This gym was one that Josh Kaine had been frequenting since he’d made the move back to the east coast with his younger half-sister Jesse. His life had been less than certain lately, what with the veteran he’d been standing beside for months just…throwing her convictions to the wind and joining up with Breedlove. Josh wasn’t one to give in like that—not again. He’d done the whole joining the strong team to make himself stronger gig; only he’d ended up alienating his lovers and his friends in the process. The amount of work it had taken to get his own head back on straight and make up with his former fiancee was mind-boggling at times. Grit City Gym was a good place to keep himself in shape.
"You can’t really blame her, you know.” Came a voice from the bench next to him.
He looked over at his birth mother, one eyebrow up in confusion. “You talkin’ ‘bout Miss Laura?”
Jada Kaine nodded.
“Sure I can blame her, but won’t do me no good to get all up in arms about it. She wants to go and make some kinda last glory run with Breedlove, she fuckin’ can. Don’t care no more. Ain’t bendin’ over backwards for her ever again neither.” Sure, he and Jesse were going to miss seeing the twins and Charlie for pizza night sleepovers but that was a natural consequence of Laura Seton’s choice to throw her lot in with the Empire. Personally, Josh was done with her. He could just focus on himself now, building up his own career. “I can understand why she did it, but I do blame her, Jada.”
The eldest of the Kaines shrugged, pushing a long lock of sable hair behind her ear.
“I did worse.”
“Yeah you did, still ain’t never gonna forget what you did to Barbie Kellers tryin’ make an impact in this company a bazillion years ago.” Josh snarked back at her. “Big difference between you and Miss Laura though, Ma.”
“Yeah, I sold you on down the river to HATE in EWA to get you to let go of my goddamn apron strings.” The retired veteran spoke up. “She just jumped into the deep end and said fuck the consequences. Laura’s nearing the end of her career, that’s usually the best time to benefit from saying ‘fuck it’ and throwing in with your worst enemy. Speaking of old fucks near the end of their career, who are you working with today?”
“Aaron Dearinger, got his ass whooped by Johnny Napalm—“
“Ooof.”
“Yeah that’s what I said to him. Napalm’s a beast in the ring, not just size wise, fucker’s like takin’ on a wooly mammoth.” Josh snorted with laughter, reaching for his water bottle to take a swig before continuing. “He’s from Texas too, yanno.”
“So’s a whole bunch of people. Bein’ from Texas doesn’t automatically make you awesome. Sure, it’s awesome you can carry a gun wherever and there’s Buc-ee’s and the Alamo. Everything’s bigger in Texas—including electrical grid issues, a senator that flees during natural disasters, the blatant racism and hypocrisy of the state government, restricting women’s reproductive health…” She glanced at her son pointedly. “There’s a reason why Li and I keep our main residence in Boston now.”
The younger of the Kaines shook his head. “I know, Ma. I know. Just…tryin’ to give y’all somethin’ to bond over. Miss Lilah doin’ okay overseas though?”
“Yeah, she’s got Mick with her to keep her safe during this circuit tour.”
“There a reason why you didn’t go with her?”
“Doctors don’t want me flying right now.” She pulled her own bottle of water from the duffel bag beside her. It would be a lonely couple of months without her wife, but she could at least spend more time with Josh and Jesse. It was still mind-boggling to Jada, even a year later, that her first husband had just gone around the country spawning so many kids right up until his death in 2010. “She didn’t wanna go without me, but just told her to go and get it overwith. We’re married, I’m not going anywhere, and—speak of the devil!”
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and Jada pulled it out, smiling at the text message from her wife, Lilah. “She’s doin’ the act with the big fans tonight in London.” She showed Josh the picture her wife had sent. A silly, yet flirty picture of Lilah’s mostly nude form hiding behind those big black ostrich-feather fans. Jada quickly typed out a response before returning the phone to her pocket. “I won the wife lottery with that woman.”
“Yeah, you did.” Josh laughed, shaking his head. “Man, thank fuck you didn’t raise me because you just showin’ off your wife to me would be real weird. She does look real pretty though—oh hey!” He pushed himself up from the bench as a familiar face walked through the door. It was the older competitor he’d met at Zenith, Aaron Dearinger. “Hey! Glad you could make it, man.”
The older Kaine looked up, pleased to see the man from Texas was on time. This would be an interesting thing to watch, her son trying to branch out on his own and still chasing the aging veterans.
~~~~~~
“Hey Josh?” Jesse called from the kitchen of the house they’d settled in just outside the city. New York was indeed the city that never slept, and none of the Kaine family wanted to deal with that kind of chaos outside of a show night. “You got a sec?”
“Yeah, hold up—“ Josh Kaine pushed himself up from the large sectional in the living room before heading over to the kitchen. His younger half-sister had done much in the last year or so to catch up on normal milestones, she’d gotten her GED, her driver’s license…and now she was working on—well, Josh didn’t really remember. “Sup, Jess?”
“Taste this for me?” The youngest of the Kaines handed off a serving spoon, to which her brother took it carefully. Her matching blue eyes on his face to gauge an honest reaction.
He took a bite, letting the flavor settle over his tongue before nodding. “Pretty good, Jess. Whatcha makin’?”
“It’s a vegetable curry, our neighbor gave me the recipe.”
“Mrs. Gupta?” He asked in confirmation, only to see his sister nod in response. The Guptas were their only close neighbors at this end of the development. “You’re gettin’ pretty good at cookin’, Jess. That for dinner tonight?”
“Yeah, I wanted to make something nice for Jada to say thank you for taking me shopping over the weekend.” She was still getting used to Josh’s birth mother being around, and adjusting to Jada’s proclivity to turn into a raging mother bear whenever Jesse needed anything. “She got tired fast and—“
“She tell you what the hell’s wrong with her that the docs don’t want her flyin’ with Miss Lilah?” Josh interjected. It was odd that Jada hadn’t traveled overseas with her wife, even if she was grounded from air travel—it normally wouldn’t stop her from booking a damn boat ride or something.
Jesse shook her head. “She doesn’t tell me anything like that.”
“Don’t ask her about it neither, she’ll rip my head off for puttin’ the thought in your head. Been chewed out enough by her for askin’ ‘bout private stuff like her fuckin’ health. Ain’t like either of us are gonna run to the tabloids or twitter or somethin’ to shout it from the rooftops.” Josh leaned back against the counter, scrubbing his hands over his face. He was either going to have to call his mother’s wife to find out (which would still get him chewed out) or just wait for the cold day in hell when Jada felt like she could be open with her health issues around her only kid. “It’s nice of ya to do that for her though.”
Jesse shrugged as she took the spoon back, throwing it in the sink and reaching to turn down the heat on the burner. Dinner would be ready in a few more minutes.
“How did the gym thing go with that old guy?”
“Dearinger?” She nodded before he continued. “Not too bad, I think. Jada had a lot more to say ‘bout him than I do. Just tryin’ to help some folks where I can and you know I don’t like fuckin’ bullies. That Homewrecker guy is a major dick.”
“Well, I mean…his name shoulda been your first clue. You gonna see that Ricky guy again soon too?”
That had both of them snorting with laughter before Josh shook his head, smiling. “More’n likely. He’s been neckdeep in his own shit and so’s his dad lately. Got a title shot comin’ up though. Lookin’ forward to that.”
“Against who?”
“Premier Champ—Izzy Sia. She’s defendin’ both her belts.”
“She’s got two belts?”
Josh nodded, his stomach beginning to growl. “Yep, Premier Championship and the Empire State Championship. Anyone that can hold two belts at once in a company like this is a hellaciously accomplished competitor. Gonna take everything I got to try and beat ‘er. Gonna need fuel in the tank first though—that curry stuff almost ready?”
Jesse laughed and nodded. “Yeah, but you might wanna go wake Jada up. I made this for her so she gets first dibs.”
”How do you know she even likes Indian food?”
“Because I asked her, you dumbass.” Jesse laughed again, glancing over at her brother. “She doesn’t get snippy with being asked personal questions about what kind of food she likes. Now go wake her up!”
“Fine, fine—I’ll go get yelled at for wakin’ her up.” Josh shook his head, chuckling to himself as he left the kitchen and went for the bedroom at the back of the house. It was the master bedroom, the only one on the ground floor and that was why he’d happily handed it over to Jada for the couple of months she’d be staying with them. The retired champion’s physical limitations were still pronounced and Josh wouldn’t do anything to purposefully put her health at risk. If flying was a risk, so were stairs; and he’d do much to avoid being yelled at by Jada or scolded by her wife.
He knocked on the bedroom door, it was slightly ajar as she didn’t like sleeping alone but it was easier to deal with if the door was open to let her know there were other people in the house. “Jada? You up?”
There was a remarkably unhappy groan that soon followed by actual words from the occupant of the darkened room.
“I am now.”
“Well, c’mon out to the dinin’ room. Jess made some vegetable curry for dinner for ya.”
Jada soon appeared at the bedroom door, wrapped up in a fluffy robe with her hair pulled back into a claw clip. She looked exhausted, but not like she’d been sick.
“You ain’t been sleepin’ great, have ya?”
“My wife is overseas for two months, what the fuck do you think?”
The son of Sinn shook his head, grinning wryly. “I think we gotta find you someone or somethin’ to snuggle with so you’ll be less of a bitch when you wake up.”
“Call me a bitch again and you won’t be in any shape to take that belt from Sia.”
“How’d you know—“
“Because I pay attention to the bookings, you dumbass. Jesusfuck you really did get your lack-of-brains from your biological father.” Jada moved past him and headed for the dining space of the house. “You really should too. You aren’t gonna get anywhere if you don’t.”
“And here I thought you was done givin’ me career advice.”
“It’s hardly career advice, just common sense…another thing you really lack.”
“Least I don’t lack the courage of my convictions and I don’t turn my back on folks who matter to me.” He shot right back at her, though whether it was aimed at her…or her best friend Laura Seton was another matter.
~~~~~~
I know it’s been a while since y’all heard from me like this. Life’s kinda been nuts between the whole damn company movin’ coasts and the former World Champ just throwin’ in the towel to join up with the company’s biggest asshole. Been nuts for everyone, really and I ain’t makin’ excuses. I ain’t been at my best, but I’m lookin’ to change that now that I got some steady ground under my feet again.
Y’all know I don’t put up with bullies. Been sayin’ that from my first day as a SHOOT Project competitor and I’ve put up with my fair share of bullies since joinin’. Only a few times it’s been aimed at me, but still tryin’ to do my best and get back up each time I get knocked down.
Shit, now I got that Tubthumpin’ song stuck in my head.
Ah well, back on track, yeah?
My Ma spent a long damn time showin’ folks in this company that Kaines don’t quit and we don’t stay down neither. We find somethin’ worth fightin’ for, we’re gonna go down fightin’. It’s my time to show y’all now. Keep up the grand tradition of gettin’ back up to fight, but this time…I’m fightin’ for me. For what I believe in.
Don’t mean I’m gonna stop standin’ up for folks who need some help, but I’m done fightin’ for folks who won’t fight for me.
Just gotta say some stuff to a few individuals out there first before I get to the real point of this.
Ricky Tenet, ain’t forgotten ‘bout ya…been watchin’ close and I’ll be seein’ ya soon.
Laz, you got my respect—even if you was mighty sore I managed to make you submit during our last match.
Aaron Dearinger, it’s been great workin’ with ya so far, man. Just gotta say, don’t take nothin’ my Ma says personally. Jada’s a real bitch when she wants to be, but she’s still my Ma.
And finally, Miss Laura.
I know you’re my Ma’s best friend and I’m gonna miss spendin’ time with the twins and Charlie, but fuck you. When folks show me who they are, I believe ‘em and you just showed me that you’re willin’ to throw away not just a whole damn fine career to a man who might give you a shot at reclaimin’ the title for some last blaze of glory, but the folks who stood by you to help you keep it the first time.
You made your choice, and I’m makin’ mine.
Now onto what really matters…
My opponent for this week, Izzy Sia.
You’re holdin’ two belts and that alone tells me you’re gonna be one of my toughest challenges to date. No doubt you’re probably lookin’ at the giant Johnny-fuckin’-Napalm as the real threat…or maybe you’re lookin’ at both me and him like that. You’re holdin’ two belts, you gotta have brains to hold two damn belts for any length of time.
Then again, you might be lookin’ at me and my less than stellar track record with title shots. Or you might be talkin' with your stablemates on how best to take me down quick.
I’ll be the first to admit, sometimes my all ain’t good enough. There’s always gonna be folks out there who’re better than me in the ring and I don’t hold no grudges ‘bout that kinda shit. It’s the best kind of motivation to stay focused and work my damn ass off to improve. There’s always something to be done to get better in the ring.
Really lookin’ forward to facin’ you. My life mighta been nuts lately but for the first time in a long time, I got some sense of hope about the future. Because it’s my future and I get to decide what I’m doin’ with it.
And I’ve decided to win the Premier Championship off you come hell or high water.
Lookin’ forward to this bout, Champ. Make sure you bring your all and I’ll do the same.