Chapter 9
Present Day
Cade
I was walking on f*cking air as I paced into the gym.
“Yo Cade,” shouted one of the personal trainers there as I passed by, “when's your next fight bro?”
The guy was massive, muscles bulging off his body. “Soon mate, soon. I'll let you know when I know.”
The truth was, I already did know. I'd just been told, and it was just the sort of shot I was looking for.
An hour earlier I'd been on the phone with my coach. “Cade, I've got some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first.”
I hated when people did that shit. “I dunno coach, bad I guess.”
“All right. I can't come down to the gym this afternoon, got held up with some nonsense with my little girl. Just take an easy session, hit some bags, do some circuits and fitness. We'll pick it up down in the ring tomorrow with some sparring. I've lined up some good sparring partners for you.”
“Was that last bit the good news coach?”
He laughed. “F*ck no, not even close.”
“Sooo, what've you got for me?”
“Are you sitting down?”
“Yes coach.” I wasn't. “Enough with the suspense already.” This better be f*cking good.
“I've sorted your next fight. It's big.”
“How big.”
“Well as big as you're gonna get right now!”
“Who?
“Agulla.”
“No f*cking way! Agulla. He's, like, number two isn't he?!”
“Yes he is.”
“Well how the hell did you swing that?!”
“His next opponent fell out, got an injury in training. He's f*cked for about 6 months, poor bastard. It's left a slot open and I got you in my boy. It's in 2 weeks time.”
I probably should have been sitting because my legs were turning to jelly right now. Agulla was 2nd in line for a shot at the cruiserweight belt. If I could take him down people would really f*cking take notice of me, and not just in that clapped out arena down at the Cave. Hell no, we'd be talking about a potential shot at the number 1 and then, the f*cking title itself!
“All right Cade, I've gotta rush off but I'll see you tomorrow at 6am down at the boxing club. Get yourself off to the gym but keep it light. And for the next two weeks we're gonna go strict on your nutrition, get you primed for battle and fighting fit. So no snacks, no drink. And Cade, no damn sex, all right. None, for the next two weeks. Eye on the prize my boy, eye on the prize.”
“Yes coach. All noted. I've got motherf*cking tunnel vision.”
“Good lad. I'll see you tomorrow at 6.”
Now I was in the gym, feeling more alive than I ever had outside of an actual fight. This was a real chance for me to get some proper attention. Not f*cking attention from girls in the crowd and lifestyle magazines, but proper boxing journalists and promoters. If a boxing journo came to me and wanted to do a story, hell yeah would I say yes. Talking to trashy magazines, though, f*ck that.
I'd told Gemma that I'd give her an exclusive, though, and was really regretting it. OK, so she was my lucky charm and was supporting me but, really, it was me putting in all the effort. I did want her career to go well and everything but now that I had this fight set up, I had no time for anything else. Not even her.
She'll understand when I tell her I think. She's a good girl, she gets how important all of this is to me.
….
Gemma sat across the table from me, sipping on a glass of wine. She looked great, but I had other things on my mind.
We were sat in my apartment, eating some pre-prepared food I'd got sent over from this health food delivery service I used. When I first started dating Gem she thought I prepared the food myself, and I'd never told her the truth that I was a f*cking atrocious cook and only ever ordered in or ate out.
Of course, with my fitness and nutrition regime the way it was, everything needed to be carefully calculated for my body. Coach had gotten my sports nutritionist to create a special take-away menu that I could use, so whenever I called up, I'd know that I was putting the right stuff into my body.
Mercifully, it all tasted great, and Gem was now sitting there extolling my fabricated cooking skills.
“This is amazing Cade, what's in this sauce?”
Oh f*ck. I had no idea.
“Trade secret baby,” I said with a smile. She'd gotten used to me side-stepping such questions so didn't push it.
“So babe,” I said, moving the subject onto more pressing concerns, “I've got my next fight lined up.”
“Oh great,” she exclaimed. I sensed a hint of false excitement in her voice. “When?”
“Two weeks tonight. It's a big one Gem.”
“Oh?”
I could feel my heart beating faster once more at the prospect. “Yeah, it's what I've been waiting for baby. Things are finally starting to take off.”
“Oh that's great Cade,” she said, “I'm so happy for you.”
“For us,” I said fast, without thinking. “You're in this with me Gem. I don't know if I'd have got here without you.”
She shook her head lightly and turned to look out the large window to the side of the table. The bright city lights were beaming outside against the black night, a smattering of rain tapping against the glass.
“I've done nothing Cade. I'm sure you'd have done the same without me, or with anyone in my place.”
“No Gem, you're special. I want you watching me every time I fight.”
She turned back to me and smiled with pursed lips. “I'll be there. Of course I'll be there.”
We continued to eat in silence as the rain grew heavier outside. I felt a slight weight begin to build in me. I needed to tell her that I couldn't give her an interview. I needed to tell her that I couldn't sleep with her, even see her for the next two weeks.
An awkwardness was building that I'd never really felt with her. We'd been seeing each other for 6 months or more by now and I'd never had this feeling before. Her mind seemed preoccupied, her face smothered in concern, a frown set constantly over her eyes.
“So Gem, this fight is the biggest I've had and the guy is f*cking awesome. Coach says I need to focus on it 100%, with no other distractions at all.”
She was nodding somewhat absentmindedly.
“So that basically means that, well, I can't really see you for the next couple of weeks.”
The words barely seemed to register with her. I thought she'd be understanding and yet upset. Surely the idea of not seeing me at all for two weeks would be hard?! But no, she kept the same impassive, worried look on the face that she'd had all evening.
“Oh OK, I guess that makes sense.”
I don't know why but I kinda wanted more of a reaction than that.
“But that's not all of it I'm afraid. I...I'm not going to be able to do that interview. I'm really sorry baby, it's just not the right timing for me anymore...and coach says that if I'm going to give an exclusive it needs to be with a sports or boxing specific magazine, not a lifestyle one. Baby, I'm really sorry, I'll make it up to you.”
I felt bad letting her down but I knew it was the right thing to do. I was a serious boxer now and I didn't want to revalue myself by chatting about what brand of boxer shorts I wore or where I liked to get my hair cut. I guess that's what some gossipy lifestyle magazine would want to print. They'd have no interest in my actual career, just my personal life.
“It's OK, I wasn't sure I was gonna do the piece anyway,” she said. “It didn't feel quite right, with you being my boyfriend and everything.”
I was slightly taken aback by how calm she was being about it all. “Oh, OK,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief, “so we're cool then?”
“Oh, yeah, we're cool,” she said, completely unconvincingly, “I get it Cade.”
Her manner was really starting to become quite disconcerting. I mean, she just came off like she was depressed or something, like she didn't give a shit that her career wasn't going to get the boost she wanted, that I was going to step completely out of her life for the next couple of weeks. I thought, at the very least, she'd be a little upset.
“So are you really all right with this? You know, not seeing me for two weeks?”
“Oh yeah, that's fine.”
“We can talk,” I said, “on the phone. I just think it's best if we don't see each other at all. I need to keep my focus, you know. When I'm around you, other things can sometimes take priority.”
I smiled suggestively at her and raised my eyebrows to her chest, trying to get a reaction, a laugh, something. She smiled and huffed lightly, but nothing more.
“Well, I'm sure we'll be fine for two weeks,” she said. “Anyway, I've got a lot of work on so I'd probably be working late anyway most of the time.”
“But you'll be at the fight? Two weeks tonight? It's not at the Cave this time, it's in Stadmore Arena.” I spoke with a hint of pride in my voice. The arena was much nicer, much bigger, and far more suitable for a fighter of my quality.
“Oh wow, that's cool. Yeah, I'll be there.”
She didn't give me much confidence the way she spoke. I was getting the distinct impression that things weren't all great on her side, like she wanted to break up with me or something. Maybe she was still reeling from the stupid fight we had. Maybe she was getting more worried about the added attention I was getting, especially from all these girls. That might be why she's given up on the idea of doing a piece on me? It would only lead to more attention on me, and she was clearly struggling with that.
We continued our dour dinner for the next half hour. As much as anything it was difficult for me to watch her drink a couple of glasses of wine while I had to stick with the water. I'd always had a taste for alcohol, but now that things were getting more serious in the ring, I'd need to be ultimately strict there.
For me, there was nothing else but the fight right now. Nothing would stop me from taking Agulla down.
By 9 PM I needed to kick Gem out. Frankly, it looked like she'd be happy to leave. She apologized for being so moody all night as I kissed her goodbye at the door. It was the first time she'd actually acknowledged that fact the entire night.
She told me that things at work had been hard recently, that she wasn't really enjoying the job much anymore. It stung at me a little bit, knowing that retracting my offer of an exclusive interview will only have made things worse. When I apologized again for that, however, she brushed it off once more.
I felt my loins begin to throb as I kissed her long and deep on my doorstep. The idea of two weeks without sex was a real killer for me. I can't remember the last time I'd gone that long without feeling the warmth of a woman's thighs. Probably not since my late teens.
She clearly didn't have sex in mind anyway. Even if I'd been raring to go, I don't think she'd have reciprocated my advances. In fact, she'd become more and more sexually closed off over the last few months. I guess the honeymoon period that I'd heard people rattle on about was a real thing. I always thought it was bullshit. If I had it my way we'd have been screwing every night.
She turned off down the hall and walked away from me with a promise that she'd be there, ringside, in two weeks time. I watched the curve of her ass closely as she walked away. It was the last time I'd see it in a while.
I turned back into my apartment and closed the door. Now I needed to set my mind to the one goal currently dominating my thoughts.
Agulla. The fight. I had to win. There was nothing else now.