Suckerpunch: (2011) by Jeremy Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

said and ran out of the gym faster than I’d seen her do anything else.
     
    Roth leaned around Jairo to watch her go.
     
    “Hey, come on,” Jairo said.
     
    “Sorry, mate. Why’s she so mean to me?”
     
    “Have you seen your face?” Gil asked.
     
    “That’ll do from you, thanks.”
     
    Jairo folded his arms and spread his feet, ready to discuss. “She don’t like the culture in Brazil, you know, the macho kind of guy, and I try to tell her it’s a fighter thing. She’s around fighters all the time, and we have to be a man in the ring and cage, and outside, we still have to be a man. So, you’re like that.”
     
    Roth nodded. “What if I sing to her?”
     
    Gil looked appalled.
     
    “Listen,” Jairo said, “I think if you do that, she punches you in the face. No joke.”
     
    “Well, that’s my whole arsenal. Does she like flowers?”
     
    “Yes, she does, but she doesn’t like you.”
     
    Roth looked at me. “Christ, the whole family’s mean.”
     
    “You can sing to me if you want.”
     
    “Nah, mate, you’re fighting tomorrow. I can’t have you distracted with confusing feelings for me. And I believe it’s my turn to wash the towels, yes, Master Gil?”
     
    “Whatever keeps you from singing.”
     
    Roth waltzed toward the back hall, massacring Sinatra the whole way.
     
    Jairo winced. “Punches to the face. I’m sure of it.”
     
    “Okay, let’s get packed up.” Gil took a look at me. “You’ve done this before. It’s the same stage, just a bigger crowd. You won’t notice them anyway once you’re in the fight.”
     
    “I know.” I wasn’t scared of the fight—that had passed a long time ago—but I hadn’t had any time to get used to the Warrior situation. Every time the reality of it popped in, that I was in my first big-time show tomorrow, the fight that could get me facing the right way and not half turned all the time to see what was catching up, my stomach came into my throat to get a look around. I’d be glad when Burbank landed his first punch just so I’d know the waiting was over.
     
    “Hey,” Gil said, “this crap is for the fans. The goddamn hype. This is Eddie’s day, so let him worry about it. Enjoy it and don’t take any of it too seriously. You already made it through the hardest part right here on these mats. The fight is cake. A surprise cake, but aren’t those the best kind?” He grabbed the back of my neck and pushed and pulled me around. “Today is like Christmas Eve, boy. Tomorrow you get to open your presents, right?”
     
    “Right,” I said.
     
    He let go. “I don’t want to ruin the next surprise, but I think Santa is bringing you Junior Burbank’s head.”
     
    “Good. I don’t have one of those yet.”
     

CHAPTER 4
     
    Walking through the Golden Pantheon Casino, attached to the arena where Warrior holds its events, we had to keep stopping to let Marcela get a closer look at the flashing slot machines and seizure-inducing games that had people either tugging at each other in celebration or giving the thousand-yard stare at what could have been.
     
    Those same people might have called me stupid for willingly stepping into a cage to face assault, but I’d tell them if money and pride are on the line, at least let me fight for them. Football teams don’t win or lose on the coin toss.
     
    Marcela cleaned up well. Her hair was still wet, and it reflected the colors in the room and made them much softer on the eyes. She was wearing jeans and a black baby tee with a rounded Arcoverde Jiu Jitsu logo across her chest, and I wanted to thank that old sweatshirt for hiding her figure back at the gym; it’s easier to get knocked out with your mouth hanging open.
     
    There were some fight fans bouncing around the casino. A pair of fratty guys wearing frayed jeans and five shirts between them, drinking something with a lot of straws, took a long look at our group—Marcela, me, Gil, and the brothers. The boys fell in next to