The Heart of Tony Winters Read online

  The Heart of Tony Winters

  P.S. Power

  Orange Cat Publishing

  Copyright 2016

  Chapter one

  The interesting thing about the fight that Tony had just had, he realized, was that he clearly didn’t recall most of it as having happened. It had, of course. He was tired, sore in places and covered in sweat, for instance. The effect wasn’t a totally new one for him. Not really. After all, in smaller drips and drabs, tiny pieces of that kind of thing had often taken place over the last few matches he’d had.

  Even in practice.

  Really, that tended to be when he was being pressed hard, instead of when he was bored, distracted or anything like that. It almost made sense and a few of the other fighters had mentioned having similar things happen to them over time. His Uncle Rick for instance. Also Adam Forsythe.

  His father.

  So it was a real thing, not just him losing it in some strange fight specific way.

  On the good side, Tony didn’t start cheating like a jerkwad when it happened to him. Adam wasn’t so lucky, it seemed. That trait had nearly ended his fighting career about five years before, even if the man had kept himself in great shape. Looking over, to the left, blinking several times since everything in the whole world was blurry still, he could see Erlander Hodder. His opponent. The man was just as fit seeming as he’d been at the start of the fight, but his face looked a bit like he’d run it into a meat grinder. It was bad enough that Tony felt slightly bad about it having happened. There was blood in places, as well as swelling and marks that indicated the poor guy was going to be a bit black and blue the next day. Sore as well, most likely. That always happened if you fought hard. Even if you won.

  The referee, who was standing between them, his face serious, kept glancing at Tony as if he thought the fight might just break out again. That was unusual. Especially since he was an incredibly nice and kind guy. At least he tried to be as a rule, acting that way for his friends and family. Even for Hodder, who’d been the focus of his entire world for the last three months, more or less.

  The announcer, who wasn’t in the ring with them at all, sounded over the loud speaker. The guy had a great voice for his job, of course. Most of them did pretty well, but this one was actually famous for it. At least Tony recognized the voice, if not the name to go with it. He’d watched a lot of fights over the last half year, after all. Hundreds of them. Possibly thousands. It was a large number.

  Blinking he tried to get his eyes to focus again.

  The deep, rather manly voice sounded, getting him to pay attention.

  “The winner, by close decision… Erlander ‘Mega-man’ Hoooodeeeer.”

  Tony smiled, nodding. It wasn’t some kind of big mystery to him that the other man, who was lean, hard looking and one of the best fighters of his size in the world, had won. To be completely honest, he hadn’t really wanted to win the fight, himself. His goal had been to do his very best of course, but fifteen year olds didn’t need to be the very best in any field really. Tony had a lot of time to come up with a different career if he wanted. Even being a fighter if he liked that as a real option. Which he kind of didn’t. Not on the side where you slammed people in the head all the time.

  No one was really going to hold losing at his age to a guy like Lander against him too much in the years to come. The trick there had been in doing a good enough job of things that no one thought of Hodder as being a bully. Tony had won his first pro fight, so the other man’s team had figured that the two of them doing a bit of a match on Pay-Per-View would help keep the second seat fighter in the public eye after he’d been ousted by the UFC.

  Which Tony understood to be completely about politics. That and money. The current champ in their weight class had kind of been refusing to fight the other man. Lander’s people had gotten insistent, wanting a rematch, figuring their guy could win now. The company didn’t want to lose the cash cow. Morse, the champ, was fun to watch, in the ring and out. The man next to him was quiet that way. He did his job, but like most of the best fighters, he tended to be a bit boring. The guy used technical skill, instead of flashy moves. He planned everything out and tried hard, which worked well. Out of the ring, he was polite, gentle and contributed to several charities at Christmas.

  Which tended to put people to sleep.

  Tony was kind of in the same boat, he knew, but had that nifty thing where he was a little kid going on, still. A boy fighting pro at all was interesting. Hopefully, even if he lost. A win was better for him, even if it hadn’t been the plan at all. Not that he threw the fight. As far as he knew it had been the very best he could deliver at the moment.

  The ref stiffened as Tony moved over a bit, to congratulate the other man. If you weren’t a tool, that was what you did after a fight.

  “Good work out there.” He moved in and gave the man a bit of a hug, like a lot of fighters did. After all, even if some people thought it was a little gay, he’d just spent twenty-five minutes with the man lying on top of him. That particular ship had kind of sailed.

  Annoyingly the crowd was booing softly. It wasn’t that loud, but enough of the people were doing it that Lander grimaced.

  “Thanks. Tough fight. I didn’t feel like this after Morse and I lost that one…” He sounded a bit sheepish, but Tony moved back a little, smiling.

  “You should… I don’t know, dance around or something? Or… Here…” He grabbed the man’s arm, with his still gloved hand and lifted it again, like the man in black and white had just done. Then he pointed with his other hand, smiling. He didn’t have his mouth piece in, Rick having taken it for him. Then he grabbed the hanging microphone, the ref kind of making a face at him, as if he expected cussing or for Tony to complain. “That should get the UFCs attention! We want to see Morse versus Hodder again! I want to see that fight, don’t you? Hodder, Hodder…” It took a bit, but the audience, a lot of them, started to chant with him.

  Lander looked down, shaking his head a bit, clearly embarrassed.

  Rick moved up behind Tony, taking the mic and moving it upward, out of range over his head.

  “Hey, enough of that.” There was a big smile on his bearded face at least. With a bit of pulling the large, very fit, man got him out of the cage. That made sense, given that Ashley Lancaster had the next fight. The ring would need to be cleaned up for her and Fox Rends. That was a rematch and a bigger deal than some unknown boy fighting a grown man, really. They were on television after all, not just in a large auditorium with thousands of people watching them.

  Anthony had forgotten about that part, to be honest. The cameras were there, in the background, but not that invasive really. He smiled on the way out of the main section, waving at everyone, being taken into the back quickly enough to get him out of the way. Then he could relax.

  His uncle didn’t speak until they were in the back room with Denny. The fighter, who was in his mid-twenties just snorted a bit when he saw them get there. The live event was being played on the large flat screen behind them. That was mounted on the wall, coming standard with the high price venue they had gotten for the show. Neither of the other men spoke for a bit, just getting the red MMA gloves off and working on the white sticky tape underneath. It felt good to get it off. There was a bit of blood on his right wrist, but that was drying. It wasn’t his, after all.

  No, that was the life stuff of poor Lander.

  Rick took a deep breath, then looked at the screen for some reason, shaking his head.

  “Well…”

  Denny laughed a bit. It didn’t sound that pleased, but there was a pat on the shoulder for Tony anyway. He was drenched with sweat, so got rubbed with a towel for a bit, before a large t-shirt was passed
over. One that told the world he worked out at Winters Gym. That or worked there mopping the floors. Which was also true or had been at times.

  “That… Was unexpected.” The other man, who was a bit shorter than Tony, but more muscular by far, grinned. “I’m probably biased, but I honestly would have called that one in your favor. We can go over it later, though? That bit at the end…” He shook his head, slowly. It held meaning, even if Anthony wasn’t really up to getting his expression yet.

  His eyes were still too blurry for that.

  Rick laughed though, his voice pleased enough, if a little deeper than normal.

  “I agree. That was brilliant, Tony. Mitch over at the UFC is going to have to answer that bit now. Does he claim that some kid should be the one fighting, or give Hodder that rematch? If he’s smart he’ll just wait it out and hope that things die down over the next few months. That was a really good effort out there, by the way. I agree with Denny here. You probably won, if reality counts at all. A lot of people are going to be questioning that. You…” There was a slow shake of the head then.

  It was probably hard to explain, to be truthful. At least the men figured it would be. Anthony got it.

  “It’s the right call. Anything short of a knockout would have to be given to the real fighter out there. I mean, that’s how he makes a living, so it’s only right. If I was the judge I would have scored it that way, myself. Was it really that close?” He wouldn’t have been able to tell, even if he could remember it, he knew. You really couldn’t, unless you were just being beaten all over the place. Not until you watched the video later. It was a thing that a lot of people never understood about fighting. A win was almost always nearly a loss. Unless one person was just incredible and the other was the opposite.

  Rick nodded, slapping him on the shoulder again.

  “Yeah, it really was. I could make an argument for Hodder winning. He had you in power, that was clear. You still pretty much matched him on the ground though, which was totally unexpected. If anything your form was slightly better. On your feet… Well, you saw his face. He threw punches, but you looked like you were getting in for a title fight. Boxing side. Lander did much better than in the Morse fight. So that really showed out there. I don’t think you have anything to feel bad about. Really…” He smiled again.

  Denny did too, seeming a bit happier now than a few minutes before.

  “I hear that. A lot of people will think that you were robbed. They won’t get the power difference there. We can go over that later? We need to get out for Ash and Nick.”

  They had two more fighters out that night, after all. They also got comped seats, since they were working that night. The idea was for the fighters to come out after their match, so that the cameras could look at their reactions. It meant there was a small section set aside that wasn’t too far back. Not ring side, since they didn’t want to clutter the world with bodies that might get in front of the camera that way. The front few rows were taken up with celebrities and their friends, mainly anyway. People who could afford to pay hundreds of dollars to be close to the action. They were about ten rows behind that group of people.

  Which was fine with him. There was also a jumbo screen, so they could watch the action without missing anything, if the cage tried to get in the way. It was made of metal, but as far as he knew, they’d stuck mainly to the center of the floor, in his fight. Hodder was really good against the wire, so Tony had planned not to let him have that bit of help.

  Interestingly, Erlander and his corner people came out as well. The man was swelling a bit and holding an icepack to his face. Also, he had on a great leather jacket, which made him look really cool. Tony felt a bit like a tiny kid for a moment, wearing a droopy and oversized shirt that said Winters Gym on it.

  “Lander! Over here!” It would probably seem strange, but just got a pained looking smile and a wave back, as the four men worked over to be by them. The other fighter ended up right next to him, with Denny on the far side.

  “Hey, Tony! They told me I had to show my messed up face or I’d look like I was your girlfriend. In a prison sense of the word. Sitting by you probably won’t help. Well, if anyone claims anything, remember that I like to be on top.”

  It was funny, so Anthony nodded, his face serious.

  “Don’t worry, everyone will be focused on Nick for that. This is his first fight since coming out. As if being gay is going to impact anything. We couldn’t even talk him into coming out wearing a feather boa. It’s just going to be a normal fight. Ashley will be better, I bet. She actually listened to my great entrance ideas.”

  Her opponent, Fox Rends, was known for doing a whole little dance routine before each match as she came out. The lady had once been a man, but as soon as she’d made the change, her style had, too. Going from pretty boring and straightforward, to fairly flashy. Not the skill set really, just the trappings. Tight shorts, shaking her behind for people and all that.

  So Tony had helped Ash work up a show of her own, to counter that. As psychological warfare, not just to make his pal look more interesting.

  Rends went first, doing her little booty shaking thing as she jogged out of some fake fog, with music from a Rocky movie playing in the background.

  People clapped politely, having seen the show before.

  Then Ash did her thing. That was a bit better, he thought. She had fog too, so that the blue and red lasers would show clearly for the cameras. Her music was classical, but held more power really. There was no dancing, but when she ran out, it was timed perfectly.

  Lander nodded.

  “Niiice. Ride of the Valkyries. Wagner.” The man pronounced the name correctly, since it was German. With a ‘v’ sound instead of a ‘w’. Vagner.

  That a fighter knew things like that was kind of impressive. Tony would have had to look it up again to remember that and he’d picked it out himself. It was a powerful piece of music, which meant everyone was paying attention as the fight started.

  That was brutal, of course. More than he would have ever expected.

  Ashley did a better job the whole time, but Rends powered through things that she hadn’t managed in the last fight. Tony had figured the woman would go off her hormones for the match, but this seemed a bit more impressive than that would allow. Fox had abs that were kind of like Lander’s now. In the last fight she’d been kind of lean and hard for a girl. Now she looked stripped down and nearly impossible.

  The rounds were shorter than in his fight, which was honestly all that was saving his buddy out there, Tony realized. Ash had good cardio behind her, thankfully. Otherwise the woman would have probably faded in the third round. Fox beat her without any mercy for most of the match.

  That didn’t end until the last round, with a rear choke hold that was locked off perfectly, Ash holding on for dear life as Rends tossed both of them around the cage with enough force that it seemed like she was going to get free at any moment. Right up until she passed out.

  Ashley didn’t let go. Not until the ref tapped her on the shoulder a few times. She let go then, backing away. Her eyes swollen nearly shut from the battering that she’d been taking. Jen jumped in the ring, along with the corner people that Fox had. They all did different things, but none of it was much like the end of an ordinary fight at all.

  Fox had to be guided to the center of the ring by her people. So did Ash.

  “The winner, by choke hold in the fourth round, Ashley Lancaster!” There was no doubt that she’d won, though instead of being gracious about it, Fox pushed her down and tried to keep fighting.

  As if that made any sense.

  There was a dustup in the ring then, with Ashley, who obviously couldn’t see, being sent to the mat, while Fox tried for her, only to be kicked soundly in the head, by Jen. That didn’t end things, because other people rushed in, pulling them all apart. With a bit of pushing and shoving, everyone trying to protect their people.

  Rick and Denny both got up and scrambled toward the fr
ont, along with several other foolish people, as Tony sat there, shaking his head.

  “Stupid… This isn’t going to end well.” Some of them were going to be needed for the next match. For instance, Raul, Nick’s boyfriend and corner man, was already in the cage, having sprinted to the front early on. The man was from Brazil, a great fighter, a better trainer and clearly an idiot. People got kicked out of even big events for fighting like that. The fighters had contracts for it, as well as rules. What was going on at that moment was basically just assault.

  Tony stood up then, looking around. Almost everyone was headed toward the cage, including Fox’s entire team. Nick, thankfully, wasn’t there yet, though he was making his way forward. Down the same aisle that Tony and Lander had come down to find their seats.

  “Crud locker. Lander… Um, guys? Help me wrangle Nick here? This is… We can’t lose an entire match on Pay-Per-View…” He didn’t have time to explain. Running, fast, he got to Nick while he was still standing outside the cage. Not even on camera yet.

  It was Erlander who spoke first, looking at the mess inside the wire, in front of them.

  “Man… You have a fight. Don’t get involved. This is…” There was a shrug then. “Probably great for the ratings. I bet it makes the news for a few days even. You need to get back, so that this doesn’t gank your fight. People already paid for the show.” The advice was given in a whisper, right next to Nick’s head. Tony actually put an arm in front of him, pushing him back.

  “Relax and recover. You need to get your head on what’s coming, not this. Everyone will be fine. They’re just pushing mainly. Except Jenny.” She was battling with a large, rather plump man from Fox’s team. It seemed pretty even, as far as fights went. The guy was much bigger, but just pushing at her, as he was punched a few times with rather good skill.

  That was stupid, since Jen didn’t need to break her hands on someone’s jaw. Thankfully that action stopped after three or four blows, Rick moving in to shove people away from his girlfriend and their downed fighter. It was really tempting to run in and grab Ashley, but Anthony stood back. Group fights tended to either be nothing much or end up with people being arrested.