Y'all ready! You should be because it's Fight Night! I really am grateful to every single one of you who have read this and kept up with the story even though I am not the most consistent updater. I am really appreciative of every single one of you, so I hope you enjoy this chapter.
After this chapter, there will be one more chapter left.
Anyway, there will be a lot of exciting stuff to happen in this chapter so read on!
Lucas wakes up early, which isn't unusual for him. He always has trouble sleeping the night before a big match, and the stress of these last few months are really catching up to him. He feels the physical pain of the stress in his shoulders, back, feet, and head.
He walks quietly downstairs at three in the morning and makes his way to his living room. He leans his head on the arm of the couch and lays down, resting his body. The anxiety of the match tonight taking a toll on him. His stomach hurts' he feels like he needs to go to the bathroom. He twiddles his thumbs and can't keep still long enough for him to catch a little bit of sleep. It's hard for him to keep his thoughts in order.
And he knows that this feeling will get worse as the day goes on.
What he doesn't know, now, is who's footsteps are walking down the stairs as well. Because she has a habit of waking up early as well, Lucas automatically thinks that it's Maya. It surprises him, though, when he sees his little girl crawl onto the couch and lay down beside him. Lucas scoots closer to the back of the couch to allow some room for his daughter to get comfortable.
"What are you doing up? Are you okay?" Lucas asks.
Sadie sighs, "I am okay."
"You don't sound okay. Now tell me what's wrong, and remember, daddies always know when their children are lying," Lucas says.
"I'm scared that you're gonna get hurt in your match," Sadie responds. Lucas had a feeling that she was going to say that. He moves his arm up and wraps it around Sadie and pulls her close.
"It's okay to be scared," Lucas begins,"But I promise that I'm gonna be okay. No matter how many times I get hit. No matter how many times I get kicked. I'm gonna be okay, now do you wanna know why?"
Sadie nods as Lucas continues,"I am gonna be okay because I know that I have the best daughter in the world cheering me on, and I will be okay because of her," Lucas explains, tickling her side. She lets out a cute little giggle and wraps her tiny arm around Lucas.
"Promise?" Sadie asks, holding her pinky finger up.
Lucas sticks his pinky finger up as well and wraps it around hers, "Promise."
Lucas and Sadie stay on the couch and listen to the sound of the silence before the sound helps them fall asleep.
Maya wakes up in the guest room of Lucas's penthouse. She yawns and stretches before swinging her legs off the bed and setting them down on the ground. She groans in pain a little bit because the bruises on her legs haven't even begun to heal. She walks out of the room and goes to check on Lucas and Sadie. When she sees that neither of them are in their rooms she walks downstairs to grab a coat, thinking they were up on the roof, but she stops when she sees them asleep on the living room couch.
Maya's heart heats up at the adorable sight, and she can't help but turn into one of those girls who takes a picture of the moment. Unfortunately, she forgot that her phone makes a sound when she takes a picture, and the shutter sound wakes Lucas from his slumber.
He looks at her with confusion written all over his face.
Maya quickly holds both of her hands up, "I swear. I wasn't being creepy. I thought the two of you looked cute, and I wanted to capture it and show it to you later."
Lucas's face goes from confused to amused. He laughs and gently gets off the couch, careful to not wake Sadie up. He takes a look at the picture, and Maya's right. They did look cute.
"It's alright," Lucas says. He turns around and carefully picks Sadie off of the couch, "I'm gonna take her up to her room. I'll be right back."
Maya nods and waits for Lucas to come back downstairs. She thinks about how different things are now that she's basically living with Lucas and Sadie. She doesn't have to sit in her apartment anymore, scared that Tony could barge in at any time. She feels relieved here. She feels safe.
She sits down on the couch and looks at the picture of Lucas and Sadie, feeling the same emotion she felt when she actually notice them on the couch sleeping. And she smiles, holding the phone close to her chest. She feels like such a schoolgirl doing this, but she can't help it. It's all Lucas and Sadie's fault. They make her genuinely happy.
Lucas comes back downstairs and takes a seat beside Maya. He gets comfortable and lays his head in his hand that is rested upon the back of the couch.
"Penny for your thoughts, Ranger Rick?"
"I'm just thinking about the match, tonight. I'm thinking about Sadie. And I'm thinking about you," Lucas explains.
"You're nervous about the match. And you don't want Sadie and me to watch. I understand," Maya says.
"Well. Sadie really wants to come tonight. I tried to talk her out of it, but she says that she can handle it. She told me that she won't be able to focus on anything else if she can't go," Lucas says.
"What are you going to do?"
"I feel like I'm gonna regret this, but I think I'm gonna let her go. I know it'll be scary for her, but I promised her that I'd be okay. And I think I could probably do better knowing that I have y'all cheering me on," Lucas pauses, "Unless you decide not to go, which is okay, I can call and ask Zay to watch Sadie. It doesn't matter."
"It's fine Lucas. I was going to go anyway."
"Wait, really? Why?" Lucas asks.
"Because it's you, Lucas. You have supported me through so much these last few months. I want you to know that I support you too. No matter what the outcome is, I am proud of you," Maya responds.
"Thanks, Maya."
Lucas arrives at the arena with Maya, Sadie, Riley, Farkle, and Zay at six-thirty. The match doesn't start until nine, and to be honest, Lucas doesn't know why he has to arrive at the arena so early, but he's there. And so are a lot of reporters, paparazzi, and a few celebrities.
Lucas bends down to Sadie's face, "If you don't want to talk to any of the reporters, then you don't have to. Daddy has to talk to a few, but I would like it if you would walk with me."
"It's okay, daddy. I'll walk with you," Sadie responds. Lucas picks her up and walks down the carpet with her. The rest of the gang walk into the arena and find their seats in the front row. Lucas stops to do a few interviews with Sadie, and when he walks inside the building, he sees Maya waiting to take Sadie to their seats.
Lucas makes his way back to the locker room of the arena. Here, he takes a moment to take a seat and take a few deep breaths.
He gets changed. He takes his jeans off and puts his red boxing shorts on. He takes his blue button up shirt off and sets it in the cubby. He unlaces his shoes and puts them in the cubby as well. He puts his black boxing boots on and laces those up quickly. He grabs the roll of tape out of his bag and carefully but precisely tapes his hands up before he has to stick them into his boxing gloves.
Only an hour and a half left until the match begins.
He sits down in the chair in front of the cubby and puts some earbuds in his ears, turning his music up as loud as it will go. He closes his eyes and takes another deep breath.
He feels like he's been sitting there forever, and it's his agent, Nick, who brings him out of his daze. Lucas takes his music out and pulls out his red and blue robe.
"It's time. You ready?" Nick asks.
Lucas nods, and Nick says, "I saw your daughter with Maya a while ago. The celebrities really love Sadie."
This brings a smile on his face. Of course they would. Who doesn't love her?
"Lucas? I just want you to know that no matter what happens tonight, you're walking out of here a winner. And you're walking out of here a good guy. I'm really proud of you, and thank you for taking a chance on me," Nick says.
"Thanks for taking a chance on me," Lucas says.
The two men walk out of the locker room towards the main entrance. Lucas can here the announcer begin the scripted speech. The audience cheering and clapping along after every word he says.
"Who's ready for the match to begin!" The announcer yells, and the audience cheers loudly.
"Our first boxer is a rising star in the sport. He is undefeated with a record of 21-0. They call him 'El Diablo' for a reason. From El Paso, Texas, here he is, Tony Espinoza!" The announcer yells.
Lucas listens to the audience cheers over Tony's ring music. Nick helps him put his boxing gloves on. He pulls the hood of his robe over his head and walks over to the curtain with his ring team.
"Good luck, Lucas."
"Our next boxer is a fan favorite. He, too, is undefeated with a record of 40-0. Get ready! From Austin, Texas, here he is, the challenger, Lucas Friar!"
Lucas comes out from behind the curtain and makes his way to the ring. He drowns out the noise of the loud audience. He sees Sadie and Maya on his side of the ring, and he smiles and waves at them before climbing into the ring. He hypes the crowd a little bit more before his ring music stops playing.
Lucas walks over to his corner, and his team helps him. They take off his robe and put his mouth guard in his mouth. Before one of Lucas's ring team members puts the safety helmet on him, he stops it.
"I don't want it," Lucas says. Reluctantly, the team member puts the helmet away and continues to help Lucas prepare as the announcer is reading the stipulations to the audience.
"Boxers! Are you ready?" The referee asks the both of them.
Tony nods and smirks at Lucas. Lucas nods and holds his gloves up in a friendly matter. Tony smacks Lucas's hands away and the crowd reacts. Tony takes his glove off and quickly blows a kiss towards Maya. Lucas doesn't look at her because he knows that she'll distract him.
The ref allows the match to start and it doesn't take long before punches are thrown. Lucas dodges a punch from Tony and wraps his arms around Tony's torso, bringing him down to the ground. He gets a couple of punches to Tony's face before Tony pushes Lucas off of him.
Lucas stands up, and Tony sucker punches him. Lucas sees Sadie hiding her face in her hands, and Maya comforting her, which causes another distraction. Tony punches him in the face again, knocking him to the ground. Tony backs away, holding his arms up like he's already won the match.
Lucas uses the ropes on the ring to help him stand back up and gain his stamina back. One minute into the match, and he's already exhausted.
"C'mon, Lucas! Kick his butt!" Riley yells.
"Yea! C'mon Lucas! You can do this! Zay yells too.
Lucas throws a few jabs towards Tony's stomach. He doesn't block all of them, but he blocks most of them, which isn't good for Lucas.
Lucas finally throws a surprising upper cut, knocking Tony off his feet. Tony gets up and immediately runs after Lucas, who isn't running. Tony punches his temple and punches him again in the face. Lucas wipes the blood coming our of his nose off on his arm and focuses on Tony only. He's able to do some damage.
"Time!" The referee calls. Lucas stumbles over to his side of the ring. One of his team members takes his mouth guard out of his mouth as another one squirts water into his mouth. Lucas spits the water out into a bucket, not wanting to drink too much water during the match. Another team member is holding a miniature fan in his face to cool him off, and another team member wipes the blood off of Lucas's nose, which hurts like hell, but Lucas's adrenaline levels are up too high to even care.
"Lucas. You're letting everybody get in your head," His coach tells him, "Don't let that fool's cockiness get to you. Don't mistake that cockiness as talent. He's good. He makes quick decisions, but that is what is making his hits on you look and feel sloppy. Don't be afraid to surprise him. Now go back out there."
Lucas receives his mouth guard again and stands up. He jumps a little bit to get his stamina up. Tony is ready to punch.
Lucas remembers studying his moves on tape. He'll take a step forward and try to punch. So Lucas watches for his left foot to move forward, and when it does, Lucas doesn't hesitate to block the jab and get his own punch to Tony's throat. Tony coughs and tries to assess what happens quickly before Lucas can hit him again.
He takes another step forward, and Lucas sweeps his foot underneath Tony's leg, tripping him. Lucas punches Tony's torso. He stands up and allows Tony to regain his posture before going at it again.
This time, Tony catches what Lucas is doing, so he grabs Lucas's shoulders and knees him in the groin. Lucas doubles over in pain and holds his groin, hearing the people "boo" at Tony's dirty move. Lucas stands up, but is knocked over by Tony again. Tony takes his boxing glove covered fists and drives it into Lucas's face and torso. It hurts, but Lucas knows that the referee can't do anything because of the stipulations. All of Tony's moves are legal.
Lucas's head is facing towards Sadie and Maya. Sadie has a few tears in her eyes, and Maya is trying to assure her that Lucas is going to be okay.
After a few more punches to the face, Lucas is spitting out blood. The referee calls time, but he walks over to Lucas.
"Are you able to continue?" The referee asks.
Lucas groggily stands up and spits out more blood before nodding. He, again, stumbles over to his ring corner, holding his ribs. He feels like he is going to lose. His team members help him clean himself off a little bit, getting the bulk of the blood off of his face and chest.
"Excuse me, sir?" Lucas snaps his head over to his coach and sees Maya, "May I talk to him this time, please? I think I know something that will help."
Lucas's coach nods and steps out of the way for Maya to climb onto the apron of the ring. She looks into Lucas's eyes.
"It's okay," She says, "You are doing great out there. I just want to ask you something."
Lucas looks at her as she asks, "Do you want to win?"
Lucas nods.
"You need to find "Texas Lucas". Don't be afraid to show that side of you on account of Sadie and me. I already explained to Sadie what needs to happen for you to win. I told her that you aren't a monster, and she shouldn't be afraid of you, and she shouldn't be afraid of seeing you get hit. If you need any motivation, just remember every horrible thing he has ever said and done to you. Find "Texas Lucas"," Maya tells him. She gives him a quick peck on the lips and rushes back to her seat.
Lucas puts his mouth guard back in and stands up. Tony is already ready for him.
"That's cute, Friar," He says, "I remember when she done that to me."
Lucas ignores him and closes his eyes. All he sees his how hurt Maya was because of Tony. He sees how scared Sadie was because of Tony. And he wants to show that asshole that he can't get away with messing with his girls.
The referee starts the last round of the match, and Lucas starts to show no mercy.
Lucas is blocking and throwing jabs left and right, but all he can see are the bad things that Tony has done to them. He sees Maya's bruises. He's sees the worried look on Sadie's face after their first press conference together. He sees Tony punching him after the ballet recital. Everything he sees is helping him defend himself from Tony.
Then everything goes dark.
"Lucas? Are you waking up?"
Lucas's vision is blurred, but he can make out that sweet female voice. Once he regains perfect vision, he realizes that he's not in the ring anymore.
"Hey, Huckleberry," Maya says.
Lucas groans and looks over at the blonde beauty in the hospital. She's sitting in the chair beside the bed. She had changed out of what she was wearing to the match, so he must've been there for a while.
"What happened?" Lucas asks, feeling the bandage on his head, which is killing him.
"You won. But, Tony wasn't too happy about it."
Lucas smiles. Even though he's laying in a hospital bed right now, he still won. He's not a failure to his little girl. He then realizes that Sadie was there. He sit up in the bed, and Maya tries to stop him. She gently lays her hand on his chest and pushes him back to where he's laying down.
"Hey. Hey. You need to rest. You have some serious injuries. Don't risk anything by being stupid," Maya tells him.
"Where's Sadie?" Lucas asks.
At the perfect moment, Riley, Farkle, Zay, and Sadie walk into the emergency room.
"Daddy!" Sadie yells. She runs over to his bed side. Zay walks over and lifts the little girl up, so she can give her daddy a quick hug.
"I thought you were going to break your promise," She says.
"Break my promise? I would never," Lucas jokes, holding Sadie's tiny hand. Maya stands up as the rest of the gang surround Lucas by his bedside.
"Thank you guys, for being there for me. I probably wouldn't have been able to do it without y'all," Lucas says.
"Anytime, man," Zay responds, "But seriously, you should probably stay away from boxing for a while. You got really hurt, and I don't think any of us, especially this little one, can bare to see you go through this again."
Zay picks Sadie up, and Sadie nods in agreement.
Lucas smiles, "Fine. I won't box for a while. How can I when I'm going to be going back to school?"
"What?" Maya asks.
"Online. I've been wanting to go back to college and major in something useful. I mean, yea, I get paid a lot for boxing, but I don't want to put you guys through this again," Lucas explains.
The gang agrees with him.
After a while of talking, Riley, Farkle, and Zay head home, and Sadie is asleep in a reclining chair that a nice nurse brought in just for her.
"Thank you for being there for me, Maya. I know it was hard for you to see Tony again."
"I wasn't afraid to see him again. I thought I was, but once I did, I just realized how much of a coward he is. It was hard for me to watch you being put onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. I don't know if I could see any of you be put through that, ever," Maya explains.
Lucas has a hold of Maya's hand and he brings it up to his lips and places a gentle kiss on them.
"I don't know how you're going to react, and I know that I've said this before, but I am being serious. I am in love with you, Maya Penelope Hart. I thought I would never get over you. And I know that it's my fault, but after we ended things the first time, it crushed me. And then, when I thought I could maybe find another woman to fall in love with, you show up again. And you look after Sadie, and you take care of her. It's everything that I want in a relationship. I love you. But I understand if you don't want to be with me. I wouldn't want to be with me either," Lucas says.
Maya smiles, "I love you too, Huckleberry. I feel like I can trust you again, but can you blame me for being a little hesitant? I mean after what happened between us in high school, and then what happened with Tony? I'm just not looking for a relationship, but I'll tell you something."
"What is it?" Lucas asks.
"I won't go out with anybody else if you don't," Maya responds. Lucas laughs as she continues, "That way, when I am ready to be in a relationship with you again, you won't be married to the perfect woman. Deal?"
"Deal."
Maya and Lucas shake hands.
"Maya?" Lucas calls before she stands up, "The only perfect woman, I hope to be married to is you."
Maya smiles again, "Nighty night, Huckleberry."
There you go! I hope you enjoyed fight night! I hope it's not boring. I hope y'all liked that Lucas and Maya scene I added at the end as well as the Lucas and Sadie scene at the beginning.
The next chapter is the last chapter, and I know what you're thinking: "What else is there to read?"
Well we gotta find out what happened to Tony, and we still have that plot twist!
Love y'all!