Chapter 23 #3
By the third round, Navarro’s right eye had begun to swell, and a small cut on Rowan’s cheek bled. Both of them looked tired, yet neither man seemed interested in slowing down.
The pace picked up considerably, and the crowd responded to every exchange. Another hard punch from Navarro landed, causing Rowan to take a step back, but he quickly answered with a sharp counter, and that drew an even louder reaction from the fans.
Dawn finally gave up pretending she was watching and openly hid behind Frank’s shoulder.
Nolan laughed so hard that he nearly missed one of the exchanges. “I’ve never seen anyone watch a fight like that.”
“She’s been doing it since Rowan was a kid in jiu-jitsu,” Frank explained.
Two minutes later, the final buzzer sounded, and I didn’t think there was much doubt about who’d won. Rowan threw his arms around his coach as the rest of the team circled near them.
“Did he do it?” Dawn’s eyes bounced between her husband and me.
“Yeah,” I said, unable to stop smiling. “I think he did.”
The announcer stepped to the middle of the cage to read the scorecards, and all three judges had Rowan winning the fight. The referee grabbed Rowan’s wrist and lifted his arm into the air. The crowd went wild, and for a moment I could barely hear my own thoughts.
Atlantic Combat delivered exactly what they’d promised.
Grant, who had been sitting a section away, came over and congratulated Frank and Dawn on their son’s win.
“That’s exactly what we wanted,” he told them, glancing toward the cage where Rowan was still celebrating with his team.
“A win like this opens a lot of doors. He’ll probably fight again in June, and there’s already interest from a few regional promoters.
Atlantic Combat wants to keep building him, and we’ve had a couple of sponsors reach out. ”
I listened as he talked, but my attention kept drifting back to Rowan.
A month ago, I’d convinced myself things would get easier after this fight.
Rowan would be done with fight camp, I’d be healthy again, and we’d finally have room to breathe.
But as I listened to Grant lay out everything coming next, I realized how wrong I’d been.
Nothing about Rowan’s life was slowing down.
If anything, tonight was proof that it was only going to take off from here.
And mine wasn’t slowing down either. Both of those things should’ve made me happy.
Instead, they left a heavy lump in my chest. Because Rowan was building something in Florida while I was building something in California, and neither of us could afford to stop.
For the first time, I couldn’t shake the thought that maybe we were asking too much of each other. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
The rest of the evening, Rowan barely stayed in one place for more than a minute.
A reporter caught him for a quick interview after his match.
Then Grant waved him over to meet someone from one of the regional promotions.
He’d just finished with those introductions when someone in an Atlantic Combat tee grabbed him for photos with Coach Isaac and the rest of the team.
Every time he looked my way, I smiled like I was fine, but when he’d go back to whatever he was doing, the ache in my chest got worse.
Eventually, we managed to grab a drink at the hotel bar with Frank, Dawn, and Nolan. Rowan sat close, his knee pressed against mine beneath the table, still riding the high from his win.
“That counter in the third round,” Nolan said, pointing his beer bottle toward Rowan. “That was nasty.”
Rowan laughed. “Navarro definitely made me work.”
“You made him work harder,” Frank added.
Dawn reached across the table and squeezed Rowan’s hand. “I hated every second of watching you get hit, but you were wonderful out there.”
Rowan smiled at her. “Thanks.”
While his parents continued talking with Nolan about their favorite moments from the fight, Rowan leaned toward me and whispered, “You’ve been quiet.”
I forced a grin and took a sip of my drink. “Just taking it all in.”
His eyes stayed on me, as if he didn’t fully believe my reason, but Nolan asked him something about Atlantic Combat, and Rowan turned back to answer.
When we were done, we said goodnight to his parents and Nolan in the lobby. Dawn hugged Rowan and then me too. Frank clapped him on the shoulder and told him again how proud he was, and Nolan promised to meet up with him again soon.
Everything seemed perfect in that moment, so why did it feel like I was losing something?
When we reached his room, I already knew the answer.
Rowan tossed his room key onto the dresser, then turned toward me. A bruise was forming beneath one eye from the fight, but he was smiling. “Now”—he stepped closer—“I finally have you to myself.”
I tried to smile back.
Tried.
He lifted a brow. “What’s wrong?”
The lump that’d been lodged in my chest since just after the fight pushed higher, making it harder to swallow as I looked at him. He was the man I’d spent years loving, the man I still wasn’t sure I could imagine my life without, and that made what I needed to say even harder.
“We need to talk.”