Untamed (A Bad Boy Secret Baby Romance)(64)
“Of course they will, there’s no need to state the obvious,” Dad snaps. He turns to Duncan. “You may need to pull out a few tricks.”
“I’m not fighting dirty,” Duncan says. “Maybe you loaded your gloves, you know, a little Plaster of Paris, but I won’t.”
Dad is visibly taken aback, stammers, “I-I never once—”
“Whatever, Glass,” Duncan says. “I’ll fight him, but I’ll fight him clean.”
I can hear Dad’s teeth grinding against each other. “Good,” he says through a strained voice. “Well, this wasn’t a very pleasant dinner, was it?”
He gets up, tosses his napkin into his bowl of soup, extends a finger at Duncan. “I want you to win that fight, boy. Do whatever it takes. We’re going to rinse these fucking fools who are going to bet against you, we’re going to take everything they’ve got. For this fight, I’m bumping your share to ten percent. Don’t say I never fucking took care of you.”
Dad stomps out of the room, and we hear a series of doors slamming in the house.
“That was quick,” Duncan murmurs, leaning on the table. He’s taken an extra pleasure in getting a rise out of Dad recently. I know he thinks he’s turning Dad on him, and away from me, but really all he’s doing is putting us both in Dad’s sights.
“You shouldn’t have said he fought with loaded gloves.”
Duncan shrugs, and so I get serious.
“You just make it worse for me when you do that.”
He just looks at me for a moment, and there is no contrition in his features, but I know that he’s measuring what I’ve said in his mind. After a moment, he agrees with me.
“You’re right. I’ll stop.”
“Now, this fight.”
“It’ll be fine, Dee. I can beat Butler.”
“Are you sure?”
He nods. “I’m sure, Dee.”
“I want to study the film with you. I might see things you don’t.”
“Good, I was going to ask you.”
“Is he dumb? Manic, I mean.”
“He’s no idiot, but he’s not good at adapting from what I saw.”
“So you’ll have to surprise him, catch him off-guard.”
“I was thinking about trying southpaw.”
I push my lips together. Fighting left-handed? That’s not a bad idea, would throw off the timing, make Duncan hard to predict, difficult to counter.
“Think you’re good enough with your left?” I ask. I know I don’t need to ask it – he is almost completely ambidextrous – but I want to know what his mindset is.
After all this time being with him, I know that leading with your strong arm – and while he can use both effectively, his right is stronger – is very risky.
“Yeah, I am, but I need to watch him fight a bit more first. He’s a grappler, he’ll want to take me to the mat. Do I try and grapple with him, use my angles, my agility, hope I don’t get pinned? Or do I play defensive striker, turtle up and trade blows, try to wear him out?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him truthfully. “But if he has trouble adapting, then you need to be changing your style constantly. Don’t let him get comfortable.”
“Yeah,” he says. “You’re right.”
I nod, and then lean forward over the table, and sigh.
“What is it?” he asks, his eyes darting toward the dining room door for a moment before he reaches across the table and takes my hand.
“I don’t want you fighting anymore. I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to hear that, but these last few fights…”
I trail off, thinking about all the people he’s gone up against in the last month, since that night at the pool in the hotel. They’ve been tough opponents, and even though he’s won all those fights, he’s taking more hits. He’s coming back home bruised, bleeding, and in pain.
I find nothing good in the idea of my man getting beaten up, even if he dishes out a worse beating up in the process. You should see the other guy is something that doesn’t work when both men get fucked up, no matter how much he says it in jest.
And I don’t want my man fucked up.
“I won’t fight forever,” he tells me. There’s a soft certainty in his voice, and yet the pronouncement is vague.
“When?”
“Soon. Just a little more.”
“But why?”
“I’m planning something, Dee. Don’t push me on this one. I know when to stop.”
“Are you sure you do? What if you leave this fight with a broken jaw? A torn ligament? Brain damage!”
“Then Manic will be in much worse condition.”