“What am I going to have to do to get a divorce?” I said, desperate and angry.
He looked at me for a second. “How about this. For starters, you have to come see an MMA fight with me.”
I raised my eyebrow. “Are you joking? I have no interest in that.”
“Take it or leave it.”
“Fine,” I said quickly. “Fine. But I’m bringing a friend.”
He shrugged. “Do whatever you want.”
“If this is your way of trying to prove that MMA isn’t lame, you’re going to be disappointed.”
He gave me a wicked grin and turned away. “I doubt that.”
The next night, we stood outside of the venue and I did not want to go in at all.
It was crowded, way more crowded than I would have guessed was possible for an MMA fight. I knew it was popular with some people, but figured it was still pretty small.
But the place looked packed. Like, hundreds of people packed. I had expected a lot of old fat men and bros, but it was a strange mix of people. There were even a few young kids in the crowd, which freaked me out. Who would bring a kid to a violent fight?
“This is crazy,” Lacey whispered in my ear. “So many people!”
“I know, right?”
“And I half expected to get murdered.”
“Surprisingly, I feel a lot safer than I expected.”
“Like, I thought this was some sort of street fighting?”
“But it’s legit,” I said, mystified.
“I know! And so many hot guys.”
I looked around, frowning. “Really?”
“Get your head out of your ass, Alex. This place is crawling with testosterone-laden beefcakes. It’s like a buffet of muscular men.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “I guess. I didn’t really notice.”
“What are you two whispering about?”
I looked up as Cole returned, holding our tickets.
“Cole, you didn’t tell us these things were full of hot guys,” Lacey said.
“They’re not really my type,” he said.
“You have a type of guy?” I asked.
“Nope. They’re not my type because they’re guys.”
Lacey and I laughed as he handed out our tickets. He walked confidently through the crowd, and I had to admit that I was pretty impressed so far. The venue was large and clean, even though it was completely packed inside. Our seats weren’t far from the ring, only a few rows back.
“How’d you get these?” I asked Cole.
“I know a guy.”
We sat down and he looked around the place.
“See anyone you know?” I asked him.
“Plenty,” he grunted.
“Any friends?”
“Nope.”
I turned back toward Lacey to make a joke, but she was too busy ogling a group of men in business suits that looked like they would have been comfortable in an economic summit.
The lights were bright and the crowd was crawling. It was full of noise, nervous excitement, and prefight jitters. People were buying drinks and food and generally wandering around the place. Most of the seats were full already, and people were slowly filtering in. Music blared through the loudspeaker, but it wasn’t anything I recognized.
“Look at those hunky nerds,” Lacey said, staring blatantly.
I shook my head, smiling. “You’re unreal.”
“What? They’re like sexy accountants. I’d let every one of them bang me if they’d do my taxes, too.”
“Prostituting yourself for tax help?”
“What can I say, I hate doing my taxes.”
Suddenly, Cole stood up. “I’ll be right back,” he said.
“Okay.”
He stalked off into the crowd. I watched, curious about what he was doing, but he quickly disappeared into the mass of people.
“Where’s your husband going?”
I shot her a look. “We agreed. No jokes about that tonight.”
“Oh come on. Just one.”
“Whatever. I’m not sure where he’s going.”
I looked around and spotted him across the way. I watched as he approached a group of men and began talking to them. They looked like they all knew each other, shaking hands and laughing. I watched as Cole took over their conversation, dominating whatever they were talking about. He seemed completely at ease and in control, totally calm and collected. In the middle of the sea of wild people, Cole was like an oasis of cool and collected confidence.
Meanwhile, Lacey was still scouting out the crowd. I was afraid that if I turned my back on her for too long that she’d end up going home with the first mildly attractive guy that spoke to her.
Cole came back a few minutes later and sat back down. “What was that?” I asked him.
“What do you care?”