But I couldn’t help but notice the semi-hurt tone in his voice. The disappointment. I felt awful, but I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t keep cancelling on my clients. Three times was too much, and yet, what the hell was I supposed to do? The last time had been a client for a while and was a great tipper. I canceled on him on Monday to make room for sex with Justin. There was no way I could cancel on him again.
“I’m sorry,” I said, feeling a little bad.
“It’s okay, Anna,” he said and gave me a kiss. “I’ll see you on Monday, then?”
I nodded my head. “Monday it is.”
I watched him leave and couldn’t keep the guilt from sinking in. I could hear the disappointment in his voice, but I knew I couldn’t mess up my career for a guy who may or may not be my future. I finished cleaning up, and Ally walked in.
“Hey, sis.”
“Hey,” I said.
“No more clients today? I thought I would have to wait,” she said.
“Nope. Justin was my last one.”
She wiggled her eyebrows at me. “Oh really?”
I hoped I was hiding the fact that I was blushing. “I talked to mom and dad today. We will be doing dinner next Monday.”
“Oh man, are you and Justin ready for your first dinner with mom and dad as a couple?”
“It’s just pretend, Ally,” I said.
“I think it’s more than that, but you can call it whatever you want to.”
She was starting to get on my nerves now, but I decided to let it go. It wasn’t like she was wrong anyway. Things between Justin and I were growing more intense.
I finished cleaning and offered to take Ally to dinner. I figured that was why she stopped by anyway. She didn’t really have many responsibilities, but she also seemed to spend more time eating dinner with me than doing anything else. I figured it was because she was using me, but I didn’t let it bother me. I enjoyed spending time with her. Sometimes.
Chapter Fifteen
Justin
I spent all day Friday nervously walking around the house. I tried to push any negative thoughts out of my head, but it was I wasn’t successful.
“What’s wrong, Daddy?” Margie asked me more than once.
“Just nervous about my fight,” I said.
“You’re going to win. I just know you are,” she said with her childlike confidence.
I smiled at my little girl. She had so much faith in me. Knowing that my daughter believed in me so much was an amazing feeling. I wanted to make her proud, to show her I could win and provide for her.
As I was getting ready to leave, she ran over to me and threw her tiny arms around my waist. She hugged me tightly. To her, I was everything. She thought of me as her hero, someone who could do no wrong, and I was determined to prove her right.
“You’re going to do great, Daddy. Don’t worry,” she promised.
Friday night’s fight was in a bigger arena than usual. My nerves were already on edge since I knew Anna wouldn’t be there, but being in a bigger, more unfamiliar arena only made me more anxious.
With the arena being so much larger, there were at least twice as many people in the crowd. I noticed a lot of them were cheering for my opponent rather than for me. This was the opposite of what I was used to, and I didn’t know how to feel.
What Margie said to me before I left should have been enough to calm me down, but for some reason, I just couldn’t seem to relax. Each fight was a little more intense than the last, and I knew I wouldn’t have been so nervous if wasn’t for Markie and the new bet I made with him.
My opponent was about my size. Even though I could usually nail these fights, he had this crazy look in his eyes. It was a look that said he’d been through some serious shit in his life, shit that made him view the world as a dark, violent place. He probably only joined MMA so he could legally hurt p
eople. Fighters like him were unpredictable, and that is what made them so formidable.