Page 40 of The Slayer
It wasn’t the first of Chuito’s fights she’d watched on television, alone in her apartment, with her breath trapped in her chest the entire time, but it was the first title fight.
This onereallymattered.
This was the one he had been training day and night for. The one he had nursed bruises for. The one that had him waking up with more than one nightmare over the past month.
He wanted this title so badly.
For his family.
For his future.
And Alaine thought she wanted it more than him, as if that was possible. She wanted a reason for him to stay here, and a title belt would certainly give him an excuse to keep doing what he was doing.
The payday alone was enough, because that was apparently not something Chuito had spent much time thinking about until he got his UFC contract.The money. The insane, crazy amount of money that he made doing this.
The payday for losing a title fight was insane.
For winning?
It’d be enough to retire, and Chuito wasn’t anywhere near retirement age. He was one of the youngest fighters in the UFC. Alaine hadn’t honestly considered the money either, because Wyatt and Clay weren’t ones to put on airs.
She had nearly fallen off her chair when Chuito confessed to her just how much it was. This money would take care of his family. It’d give his cousin a reason to stay out of gang life, something that Alaine knew Chuito worried about since Marcos had been paroled.
God, she wanted him to win.
She wanted a permanent reason for Chuito to stay in Garnet. To protect his family and stay here, because she knew if he lost, he was going to go back.
He had been wavering over it for months.
He’d gone back to Miami four times since Marcos was paroled, and every time he came back, he looked a little wearier, a little more concerned, and his nightmares would get worse and worse.
Alaine knew because she woke him up from them.
Their bedroom walls were connected.
When she heard them, she went to him with the key he had handed back to her. Always waking him up carefully, soft and gentle in a way he had come to recognize.
Then he would lie next to her in bed and confess his fears.
That he wasn’t good enough.
That he didn’t deserve all this fame and fortune that had shown up without him really expecting it.
That he would lose another family member to a war that raged across the country in Miami, and he would be here when it happened.
Let him win.
Give him enough money that his cousin would accept the handouts when Chuito offered. Alaine didn’t care if Chuito was rich; she just cared that it was enough of a reason for him to stay here in their little hidden place together.
“Introducing first, fighting out the blue corner, with black belts in tae kwon do and karate. He holds a professional record of twenty-one wins and three losses. Standing at five feet eleven inches and weighing in at one hundred ninety-nine pounds. Current Light-Heavyweight champion fighting out of Liverpool, England. William Evans!”
Alaine stared at Chuito’s competitor, a man who, like Wyatt, looked a little too clean-cut to be a UFC fighter, with intense blue eyes and cropped blond hair. William Evans turned around and held his fist up at the crowd like he deserved their admiration.
She didn’t even know William Evans, but a part of her hated him simply for being in the cage with Chuito. He was someone who could destroy Alaine’s future with his black belts and extensive fighting experience, because somewhere along the way, she had fallen deeply in love with Chuito.
If all it took to have Chuito stay here was for this fella to fall off his high horse…Alaine was all for it.
“Out of the red corner. This man is a mixed martial artist with a professional record of nine wins and zero losses. He stands at six feet two inches tall and weighing in at two hundred and three pounds. From Puerto Rico, fighting out of Garnet, Kentucky.” The announcer took a deep breath and shouted, “Jesus Garcia!”
