The room goes quiet as I have to mentally restrain myself from wringing his fucking neck.
Taking a deep breath, I say, “You’ve got two options right now, Travis. Two. That’s fucking it.”
“Wha…What do you mean, man?”
“You say right now Christy is mine, and you will fuck off permanently. Or I get the cops involved. I bet you’re holding shit on you right now, and in your car. You’re not a simple user, you’ve got too much shit on you for that.”
“Fuck…”
Slamming my fist into his testicles first, I grab his shoulder in a simple but painfully effective hold. It’s the type of hold where you either tap out or the shoulder socket gets destroyed.
“Mine! She’s fucking mine! Now fucking say it, bitch.”
“She’s yours! Man, I swear I’m done!”
Growling in his ear, I say, “This is your final warning. Next time I either get you sent to prison or I bury you in the fucking desert. Understand?”
“Yeah, man, I…” He screams out as I pop his shoulder out of socket.
The screaming ends about two minutes later when I have to kick him hard in the stomach.
All the air is knocked out of his lungs and he gasps like a fucking fish out of water.
Looking him in the face one last time, I say, “This was your only warning, Travis. Next time you go to prison or get buried in the desert. One way or the other you will disappear.”
* * *
My hands are shaking as I get behind the wheel of the car. I haven’t allowed myself that kind of violence in a long time. It’s almost nauseating, but necessary.
Anything to protect what’s mine.
I’ve got enough pictures on my phone of his stash in his bedroom and car that I have no doubt I could get him arrested on an anonymous tip. I really hope he makes the right decision.
It’s a relief to pull into my garage, to be back home with my girls.
Coming in through the kitchen, I head to where I hear Christy laughing loudly. She’s in the living room, watching some movie with Muffin. They’re both sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn in Christy’s lap.
Plopping myself down beside her, I put my arm around her and pull her into my arms.
“How are my girls?” I ask.
“We’re good.” Christy beams at me. “You’re back early…”
“Yeah, it was just a quick talk with a guy about the gym. He wanted to know what he would be getting into…”
“And?”
“He figured it wasn’t a good fit for him.”
“Aw, that sucks. Well, I hope he finds a good one for himself.”
“Oh, I’m sure he will.”
Epilogue
Christy
“Keep your eyes closed,” Alex breathes into my ear and leads me with a firm hand on my arm.
I know we’ve stepped outside the house. I can feel the sun warm on my face even though I can’t see anything.
“Alex, really, you didn’t have to…” I protest half-heartedly.
He shushes me and Nicole giggles beside me.
If I’m being completely honest, I’m very excited to see whatever surprise he has in store for me. It’s been about a month since I won my match against Brianna and so many good things have been happening.
I was offered my first professional fight on Night of Fights, five months from now, and will start training intensely again in a few weeks.
Nicole and I finally managed to hook up, and we’ve been hanging out every other day. Sometimes she even works out in the gym with me.
Alex and I have been becoming closer and closer. Seriously, I never thought I could feel like this—truly, madly and deeply in love with someone. It’s even got me thinking about perhaps retiring sooner rather than later and starting a family.
The best thing though is that Travis is gone.
He called and texted me quite a bit during my fight against Brianna but I didn’t have my phone on me at the time. Alex was holding it for me.
I’m not sure if Alex talked to Travis or something, but the calls and texts just stopped abruptly. It was like Travis just suddenly gave up.
Alex never said anything about talking to Travis but I’ve got this nagging feeling that he must have scared him off without telling me…
Honestly, I’m not mad or anything if he did. No, if anything I’m extremely grateful. Not having to worry about Travis coming after me is a huge relief. I can finally live my life in peace. And I can stop looking over my shoulder.
The last I heard of Travis someone said he headed out east, far away from here.
“Oh my god!” Nicole gasps.
“Zip it,” Alex growls.
Nicole giggles and now I’m seriously dying from curiosity. What on earth did he get me that he has to bring me outside to show me?
“Just a few more feet,” Alex murmurs while leading me then he stops. His hands fall away. “Okay, you can open your eyes, Christy.”