Silver and Chrome: A Bad Boy MC Romance (70 page)

Joel got to Rock House
just before 9 A.M. full of energy. He was glad he had slept for hours before
Amber had come home, or he'd probably be a zombie today.

After their fight, he had
headed over to Neutron's, the bar that Randy, the underground fight club
organizer, usually frequented. When he had been fighting and winning, most of
their nights would end at Neutron's where they would party until the wee hours
of the morning. The only reason he came along was because Randy would always be
buying, flush with the night's take from all of the bets. Joel could score some
food and a couple of beers without having to dip into his own savings, and even
when he had to fight the next day it was never until after dark, giving him
plenty of time to rest.

Things hadn't changed,
and Randy had been there celebrating with a few young fighters who Joel didn't
recognize. Randy was happy to see Joel, and even happier when he told him he
wanted to fight again. News about Joel's tournament at Golden Dragon had
reached the promoter and he thought it would help spur some gambling on the man
who had come so close to fighting Carlos Alvarez. Apparently Carlos had become
a big deal around town as well, as he was slated to fight in a televised event
for Titan, which was
rumored
to often be used as a farm league for some of
the bigger players like the UFC, Strikeforce or PrideFC.

Randy told Joel that he
could set up a fight for that very night, and Joel had jumped at the chance to
earn some money again. He was also excited about being able to release some of
his temper. Rock House would help with that as well, but it was far more
satisfying to feel his bare knuckles slam into flesh than the bounce of the
rubber gloves he had to wear during practice. He left soon after speaking with
Randy and was able to get in almost three more hours of sleep, meaning he was
rested and ready to go for training.

The other guys were
already there and had started their warm-up by the time Joel met them at their
corner of the mat.

"Got somewhere more
important to be, Slater?" Blake asked as soon as the new fighter joined
them.

"I thought we
started at nine," he replied.

"We don't just do
the bare minimum here, Slater. That might be what you're used to, but it
doesn't fly at Rock House."

"Hey, why don't you
go fuck yourself?" Joel shot back. He was in no mood for dealing with
Blake being an asshole again.

Blake stopped what he was
doing and walked forward, pressing his chest up against Joel. "You want to
repeat that, you freeloading rookie?"

"Sure, why
don't-"

"Guys, guys, come
on," Chris said, wedging his hands between the two men and pushing them
apart. "You know how Shawn feels about getting into personal fights. You
want to get kicked out?"

Blake sneered at Joel and
lifted his chin before turning on his heel. "Keep your mouth in line,
Slater. Your training gear only protects your vitals."

Joel snorted at the
veiled threat, opening his mouth to reply, but a warning glare from Chris made
him swallow his retort. He was right. Blake wasn't worth getting kicked out.
They could settle their differences when they were sparring.

Despite the fact that he
had more distracting him today than he had yesterday, Joel was able to focus
his anger and emotions into his session. Even still, when it came time to spar,
he made sure to step up to Blake immediately to show the bigger man that he
wasn't intimidated.

He could feel the eyes of
the other fighters on them as they faced off, only half paying attention to
their own matches.

As soon as they started,
Blake lunged forward, just as he had last time. Joel hadn't forgotten that
opener or the man's surprising speed, though, so he was ready. He moved quickly
out of the way, throwing his elbow and catching Blake on the back as he passed.
The big man turned back around to face him before Joel could do any other
damage.

They began to circle now,
with Blake more wary about his approach. All of a sudden, he threw a kick
towards Joel's midsection which he barely dodged, but then followed it up with
a quick jab that snapped his head back. Blake moved forward, trying to catch
Joel before he had a chance to recover but Joel was ready, throwing his own
right handed punch.

It was too slow, and
Blake grabbed his extended arm with his left and pulled Joel off balance as he
swung his other arm over Joel's shoulder, connecting both together into a
kimura. His right leg hooked behind Joel and he tripped him as both men fell to
the ground. Joel knew he was in trouble as Blake started to move the trapped
arm sideways towards Joel's back. The pain of the arm lock was excruciating,
but Joel resisted tapping out and instead put all of his energy into yanking
his leg out from under Blake's in one explosive movement. As soon as it was
free, he rolled forward, releasing his arm from the submission and dragging it
out from under the bigger man.

He leapt on top of Blake,
swinging his body around and into a full mount position, reversing the fortunes
of the two men by giving himself the advantage now. From that position, he
started to unleash his fists against the other man's helmeted head. In a
typical fight, this would be pretty effective in quickly incapacitating an
opponent, but between the gloves and the helmet he knew he wasn't really doing
any real damage.

Blake then jerked his
hips up, throwing Joel forward as his opponent slid out and brought his legs
up, wrapping them around Joel who refused to be thrown off. Their positions had
changed again and Blake was now in full guard. The two men spent the rest of
the session in a stalemate until time was called by Kingston who was sitting
out and watching.

Blake's legs loosened and
Joel rolled out. As he did, he heard the other man grunt. "Better."

Joel didn't spar with
Blake again for the rest of the day, instead spending most of his time working
on submissions with Chris. By the time he left, it was time for dinner and he
headed back to the shelter. With luck, he could get a quick meal there and then
take a nap before his fight tonight. He had suggested the submission work to
Chris today on purpose, knowing that working on arm bars and leg locks wouldn't
leave him quite as exhausted as he had been last night after training, and it
had worked. But he still wanted to rest so that he came to the fight ready to
win.

"Hi Nana,"
Amber said as she opened the door to her grandmother's room. She had knocked
but there was no answer. The elderly woman was sitting on a blue, Victorian
style chair in the corner and looking out of the window to the courtyard of the
home. There were some people out there, walking and talking. A little girl was
laughing as she clung to the fingers of what was probably her grandfather.

Amber's grandmother
turned, a look of confusion on her face as her brow furrowed. Some days she
recognized her granddaughter and some days she didn't.

"Judy! How are you
dear!" Today, it seemed as though she thought Amber was her mother again.
It was easier to just play along than to try to explain it. Previous attempts
had just left her heartbroken when she couldn't get through to her.

"I'm fine. Do you
have your hearing aid in?"

"Oh, yes dear, it's
right here." Nana reached over to the table beside her chair and picked up
the small piece of plastic, bringing it up to her head and fastening it on her
ear.

"It's good to see
you," Amber said, once her grandmother could hear her properly.

"You, too, dear. Is
Robert with you?" Robert was Amber's uncle, or had been, until he had died
of cancer last year. It was another conversation she wasn't up for having yet
again. "No, he couldn't make it."

Nana looked disappointed,
but Amber had seen what she would look like when she found out he had died for
the 100th time, and a little disappointment was much better. "Of
course," the old woman said. "He's probably busy with the little
ones."

The little ones were
older than Amber now, but she just nodded.

"How have you been
feeling?" she asked.

"Not bad," her
grandmother responded. She always said the same thing. Nana didn't like to
complain. She did look good, though. Amber was happy to see that this home was
taking care of her, she still felt guilty at having to put her here.

"I wish I could have
helped you more," she said, walking over and sitting down on the little
bench next to her. Nana's hand was on the arm rest of her chair, so Amber
reached over and placed hers on top, giving her grandmother a little squeeze.

"Of course,
dear." She said that whenever she wasn't sure what the other person was
talking about. It had started out when she was first diagnosed and trying to
hide her deterioration from the family, but once it had taken hold the habit
just stuck. These days, that phrase often made up the majority of their
conversations.

"Are you still with
that man, what's his name? Stanley?" Nana was stuck far in the past this
time, Amber wasn't even aware of a Stanley in her dating history. But it was
likely that Nana had latched on to the fact that Amber looked so young and her
disease addled brain had placed her back 40 years or so, to when her own mother
was young and dating. Amber smiled, recognizing the opportunity.

"No, I've met
someone new. His name is Joel."

"Oh, that's nice
dear. Does he treat you well?"

"Usually," she
nodded. "But we're fighting at the moment."

"Oh, that's too bad.
Well, you know when your father and I would fight, I would find that if I just
apologized, that would usually fix things right up. Even if it was him that was
in the wrong, which was most of the time." Her grandmother gave her a
conspiratorial smile that Amber hadn't seen in a long time and she grinned
back.

"It's a bit more
complicated than that, I'm afraid. He left, I don't even know where he
is."

"Hmph. Well, you
know, if he's fool enough to leave a girl like you and not come back, then he's
too big a fool for you."

Amber smiled. There was
truth to that. She had only really known Joel for a couple of weeks, and as Simon
had pointed out, she didn't even really
 
know
 
him. Why was she so smitten with him,
anyway?

Her grandmother started
to cough and Amber stood up, grabbing a tissue and holding it in front of her
mouth. "Thank you, dear," Nana said.

"Nana, have you been
eating?" Amber asked, noticing a tray of uneaten food on the dresser at
the other end of the room.

"Of course,
dear," she said. Amber frowned, unsure what that meant. Nana would often
forget to eat when she had been taking care of her, and it got to the point
where she would have to literally sometimes put the food right in her mouth to
get her to remember that she was hungry. But once she could get her to put
something in her mouth, it usually sparked her appetite.

She bent down and picked
up the bag she had brought. "I brought you some things," Amber said,
opening it up. Inside were mostly just an assortment of pictures, but there
were also a few chocolates that her grandmother had always been fond of but
rarely indulged in. She opened one up and gave it to her.

"My, what a
treat," she said, popping the candy into her mouth. Amber smiled. At least
she was eating something. The way Amber figured it, at 80 years old you were
entitled to dessert first.

"Now, tell me about
this boy," her grandmother said, smiling at her.

Amber laughed, happy that
Nana was so interactive today. "Well, let's see. He's very
handsome..." she began.

She stayed long enough to
make sure that Nana ate her next meal and then Amber made her way to the bar
for work. At the end of the night, she declined Simon's offer of a repeat of
the previous nights festivities and raced home, anxious to see if Joel had
returned again. Her heart felt heavy when she opened the door to an empty
apartment.

He was obviously still
upset. She felt sick to her stomach when she thought about some of the things
he'd said, what he'd gone through. An abusive and alcoholic father, being
kicked out by both parents and left with nothing and no one. No wonder he
hadn't wanted to talk about his past. He was ashamed of it. But it made her sad
to think that he felt that way. If only he had trusted her enough to confide in
her, she could have told him it was nothing to be ashamed of, none of that was
his fault.

But now it might be too
late.

He taught me that no one
can be trusted. That's one lesson I should have paid more attention to.

Joel's words echoed in
Amber's head. Was he ever coming back?

As if in response, she
could hear her grandmother's voice reply.

If he's fool enough to
leave a girl like you and not come back, then he's too big a fool for you.

Maybe Nana was right.