Saturday Book Club - Fear No Foe Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
Shay woke up in the morning with one hell of a hangover, he got up out of bed, his vision was blurred as he stumbled to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror over the sink as he put cold water on his face to wake himself up. Shay then went into the bedroom and was shocked to see Kelly lying on the bed with just her underwear on. Shay put his hand on his forehead trying to remember what had happened last night, he thought hard, but the last thing he could remember was play fighting with Kelly, after that it was a complete blank.
He then looked down at himself and saw that he was just wearing his boxer shorts; Shay mumbled to himself “no, no way, I haven’t, have I?”
Kelly then woke up and said “Bloody hell what a night”.
Kelly looked up at Shay who was standing at the end of the bed and as she covered herself with the quilt she smiled and said “”What a mental night that was, it was just what I needed”.
Shay was mortified, had he slept with his best friend? All the signs were that he had. Shay sat on the edge of the bed with his face in his hands, shaking his head.
Kelly asked him “What’s wrong Shay?”
Shay replied “I’m with Emma Kell, last night shouldn’t have happened”.
Kelly sat up and said “Why shouldn’t of it had happened, didn’t you have a good time?”
Shay replied “Yes, I mean no, it shouldn’t of happened, I love Emma”.
Kelly looked confused and asked Shay “So what happened that was so wrong?”
Shay still with his face in his hands replied “Me and you sleeping together, it shouldn’t of happened”.
Kelly smiled mischievously and said “Shay it was the perfect end to a perfect night, you were unbelievable”.
Shay still trying hard to remember what happened replied “What am I going to tell Emma, I’ve never cheated on her”.
Kelly could see how upset Shay was and couldn’t keep it in anymore and started laughing.
Shay looked at her and said “Well I’m glad you think it’s funny”. Kelly then said to the distressed Shay “Nothing happened”.
Shay looked up and replied “What do you mean nothing happened?” Kelly explained “Yeah we kissed, but as soon as we did we both pulled away as we knew it was wrong, then you were going on about how much you love Emma and then you passed out”.
Shay still a bit confused replied “So how are we both in our underwear?”
Kelly replied chuckling to herself “Shay when you passed out I got undressed, I’m was wearing a 500 pound dress, so there was no way I was going to sleep in that, and I remember you going to the toilet in the night you must of got undressed then”.
A relieved Shay looked at Kelly, he shook his head and said “Well why didn’t you tell me that at the start?”
Kelly laughed and replied “After all the jokes you have played on me over the year I just couldn’t resist”.
Shay looked a Kelly trying not to laugh and said “Well it not funny at all”.
Shay ordered up some breakfast to the room, Kelly left soon after and told Shay she would call him soon. As Shay saw Kelly to the door, Kenny was walking down the corridor just as she was leaving, he said “hello” to Kelly and gave them a look that said “I know what you were up to last night”. Kelly left and Kenny went into Shay’s room, Shay still looked really hung-over.
Kenny with a big smile on his face said “Well it looks like you and Kelly had a good time last night”.
Shay replied “Yeah we did Ken, but not how you think, we are just friends”.
Kenny smiled and said “Well I wouldn’t have blamed you son that Kelly has grown into one fine woman”.
Shay just shook his head and said “Well nothing like that did happen, are you ready to go?”
Kenny replied “Yeah son let’s get back to Brum”.
When they got back to Birmingham, Shay went straight home still feeling guilty about kissing Kelly, but thought to himself that it was probably best if he didn’t say anything to Emma about it. When he walked through the door Emma came rushing out of the living room to welcome him home.
He asked if everything was alright, Emma replied “Yeah I’m just happy to see you”.
This made Shay smile as they hadn’t seen much of each other over the last few months, Shay then told her to put on her best dress as he was going to take her out to dinner.
It must have been 2 hours later when Emma came down the stairs ready to go out, she looked gorgeous, absolutely stunning in a long black evening dress similar to the one Kelly was wearing the night before.
Emma said “I’m ready babes so what do you think?”
Shay smiled and replied “Em you look gorgeous as always”, but Shay did think to himself Emma’s got a fake tan on, fake hair in, fake eyelashes, fake nails and loads of makeup on, Kelly only had a bit of make up on and none of the extras and looked just as good and filled her dress out a lot better. Shay shook his head thinking why am I comparing the 2, one is my mate and one is my girlfriend.
Emma asked him if he was o.k?
Shay who was in deep thought snapped out of it and replied “yeah we ready to go?”
Shay took her to the poshest restaurant in town; Shay spared no expense on showing Emma a good night. Emma seemed to be enjoying herself, but was distracted by text messages on her phone all night; she told Shay they were off Samantha about modeling work. Emma did put Shay on the spot at one point in the night when he picked a very nice bottle of red wine from the wine list, the same wine he had with Kelly the night before.
Emma asked him how he knew about such an expensive wine.
Shay thought on his feet and told her “Kenny loves wine and picked this bottle when we were in London”.
Emma gave Shay a surprised look and replied “Kenny likes wine? Shay smiled and said “Yeah he does, but don’t say anything to him he don’t like people to know”.
Emma smiled and said “Well I got to say Kenny definitely knows his wine, its lovely”.
They had an excellent night out and an even better night when they got home; it had been such a long time since they had been together just the 2 of them.
The next day Emma told Shay she was having to go away to work for a week or so modeling, Shay didn’t really want her to go as while he wasn’t training he had a lot of time on his hands and wanted to spend some quietly time with her. Emma told him that it had been organized a while ago and she couldn’t get out of it and that she would be away a lot over the next few months. Shay couldn’t see why she was working as hard as he was making loads of money through boxing, sponsorship and personal appearances , but all she used to say was she wanted to make her own money and Shay had to respect that.
Over the next few months just like Frank said, Shay was a busy boy with sponsorship and promotional work all the time. He had started stepping up his training, but wasn’t going to be readying himself for the title fight until 4 months before it.
Kelly had now moved back to Birmingham and Shay and her met up quite a lot and talked a lot on the phone. Emma didn’t seem to be bothered about this; she was away a lot and wrapped up in her modeling career.
Shay had also been a pundit on a few boxing show’s on Sky Sports and done a few charity events at The Squared Circle. Shay had become quite the celebrity, to the point that the only place he could go without getting hassled was Dexter’s club. Shay didn’t mind people asking him for autographs and pictures with him, but it was the idiots who thought they could have a go at him and get a reputation for themselves. Shay use to say that most of these idiots had a big, little man syndrome, as they were usually 5 foot 6, 5 foot 7 blokes who had blown themselves up on steroids and want to prove they are big men. Shay would always try and walk away from these fools, but sometimes he just couldn’t and would defend himself with real bad consequences for the big, little men.
Shay was really enjoying having Kelly his best mate back in his life, but it was time for Shay to start concentrating on his title fight that was now only 4 months away.
Shay had kept himself in pretty good shape over the months he had off, Kenny wanted to focus more on the tactics of the fight as he was confident in Shay’s stamina.
Kenny was finding it hard to work out a weakness in Bruno, if it came to a brawl Bruno could brawl and if they tried to box him Bruno was a well crafted boxer. The one part of Shay’s training Kenny did have a plan for was his sparring, he had enlisted the help of 2 big hitting light heavyweights to put Shay through his paces, but the piece de resistance, Kenny’s master plan was getting Sam Magson to be his main sparring partner. Sam had retired after Shay had beat him, but had excepted Kenny’s offer to be Shay’s main sparring partner as he really wanted a British boxer to beat Bruno. Magson was the only boxer to have ever gone the distance with Bruno except for his one defeat to world champ Jimmy Tarrna.
Magson was a big part of Shay’s training. Sam had lots of advice for Shay and Shay took in all that Sam and Kenny told him.
The light heavyweights Kenny had brought in to spar Shay were earning their money, Shay may have been the weight below them but he took their hardest shots and managed to put both of them down in open sparring. Kenny was well impressed with Shay’s progress and Magson reckoned that he could beat Bruno easy if he used his superior hand speed and movement affectedly.
Kenny had now come up with the plan, with the help from Magson; Shay was going to box Bruno. Kenny wanted Shay to keep Bruno on the end of his jab and use his extra reach to keep out of range. The plan was that this would whine Bruno up into making mistakes and when he did Shay would capitalize on it and win the fight.
Shay was already whining Bruno up by saying things about him in the press and in TV interviews.
Shay had said that “Bruno is just one big bully boy and needs to be taught a lesson; I’m going to do a Jimmy Tarrna on him”.
This didn’t go down well with Bruno who was quoted as saying vile things about Shay’s Mom and Dad, Shay himself and even Kenny.
The plan was working, every time Shay and Bruno met to promote the fight, Bruno would try and attack Shay, but Shay always kept his cool and never lost it once. The boxing community loved it, the feud had even been reported about in America as news spread about the hatred between the boxers.
Shay still found time to go see his Mom and Dad in his busy schedule, his Dad was now house bound and needed his oxygen all the time, but seemed in good spirits and looked a lot better than he had before.
There was just over a week to go before the big fight, Shay was in the best shape of his career and with all the sparring with Magson he was looking good to becoming British Champion. He had got Kelly a ringside seat for the fight, Upton Park had been sold out for months; it was the hottest ticket in town.
Shay had one more promotional obligation to do before the fight it was a big photo shoot at The Squared Circle for his sponsors 1066 entertainments and Brumsdale. It was going too consist of Shay in the ring decked out in Brumsdale clothing surrounded by scantily dressed models from Samantha’s modeling agencies.
The photo shoot went really well, they got all the shots they needed and had a real good laugh doing it, when they had finished Dexter offered all of them a drink at the bar. As Shay’s fight was less than a week away he was just having water, he saw Samantha chatting to Dexter and went over to say hello.
He went up to them and said “hello”.
Samantha replied in her very posh accent “Oh hello Shay how are you doing, you must be so excited about your fight next week, Dexter has kindly asked me to come with him I cannot wait to see you fight”. Shay smiled and replied “Yeah I’m really looking forward to it; it’s going to be a great fight”.
Shay then asked “So Sam how come you didn’t use Emma on this photo shoot, what is she too good for Brumsdale and 1066 entertainments?”
Samantha looked at Shay a bit confused and said “Darling Emma has not worked for me for nearly 2 years. I got her lots of work and she did not turn up for some of them so I had to let her go”.
Shay was shocked at this and asked Samantha “So she wasn’t on a photo shoot in Paris about 8 or 9 months ago?”
Samantha replied “No Shay not for me anyway”.
Shay was really confused, but Dexter then said to him “It was probably for a different company Shay, Sam ain’t the only agency around you know”.
Shay said “Yeah mate you’re probably right, but I’m sure she told me she still worked for Samantha”.
Shay didn’t stay there to long as he couldn’t drink and Emma was coming home that night. When Shay got home Emma was already there, he went into the living room and she welcomed him with a big kiss and a hug. Shay smiled and told her he had really missed her, Emma asked him where he’d been, he told her he had been doing some promotional work for his sponsors. Shay then asked her how her modeling job had gone. Emma said it had gone really well, but she had told Samantha that she wouldn’t be doing any modeling for the next few weeks as she wanted to spend time with him.
Shay looked at Emma a bit confused and said “So you told Samantha you were having a few weeks off?”
Emma replied “Yeah I made sure that I’m all you’re for the next few weeks”.
Shay then said “Oh o.k. how is Sam?”
Emma replied without drawing breath said “Yeah she is really good, she was asking me about you and your fight, she told me to wish you luck”.
Shay couldn’t believe that Emma was blatantly lying to him and he couldn’t understand why.
Shay couldn’t take anymore and said to Emma “Babe why are you lying to me, what’s going on?”
Emma looked shocked and replied “What do you mean lying? Lying about what? I thought you would be happy about me being round for a few weeks?”
Shay shook his head and said “I am happy about that, what I’m not happy about is you lying to me about working for Samantha for the last 2 years, she was at the photo shoot today and she told me you haven’t worked for here for 2 years”.
Emma’s face went from shock to guilt, she sat down on the sofa and put her face in her hands and started crying.
Shay asked her “So what’s going on Emma, I just want the truth”. Emma looked up at him her eyes streaming with tears and said “O.k I will tell you the truth”.
Shay was expecting her to say something about being too embarrassed about being sacked and that she had joined another agency, but that was just wishful thinking.
Emma started by saying “I didn’t want to say anything until you had, had your title fight, but I suppose I might as well”.
Shay with a worried look on his face said “What is it Emma what’s wrong?”
Emma replied “I haven’t worked for Sam for over 2 years, I haven’t worked at all”.
Shay’s worry went to confusion and asked “So where were you all the times you were away?”
Emma bowed her head and said “Shay we have been drifting apart a part for the last few years and I have met someone who I want to be with and that who I have been with when I’ve been away”.
You could see the colour drained from Shay’s face; he sat down on the chair a cross from Emma and very calmly said “So every time you were away you were with someone else? It was because you were away all the time we haven’t seen each other more”.
Shay’s eyes then widened as he could feel the anger boiling in him, he continued with a more serious voice “So why the fuck have you stayed around if you met this bloke over 2 years ago, why haven’t you fucked off with him before?”.
Emma replied “because I thought you were going to be champion, and you were going to make loads of money. I love you but I need someone who can look after me”.
Shay stood up walked to the window not believing what Emma was saying then said “What do you mean no money? Over the last 6 years I must have made 400 grand, you should know you do the accounts. I don’t know about you Em, but to have made that much money and own our own house in Harboure for two 24 year olds from Newtown I think we have done pretty well don’t you? And anyway I’m going to win the title next week and when I do we will be minted”.
Emma looked up at Shay and replied in a cocky voice “Do you really think you have got a chance against Bruno Beef?”
Shay replied “Yeah I fucking do, why do you think I’ve came this far to be beat?”
Emma shook her head and said “Shay you are the sacrificial lamb, Bruno is one of the best around , no one thinks you can win, and after that fight you won’t get another chance”.
Shay couldn’t believe what the woman he loved was saying to him, he replied “Well you seem to know a lot about it Em, what you a professional pundit now?”
Emma replied “No but, enough people have told me that you don’t stand a chance”.
Shay looked at the floor shaking his head and said “Well there’s nothing more to be said Em, get your stuff and get out of my house and don’t ever darken my fucking door again, you gold digging money grabbing slag”.
Emma didn’t say anymore and just went up the stairs and packed her bags and went to leave, as she was leaving she said “Look Shay, I love you, but you’re in a dream world if you think you are going to win the title, just be careful and try not to get hurt”.
Shay just looked at her in disgusted and replied “Just get the fuck out and go see your fancy man, anyway who the fuck is he? I bet he’s some fucking idiot”.
Emma smiled and replied “you will find out soon enough, take care of yourself”.
Shay just said “Fuck off Emma” and slammed the front door behind her.
Shay’s head was completely smashed, he couldn’t believe the betrayal of someone he had put so much faith in. He sat on his sofa and just broke down in tears, he then got up and went over to the drinks cabinet and over the space of the night he downed a whole bottle of Jack Daniels straight out of the bottle. He eventually passed out on the sofa and was woken up late the next day by a knock on his front door.
He got off his sofa and staggered to the front door, still drunk; he opened the door to see Kenny standing there. Shay was supposed to have met Kenny at the gym earlier that morning and had come round to see why he hadn’t turned up.
When he saw Shay he went mental and pushed his way past Shay into his house saying “What the fuck you playing at kid, you got the biggest fight of your life coming up and you’re drinking? What’s wrong with you?”
Shay slowly followed Kenny into the living room, and then said “Me and Emma have split up, she’s been cheating on me for the last 2 years with some bloke”.
Kenny couldn’t get his head round this as Emma had always come across as a nice girl to him.
Shay explained the story about Samantha sacking her, all the times she was away and what she said to him last night.
Kenny could see Shay was really upset about it, but the fact was Shay was fighting Bruno Beef in less than a week’s time. Kenny needed to try and get Shay’s head straight.
He said to Shay “Look Son, I can see you’re hurting, but you are you going to let some bitch fuck your title chances up? You have trained to hard to let that happen and when you do win the title it will be like a big fuck you to her”.
Shay looked up at Kenny his eyes red from crying and from the alcohol and said “I know your right Ken but me and Emma have been together for nearly 10 years, it’s not like I can just get over that”. Kenny nodded his head and replied “I know son, but you need to focus on the fight, if your mind is on other things Bruno will hurt you real bad”.
Kenny went to walk out of the room; Shay asked him where he was going?
Kenny turned and said “I’m going to make you a coffee you got films of Bruno fighting Magson and Tarrna to watch, so you best get yourself sorted”.
Shay looked up at Kenny and replied “Kenny can’t we do this tomorrow?”
Kenny said forcefully “No we can’t and anyway it will take your mind off the bitch”.
Kenny and Shay watched both Bruno’s fights against Magson and Tarrna and then watched them again. Kenny was concentrating on trying to find chinks in the Beefs amour they could use, Shay on the other hand just seemed to be staring at the telly and not really taking any of it in, his thoughts were still with what had happened. Kenny had given Dexter a call to come round to Shay’s to help sort him out When Kenny told Dexter about what had happened between Shay and Emma and that Shay was in a bad way about it Dexter rushed round to Shay’s to let him know his mates were there for him.
Dexter came in and Shay told him the whole sorry story, Dexter thoughts were the same as Kenny’s, he said “fucking bitch” but then tried to put a spin on it.
Dexter said “Look Shay your only 24 mate you should be out there enjoying yourself, you shouldn’t be tied down to one bird, especially a wrong un like her. Look I know it don’t feel like it now, but in a few weeks you will think to yourself why the fuck did you want to get tied down so young”.
Shay just shook his head and said “Well it don’t feel like that to me”. Kenny who isn’t the most subtlest of people then said “Shay look you ain’t got a few weeks to get over this, you fight Bruno on Saturday, so snap out of it and lets win the title”.
Dexter looked at Kenny and said “Come on Ken; go easy, he’s just broken up with his misses”.
Kenny replied angrily “I’m not bothered, what I am bothered about is Shay fucking the rest of his life up over some bird, get over it Shay and get your head straight for Saturday”.
Dexter looked down at Shay, who looked really shocked at what Kenny had just said to him and said to Shay “I know it sounds harsh, but Kenny is right, Saturday is going to be a big changing point in your life. You have got to give yourself the best chance you can”.
Shay looked up at Kenny and Dexter and nodded his head in agreement, Shay then said “Yeah your right, I’ll use tonight to get my head round it, Ken and I’ll call you in the morning”.
As Kenny and Dexter went to leave there was a knock at the door, it was Kelly who had just popped round for a cuppa and a chat. By the look on Kenny’s and Dexter’s face’s she could tell something was wrong.
Kenny said “Hello Kell, Shay’s in the living room, I think he could do with a good friend at the moment”.
Kenny and Dexter left and Kelly went in and asked Shay “What’s going on?”
Shay looked down to the floor and burst into tears, he told Kelly what had happened, Kelly couldn’t believe it, she sat down next to Shay, put her arms round him and gave him a big hug. All Shay kept saying was “What am I going to do now, what am I going to do now?”
Kelly sat up straight and looked at Shay with a serious face.
She said “What you’re going to do is put all this to one side and concentrate on your fight, that’s what you have got to do”.
Shay replied still with tears streaming down his face “What do you think it’s that easy?”
Kelly put her hand on his shoulder and said caringly “No Shay it isn’t, but I know how much this fight means to you. You have gone on about being a champion since we were kids and I’m not going to let you mess your chances up over some girl”.
Shay knew what Kelly was saying was right, he had always told Kelly that one day he would be a champion boxer, and he knew if he messed this chance up he might not get another one.
Shay sat up wiped away the tears from his eyes looked a Kelly and said “You know what Kelly, you, Kenny and Dexter are right, I’ve got to get a grip and win the title”.
Shay then looked with a sadden face “I’m just gutted I have wasted 10 years of my life on someone I didn’t really know, she is the only girl I have been with”.
Shay then laughed and said “I don’t even know how to chat up women.”
Kelly just smiled at him and replied “Shay believe it or not you are a real good looking bloke, you’re a celebrity as well and all my friends always ask about you telling me your so fit, so I don’t think you will have any trouble getting a new women, but for now just concentrate on winning this title”.
Shay seemed to perk up a bit after Kelly said this and asked “So you think I’m good looking then?” he laughed and then continued “and fit as well, I didn’t know you looked at me that way”.
Kelly laughed and said “Shay I said my friends think your fit, and yes you are a good looking bloke , but I’m right off blokes at the moment so don’t even think about it”.
Shay cracked up laughing at this and replied “Don’t flatter yourself Kell, I wouldn’t put it on you if you were the last women on earth” Kelly laughed and said “Yeah right Shay I know you want me”.
Shay who was still laughing and said “You know what Kell, you’re a great friend and I’m glad you came round. Thank you”.
Shay gave Kelly a hug, then asked her if she fancied going out for something to eat. Kelly said “yes” and they went down to a restaurant just down from Shay’s house.
Kelly really took his mind off what had happened with Emma and they enjoyed a really nice night. They finished their meals; Shay only had something light as he had to watch his weight so close to the fight. The waiter came over with the bill and Shay handed him his credit card to pay for it.
Shay said to the waiter “put 20 pound on there for yourself mate”.
The waiter thanked him and put his card in the machine. Shay and Kelly were having a nice chat while they were waiting for his card to come back, the waiter came back with his card and said to Shay “I’m sorry Sir, your card has been declined”.
Shay looked at the waiter in disbelief and said “Mate there’s over 100 grand in my account, run it though again”.
The waiter replied “Sir, I have put it though 3 times and it has been declined 3 times”.
The manager came over and said they would have to hold on to the card as it had been declined. Shay couldn’t believe this; Kelly then got her card out and paid for the meal.
Shay felt really embarrassed and said to Kelly “There must be a fault on the machine or the card I’ll go to the bank tomorrow and sort it out and give you the money back for the meal. Kelly told him not to worry about it, and then joked that the famous boxer couldn’t afford a 50 pound meal.
Kelly spent the night at Shay’s house in the guest bedroom and went off to work early in the morning. Shay got up early as well, he still felt down about him and Emma splitting up, but had a new positive attitude to being focused on the title fight. The first thing Shay did was to go down to the bank to sort out why his card was declined, this was the first time.