Inked in the Steel City Series Box Set #2 by Ranae Rose

Author:Ranae Rose [Rose, Ranae]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781483534169
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

“Injury.” Even now, it was still impossible to speak the word without feeling a hint of the old grudge – a grudge against circumstance, against his own body.

She looked up, gaze snapping to his, like a light bulb had gone off above her head. “Your shoulder?”

For a split second, he felt the bone-crunching impact of his body hitting the mat, a hundred and sixty-five pounds all concentrated on a few square inches of flesh and bone, a joint that had never been meant to absorb a blow like that. He recalled the snap of bone, the shock of breakage. But what had been worse had been the long weeks of persistent pain after the surgery, the seemingly endless frustration of physical therapy, slowly re-training everything only to fuck it all up again while simply sparring, ruining all the progress he’d made just when the pins had almost started to feel like part of his body.

“Yeah.”

She frowned. “That must’ve sucked.”

“It did. But I have Elite East now.” He loved the sport, even if he couldn’t be in the cage. Sitting on the sidelines or at home in front of a pay-per-view match wouldn’t have been enough, but working his ass off at Elite East was. It was his contribution to the sport – his corner of the MMA world. His passion, now that his gloves and hand wraps were packed away for good.

“I wondered what inspired you to get into MMA promotion. It makes sense that you’d have a background in the sport.”

He nodded. “Couldn’t stay away from it. Got the idea for Elite East a few years ago. Wanted to be involved with something better than the seedy matches I got my start with. Something legit, you know – real but sanctioned. The laws are different here in PA than they are in NY. The only stuff you can get away with legally there is amateur and unpaid. Get money involved, try to regulate things, and all of a sudden it’s a crime. That’s one of the reasons why we moved our business here – a tournament like Elite East’s would be illegal there.”

“I didn’t know that.”

Noah shrugged. “I’m not saying fights don’t happen there – they do. But the fact that the state won’t allow it on a professional level leaves a lot of room for people to do whatever the hell they want, if they’re determined to do it anyway. Obviously, it didn’t make sense for us to be headquartered there when we couldn’t even organize events in our own state. Everything Elite East is doing is on the up-and-up, just so you know.”

She smiled. “Well, it’s a relief to know I’m not employed by an underground fighting ring. I’m not sure how I’d go about filing my taxes if I was.”

He smiled back. “So what are you doing for dinner?”

She shrugged. “Figured I’d cook something, since I’m not working tonight.”

“Well, neither am I. Want some help in the kitchen?”

“Sure. But first...”

“What?”

“Give me another minute to finish looking through these photos.

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