Challenge: A Contemporary MMA Romance: Oni Fighters Book 3 (7 page)

“Bullshit! You’re one of the strongest people I know. You don’t quit in training—ever. No matter how tired you are or how frustrated, hurt, or whatever. You always get up and give it another go with everything you’ve got. That’s what has made you one of my fastest advancing and best students. You won’t quit now. It’s not part of your DNA. You’re a fighter, Soph. Seth needs you in his corner to fight with him. You’re strong enough. I have no doubt.”

I sniffed back the tears. Xander had never said anything like that to me before. How could he be so certain when I felt so unsure? I felt so far from the person he was describing, it was as if it was someone else.

Xander kept looking at me—watching, waiting for me to respond to what he’d said.

“Still don’t believe me? Then know this, you feel like you’re going to falter or fall, you come to me, or Eden, Dane, or Arianne. Together, we’ll always be strong enough to face whatever’s in store for us. But the one thing we don’t do is quit on Seth. Agreed?”

I took a deep breath, inhaling his words as much as air.

He thrust his fist out, looking for me to bump it back. A couple of seconds passed and, in that time, I realized he was right. What other option was there? My conscience would never let me falter nor would my friends or family.

I closed my fist and bumped his back.

He reached out and pulled me into a hug once again. It said more than words. I’d always had family, just now it seemed so much stronger.

Xander burst out laughing as he gently pushed me away, in a playful manner.

“What, you crazy person?”

“Shit, Soph. I thought you were going to leave me hanging there for a bit, with my fist out in the wind like that.”

“Yeah, and you’d deserve it. I’m going for a shower, you should too…you stink, Pretty Boy!”

He laughed out loud and headed for the men’s showers. “You’re not smelling so pretty yourself, Soapie.”

I shook my head in mock annoyance as I moved to the women’s locker room. Yeah, it wasn’t my favourite nickname, but my brother-in-law was one of my favourite people, somehow, that made it okay.

Somehow, he’d made it all okay just now.

Pain. Searing, aching pain. It started at my hips and it went down. My lower back was killing me. It felt like I’d been stomped on or something.

I swear my toes were even hurting. I wanted to move. Wanted to see if that would ease the pain. Why was it so hard to make my toes wriggle? Finally, my toes were moving, I could feel them move. But the pain…it wasn’t shifting?

Maybe I could roll over? Maybe that would take out the ache. Had I fallen asleep on the floor? What was going on? Where was I? My eyelids still felt so heavy, as if they were welded shut.

I tried to wriggle my hips, they felt anchored to the ground. If I could just get some leverage, I could roll over. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I roll over? All I needed to do was twist and I’d turn—that simple.

Twist
. I willed my body.

Nothing.

I was getting so frustrated. I needed to make that pain stop.

My mouth was so dry and my tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of my mouth.

Once again, I tried to wriggle my hips…again, nothing.

This was ridiculous. What was holding me down? Why was I stuck?

Right, time to get serious.

I threw my right arm across my body. It felt stiff and weird but it was moving and fast. Then, something grabbed at my inner elbow and stung like a mother fucker.

“Seth, stop! Lay still. Don’t move. You’re going to be fine, I’m here. It’s me, Sophia.” I felt her gentle but firm touch on my shoulder and arm. Then, the scent of vanilla and something else hit me. Yeah, that was the perfume she always wore.

“Nurse,” she yelled loudly from beside me.

Nurse?
What was she talking about?

My eyelids finally decided to start co-operating. It was bright and white. Where was I? Everything was blurry and surrounded in light.

“What’s happened?” Somebody was asking and more hands were moving my arm back.

“He lashed out with his arm and ripped his cannula out,” Sophia was explaining to someone. She must have moved a little and, suddenly, my vision was starting to clear. I could see her. I’d know that long blonde hair anywhere and the square cut of those shoulders.

“Can you move around the other side? I need to fix the cannula.”

“Sure.”

“Turn around babe and tell me what’s going on.”
That’s what I was trying to say. It didn’t come out that way.

“He’s trying to talk. What did you say, Seth?” Her voice was so full of light and excitement. What was going on?

Then, there were hands at my elbow.

“You’re in the hospital, Seth. You had an accident a few days ago.” What? What was she talking about? Accident?

“Squeeze my hand if you understand—squeeze my hand.” I forced my foggy brain to focus. Then, I realized she held my left hand and I willed my fingers to close.

“That’s it. Well done. He’s squeezing my hand.” She was laughing that musical sound…the one I loved.

“I’m just going to fix the cannula in your arm, Seth. I need you to stay still. Do you understand me?” It wasn’t Sophia but another woman who was starting to come clearer.

“Yeah.” I managed to croak.

“Oh, my God, you spoke, Seth.”

I blinked a few more times, finally my eyelids were working better and, with that, my vision began to clear. It was definitely a hospital and Sophia had an anxious look on her face. Those pale blue eyes and the few stray freckles across her nose. I wanted to stare at them.

“Are you in pain?”

Pain…fuck yeah, it hadn’t gone. I was trying to ignore it and that wasn’t working out so good.

“Mmmhmm,” I managed to groan out.

“How bad?”

“Bad.” My throat felt like I’d swallowed razor blades. “Waaata.”

“You want a drink?”

I tried to nod my head to avoid disturbing the razor blades and I winced. It hurt worse than my throat when I moved it. Why did I feel so crap?

“Try not to move, Seth. Can he have some water, Michelle?”

“I’ll get some in a second, when I finish up here. I’m going to run some pain meds for you as well. It will probably make you sleepy again.” I felt another pinch at my elbow and tried to move just my eyes to see what was going on.

Tubes. Lots of tubes coming out of my arm.

“There—all done. I’ll get that water.”

“I can’t believe you’ve finally woken up. I was so worried about you. We all were. We’ve been here beside you since it happened. Do you know what happened?”

What happened? I had no idea what she was talking about.

Warmth was spreading all down my arm and running up into my shoulder and head…it felt weird. Hot and prickly.

“You were in a car accident. You flipped your SUV over that bend on Taylors Road, the one with all the trees below. Do you understand what I’m saying? Don’t talk. Squeeze my hand.”

I willed my fingers to close again.

“It’s Thursday, Seth. You had the accident in the early hours of Saturday morning.”

That was days ago, my head hurt like a mother trying to calculate the number of days…

“Here, Seth, take a sip of this.” The nurse returned and she pushed a bendy straw at my lips. Somehow, I found the energy to suck a shallow sip.

The hint of chilled water felt so good to my dry mouth. I sucked again and got up the courage to swallow. Pain shot up my throat as the water slid down.

So tired again. Sleep. Needed to sleep.

“Your throat’s going to be sore for a day or two. We had a tube down there to help you breathe a few days ago and again while they did your pelvic surgery.”

Surgery!
What?

My eyelids were so heavy again.

“You’ve got a cracked pelvis that we had to repair.”

What was she talking about?

Sleep, mmm, nice and warm…Sophia was here. I wish she’d snuggle in. I like to have her close. She always smelled so good.

“Sleep, Seth, I’ll be here when you wake up again.”

Soft lips brushed my forehead and she squeezed my hand.

Sophia.

My Sophia.

M
y hands were fumbling so much
as I pulled my phone out and dialed.

“He’s awake. Well, he’s asleep now but he’s awake.” Words were tumbling out of my mouth.

“Slow down, Sophia.” Eden laughed.

How could I slow down? I was so excited. It was almost surreal. Actually, had I imagined it?

“He woke up just before. He ripped his cannula out of his arm, but…”

“What?” she screeched.

“Yeah, he kind of started fidgeting, then just punched across his body. I think he woke up in pain and was trying to figure out why.”

“Is he okay? Did he know who you were?”

“I think so. He seemed to understand. Oh, I don’t know, Edie. It was hard to tell. He tried to speak a couple of times and it obviously hurt his throat. The nurse gave him some more pain medication and he went back to sleep again really quickly.”

“Well, I guess that’s good news.”

I let out a long sigh. “Yeah, it is.” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I hadn’t felt this happy since, well, the party…

“We’ll be in soon. Xander has just finished up a class. Dane and Rohan are taking the night classes. He’s just getting showered and changed. We can give you a break.”

“Cool. I’m not sure when he’ll wake up again but I promised him I’d be here.”

“Sure. We’ll bring you something to eat. Xan did a big meal prep earlier.”

“Sounds great. I can’t eat the food in the cafeteria.” Xander was a great cook. I’d happily eat whatever he served up.

“I know.”

“But I will need some chocolate.”

“Okay, I’ll bring you something chocaholic.”

There was just a series of giggles before my sister ended the call.

I called Dane and relayed what happened to him. Then, I sat by Seth’s bed and waited…and waited…I swapped to the other side of the bed and waited some more.

Nothing.

No sign of movement, just slow rhythmic breathing.

I pulled out the iPad Xander and Eden had given me for Christmas and started to flick through social media and YouTube.

Waiting…I hated waiting.

I took his hand and squeezed gently—nothing.

Had I imagined it. Had I really spoken to him, had he really opened his eyes?

“I can see the anticipation is killing you.” Michelle moved into the room and ran through his obs again.

“How long till he should wake up again?”

“That’s so hard to say. The pain meds are really strong. That can really determine when he’ll wake up.”

“So, let me guess…more waiting.”

She gave me a sympathetic nod. “At least he seemed fairly lucid when he did wake. That’s really positive.”

That was a huge relief. He seemed to be reasonably with it.

“It’ll take a few days. His throat will be really sore for a bit and he won’t want to talk even if he can. And the pain meds will make him very sleepy. You need to take care of yourself. Try and get some sleep too.”

“I promised him I’d be here.” And I would.

“It’s up to you but don’t wear yourself into the ground and get sick too. There’s nothing more tiring than waiting. Plus, he’ll need you more than ever when he starts to be more with it.”

Michelle finished up the obs and slipped from the “fishbowl” again. That was how I’d come to feel about Seth’s glassed-in room.

It was as if we were constantly on display, every action and emotion. There were no private moments to let your guard down. If you did, everyone saw. It was hard enough everyone now knew about our relationship or whatever it was. I really had no idea how he’d take it when he realized that all of his closest friends knew what had been going on between us.

I was deep in thought about all that when he groaned in his sleep. A groan that sounded like he was in pain. I could only image how difficult it would be to lay in the one spot for so long.

I made a mental note to ask the doctor about how much or often he would need to roll or move. I also wanted some reading material on what he needed to do to recover. It wasn’t as if I didn’t have the time to learn all about it and I got to work right away making some notes on my iPad.

“Hey honey, how are you?” It was Eden and Xander coming in to see Seth.

“Good, and you two?”

“All good,” Xander answered for both of them.

“He was just groaning in his sleep a moment before,” I explained.

“I don’t know whether I’m imaging it or whether it’s because I know you were talking to him before, but he just doesn’t look so still anymore. It’s nowhere near as disconcerting,” Xander remarked, his eyes assessing Seth laying in the bed.

“I think you’re right. I guess it’s not something that I noticed because I’ve been here since when he woke up.”

We spoke about his condition and what had happened for the next few minutes before Eden suggested I take a walk outside to freshen up.

“Yeah, I could use a little break.” I stood and reached upwards, stretching out my own back that felt tight after so much sitting.

“Head outside and do a few hip stretches as well. The hips are the first to lock up with all the sitting. You need them loose to have a full range of kicks. Then, come and grab some dinner with us. We just need to throw the containers in the microwave. Nothing worse than eating by yourself.”

I could use some fresh air. “I won’t be long.”

“Take your time. We’re in no hurry,” Eden called as I walked out the door.

Half an hour later, I’d done a lap around the block and stretched out my hips as instructed by the Sensei. For not the first time today, I congratulated myself on wearing casual sports wear into the hospital. It was much more comfortable to wear tights and T-shirt than anything else. I am glad I’d brought a jacket, though. Sometimes, that air-conditioning on the ward seemed to get ridiculously cold.

There were a few people out but not many. One lap was enough. As much as I enjoyed the fresh air, I was anxious to get back to Seth. I wanted to be there if he woke up.

We had a quiet dinner in the ICU family lounge then the three of us played a few hands of cards over the little wheelie table beside Seth’s bed.

“Hey man, you need to wake up. We need another to play five hundred. These Sommers sisters are kicking my butt at blackjack and poker,” Xander threw over at a still slumbering Seth.

Eden nudged me in the ribs playfully. “We’ve had a lot of experience, hey Soph. Cards was one of the things we used to do when I was in hospital. iPads and stuff were around; we just couldn’t afford them so cards it was.”

I watched the empathy cross Xander’s face and I wondered how much of her injury and subsequent recovery Eden had actually shared with her husband. I knew it was not something she freely volunteered.

“Well, you girls are good enough to go professional.”

“I don’t think so; a professional gambler, I’m not. Now fighting, that’s something that I’m more interested in.”

“Xander, I can’t believe you’re trying to get my sister to hop into the cage. I can’t say I’m happy about it.”

Xander looked puzzled. “Why? It’s a natural progression from what she’s been doing, plus, she’s damned good. It would be a waste.”

“But she’s a girl.”

It was my turn to but in. “And your point would be?” I gave my sister a long look.

“Just that it’s not something that I would see a woman doing. I’m sorry, I just can’t get my head around it.”

A frown creased Xander’s forehead. “So, let me get this straight. You’re fine with me, your husband, stepping into the cage but not your sister?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “I know it doesn’t make any sense. It’s just I’ve only ever known you as a fighter. You were a fighter when I meet you and, well, I know how strong and, well, tough you are. Sophia is my little sister…I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

Xander laughed. “Oh, so it’s okay for something to happen to me?”

“No,” she said and swatted his tight belly. “Of course that’s not okay. It’s just that this is something you do and I guess I’m still getting used to the idea that Sophia does it too.”

Xander was smirking and I knew he was stirring his wife good naturedly as much as anything.

“She’s really good, you know?” Xander gave me a playful wink.

Eden let out an exasperated breath. “Of course she is. I’ve seen her train with all you guys and I know you’ve all been giving her extra training. It’s just she’s…”

“Still your little sister. How about I promise I won’t ever put her in the cage or ring if I’m not confident she got more than a solid shot at winning.”

I was sick of feeling like a third wheel on their strange half-humorous and half-deep and meaningful conversation. “Um guys…I’m still here and, at the end of the day, I’m a few years over eighteen. In fact, I’m nearly three over twenty-one. Doesn’t that mean I get to make my own decisions about if I do or don’t get in the cage?”

They both turned and looked at me suddenly as if it dawned on them.

Eden gave a reluctant nod. “I guess so.”

“Why are we even discussing this? I haven’t decided that I’m fighting yet. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Seth.” I turned my attention to Xander. “You just said that you’d draw up the plan and we could start but that no decisions had to be made immediately.”

“Yep and nothing’s changed, except this conversation seems to have gotten a bit out of control.” Xander raised his eyebrows at Eden.

Seth chose that moment to groan again and a shudder ran through his body. I immediately reached out and put my hand on his shoulder. His skin was warm to touch. They still hadn’t dressed him. When they’d asked me about it, I’d told them that I thought he’d be more comfortable without a gown. I couldn’t imagine Seth being happy with a hospital gown. It just meant we had to be mindful that he could get cold. I knew from personal experience his body temperature tended to run on the hot side. He was a big guy and generated a lot of heat, in more ways than one.

Seth moved again.

“Is he waking up?” Eden asked me.

“I think he’s stirring. Did you see his eyelids flutter just then? And he seems a little restless.”

“Seth man, you’re right on time. What do you think about Sophia hopping in the cage?”

“Xander,” Eden hissed in horror. “You can’t ask him that.”

“Why not? Surely his opinion is as important as anyone’s in this conversation.”

I reached out and took his hand. “Squeeze my hand, Seth, if you can hear me.”

Immediately, I felt his fingers close around mine. They were stronger this time than a few hours before. My heart raced.

“Did you see that?” I glanced over at Xander and Eden.

“We did.” Xander’s eyes had lit up and Eden had a soft smile on her face.

“Seth, Xander and Eden are here with me, squeeze my hand if you understand what I’m saying.” Once again, his fingers immediately closed around mine.

We all broke into excited, nervous laughter.

“Can you open your eyes?” I asked him and studied his eyelids. Slowly, his thick lash rimmed eyelids raised and I could see the blue-grey of his eyes.

It was the most beautiful sight and one I knew I’d never tire of seeing. Emotion gripped me even though I wasn’t alone. I moved forward, bent over and gently pressed my lips to his.

He let out a low groan as I retreated back to my seat.

Xander stood and moved to the end of the bed so Seth wouldn’t have to move to see him. “Well, man, it’s so good to have you with your eyes open, but you’ll understand if I don’t lay one on you, I hope. I’ll leave that to your girl.”

Was that an attempted smirk I saw?

“How’s your pain level?” God I sounded like a nurse but I didn’t want him to be uncomfortable.

“Okkkay.”

“You thirsty?” His eyes brightened and I picked up the unopened bottle of water and a bendy straw from the bedside table. I’d cleared giving him water with the medical staff after he last woke up. I’d wanted to be prepared. They were okay with him having a few small sips.

I quickly opened the bottle and offered the straw to him. He took a couple of small sips and I watched him wince in pain as the water slid down his throat.

“Still sore?”

He gave me a subtle nod and a “yeah.” Or at least what sounded like that.

Xander was looking at Seth and probably unconsciously shaking his head slowly, almost in disbelief. “Mate, it sure is good to have you back with your eyes open and you with it.”

I wasn’t sure I’d go as far as saying he was “with it” yet however, he seemed to be understanding and responding appropriately which was so good.

One of the male nurses came in. “Ah, you’re awake, Seth. I’m Steve and I’m looking after you for the moment. How do you feel?” Steve started doing observations and writing notes in the folder.

“Shhhit!” Seth managed to get out around a grimace.

We all chuckled a little, not in malice but rather with him.

“I’m not surprised. You gave yourself a hell of a whack on the head, fractured your pelvis in a few places, and managed to put a little puncture in your bladder. You’re going to be our guest for a while.”

I watched Seth’s eyes go wide in surprise or horror, I couldn’t tell. It was obvious that he had no idea he’d been so badly hurt.

Then, he looked agitated. And I couldn’t quite figure out what he wanted.

“What is is Seth?”

“Waallk…”

We all tried to figure out what he wanted. Then, I realised. Oh God, no wonder he suddenly looked terrified. “You want to know if you can still walk?” There was a slight nod.

Steve jumped in. “You’re not paralysed in any way as far as we can tell, Seth, just badly banged up. That’s going to take time to heal. The doctors have put a plate in your pelvis to stabalise it. You’re going to be in pain. So you need to let me know if it gets too high. We’re running pain meds but there is room to up them if you need more. Don’t be a hero. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Seth gave another slight nod.

“Moving at the moment is going to be tough. Just try to lay still and let the drugs work their magic. The physios will be wanting to get you moving soon enough. Go back to sleep if you feel like it. The more you rest at the moment the better.”