The Art of Being Tony (Tony Winters Book 1) Read online

  There was a look and then the tall guy stood up, rubbing at the hair on his chin.

  “I’ve seen it a few times myself, I have to admit. Good point. I’ll take a few of the guys aside for that. You seem to have that part down already.” He seemed happy about that at least.

  So Anthony nodded.

  “Yeah. I always insist on that. Using a condom. I used to have to shoplift them, when I was younger. I didn’t have a lot of cash, so…” From the reaction he got, Anthony was worried for a moment that admitting to theft was going to get him in trouble. Instead it was just cursed at.

  Even then, it wasn’t at him directly.

  “Jesus. Freaking. Christ. Please tell me you’re just saying that.”

  Sighing, he looked at the floor. It needed to be swept. It wasn’t bad, but there was a tiny bit of dust building up. Then he nodded and told the truth. It was the whole Tony thing again. That guy was honest all the time, so he did it, even fearing it might be the wrong thing to say.

  “I did that. Sometimes I had to beg for money, or steal food, too. I even ran drugs for a while once, but we moved before I got caught. I was… Oh, twelve? Something like that. We were in L.A. then, so it had to be around that time. We didn’t stay too long for some reason. Most of the women were friends of mom’s. You know, drunk and desperate and willing to get a little bit of an eleven-year-old for entertainment? I was there and at least they were all women, right?”

  Some of them had even been sort of pretty. Yes, he’d been a little young, but not enough to mess up and get one pregnant.

  His uncle just stared and then took a very deep breath.

  “How many. Women, I mean?”

  That got him to blink. It had never occurred to him to count them up. Really, he doubted that he could. Not by name.

  “Um… Fifteen maybe? Some more than once, of course. Why? I promise, I haven’t been hitting on Jen. Not even Ashley or Dani there. They haven’t even flirted with me, at least once they learned my age. Leslie has a little, but I know she doesn’t mean it. I’ve been being good. Honest.” Except, there was no way the man could listen to what he’d just said and not think that he might be lying. Either about the number of women, or the age he started at, or, just possibly, what had happened with his own girlfriend.

  That was a bit panic inducing to consider, but instead of getting mad about it, Rick just nodded.

  “That’s… I swear that I didn’t know that. I didn’t even really know that Deirdre had a kid. She didn’t know about that stuff, right?”

  He paused then, since that was open for debate.

  “Well, I was almost always in the living room, so that she could have men friends stay the night. I know that she walked in on me doing it at least a half dozen times. She was normally kind of drunk, or high, after a night out. Like her friends? You just ignore stuff like that when it comes up, right?”

  “Damn.” He didn’t hit anything, or Anthony, but his fist clenched. He didn’t seem angry, just like he was a bit troubled. “Damn. Well, you know, let me think about this? I don’t know how to react.”

  Anthony winced and nodded then. It had probably been coming the whole time after all.

  “I… see. Yeah. I didn’t know that would be a problem. I… guess I can find someplace else to go? I don’t really know this area, but…” That was going to be hard.

  Women that looked decent and put out always had places to stay. Men on the other hand, even teen boys, were probably going to be on the street if they weren’t set up someplace. It meant being careful and probably scrambling to find some kind of under the table work. He was a bit too small for leg breaking, as a profession, but there had to be something that he could do. It would almost certainly be illegal, because no one hired kids, but he’d be fine.

  As it was, he’d lasted about a month longer than Anthony had thought he’d make it there. That wasn’t too bad, all things considered.

  Rick stuck his tongue out, playfully.

  “Not what I meant. I mean, do we send you to counseling, or just disown my apparently evil sister? Trust me, you aren’t getting rid of us that easily, Tony.” He looked away, his eyes tearing up a little bit. “How did you turn out so great, given all of that?”

  He thought for a moment and then tried to look wise. He failed, of course, being too young for that kind of thing, but worked at it anyway.

  “Honestly? I’m just trying to be what it is that you and Jen want me to be. Everyone else, too. It’s weird and involves a lot of training, but I get that you actually want what’s best for me. I don’t understand it, but it’s really there. So, if I don’t have to go and start a life of crime this evening, I think I’m needed to pass out some incredible towels? Those are really nice by the way. They don’t even have crust on them. Or mushrooms growing out of them. That can happen if they’re left damp, in a pile, in a dark room.”

  “Go on then. Just… You’re doing good. Great, really. Keep this up and you won’t just have a home here, you’ll end up being someone that others look up to. That’s a lot, when you get down to it.”

  It probably was.

  He’d never had anyone like that in his life. Not before coming there. Before, the closest that kind of thing had come for him had been a few guys that made enough money selling drugs and stolen goods that they had some nice things. Now, almost everyone he met was kind of like that. At least the ones he knew by name. They all worked hard and tried to be better people, all the time.

  It was kind of nice.

  Not a thing he could trust, but then he wasn’t absolutely certain that he wasn’t going to go home to find his two hefty bags stuffed with his clothes, out on the porch. When he got there though, that wasn’t the case and they just had a nice meal, instead. Cooked food that wasn’t very satisfying, but that was all right. He was sort of getting used to that part, he thought.

  The next day he was met at eight, outside the front door of the gym, by Mark and Ashley. They were dressed to run, so he waved at them, dashed in to put his things for the day away and led them on a nice long run that made Mark groan and Ashley glare at him by the time they were done. They kept up though and had shown up to do it.

  Then they all went up to the boxing area and did hours of drills and heavy bag work, stopping only for lunch. After they ate, Denny doing the cooking for them, though Anthony did cut up the salad and made the dressing for those that ate things like that, Steve waved at all of them.

  “All right, we’re going for another run. Fast. Three miles. Come on!”

  It was hard, given the day so far, but that was it seemed the point. It wasn’t until they got back inside that they discovered the thrilling afternoon planned. Really, it didn’t sound that bad, for almost everyone else.

  For him, it kind of sucked.

  Jen, clearly being a sweetheart, explained it to Anthony personally. Her face was pretty serious as she spoke.

  “Sparring, traditional boxing rules, with headgear. We trade off every three rounds.” She looked at all her MMA peeps and winked. Then over at the boxing people. “Everyone, against Tony. First up, Steve Lopez.”

  Thankfully not everyone there was a professional boxer. Otherwise he probably wouldn’t have survived the brain damage. It really did take the whole afternoon, too. Steve wasn’t exactly kind to him, but he was sparring, not acting like it was a pro fight. That didn’t mean he was slow or lazy about it though.

  Most of the MMA people were iffy on hands. They kept throwing illegal punches, like back fists, which Jen didn’t call at all and a few added kicks, which he had to block, even if they weren’t allowed. Those did get mentioned, but it still happened about once every two rounds or so with that type. The takedowns also were illegal.

  Oh, he had to either escape them, or hit the ground, but they weren’t supposed to be happening. The boxers were better that way, but most of them were larger, since Denny, Riley and Mark all took a turn. Denny did MMA too, but kept himself to things that were inside the rules for the
current sparring session.

  By the end, in the last round, Anthony thought he might have actually blacked out, just from working too hard for too long. That didn’t mean he got out of fighting. That was against Ashley, who was a giant cheater, he decided. Still, when she took him down to the mat, hitting hard, he managed a credible sweep and ended up on top of her, which wasn’t easy with boxing gloves on.

  Then, instead of hitting her in the face, like she probably deserved, he spun, trapping her right arm, his right leg over her middle and left over her face, hugging the forearm as he pushed it upward with his hips. After a bit, she started thwapping him with her other glove. It took a bit to realize she was tapping out, not just hitting him weakly.

  Jen, being a loving and caring person, called out to them.

  “You have a minute and a half left in the round! Fight! I want to see good aggression.” That was harder than it sounded like, but he wasn’t taken down again. Instead he tried to pretend he could still hit someone, hugged her close and lightly tapped her middle, as she worked to push him away.

  Then in the last few seconds he let go and tried to actually punch. His arms were like lead and didn’t want to move and when they hit, there was no real impact to the landing. Hers however, were far stronger, since she was still nearly fresh.

  At the end of the round, when the bell rang, he sat down, gasping for air. For a long time, he didn’t talk, but he managed to smile, so that no one would think he was really dying.

  Finally, about two minutes later he half raised a glove.

  “All right. That was fun. Who’s going next? Not against me, I mean against everyone?”

  Jen giggled and pointed at Steve. Then Denny and Mark.

  “Our heroes, of course. They all just signed for a big ticket fight, at the end of October. I mean huge. Denny and Mark are getting minor title shots and Steve is going up against one of the best in his division. Pay-per-view, which is incredible, for boxing. Though Ashley is going on the air next. Speaking of which, you’re up to work with her tomorrow? I think I have a pushup bra that will work for you…”

  She was teasing, but he nodded. Even if he was going to be half dead.

  “Because you know I’ll rock that? I get you. Three tomorrow? I need to… figure out how to do better, actually. It won’t be all soft and comfortable like last time. I need to get the real Fox Rends experience for you. Maybe a wig?” His hair was short and dark, Fox though was a blonde. Now.

  That would get in the way, fighting and had to, for the other fighter, now that he thought about it. Instead of teasing him more on the topic, he got to go home and review things there for once. That meant taking notes, even if he wasn’t great at doing things like that. It took hours to find the things that he’d been missing the first time, which really would make the next day harder for Ash, if she wasn’t ready for them.

  Even if he was going to be sore the next day. It was curious, but in a way, she kind of needed him, he realized. Not in a life or death way, but she was the first person in his entire world that honestly had a use for him, that went beyond doing something easy that anyone else could have done as well or better.

  The closest he’d gotten before that had been delivering drugs. No one checked little white kids for those, so it was really pretty safe for him to do it. That had been years before and really, any kid might have done the trick. It probably hadn’t taken a week to replace him when they left.

  Ashley though, had other help. A lot of it. Even given that, she didn’t have anyone else that was really willing to give her what she needed. A real fight, that approximated the one she was facing. It wasn’t perfect, of course. Rends was pretty tough and cutthroat. Strong and fast as well. His little act from before had been all right, but if that was all Ashley had to work from, it might not be enough.

  So he practiced, mentally, until bed and worked out what was going to be needed.

  The real trick would be managing to seem stronger than he was, of course. That was what really had taken out the women Fox had fought so far. They simply weren’t ready for the fact that she was about twenty percent stronger than they were. If he could start lifting weights right then, in a few years he might have that over Ashley. Really, he might even have more than that, since it was kind of clear he wasn’t going to be a bantamweight forever. Even eating a healthy diet and working constantly his weight had already stabilized. True, he was skinny, but everyone had assured him that he was going to build muscle, as long as he ate enough. That meant getting stronger, over time.

  Not by the next day of course. No, for that he was going to have to fake things, somehow. Nothing at all came to mind. A few dirty tricks did and of course there was drugging her first, to weaken her, but all of that was kind of illegal and wouldn’t actually help her get better in the long run.

  There was nothing he could take to do that either, or people would be using it all the time. That left him kind of stuck with willpower, guts and heart. He had those, or so he’d been told, but it might not be enough. The other thing he could do, was to get someone else to work with her and not hold back so much. That part was really hard for most of the others. If it wasn’t then they’d have already been doing that bit.

  The next day he only ran three miles. Then he very carefully did nothing but light review the entire day. When Jenny asked about it, Anthony couldn’t help but feel like he was going to get in trouble for being lazy. She looked a little flushed, but that could have been from the fact that she had pale skin and light hair. At least given that she, personally, hadn’t been being lazy. Rather than her turning red in burning hatred for him at that moment.

  It was hard to tell, if he wanted to be truthful.

  “Um… Okay. Every time I’ve sparred with Ashley, it’s been after a full training day. So, I can’t make myself stronger, but I can let her do a full day and rest until the sparring, so that I can seem a bit stronger than I really am. Is that stupid?”

  He didn’t know if it would work, but the woman made a considering face and bobbed her head from side to side.

  “That might actually be about right? At least if we increase what we have her do all day first. I’m on that part. Good idea. See you at three?”

  “Yep. Thanks. I’m actually trying to help her, not be lazy. To prove it I’ll go and… Pick up the back parking lot?”

  She laughed and patted his back.

  “Good idea. Thanks, Tony. You know where the dumpster is?”

  He did and grabbed a black bag, one much like his personal luggage and headed toward the back of the building going around the side. As he did that he noticed a man running away from one of the cars parked back there.

  It was kind of hard to tell for certain, seeing him only from the back, but the man looked an awful lot like Dani’s not-boyfriend. Hopefully that was wrong, but glancing up, he noticed that there were cameras back there, so decided to check that out, just as soon as the litter patrol was done.

  Since it was probably nothing.

  Chapter nine

  Anthony ran after that and got with Rick, to check the camera data for the parking lot. Which, after being shown what to do, meant sitting alone in a room going over hours of footage, all at high speed. Two things happened in the time he sat there doing that. The first was a new appreciation for people that did that kind of work for a living. Part of him had always assumed that television shows and movie work were kind of shot in one long scene.

  That the actors would simply be perfect each time, or nearly so. Given that, even he knew what a cut was. After watching how boring people were, walking around and doing things naturally, he understood that real magic must be taking place to make a show happen. Even a simple one.

  The second thing that occurred to him was that the man, who was almost definitely the same one that had been not sleeping with Dani, even if she was willing, was paying far too much attention to a single car in the parking lot that day. They didn’t have other footage of anything, since they used the c
ameras mainly to look at fights, so they could examine them in detail. The parking lot cam was almost there as a prop it seemed, to keep car prowlers away.

  One that, clearly, wasn’t totally effective.

  At two-forty-five, noticing the clock, Anthony had to scurry in order to get ready. It meant getting in a different set of Jen’s clothing this time, in order to match the bright outfits that Fox Rends normally enjoyed for matches. At least now that she was a girl. Not wanting to lose the scene that had taken so long to find, the good face shot of the rather goofy looking man hovering over the one car, Anthony left it up on the side screen. They had four monitors in the room, since the main fight areas, on the first floor and the second, both had multiple cameras set up.

  That day he’d gotten the ones on the first floor ready to capture everything, or at least he was hoping that was the case. Then he slipped into the tight two-piece silver outfit, complete with bra under the top to give him just the slightest hint of having a sexy bust line, since that was the game for the day. Then he got the music and fog machine together with Rick.

  When three o’clock hit, he was ready and came into the space exactly like Fox would have, including playing to a crowd of people that would have probably been jeering. It wasn’t that anyone cared that much about the sex change, Anthony was certain. Even if the fight might not be totally fair, the other fighters had a chance to back out if they wanted.

  It was that in the last fight that Fox had been allowed she’d broken her opponent’s jaw in three places, hitting her in the face without mercy. Which, of course, was kind of what he had to try and do that day.

  Which he did like he had a personal agenda.

  He was on a clearly tired Ashley Lancaster like she’d personally wronged him, coming straight out with a backhand that was loaded with exactly all the power he had. It was blocked of course, as was the really decent low roundhouse kick to the lead leg he tried. Then he zapped in, right on top of that with a smooth takedown that at least felt like it was slightly better than what he’d been watching Rends do on the video the night before.