The Comeback: An MMA Romance Novel (Book Two) Read online

  “I was just thinking that,” he said. “It makes it real tough. You won’t fight in the UCC for at least a few months, and you can’t fight for me between now and then. How much money do you have saved?”

  “I’ve got about ten thousand. I can sell my car and a few other things for maybe another twenty.”

  He grumbled a bit. It sounded like he was mulling something over. “I can get on the phone and start rounding up some sponsors. You’re fighting for the title and riding a wave of momentum. I think I can get something like twenty thousand.”

  “So that puts me at 50, and minus your ten percent and fees and all that other bullshit I’m sitting at something like 40. I’ll have to fight and win just to ensure I get to 75, but there’s no way in hell I can fight before Lorenzo and Leeza’s deadline unless Sherwood pulls out.”

  “Forget my 10 percent. You can give that to me after this is settled. As a matter of fact, I think I can come up with another twenty thousand that you can borrow until you get paid, but that still doesn’t quite get us to 75.”

  “Morris, you’ve done enough. I can’t take your money.” I was blown away with his generosity. “I’m going to find a way without running your finances into the ground, too.”

  “I want to help,” he replied. “Look Zane, you’ve had your problems in the past, but what you’re doing now is damn near heroic. You wouldn’t believe how many people in the bar look up to you. Customers talk about you all the time. If you can pull this off, if you can get custody of Sam and get the belt back it will mean something to our town. It will mean something to me.”

  “I never thought of it like that, Morris. I’ve been doing this for one thing and one thing only, Sam.”

  “I know, and that makes it even better. Not to put any pressure on you, but there’s a lot riding on your comeback, and you’re getting real damn close, Zane.”

  I saw Sam come out of the restroom. She smiled big and started skipping a little bit. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Just come by tomorrow after Leeza picks up Sam. You’re working at five anyway, so come early and I’ll have some paperwork drawn up.”

  “I will, and thanks.”

  “One way or another we’re going to get this done, Zane. And it’s going to be amazing.”

  Sam climbed in the car about the time I was getting off the phone. “It’s been an exciting day, Daddy,” she said.

  “It sure has,” I replied.

  Chapter 28

  Mace yelled, “Twenty more seconds.”

  My legs were rubbery and heavy. My shoulders burned. My lungs ached. But I pushed on.

  “Ten more seconds,” Mace yelled.

  I struggled to break the weight from the floor, and stood up straight while shrugging my shoulders at the same time. The 135 pounds passed my torso and slipped up in front of my chest. I grunted loudly and dropped under the weight, another power clean complete.

  “That was 26,” Mace said. “Same as last set, damn good job.”

  I wiped my sweat-drenched face with my sweat-drenched shirt. “Thanks,” I muttered between gasps for air.

  I’d just finished a grueling strength-training session that came at the end of my second workout of the day. Mace and Tyson had been pushing me hard for the last three days.

  A few days earlier, after meeting with Morris and signing paperwork that formally put him in the role of my manager, I met with Mace and Tyson.

  I told them all about the press conference and the signing with the UCC. They were understandably excited. I also told them that there was about a .04 percent chance of fighting at UCC 145 in three weeks, but I wanted to train as if I was. Worst case scenario, I would get ready and then end up not fighting, then a few weeks after that I could start a full training camp.

  They thought that was a good idea, and they’d been making me bust my ass ever since.

  Now it was Wednesday afternoon, and I wiped the sweat away with a towel and guzzled some water.

  “Remember what I told you earlier,” Mace said. “Jordan Powers rocks back a bit, kind of lifts his head, before he shoots. Does it every time.”

  Mace had been watching a bunch of video on Powers.

  “I’ll remember,” I said. “We drilled it so much earlier that it’s burned into my brain.”

  “Good, keep it burning.”

  I was really lucky to have found Mace and Tyson, especially in a small town like Erickson. They were both supportive and good people in general.

  After training, I grabbed a quick shower at home and checked the Underground. Powers had posted a couple threads on Saturday afternoon, I’m guessing before Nick and Oliver talked to him about chilling out with all the trash talk toward me.

  I’d replied a couple days ago with, It’s all good, Powers. You’d better focus on Sherwood, or he’s going to beat your ass before I get a chance.

  He of course shot out his replies with a whole bunch of exclamation points, and then that was it. No more trash talk, no more name calling. His last post was I know I’ve got to be ready for Sherwood. I am. I’m focused on this fight at UCC 145.

  It was almost five in the evening as I pulled into the back parking lot at the Coliseum. It was gravel and we’d had a cold rain off and on for the last two days. The gravel and dirt mixed to make an off-white colored paste that seemed to stick to the soles of your shoes, like glue.

  I got to the back door, and was wiping my shoes on a big green outdoor carpet when Lorenzo and his cousin Lawrence came around the corner.

  “Zane, we’ve been looking for you,” Lorenzo called out.

  I nodded to them. “What’s up?”

  They got to the carpet and wiped their boots. Lawrence stood with his dead stare and hands in the pockets of his tent-sized trench coat. Despite the coolness Lorenzo didn’t have a jacket, just a tight raggedy sweater.

  “You got something to tell us?” Lorenzo asked.

  I ran through my options for response. I didn’t think this could be about Leeza. Oddly enough, she’d cooled off over the last few days. I’d asked her if everything was alright She’d said it was. Her emotions changed as fast as the Oklahoma wind, so I just let it go. She’d been cordial, but not flirty.

  I shrugged. “Nope, I got nothing to tell you.”

  “No shit,” Lawrence said.

  “No shit.”

  “We just got back from Shreveport, won us some good money at the craps table. And the thing is, I got to talking with Sam and she told me about the weekend.”

  Crap, I’d forgotten to tell Sam to keep it all quiet. Maybe Leeza was pissed because I hadn’t told her yet either, and she felt I was keeping something from her.

  “What about it?”

  “You kidding me? You had lunch with Nick and Oliver and signed a damn contract for the UCC. That’s fucking huge man.”

  “Oh yeah,” I downplayed it, “but I’m not supposed to say anything until after the Powers/Sherwood fight.”

  “So did you get a signing bonus?” Lorenzo asked.

  Now I knew what he was getting at. “Nope, no signing bonus.”

  “But you won’t fight in three weeks, so how you going to come up with the 75 g’s in time?”

  “I’m working on it,” I said. “And who knows, maybe something will still happen to Sherwood and I’ll get on the UCC 145 card.”

  “Like what happened here a couple weeks ago when that kid got sick?” Lawrence asked.

  “Yeah, not likely, but you never know.”

  “Bet you’re glad you took that EPO now,” Lawrence again, with no emotion on his face.

  “Yeah, thanks,” I said.

  For some reason I didn’t tell him it was still sitting in the top of my closet.

  “You got to let us know this shit. We’re almost partners in this deal.” Lorenzo smiled.

  Lawrence nodded his head in agreement.

  No way in hell I was partners in any way with these two, even if they thought we were.

  “I’ve got to get to
work,” I said.

  “We’ll be back later, celebrating all our good fortune,” Lorenzo said.

  I turned and entered the darkness of the bar, and felt happy to do so.

  Chapter 29

  It was like the air had been let out. My world had been dampened with the UCC signing. I was stuck in a terrible place. On the one hand I had made it, on the other I hadn’t. All I could do was go through each day training and tending, training and tending. UCC 145 was barreling toward me. And right after that it would be time for me to put up the money for Sam. I wished I hadn’t deleted the recording of Lorenzo and Leeza offering me the deal for Sam. It would have given me a little bit of leverage.

  I had just talked to Morris. He’d managed to pick up two sponsors for a few thousand a piece. He was having a hard time because the announcement of my signing, and subsequent fight with Powers, was on hold until after he fought Sherwood.

  It was my weekend with Sam, and one week before UCC 145. I’d called Leeza earlier in the day and told her I wanted to talk. Now, I walked past Lorenzo’s truck. It was parked in their yard. The weeds and grass that grew between the cracked concrete on the porch was taller than the last time I’d showed up to beat up Lorenzo, and I notice two windows, instead of one, were cracked.

  I knocked on the door. Leeza opened it almost immediately. I followed her to the kitchen. Lorenzo wore a tank top and blue jeans and sat barefoot at their flimsy kitchen table. The silver legs looked like they were made of straw, and the white plastic top was stained with rings of brown from an array of drinks.

  I sat down across from Lorenzo.

  “What’s up, Zane,” he said.

  “You want a drink?” Leeza asked.

  “No, I’m good.”

  Lorenzo’s arms were folded across his chest. He shrugged as if to ask me what was up once again. “You come up with the money partner?”

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  Leeza pulled up a third chair and sat down between us at the side of the table.

  I continued. “I’m going to lay it out for you. I’ve got about fifteen thousand now, and I can come up with maybe 30 more before the deadline. So I can pay you guys forty-five thousand by then, and you know I’ve signed with the UCC. I’ll get a guaranteed 35, plus Morris thinks I can get another twenty thousand in sponsors.”

  “What the fuck are you asking us?” Lorenzo said.

  “I’ll give you 45 by the deadline, you sign over Sam,” I looked at Leeza, “and then I’ll give you another 45 as soon as I fight in a few months. That gives you 90 instead of 75.

  “I can do the math,” Lorenzo said, arms still folded. “You know what we’re going to do with this money? We’re getting the hell out of here. I know some guys in Texas with some oil money and investment opportunities. We’re moving to Galveston because I’ve got some shit lined up and we’re starting out right.”

  “What’s this have to do with my offer?”

  “What does it have to do? Are you shitting me? We need the full 75 because we’re getting married and leaving. My investments need to happen in the next few weeks, not the next few months. It’s some time-sensitive shit.”

  Now, Lorenzo’s meaty forearms were leaning on the stained table. Leeza glanced over at him. “Maybe we can do it with 45 and get the rest later,” she said.

  “Fuck that! We had a deal set up.”

  “Well, 45 is better than nothing,” Leeza offered.

  “You need to shut the fuck up, Leeza.” Lorenzo snapped. “The deal is 75 two weeks from today, and that’s what it’s got to be. I’m counting on it.”

  Leeza shot to her feet so abruptly that her chair tipped over backwards. “You’re a dick, Lorenzo,” then she stormed out of the kitchen.

  Lorenzo chuckled. I wanted to punch him in his nose. Instead, I said, “Come on, Lorenzo. I thought we were partners on this deal. Partners work with each other.”

  “We aren’t that close of partners. I need this. I’m expecting you’re going to come through or you aren’t getting your daughter.”

  My forearms were on the table, too. Our faces were just three feet apart and my fists were clenched.

  “What, you want to hit me now? I’m ready this time,” Lorenzo said.

  I just stared at him.

  “Look, I’ll tell you what partner. I’ll make a deal. You can give me that forty-five thousand before the deadline, but after your fight it’s double. We’ll need another 105 to get to the 150 total, because you will have screwed me over with what I got going on.”

  I rocketed to my feet almost as fast as Leeza had just done, but I didn’t storm out. Lorenzo did the same. We stood on opposite sides of the little table. I was trapped in a crap situation by a complete dumbass loser. I thought about punching him, but held it in, too much to lose for the little bit of satisfaction it would bring.

  “If I don’t fight next week, I don’t think I can get the money.”

  Lorenzo smiled. He knew he had me beat. “I’ll help any way I can partner.”

  I’m sure the veins in my neck looked like they were about to explode. My head hurt from the pent up tension, and I fought to keep it in. Finally, I let out a breath and turned around and walked to the living room.

  Leeza had gone out the front door, and Sam came out of her room. Apparently she’d been listening to everything. I did my best to relax and smile. “You ready to go, sugar.”

  She had her bag in one hand and Lee Roy in the other. “Let’s go, Daddy,” she said.

  We walked away from Lorenzo and that shithole, and I wished we’d never have to walk toward it, or him, again, but I knew that wouldn’t be the case.

  Chapter 30

  I asked Sam, “Where do you want to eat?”

  “Pizza, pizza!” she yelled from the backseat.

  “Go figure.”

  She shrugged. “I like pizza.”

  We’d left Lorenzo and Leeza’s house just an hour earlier. After a stop at the gym with Sam hammering Mace’s mitts for a good ten minutes, she was hungry.

  Now, we sat across from each other at Mazzio’s Pizza. I hadn’t brought up what had just happened. She hadn’t either. She was pretty good at compartmentalizing, probably one of the reasons she’s so resilient. I figured she was doing this now and wouldn’t even mention the back-and-forth with Lorenzo.

  We were waiting on our cheese pizza when Sam got a serious look on her face. “What’s going on with you and Lorenzo, Daddy?”

  “Well uh,” I started to talk but wasn’t sure what to say. “What do you mean, Sam?”

  “Why are you talking about giving him money?”

  “It’s kind of complicated.”

  She sat up straighter. “I’m getting big, Daddy.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Remember how the police came over that day when I told your mom I was going to keep you?”

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  “That was all about getting you to live with me instead of Lorenzo and your mom. It didn’t work out that day, but I’m still trying.”

  “You’re trying by giving Lorenzo money?”

  Sam didn’t quite get it, but she was trying hard to understand. “Yes, something like that. I want to make it where you can live with me so badly. You’re the main reason I’ve been fighting so hard.”

  Thanks, Daddy,” tears bubbled up to the corner of her eyes. “I want to live with you, too. I’m scared. Mom keeps talking about moving in a few weeks. She says that when she and Lorenzo get married they are going to start over in Texas, and I’ll either be going along or staying with you. I told her I didn’t want to go, but she said it really wasn’t up to me. I don’t want to leave here. I want to stay with my friends and stay in Ms. Vega’s class.”

  For the first time I thought about the ramifications of Leeza trying to leave. Would the courts even allow her to take off with Sam? I’d probably have to sign something, and I could just refuse. Then again, that might make it where I’d never get her away from Lorenzo and Leeza.


  “I’m doing my best to make it where you can stay here with me.” I reached over to squeeze her arm.

  “Please do, Daddy. Lorenzo is mad at you and he keeps fighting with Mom because he says she’s being too nice to you. I don’t want to leave here. His cousin, that big guy Lawrence, keeps coming over. I listen to what they say. Lawrence can’t leave Oklahoma for a while, I don’t know why, so Lorenzo is going to Texas to get everything all set up. He’s real excited about it, but he keeps talking about where to put all the money when they get it. Lawrence wants to keep it in some other country.”

  It shouldn’t have surprised me that whatever they were planning was obviously illegal, but to hear it from my seven year old, even if she didn’t quite know what she was saying, was something of a shock.

  I did my best to smile. “I’ll do everything I can, sugar.” I wished I could say more to reassure her.

  The pizza was ready. I just ate two small slices. I had weighed in at 198 earlier in the day, and the weigh-in for UCC 145 was exactly a week away. There was a snowball’s chance in hell I’d be stepping on the scale, but I felt like I had to act as if I was. I had to believe that a miracle would happen.

  Chapter 31

  Leeza didn’t arrive until almost four o’clock, late to pick up Sam once again. I was fine with that. We played Connect Four while we waited.

  When Leeza finally arrived, I gave my hugs to Sam, and she headed for Leeza’s car.

  “Where’s Lorenzo? I asked.

  “Probably at Chuck’s Place with Lawrence. Why do you want to know?’ Leeza gave me a flirty look, the first one in a while.

  “That’s not why,” I said. “I want to know what the hell they have planned down in Texas. I won’t be getting in any trouble with the police or going to jail any time soon. They both probably will.”

  “Oh God,” Leeza rolled her eyes, “don’t give me this shit, Zane.”

  “It’s true, and I have a right to know. You want to take Sam down there with you, and they are doing something that can cause a shitload of trouble.”