Tyler's Undoing

3. Tyler

3

TYLER

Word of my afterhours fight with Paxton got back to Gabriella pretty quickly. I woke up the next morning to a slew of text messages, and let’s just say the ignore button was my friend. Why bring it up, if she didn’t want me to fix the problem?

My plan had worked. First, he was pissed because of Tex’s message, which provoked him to come after me. When he came up to me, he said he wasn’t going to leave Gabriella alone—that she would ‘give in’ to him eventually. Well, the moment those words left his mouth, I reacted instantly. There were no rules, just full on street fighting out in the parking lot. I think more people enjoyed that than the actual fights inside.

“Do you want to talk about last night?” my father asked. “You know Jake is going to be pissed as hell.”

Huffing, I pounded my fists into the bag, sweat dripping down my face and into my eyes. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” I snapped. “It was after hours.”

“On his property, son. What if Paxton pressed charges? You could lose your spot in the UFC.”

“That’s not going to happen. If you knew the real story, you’d know he was the one who started it all . . . I just happened to finish it.”

My father glared at me, his jaw tense. “Either way, you should compose yourself like a normal human being. You may fight for a living, but that doesn’t mean you handle real life situations like you’re in the ring. I expect better from you.”

“Oh, Steven, give the boy a break,” my mother chided as she walked into the gym. “I heard what happened and the other guy deserved it. Lighten up on him, sweetheart.”

My mother knew what she was doing because my father finally got off my back and started in on her, following her to the front desk. “That’s not the point, Mary,” I heard him hiss. “The boy needs to learn to control his temper.”

“I wonder where he gets it from?” she teased, winking slyly at me over her shoulder.

Since our receptionist left for nursing school, my mother had been taking the day shift answering the phones. She seemed to enjoy it, but it was actually my job to find a replacement. Unfortunately, I hadn’t found anyone I liked.

Now that my father’s attention was diverted, it was time to put in my hours of training. I had a Heavyweight title to work for.