Kele Moon - Crossing the line

The referee had to pull Wyatt back.

The other fighter was unconscious when they did.

Tabitha knew enough about this sort of fighting to understand the significance of a real knockout rather than a technical one. Wyatt would surely be admiring his stats for the next two weeks. The noise level was ridiculous. She had never heard a crowd go so crazy over a fight.

“He used the cage for a roundhouse!” The guy behind her was screaming. “That was un-fucking-believable!”

The hollering in that arena really was earsplitting.

“That was amazing!” The man next to her got in Tabitha’s face, having obviously forgotten Wyatt’s threat. “I’ve never seen anything like that before! Did you see that shit?”

“I did.” Tabitha nodded, unable to help mirroring their enthusiasm. It had been an astounding feat of athleticism. “It really was amazing. It was like he walked sideways on the cage! Like magic!”

Now she was sad his sister hadn’t been there to see it. She hoped one of his coaches had someone taping it. They’d taken to recording Wyatt and Clay’s fights to analyze later. It was a wonderful moment in their history and made all the more exciting when Clay ended the last fight of the night in less than four minutes with another knockout.

Both men were still pumped when Tabitha met them after the fight, surrounded by the promoters and fans.

“I ended my fight a full minute faster than you, motherfucker,” Wyatt was shouting over the heads of the people surrounding him and Clay. “You owe me a hundred bucks.”

“Shut up, asshole!” Clay shouted back and then flipped him off for good measure. “I’m fighting guys thirty pounds heavier!”

“That ain’t a lie!” Wyatt threw up his hands and then shouted, “It was an incredible knockout, man. I’m so fucking proud of you! Tab!”

Tabitha stumbled back when Wyatt broke out of the crowd and came at her, still fueled on the adrenaline of not just his fight, but obviously rooting for Clay’s as well. He swept her off her feet and kissed her.

“Did you see Clay nail Jayston?” Wyatt’s voice was unnaturally loud, as if all the screaming had made him temporarily deaf. “Man, the second he got him to the mat he had no fucking chance! He’s got a concussion for sure. I’ve felt Clay’s right hook when he’s angry. I know that poor bastard is hurting.”

“It was a great fight.” Tabitha wrapped her arms around him and kissed him again. “Yours wasn’t half-bad either. That roundhouse—wow!”

Wyatt’s smile was wide and pleased. “Pretty badass.”

“Very badass,” Tabitha assured him. “Like a man with a vendetta.”

“Oh, hush.” Wyatt laughed. “You know you ain’t supposed to be talking about my vendettas. Kiss the hero of the hour. Once more.”

“Okay.” Tabitha lifted her arm while hanging on Wyatt, who was still holding her off her feet. “Clay, come on over here!”

Wyatt laughed. “You better not!”

“I did take him to the prom,” Tabitha teased.

“Wyatt,” coach Jasper interrupted them. “The promoters want you and Clay to go out and sign some autographs. You can bring Tabitha.”

“Oh God, that’s not good for your ego,” Tabitha said with a laugh. “It’s already too big to be tolerable.”

Wyatt kissed her again rather than argue and then put an arm around her shoulders. He was still sweaty, but Tabitha didn’t care. She curled into him when he placed a kiss against the top of her head and said, “Let’s get this publicity shit done. Then I need a steak and my girl alone in our hotel room—in that order.”

Tabitha snorted. “Glad to know the steak takes precedence.”

“I haven’t had a decent meal in a week,” Wyatt retorted indignantly and then pulled up short so fast Tabitha would have fallen if he wasn’t holding on to her. “Dad!”

Tabitha stiffened next to him when she found herself tilting her head back to look at Sheriff Conner dressed casually in jeans and a blue T-shirt. The white-hot surge of fear was all-encompassing, and she instinctively pulled away from Wyatt only to be held in place when Wyatt’s arm tightened around her.

“What the heck are you doing here?” Wyatt sounded as shocked as Tabitha felt.

“I thought I’d surprise you. I never get to see yours or Clay’s fights and—” Sheriff Conner’s gaze darted to Tabitha, but he didn’t look that shocked, which meant he probably saw Wyatt kiss her before his fight and had an hour to get over his surprise. “Tabitha, right?”

Tabitha looked to Wyatt uncertainly but then mumbled, “Yes, sir.”

His father looked away for a moment before he turned back to them and shook his head as if still battling with it. “The fights were great. Unbelievable. That roundhouse—”

“Thanks, Dad.” Wyatt sighed and looked behind him, as if searching for Clay, and then huffed in defeat. “Listen, I probably should’ve told you before now that Tabitha and I have been seeing each other. It’s just been a bad habit—keeping it secret, but that don’t mean—”

“How long?” the sheriff interrupted him.

“Huh?” Wyatt frowned.

“Seeing each other. How long’s it been going on?”

“Oh, um—” Wyatt’s eyebrows scrunched as if he was trying to remember. “Like, ninth grade.”

“What?” The sheriff looked genuinely shocked now. His dark eyes grew wide in horror. “You’ve been dating this girl all that time and didn’t think to mention it to me? What the hell, Wyatt?”

“We really do need you out there,” coach Jasper interrupted them and then pulled back with a gasp. “Well, howdy, Sheriff. Didn’t know you were coming.” Then he turned back to Wyatt and Tabitha. “When did y’all tell him ’bout you two?”

“Just now,” the sheriff mumbled. “Ninth grade. Really?”

“Oh,” Jasper said slowly and then winced at Wyatt. “Sorry, but we do need them out there.”

“Go.” The sheriff waved them off. “We’ll talk later. It was a great fight, Wy.”

“Thanks,” Wyatt said uncertainly as he pulled Tabitha with him. “See you in a little bit. We’ll have a late dinner.”

Dinner wasn’t that much fun.

Nothing had been said about Tabitha and Wyatt’s lying. His father made a genuine effort to be polite to Tabitha, but Wyatt noticed he asked her a lot of probing questions that were disguised as dinner chatter. Wyatt could hear the suspicion in all of them, but he didn’t stop them in fear of Tabitha catching on to his father’s cop-like tendency to be on the lookout for something wrong.

The line of questioning went something along the lines of:

“How’s your family?”

“Your mama still out of work?”

Tabitha answered most questions with simple two-word responses. Then fell silent besides Wyatt until his father started in again.

“Do you ever see your brother? Or did you have a falling out with him after that nasty fight he got in back when y’all were still in high school? No? Good, I hate to see things like that come between family.”

That last bit of questioning was what tipped Wyatt off that he was in a whole world of shit where his father was concerned. They were a fairly modern family, and Wyatt was twenty-one, not like his father could bitch about him sneaking off to do it with his girl in Chicago.

The rest, however, was a huge issue.

“You staying the night, Dad?” Wyatt asked uncertainly once dinner was over, and they walked out of the hotel steakhouse.

His father shook his head. “Uh, no, I wish I could. Got to get back to work. Just came in to watch the fights. Yours was amazing too, Clay. I can see why your coaches were excited. You’re looking at a big UFC contract for sure. You both are.”

“Thanks.” Clay looked over to Wyatt. His eyes were wide, and there was an obvious communication that said he had gotten the same vibes Wyatt had off his father. When he spoke again, his voice was distant. “Too bad you can’t stay.”

“Yeah, too bad.” His father stepped forward and shook Tabitha’s hand. “It was nice getting to know ya, darlin’. Maybe you can come over for dinner sometime soon.”

“Yes, that sounds nice,” Tabitha agreed softly. “Soon.”

“Wyatt, can I borrow you for a minute before I catch my cab to the airport?”

“Sure.” Wyatt lifted his arm off Tabitha’s shoulders, because he had felt the need to hold her through something he knew was making her nervous as hell. “Clay, you’ll walk Tab up to our room, won’t ya?”

“Yeah, no problem.” Clay gave Wyatt another wide-eyed look that said very clearly, open your dang mouth and I will beat you until you pop. “Call me later.”

Wyatt nodded. “Got it.”

Wyatt stood next to his father as they watched Tabitha and Clay walk up to the elevators. Clay pushed the button, and it opened automatically. Once they stepped in and the doors closed, his father said, “You did it, didn’t ya?”

“Did what?” Wyatt decided playing stupid would hold off the evitable for about two seconds.

“I had this moment while I was investigating it where I considered Clay. I remember Tabitha had this cut on her head, and I thought, now there’s a real sweet-tempered, very pretty young lady, and someone could lose their mind if her brother had done something to her. I knew she and Clay were close, but then I thought, nah, Clay ain’t a hothead. It just wasn’t his personality.” His father turned around and arched an eyebrow at Wyatt. “You, on the other hand.”

“Do you want me to answer this line of questioning?” Wyatt was taller than his father now, and he made a point to stand to his full height. “Or maybe I need a lawyer first.”

“Jesus Christ, Wyatt!” his father shouted loud enough to make people walking by turn around and look at them. “What the hell were you thinking? You could’ve killed those boys!”