Read Stronger with You (With You Trilogy) Online
Authors: R. J. Sable
“That’s not what this is about, little squirrel,” he reassured me.
I looked at Craig suspiciously, trying to figure out if there was some angle to this, some reason for him to want to fight Jason.
“Did Ian or Karl put you up to this?” I asked him.
“No, Jelly,” he shook his head firmly. “Although I’m certain they’d quite like the idea,” he grinned.
I’m sure he was just trying to lighten the mood but it didn’t make me feel any better.
“I don’t want you two to hurt each other,” I repeated, my bottom lip threatening to quiver.
“It’s just for fun, Jelly,” Craig reassured me, wiping away a tear from my cheek. “Jason’s a good fighter, much as it pains me to admit.”
“You’re not too bad yourself,” Jason grinned, removing his arm from my waist so that he could clap Craig on the back.
“I said you were good, not good enough,” Craig smirked.
“You’re really gonna do this?” I asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.
“We are,” Craig answered. “But you’ve seen me in the cage, Jelly. Fighting in the cage isn’t the same as a scrap outside of it,” he explained, pulling me away from Jason to sit with him on a bench. “It’s about discipline and control. It’s not about who’s the bigger or stronger fighter. In the cage, you’re fighting as much with yourself as you are with the other person. A good fighter doesn’t make it personal. You understand?”
I nodded slowly, thinking about it. I knew that what he’d said was true. Watching him fight Hemler had been nothing like seeing him spar with my brothers and it had definitely not been anything like the rare occasions when he actually got into a fight with one of them.
“Jamie, I won’t do this if you don’t want me to,” Jason said gently, squatting down in front of me and taking my hands in his.
“It’s okay,” I nodded. “But, try not to hurt each other too badly, okay?” I pleaded. “I don’t think I’d survive another ambulance trip with either of you.”
“We promise,” Jason nodded. “Right, Craig?”
Craig looked pensive for a second and I scowled at him.
“We promise,” he nodded, ruffling my hair.
“If you ladies are done, it’d be nice to get on with it,” Simon chimed in from the sidelines.
“Alright, alright,” Craig sighed, standing up and walking over to him. “Jesus, it’s like being married. Except you can’t cook so you’d be a shit wife.”
“Pfft,” Simon scowled. “You’d be the wife.”
I grinned at the two of them, relaxing somewhat. It wasn’t going to be fun watching them fight but they both seemed to want to do it.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” Jason asked me, pulling me up and walking with me over to where the others were.
“Yeah, if it makes you happy,” I smiled, feeling a little better.
“I love you,” he grinned, giving me a sensuous thank-you kiss.
“I love you too,” I grinned back.
Craig gave Josh and Grayson a few tips after observing for a while and sparred with both of them. Simon chipped in and had a few good pointers as well.
“You’re such a balanced fighter, what’s your secret?” Josh asked Craig when they took a break to drink some fluids.
Craig shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. “A healthy dose of luck.”
“It’s not luck, mate,” Simon clapped him on the back. “I’ve seen you sparring with your brothers. Those guys are fucking animals.”
“I wouldn’t let them hear you say that,” Craig answered dryly.
“I wouldn’t,” Simon laughed. “Seriously though, your brothers are some of the best fighters I’ve ever seen.”
Craig shrugged again. Simon seemed to get the message and dropped it, moving back to the mats.
A lot more people were starting to arrive. Despite the fact that most people in the room were there to spar or train, a lot of them seemed more interested in what Craig was doing. The more people that arrived, the less playful and happy Craig became. I watched as he slowly retreated into himself, adopting the persona he often used around my brothers, particularly around Karl and Matt when they were in a bad mood.
“What d’ya do, Simon?” Craig asked with a frown as they broke off again. “Send out a fucking flyer?”
“Don’t look at me, mate,” Simon shrugged. “I just talked it over with the club owner.”
“If they want a show they can wait until the fights start,” Craig scowled.
“We can do this another time if you want, Carter?” Jason offered.
“Nah, it’s fine,” Craig sighed, rolling his shoulders a little.
I stood on the sidelines listening to the “that’s Craig Carter” whispers and rolling my eyes at them. I felt a little sorry for Craig. He didn’t ask for the attention and obviously didn’t appreciate it.
Simon broke off sparring with Josh and came to stand by me, shooting a few meaningful glares at the gathering crowd, which they seemed oblivious to. He went off to usher people away with a few colourful threats. I may not have found Simon to be the most enjoyable company, but he obviously cared a lot about Craig and I appreciated that. I smiled at him and watched Jason sparring with Josh.
Hearing two familiar female voices approaching, I turned towards the door.
Who let them in?
I groaned inwardly at the sight of Shana and Lottie. The two of them were both wearing tiny shorts and tank tops, which seemed a little ridiculous considering where they were.
“Hey, pretty ladies,” Grayson greeted the two of them.
They both fluttered their eyelashes at Grayson as they giggled their helloes.
“Hi, Jamie,” Lottie smiled at me.
I smiled back and returned to watching the guys. They noticed the newcomers and broke off their sparring once more to come over to us.
“For Christ’s sake, this just gets better and better,” Simon groaned, looking pointedly at Lottie and Shana. “No bunnies back here.”
I was secretly delighted that he thought they were cage bunnies.
“Bunnies?” Shana frowned.
“They’re not bunnies, Simon,” Jason laughed, looking over at the two girls and giving them a slight smirk.
“Could have fooled me,” Simon grunted. “Whatever. They can’t be back here.”
“Why not?” Shana scowled. “She’s here,” she pointed at me as though I was mouldy yoghurt again.
“That’s because she’s my sister, yeah?” Craig scowled, wrapping his slightly sweaty arm around my shoulder and giving Shana a disgusted look that made it really hard to hide my grin.
“Easy, Carter,” Jason soothed. “She didn’t mean anything by it.”
Craig raised his eyebrow at Jason and shrugged it off, nodding to Simon that he wanted to spar some more and disappearing back to the mats with him.
Shana and Lottie obviously didn’t take the hint because they hung around. Josh went off to hold a punching bag for Grayson, leaving Jason with me and the other two girls.
“Have you started fighting again?” Shana asked Jason.
The fact that she knew he used to fight annoyed me immensely. It meant the two of them were close enough to have talked about it, despite the fact they’d obviously slept together and Jason insisted he only had one-night stands.
“Thinking about it,” Jason shrugged. “Depends how this goes.”
“Are you fighting Craig?” She asked.
The fact that she called my brother by name annoyed me even more.
“I am,” he nodded, winking at me before he returned to the mats, walking over to where my brother and Simon were to observe them.
Lottie and Shana talked amongst themselves and I tried not to listen, mostly because I doubted I’d want to hear what they had to say, especially once I heard them discussing Craig’s physical attributes. I was relieved when Craig called me over to pass him his water bottle, but less relieved when the girls followed me.
“How’s it going?” I smiled at him.
“Fine,” he nodded, taking a huge sip of water.
“You’re really good,” Shana smiled at him, pouting her glossy lips like a duck.
“Yeah?” Craig said curtly, raising his eyebrow.
I wondered what standard she was using to decide Craig was a good fighter. I doubted she had much experience and I was pretty sure Craig wasn’t in the habit of listing off the titles he’d won just to hit on women. He wouldn’t cheap the sport he loved so much in that way.
“Jel-” Craig started but then broke off, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Will you go fill this up for me?” He asked, holding up his water bottle.
“Sure,” I nodded, accepting the bottle and making for the water fountain at the far end of the room.
I wondered briefly why he’d broken off. I smiled to myself because I wasn’t sure I wanted Shana to hear Craig calling me Jelly. I loved their nickname for me, because they mostly used it in an affectionate fashion, but I had a feeling that Shana would try and use it against me somehow. I didn’t want her to ruin it for me
. That girl definitely has it out for me.
I didn’t understand why she disliked me so strongly, so quickly. Was it really just because I was with Jason? That didn’t feel like reason enough. She seemed to really hate me. I sighed as I filled the water bottle and took it back over to Craig. The group was all standing together now.
“We were going to head into town afterwards, you guys should join us,” Shana said enthusiastically, her eyes darting back and forth between Craig and Jason like a child trying to decide which slice of cake looked bigger.
I sort of hoped she decided on Craig. The lesser of two evils. I definitely wanted her to stop fluttering her eyelashes at Jason and I doubted it would bother me too much if Craig decided he wanted to sleep with her as long as she didn’t try and lord it over me too much.
“I was just gonna hang with my little sister,” Craig shook his head, smiling at me as I passed him the bottle.
“Yeah, I’m not really feeling much like town either,” Jason shrugged apologetically.
Shana pouted like a duck once more and sidled up to Craig, putting her hand on his bicep.
“Are you sure?” She cooed. “We could have fun?”
Craig smiled at her tightly but I wasn’t buying it. He was giving her the look he usually gave me right before he pinched the back of my arm for rolling my eyes.
“They could come back to ours?” Josh offered, looking at Jason.
“Fine by me, it’s up to Carter though,” Jason nodded his head towards my brother.
“You mind sharing me?” Craig grinned at me.
“I’m used to it,” I smiled. I rarely got one on one time with my brothers, at least not the nice kind we’d been having so far.
“I have to get up early tomorrow,” Craig said. “So as long as it’s not too late.”
“Awesome,” Lottie smiled.
Craig motioned for me to follow him and we walked to one side, away from the others.
“You okay?” He asked, frowning. “You didn’t look to keen on the idea.”
“Shana doesn’t really like me,” I shrugged, trying not to let him know how much she bothered me.
“She’s a bit… enthusiastic, isn’t she?” He grinned.
That was a polite way of putting it. I was pretty sure she’d drop down on her knees in front of him if he asked her to. I once again contemplated asking him not to sleep with her but I knew it wasn’t my place.
“Don’t worry,” he grinned. “I promise not to ignore you.”
“Thanks,” I rolled my eyes without thinking and then jumped back because I knew a pinch was coming.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that,” he smirked, his playful smile returning and putting me at ease. I definitely liked Craig when he was like this. The backs of my arms liked him even more.
Chapter 23
Saturday, 9th February 2013
I listened to the nearby crowd talking and felt my heart pounding hard in my chest. There was a group of people stood just close enough to the judge’s area that I could hear what they were saying.
“What was his name?” A girl asked.
“Jason Reed,” someone answered.
“I’ve never heard of him,” the girl said.
“Someone said he’s banging Carter’s little sister,” a guy laughed.
I cringed inwardly and turned violently red outwardly.
God, this is horrific
. I glanced up at Simon behind me and he smirked down at me. I was to stay with Simon until the fight was over. Craig and Jason had been very insistent.
“No way?” The girl cried out. “This is gonna be a blood bath!” She sounded a little too happy.
The hall was chock-a-block full, not quite as busy as the room in Derby had been but definitely more packed than I’d seen it before. Jason seemed surprisingly nonplussed about being back in the cage for his first fight. I felt he should have been a little more nervous, especially considering he was fighting Craig. They’d said it wasn’t personal but I couldn’t help feeling that my relationship with the two of them made it
very
personal.
Previously, when watching a fight, I’d known exactly who I wanted to win. I’d be on team Craig, or Grayson, or Josh, or even Simon. This time I couldn’t decide who I wanted to win. The little sister in me didn’t want Craig to lose, he trained so hard and devoted so much of his time to MMA. It had, in part, made him who he was by giving him the strength to stand up to Karl and Matt. He didn’t always stand up to them, but he knew he could and that was enough.
The girlfriend in me didn’t want Jason to lose because he’d already lost to Ian and Karl and I wasn’t sure I could watch him get hurt again. Craig trained a hell of a lot but so did Jason. He’d sparred with pretty much everyone except Jake over the holidays and he’d kept up for most part. He sometimes sparred with the guys at the gym whilst I used the cardio equipment. He trained hard and deserved a win as much as Craig did.
“What’s he doing?” Simon scowled.
Jason and Craig had been going back and forth relatively easily in the match until that point but Craig had suddenly picked up the pace and begun moving rapidly and in calculated moves. He managed to pin Jason to the floor in a fairly painful looking twist variation of an armbar.
Nobody answered Simon because none of us knew. I watched Craig frown on stage and he landed a few more blows to Jason but he just took it and tried to break free. There were only thirty seconds left and it looked like Jason was in agony from the uncomfortable position Craig had him pinned in.