The Heart of Tony Winters Read online

  Getting money together for bail was going to be less than fun for him, if it was needed, but someone would have to try. Apparently that was going to be him, since almost everyone else was already in the ring. Fighting and screaming.

  For a moment he felt kind of bad, not jumping in to help, but the fact of the matter was his being there wouldn’t make anything better. Instead he walked away with Nick, Lander on the other side, actually keeping his hands on the fighter in case he tried to escape back to the action.

  “Keep your head in the game, Nick. This is a distraction. Nothing more. All our people are fine. Focus… What’s the game plan?” Tony actually knew it, having helped Nick work out how he was going to be fighting that night. “Devante… How do you fight him?”

  They’d drilled on that for months, off and on. Most of the time Tony had been focused on Hodder, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been there for his people at all. The yelling from the cage was distracting, but instead of looking back, Nick was willing to be led away by them.

  “He likes to go straight to the ground in the first rounds. Later he’ll try to stand when he can’t beat me there.” The other man was good, being the fifth ranked fighter in Nick’s weight class. Over all. That was a pretty big deal, but the man got a good payday if he won the fight. Less so if he didn’t

  Nick was pretty much really going to win either way. He’d come out in the press as being gay, so everyone was really watching to see how that played out. So far most of the MMA world had pretty much just shrugged the idea off. Yes, they wrestled on the floor with guys all the time, but anyone doing it knew that it was a long way away from that kind of struggle to being sexual at all. No one got turned on while you were battling as hard as they all had to.

  So the vast majority only cared about it for the publicity. The truth was, other than being clean-cut and kind of good looking, Nick was sort of boring. He fought well, trained hard and didn’t even wear cool leather jackets like Lander was doing.

  They chatted about the fight, going over the needed strategy in the dressing room that Nick had been given. That meant they were able to see all the people being ejected from the arena by security. All the way outside, too. Not just from the cage. The cameras followed them out so that everyone could see their well-earned humiliation.

  Steve Lopez, who was a buddy of Tony’s from the gym, winced into the camera when it came back around to him. The other man didn’t seem to get why that was yet.

  “Steve? You have something?”

  “Ooohhh. This… Not good. Raul and Jen were Nick’s corner men. His team for the next fight. There’s no one left that didn’t get in the cage there. I don’t know…”

  Joe, the other man on the screen nodded.

  “I get you. Yeah, that’s going to be tough. Do you think it will impact his chances?”

  Anthony looked at Nick, then faked a laugh. It sounded nearly real. The trick here was going to be making sure that the fighter didn’t let the lack of his normal corner people distract him.

  “I’m here for you. Lander is too, right?” There was no reason in the world to think that the man would help some guy that he’d never even met before.

  Surprisingly, the swollen faced guy just slapped Nick on the upper arm.

  “We’ve got you covered. Tony, you know what the fight plan is?” There was a look then, as if that couldn’t be possible. He did. All of it.

  “Right. We have all of that. Nick is ready for this. So, head in the fight. Let’s review again. We should be getting the call to go out in a few minutes. Lander, will you check his tape?” That was important, since it was possible that Raul had been partway through doing it when he ran out. It looked pretty good, but the other fighter nodded, then added a little to it at the wrists. That was important if you were going to be punching a lot. You could hit harder if your wrists didn’t flex much at all.

  “Here we go. How does that feel?” He patted the hands a bit. Sometimes the tape could be too tight. You didn’t want the bones to be able to move too much, but still had to be able to grab with the gloves on.

  “Good. All right. Head in the game. I can’t believe…”

  Tony chuckled, darkly, trying to get things back on track.

  “Devante. Nothing else right now. Nothing.”

  There was a knock on the door, a voice coming from outside.

  “Ready for the ring in two minutes. Two-minute warning…”

  Tony nodded. They had to go and wait then, ready to run in. There wasn’t going to be music this time. No smoke machine either, which was good, since it would be up to him to make sure it got set up and there simply wasn’t time. Part of him worried that everyone would be stuck standing around outside, off the edge of the property, but the rest of him knew that Nick didn’t need a distracted person there at his side. Instead they got up to walk out, with him chatting the whole time.

  Devante was in the same hallway, but ignored them, his team of five people, all wearing matching shirts seemed really official, compared to what Nick had suddenly. The c-list corner team, if that. That didn’t mean they weren’t reviewing for the fight. He kept that up, pretending that the other team wasn’t there at all, but softly, so they couldn’t overhear. After all, it wasn’t cheating for them to listen in if he started shouting the secret plan.

  “You know what to do…”

  The other team got to go out first, followed a minute later by them. It felt odd, since Tony had never really done that part himself. He’d been the fighter, twice, but never the one behind the man, saying what was needed to try and get his person ready. That just meant he had to pull out the stops though and get it right. Anything less could cost them the fight.

  Nick sort of needed to win, Anthony understood. Yes, he was going to do well, in the press, either way. There were a lot of people watching suddenly though, ones who’d never thought of that kind of thing before. Gay folk that wanted to see one of their own openly doing good. Which meant that if he could do it, bring the fight to Devante and come out on top, then things might truly open up for him.

  If he lost, then it was back to the grind. The nine to five job and all that.

  Tony wanted to hold his breath through the first round, but that wasn’t needed. It was a close fight, a real battle going on in the cage, but by the end of the first three minutes it was clear that Kevin Devante wasn’t taking Nick on the ground. That meant they were going to see a slug fest coming.

  “All right. The normal plan would be for him to try and take you on his feet. This is where you have him. You’re ready for this. Hit first and don’t let him think.” He got Nick a sip of water, as Erlander brought a silver spit bucket around. You didn’t drink a lot while you fought. There was no pink in the mix, which was good. Normally that happened if punches were flying.

  The second round was totally dominated by Nick. That meant the third round involved Kevin trying to fight on the ground, only to go down to a wicked kick that caught him perfectly in the head. The thud sent the other man out. It was nearly like he had just jumped full force into the foot, which hit perfectly. You really couldn’t time things that well, but it meant that Nick had won anyway. Everyone in the world could see that one.

  Which had Tony feeling a bit leery after the last match. Devante needed to be revived, but unlike Fox Rends, didn’t try to start a second fight that night. Instead he was a bit sour about it, but outwardly gracious.

  “Good fight. You got lucky…”

  Nick smiled.

  “Oh, you want a rematch then?”

  There was a nod, the darker skinned guy seeming a bit sulky.

  “Hells yeah. We should set that up. I’ll get with your people.”

  This time, being the last event, Nick got to go and answer questions after the fight. So did Kevin, but Nick went first. The winner always did.

  Steve smiled as he held out the microphone.

  “That was a good fight. How do you feel?”

  Nick was used to working with S
teve, since they’d actually practiced together.

  “Good. Solid. The fight went to plan. It was a hard match, but I felt like I knew what to do the whole time, which is always nice.”

  That got a nod, then a grin.

  “So… About that mix up earlier? Do you have any scolding words for your team, getting kicked out like they did, right before your fight? Perhaps something about them being unprofessional? Immature and acting like small children?”

  Nick chuckled a bit, then slapped Tony and Lander on the arms.

  “I nearly ran in myself. It was all kinds of unprofessional, but I know how they felt. That… We don’t need that kind of thing in MMA. Personally I’m blaming Rends for it. She lost. It was fair and not even close, so she needed to keep her cool and didn’t. Instead of controlling her, the team she had let themselves get into a shoving match. That doesn’t excuse the rest of them, I’m not saying that, but past a certain point, what are they supposed to do? I would have been fighting too, if my fighter was being attacked like that.”

  Steve nodded, clearly agreeing with the idea.

  “I get you there. Now, Erlander Hodder… You stepped up to make sure that Nick had someone in his corner. That’s impressive. Have you known him long?”

  There was silence for about ten seconds. Probably due to the fact that Erlander wasn’t gay and didn’t want to have people thinking that.

  “It was Winters here that did it. Locked on to the fight and did everything perfectly. I was just along for the ride, really. I hope that I was of some help there tonight. We need to back up our fellow fighters when we can. The real credit goes to Fields here. Things went off on him and he brought it back around, keeping his head. That’s tough to do in a case like that. Great fight. We should see a rematch. I know that I’ll buy a ticket for it.”

  Then, without pause the mic moved in front of Tony’s face. He wasn’t always big on things like that. Even if he had kind of grandstanded earlier in the cage.

  Which Steve knew. Still, they’d practiced together for that as well. In the evenings, about twice a week.

  “Anything to add, Tony?” Steve was treating him like anyone else, it seemed. There wasn’t even a smirk under the tidy little mustache.

  “Um… Yeah?” He paused, then slapped Hodder on the back. “We have some fights coming up for the Gym. Solid people and ones to watch. Lexi Bonner is going up against Debra Mills next week. Everyone should be out to see that one. They’re both great young fighters. Also, if you like boxing, you should tune in to watch Lopez versus McIntire next month. Lopez is a bit of a jerk, but it should still be a good fight.”

  That got a laugh from Steve, since he was dating Lexi and was the Lopez in that mix.

  Then, letting his face go a bit more serious, Tony kept on theme. It was part of the training that he’d picked up from Steve. The more important something was, the more often you repeated it.

  “Hodder-Morse. Everyone wants to see that. I know that I do… Stopping that is a detriment to MMA as a whole.” He looked dead into the camera on that, holding it until Steve touched his ear and nodded.

  Clearly they were off cam for the moment.

  “Great work guys. Thanks. Rick, Jen and the others are all across the street, at the café? We have a camera on them, just in case a new fight breaks out. I’ll walk over with you and Nick?” He glanced at Erlander. “They’re my ride home. We came on the same bus… Oh… Could we set up an interview with you? My boss, Bob, wants to see if we can’t pressure the UFC into getting you that fight. We can do it over the phone. You don’t live in Las Vegas here, right?”

  That got them to exchange numbers and contact info. It was a bit strange, but a lot of the business ran that way.

  Then they helped Nick get ready, which took about twenty minutes.

  It just took a while to do some things. That was all.

  Chapter two

  It took about fifteen minutes just to slowly walk over to the right spot. It wasn’t that far away, but the surrounding area was large and they actually went to the wrong café the first time. There were several of them around the venue the fight had been at. The area wasn’t that vast thankfully, so on the second try they found a collection of people sitting rather dismally. Drinking coffee and water for the most part. Looking down at the table in well earned shame.

  Ashley had a can of soda that she was holding to her left eye.

  Rick was more than a bit sour looking, though Raul hopped up and ran to his boyfriend.

  “Nick! We didn’t think…” The man stopped, seeming more than a tiny bit upset.

  Nick for his part just made a goofy face.

  “Yeah. I know. Luckily Tony grabbed me before I followed you all in. Then he and Hodder worked the corner for me. You know… When I kicked Devante’s behind for him?” He pretended to buff his nails on his shirt front, blowing on them first. It took half a second for everyone to get it.

  “You won? Wonderful!” That was from Jenny, Rick’s girlfriend. “I was so worried that… I…”

  She looked down, clearly feeling bad over what had happened in the ring that night.

  Tony nodded.

  “Third round K.O. We managed to get out of the ring with no more than an offer for a rematch. Nick dominated the fight. Not perfectly, but it was good work. The last kick was luck, but Nick would have had it anyway.” It was the truth, but got him pushed a bit. By Nick. Steve laughed, getting it.

  “About like that. I couldn’t tell you where there were any mistakes to be honest. Anyway, we’re all headed back tonight?” That was the plan, but the bus wasn’t at the café, which could mean almost anything.

  Rick nodded.

  “That’s the idea. Patrick will be here in about half an hour? This could have gone a bit better. On the good side, we’ll get some extra press from it. On the bad, we might end up with a fine from the gaming commission. That will have to be seen. They run hot and cold on things like this. Thank god you were smart enough not to get involved, Nick. Having you kicked out before your match would have meant forfeiting most of the contract for the night. You and Ash won though, so that’s good.” He closed his eyes then making a face that involved sucking his lips in.

  Denny kind of copied him, though Raul just shrugged.

  “Don’t worry over Tony. That was the fight of a man in the cage this night. No one in the world will doubt that, if they have eyes, I think. If it had gone even one more round, the whole thing might well have gone otherwise, no?” The fight trainer, who was a brilliant grappler, looked over at Anthony then, as if expecting an answer.

  Tony shrugged.

  “I need to see the video. Hopefully I didn’t look like a turtle for the whole thing?”

  Ash, moving the can of Sprite on her face, tried to smile.

  “Ow. You didn’t. That was a real fight. You even managed not to be a freak at the end. Did…” She winced in pain again, then oriented sloppily on Nick, who settled next to Raul. “Did you say that Erlander Hodder and Tony were your corner men?”

  Nick, who didn’t have much damage to his face at all, even if he’d been hit a few times, nodded.

  “Yep. They saw the problem and stepped right up to help. It wasn’t the same as having my people there, but they did a good job. We should keep that in mind if the rest of you aren’t allowed to work the next ten matches. That… What the hell was off with Rends? I get that people have issues on occasion, especially if things are close, but… That wasn’t. She was totally out. Honestly, I almost expected people to whine about you holding the choke too long, Ashley. I get it, since you were pretty close to blind at the time, so had to go by signals, but seriously.”

  Rick nodded then.

  “Roid rage, probably. I’ve already called in a request for an investigation on that one. She passed her tests, but did you see her? That isn’t a body you get from doing lots of crunches. I was assured that they got a blood sample before she left. That wasn’t easy from the sound of it. We were escorted out firs
t, so… Anyway, we did a good job over all.” He glanced at Tony and then shook his head a little. “The bad part being the unplanned fight there. Oops?”

  Jen made a face, but nodded.

  “That was… I should have handled it better. Sorry everyone.”

  Anthony smiled then, his face a bit sore on the left hand side. Probably from being hit a few times.

  “We all would have done the same thing, if we were there. That was kind of cold. It was clear that Ashley couldn’t see by that point. Barely anyway. Going after her wasn’t cool.”

  The bus pulled up about then, so he pointed at it.

  “That’s our ride now. Not half an hour at all. We should get on the road sooner rather than later, if that’s possible? I don’t want to be pushy, but… I could use my bed.”

  It probably sounded whiny, given that everyone else had to be tired as well. The big difference was that Tony just wasn’t going to be able to sleep on the trip back. It was a long one too. Nearly sixteen hours of driving.

  Loading up took a while, but anything left in the arena was probably going to be locked up. Thankfully everyone had their phones, wallets and purses. The rest was mainly clothing. It was a loss, but nothing to be worried over really. Two of them had made a real payday that night, as well as helping their careers.

  On the way back he ended up by a window, with Ashley right next to him. That was a bit strange, but not so weird that it couldn’t happen. She was in her mid-twenties, so it wasn’t about her wanting to date him. Not really. Part of her probably saw him as being all right enough. He was lean and not that huge as far as build went, but he was taller than she was and soon enough he’d be heavier, too. Not for the time being however. That came down to the fact that she’d had to cut weight for the fight and he hadn’t. After rehydrating she was probably ten pounds heavier than he was.

  Hodder had probably walked into the ring with nearly twenty pounds on him, after making his weight for the fight earlier that day. It was a plus and minus thing. Being heavier worked in the favor of the larger person most of the time. Rapid fluctuations in water were hard on the system, however. It could throw a person off a tiny bit, in their fight. Generally, it was thought to be better to cut weight and fight heavy, but that hadn’t been a real option for Tony yet.