Worth the Chance

Chapter 51

Liv

The plane circles in the air for what seems like the hundredth time and I sit fidgeting in my seat. I’m not going to make it. They need to land this damn plane. A voice breaks into my thoughts, coming from a speaker above me. “Ladies and gentlemen we’re just going to be a little while longer here. We’re backed up and they’ve got us in a holding pattern. It seems our delay out of D.C. has made us miss our ground time here in Chicago and now we need to wait our turn in line.”

A hand covers mine, stilling it, ending my mindless tapping with worry on the armrest. “Relax, we have time. We’ll make it.” Elle’s smile comforts me. A little anyway. There are no words to describe how much Elle making the trip means to me. She did so much more than prepare the legal documents, I’m not sure I could’ve gone through with it without her. Standing by my side the whole time gave me the confidence I needed to know I was doing the right thing. Well, technically, what we were doing wasn’t the right thing, I’m not even sure it was really legal, but sometimes it takes a series of wrongs to come out in the right place in the end.

“Thank you so much for doing this with me,” I say, turning to the beautiful woman sitting beside me. “I know how hard it must have been for you to leave the baby all day. And I’m sure Nico is going to have a whole lot to say when he finds out the real reason you went out of town.” Half teasing with my last comment, I attempt a playful smile, although it comes out what it really is…a sorry excuse at covering my frayed nerves.

“You’ve thanked me a hundred times, Liv.” She smiles. “I’m glad I could help, but really, Vinny’s family. I’d do anything for that boy.” Turning in her chair to face me more directly, her eyes filled with sincerity, she says, “I know you don’t think so now, but everything is going to work itself out. I just feel it. He loves you, Liv. He wouldn’t be so angry and miserable if he didn’t.”

I know she’s trying to help, yet hearing that I’ve made Vinny angry and miserable just tugs at my heart. Seeing my face falter, she continues, “It hurts. I know. But you’re sacrificing a lot to make it right for him and someday, when his hot temper cools down, he’ll see it.”

Finally we pull up to the front of the arena. The cab barely stopped, I throw money in the front seat and rip open the car door. It’s quiet outside as we make our way to the entrance. Everyone is already inside. Not a good sign. Elle needs to get to him before it’s too late.

We pass through security quickly and shove our tickets in the hands of the man collecting them and take off running down the hall before he even has a chance to rip them in half and give us our stubs.

“This way.” Elle yells over the sound of cheers coming from the inside of the arena. Grabbing the door to the first entrance we find, the announcer’s voice comes over the loud speaker, filling the air over the sound of the cheering from the crowd.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, in the red corner, standing six-feet tall, weighing in at one hundred eighty-three pounds, the contender for the middleweight champion of the world, with a record of 12-0, looking to make it lucky number thirteen tonight, the ladies love him, the men fear him…I give you Vince ‘The Invinnnnnnciiiiible’ Stone!”

My heart thuds in my chest, beating rapidly in sync with the sound of the crowd cheering wildly and I watch frozen in place as he steps into the center of the ring. As my foot passes over the doorway threshold, barely on the carpet that covers the inner venue, I see Vinny turn, his eyes scanning the crowd, almost looking for someone. Snapping me out of my stupor, Elle grabs my arm and the security guard points us in the direction of our assigned seats. We make it to the front, finding our two empty seats, just three rows back from the cage.

“Sit, let me try to get to him.” Elle yells over the crowd and I do as instructed, my eyes still fixated on the back of the man now standing in his corner. Horrified, I sit frozen in my seat as I catch Elle arguing with yet another oversized security guard. He repeatedly shakes his head no, denying Elle passage as the two men meet in the middle of the ring and bump fists while the referee goes through the rules.

We’re running out of time. Running out of time. I silently plead with God, trying to make a deal to get him to help me. Please, please, just let her through. Let her get to him in time and I’ll do anything. Anything. And then the bell dings…

Eyes glued to the cage, I watch in horror as the two men begin to jump around. Vinny’s opponent striking first, he lands an early shot to Vinny’s right shoulder, but Vinny keeps moving right through it. Landing a few quick snap jabs to the face, Vinny turns slightly to the left, following up with an elbow that crashes into his opponent’s cheekbone, his skin tears at the point of impact.

The two back off a few seconds, both jumping around, looking for an opening of some kind. Finding one, Lamaro lowers his shoulder and charges, plowing Vinny into the cage, in what looks like a failed attempt to bring him down to the ground. But now Vinny’s backed into the corner, and his opponent throws punches at him at a feverish pace. Somehow he’s able to avoid many of them, although not all, as some connect while he tries to break free.

Vinny finally manages to push his opponent back and regroup. But before he can get his left arm back up, Lamaro lands a powerful roundhouse kick that connects directly with Vinny’s face and I watch in horror as his head sails to the side from the sheer momentum of the strike. He’s still standing, but the hit leaves Vinny wobbly on his feet, and his opponent sees an opportunity and lunges in, taking Vinny to the ground, his back connecting with the mat in a loud thud that makes me cringe. It takes my breath away from the impact of the fall and I’m not even the one in the cage.

The two men go at it on the ground, rolling and alternating powerful knees crashing on each other’s torso for what seems like forever, yet in reality is probably less than a minute. And then Lamaro maneuvers swiftly and winds up on top, Vinny’s face to the mat, arm stretched in what looks like a painstaking hold behind him. And I think it’s all about to end, my prayer’s unanswered, Vinny’s going to lose…when the bell dings ending the round.

The crowd goes crazy and two young fans run toward the cage, momentarily distracting the monster sized security guard from Elle’s never-ending pleading. She ducks under his left arm at the moment he tries to catch the two charging fans with his right, and darts to the cage. Nico enters the cage and meets Vinny in the corner, just as Elle reaches them, yelling frantically from the other side of the metal patchwork cage.

The security guard grabs Elle’s arm from behind, just as Nico looks up, catching sight of the grip the hulking guard has on his wife. Looking at Nico’s face, for a second I think there might be an even more brutal fight about to occur as he barks something at the guard who quickly complies, throwing his hands up in surrender.

Anger still rooted in his face, Nico listens as his wife unloads the information she needs him to pass on to Vinny. Shaking his head, I can almost see the steam coming from Nico’s ears. He looks between Elle and Vinny and quickly turns his attention to Vinny, an angry tirade unloading all over his prized fighter.

Seconds tick by and I watch on the edge of my seat, unsure what I’m waiting for to happen. Vinny’s jaw clenches as he listens, then he lifts his gaze and catches sight of me. Neither of us moves, not a blink, not a swallow, not a flinch…and I try to tell him everything without words, will him to trust me, know it’s okay to listen to what he’s hearing. But why should he? He trusted me once, and look what I did when he gave me the gift he offers so few.

The bell dings, forcing us to disconnect. Eyes and body refocused on the task at hand, I watch as the two men quickly go at it again.

“Alright, well he knows now. All we can do is hope he believes us.” Elle collapses into her seat next to me.

“Oh my god, Elle. Nico looks so pissed.”

“Yeah, me and Vinny are going to have to go into hiding somewhere for at least three or four decades to give him time to cool down over this one.” She grins, trying her best to make light of the situation. But seriously, she’s going home to one angry man, regardless of how the fight ends.

The first kick catches both of our attention, our focus back inside the cage. We can worry about the fallout later. Vinny pursues his opponent, throwing a rapid series of punches, closing the distance between them as he backs Lamaro into the corner of the cage. Not about to back down, Lamaro lifts his leg, using the cage behind him as leverage and slams his foot into Vinny’s ribs, sending him backward three steps, hindering his approach.

Vinny recovers fast, stepping in with one foot as his opponent comes at him and landing a powerful round house kick to the side of Lamaro’s chest. Recovering swiftly, the two men spend the next minute going blow for blow, literally beating each other to a pulp. Each successive strike coming faster and harder than the last, it’s amazing that either of them is even still standing.

Finally, both unable to keep up the pace of the excruciating battle in the center of the ring, they both appear to back off, putting distance between them. Catching sight of the time clock at the corner of my eye, I watch the seconds tick down, twenty, nineteen, eighteen…

The two men circle slowly, their chests heaving wildly up and down, both struggling to catch their breath before the other. Fourteen, thirteen…

Unable to sit anymore, I jump from my seat, anxiety getting the best of me. “Come on Vinny…you can do it!” I hear myself scream, but it’s like an outer body experience. Everything is in slow motion as I watch it all play out in front of me. Ten, nine…

Hearing anyone over the roaring crowd would be impossible, but yet, as I jump at my seat, one hand on each side of my mouth to direct the sound coming from within me, I could swear I catch Vinny’s eye…just for a split second.

Eight, seven…

Vinny fakes to the right, Lamaro falls for it, dropping his hands just slightly on the left and then Vinny goes for it, hitting him with a powerful right that’s too much for his opponent’s battered body to absorb.

Five, four…

His opponent staggers, a last ditch effort to remain on his feet, but his body can take no more. Collapsing to the mat in slow motion that ends with a thud as the arena goes quiet, Lamaro’s body sprawls across the mat on his back.

The crowd cheers as medical personnel rush into the cage. They run something under Lamaro’s nose and he comes through, his eyes darting open. For a second, it looks like he might attempt to get up, but then his head falls back and he realizes he can’t continue. It’s over.

Two, one…

The referee raises Vinny’s arm in the air and the crowd goes crazy. The decibel’s rising to painful levels, people jump out of their seats, screaming and shouting. Everyone loves to see the underdog win, especially one from their home town.

The cage starts to fill, and I watch with tears of joy in my eyes as Nico rushes to Vinny, lifting him in the air in celebration. Elle nudges me, “Come on.” She wants me to go with her to the cage to see them, help them celebrate the win. More than anything, I wish I could. Wish I could rewrite the story of my life to bring us both a happy ending. But I can’t and I want more than anything for Vinny to have his moment. “You go. Help them celebrate. I want him to be happy.”

Sadness in her eyes, she smiles at me, pulling me close for a hug. I watch as she tries to make her way to the ever filling, chaotic cage, but I can’t bear to let him pass me when he exits. So I leave, never turning back as I make my way out of the arena.