Chapter Thirty-Five
Ryan
It was so good to be out of the hospital, especially since I got to spend the night with Blaire. She didn’t have to stay with me anymore, but she said there was no chance that she was going home that night when she could spend the night with me instead. I woke up to her wrapped up against me.
“I wish I didn’t have to go now,” I said. I turned around and kissed her. “It feels so good to be next to you right now. A little too good, in fact.”
“Do you have to?” she asked. “Because I could think of a lot of better things that we could be doing.”
I nodded. “Trust me, I can think of a few things myself. But yeah, I have to go. I need to get this over with.”
I had a press conference planned for that morning, and I was dreading it. Although, at the same time I just wanted to get it done once and for all. It was like pulling off a band-aid: the quicker I got it done, the better.
“You’re going to be fine,” Blaire said. “I’m proud of you for doing this you know.”
I smiled. “I know.”
“How are you feeling about it all?” she asked.
I thought about it for a second before answering her. “I’m feeling fine. You know, it’s weird. But now that I’ve decided I want to do this, I’m actually okay with it. I think making the decision was the hardest part. Once I made the decision, everything seemed to fall into place around me. I feel like I’m doing the right thing. And, I know it’s made you happy, and that makes it worth it.”
“You’re pretty romantic when you want to be.”
“Oh no! Look what you’ve done to me. Okay, I better go before I start losing my manhood.”
She giggled. “You could never lose your manhood. Have you even seen yourself in the mirror?”
I laughed. “I really wish I could stay. You’re way too cute this morning, and wonderfully complimentary. It’s not a bad way to start the morning.”
I got out of bed, hopped into the shower, and tried not to think about Blaire. I hoped she wouldn’t join me because if she did, I knew I’d be late. Thankfully she seemed to realize that too. I got changed, said my goodbyes, and headed home.
The moment I got to the training facility, Nick came straight over to me. We hadn’t seen each other for a while, and it was nice to see him again. I hadn’t realized how important it was to have Nick in my life until then. He’d been through all this before. He knew what I was going through.
“The man lives to walk another day!” he said.
I laughed. “Oh yeah, you’re not getting rid of me that quickly.”
“So, how’s it going? I can’t believe you’re holding this press conference so soon. Didn’t you just get out of the hospital?”
I chuckled. “I got out last night.”
“You don’t mess around, do you?”
“I just knew that I needed to get this done. If I don’t, then I might end up saying I want to fight in the heat of the moment again. You know what I’m like.”
“That’s true. Well, for what it’s worth, I’m so glad that you’ve decided to do this. Man, I freaked out when I heard what had happened to you. I’m sorry I didn’t visit in the hospital. I called a few times, but they told me that you had family with you all the time.”
“It’s okay. To be honest, I was asleep most of the time. I was so tired. My brother came around with my niece, so that was nice. And my father came to visit me too.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, I was so surprised. I thought I was hallucinating when he walked in. And, obviously, Blaire was there the whole time. I’m glad they didn’t keep me in too long. Apparently they were rather surprised by how quickly I recovered from it all.”
“You’re a fighter in more ways than one,” Nick said.
“I’m never going to fight again, though.”
“Trust me, Ryan, you’ll always be a fighter, even if you aren’t in the ring. Now, are you ready to do this? I saw them setting up inside.”
I nodded. I’d asked the media to come to the training facility. It wasn’t going to be long, and there wasn’t going to be any back and forth. I had written down what I was going to say, so all I had to do was to read it and then they would broadcast it in their own way. When I entered the room, at least twenty different media personnel were seated. And it wasn’t just the media that had come to hear what I had to say. The room was filled with other fighters. I hadn’t expected so many people. I nodded and made my way to the front. Nick stood in the corner and smiled at me. You’ve got this!
I cleared my throat and looked around the room. The faces all seemed to swim together, and I couldn’t make out who was who. It was pretty overwhelming, and as I’d never been one for public speaking, I was glad that I had written everything down.
“Hi everyone,” I began. “Thank you so much for coming today on such short notice. I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here, especially since the last time you heard from me I was telling you how much I was looking forward to winning my fight with Ron. Unfortunately, I’m here today to tell you that I will not be fighting him. In fact, I will not be fighting anyone again. I am officially retiring from MMA.”
There was an audible gasp from the room, and as I looked up, I could see how surprised everyone looked. Clearly, word had not yet gotten around, and nobody had expected me to say this. They probably all assumed I was just there to bad mouth Ron in preparing for the upcoming fight.
“I have been suffering from headaches for the last few years, and as of late they have gotten worse and worse. I recently went to visit my brother in Seattle who, as some of you know, is a sought-after neurosurgeon, for a checkup. I’m stubborn, as most of us fighters are,” I said and everyone chuckled in agreement, “and it took me a long time to admit that something might be wrong. Of course, I still hoped that it was nothing too serious. But after a CAT scan with my brother, he made it clear that I should not fight again. I have head trauma, and a blow to my head could lead to severe damage, or even death. It was the worst news that I had ever received in my life.”
I stopped to catch my breath. I could feel myself getting emotional, and I quickly cleared my throat again to stop the tears from coming. I looked up and caught Nick’s eye again. He smiled at me and gave me the confidence to move on.
“Of course, being who I am, the moment I was challenged to a fight, I decided to ignore everything that my brother had said. I said yes to Ron. I wanted to prove to the world that I was a good fighter. At the time, that was more important to me than my health. But, despite these intentions, I will not be fighting. My beautiful girlfriend, Blaire Kaplan, was recently involved in a terrible situation that I will not go into right now. It’s all over the media anyway, so there’s no need for me to go into it. But, to cut a long story short, it involved me getting knocked in the head and getting rushed to the hospital. I slipped into a coma, but somehow, miraculously, I made my way out of it. And just like that, I realized what I was doing to myself. Or more importantly, what I was doing to the people around me. So, to sum things up, I’m here to tell you today that I will not be partaking in any more fights. I’ll still be actively involved, one way or another, because it’s impossible for me to fully leave this world. But my fighting career is over. Thank you to all that have supported me in this journey. And Ron, wherever you are, as much of a pain in the ass as I think you are, I do wish you all the luck in the future.”
I stopped. My hands had been trembling in the beginning, but by the end, they were calm and steady. I looked over and saw that Nick was grinning at me. I smiled back at him, and the whole room broke out into applause. As I made my way out, I was stopped by people telling me how sorry they were to see me go, and how much they were going to miss me. It was nice, but I knew that I would only be replaced by another fighter. That was how it worked, and I was glad to finally realize that. It took me a long time to make my way out of the crowd; everyone seemed to have something to say to me, and I felt too bad to ignore them. I should’ve known this was going to happen and should’ve left through the back room, but it was too late.
About an hour later, I finally made my way out of the crowd. I was just about to leave when I saw Ron waiting for me.
“Oh, hey, Ron,” I said. “I didn’t see you in the crowd. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this in person. I was going to. But—”
“So I’m never going to fight the great Ryan Maxwell,” he said.
I groaned. The last thing I felt like at that moment was a fight with Ron. I wasn’t in the mood for him. “Nope. I guess you won,” I said and started to walk away.
“Ryan, you do know that I’m not such a horrible guy, don’t you?”
I turned around to look at him. “What do you mean?”
He laughed. “I only play the part to get people to watch me. And it works. The public loves a bit of drama. But . . . to be honest, I was petrified to fight you. I was actually upset when you said yes to me. I didn’t really think I could beat you.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’m serious. I am sad that I won’t get to fight you, though. Anyway, I heard about what happened with your girlfriend. You fought that guy despite knowing that you had head trauma? That takes some serious guts. Although, so does agreeing to a fight with me that could end up killing you,” he said and laughed. “Look, I just wanted to tell you that I really respect what you did to save her, and I respect your decision to back out. Some guys wouldn’t, you know. But it’s a pretty selfish way to live. What’s the point? I mean, surely the only thing that matters at the end of the day is family. You’re a great fighter, and I wanted you to know that. Man to man.”
“Wow, Ron, I’m shocked. I didn’t think I’d ever hear you say that. Thank you. That actually means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
“Well, you’re the only one that’s going to hear me speak that way. Don’t you dare let anyone else know that I’m actually a good guy.”
I laughed. “Your secret is safe with me.”
I walked out smiling. I almost felt bad that I had been so horrible about Ron all this time. I hadn’t for one minute thought that he was just playing a role. He’d always come across as if he meant it. The media loved him, so the guy clearly knew what he was doing.
I was still smiling when I made my way back home.
“You were amazing!” Blaire said the moment she saw me.
“You watched it?”
“Of course I watched it. You were incredible. So, I’m your girlfriend?” she asked.
I looked at her and grinned. “Uh, sorry about that. We’ve never really discussed what we are to each other. But that’s how I see you. Would you like to be my girlfriend?”
“Are you kidding me? I’d like nothing more. I love you, Ryan,” she said. Her eyes widened, and her cheeks went red. “I mean . . .”
I chuckled. “Don’t take it back! I love you too, Sunny.”
Then I pulled her in toward me and kissed her like I had never kissed her before.