out of him tonight. He’s on a bender.”
Damn right I was. I’d royally fucked up, and on bloody camera and center stage, too. I’d fucked up over her.
“Dean.”
I turned and found I was alone with my identical twin. I thought it was time for another smackdown, but he picked up the ice and handed it to me instead.
“What? No pep talk?” I asked with a sneer.
“Nope. Just ice your head, dipshit. We need to preserve what little is left up there.”
I sank down onto the bench and jammed the ice against my temple.
“We know one thing,” Lincoln said, sitting next to me.
“What’s that?” Here we go…
“O’Connell wants the belt. I’ve got it.”
“He’ll challenge you next,” I said.
“And this time, I’ll get the little fucker.”
I snorted. “I want a rematch. We aren’t kids anymore, Linc. You can’t fight for me.”
“Who said I was fighting for you? I still have to defend my honor, you know,” he shot back.
“So you beat him,” I went on. “Then where do I go? Either into the cage against you or up or down a weight class to avoid it.”
“That’s an argument for another day,” he said, bumping his shoulder against mine. “Right now, let’s get your sorry ass home.”
I frowned. “No press conference?”
“Not tonight. You got a pass because of the KO. Coach saw to it.”
“Don’t remind me,” I drawled, and I pushed to my feet. Linc handed me my shirt, and I dragged it over my head. “It won’t go down well if I’m not there.”
“It’s up to you, bro. You don’t have to face the little fucker if you don’t want to.”
“And have the entire world think I’m a piss-weak little turd? I’m going.” Grabbing a damp towel, I wiped the blood off my face. “How do I look?”
“Like a badass motherfucker,” Linc replied with a grin.
Checking my reflection one last time, I pushed out of the locker room and into the hall. O’Connell might’ve beaten me this time, but he’d eat his words before besting me again.
7
Josie
I wasn’t surprised when Dean showed up to the post-fight press conference the other night.
But what did open my eyes was the tactful way he’d described the fight. Whatever Gabe had been saying to get Dean to throw his focus in the octagon had since rolled right off his back and into the distance. Either that or the twin had developed a brutal poker face.
He hadn’t once looked at Gabe or rose to any of his quips at the desk. He just answered the questions fired at him by the assembled reporters with the utmost respect for the Championship and his opponent. If you asked me, Gabe didn’t deserve it, but from a PR standpoint, Dean was a perfect angel. A dream come true.
It was a show of power if I ever saw one. A fighter standing his ground in the face of defeat. Epic sportsmanship.
And I couldn’t help but feel he did it in lieu of apologizing. I wasn’t sure what I wanted more. For him to admit he was wrong about going to see Monica to my face or for him to act responsible and make my job a little easier for once. I guess beggars couldn’t be choosers. Not when my screwed-up heart was involved.
I still couldn’t get the image of Dean falling to the mat out of my mind. I’d seen Hamish take hits like that before, but that was at The Underground where there were no rules, and he’d toughened himself up enough to be able to get up and keep going. I’d never seen Dean dropped by another fighter because he hadn’t been KO’d before. In the AUFC, they stopped the fight if it got to that point, but Gabe’s punch had been brutal and on point.
It made me think about Hamish, and I wondered how he was getting on at The Underground after our break up. Realizing I hadn’t thought about him for at least two weeks, I began to feel guilty.
When things were good between us, they were brilliant, but when they were bad… Hamish was a really good guy, but there was nothing I could do about it now. What was done was done.
Scrolling through the top AUFC fan site—MMA Addiction—on my phone, I skimmed a blog post about Dean’s hit. They weren’t happy about it, calling it a cheap shot on O’Connell’s behalf. Total knockouts had been a rare occurrence in the all-Australian league, and they’d mostly happened by chance, but many were speculating it had