Chapter Eleven
Ryan
As I was getting dressed for dinner that night, I wondered if anything more would happen with Blaire. I’d told Nick that something would definitely happen, but I wasn’t really sure if it would. Blaire seemed very innocent, and if she hadn’t given into my advances the first time, I wasn’t sure if she would the second time. But I was looking forward to giving it a try.
The phone rang, and I hoped it wasn’t Blaire canceling the date. I rushed to look for my mobile and saw that it was Reed calling.
“Ah, Moneymaker!” I said into the phone.
Reed—or Moneymaker, as we used to call him from our motorcycle club days with our father—was probably the most unique of the Maxwell brothers. Other than the name ‘Maxwell’ and the slight resemblance he had to us, it always seemed like he was on the outs with us. He was a neurosurgeon who spent most of his life with his nose in a book. I always had soft spot for him, though. He was a good guy who was absolutely brilliant at what he did. Although, being good at his career didn’t mean he was all that good in life. Street smart, he certainly was not. When his wife left him shortly after his daughter was born, he became even more introverted than before. And now, no matter what we talked about, there was a deep undercurrent of sadness through his words.
“Hey, Knuckles. How are you?”
“I’m good. I’m currently getting ready for a date.”
“You are? So who’s the lucky girl? And by date, do you mean you’re going over to her house?”
I laughed. “No. This is actually our second date. She’s an actress, and she’s really cool.”
“What? Your second date. You don’t normally go on second dates.”
That wasn’t true. I did go on second dates. But I didn’t normally go on second dates with women that I hadn’t slept with.
“She seemed like second date material,” I said.
“I’m guessing she’s gorgeous.”
“Naturally. So, how about you? Any dates?”
“I have a date with my book tonight.”
I chuckled. I wasn’t at all surprised by that answer. He was still heartbroken by what had happened with his wife, and I wasn’t sure if I should say anything. But I wanted him to move on.
“Your book? That sounds terribly boring. Tell me it’s least a work of fiction.”
“It’s a book about the inner workings of the brain. And not in a creative way, but a scientific way. It’s fascinating. But I might read some fiction afterward.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sounds like an exciting night.”
“It works for me. Oh, I just got back from seeing Pop by the way.”
“Oh? How is he?”
“He’s okay. The cancer was tough on him, but you know what he’s like. He’s always smiling. He’s lost a lot of weight, but otherwise, you wouldn’t even know that he was sick.”
“That sounds like him,” I said. The Maxwell brothers were known for not showing emotions.
“He says you haven’t been around in a while.”
“Yeah, I’ve been busy. You know what it’s like.”
“You know he watches all your bouts. He knows who you’re fighting and when. You should come and see him, Ryan. “
Reed was always the more responsible one out of the brothers, but I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt at the thought of my father watching all my fights.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll make a plan. Thanks, Reed.”
“Well, I better let you get ready for your big second date. I just wanted to catch up and say hi.”
“Oh, before you go,” I said suddenly. “What exactly is a chronic headache?”
“Have you been getting headaches again?”
“Well, a little. But it’s nothing serious. I just heard someone mention the word chronic headache and I wondered what it was.”
“For the most part, a headache is just your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. It could be something as simple as being tired, or watching too much TV or not having enough iron in your body. There are a million things that it could be. Or, it could be something more serious. The severity and the frequency of the headache usually indicates when it’s something that needs to be checked out. Listen, if your headaches are getting worse, you should get them checked out. You know you can come and see me and I’ll do it for you for free.”
“Thanks, Reed. It’s probably nothing. It’s not that bad. But I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”
“Don’t leave it if it’s getting worse. And anyway, it would be nice to see you again.”
“Sounds like a plan then,” I said without meaning it. “I better go. Bye, Reed.”
“Bye, Knuckles.”
I cut the call and quickly finished getting ready, then I made my way over to Blaire’s house. She heard my car pulling up because she opened the door before I even had a chance to knock. I smiled as she walked my way. She was wearing a short black dress with bright red shoes. The whole all black with a bit of color seemed to be her thing, and it suited her. In Wyoming, she spent most of her time wearing loose t-shirts and jeans, and both times I’d seen her since she’d worn something nice but casual. Today’s dress showed me exactly what her figure looked like. The only thing it hid was the flesh underneath, but it clearly showed me how perfect she was. She was usually very ‘girl next door, ’ but this showed another side to her.
“You look beautiful,” I said as she walked up to me. I kissed her on the cheek and opened the car door for her.
I got inside and looked at her again. “I love your dress.”
She beamed. “Thank you. Katie picked it out for me. It’s not usually the sort of thing I wear, and I’m not usually in heels so high. So please excuse me if I walk a bit like a duck.”
I chuckled. “I sort of hope you do,” I said, and she laughed.
“So, where are we going?” she asked.
“Well, seeing as though you’re a famous celebrity, I figured I’d take you to somewhere that has a lot of class. Somewhere where you wouldn’t mind if photos were taken of you.”
“Okay, this sounds interesting . . .”
“I’ll keep you guessing; we’re almost there.”
Five minutes later I pulled into a little alleyway, and Blaire looked at me in surprise.
“This is creepy,” she said.
I laughed. “Okay, so I lied before. I’m taking you to one of the underground restaurants that not many people know about. It’s run by an MMA fighter. No cameras are allowed inside. It’s pretty much the opposite of a place the media would assume you to go.”
“Are you messing with me?” she asked.
I wasn’t. But I suddenly wondered if I had done the right thing. I’d never taken a girl to this restaurant before, and now I worried that I’d messed up.
“I’m not. But if you want to go somewhere else I’d totally understand.”
“Are you kidding me? An underground restaurant run by an MMA fighter? You do realize that you’ve just scored some serious brownie points with me?”
I grinned. “I knew you’d like it!”
The restaurant looked dark and dingy as we walked in. She turned to look at me in the near darkness.
“You know, most people would say I’m stupid for walking into a place like this with you.”
“I know, I was just thinking the same thing,” I said. I hadn’t realized just how foreboding the place looked until then.
But, as we turned a corner, she gasped, and I knew that I had won her trust. It was impossible to tell that this little restaurant would appear out of the dark corridor. It was all brick wall and candlelight, and nothing like what you’d expect an MMA fighter to own. She turned to face me. Her smile was even bigger than usual.
“This is absolutely beautiful,” she said.
“I’m glad you like it.”
I took her to meet the owner. We’d had a few fights together when I’d first started in the business, but he had since retired. Blaire knew of him and looked flustered when meeting him. We took a seat while the waiter poured us each a glass of wine.
“I can’t believe I just met Mark Scholld!”
I chuckled. “I can’t believe you’re excited.”
“What do you mean? He’s amazing. Why wouldn’t I get excited?”
“He is amazing. But I’m assuming people are usually this way around you. Getting excited to meet a famous actress. I just wouldn’t expect you to be the one getting excited to meet a fighter. That’s all.”
“Oh, I’m not a famous actress. I just act. That’s all. But he’s a legend.”
“And you are by far the most interesting woman I have ever met,” I said.
“I like how easy you are to please,” she said. “So, have you ever dated a woman that’s into fighting before? Not that we’re dating,” she quickly said, and if it wasn’t for the darkened room, I could’ve sworn she was blushing. “I’m just curious.”
“I’ll be honest; I don’t date much.”
“Now that I find hard to believe.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been with plenty women,” I said and then cringed. “Well, that didn’t make me sound like a nice guy. But all I’m trying to say is that I just haven’t dated many women. I don’t see the point in dating if I don’t see any potential in it. And, to answer your question, no they haven’t been into fighters. They always seem to be, but after a while, I realize that they know nothing about it at all.”
“They probably just want to date some guy with big muscles that’s been on TV.”
“You think I have big muscles?” I teased.
“I should hope so with the amount of fights you’ve won.”
“How about you?”
“Me? I don’t have any muscles.”
I laughed. “No, I mean have you dated much? Do you generally only date other actors?”
“I guess I’m a bit like you. I don’t date much.”
“How come?”
She shrugged. “I guess I just haven’t found the right guy. Not like Katie. She’s happily married to a guy that is so obviously perfect for her.”
“Poor Nick, he was so hoping she was single.”
She chuckled. “Really? Oh, she’s been married for ages.”
“Nice guy?”
“The best. The two of them are nauseatingly perfect. It’s actually really nice, but I just don’t understand why it’s so easy for some people and so hard for others.”
While she talked, I got the feeling that there was more going on than she was letting on, but I didn’t know her well enough to dig too deep.
“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t think the dating world is easy at all. I prefer the fighting world.”
“Have you always wanted to be a fighter? Is that what you grew up around? Oh, I just remembered that your brother is a rancher. Wow, those are two very different career paths.”
“Tell me about it. Actually, I’m one of five brothers, and we have all gone in a different direction.”
“FIVE! Wow. So, what do they do?”
“We have Brady; he’s the rancher. The one you met. He’s a cool guy. I’m probably closest to him. Then we have Reed; he’s a neurosurgeon. There’s Ian; he’s a motorcycle fanatic. He works at the bike shop my father runs. And then there’s Grant; he’s a retired SEAL and now works as a firefighter. He actually lives next door to Brady, but he wasn’t around much when you guys were filming.”
“That’s quite some family you have. No sisters?”
“Nope, just us boys.”
“And, who is Shotgun?”
I laughed. “Where did you hear that name?”
“I overheard Sloan saying the name once to Brady. It sounded like she was addressing him. Maybe it’s her nickname for him,” she said and giggled.
“Actually, we all have nicknames,” I said, and I explained how we were once part of the motorcycle group that my father and Ian now ran. “We were all given names when we joined based on our personalities or career paths. Some of them have stuck. I sometimes still call my brothers by those names.”
“Oh yeah? So, what’s your name?”
“I’m not sure if should tell you?”
She laughed. “Why, is it bad?”
“No, but you might just start calling me that.”
“I won’t. But I won’t let it go either. I need to know now.”
At that moment, the waiter came to take our order. Neither one of us had even looked at the menu, so we both went with what the waiter suggested. For a while, we talked about the food, and I thought I had gotten away with not answering me. Then she fixed her deep brown eyes on mine and smiled.
“So, what’s the nickname?” she asked.
I groaned. “You’re not going to give up, are you?”
“Nope!”
“Fine. It’s Knuckles.”
Her eyes widened in excitement. “That’s the best nickname!”
“You think?”
“Hell yes. Hey, it’s better than ‘The Prowl.' I’d rather back up a fighter called ‘Knuckles’ any day!”
I chuckled. “I knew I’d invited you out for dinner for a reason.”
The rest of the date went by just as well as the last one had gone. Blaire was so easy to speak to, and I often couldn’t believe that she was an actress. There were no airs and graces about her, and she was much more down to earth than any of the other girls I’d ever taken out to dinner. After dinner, I drove her back to her place and wondered if this time she was going to give me more than a kiss on the cheek. We got out the car, and I walked her back to her door.
“Thank you so much for the dinner, Ryan. I had the best time. And that is now my new favorite place in the world.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah. It’s the best restaurant I’ve ever been to. I love the fact that most people don’t know about it. It’s like being part of a secret club or something.”
I chuckled. “I’m glad you liked it. Look, I know that you’re going to just deny my advances again,” I teased. “So, how about we do this again?”
“You think I’m going to deny your advances?” she asked.
I raised my eyebrows at her. “You aren’t?”
“Aren’t you even going to try your luck?” she teased.
“Well, I . . .”
“I’ll make this easier for you,” she interrupted and pulled me inside.