CHAPTER 16
(JAMIE)
“You watching the fight?” Braden asked warily. “I mean I understand if you don’t want to watch it, considering who’s fighting. I don’t know if I’d want to watch the dude who stole my supermodel, either.”
I sighed, resigning myself to the role of cuckold in my friends’ eyes. Dammit, why couldn’t I have kept my mouth shut? Now I’d have to put up with their well-meaning but ill-informed comments for… how long? The prospect of keeping up this particular ruse was not one I was looking forward to. I needed someone who understood the real situation, because if I had to go through this alone, I’d lose my mind. So at the last minute, I called Cameron and invited him over.
“A keg, a fight, and your hot boyfriend whipping someone’s ass?” he’d said. “Count me in.”
By the time Cameron arrived, the living room was packed with people. Braden and Trey had invited Miranda and Layla, of course. Then there were about eight other guys, and some of them brought girls. It was a damn good thing Braden’s dad could afford a big place.
Kage was fighting in the prelims again. He was planning to fight as much as possible to rise quickly through the ranks, but that would still take a little time. I hated to see him in the prelims, because I knew he belonged on the main card. I had faith that someday soon he would own the Welterweight belt, but in the meantime I had to watch him work his way up.
When it was time for Kage’s fight, I ran over and plopped down in front of the brand new enormous LCD screen Braden’s dad had purchased over the summer break. Braden and Trey had been wearing it out with video games, and Layla and Miranda commandeered it every time they had one of those Law & Order or CSI marathons, but this was the first time I’d given a single fuck about it.
I knelt in front of it, my eyes wide, ready to devour every single second of Kage’s screen time. Even the Tale of the Tape had me riveted. I knew Kage’s stats by heart, so I just stared at his gorgeous face and his hot body.
“Damn, that’s a good picture,” Cameron said, sitting down beside me. “That is one good-looking man right there.”
I nudged him hard in the arm, and Braden coughed from behind us. “Hey, man,” he said to Cameron. “We don’t like that fighter.”
Bless Braden for not wanting to tell the details of my personal life.
Cameron just turned around and smiled at him. “Oh, Jamie changed his mind about him. He’s over all that shit. Right, Jamie?”
“Really?” Braden asked.
“Yeah,” I said, trying to act nonchalant. “I’m over all that shit. He’s my favorite fighter now.” I hated playing games with my friends, but Cameron had given me an out. I hadn’t thought of acting like I was over the Vanessa Hale thing. Now I was free to root for Kage just as hard as I wanted.
Just when the walkout started, I turned to Cameron and said quietly, “I helped pick this walkout song.”
Cameron looked excited. But when Kage came out, the song was different. It was definitely not I Am a God, and in fact it was something I’d never heard before. It pissed me off, because I figured it was something the new PR people had chosen for him. Just like I suspected they had chosen Vanessa as his public love interest.
I was also pissed because it wasn’t brutal sounding enough. “This isn’t the song I chose,” I groaned. “This is terrible.”
Cameron hit me in the arm. “Did you hear what that just said?”
I turned to him in confusion. “What?”
“It’s saying I want you, I need your body, shit like that. It’s a love song.” He grabbed his phone and used an app to identify the song, and when the results came up, he showed it to me.
Teleport 2 Me, Jamie by Kid Cudi.
“Oh, my God!” Layla screamed from behind us when she heard the lyrics. I glanced back at her, and she giggled. “Sorry,” she mouthed.
I turned my attention back to the screen and watched my man make his way to the Octagon, stopping off to get checked and Vaselined. He smiled, showing his mouth guard, and I thought he must be the hottest guy in the world, because he even pulled off that look. I noticed his tattoo of my initials, and I ran my thumb over mine.
Braden recorded every one of the prelim shows. I’d be wearing this recording out. God, why did I have to be watching him on TV like some stranger? He was mine. Or at least I was praying he still was. He’d said to trust him. He’d fucked me off a balcony over Vegas. If I trusted him to do that, I ought to be able to trust him with anything.
The fight, as expected, didn’t last all that long. This time it did make it out of the first minute, though. In fact, it made it out of the first round. Cristiano Diaz proved to be a pretty good opponent.
Kage was making good use of the Octagon as he pressured Diaz all around it. Marco always stressed keeping pressure on his opponent, and Kage was really good at it. He didn’t give Diaz a chance to do much, because he was always one step inside his space and forcing him backward. The guy struggled to land punches, and he’d been a beast the first time I saw him.
That’s not to say he didn’t land anything. He popped Kage a good one several times. His jabs found their mark repeatedly, and the red spot under Kage’s left eye was proof of that. But every time he tried to land that hard right, which he was known for, Kage blocked and countered with a right of his own. One time it rocked Diaz so hard I thought he was going to go down. I was on my feet waiting for the call, but he didn’t go down all the way to the mat. He staggered around long enough to get his bearings, and Kage just let him.
When Diaz had his legs under him, he came at Kage with renewed vigor, landing a hard kick to the body that I could practically feel through the television.
Kage smiled. Oh, God, I knew that look. He walked into another vicious body kick, and the entire crowd including all of us in the living room yelled out in sympathy.
But my man only smiled again and motioned for Diaz to give him another. Fuck. Self-destructive Kage was in the house. It was scary for me, because I didn’t want to see him get hurt, but I did notice that his mind games were getting to Diaz. It would have to be terrifying to rush in on a guy who was inviting you with a smile.
Kage let him kick him three times, but on the fourth, he grabbed his leg and pulled. Before Diaz knew what was happening, Kage had gotten him in a clench. Diaz struggled, and then Kage pulled a move I’d never seen before.
He grabbed onto Diaz’s left bicep, hopped up onto the guy, slung his right leg over Diaz’s head and flipped upside-down, still hanging onto his right arm. Diaz buckled straight to the mat, and Kage rolled him right over into a brutal armbar submission. The entire move took two seconds. Even the ref didn’t see it coming, and by the time he got to the action, Diaz had already tapped out, Kage was strutting around the Octagon with his hands in the air, and the announcer was screaming, “Oh my lord, did you just see that flying armbar? This fight is over!”
The crowd was on their feet. I was on my feet, screaming, hugging Cameron. Then just when my heartbeat was slowing down, Kage was standing in the center of the ring, looking gorgeous and breathless in his tattoos and biker shorts. His face was a bit of a mess with the red mark and sweat, and his side was red, but he was radiant with his win.
“That was one of the most exciting fights I’ve seen in a long time,” the announcer gushed. “Wow. When did you know you were going to try for that flying armbar?”
Kage smiled. “When he kicked me. That’s when I knew. He f***ing pissed me off.”
I wished they hadn’t bleeped him out. I wanted to hear everything, every syllable.
“The first time he kicked you?” the announcer pressed.
“Yeah,” Kage said.
“Why did you let him kick you two more times? Were you just trying to get your position?”
“Nah.” Kage smiled again and waved at someone trying to get his attention off-camera. “I was just having a little fun.”
The announcer chuckled. “Okay. Well congratulations on your second impressive UFC win. Can’t wait to see more of The Machine.”
Kage nodded at the guy, then turned to the camera for his goodbye. Instead of making a heart sign or peace sign, or crossing his heart Catholic style like so many fighters did, he did something just for me. He tapped two fingers against his forearm, right on my tattoo, then touched those fingers to his lips. It was a quick gesture, done carelessly almost as an afterthought, and he was moving around the ring to hug his entourage and do his walk out through the crowd. But it sure had my heart soaring.
I was stunned, and Cameron was grinning at me. “What?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“That was beyond sexy.” He leaned in close to speak close to my ear. “The hottest fighter on the planet just gave you a secret shout-out on national television.” He pulled back and frowned. “So I don’t understand. Why would he not answer your calls?”
“Hell if I know,” I said, looking around to make sure no one was listening. “But he asked me to trust him. You heard it.”
“And then he did that song for you tonight, and then the tattoo thing. That guy’s got it bad for you.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I felt my face turning red. “But apparently he’s engaged to someone else.”
Four hours later, half the people in the apartment were too drunk to drive, and several couples were making out on our back deck. Cameron and I had stuck pretty close to each other all night. He hadn’t made one overture toward me, which is something I’d worried about when I’d invited him over.
It was just nice to have someone to confide in besides Layla, who was not very supportive of my relationship with Kage. She seemed to have the attitude that if we didn’t speak of it, it would go away, which was fine with me. I didn’t want to be talking to my ex about it anyway. Cameron was different. He understood the challenges of being attracted to the same sex, and he knew who Kage was. Plus, he was a nice guy.
Braden and Trey had fallen back into their routine of playing video games as soon as the fight was over, and Miranda and Layla chatted nearby. Since Layla had started dating Trey, the girls had bonded in a way that they never had when she was dating me. More proof that I’d been a terrible boyfriend.
“Hey, the keg’s shooting foam,” some guy I’d never met yelled.
“Go home, then,” I yelled back, irritated that the drunks were still in my house.
I was ready to settle down and reflect on everything. Think about the situation with Kage, and try to figure out why he seemed to be avoiding my calls and planning to marry someone who wasn’t me, yet he was sending me songs and signals during a televised UFC event.
“Somebody get the door,” Trey yelled. “We’re in the middle of a match.”
I wanted to scream and tell everyone to go home, but people were still arriving. I rolled my eyes at Cameron and motioned him back toward my room. I didn’t particularly want to take him back there, but I had to get away from all of the people who were ruining my night.
“Well, if it isn’t the devil himself,” I heard Layla say. “You’ve got balls showing up here.”
“Just get Jamie.” It was Kage’s voice, and my heart nearly fell out of my chest when I heard it.
I whirled back around and came running into the living room, leaving Cameron halfway down the hall to my room. Kage and I stared at each other for a long moment, and I had to wonder if he’d ever looked as good to me. His hair was pulled back to reveal the red bruise on his cheek, and his eyes looked hollowed out, but it didn’t matter.
People started wandering toward the door, and a couple of them figured out who they were looking at. “It’s the Machine,” one of the strangers bellowed drunkenly. And another said, “Michael Kage, right? We just watched him on the fight.”
It was strange how they talked about him instead of to him.
Miranda came up to stand beside Layla, but she clearly did not share her best friend’s disdain for the new visitor. “Hi, um, Mr. Kage? I’m not sure what to call you, but come on in and grab a beer. You were awesome in the fight tonight.”
Braden even left his game to come over and meet the celebrity. “Killer armbar, man. That crowd was going crazy. I did not see that coming. I mean, you just jumped up on him and Bam!”
“Thanks,” Kage said, looking a little awkward with all of the attention. He hadn’t come to my apartment for a meet-and-greet. But what had he come for? I was hoping sex.
“Kage,” I said, calling his attention away from his excited admirers. “You were looking for me?”
He almost smiled, and then his eyes snagged on something behind me, and his expression turned murderous. “Actually I was looking for that asshole.” He stalked toward Cameron so fast, that the situation didn’t register with me until he had Cameron off the ground, holding him up by his collar. Cameron didn’t strike me as the wimpy type, but he looked absolutely terrified.
Kage glared at him. “Did you know who I was when you messed with what’s mine?” he asked. “Because if you did, that’s pretty fucking stupid.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Cameron squeaked, his air all but cut off by Kage’s fist at his throat.
“You did, and you know it. I have pictures. Why do people have to keep pushing me? I don’t want to have to hurt regular guys like you, but I don’t know what you expect me to do when you do what you did? How far did it go?”
I jumped on Kage’s back then. “Put him down, Kage. If you try to fight him, you’ll kill him.”
“Maybe he should have thought about that before he—”
I wrapped my elbow around his neck and got him in a loose rear naked choke. “It was only a kiss,” I whispered in his ear.
“Yeah? Is that the truth?” he asked. “The honest, hundred-percent truth?”
“Yes,” I said. “You asked me to trust you, now I need you to trust me.” I squeezed his throat with my arm, threatening to cut off the blood flow. “Before I’m forced to take you down.”
“You want to roll with me, Jamie?” he laughed, easily getting his hand under my choke hold and separating my arm from his neck. He lowered me to the floor, then let go of Cameron, who backed far away. “Tell you what. I’ll leave your friend alone if you can submit me.”
I gave him an incredulous look. “Yeah, right. Like that would ever happen.”
“What?” He grinned. “I heard you’ve been trained by the best.”
“Sorry. I’m not even going to attempt that. It was nice knowing you, Cameron.”
He smiled and licked his lips. “I’ll sweeten the pot.”
I just stood there waiting to hear his terms, and wanting to kiss him so badly.
He leaned over where only I could hear what he was saying. “If you can submit me, I’ll let you fuck me.”
I swear his words made me tremble. Just the thought of dominating a beast like Kage was almost unfathomable to me, and such a turn-on that I didn’t even have to think about my answer. I just faked a level change, dropped down, up, and then back down and went for a double leg takedown.
We had just been drilling the move recently in my MMA class, so it was fresh in my mind. I’d also hoped that the element of surprise would be in my favor.
Kage was an expert at sprawling, though, so he immediately spread his legs and dropped down onto my back. The whole room erupted in screams, and Braden ran to slide the glass coffee table into the corner before one of us got killed on it.
Kage took my back and had me in a rear naked choke in a second. “This is the way you do it, baby. Remember when I made you pass out?”
Then he let me go and hopped up, inviting me to try again. I had seen him toy with plenty of guys in the Octagon in that very same way, but somehow I didn’t imagine it made them feel quite like it made me feel. It made me want to jump him and snatch his pants down.
“Concentrate,” he yelled.
And I did. I put everything I had into it, and the crowd of people in our living room were cheering me on. Well, a few of them were cheering Kage on, but I was well-represented.
I tried and tried to submit him, but the truth was, I had learned just enough to be able to name the moves I couldn’t perform on him, and the ones he performed so effortlessly on me. Finally, as I lay sprawled out on the ground with him, enacting a particularly clumsy collection of non-moves on him, he just manhandled me and stood me up. Then he placed me in front of him so that we were facing each other.
“Who wants to see a replay of that flying armbar from the fight earlier?” he asked.
The entire room went nuts.
“Hey,” I cried. “That would kill me. What kind of friends are you guys?”
Kage rolled his eyes. “I meant you’re going to do it to me.”
My eyes went wide. “Really? Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack,” he said. “I want you to win.”
I smiled and blushed, hoping no one in the room would notice how his words affected the way my pants were fitting me. Because every time he suggested that, something happened to me. I didn’t even care that he was talking about helping me out. All that mattered was the end result.
“Alright, show me what to do.”
Kage motioned for me to come closer. Then he put his hands on my shoulders. “You put your hands on me like this. Now trap my bicep. Here, go for the left. Now hop up onto me like you jumped on my back a while ago. Hang onto my arm with both of your hands, kick your right leg over my head, and I’m going down. That’s right. Let’s try it again.” He walked me through that move four times until I was able to do it myself.
On the fifth one, I used my momentum to roll him over like he did Diaz during the fight. And Kage tapped out.
I was ecstatic. I jumped up and down like a madman. In that moment, I thought I had some inkling of what the guys felt like when they won a fight and went bouncing all of the Octagon and climbing to the top of the fence. If we’d had a fence in the room, I would have climbed to the top of it right then.
But I wouldn’t have had time anyway. Kage grabbed me by the arm and pulled me through the living room. “Where’s your room?” he asked, and I pointed the way.
As we passed by Cameron, Kage gave him a level stare. “Jamie just won you the right to not get the shit beat out of you. Touch him again, I won’t be so forgiving.”
Cameron nodded, and I think he was on his way out the front door before we ever reached my room.