Caging Grace by Carsen Lane

Author:Carsen Lane [Lane, Carsen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mma, action, NA
Publisher: Wheel House Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I throw up for the second time. Since when do I let myself get so rattled? Since my whole life depends on this single fight. It’s like déjà vu all over again. I’m that waif of a kid, fighting for her life back in that underground ring all over again. There’s a knock at the door and I pause brushing my teeth to check the clock.

“You realize it’s after ten, right?” There’s no heat in my voice, in fact, I hate the tremor that is there instead. Johnny doesn’t acknowledge either, he just walks right past me and lays on my bed.

“Oh, please come in,” I say with an eye roll.

“Have you thrown up yet?” I laugh and just raise two fingers. Johnny rewards me with a smirk and claps his hands.

“Sounds about right. No matter how many times I would fight, I threw up the night before every match.”

“Oh yay, what a fun ritual to look forward to.”

“Hey, it’s better than doing it in the ring.”

I give him a forced smile, but I don’t say anything. I just look down at my hands.

“Talk to me, Grace. What’s going on in that complicated head of yours? This is the most rattled I’ve ever seen you. Nerves are expected, but is it more than that?”

“The stakes are high, Johnny. They are higher than they’ve ever been in my life and that scares me. Before when I fought it was out of survival. There was no losing, because if I lost and came back empty-handed, then we were dead. But now…fighting for a dream, for a better future, well, that terrifies me. I’ve never dreamt about what could be. Before all of this, fighting just gave us a half full belly and we were all happy. But now? Plenty of food, all the bills paid, a nurse for god’s sakes, Johnny! What happens if I fail? What happens to them if it all gets taken away?”

Johnny slides off the bed and kneels down in front of me. He lifts my chin so that we are eye level.

“You’ve already won, Grace. You’ve come face to face with your own demons and you’ve come out on top. You’ve given yourself the right to hope, the chance to dream. Don’t allow fear to steal your dream from you. You’ve never let fear win before, so don’t start now.”

“And if I don’t win?”

“Not going to happen.”

“It could.”

“No, Grace, it can’t. You were made for this, I’m not even a little nervous for you. The idea of you not winning isn’t even in the realm of possibilities. You said so yourself, you’ve trained your whole life for this. You’ve been taught by the very best and you have the ability to go all the way.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

Just the fact that he has that much faith in me gives me some of my confidence back.

“I know you have a lot riding on this, but I need you to put it all aside.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.