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)
“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.