Chapter 34
WREN
OCTOBER
“Remember what I told you,” Gabriella said, placing her hands on my shoulders. “Go with your gut and never take your eyes off your opponent. You have a natural talent for fighting. There’s nothing I can tell you that you don’t already know.”
Her words made me smile. “Thanks, Coach. I won’t let you down.”
Gabriella beamed and her eyes watered. “You could never let me down.” She glanced over at Seth and then back to me. “There are some people outside I want to catch up with. I’ll knock when it’s time.”
When she opened the door, I could hear the echoes of the crowd. My heart raced in my chest, but it was pure excitement. Tonight was my first fight at the Anaheim Convention Center. This was the real deal, the moment I’d been waiting for.
I walked over to Seth, who was sitting on the small couch in my dressing room. He wrapped his arms around my waist and gently patted my ass. “I like you in these shorts.”
I smirked. “You’re going to be seeing me in them a lot.”
I was officially a UFC fighter. My schedule was booked out for the following year. I even had a fight against Kali in a few months. Out of all my fights, that was the one I looked forward to the most. Seth looked up at me, his smile slowly fading.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong. There’s just something I want to ask you.” Lifting my brows, I waved for him to continue. “Since you have another fight scheduled a few days after Christmas in New York, would you be opposed to spending New Year’s there? You haven’t been to my home in upstate.”
The last time we traveled away from California was the week before I started training again. We drove up the West Coast and into Canada, spreading Parker’s ashes in the most beautiful spots we could find.
I cupped Seth’s cheeks and kissed him. “I would love to go there. It’ll be great. We can spend Christmas in California with my friends, and then you’ll have me all to yourself.”
Seth’s grin widened. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
A knock sounded on the door, and Gabriella stuck her head in. “It’s time, Wren.”
Seth stood and grasped my face. “You got this.”
I sucked in a quick breath, my adrenaline already spiking. “Yes, I do.”
Gabriella opened the door, and cameras flashed all around me the moment I stepped out. The corridor was long, and I could hear the crowd’s thunderous cheers; it was so loud I could feel the vibrations.
I had Gabriella to my left and Seth to my right.
When we arrived at the curtain, my heart pounded.
It was as if time stood still as the countdown began.
One minute, I was hidden behind the curtain, a no one to the world.
The next, the curtain pulled back, and people shouted my name as I walked into the arena.
This was what I’d waited for.
This is my time.