The Diaz Brothers

Fight Night-- chapter 26

We got to the arena and I went to the red room. Wes got up and walked over to me and looked at my eyes. "Are you okay to fight?" I nodded. "Just fine. Just have to keep from getting my head slammed. Let's get going." I dropped my bag and Mike walked inside the room. "Dana isn't happy about you fighting. He's coming to talk to you. You don't fight until about 1900 though. You ought to relax for a little." I nodded. "And your thought?" "I don't think you should fight. I've been about to scratch you all day." Carlos and Ryan walked in the room with Ace who was scheduled to fight at 1700. I looked at him and he sat in the chair. I taped up his hands for the fight and mike took a picture of it. "Instagram?" I asked as he started typing. "Gotta publicize." I laughed and my phone went off. "Oh look. Mike tagged me in a post." He grinned and Ace got his phone out as I taped his second hand. "Hey you should send me that, Mike." "Got you bud." Ace started reading the post out loud. "Powerhouses McKinley and Ace Cardenas preparing to fight. Round one with Condit at 5, title against Rousey at 7. Game on!" I smiled and finished wrapping his hands. He put his hand on my cheek and smiled. I leaned toward him to rest my head on his chest where we stood. He hugged me and kissed the top of my head. When he let go I sat in the chair and watched him warm up with his trainer, Tyler. "Are you sure you want to fight?" Wes asked and I nodded. "Yes. I want to fight." I said and my accent was thick. Ace stopped Tyler and looked at me. "You're worried. Why?" "Because I know that what we all talked about earlier is going to happen. I can't figure out how though. Or when. I'm sorry... Don't make yourself sick like Ry did... Please?" "No promises. But it won't happen so I don't need to anyways." He sounded confident. "You're wrong..." I said sadly and we walked out for him to fight. He won first round and we went back to the red room to let me warm up. I sat down and Wes taped me up then I got up and we grappled for a few minutes and I kept my heart rate up by jumping around a bit. When it came to my time I walked out to the ring and took off my shirt. Everyone kinda took in a breath and Ronda nodded at me. We squared up and fought. I took it to the ground and she looked a little worried. "I'll be fine just fight!" I said and she agreed and started fighting almost normally. We ended up fighting all five rounds and I won by two points. It was a great fight which was surprising because of how much care both of us were taking with my head.

I got out of the ring and looked at fans and nodded. The bad feeling I was having sank in as I told Ace I had to go to the restroom. I tried my hardest to keep it from him. "Baby what's wrong?" "I just have a headache. It's making me a little uneasy." He nodded and I walked to the bathroom. The feeling got worse by the second and I feared leaving the restroom. I did anyways and was faced with Isaac who caught me by surprise and shoved me up against the wall. "What do you want Isaac?" "You dead. Say goodnight McKinley." I braced myself and just waited for him to kill me. Ace came around the corner as he slammed my head into the wall. He pulled him off of me and I struggled to stay awake. Ace knocked him out and ran to me. "I love you... Get Carlos... I'm sorry Ace." "No! You have to stay awake! Kinley!" He yelled and Ryan walked around the corner then. He turned and ran back toward red room. I couldn't stay awake anymore so I just passed out.

I ran to the red room and got Carlos. "Jericho get the truck we gotta go now! Carlos come on man we gotta hurry! Baby was right! Hurry up guys lets go!" I was panicking. I couldn't handle losing McKinley. She's my baby and I already almost lost her once. I ran back to her and picked her up carefully. I held her head steady as I went out of the arena. "Ace you have to tell Dana and Mike!" Ace turned to wes who nodded and took off. Ace's face looked a lot like mine had when the wreck happened. He had spent a lot of time in the hospital with her then. I could already tell he would end up like I was. Sick as hell and skinny too. We got her put in the truck and headed to the hospital. When we got there Carlos got us a gurney and a room and he got her hooked up to all sorts of monitors. We all knew better than to cut her hair because of her heritage so the brain monitors were in awkward places and Ace stood against the wall next to me and we stared. Neither of us took our eyes off of her for a good three hours. We sat down and each of us grabbed one of her hands and I kissed her forehead then he kissed her cheek. I don't remember falling asleep but I woke up at about 4 in the morning. Ace was awake already or still, I wasn't sure which. "We should've listened... Her feelings are never wrong... This shouldn't've happened. She should've never been alone..." He said all of this with such a brokenness and the tears in his eyes rolled unashamedly. I mirrored his actions and shook my head. "She's never wrong... Did you fall asleep too?" He shook his head. "No... I fought it hard enough. I'll probably crash soon... I can't stand this feeling..." Tommy walked in the door at that time with Mason asleep in his arms. Ace walked over and took him carefully. I watched and Tommy walked over to my side. He rested his hand on my shoulder and looked at her. "She looks the same... Without all the bruising..." I nodded and Ace did too. "She deserves so much better than what she gets..." Ace said and I frowned. "She always has... You were that better... California was that better... But the trouble just followed her here..." I said and he nodded sadly. "Do you want to keep Mason here or do you want me to take him home and bring him back later?" "I'll keep him if you'll come pick him up later... I don't think I can keep up with his energy right now. But he should sleep till about 9:30 today... He didn't get his nap." I watched him recline and lay Mason on his chest. He would be out in just a couple of minutes. Tommy looked at me. "Ryan... You gotta keep your head on. She needs you to be strong enough to believe she can pull through it..." I nodded. "I know... Just like last time..." She looked so peaceful and I let the tears fall again.