can’t handle his relationship with Rhett and me, then he can’t be with her. She told him that his relationship with me, is the reason she saw him differently and would never break a brother's love, and she is all in with him.
As the car stops, I look out the window, I have to see them again. I knew it was going to be hard, but the knots and the sick feeling in my stomach aren’t helping me.
Taking my phone out of my bag, Noah.
“Hello,” I say in a small voice, not because I don’t want them to know who I’m talking to, but because I can’t get my voice out.
“I thought I would call to see how you are, we are ready to watch,” Noah says I can hear everyone in the background. I look at Helen, then leave the car to talk to Noah alone.
“Well, I hope it's worth watching,” I laugh as I stand to look out at the street, “I wish you were here with me,” I tell him, I’ve looked at Rhett’s family as mine own since I’ve been here, but tonight, tonight is different I need my family.
“I know, but they are all there for you, and if you want I can call when the fight starts, I know it’s not the same,” Noah says it’s gone quite behind him, he must have got to another room.
“It’s seeing them, I don’t want to see them, him.” I tell Noah, and my body shivers at the thought of him being close to me again, “I want him not be a thought in my head, and after today I know, I pray that I won’t have to but…” I stop and lean my head on the wall in front of me.
“Star, listen to me. He can’t hurt you anymore, you aren’t that little girl that felt was scared, you are strong now, and have people around you that will fight the battle with you, remember that.” He says, and I wipe the tear away, which escapes my eyes.
“But your not,” I whisper, “I’m not saying it to make you feel bad, I know why you couldn’t be here, it’s just you know so much more, and understand it so much better,” I add, pushing myself off the wall.
“Star, you can do this. I know you can, you call me when you need me, message me, anything.” I turn around to see Jay stood there waiting for me, “go watch your man beat the shit out of him.” Noah says.
“I love you,” I tell him.
“I love you too,” he replies and ends the call.
Leaning my back on the wall, looking down at my feet, throwing my phone into my bag.
“Come on, before the big man comes looking for you,” Jay puts his hand out for me, placing my hand in his, “ready to put the past where it belongs, in the past,” Jay says pulling me off the wall.
“New year, new memories,” I say walking into the arena with him. I can’t wait to put this part behind me, just have to see what happens when the time of year come rolling around.
* * *
Walking to Rhett’s changing room, Jay wraps his arm around me pulling me closer to him, Noah’s right even though he’s not here, he is. Everything Noah would do, Jay is doing for me right now.
I stop in my track as I see my stepfather standing in front of us, Jay holds me closer.
“Some would think that we were meant to be together, the way we keep seeing each other,” he says. And my body shivers just listening to his voice, he takes a step closer to us, “when Zach beats your lover boy, I’m also going to get back what's mine…” Walking closer and closer to us, he stops just a foot short of us, “You.”
Before I can even stop what's about to happen, Jay punches him in the face, he starts laughing at us.
“You know something,” I start, “you can laugh all you want, but I’m going to make sure that Rhett won’t let your son walk out of there today. I’m going to make sure that every kick, punch that Rhett delivers, you feel the pain as well, and when that pain hurts, you remember that Scarlett’s the one that made you feel like that. When you carry your son out of the arena tonight you remember that Scarlett did that,” I bite back at him, the asshole thinks he's going to get one over me. He thinks telling Rhett is going to affect him, he is so wrong, this is going to make Rhett angrier, and I can’t wait to tell him.
“You bitch,” he goes grab me, but Jay stands in front of me, making my step father’s fist hit his lip, but then Jay just punches him back a lot hard making his take a few steps back.
“This is the last time you come close to her, and Rhett will make sure that your son is too scared to even fight again,” Jay shouts at him, turning to face me, I get a tissue from my bag and place it on his lip. “Ready to go?” He asks me.
“Thank you… again.” I say.
“Always,” turning back around we walk past my stepfather.
Jay really is a brother to me, and I couldn’t be more thankful to him, I mean he’s saved me twice now.
Walking into the changing room, I look at Terry talking to Rhett, he looks over at me, and I smile. His eyes move over to Jay and push Terry out of the way, and power walks over to us.
“What happened to you?” Rhett asks looking at his lip, Jay looks over at me, then back at Rhett.
“We had a run in that's all, all good,” Jay says walking away from us, thanks, Jay now he’s going to ask me. And he does Rhett looks over at me, waiting for an answer.
“My step father, said a few things, I told him that you weren't going to let Zach walk out of the arena, and you are going to hurt him in ways so may more ways than he hurt me, and he lost his temper went to grab me. Jay stood in front of me, and got punched.” I say in one quick sentence, “so how are we feeling?” I ask him, tip-toeing to kiss him.
“Better now your here, and I promise you that I will make sure Zach hurts for months,” Kissing me hard, his hand on the back of my neck.
“Good and after the fight no more training,” I whisper in his ear.
“Has fantasy Rhett not been entertaining you?” Rhett asks, bring his lips close to my ear. “Good, I cannot wait to have you all to myself, make love to you so that you never have to fantatasize about it again.” Rhett whisper in my ear then brushes his lips across my jaw line, “but first I have to go kill someone,” Giving me a wink, taking my hand. He walks over to Terry.
Terry gives me kiss on the cheek, takes my wrist and pulls the band off, “how about we try it without this tonight,” he puts the band in his pocket, I look over at Rhett, “come, sweetheart, we got your back, you can do this.” Terry says.
I look down to my wrist, not sure what to say to him. I mean he took the one thing that gives me comfort, one thing that makes me not want to drink.
“Five minutes,” the referee shouts.
“See you out there,” Terry tells Rhett, moving to the side, as his mom walks over to him, I look at Jay with a smile, my hand playing with my wrist.
The room is empty, just me and Rhett, I stand between his legs, hand around his neck, playing with the back of his hair.
“New year tomorrow, new start,” Rhett places his hands on my hips, “Tonight the past for both of us, all be the past, and I want to start a future with you,” Rhett pulls me closer to him.
“I can’t wait, first let's get this past over with. Rhett make it hurt.” I tell him.
“Anything for you,” Rhett stands up, bring his lips closer to mine, “I love you.” he says.
“I love you too,” I whisper as he brushes his lips over mine.
We met everyone just outside the locker room, I link arms with Helen, looking over my shoulder at Rhett, who gives me a wink, I smile and walk out with Helen, Jay, and Amy. God, the crowd, is loud, already for the fight, I see poster ‘I love Rhett’ held up by some girls and I smile.
Finding our seats, I look in front of us to see my step father and mother, Helen holds my hand and uses the other to pat it, I look over at her,, giving her a nod to say I’m okay.
I look over as I hear the crowd booing, swearing at Zach, walking into the cage, he turns to his family and waits. The cheers start as Rhett’s name is announced, the crowd shouts, ‘kill him, make him hurt,” I look around and behind me at the women screaming, ‘will you marry me?’ I start laughing, and Helen shakes he head. Looking back over at the cage, Rhett looks over at me giving me a wink, he turns to face Zach. I have to say that this fight doesn’t worry me as much as the last one, this one I know at the end, only good things are happening.
Rhett and Zach walk into the middle of the cage, as the referee talks to them both, taking a few steps back, my heart starts pounding, as the match starts.
Ding Ding
Round 1: Hard leg kick from Zach hitting Rhett on the chest. Rhett stops the next one, with his own hit. Zach’s shin is cut from the impact of Rhett kick. I look over at the clock one minute in. Body kick from Rhett, who clinches, avoiding a right hand. Oblique kick. Punches from Rhett knock Zach back, low kick connects afterward. Two minutes in. Rhett blocks a body kick but takes a right hand to the face. Rhett kicks the front of Zach’s body. Two minutes to go.
Zach with another leg kick, Rhett knocks him off-balance with a right hand to the stomach. Rhett punches Zach’s body over and over. Straight right lands for Zach’s face. One minute to go. Zach looks for a head kick, but Rhett moves out the way. Rhett doing damage with an oblique kick to the lead leg lands a sneaky right punch that buzzes Zach. Knee to the body. Zach stalks after Rhett and lands a punch on his body to the body. Ding Ding.
Thank God, even though Rhett got a few more hits in, not having my band around my waist is not helping me, I look at my wrist, but Helen keeps hold of my hand.
Ding Ding
Round 2: Spinning elbow from Rhett goes just high of Zach. One minute in, and tapping my fingers on my legs faster and faster. Stepping knee lands on Rhett's side, then another hard one on the fence. Two minutes in. More knees to the body, but this time from Rhett. Rhett separates from Zach after landing a lot more knees to Zach’s chest. Zach hits his elbow hurting Rhett and Zach wades in his right-hand landing clean on Rhett’s stomach, after two hits, Rhett covers up. Rhett clinches on to Zach. Two minutes to go.
Rhett punches Zach after attacking him with knees to his stomach. One minute to go. More knees from Rhett to Zach. Zach pushes his elbow into Rhett’s neck, angering Rhett, who uses his knee and hit Zach harder.
Ding Ding
There was me thinking that this was going to be easier to watch, I look at Rhett’s face, and see blood coming from the side of his eye. Terry wipes it clean, says something to Rhett who nods his head.
Ding Ding
Round 3: an aggressive first minute from Rhett, who is going all in now, punch after punch. Zach pushes Rhett then kicks him in the side, Rhett not fazed by it at all. Zach goes to punch Rhett again, but Rhett moves out the way but gets kicked in the arm.
Ding Ding
This round seemed to end really fast, nothing really happening, I wonder if it’s what Terry was telling him before the start of the round. I look at Terry shouting at Rhett, is this the round that Rhett is going to end the nightmare?
Ding Ding
Round 4: Left hook by Zach. Rhett catches Zach with a combination with a few punches. Single leg and then a trip by Zach, but, Rhett seems too hard to hold down. Left hook by Rhett. Right and a left by Zach both of which hit Rhett. Rhett with a right to the body, and I hear the pain in Zach as he lets out noise.
He can’t complete the single. Rhett with a pair of hard body shots. Good right hand by Zach. Uppercut is blocked, and a right by Rhett is partially blocked. This is crazy they are both going in with all they have.
Zach pushing forward now with more punches. Good body kick by Zach and then a quick flurry of punches by Rhett. Great left hook by Rhett snaps Zach’s head back. Right hand and then a lovely slip to land the left by Rhett. Rhett’s going in now, and not holding anything back.
One minute left. Body kick by Zach. Nice knee to the body by Rhett. Both of them are trading heavy strikes and connecting, with each one.
My hand tightens in Helen's grip, “come on Rhett,” I whisper to myself.
At that moment, Rhett pushes Zach against the cage punching Zach’s stomach, blow and blow. Zach grunts as the punches don’t stop. Rhett grabs the back of Zach’s head and slams a very hard punch landing on his face, not just one another to the face. If Rhett weren't holding Zach’s head up right now, I would say that Zach would fall, but Rhett doesn’t stop and continues to punch him.
The referee jumps in between them, pushing Rhett away from Zach, and the moment Rhett lets go of Zach he falls to the floor face-first.
I look over the other side of the cage and smile as Zach’s dad looks at me. The referee kneels down in front of Zach and waves his hands, and the bell goes off. Everyone stands up and cheers. I stay seated as I watch the referee looking at Zach, my eyes move over to Rhett looking at me, and my eyes move back over to Zach. The referee’s mouth is moving, his saying something, but Zach hasn’t moved yet, the referee waves his hand, and I smile as I told them he wouldn’t walk out of the arena.
Standing up, I run into the cage, and wrap my arms around Rhett, grabbing the back of my neck, he kisses me one long hard kiss.
“I love you, Rhett Johnson,” I tell him as I pull away from him. I go to move out his way so his mom can come give him a hug.
“Where are you going?” He asks grabbing my hand to stop me.
“Just here, thought your mom can give you a winning hug,” he pulls me to his side, “or maybe not,” I start laughing at him.
“Never leaving my side sweetheart,” he whispers in my ear, then starts talking to Jay and his mom, I look around for Terry.
“Hey, you guys did it,” I give Terry a hug. “Thank you,” I say, I know that this fight meant just as much to Terry and Rhett as it did to me, and if he didn’t push Rhett in the right way, everything could have gotten a lot worse.
“Now we have a reason to celebrate, let's get this press shit out the way, and have a party,” Terry says, he has never been a man of many words. I watch him walk to Rhett and whisper in his ear. Rhett nods, walking over to me he takes my hand, and I follow him back to the dressing room.
“I just have to do some press, then shower, and we can leave.” Rhett gives me a kiss, then walks over to all the press.
I walk over to Helen, and get my phone out to send Noah a message, but see he already sent me one.
Noah - So proud of you Star, tell Rhett best fight ever.
Me - I know, so happy right now.
Noah - Always be happy now. If I don’t get to talk to you later, Happy New Year, can’t wait for you get back. x
Me - Happy New Year. I can’t wait to see you. I love you xx
I turn to Helen, who’s talking quietly with Jay and Amy about something. They walk over, “So we are going to go, get a few things ready for when everyone comes over, see you later.” Jay gives me a kiss on the cheek, moving his mouth to my ear, “give him time,” he whispers, then pulls away, and I look at him wondering what his talking about.
I remember Rhett telling me that he would speak to me after the fight, but I really thought he would make an excuse to get out of it again, never really thought he would.
Jay and Amy walk over to Terry and whisper something in his ear then they both leave, I watch Rhett answering questions, he keeps looking over to see if I’m still where he left me, I mean where else would I go. Giving him a smile, he gets back to answering the question. I send Ed and Emma both a happy new year message and tell them both that I can’t wait to see them when I get back home.
Emma messaged back saying that she was back in Vegas and spending new year with the girls from work, I can’t wait to see her and give her a big hug.
Looking up from my phone I see the press are slowly leaving, Helen stands next to Rhett, and I stay where I am for a moment to give them some time to talk about the fight. Helen hands him a bag, then looks over at me, Helen turns back to Rhett and says something to him. Walking over slowly, I don’t hear a word of what was said as I reach them.
“Terry and I are heading home, and we will meet you both at the pub,” Helen looks at me then back at Rhett, “Good fight, son.” She gives him a kiss, “see you soon,” She turns to me and gives me a smile.
“See you later,” I tell her, as they leave I turn to Rhett, “I’ll wait here for you,” I turn around to walk on the bench.
“Scarlett,” I stop to turn to face Rhett, he walks over to me, “I haven’t had the chance to say how beautiful you look today,” he says giving me a small kiss.
Turning around he walks into the shower, with a smile I sit down and wait for Rhett to join me.