Champion

Chapter 11: The Fights Begin

"You wanna be a fucking drunk again, Naomi? You want me to have to fucking hold your head up while you throw up everything but your memories, you want Kian to see that?!" Tommy spat harshly, but not once did his voice raise over a cold growl. I stood across the room, staring at him, his eyes full with cold fury. "We're not going through this again, Naomi"

"Fucking stop-" my voice shook and I could feel hot tears fill my eyes, but I refused to let them spill over.

"Stop, so I'm just supposed to let you hurt yourself again? Just supposed to be ok with you drowning all this Fucking shit out in a bottle of Jameson? Yeah, you don't hurt Kian, you're not like pop. But you hurt yourself, and I'm supposed to just sit here and watch?" He scoffed, pulling a white long sleeve over his bare chest, scuffing up his hair a little bit, his blue eyes boring into mine from the other side of the room.

"Tommy... I... I can't sleep anymore, it's happening all over again! I can't close my eyes without seeing him" he stood in silence, closing himself off like he once did a long time ago, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"You got some balls, babe, you think I don't get that? You think I don't see manny everywhere? Or Williams in every young nineteen year old? Or any of the fucking brothers we lost? You think I don't think about Joel? How I coulda saved him if I got to the medic in time?" He spoke quietly, but his words cut deep into me.

"What.... You... You said he couldn't-"

"What was I supposed to tell you, Naomi? The medic was dead, we needed to get you out of there"

"YOU COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING LIKE YOU DID FOR ME" I yelled, and Tommy's face went white, he stared at me for a long time before turning around and walking out of the bedroom, down the stairs and at the front door. I could see Jade walk out of her room and peek into mine where I sat on the bed by myself, but I watched as Ronda pulled her away from the door, whispering to her to give me some space. Koda slowly walked up to me, ears down as he laid his head in my lap, looking up at me. Kian slept soundly in his room, and I hope to god we didn't wake him up.

After a few quiet moments to myself I slowly made my way to the basement, pouring myself a cup of whiskey, but cutting it off there, didn't want to drink too much, not tonight. I sat alone, on a leather couch in the middle of the pub, my mind racing with thoughts. I knew Tommy was disappointed, I knew Tommy just wanted me to be safe, I knew he loved me.

"Mommy?" I heard a little voice mumble, and turned around to the door of the pub where my sons little head poked through. I smiled at him, and gestured my hand towards me to urge him. He walked to me slowly, climbing into my lap and wrapping his arms around me "are you okay mommy?" He looked up at me with his big, blue eyes, tommy's eyes.

"Yeah I'm ok baby" I kissed his head and he nuzzled into my chest, playing with my hair between his little fingers.

"I love you, mommy" he kissed my cheek and rested his head back down while I rubbed his back. I didn't understand unconditional love until he was given to me, I would do anything for him, he was the reason I kept going.

"Nae?" I heard from behind me, and I knew it was Jade. She smiled at me as she sat next to me in the couch. Kian looked up at her, and seemed to understand right there at she wanted to talk to me.

"I'm gonna go see Aunty Ronda" he smiled, getting up and running upstairs, leaving me and jade alone in pub. I took a sip of the whiskey in my cup, setting it down again and looking at her. She frowned slightly, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"It's the flashbacks again, isn't it?" She spoke softly, but her voice soothed me. There was a pause and I closed my eyes, the hot tears spilling down my cheeks. I nodded.

She opened her arms and pulled me into her, smoothing my hair out with her hands "shhhh shhhhhh" she comforted me, holding me tightly. There wasn't much she could say, she knew that. "You know drinking won't help" she sighed and I nodded, I knew it wasn't going to help, but it was a temporary fix to a problem I didn't know how to handle. "I know you feel like you need it, need something to cope, but you have us, and Kian needs you to be strong" I took a deep breath, wiping the tears from my face.

"You got that fight coming up" I changed the subject, not wanting to talk about it anymore "how do you feel about it?" She sighed, knowing what I was doing, but she didn't bother.

"Cat is fast, but I think I got it covered" she smiled a bit "and I'm gonna beat the shit out of Meisha" we both laughed a little and I sat up from her arms. She stood, walking to the little home gym we had set up. "Gonna get some workouts in, you think you could-"

"Of course" I stood up, tying my hair up and walking with her to the heavy bags, putting my weight on it and holding it down as she began throwing punches, Jade was in her prime, she was ready to defend her title. After a while, Ronda came downstairs, telling me Kian was falling asleep on the couch. She took over what I was doing with Jade, and I walked upstairs to my son who was sound asleep on the couch. I smiled, picking him up and putting him over my shoulder, turning around to look at the front door as it opened. Tommy stood there, giving me a soft smile and taking Kian from my arms, wrapping the other around my waist as we walked upstairs.

He set Kian down in his room, and we both kissed his head gently, covering him up with his blanket. Koda curled up in a ball at the end of his bed, protecting our son from anything and everything. Tommy turned to me, running his hands down my arms gently, looking into my troubled eyes. I looked away, walking past him and into the room not being able to face him knowing I was disappointing him.