Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 118459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 474(@250wpm)___ 395(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 592(@200wpm)___ 474(@250wpm)___ 395(@300wpm)
I pull back a chair and sit down.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asks, sitting up. He wraps his hands around the bottle in front of him.
I laugh angrily. Before I can respond, a bottle is plopped in front of me.
“You all right?” Jordyn asks.
“I just asked him that.” Will takes a sip, eyeing me carefully.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re the moodiest son of a bitch I’ve ever met,” she says.
“You don’t mind that when you’re getting the cock.”
“Whatever.” She takes off, leaving Will and me alone.
I glance over my shoulder and spot Adam and Dane at the bar. They nod but seem to sense my mood and don’t get up.
I take a long pull of my beer.
“Is something actually wrong or are you just being an asshole for fun?” Will asks.
“I wish.”
“So?”
I lean back and rest my hands on the table. I consider whether to tell him or not. I think about all the things we’ve been through together. He was a part of so much craziness with Gage and me back in the day. Finally, I say, “Everleigh has cancer.”
The sound of that being said out loud is just mind-blowing. It obliterates a piece of the numbing sensation I’ve felt since finding out. It chips away a chunk of the possibility that maybe it’s not real.
Will’s eyes grow wide. “What?”
“Yeah.”
“Aw, fuck. Man, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
“What is there to say?”
He clears his throat, and I can see him trying to come to terms with the news. “How’s Julia?”
“How do you fuckin’ think she is?”
“Dude, just askin’.”
I rub my forehead. I want to rip something in half, make something fucking feel what I’m feeling. It’s a sensation I haven’t felt in a while. It’s the same feeling I used to get as I stood on the mat and watched the guy across from me bounce up and down to psyche me out or, more likely, talk himself into walking across the mat. It’s the same overwhelming urge I’d get when some asshole would run his suck in the neighborhood and Gage wasn’t around to talk sense to anyone.
The problem with this is that I like this feeling. It’s one feeling I know what to do with, how to manipulate. I just don’t have anything to be on the receiving end of my rage tonight.
I take another drink. I try to talk sense to myself, remind myself that going ape-shit crazy isn’t going to fix jack shit.
“Really, is there anything I can do to help? Shit, you guys have been through more than one family should have to take.”
“Do you think if there was something we could do that I wouldn’t have already fucking done it?” I grit my teeth, feeling my jaw pulse. “She’s all the family I have, Will,” I say, washing over the fact that we are, by blood, distant cousins. It’s some sort of strange coincidence that our fathers were cousins, but Will’s family are mere acquaintances. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to make her okay. She has to be okay.”
“Maybe it’s something they can just take care of? Can they just, I don’t know, kill it? Get it out of her or something?”
“I don’t know. Jules is taking her Monday, I think.”
“You think?”
“Yeah.” I spin the bottle between my fingers, watching the liquid slosh inside. “I left last night before we could discuss the rest.”
“You didn’t call her today?”
“I stayed late. I stayed with Ever for a long time and just let Jules have some time to herself. By the time I left, she was asleep, and I didn’t want to wake her. Today, I . . .” I shrug again. “I called but I guess Ever was there or something because she didn’t seem to want to discuss it.”
“Yeah, well, that’s understandable.”
“I guess. But damn it, Will. I know shit happens in life, but this isn’t fucking fair. I was so busted up when I got hurt. I remember thinking, hell, I remember thinking yesterday, how unfair it was. That I should’ve been fighting.” I bite back a laugh. “But that’s fucking nothing. This, what’s happening to Ever, this is unfair.”
“I’m sorry, Crew. Really.”
I shrug and turn my sights on the television. I don’t want to think about this if I can help it. I’ve mulled it over a million ways and I feel so fucking helpless.
“Now for the news that’s dominated the Mixed Martial Arts headlines today,” the announcer on the television says. “Raul Reyes defeated Antonio Pampas in the NAFL’s Fight 106 last night. The winner of that fight was slated to take on Hunter Davidson in just three months in Boston. It was announced today, Bruce, that Reyes has pulled out of that fight already.”
“Yes, Mike, it’s a pretty shocking revelation that’s shaken the MMA community. Davidson’s camp is thirsty, wanting to keep their guy fighting while he’s hot. They know the best contenders in his weight class are Reyes and Pampas. With Reyes dropping out, Davidson has effectively cleaned out the division. There’s nobody left to challenge him.”