The Look of Love. Crystal B. Bright

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      Elizabeth released an exasperated sigh. “You’ve done this fisticuffs thing long enough. I think it’s time for you to come home.”

      Gunnar blinked. In all the years he’d done MMA, his mother had never asked him to quit and come home. Goose bumps sprang over his arms and crept up to his neck to the top of his head. He swallowed hard as he digested every word in her request. Then he heard a high-pitched beeping noise in succession…like in a hospital. A stone dropped in his gut.

      “What’s that sound?” Gunnar grounded himself to one spot. “Where are you? Are you in a hospital?”

      “Guns, you’ve got to go.” Chuck grabbed Gunnar’s other hand.

      The hold forced Gunnar to brace the phone against his ear using his shoulder. “One second.” Gunnar didn’t care about the match or Chuck. He needed to know what Elizabeth had neglected to share at the start of the call. “Ma, what’s going on with you?”

      “I know you have to go. We can talk later.” Her voice cracked a little.

      Gunnar’s heart snapped. “Ma, don’t hang up.”

      “You will be disqualified if you don’t get out to the ring now.” Chuck pulled on Gunnar’s arm.

      Gunnar snatched his limb out of his trainer’s grip. “One damn minute!” he snapped at Chuck.

      “We will talk later. Go do your fighting thing.”

      Her light voice made Gunnar imagine his gorgeous mother smiling. He couldn’t smile. At the moment, his chest felt like every opponent he’d fought in his lifetime sat on it and constricted his air. He couldn’t get out from under the weight. Right now, with his mother across the country, an arena full of people waiting for him, a ravenous opponent in the ring, and his impatient trainer, Gunnar found obstacles everywhere he turned.

      Gunnar heard another woman’s voice in the background.

      “Queen, you cannot be on the phone.”

      “Who is that? Is that a nurse?” Gunnar scratched his head.

      His mother cleared her throat. “No, it’s not.”

      Gunnar heard some shuffling on the other end of the line.

      “You need to get your rest. You can make your calls tomorrow before your tests.”

      Gunnar strained to hear this stranger’s voice through the phone. It sounded a little familiar, but he couldn’t place it.

      “I love you.” Elizabeth made a kissing sound through the phone before it disconnected.

      Not content with ending the conversation that way, Gunnar tried redialing his mother. As he’d suspected, the number went to the reception desk at Virginia Beach General Hospital. After demanding to get transferred to Elizabeth Sommerville’s room, he waited through several rings before disconnecting the call. Then he tried calling her cell phone. The call went straight to her voice mail.

      He tried calling the hospital again. Once he got the main desk representative again, he asked about his mother. At the word cardiology, he nearly dropped to his knees. How could a woman who opened her home to three strangers have anything wrong with her heart?

      After being transferred to the nurses’ station, Gunnar unleashed a verbal assault. “I need to speak with a patient on your floor.” Before she could ask for a name, he spouted, “Elizabeth Sommerville. Get her.”

      “Okay, please hold, sir.”

      Listening to the easy-listening jazz that played when the nurse placed him on hold didn’t help to calm his nerves. Gunnar marched back and forth this time.

      “Guns, you have to go.” Chuck held the doorknob. He must have thought better of his decision to touch Gunnar again.

      “One second.” Gunnar held up his finger.

      The music stopped. “Sir, Ms. Sommerville’s daughter has requested no more calls for this evening. You can call again in the morning after eight.”

      Gunnar felt like flames engulfed his body. “Daughter? My mother doesn’t have a daughter. She has three sons, and I’m one of them.”

      “Sir, I’m sorry. Your mother concurred with the young woman in the room with her, and we did just give her medication to help her sleep. Please give her a call in the morning when she wakes up.” The nurse kept her voice even and authoritative, and before Gunnar could keep up his argument, she disconnected the call.

      “Keep trying to call her.” Gunnar shoved the phone at his trainer before cursing.

      He hadn’t even found out why his mother had to go to the hospital. Had she had a heart attack or a stroke? Every scenario he thought about had him grinding his teeth in anger.

      “You have got to go.” Chuck opened the door to usher him through.

      A wave of chants flooded the room. The support should have been like a warm blanket around his body. Instead, Gunnar likened the shouts to spectators in a coliseum waiting to watch a hapless gladiator get mauled by a lion. Little did they know, he had enough fire in his belly to crush a lion, a tiger, and a whole damn safari.

      “Something is going on with my mother. I’m fine just walking away right now. Just hop on a plane and go all the way back to Virginia.” Gunnar put his fists to his hips and glared at Chuck to get across his intent.

      The idea of going back to Virginia brought a layer of cold sweat that dripped from his head. He chewed the inside of his cheek, a habit he hadn’t done since childhood when he’d prayed in his head that the foster father he’d had before getting with Queen Elizabeth wouldn’t come home drunk with his own need to fight…anyone. Gunnar had left Virginia for a reason. Returning to it would stir up more questions and problems than what he faced in the ring.

      Chuck held his hand up as a way to calm Gunnar, but Gunnar couldn’t be reasoned with, calmed, or reassured until he either spoke to his mother or, better yet, saw her.

      “Tell you what. I’ll keep trying her. After your fight, you can talk to her again.” Chuck placed Gunnar’s heavyweight championship belt on Gunnar’s shoulder.

      Gunnar nodded. “Get her on the phone after the fight.” He adjusted the heavy metal belt on the thick black leather backing.

      Without another word, Gunnar stormed out of the door and headed to the octagon. The cheers from the audience roared in the large auditorium. He kept his stare directed on the lit ring. Fans grabbed at Gunnar’s shirt and his arms as he stormed to the middle. He paid no attention to them.

      The closer he got to the ring, the more his surroundings got smaller until his competitor became the only thing he saw at the end of his tunnel vision. He stepped into the ring and didn’t bother stomping around like Tony “The Shark” Palombo. With it being a championship match, Gunnar handed his belt to the referee.

      He didn’t like the entertaining part of doing MMA. He just wanted to fight. Right now, he had a lot of aggression to get out of his system.

      Gunnar broke his attention СКАЧАТЬ