48. Vance
VANCE
It was the day of the fight. Adelaide was meeting me here but I hadn’t seen her yet and that made me more nervous than the actual fight.
I warned her they can be brutal fights and she might see something that will scare her.
But I’d done this many times, with Tyson and otherwise.
This was just the first televised fight.
The beginning of the end. After I won this fight I’d retire, I was confident of this decision now that I had Adelaide.
“How are you feeling?” Tyson stood in front of me shaking his hands out. If he hadn’t wrecked his knees he would still be fighting. He lived and breathed this stuff and he was fucking good at it. Undefeated until his injury and even at that the guy who took him out was in rough shape.
“Addy here yet?” I asked him through my nerves.
“That’s not an answer to my question.” He grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me to his chest, then wrapped me in a hug. I wished that we could be like this out in the public. This was the last part of myself that I hid. The part where I loved two people, one man and one woman.
“I’m good. The fight isn’t what’s got me rocked tonight.” I finally said and he let me go.
Tyson looked worried. “Is Lemon okay?” That goofy nickname, but man did it fit her.
“She’s fine. I just want to know if she’s here yet.” They hadn’t spoken and I wasn’t about to intervene.
“I left a message at the front gate to escort her back when she arrived.” He continued to take care of her, making sure that she was safe from reporters.
I sighed. “I guess that’s all we can do right. Maybe she chickened out. We watched some of my fights over dinner and I think she gasped all the air out of the room.” Tyson laughed with me. “Needless to say, I had to comfort her…” I winked and he shoved me back.
“Fuck you.”
“You're the one painting this beautiful picture of Becky and Tj being your perfect little family to the public. You know damn well Addy has been working overtime to make sure that your reputation stays squeaky clean.” She’d been working long nights on Tyson’s image to the press with Laurel.
“I’m aware that it looks bad, but after tonight it’s just you, me and Addy until she’s sick of us.” I hoped he was right. I needed him to be right.
“I vote we move into her huge house. It’s super nice.” I could see that it bothered him that I’d been spending time with Addy and he wasn’t, but he could have fixed that at any time.
We both looked up when there was a knock on the locker room door. I jumped up before Tyson could move and opened the door. Becky and Tj were standing there. She beamed up at me. “Hey Van, good to see you!” Where was this coming from? She always hated my guts.
Tj wrapped himself around me. “Uncle Van!”
“Hey buddy.” I squeezed him tightly then put him down. “Are you ready to cheer me on tonight?”
“Yes! Mom said that your girlfriend was going to sit by us? Is she nice?” I eyed Becky carefully, she had a motive. She always did.
“I’m not sure where she’ll sit, but you’ll like her. She’s very nice.” She also wasn’t going to tolerate this song and dance that Becky was currently putting on.
“I’m here for you.” He stood next to Tyson’s side now. “Hey dad.” Tj was a sweet kid and I loved him. He deserved better than Becky for a mom though. She was a bitch and constantly looking for her next sugar daddy and Tyson was playing the perfect part lately. It was fucking disgusting.
As if on cue, “Ty, baby, can I have some money so that we can buy some concessions.” Becky whined. Fucking whined. Like she was his. Tyson was fucking mine and Addy’s. No one else's.
“What happened to the money I gave you last night for just that?” He said under his breath. Clearly exasperated.
“We needed gas to get here.” Becky batted her eyelashes. “I bet the press would love to know you are fucking your best friend and the fancy pants woman.” She went straight for the jugular and with Tj standing right there.
Tyson shoved his hands in his pockets, clearly struggling with this. I pulled my wallet out of my locker and knelt down to Tj’s level. “Can you make sure you get some good snacks to share with my friend?”
“Yeah!” He grinned at the one hundred dollar bill in his hands. “Thank you Uncle Vance!”
I stood back up and looked at Becky, “You can go and wait at your seats. I’ll have Addy take him to the concession stand.” I knew that Addy wouldn’t waste my money on stuff only for herself.
“I’m not having some stranger take him to do anything.” Becky crossed her arms.
“She’s not a stranger. She’s our girlfriend and we trust her. Get. the. Fuck. Out.” I dropped my voice and with every word I stepped towards her until her back was at the door.
“I’ll tell the reporters that you’re a fag and your career will be ruined.” She narrowed her eyes.
She was looking to get punched right in her smug fucking face. “Funny thing, no one fucking cares anymore. We can do whatever the fuck we want and soon you’ll see that.” I did have a plan. Ty and I had talked extensively about tonight and how we wanted it to end.
The door opened behind her and Becky fell out at Addy’s feet, a symbolic end to this conversation. “Oh, was I interrupting something?” Addy looked between Becky and I.
“Step over this garbage. I want you to meet someone.” I put my hand out and Addy stepped over Becky, who was scrambling backwards into the hall.
“Nice.” Tyson clapped my shoulder. “I wish I had the guts for that.”
I knew he was stressed tonight, I wanted to help. Also it felt good to chew her out. “No problem big guy, I also wouldn’t want you to look bad in front of Tj. A son shouldn’t see his father telling off his mother.” Addy turned the corner and I swear I heard Tyson gulp.
“Hey Ty.” She said quietly.