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“That your baby?” Nate asks, his mouthpiece making his words hard to understand.

No clue what he’s talking about, I just scowl at him.

“Baby.” He points over at Dex.

Dex is my baby? That’s a new one.

Before I can even reply, he gets in my face, gritting, “I make her orphan.”

Her. Kota? He must’ve seen my phone and assumed it was a live feed from a baby cam or something.

If I did have a kid, I sure as fuck wouldn’t be here. I’d be at home, in bed, with one girl tucked under each arm—Kota and…our daughter. The visualization is so clear I can almost feel their heads against my chest, making it warm and fuzzy.

Damn. I’d be the happiest man on earth. Forever.

Too bad it could never happen.

Could it? Not anytime soon, but one day…maybe.

Yeah. Maybe. Maybe it fucking could.

As soon as I’m done with all this, I can do whatever I want. Go wherever I want. Be whoever I want. I can leave this life behind and start a new one. With her. And our little girl.

I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe more. Maybe we have a whole house of kids. Maybe we do whatever the fuck Kota wants because as long as we’re together, I’m happy.

Hopefully she does want at least one little girl. I already got her pillow picked out.

“I make her orphan.”

I throw Nate a right hook, catching him on the jaw for that.

I’ll be god-fucking-damned if I’m gonna let him or anyone else try to take that dream from me. There’s one thing I know I’m good at and it’s fighting. I’ll fight to the fucking death for Kota as well as any other part of her that exists in this world.

The cheap shot gets me a warning from the ref, but considering this is an underground, highly illegal fight, I don’t so much as bat a fucking eye. Besides, the crowd is going crazy and that’s all that matters. They’re the ones funding this shit after all.

By the time Nasty Nate tries to retaliate, I’ve already got my back against the steel wire again, wiggling my fingers at him in a patronizing wave.

Dude’s reflexes are lagging. Either they always are or the theatrics are starting to wear him out already.

That’s why I don’t bother with showing off my skills beforehand. I need them to speak for themselves when it counts most.

He makes his way back to his side of the cage, then the ref is telling us to fight.

Still in peacock mode, Nasty Nate sprints across the mat and launches himself at me.

I easily step out of the way, avoiding his raised fist, and watch him bang into the chain-link fence instead.

Mm. Embarrassing.

Recovering, he backs up before doing a running backflip off it…I guess hoping to clip me with an overhead kick, but he doesn’t even come close to touching me as I stand in the middle of the cage, waiting patiently for my opening.

A few roundhouse kicks are performed—again, nowhere near me—and that patience starts to thin.

I know I told Dex this would only be a few minutes but I’m cutting that down to one. At most. If not, we’ll be here all night, watching this motherfucker spin out. He’s on something, I just don’t know what.

I’m not gonna chase him though. He can use some of that energy to come to me.

Twisting at the waist, I open up my entire left side to him.