Chapter 33
Claire
The hallway outside the locker room smelled like sweat, disinfectant, and the sharp edge of nerves. Soleil squeezed my arm as we walked with Eric, Becket, and Phoenix toward the door where the fighters were getting ready.
“How are you holding up?” she whispered.
“I’m fine,” I said but the words weren’t convincing to my own ears.
The closer we got to the locker room, the louder my heart pounded.
Asher was about to step into a cage with a man whose job it was to hurt him.
How could I be fine? Phoenix knocked once and pushed the door open.
Asher was sitting on a bench inside, already wrapped for the fight.
His coach was talking quietly with him, but the moment we walked in, his eyes lifted and landed on me immediately. Something warm spread through my chest.
He stood. “You all made it.”
Eric clapped him on the shoulder. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
Becket studied him carefully. “You ready to do this?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Asher replied easily.
Phoenix gave a small approving nod. “You look ready.”
“I am.”
Everyone else gave him quick words of encouragement, but my feet felt rooted to the floor. I was watching him. Memorizing him. His shoulders seemed broader somehow. His jaw was more defined. His focus sharper. Like he was already halfway in the cage. He turned toward me last.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
The question caught me off guard.
“I should be asking you that,” I let out a nervous laugh.
He smiled. “I feel good.”
For a second, we just looked at each other. My chest tightened, and I felt the overwhelming need to just say the three words that sat at the edge of my throat.
I love you.
But dropping something that big on him minutes before a fight felt unfair. Like I’d be putting something heavy on his mind when he needed to be completely focused. So instead, I took his hand.
“You got this,” I said to him.
“Yeah.”
I swallowed. “Okay,” I said softly. “Then go win.”
His fingers tightened around mine. “See you after,” he said, giving me a quick kiss on the lips.
“Good luck.”
We parted ways with Asher. I went to the bathroom with Elise and Soleil.
“Wow, you and Asher seem really close,” Soleil noted.
“We are,” I admitted. I didn’t talk about our relationship with friends from work because I was dating the boss, and that already crossed a line.
“I really didn’t see Asher as the settling-down type. I guess I was wrong.” Elise shrugged.
This was the last thing I wanted to focus on before the fight.
I used the bathroom, while Soleil and Elise were chatting about how Asher broke his cardinal rule by dating an employee.
My nerves were already frayed and them bringing that up didn’t help.
I went to wipe and noticed a red streak across the toilet paper.
I’d gotten my period. A pang of sadness hit me once again, even though I hadn’t planned for a baby, and the thought made me nervous.
It did explain why my emotions felt heightened.
I got out of the bathroom and washed my hands, and then we all went to take our seats.
The arena lights were blinding. The crowd’s cheers were deafening.
We took our seats next to Asher’s brothers and Jonah.
All I could see was the cage and Asher stepping into it.
My stomach twisted. His opponent stood across from him.
He was larger and heavier through the shoulders, with sharp looking eyes and a predatory look on his face. They touched gloves, and the bell rang.
The fight exploded instantly, with the other guy charging forward, throwing punches like a storm.
My breath caught. “Asher,” I whispered.
He slipped the first punch and countered with a sharp jab that snapped the other fighter’s head back.
The crowd erupted in cheers and hollers.
I held my breath, grabbing the edge of my seat.
They were circling each other now, with fists snapping through the air.
Another punch flew toward Asher and connected with his shoulder. I flinched instinctively.
“Dammit,” I breathed.
“He’s fine,” Eric said calmly beside me.
Asher answered immediately with a brutal combination. Left. Right. His fist slammed into the other fighter’s jaw. The man staggered, and the crowd roared. Then Asher stepped in and drove a punch forward with force.
His opponent crashed to the mat. I jumped to my feet. “Yes!”
For a moment, I thought the fight was over. But the fighter rolled and scrambled back up almost instantly. The bell rang, signaling the end of round one, with my heart in my throat.
Round two started slower. They circled cautiously. His opponent’s leg snapped out. His foot slammed directly into Asher’s knee, the crack of impact echoing through the arena.
I gasped. “Asher!”
His leg buckled slightly.
“Oh no,” Soleil whispered.
“You alright?” his coach shouted from the corner.
Asher nodded, but even from here, I saw the pain flicker across his face.
The other fighter noticed it too. Another kick followed, then another hit to the same knee. My stomach dropped. Phoenix’s face twisted, Eric swore, and Becket went still.
“Come on,” I whispered helplessly.
Asher fired back with a furious combination of punches that drove the other man backward.
Blood sprayed from a cut above the guy’s eye.
By the time the bell rang again, both fighters were bleeding.
I didn’t know how much more I could take.
Asher’s brothers were convincing each other it was going to be okay.
Soleil looked at me with sympathy, and Jonah muttered something about Asher finishing the guy in the next round.
The final round felt like chaos. They met in the center of the cage and started trading blows like neither one of them cared about pain anymore. My nails dug into my palms. Asher slammed an elbow into the man’s shoulder and forced him sideways.
“Go Ash!” Eric shouted.
But the other fighter surged back. A brutal punch crashed into Asher’s jaw, and my heart stopped. His head snapped sideways.
“Oh no,” I whispered desperately.
Another punch landed hard. Asher tried to reset. But the next hit connected before he could. Then Asher collapsed, and the referee rushed in as the crowd erupted. All I could see was Asher lying on the mat, not moving.
“No,” I breathed as tears stung my eyes.
Eric was already on his feet.
“Come on,” Becket said.
Everything after that became a blur. Asher was taken away on a stretcher. The ambulance arrived quickly, and I got in with him. His brothers and Soleil, Elise, and Jonah followed us to the hospital.
The hospital room smelled sterile and cold. I sat beside the bed, holding Asher’s hand, staring at his face, waiting for him to wake up. His eyelids finally fluttered. Relief flooded through me so hard I nearly started crying.
“You’re awake,” I said quickly.
He squinted at the ceiling. “What happened?” he asked, his voice groggy.
“You got knocked out,” Eric answered from the corner.
Becket added, “Doctor says mild concussion.”
The doctor confirmed it a moment later before leaving the room. Phoenix patted Asher’s shoulder lightly.
“We’re going to grab coffee,” he said. “You two talk.”
The door closed behind them. Silence filled the room.
“You scared me,” I whispered.
“I scared myself,” he admitted. “That was my last fight.”
My eyebrows lifted. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah.” His voice softened. “I don’t want to live by my fists anymore.”
My fingers tightened around his. “That’s a relief.”
He turned his head toward me. “I see my life differently these days. I know what I want.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I want you,” he said.
My breath caught.
His voice was steady now. “I love you, Claire.”
The words hit like sunlight breaking through clouds. Tears blurred my vision.
“I love you too,” I whispered. “I wanted to tell you before the fight, but I was scared of throwing you off.”
“Not possible, beautiful. You make everything right. I should’ve told you already. It’s how I’ve been feeling for some time.”
“Me too,” I admitted. “I got my period, by the way.”
Asher gave me a sad smile. “We’ll have time for that part of our lives.”
“Yeah, now I need to call my parents and tell them I’m moving to Maple Valley and dropping out of my program,” I winced.
“How do you think they’ll take the news?” he asked with a lopsided grin. He was cut up and bruised, but that grin did me in.
“They’ll be happy. I’m finally living life on my terms,” I answered. “The doctor wants to keep you overnight for observation, and then you’ll need to take it easy for the next few weeks,” I explained.
“I figured as much. I’m just kind of peeved I lost the fight. It means only half the money I would’ve gotten if I won,” Asher said.
“I don’t care about the money. I just care you’re okay. We can figure the rest out,” I said.
“Thanks, Claire.”
“Don’t thank me. We have to focus on getting you better.”
Asher winced. “My head’s killing me.”
“I’ll call the nurse. She can give you something for the pain,” I said.
I went to call the nurse and saw Soleil, Elise, and Jonah waiting in the hall. I updated them on Asher and suggested they head back to Maple Valley without me, since I would fly home with Asher. When I came back to the hospital room, his brothers were back, and had him surrounded.
“The concussion was worth it, guys. She said she loves me,” Asher suddenly said to his brothers.
I blushed as the room broke out in laughter.
Their happiness spilled into me too. Asher was going to be okay.
That was all that mattered. Everything else, the fight, the fear, the past I couldn’t fix, felt smaller standing beside him.
For so long, I had been chasing answers, trying to make sense of things that would never make sense while holding on to something I had already lost. But standing here now, with his hand in mine, I wasn’t thinking about what was missing anymore.
I came here to find myself. Somehow, I found both myself and the love of my life.