AllFreeNovel
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I’ve never been out of Missouri before.
And I’m happy that I can share this journey with him.
TWENTY-FOUR
My eyes sweep over the room as we wait for weigh-in, and I try to locate my opponent, Andrew Giles. I haven’t seen him yet, but we still have some time until our division weighs in.
Noah returns to his seat, as his division was up first, and happily accepts the water bottle Rosa holds out to him. “Thank god,” he says as he takes a drink. And some jealousy settles in me as I watch him. I’m so fucking thirsty.
“Your guy looks chill,” Seb says with his arms crossed as he observes Noah’s opponent.
Rico Vargas is pacing the far wall while talking to his trainer, giving him an earful while his eyes continue to dart this way.
Noah snorts a laugh. “When he got off the scale, he asked me if I was ready for his hammer. I think he might be a bit off his rocker.”
Luca turns to smirk at Noah. “Wonder which hammer he’s referring to?”
Noah’s face twists in horror and Luca and Rosa fall apart laughing.
“Hey, guys,” Max sits next to Luca. “I was just talking with the officials, and apparently Rojas pulled out. Something about an old injury acting up.”
My eyes snap to Luca as he tilts his head back with a sigh.
“Fuck,” he says. “Please tell me they have a replacement fighter. There’s no fucking way I’m not fighting tomorrow.”
Max nods. “They do.” But I see the worry in his eyes.
“Great,” Luca nods, not picking up on Max’s hesitation. “I’ll take it.”
Max sighs, his eyes sliding to me before he tilts his head in a gesture for us to look across the room.
Luca and I both turn to look… and I can’t fucking believe what I’m seeing.
Josh Hens.
My heart pounds as I take in his smug expression when his eyes meet mine. The same look I saw in the cage three months ago before he knocked me out with a dirty, illegal knee to the back of the head.
“Josh fucking Henna?” Luca seethes next to me.
“Hens,” I correct him, not taking my eyes off the fucking asshole.
Why the fuck is he here? Of all places to run into him again, it has to be in fucking Dallas, in a fight with so much riding on it. LFA officials are here, and this is where we need to showcase our ability to fight in Vegas in May. And just when I thought we were finally done with him and the effects he had on me… here he fucking is.
“You can always withdraw,” Max says, drawing both mine and Luca’s attention back to him.
“Fuck no,” Luca says immediately.
And I have no idea how to feel about that. It’s not that I don’t think Luca can handle him. Of course he can. But this asshole is fucking dirty. He almost took MMA away from me completely and gave me a fear I’ve never had before. A fear over something I love and need. And I don’t want to see something like that, or worse, happen to Luca too.
But as I look into Luca’s eyes, I see that this isn’t even a question. He’s going to do this, and I know he’s going to be ok. Because everything I once hated about him, now provides me with a sense of comfort.Luca Mitchell is a fast, agile, stubborn, reactive striker.
But now he’s also a motherfucking grappler. And he’s going to fucking destroy Josh Hens.
The second our hotel room door closes after we get back from weigh-in, I turn to Luca. “What’s your plan?”
“Huh?” he asks, setting our food and drinks on the desk.
I just stare back at him, trying to keep my expression calm, but I feel frantic. As much as I know he’s got this… I can’t help but feel worried, and I need to know exactly what he’s thinking going into this fight.
