Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
I shrugged. “I think she left because she was bored. You guys already hooked up, then those other two girls left. Can’t blame the girl for feeling a little like the odd man out. What was she supposed to do, sit around and watch you guys having a good time? I’m too focused on training to be much company to anyone.”
“You mean you didn’t hit that?” he prodded. “You both got up and went upstairs at the same time.”
“Nope. We just went to bed. Separately.”
He shook his head and regarded me with disbelief. “I don’t know if I believe that shit, man. You’ve got to be hard up with all these half naked girls running around here. Watching me and the guys get our freak on. That doesn’t make you crazy?”
“We already had this discussion. You know I’m not doing anything until after the fight.”
“I told you that no sex before a fight is just a crazy superstition. There’s nothing to it.”
“And I told you I don’t care if you believe in it or not. I do. I think different people’s bodies work differently. I need to keep my edge, and abstinence works for me.”
Jason shook his head. “You’re Michael Kage. You could bang a bus load of NFL cheerleaders an hour before a title fight and still have your edge.”
“I don’t need sex,” I said.
“Well you damn sure need something. You’re a walking timebomb, Kage. I know you better than most people, and I’m used to your moody ass, so I know something’s off. I love you, man. You know that. But Brody and Sam are a little freaked out by you.”
“I don’t give a fuck what they think. I’ve been perfectly nice to them, so if they don’t like me, that’s on them. Now I have to take a shower. So unless you want to take it into the bathroom, this discussion is over.”
Jason cursed under his breath and stalked off. I heard a crash.
“Speaking of a walking timebomb…” I yelled after him. Then I went to my room, climbed into the shower, and let the water spill over my sore muscles.
By ten o’clock, I was drifting off to sleep on the sofa. Hip-hop music thumped on low volume through the central stereo speakers, providing a backing track to the laughter of the girls, and all was right again.
I’d never admit it to him, but I understood what Jason had been trying to tell me. During practice, I was more aggressive than I’d ever been— more like when I was in an actual fight. He could recognize the difference. I was high during the workout, lost in some alternate universe where nothing else existed but me and whoever was in my face trying to hurt me. I was a junkie, and my drug of choice was adrenaline. That was no mystery to anyone who knew me, including Jason. He was just worried because it had never been this bad. I knew it, and he knew it, but sex with some fighter groupie wasn’t going to help me.
The only thing I could do was exhaust my body so badly that I could barely move. Only then could I feel peace.
On this particular night, my peaceful slacking off on the sofa only lasted for a total of about forty minutes before the buzz of my cell phone jolted me out of it. Strange, because it was a message from Steve, and he almost never texted me. Sheer curiosity had me opening it without a second thought.
“This happening now,” it said. The cryptic message had me scratching my head until a picture message came in behind it. I clicked on it.
I had to blink several times to get my eyes to focus on the image, or maybe it was just that my brain couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. It was Jamie standing in a nightclub, looking more precious than ever, and the sight of him made me feel all soft and vulnerable for a second. But that was before I noticed that some big roided out fucker had his hand resting on Jamie’s hip, and he was standing way too close. I almost couldn’t believe it.
Jamie was looking up at him— giving him one of those looks that belonged to me now— and suddenly I was on fire.
“What the fuck!” I yelled, unaware that I was even doing it. I jumped up off of the sofa and called Steve, walking out to the empty pool area to get some privacy. “Steve, what the hell?” I demanded when he picked up the phone. “Who is that guy?”
“I have no idea,” he said, the slur in his words giving away the fact that he’d had far too much to drink. “Jamie asked me to take him out tonight. We hit a few clubs, everything was going good. Then he asked me to take him to a gay bar.” He groaned. “I had too much to drink, Kage. Please don’t kill me.”