Chapter 7

The big day had arrived. Rory was surprised he wasn’t more nervous as he went down for breakfast. When he walked in, he found Katherine scrambling eggs.

“You make toast and set the table,” she said.

Rory had helped her make many breakfasts, so they worked well together.

“There’s shredded cheese in the crisper.”

“Good call,” Katherine said.

She grabbed the bag of cheddar and sprinkled it over the eggs as Rory got busy. Once the plates were set, he poured small orange juices for the girls and figured the adults could decide what they wanted to drink. When the eggs were done, Katherine told him to serve the girls and finish making the toast while she went up to tell everyone breakfast was ready.

Tyler and Chris came down first and hit the coffee. Katherine appeared next with the girls in tow, and Crystal and Sophie came down last.

Rory had finished making toast and putting it on the table when he saw Katherine reach into the oven and pull out a platter of bacon.

“I could’ve gotten that for you,” Rory said.

“And you would have eaten it all if you had,” she shot back.

Before he sat down, Rory helped the younger girls make breakfast sandwiches with eggs, toast, and bacon.

“Rory, say grace,” Katherine said once everyone was settled.

“Bless us, O Lord, for these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.”

“Amen,” everyone said.

“You ready for this afternoon?” Tyler asked Rory.

“Probably not, but it’s too late to worry about that now.”

“I saw the line went to 500 to 1 before they quit taking bets,” Tyler said.

“Birney must not be any good,” Rory joked.

“All I’m saying is that I really want you to win,” Tyler said, letting Rory know he’d put money on him.

“If Aunt Rose was smart, she would have, too. Then she wouldn’t have to be scamming you guys,” Rory said.

“I put a cap on her spending when it reached five grand in room charges,” Crystal said.

“How the he ... heck did she manage to spend that much?” Katherine asked.

“At the MGM, you can charge your purchases to your room. They even have a Harley Davidson store on the grounds,” Sophie explained to join the conversation.

“It’s good Sophie didn’t put a bug in her ear, or Aunt Rose could have done some serious damage,” Rory said. “When is she going back?”

“Tomorrow morning. I promised her a ticket to see your fight,” Tyler said, explaining why she was here—besides insulting Rory.

“Speaking of which, did you get enough for everyone?” Crystal asked.

“For some reason, Rory’s fight wasn’t sold out, so we got lucky. I was told ringside had been sold as a package for all the fights, but they want the seats filled for TV. When we get there, we have to get seated up in the cheap seats, but because I bought so many, they’ll move us as a group right before Rory’s bout,” Tyler explained.

“How many did you get?” Chris asked.

“Fifty. I’ve got five left,” Tyler said.

“Are Summer and her friends going?” Rory asked.

“They are,” Sophie said.

“Then give the rest to Sophie so she can invite her friends,” Rory said. “And let her go to that party on Saturday.”

Sophie appeared afraid to look up from her plate.

“Okay, fine,” Crystal said.

Sophie glanced up at Rory with a look of gratitude. He got up from his seat.

“You get to help clean up,” he told Sophie.

She nodded that she would.

Crystal tracked him down in his room a few minutes later.

“Thank you for making an effort with Sophie. If you hadn’t noticed, it was a bit tense around here before you arrived.”

“And I just added to the drama,” Rory said before he could stop himself.

Crystal took a deep breath and let it out before speaking.

“Discovering that my husband had a child and hadn’t told me about you was uncomfortable at first. But after hearing about your situation, I knew we had to do something. We made a conscious decision to invite you into our home. And after seeing your aunt, did we really have a choice?” she asked.

“I think every family either has an alcoholic aunt or crazy uncle. Mom used to say that you can’t pick your family, but that doesn’t mean you have to let them into the house, either,” Rory shared.

“I think I would have liked your mother.”

“She had her moments,” Rory said.

“Would she have been proud of you today?”

“No doubt, but she would have kicked Chris’s butt for setting up my first fight.”

“Should we have stopped this?” she asked, suddenly looking worried.

“No. Mom knew this day was coming. She just didn’t want to see me get hurt. And honestly, I can handle myself in the cage. It was much more dangerous on the streets of Chicago where every idiot could potentially have a gun.”

“I’ve read about the number of gun deaths in Chicago. Is it really that bad?”

“When I was growing up, it wasn’t like that. If you knew what neighborhoods to avoid, you were okay. Even in Beverly, you can now hear the gunshots at night. We’ve had a few people killed in our neighborhood. If Mom hadn’t gotten sick, I think she would have moved us out of the city,” Rory shared.

“We have some neighborhoods here in Vegas that I wouldn’t want to be in at night,” Crystal admitted.

“When I’m in the cage, I know I can get hurt. I very well might today. Birney is older, heavier, stronger, and a better fighter. On paper, he should kick my ass. But Marcus doesn’t know my heart. If he wins, he’ll know he was in a fight. I won’t back down,” Rory promised.

“To quote the Beastie Boys, ‘Your crystal ball ain’t so crystal clear,’” Crystal said and then clarified. “That’s my way of saying I think you’ll win.”

“I got that. Who are the Beastie Boys?”

“Brat!”

Rory smiled. She got serious for a moment.

“Do me one favor: knock him out as soon as you can. I don’t think I could stand to see you fight for three full rounds.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Rory, Katherine, and Chris arrived at the MGM a couple of hours early. Rory had to get cleared to fight by their doctor, and once dressed, the referee had to check what he was taking into the cage. Chris also wanted to warm Rory up.

Once he’d built up a good sweat and stretched out, Chris took him back to the locker room to get dressed. He found all new gear for the afternoon fight. It was white with shamrock-green accents. On his left thigh was a four-leaf clover with ‘Walsh’ stitched in the center. He found that his walkout (fighter’s robe) and compression shorts had the same color combination, while his gloves were all green.

“This is nice,” Rory said as he took it all in.

“Your stepmom and dad got them on Katherine’s advice,” Chris said.

After he was dressed and Chris had taped his hands, Rory had to show the referee that he had on compression shorts with a cup under his fighting trunks. The referee also wanted to see how his hands were taped before he put on his gloves.

Before going out, Katherine, as his cutman, applied Vaseline to his nose, lips, cheekbones, jawbone, and beneath Rory’s eyebrows. It wasn’t done to lessen the pain of being punched. It was done to make his skin slick, hoping that Birney’s punches wouldn’t be clean and would slide off. She would reapply the Vaseline between rounds because the combination of punches and perspiration would cause some of it to come off.

“It’s time,” one of the MGM staff announced.

“Any last words?” Rory asked Chris.

“Don’t hesitate.”

’Well, okay then,’ Rory thought as he got up to lead Chris and Katherine to the cage.

The TV announcers had spent the last twenty minutes building up the main event, but it was time they turned their attention to the undercard.

“This fight almost didn’t happen,” Mickey Ellis, the play-by-play commentator, said.

“You’re right. Last weekend, Chip Pasternak withdrew for personal reasons. I would guess it finally set in that he was facing Marcus Birney, who’s currently undefeated in the amateur ranks. I am here to welcome you to the Birney era, ladies and gentlemen. When Birney enters the professional ranks in the welterweight division, it won’t take him long to challenge for the belt,” John Samich, the color commentator, proclaimed.

“What’s with this Walsh kid? Should he even be in the cage with a talent like Birney?”

“There should be an investigation into how this fight came about. You know there’s trouble when the casinos all pull a fight from the sportsbooks. I just hope Birney takes care of business and doesn’t seriously hurt this fifteen-year-old boy. That would be a real travesty.”

“I can’t believe they would find a kid so young and inexperienced. He should be fighting kids his own age, not someone ten years older,” Ellis said.

The lights in the stadium dimmed, and Rory suddenly felt it: a mixture of fear and excitement. It reminded him of his first street fight in third grade when he faced two sixth graders. In that fight, Rory got his butt beat, but he’d grown up a lot since then. Like today, he’d been a heavy underdog. He was about to step into the cage with an adult who knew how to fight. He could only hope that Chris’s training would be enough.

Then his music started. The opening refrain from Leave the Door Open by Silk Sonic, featuring the R&B super duo, Bruno Mars and Anderson.Paak, began to play.

“This was your mom’s favorite song,” Katherine said with a sad smile. “It makes me both sad and happy that you make such a lovely tribute to her.”

Rory threw his hood up for his walkout so his emotions wouldn’t get the better of him at the mention of his mom. As he led his godparents out of the tunnel, his head began to bob to the beat of the music. When he was halfway to the cage, he raised both hands above his head and pointed to the sky, and then his hands began to go up and down at the same beat as his head.

When he entered the cage, Rory threw his hood back and began to dance around in a circle so he could see the fight fans from all angles. When he spotted a cute girl, he would point and make a heart sign over his chest. Katherine’s girls screamed in excitement, which got the rest of the women involved.

Then his music stopped, and heavy metal jarred his senses. Marcus Birney had picked We Will Rise by Arch Enemy.

Instead of the slow stroll Rory had used, Marcus all but ran to the cage with an intense look, like he wanted to rip Rory’s head off.

“What the fuck?” Rory asked Chris.

“I predict this will be over in under a minute. You better be ready to rock,” Chris said.

“Should we just call it a day?” Katherine asked, looking worried.

Before they could answer her, Birney entered the cage. He rushed up to Rory and glared at him.

“I’m a lover. Please be gentle with me,” Rory taunted.

“After I’m done with you, you’ll be taking your meals through a straw.”

“Break it up. Go to your corners,” the ref said to take control. “I’ll call you over when I’m ready.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first fight in tonight’s full slate of entertainment. We are live worldwide from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas,” the announcer called out. “Aaaannnd now! It’s time!”

In MMA circles, ‘It’s time!’ was equivalent to crying out, ‘Let’s get ready to rumble!’ for boxing. Everyone in the building was on their feet, screaming.

The arena was half full. Rory quickly scanned to see who was with Tyler. It looked like most of the office and the people in his porn class. He also saw Sean, Jace, Summer, Alice, and Julie. He was both happy and sad when he saw Sophie had brought both Paige and ‘ass boy’ Bart. He chuckled when he saw his aunt in a fur coat. That must have been what she spent Tyler’s money on.

“It’s time for our first undercard bout. Introducing first, fighting out of the blue corner in his first amateur match, the five-ten, 155-pound rookie, representing Summerlin, Nevada...” The announcer paused, then screamed, “Rory ‘One Punch’ Walsh!”

Rory held up one hand and waved at the crowd as the cheers washed over him.

“Fighting out of the red corner with a perfect nine-and-oh record is five-eight, 167 pounds, representing Las Vegas, Nevada. Marcus... ‘Bone Crusher’ ... Birney!”

People love an underdog, and it was apparent the crowd had cheered louder for Rory than his opponent. He was just afraid that that would be his last victory tonight.

The ref called them together, and a microphone dropped down to catch his words.

“I gave you your instructions in the locker room. Protect yourselves at all times. Touch gloves and then go to your corners and await the start of the fight.”

Rory raised his, but Birney turned his back and strode to his corner, so Rory went to his. Katherine stepped out of the cage while Chris put Rory’s mouth guard in.

“Kick his ass,” was Chris’s parting comment before joining his wife outside the cage.

Once all the doors were closed, the referee stepped out to the center of the cage and pointed at Rory.

“Ready?”

Rory nodded.

He then pointed at Marcus and did the same. When Marcus indicated he was, the referee dropped his hand and shouted, “Fight!”

Rory took a right-handed boxing stance to hide the fact that he was left-handed. Marcus marched across the cage, looking determined. As he got close, Marcus rolled his shoulder and rotated his head around to prepare. He raised his hands and closed in on Rory, who responded by dancing back and throwing two measuring left-handed jabs.

Marcus didn’t respect them but just waded in with no fear that Rory could hurt him. Rory telegraphed a weak overhand right. As Chris had predicted, Marcus reached out quick as a cobra strike and latched onto Rory’s right wrist. Marcus’s grip felt like he might snap some bones in Rory’s arm.

Marcus got a feral look and jerked Rory toward him. Rory had anticipated that move and used Marcus’s pulling motion to start his move. The tug actually helped Rory increase the speed of his complete 360-degree turn. Instead of allowing Marcus to pull him directly in front where he could do severe damage, Rory spun to his right. Rory’s dominant left hand swung around and hit Marcus on the side of the head, right between his jaw and ear.

Marcus wobbled and dropped to his knees, pulling Rory down with him. The man fell backward awkwardly onto the mat. Rory got over his opponent’s head and began to hit Marcus with tomahawk punches to the nose. His hits landed four times before the referee dove between them and waved to indicate the fight was over.