Below the Belt (19 page)

His words stung. A lot.

“Really? Thanks for the vote of confidence. I’ll try to keep those inspirational words in mind when I’m in the ring.”

“You’ve had three fights, Jamie. This woman is a seasoned pro. You’re not ready.”

“I want this fight. And I’m going to win it,” she said, setting her jaw stubbornly.

He swore. “Jamie…”

“You’re not my trainer anymore. You don’t have a say in this stuff,” she said.

He stared at her. “This is not about who is or isn’t your trainer. Anyone you take on is going to say the same thing—wait. Build yourself up. Get more fights under your belt. Then take on the big girls.”

“If I win this, I’ll be only a few fights away from a title shot.”

“And if you lose your debut on the U.S. scene will be a defeat. What do you think that’ll do to your chances?”

Anger made her body stiff. “I’m willing to take the risk.”

She turned away from him, started walking up the hallway.

“This discussion is not over,” he said, his words following her.

She climbed the stairs and collected the few personal items she’d brought with her. Cooper watched from the hallway as she descended again and headed for the front door.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going home to where people believe in me,” she said.

“I believe in you, Jamie. I believe in you so much I want you to have a long, successful career, not some publicity-driven freak show.”

Her mouth fell open. “
Freak show?
Thanks a lot.”

“That’s what this is. Using your name to get a bunch of morons to gawk at Jack Sawyer’s daughter. Lewis White’ll be hammering the publicity, your dad’s name will be everywhere. None of it will be about you.”

She eyed him steadily. “It isn’t about me, anyway. This is about my grandfather redeeming his name. I thought you understood that.”

Her back stiff, she left the house.

If Cooper didn’t believe in her, he could go screw himself. She might love him, but she wasn’t giving up her dreams for him. And if he didn’t understand that, then he wasn’t the man she thought he was.

“T
HIS IS A BAD
fight, Jimmy.”

Jamie braced one leg in front of the other and stretched out her calf muscles.

It had been four weeks since she’d spoken to Lewis White and walked out of Cooper’s house. She was sick of people trying to tell her what to do. First Cooper, then her grandfather and now Ray.

“It’s a fine fight, and I’m going to win,” she said through her teeth.

Ray rolled his eyes toward the sky.

“Man, you’re such an idiot sometimes.”

“Feel free to leave, then. I’m kind of busy anyway, in case you hadn’t noticed, training for a fight.”

Straightening, Jamie crossed to the long bag hanging in the corner. Ray followed, his bruised face creased with concern. He’d won his second bout under Cooper’s aegis two nights ago. She’d watched the fight on TV at a local sports bar, beamed live from the U.K. Cooper and Ray had landed back in Sydney this morning, she knew, but only Ray had gone to the trouble of tracking her down in her new gym. Which was fine by her. She’d had more than enough arguments with Cooper over the past four weeks. She didn’t need yet more proof that the man she loved didn’t believe in her.

“This place is a dive,” Ray said, his expression disparaging as he scanned the dimly lit room.

Located at the end of an alleyway in the red light district of Kings Cross, Jamie’s new gym smelled of old urine and damp and most of the equipment was eaten by rust. It was a far cry from Fitzgerald’s, to say the least.

“No shit,” she said.

“Jimmy. Think about what you’re doing. Listen to the people who love you. You really think me, Cooper and Arthur have all got it wrong?”

Jamie began to pepper the long bag with combinations.

“I know what I’m doing. This is what I want.” She’d said it so often lately, she was thinking of getting T-shirts made. Maybe that way people would back off and leave her alone.

Her grandfather was angry with her. Every moment she spent in the apartment with him was fraught with tension. Christmas had been an unmitigated disaster, with the two of them stiffly exchanging presents and making awkward small talk over a turkey meal at the local pub. As for Cooper…Cooper could barely stay in the same room with her for more than five minutes. Three times he’d come over and tried to talk her around, and each time they’d wound up yelling at each other. She hadn’t seen him for nearly ten days now. It scared her how much she missed him.

It wasn’t the sex. It was everything. She loved him. She’d been about to move in with him, her and her grandfather. Then all this crap had blown up.

She could still remember their parting words a week and a half ago.

“People get hurt in fights when they’re outclassed, Jamie. People die,” he’d said.

She’d stared at him, willing him to understand. “I have to do this. I need this.”

“Do you want me to beg? Because I’ll get down on my knees if that’s what it’s going to take.”

It had gotten ugly from there.

Why couldn’t he believe in her? Why couldn’t he understand that this was something she had to do? She’d explained to him about her grandfather, about her father, and how she needed to do this for her family. Why couldn’t he see that this was not negotiable? She had to take this thing as far as it would go and then some. She had to shove her fist down the world’s throat and force everyone to forget the shame.

Ray leaned against the wall near the long bag, watching her pound shots into the heavy leather.

“Cooper’s like a bear with a sore head without you around. He was an asshole all the way to England and back again.”

“So?”

Ray adjusted the band on his watch. “Do you love him?” he asked casually.

Jamie flicked him a look. “Why? You looking for one for old times’ sake?”

Ray’s lips curled into a reluctant smile. “Just answer the question.”

“Yes.”

“Do you respect him? As a fighter? As a trainer?”

“You know I do.”

“Then listen to him. He’s right. Don’t go to Vegas.”

Jamie slammed an uppercut into the bag, channeling all the fury and frustration that had been building inside her for the past few weeks. Rounding on Ray, she took it right up to him so that they were toe-to-toe.

“I can look after myself. And I know what I want. I don’t care if all of you don’t think I can do it—
I am going to win.
And I’m going to keep on winning until I’ve got that world championship belt in my hands and my grandfather can hold his head high again.”

Ray stared at her.

“Your grandfather doesn’t want you to do this.”

“I made a promise,” she said. She turned away from him.

“What? What promise?”

“It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing you can say that’s going to change my mind, Ray.”

She started in on the long bag again.

“I heard a rumor while I was away. That you’d taken on Paul Murphy as your new trainer,” Ray said after a short silence. “Tell me it was bullshit.”

“Paul Murphy is a good trainer,” she said as she punched the bag.

“About a hundred years ago. Now he’s a second-stringer, if that, and you know it.”

She didn’t bother to argue. Paul was old, past his prime, and only a year or two away from retirement altogether.

“I need a trainer. I can’t go to Vegas without one.”

“Then take the time to find someone good. Someone who comes even remotely close to replacing Cooper.”

Jamie locked her jaw and kept throwing punches. Paul Murphy gave her legitimacy in the eyes of the boxing world, and that was all she needed or wanted from him. They’d come to a tacit understanding on the subject within the first few days of working with each other. Now, he made a token effort to turn up for training a couple of times a week, and she continued to follow the routine Cooper had created for her when she was in training for the Dubbo fight.

After a few minutes of being ignored, Ray headed for the door. She slowed then stopped after he’d gone, staring blankly at the worn leather in front of her.

It would have been nice if Ray had been on her side. It was tough not having anyone in her corner. She’d never fought with her grandfather this way before. And it was even tougher dealing with Cooper’s disapproval and silence.

About the only good news she’d had lately was the boxing association’s decision to ban Kyle Vandenburg for three years. Given his age, it was a career-ending penalty. As she’d said to Cooper previously, it couldn’t have happened to a better asshole.

Her face twisted with regret as she remembered those few golden days of nursing Cooper after his operation. It had been so hard to let him into her heart. Now she felt as though she’d made that leap of faith for nothing.

Her spine straightened. He was stubborn, just like her, but he wouldn’t walk away from what they had out of pure pride.

When she won, he would see that she was right, and he would come back to her.

She had to believe that, because she couldn’t deal with the alternative. Not when she was up against so much negativity already.

Taking a deep breath, she started up again. Left, right, jab, cross. Focus. Footwork. Protect herself.

Right now, that was all that mattered.

“Y
OU SHOULD HAVE
done something. You should have stopped her.”

Cooper looked up from his computer to find Arthur Sawyer in his office doorway. The old man’s face was red with anger as he strode forward belligerently.

Jamie had flown to the States yesterday. Cooper had refused to give even tacit support to the fight by saying goodbye or seeing her off at the airport. He was furious with her—furious that his opinion and expertise and feelings meant so little to her, and that she’d replaced him with a trainer so past his prime it was a joke. He had no idea what had happened to the warm intimacy and honesty they’d shared after his operation. Once the fight offer was on the table, she’d simply shut down, turning back into the stubborn, closed-off, driven woman she’d been when he first met her.

He’d thought they were past that. Clearly they weren’t. He had no idea what to do about any of it. The only thing he knew for sure was that he couldn’t stand outside the ring and watch Roma Williams pound Jamie into the canvas. Not again. He loved her too much to watch her suffer.

“What should I have done, Arthur? Kidnap her until after the fight? Lock her away until she saw sense?”

Arthur paced in front of the desk, his shoulders hunched. “I don’t know. Something! You should have done something.”

Cooper knew the old man was railing at him out of guilt because he, too, had refused to go to Vegas with Jamie, but it still pissed him off. Especially when she was putting herself on the line like this for him.

“You’re the one she’s doing this for. You should have released her from her promise if you were serious about stopping her,” he said.

Arthur’s head swung around. “What? What the hell are you talking about?”

Cooper stared at the other man.

“What promise? Tell me,” Arthur demanded.

“You don’t know anything about it, do you?” Cooper said, realization slowly dawning.

“What promise?” Arthur repeated, drawing himself to his full height, his voice low and menacing.

“Jamie told me she made a promise to you when you were sick in hospital after your heart attack. To redeem the family name and make things right for you. She seemed to think you were ashamed, that you’d lost your standing with your buddies and had nothing to live for.”

Arthur swore, his face mottled red with emotion.

“I always assumed you knew,” Cooper said.

“Well, I didn’t. You think I want my granddaughter to get busted up in that ring? When she told me she wanted to take up boxing, I was dead set against it. She’s such a beautiful girl. Before all the mess with Jack and Vandenburg she was so happy and joyful. Hell, she was training to be a naturopath, can you believe it? She was going to be a healer, not a bruiser. But she was so damned determined, and I saw it meant a lot to her so I supported her, did my best by her.” The old man’s voice quavered.

Cooper stood and went to his side.

“Listen. It’s not your fault. Jamie thought you were going to die. She thinks she’s giving you your pride back.”

Arthur sank into a chair and put his head into his hands.

“This is about Jack,” he said after a long beat. “In my heart I always knew it was, but I could never make myself bring it up. I knew I should have made her talk to someone after we found him. She was so quiet afterward, it was unnatural. No tears, nothing.”

Cooper stilled. “Jamie told me
you
found his body.”

“We both did. He…Jack did it in the garage of the apartment we were renting. I walked in first, then Jimmy. She was the one who cut him down….”

Cooper closed his eyes.

Poor Jamie.

No wonder she was so angry at the world. No wonder she felt so betrayed.

“Until he threw that fight, she idolized him so bad,” Arthur said, his eyes vacant as he stared straight ahead. “Never seen anything like it—right from when she was born she was daddy’s little girl. She watched him train, she came to every fight, trailed around after him like a shadow. As far as she was concerned, he could do no wrong. Then he threw that fight.”

Arthur let his breath out with a loud, defeated sigh.

“Don’t know why he did it. He’d always liked splashing out on fancy cars and whatnot. He had money, but maybe he was worried it wouldn’t be enough with no more purses coming in. God knows, there are enough stories of ex-champs living on welfare to scare a retired fighter. I figured he’d just gotten greedy. The truth is, he never offered to explain, and I never asked. This sport can be ugly sometimes. But Jamie…Jamie was shattered. All the press, then the trial. His boxing buddies turning their backs on him, mouthing off about him, calling him a fraud. The light went out inside her. I guess she felt like he’d been lying to her all those years, letting her think he was larger than life when really he was just a man like anyone else. When he came home from prison, she could barely look him in the eye. He broke her heart, and she broke his right back.”

Cooper rubbed the bridge of his nose as the pieces fell into place. Jamie’s reticence. Her anger. Her burning need for redemption.

He should have pushed her harder. He’d known she was angry with her father—he simply hadn’t realized how deep and dark it all ran. He should have cracked her open and forced it out of her. But he’d thought he had all the time in the world.

Reaching for his car keys, he grabbed the old man’s elbow.

“Come on, let’s go,” he said.

“Where?”

“Where do you think?”

J
AMIE DANCED FROM
foot to foot, punching the air. Right, left, right, right, left. Behind her, the massage therapist she’d hired packed up his table. Having him work on her hadn’t been anything like when Cooper had rubbed her down before her last fight, talking to her all the while, telling her how strong she was, that she was going to go out there and win. Her new trainer, Murphy, had tried to offer her pre-fight advice, but she’d sent him out of the room. The only people she wanted in her corner were thousands of miles away, and she didn’t want some pale imitation mouthing platitudes to her.

She knew what she had to do. That would have to suffice.

Her hands were taped, her body warm. Soon Murphy would return and lace her into her gloves. Already she could hear the crowd roaring outside. This was the biggest audience she’d ever fought in front of. When they cheered the walls vibrated and the corridors thundered.

She’d tried to call her grandfather before Murphy had taped her hands. He hadn’t picked up. Neither had Cooper when she’d tried him.

She’d been so sure that he’d relent at the last minute. She’d grown used to him coming through for her.

More fool her.

She threw some more punches at her invisible opponent.