Post by Nick Knight on Jan 3, 2023 7:15:27 GMT
December 16 12:37 PM Local Time
Nick Knight leans his head against the cool wall as the shower cascades down his shredded back staining the water red. He leans down to pick up a bottle of Sapporo Premium off of the floor and winces from the pain of just moving. The ice cold beer tasted good after a hard fought win, but it did nothing to numb his pain. He could not help but think that he was getting to old for this death match shit, but his plan had worked. He had taken everything that Wraith had thrown at him, and he was able to pull of the win with seconds to spare. One more win and he would earn a chance to face Angel Blake, and finally become IWF World Champion.
“Oh my God, Nicky!” Penny walked into the showers carrying him a fresh beer. “You need to get your ass to the hospital.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he lied.
“Bullshit, I’m going to get a doctor.”
He turned off the water and gingerly made his way back into the dressing room. He knew that he was still dirty and probably smelled, but the idea of washing his back made him a little nauseous. So he just sat and finished his beer why he waited for Penny to return with one of the company doctors. He’d much worse done to him in a match and survived just fine, but she was a worrier.
“Holy shit!” Nick looks over to see his son and Cin walking into the room. “Your back is all kinds of fucked up, dad.”
“Language JC,” he scolds the younger Knight.
“Are you alright,” Cin asks Nick
“I’ve been better, but I’ve been a Hell of a lot worse,” he answered.
“Do you need anything?”
“Maybe another beer.” Nick tossed his empty into the trash can a few feet away. “I could seriously use an edible, but this country is so fucking backwards about weed.”
“Sorry, love. I’ll go find you a beer.” She leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Keep an eye on your dad while I’m gone.”
JC sat down in the chair next to his dad and took time to really look over the old man’s injuries. “That was one Hell of a match, but you look like hammered shit. Have you seen your back?”
“Not yet. Do I really want to?”
“Probably not.” JC stands up and takes a quick picture with his phone. “Here.”
“Fuck me!” Nick takes a look at the picture and nearly throws up. In the hundreds of death matches he had been a part of all over the world he had never been so torn up. The barbed wire had ground his flesh into hamburger and there were multiple burns from the explosions. Maybe Penny was right, he needed to go to the hospital this time. Goddamn, he might actually be getting too old for this hardcore shit. “Do me a favor and Tweet that shit out for all the world to see the Hell that I’ll go through to keep this fucking championship.”
“You weren’t kidding.” Nick looks over his shoulder to see Penny walking back into the room with Dr. Kingsley in tow. The doctor quickly walks over to him and starts to look over his wounds closely without touching them. “The good news is that most of these cuts are superficial and won’t need any treatment besides some Neosporin, however a few of them are going to need stitched up. I’m also concerned by a couple of these burns might be deep second degree burns and need a little more treatment.”
“Do whatever you need to do, doc.”
“Do you mind if I touch, Nick?” Knight shakes his head and Dr. Kingsley pulled on a pair of gloves. Gently she examines each one of the wounds, several of them making him wince in pain. “I hate to say it, but a couple of these are too deep for me to do anything with here. You’re going to need to go over to the hospital.”
“Fuck me! Alright, let me put on some pants.” Nick dug through his bag and found a pair of gym shorts and carefully slid them on over his legs, which had only been scratched up by the barbed wire. Not bothering with a shirt, and only wearing his shower shoes he slowly stood up grimacing. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Call us to let us know what’s going on,” Penny said, handing him his cell phone.
“I will.” Nick gives both of his fiancees a kiss, and JC a fist bump before following the doctor out into the hall.
“I don’t really see any reason for you to take an ambulance for this,” the doctor said. “There’s a taxi waiting for you in the loading docks and we called to let them know that you’re coming.”
“Thanks, doc.” Nick gives her a fist bump, before gingerly walking towards the loading docks. A translator was waiting next to the cab and they exchanged pleasantries as he carefully climbed inside the car. The driver was silent as he navigated his way through the heavy Tokyo traffic, and fifteen minutes later they were arriving at the entrance to the emergency department. A quick thank you to the driver and he was limping into the hospital.
“Nicky-san, I am Dr. Ishii” A doctor greets him as soon as he walks through the automatic doors. “Dr. Kingsley told me that you have some pretty serious cuts that she would like me to treat.”
“Nice to meet you, doctor.” Knight bows politely, fighting back a moan. “From the picture my son showed me I would say I’m going to need some help.”
“Well let’s get you back into a room and see what we can do for you.” Dr. Ishii leads the way to a small private room in the back corner of the emergency room. Nick climbs up on the table and tries not to scream as the doctor feels around on his back. “I am going to have one of the nurses come in and clean up your wounds, and then I will be back in to sew them up.”
“Thanks, doc.”
An hour later he was in a taxi heading back towards The Peninsula Tokyo with thirty-eight stitches, six staples, and a couple of pain pills on board. Normally he would have enjoyed watching the beautiful chaos that was life in Japans capital city, but he was too beat to shit to really care about anything. So he just leaned his head against the window and dozed off on the half hour ride.
“Wake up, Nicky san,” the cab driver said when they reached the hotel.
“You know who I am?” A now semi-stoned Knight looked shocked.
“Of course, I am a big fan. I was there when you won your second Lord of the Death Matches. I will never forget that electrified barbed wire cage match you had against Wrestler X.”
“Yeah, me neither. Hitting that electrified cage was some of the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life.”
“How did your match go tonight?”
“Well, good and bad I guess. Good because I won, and bad because my back got absolutely shredded and I’ve got a few pretty nasty burns.”
“Well I’m glad you won. Only one more defense and you get to face Angel!”
“What’s your name?”
“Minato Sato.”
Nick pulled out his phone and sent a quick text message. “There will be two tickets waiting for for Diamonds Are Forever.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. Thank you for the ride, and I hope you enjoy the show.”
“Thank you for the tickets, Nicky San.”
“Thank you for being a fan.”
Nick climbed out of the car and walked towards the front doors of the hotel, but a man dressed in a suit came running to bar his way. “Sir I’m sorry, but you cannot go into the hotel dressed like that.”
“Listen I’ve had a really long night. I just left the hospital, because I had to get both stitches and staples in my back. All I want to do is go up to my room and get some sleep, because I have to be at the airport in the morning.”
“I’m sorry that you’ve had a rough night, but I cannot allow to enter the hotel like that,” the concierge says.
“Fine call up to Apartment Three and ask whoever answers to bring me down a shirt.” Nick sits down on a bench while the snooty man calls to have someone brings him a shirt. The novacaine that they used to numb his back before putting in the stitches was starting to wear off, and even with the pain pills he was starting to feel the effects of the match. He really just hoped that Sabin was feeling just as shitty.
“You were supposed to have called us.” Cin comes out the front door and walks in his direction. “We were getting worried.”
“I didn’t really see the need, sorry.”
“What did the doctors have to say,” she asks, sitting beside him.
“Thirty some stitches, a few staples, and bandaged me up. I’m supposed to change the bandages every day and find a doctor to remove everything in a week,” he answers.
“Well put this on, so we can go inside and get some sleep.” She hands him a t-shirt, which he pulls over his head. Tears well up in eyes and he has to fight back nausea the pain is so intense. “Sweetie, are you alright?”
“Just fucking ducky.” He stood up and nearly fell over, but Cin was right there to help him. “Thank you, my love.”
“Anytime.” The pair walk into the lobby and towards the elevators, Nick’s arm draped over Cin. “You still haven’t told us where we’re going tomorrow.”
“It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you, now would it.”
“Don’t you think that the brides should know where their wedding is going to be?”
“You will know in a couple of days, and you’re going to love it.”
“You know that normally it’s the bride that does most of the planning for the wedding? They want to make sure that their big day is exactly what they’ve always wanted since they were a little girl.”
“True, but this isn’t exactly a traditional wedding and you are far from being a typical bride.” Nick leans down and kisses her on the forehead. “You are just going to have to trust me that we are going to have an absolutely amazing wedding.”
“You know that I trust you, but I’m also scared shitless.”
“Me too.”
A couple of minutes later they are opening the door to the apartment that they’ve been renting for the past week. IWF had rented out two entire floors at one of Tokyo’s other five star hotels, but Nicky had decided to stay somewhere that is family could be together. It wasn’t the cheapest decision he had ever made, but he did talk the office out of giving him a stipend to help pay for it.
“Why didn’t you call us,” Penny scolds him, as soon as they’re inside the apartment.
“When I found out it wasn’t going to take too long I just let them do their thing and hurried back, sorry.” He gives her a careful hug and a kiss on top of the head. “Before you ask what he had to say, here is the paperwork.”
Penny flips through until she finds it in English. “Thirty-eight stitches, six staples, second degree burns over eighteen percent of your body, some of which are deep, and multiple contusions. Nicky this is pretty serious shit.”
“Nah.” He gives her a weak smile. “I actually had more stitches after this fucked up Prison Break Death Match in Mexico right after we split up, and they had to use more staples when they opened up my knee the second time because I had a staph infection. I also had burns over forty five percent of my body after the first Lord of the Death Matches that I won, but most of those were first degree.”
“Just because you’ve had worse, doesn’t mean these aren’t bad. Your eye is swelling shut for fuck sake, and we’re getting married in two weeks. Speaking of which…”
“Don’t bother, I already tried,” Cin cut her off. “Our asshole fiance is going to be secretive until the end.”
“Do you know,” Penny ask JC.
“No, he won’t even tell me.”
“Here’s what I will tell you, we are not spending Christmas in the same place as the wedding. So you're getting two surprise vacations.”
Nick begins to wobble on his feet. “Let’s get you to bed before you just fall right over.”
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about you wanting to take me to bed just to sleep,” he says, with a weak smile.
“I think right now that’s about the only thing you can do in bed.”
“Normally I would want to prove you wrong, but I think you’re right.”
“Come on stud.” Cin giggles and starts helping him towards the bedroom, while Penny runs ahead and pulls down the comforter for him. Carefully they help him pull his shirt over off and he is asleep before his head even hits the pillow.
10:12 PM Local Time
Nick wakes up with his stomach growling and his bladder ready to burst. Rolling out of bed he nearly pisses himself from the pain coursing through his body. “Fuck!”
Cin runs into the room with concern painted all over her face. “Why didn’t you ask for help?”
“I didn’t think I was going to need help to take a piss,” he answered.
“Well obviously you do.” Being sure not to touch his back she gets him to his feet and walks next to him as his hobbles to the bathroom. “Do you need me to hold it for you, too?”
“You know what, fuck you.”
“I don’t think you could right now.”
“You know what, I’m pretty sure you’re right.” Nick’s laugh is cut off by a grimace of pain. “Alright, laughing is off the menu for a day or two.”
“You poor man, let’s get you back into bed.”
“No, I really need to get something to eat. I haven’t had anything since dinner last night.”
“Let me go grab the room service menu.” She starts to walk out of the room but he catches her wrist and pulls her in for a tender kiss.
“I want to go out and get something. Where’s Penny and JC?”
“They went to the kabuki theater, and then out to dinner. They should be back in a little while.”
“I’m sorry, I got you girls were supposed to be doing that tonight.”
“It’s alright, Nicky. I was only going because Penny wanted to, and I think it’s pretty cool that JC is getting to hang out with his mom and do something so cultural. That and we’re going to be back in Tokyo in a couple of weeks if I change my mind.”
“What sounds good,” he asks.
“I don’t care.”
“Alright, get dressed. I know the perfect place.” Nick limps back into the bedroom and digs through his suitcase until he pulls out a pair of red and black Zubaz, a Lord of the Death Match ‘11 t-shirt, and shiny black satin bomber jacket.
“You’re seriously not going to wear that are you,” Cin says, turning her pretty nose up at his choice of clothes. “Can’t you at least dress up a little bit. It’s our last night in Japan.”
“Trust me, where we’re going this is perfectly dressed up.”
“So you’re taking me to that McDonald’s down the street?”
“No, smartass. You’ll see when we get there, I promise.”
The couple quickly gets dressed and makes their way down into the hotel lobby to have the concierge order a cab for them. A couple of minutes later the car arrives and Nick tells the driver where they’re going in Japanese before doing his best to get comfortable. It felt nice just being with his fiancee having a normal conversation after spending so much time on the road lately.
“I’ve really missed you,” he tells her.
“I’ve missed you, too. I hate these long overseas tours when you can’t come home every week.”
“I’m really not much of a fan, trust me. I miss the California sunshine, I miss surfing, I miss driving the El Camino, I miss my family, I miss…”
“Sex. You can say it, you miss sex.”
Nick does his best not to laugh, knowing that it will hurt, but he can’t help it. “Yes I miss sex. I know you and Penny are both crazy busy with work, but I wish you could get away more and come on the road with me.”
“I’d love that, but it’s just not possible if I’m going to open up the third location in the Spring.”
“Have I told you lately how proud I am of you?”
“Not lately,” she says, with a smile.
“I’m extremely proud of you, my love. You have an amazing mind for business, hire fantastic people, and give the best massages I’ve ever had. I’m not just saying that because most of mine come with happy endings either.”
“Well that’s good, or I’d cut off the happy endings.”
“Do you mean stop them, or cut something off?”
“You don’t know do you?”
“No I don’t, and I’d rather not find out.”
Nick reached for her hand and they start to walk into the restaurant, but she stops. “Wait, you got that jacket from this place?”
“Yes I did. It’s a very special tradition that when gaijin tour Japan for the first time they are brought here for dinner and the manager will gift them a jacket. It’s a big deal because it means that you belong to the brotherhood.”
“That’s why there’s pictures of wrestlers on the the sign?”
“Exactly. Now come on, I’m fucking starving.” The couple walk hand in hand into the restaurant, which so late was nearly empty. Taking one of the rugged tree stump seats they wait for the employee to take the order of two businessmen that had walked in just ahead of them. “If you look over in the corner there’s a picture of me with my friend Adryn. It was taken the first time he and I came over to work a tour for HJW.”
“I’ve never heard you talk about him before.”
“I honestly try not to think about him too much, because it just depresses me. He died from an overdose ten years ago.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” She lays his head on his shoulder. “Maybe I can do something to cheer you up when we get back to the hotel.”
“After this meal neither one of us is going to want to do anything. Trust me this food is so fucking good all your going to want when we get back to the hotel is sleep.”
A man walks over with a menu when his eyes suddenly go wide in surprise. “Nightmare San!”
“Hello Toshihiko, how have you been?”
“Excellent, my friend.”
“I wasn’t expecting to see you here tonight,” Nick says. “I thought you managed the new location.”
“One of my workers has a very sick child, so I am filling in for a few days. I am very glad that I am, because it has been far too long since I’ve seen the great Nicky Nightmare.”
“I wasn’t able to get in to eat the last couple of times I’ve been to Tokyo, but I wanted to treat my fiancee to something special.”
Toshihiko gives Nick a funny look. “Of all the restaurants in Tokyo you bring her to a steakhouse? Don’t you have one of those on every corner in America.”
Knight chuckles. “Almost, but none of them are Ribera.”
“Thank you for your compliment. What would you like tonight?”
“We’ll take two pound and a half steaks with corn,” Nick answers.
“Coming right up.”
“They actually know who you are here,” Cin says, impressed.
“I would hope so after almost twenty years of eating here. I mean, my picture is on the wall afterall.”
Nick stands up and begins looking over the pictures of some of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the business that covers the entire wall. Cin stands beside his and points to one, “Is that your brother and Joey Noxx?”
“Yeah, that was on a tour we did when I was running xXx.” Knight points to another picture. “That’s a picture of JJ when he was much younger and less hairy.”
“You should have invited them, jerk.” She punches him on the arm.
“I didn’t know we were coming here until an hour ago, besides it’s nice just to spend time with you.” He wraps his arm around her and pulls her close. “It has been far too long since the last time we went on a date.”
“It’s not my fault that you never come home.” He hears genuine hurt in her voice, and it nearly breaks his heart.
“After this next show I won’t be TV Champ one way or another, so I probably won’t be booked on every single show and can get home more, but we’re going to be in Japan for three more week and then the UK.”
“Those are some pretty long flights just to have to turn around and going back in a couple of days,” she admits.
“Yes, but it’s worth it.” He lovingly kisses her on the top of the head. “I promise that anytime I have a week off I will come home for a few days. I know that you’re busy with work, but I would love if you could join me on the road for a few days also.”
“I’d like that, and I can stay home with JC so Penny can spend some time with you also.”
“That would be great. I love you Cin.”
“I love you, too.”
Toshihiko gestures to Nicky that there food was ready and he leads Cin back towards the counter. The meal was nothing much to look at, just some steak, corn, and a bowl of rice, but Nicky had to laugh when Cin moans around a bite of the juicy meat. He honestly enjoyed watching her eat one of his favorite meals in the world, as much as he enjoyed eating it.
“What is in this sauce? It’s delicious!”
“I’ve never been able to figure it out, and they ain’t saying,” Nick answers. “Now you can see why this place is so over with the boys.”
“Yes I can. Will you bring me back?”
“All four of us will have to go to the other location, it’s bigger.”
“That will be awesome.”
Nick called Toshihiko over so he can pay the bill. The owner was happy that Cin found the meal to be so delicious and as they were walking out he stopped her. “Young lady, what size jacket do you wear?”
“Probably a medium.”
He reaches up above the grill and pulls down a jacket wrapped in plastic. “Please come back and see us again.”
“For me, really. Thank you.” Cin tears open the plastic and pulls out a black satin jacket with a red bull on the back that perfectly matches Nicky’s. “This is awesome.”
“Welcome to the brotherhood,” he says, laughing. “Just a heads up, JC is probably going to be pissed that you got one of those.”
“Well he’s training to be a wrestler, he can earn his.”
“You tell him that.”
The couple stand in the street outside of the restaurant and wait for the ride that Nick had ordered using the app on his phone. The car arrives in only a few minutes and they are on the road back towards the hotel. His stomach full and still feeling the effects of the beating he took at the hands of Wraith earlier in the day he found himself dozing, his head leaning on Cin’s shoulder most of the way.
When they reached the hotel they made their way to their apartment hand in hand. Penny and JC are sitting in the living room area watching a movie and they both look up when the door opens. Nick can see instantly that JC is in fact pissed when he sees Cin’s jacket, “What the fuck, Dad? No I will not watch my language. Why in the fuck does she get to go to Ribera and get a jacket.”
“What’s Ribera,” Penny asks.
“It’s a restaurant that all of the wrestlers go to eat at, and the owner given the boys those jackets as a gift. It’s a right of passage of gaijin,” JC explains.
“So your dad took Cin out for dinner. I’m sure we can all go when we get back to Tokyo.” Penny tried to calm her son down.
“That doesn’t explain why she got the jacket,” JC says, still angry.
“The owner gave it to me when we were leave,” Cin explains.
“For what, fucking my dad?”
“JC, that’s enough. You can pissed that I took Cin to Ribera all you want, but you will show her respect. Now I think it’s a good idea that you hit the sheets, because we’ve got a fairly early flight.”
The younger Knight stands up and stomps his way into his bedroom and slams the door behind him. Penny stands to follow him, but Cin stops her. “No, let me go talk to him.”
“Did you think he would react like that,” Penny asks.
“No. I thought he might be a little bit pissed, but not like that.”
“Cin will smooth it over. Those to have a pretty close relationship, and it’s not just because he wants to see her naked.”
Nick grins and shakes his head. “I try to see her naked every chance I get. Lucky for me I get to, and touch her too.”
“Lucky for both of us.” Penny walks over and gives him a quick kiss. “How are you feeling?”
“I hurt and I’m tired.”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you need to stop taking those kinds of risks. You aren’t a twenty year old kid trying to make as much money as possible. You already make good money, you don’t need to do that crazy shit any more.”
“I’m not sure I could have won that match if it was anything other than crazy, besides I owe the Japanese fans almost everything. If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have the house that we live in right, because they are the ones that paid for it.”
“That was fifteen years ago.”
“Yeah, but beating Sabin has me one step closer to making a whole lot more money. My career has a shelf life and I need to make as much money as I can before it expires. We can talk about this more later though, because I want to finish packing and try to get some sleep.”
“What time does our plane leave?”
“I have a car picking us up at ten.”
“I’ll be in just as soon as I make sure everything is fine between JC and Cin.”
“Alright. I love you.”
“I love you too, Nicky.”
December 17 8:17 AM Local Time
Nick wakes up alone in bed and feeling like he had been hit by a bus. There didn’t seem to be a single muscle in his body that wasn’t sore, and some of the aches felt like they went clear down to the bone. His back was mostly on fire from the combination of deep cuts and burns, except the numb patches where the fire scorched. At least he had carrying that giant gold belt around for two weeks to look forward to for another couple of weeks.
Rolling out of bed he nearly screams as the pain goes from burning to absolute hellfire. He could not remember a time when he had ever hurt so much after a match, and he would do entire weekends of nothing but death matches. He had been set on fire, hit with only god knows what, and had weed whackers used on him; just to turn around and go to work at some shitty 7-Eleven. Now after just one match he was left feeling like he was going to fucking die.
The shower was running when he reaches the bathroom, and his bladder was about to splatter so he opens the door and steps into the steam filled room. Penny was inside of the glass stall washing her hair and he wishes he could join her, because as much as the nurse cleaned him up the day before he fells like he still stinks; but his stitches couldn’t get wet for another day.
“Good morning, sweetie,” Penny says.
“Good morning, my love.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Like flaming hammered dog shit.” He nearly faints as he takes a piss. It seems like bruised kidneys can be added to his list of injuries. “Are you almost packed?”
“I just need to pick out something to wear today, and then I can get everything zipped up. That would be easier if I knew where we were going.”
“I’m not going to tell you, so please stop trying to get me too. All I will say is wear something comfortable, because it’s a rather long flight.”
She begins to bitch, but he walks out of the bathroom ignoring her. She was just going to try to guilt trip him into telling her where they were going, and he wasn’t going to do it. They would be to the airport soon enough and she can find out with everyone else. He honestly didn’t even feel bad about it.
He pushed through the pain and dressed in the same clothes that he had warn the night before, because they were probably the most comfortable thing that he owned. Next he put on his fanny pack that held his passport, wallet, and a couple hundred bucks in both Yen and Vietnamese Dollars.
Out in the living room JC and Cin were enjoying a nice breakfast that they had room service bring up. He greets them with his best forced smile. “Good morning family.”
“Good morning my love,” Cin wrinkles up her nose when she sees how he’s dressed. “Do you have to wear that thing?”
“Yes, because it is the easiest way to travel. You don’t have to constantly be digging your passport out of your bag, and you don’t have to worry about some asshole pick pocketing you. That and it represents the height of nineties wrestler fashion, which I’m doing my best to bring back.”
“Whatever,” she says, shaking her head.
“Good morning, JC.” JC just ignores his father. Frustrated by his son’s actions Nick says, “James Christopher come with me.”
The petulant teenager stands up and Nick leads him into the other bedroom. “What?”
“JC it’s really easy to get pissed off at your age. Hell I got pissed off and hitchhiked across half the country when I was your age. So I’m going to give you a piece of dad advice that I sadly had to learn the hard way, don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“That means that the last three people that you want to fuck with are in this apartment,” Nicky explains. “We put a roof over your head and food in your belly. Just about everything that you own we have given you at one time or another. It is because of my hard work that you are standing in Tokyo Japan right now and not visiting your grandparents in Indiana for Christmas.”
“Maybe I’d rather be in Indiana.”
“I’ll go tell your mother that plans have changed and that the two of you are going to your grandparents, instead of what I have planned.”
Nick starts to leave the room. “Dad wait!”
“What? I need to go and grab my phone so I can order tickets for you guys.”
“Don’t! You know that I fucking hate Indiana.”
“One, watch your mouth. Two, why should I give a shit what you like, or dislike? You’re being a little shit head, and I’m not sure I want you around to ruin my Christmas. It’s just a shame that you’re going to be ruining your mother’s.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What was that?”
“I said, I’m sorry.”
“Are you really sorry, or do you just not want to go to your grandparents?”
“A little bit of both,” JC says, with a grin.
“Smartass. Go finish your breakfast and make sure you’ve got everything packed. The car will be here to pick up up in an hour and a half.”
The next hour was a whirlwind of activity as everyone eats and finishes packing their suitcases. A bellhop shows up at ten minutes before ten to take their bags down to the lobby where the SUV is waiting to take them to Haneda Airport. The ride all the way to the airport was tense and Nick could tell that they were all annoyed that he would not tell them where they were going. Finally ten minutes before they reached their destination he sent each of them a text message with their flight information.
“Where in the heck in Da Nang,” JC asks.
“Vietnam,” Nick answers,
“Why are we going to Vietnam for Christmas,” Cin asks.
“An hour flight south of Da Nang there’s a small community that has killer surfing. I thought it might be a good time to spend a week just hanging out and hitting the waves.”
“We don’t have any of our gear,” JC says.
“Yes we do. I had Joey go to the house to get it, and ship it to us. It’s waiting for us at the hotels all clean with a fresh coat of wax. I even bought myself a little Christmas present and got a brand new board.”
“You let Joey Noxx touch my swimsuits,” Penny asks.
“Yeah. I also told him to go through your underwear drawer and keep a couple things if he wants. You know as a tip.”
“Nicky, you’re an ass.”
“What? You don’t think that’s a good enough tip?”
JC starts to laugh, and Penny gives him a dirty look. “What do you think is so damn funny?”
“You’re letting Dad get you all wound up, Mom. Of course he’s not going to let Uncle Joey dig through your underwear drawer, he would obviously prefer dirty underwear.”
Nick and Cin both laugh at that, earning them dirty looks. “I don’t know why you two are encouraging him.”
“You should be happy that you have a kid that’s smart enough to get one over on you,” Cin replies.
“Whatever. Let’s get inside before we miss our flight.”
The family checks their bags at the counter and are fast tracked through security. Arriving well ahead of the scheduled flight they all make sure that all of their electronics are charged, and Nick hits a book store to get a copy of the first book in The Wheel of Time series. He’d watched the first season of the show on Prime Video and has been looking forward to having a chance to read the book. Ten hours on airplanes would be more than enough for him to get the book started.
When their plane finally arrived they were among the very first passengers allowed to board, and were comfortably seated in first class with a drink in their hands before they were ready for takeoff. As the craft taxied down the runaway and big dumb smile comes on Nicky’s face, because no matter how many times you has flown, he absolutely loves the rush you get when the engines wind up and the g force pushes you back into your seat. He even love a little bit of turbulence, always thought it was like a rollercoaster at thirty thousand feet.
He was listening to his Modern Metal playlist and just cracking open Eye of the World when JC tapped him on the shoulder. “They just announced the card for the next show.”
“Yeah, and?”
“Looks like you’re tenth defense is going to be against JJ.”
“Cool,” Nicky replies.
“It doesn’t bother you that the only person standing between you and a shot at the World Championship is one of your best friends?”
“Not at all. Booking me against JJ means that either win my tenth defense and automatically get a match with Angel, or another member of The Revolution is the TV Champ. Sure I want to be World Champion, but win or lose the group stays strong.”
“So you’re perfectly alright with losing,” the younger Knight asks, obviously confused.
“That’s really complicated,” Nick answers.
“How’s it complicated, you either you are, or you aren’t fine with losing.”
“As an athlete, fuck no I’m not alright with losing, but as a business man it’s not the worst thing that can possibly happen. JJ, Fi, and I are partners in The Revolution Academies, so as long as a member of our group has that belt it’s good for business.”
“I don’t get it,” JC admitted.
“Son, when you get to be my age you find that decisions are more about dollars and cents, than they are wins and loses. Being a World Champion will put money in my bank account right now, but owning an academy that students want to come to will put money in my bank account for a long time.”
“I guess I can sort of understand that, but I want you to win.”
“I want to win, too.” Nick puts his headphones back on begins to read. Soon he found his eyes getting heavy and he leaned against the window and he leaned his seat back and was out like a light.
He wasn’t sure how long he had been out when JC shakes him to ask if he wanted anything to eat or drink. Not really hungry he forces himself to eat a sandwich and drink a can of Coke. As soon as he was done though it was right back to sleep, and he didn’t wake up again until the flight attendant was telling him that he needed to put his sit upright. Even after that he dozed until they were on the ground in Da Nang.
Being in first class they were the first ones off of the plane and they met up with Cin and Penny, who were seated several rows away. Cin looks at Nick with worry in her eyes and asks, “How are you feeling?”
“Like shit. Sleeping on a plane, even in first class, is never the most comfortable thing to do. When your back is all fucked up its even worse.”
“We should probably check your dressings,” Penny says.
“We can do it when we get to the hotel. We have a layover that’s just over an hour, and it’s about an hour flight to Nha Trang.”
“I think you should let mom take a look at them,” JC says.
“I said we can do it at the hotel,” Nicky says, a little louder than he had intended.
“Nicky, there’s blood on the back of your shirt,” Cin says.
“Fine.” Nicky stomps off leaving the other three to chase after him. After a few minutes he finds a family restroom and waits for Penny to catch up. “Let’s hurry up, because we still need to find our gate.”
Penny shuts and locks the door, before telling Nick to pull his now blood stained shirt over his head. Carefully she pulls the dressings off of the wounds until she finds the one that has been oozing blood. “Some of your stitches have pulled loose. It probably won’t be a problem if you’re careful the next few days.”
“Well if they get too bad we can just pull them out.”
“No more of this macho bullshit Nicky! You’re hurt and you’re going to take care of yourself, because we get married in two weeks and you’re going to be healthy for it goddamn it. Do you have anything to redress this with?”
“There’s some vaseline and gauze in my carryon bag. Can you also grab one of the yellow pills.”
“What are you taking?”
“It’s a low dose of oxy.”
“Is that why you slept the entire flight?”
“No, the only thing I’ve taken since I left the ER was some naproxen this morning.”
“Don’t you dare lie to me Nicholas James Knight!”
“I would never lie to you, damn it!”
“You better not.” Penny takes the vaseline and gauze out and begins redressing his wounds. Each time she touches him he can almost feel the barbed wire ripping his flesh all over again Tears are running down his face by the time that she is finished and he is gasping for air from holding his breath. “All done.”
“Thank you,” he says, once he’s finally able to speak again.
She reaches up and wipes away his tears before tenderly kissing him. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“No, Sabin hurt me. You’re doing what you’ve always been able to do, make me better.”
“I wish you could see yourself through my eyes just once. You’re not the man that you think that you are, and you never have been. I know we agreed not to talk about it a long time ago, but all of that shit that happened before was not because you’re a bad man.”
“I wish I could understand how you see that.”
“Maybe one day you’ll see it too. Now take your pill, so we can get out of here and find our gate.”
He swallows the pill using a mouthful of tap water before joining Cin and JC out in the concourse. Luckily their gate was right around the corner and they made it in perfect time for business class to be boarding. Once they were seated Nick once again got out his book and turned on his music. Reading about the events of Bel Tine while listening to The Hu made the hour fly by fast, and by the time they landed in Nha Trang the pill was kicking in and he was starting to feel a little better.
Once on the ground they made it through customs with out any problems and then find a chauffeur standing right inside of the doors holding a sign that reads Knight Family. The man leads them out to a van and loads their luggage into the back as they make themselves comfortable. Twenty minutes later they were in line to check into their rooms at the Radisson Blu Resort Cam Rahn.
“This place looks really nice,” Penny says.
“It has really great reviews online, and it’s less than ten minutes from the beach by car,” Nick replies.
“What do you mean ten minutes from the beach? Just look out the back window, dad.”
“I meant the beach we’re going to go to for surfing. It’s considered the best in Vietnam.”
“It’s probably pretty empty, since Charlie don’t surf,” JC says, smiling.
Nick gives him a fist bump. “I didn’t know that you’ve seen Apocalypse Now.”
“I watched it a few weeks ago for English class,” he replied.
“They’re letting eighth graders watch Apocalypse Now?”
“The assignment was to read a book, watch the movie version of it, and write a report comparing the two,” JC explained.
“You picked Heart of Darkness to read?"
“Yeah. I really wanted to do Fight Club or American Psycho, but they were already taken by the time the sign up got to me.”
"That's some pretty heavy reading for college students, let alone middle schoolers."
"This new school of mine lets us work to our own level, so I'm not stuck reading some bullshit book like The Outsiders."
"I never read the book, but the movie was pretty decent," Nick says.
"Don't tell me you actually liked that 'Stay Golden Pony Boy bullshit?'"
"I guess I just understand it a little bit more having grown up on the streets."
"I never thought of it that way."
The conversation dies down for a moment, before Nick says, “Was Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas available?”
“I didn’t even think of that.”
“A Clockwork Orange would have also been a good choice.”
“I’ve never seen it,” JC admits.
“We’ll have to watch it sometime this week. It’s a fucked up flick, and the book is even more fucked up.”
“Have you actually read all of those books?”
“I haven’t read Heart of Darkness, but I’ve read all of the other ones. When I was on Gator Island there really wasn’t much to do, so your uncle would send me boxes of books to read. I also got an Associates Degree by mail.”
“I didn’t know you have a college degree,” Penny says.
“Yeah, in general studies.”
“You should be proud of that,” Cin says.
“It’s really not worth the paper it’s written on, but when I retire I’d like to get a Bachelors Degree.”
They finally reach the counter and get checked in to their two rooms. Nick thanks the young lady helping them in Vietnamese before leading the way towards the elevator. “We’re up on the tenth floor. They don’t offer any kind of suits with multiple bedrooms unfortunately, but I got two rooms right next to each other. So you’ll have plenty of privacy to jerk off.”
JC’s face turns beat red. “Dad! I don’t do that!”
“Bullshit! You’re a red blooded teenage boy, you probably do it four or five times a day at least. Hell I’m almost forty and I rub one out at least once a day when I’m on the road.”
“Don’t let him lie to you,” Cin says. “He rubs one out at least twice a day when he’s on the road. I know because he video calls me for at least one of them.”
“He usually video calls me for the other,” Penny says.
“Sometimes it’s a three way call,” Nicky says.
“Ewww, gross! I don’t need to know this.”
“Just trying to prove a point that everyone masturbates.” Nick hands JC the key to his room. “Would you like some lube, or is hand lotion good enough?”
“You’ve got lube?”
Nick starts to laugh. “I’ll bring some over once I dig it out of my suitcase.”
The three adults unlock the door and walk into their room with a balcony overlooking a stunning view of the white sand beach and blue waters beyond. The bathroom was massive with both a rainfall shower and a tub big enough to float a battleship. Having spent over twenty years of his life staying in hotels, Nick had to admit that this was easily one of his favorite rooms.
“This place is amazing.” Cin pulls Nick in for a hug, careful to not touch his back. “Thank you for the surprise.”
“I honestly would never have thought of celebrating Christmas in Vietnam,” Penny admitted.
“I wanted to go somewhere that none of us had ever been, so I chose Vietnam.”
“I’m amazed that you’ve never worked in Vietnam,” Cin says.
“The pro wrestling scene is pretty new here, and it doesn’t pay well enough to bring in foreign talent. I’ve seen some stuff on YouTube and it’s on the level of a small indy back home.”
“Would you ever come work here?”
“Maybe one day when I’m retired from IWF, but right now there’s no way they can offer me enough money.”
“Fair enough.”
“I’m not sure about you ladies, but I’m getting hungry. I propose we get cleaned up and go find some food.”
“That sounds good,” Penny says.
Nick sets his suitcase up on the bed and opens it up and pulls out a toiletries bag. Unzipping it takes out a small clear bottle. “I’ll let the boy wonder know to get cleaned up and put on some decent clothes.”
“Are you seriously giving him that?”
“Yes, do you really want our little boy to chafe?”
“He has a good point,” Cin says.
“Please don’t encourage him.”
“I’ll be right back.” Nick leaves their room and knocks on JC’s, before using his key to enter. “Is it safe to come in?”
“Yeah, I’m just catching up on TikTok.”
“Here’s that lube I promised.” Nick tosses the bottle to his son. “We’re going to go find something to eat, so take a shower and put on some decent clothes.”
“Alright. What else do we have planned for the night?”
“We should probably try to get to sleep early, so we can you can hit the waves first thing in the morning.”
“You’re not going?”
“I’ll go to the beach with you, but I can’t go in the water until my stitches are removed,” Nick explains.
“That sucks.”
“Tell me about.” Nick turns towards the door. “Be ready in half an hour.”
Nick can hear the shower running as soon as he opens the door to his room and he looks into the bathroom to see Penny covered in suds. Fighting the urge to join her he joins Cin in the living room where she is unpacking her suitcase. She turns and flashes him a perfect California girl smile. “What should I wear?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
“I’m thinking you should go with that shirt I bought for you for your birthday last year and a nice pair of jeans.”
“Sounds good.”
“We’ve got you figured out, now what should I wear?”
“That blue dress that I really like, but ask Penny for her opinion.”
“My opinion on what,” Penny asks, walking into the room wearing nothing except a towel around her head.
“What should I wear tonight,” Cin asks.
“I’m sure Nicky said that blue dress, which is always a good choice.”
“How’d you know…”
“You’re as predictable as high tide Nick Knight.” Penny points down towards the front of Nick’s shorts. “I also see that you’re feeling a little bit better.”
“When I’m looking at something as gorgeous as you he doesn’t give a shit how I feel,” Nick replies, making both women laugh. “Would one of you be able to help me wash up? I shouldn’t get my stitches wet yet, but I desperately need a shower.”
“I will, come on.” Cin leads him into the bathroom and turns on the shower. “Strip.”
Knight undresses and she helps to remove the dressings that Penny had put on back at Da Nang. Stepping into the shower he let the warm water fall over him, being careful to keep most of it off of his back. Taking a cloth and a bar of soap Cin gently washes the wounds that he suffered the day before never touching the stitches or staples. Once finished with his back she left him to finish his shower alone.
Twenty-five minutes late they were all dressed and heading to a Vietnamese style seafood restaurant on the property called The Blue Lobster. The food was excellent and by the time they had walked back to their rooms they were all more than exhausted, and ready for bed. Setting an alarm to get up early to head to the beach Nick cuddled up with his future brides and was soon asleep.
December 18 7:08 AM Local Time
Nick was up before the rest of his family and decided to find the exercise room and get in a couple of miles on the treadmill. Just like the rest of the hotel the gym was fantastic with a mix of dumbbells, weight machines, treadmills, bikes, and stair steppers. Everything looked to be brand new and not a single piece of equipment was out of order.
Putting on his headphones he fired up his workout mix and started off on a slight jog. Pretty soon he was breathing hard and he could feel the lactic acid building up. Worse than the burn in his legs though was the stinging on his back as sweat got into his many cuts and burns. He refused to stop though until he ran at least five miles.
Finished working out he made his way back to the room to find his family sitting around the small table eating breakfast. “I’m going to jump in the shower and then I’ll be out to join you.”
“Do you need help,” Penny asks.
“I’m not sure.”
“I’ll come just in case.” She follows him into the bathroom and closes the door behind them. Before he can ask why she closed the door her lips were attacking his. “We should probably hurry.”
“What’s got into…” She cut off his question with another kiss.
“I said, we need to hurry.”
Nick’s shower probably took a little longer than normal, but no one said anything when they both came out with smiles on their faces. “Let me get dressed and I’ll run down stairs to see about getting the stuff Joey shipped over. If you ladies don’t have suits to wear to the beach I saw a store just off the lobby that sells some very nice looking stuff.”
“I think I have something that will work, but it never hurts to go shopping,” Cin says.
“I’ve been wanting to get a new suit,” Penny agrees.
“Just have them charge it to the room.”
Half an hour later Nick with the help of a hotel maintenance man had uncrated the surf boards and was loading all of the gear and cooler full of snacks and drinks into the back of one of the hotels many shuttle vans. Just as he was finishing up JC came out in a pair of board shorts and a white Kobe Bryant jersey. “Is that your new board?”
“Yeah. I was thinking that you could try it our for me.”
“That doesn’t see very fair,” JC argued.
“Well I’m not going to be able to use it until I get these stitches out, which probably won’t happen until it’s time to leave.”
“How about we just wait to see what happens?”
“What happens with what,” Penny asks.
Nick’s jaw drops when he sees his fiancees walk out of the hotel in matching wraps. “Umm…”
“Cat got your tongue, Nicky?” Cin giggles at him when he blushes. “Do we really look that good?”
“You look hot,” JC answers, before his dad can.
“You know you shouldn’t say things like that about your stepmom,” she teases him.
“He’s not wrong.” Nick finally find his voice. “You both look amazing, and JC doesn’t want to try my new board out for me.”
Cin walks over to the back of the van and looks inside. “Why wouldn’t you want to use this sweet board?”
“It’s his first new board, he should be the one to use it first.”
“Fair enough.”
“Load up,” Nick says.
The ride to the beach was less than ten minutes and it only took another five for them to find a place on the white sand. Penny and Nicky quickly and spread out a blanket to sit on, before both ladies shuck off their wraps revealing the new bikinis that they bought back at the hotel. Penny’s is a dark pink that matches the streaks in her hair and perfectly shows off her toned and tattooed body, while Cin’s is yellow and it matches her golden locks and makes her beach bunny tan pop.
“Wow, I thought you looked hot in the wrap,” JC says to Cin.
“Didn’t I tell you that you shouldn’t say things like that to your stepmom,” she scolds him again.
“You’re probably right. Good thing you're not my stepmom yet,” he replies, earning a laugh from everyone.
“You both look incredible,” Nick says.
“Thank you,” the ladies say, at the same time.
“Now go, hit the waves.” Nick shoos them towards the water. Listening to him they pull on their wet suites and grab their boards before running out into the perfect waves. “God I wish I was out there with them. It’s been way too long since I’ve been in the water.”
“Well if you weren’t an idiot and get yourself into a exploding barbed wire dumb-ass match right before a surfing vacation, you could be out there with them.”
“True, but do you know how much money I made from that match?”
“No idea.”
“A bout thirty-five grand, before any attendance bonus, which is going to be very nice since I was in the main event of a show that sold out the Tokyo Dome. Still think I’m an idiot?”
“Yes, but you’re a well paid idiot. Now put some sunscreen on my back.”
The rest of the morning Penny and Nick sat in the sun and watched their loved ones play in the water and talked about the things going on in their lives. They had discussed many of the subjects on video calls the past couple of months, but it just wasn’t the same as doing it in person. When they all were hungry and in need of a break Nick called the hotel to have a shuttle sent back to pick them up.
After lunch they decided that they would grab one of the cabanas and hang around the pool until it closed. It was a perfect eighty degrees and sunny, which felt even better after spending the past couple of months in either Canada or Japan. Nick also felt pretty good about life when he saw the kinds of looks that his fiancees were getting from the other hotel guests. Damn near every single man that they past was eye fucking them, and most of the women looked like they were ready to leap up and scratch out their eyes. He will never understand how he managed to be so lucky.
The next few days went exactly the same, with the Knight family enjoy fun in the sun. Then on Christmas Eve Nick has to bow out and take a shuttle into the nearest town to visit the local clinic for his back. Having wrestled all over the world he’s been in more than his fair share of hospitals and clinics, he was never quite sure what he was going to be walking into, but the clinic was a very clean building only big enough for a couple of exam rooms.
He was immediately taken back and a short gray haired man wearing wire rimmed glasses came into the room with a smile on his face. “Mr. Knight, my name is Dr. Nguyen. I understand that you’ve got some stitches and staples that you need me to take a look at.”
“Yeah, Doc. The stitches are definitely ready to come out, but I’m not sure about the staples.”
“Well, let me take a look.” Nicky pulls his shirt up over his head and Dr. Nguyen removes the dressings. “Did you lose a fight with a bear?”
“I’m a professional wrestler.”
“Are you one of those crazy guys that hit people with the lightbulbs that you see on YouTube?”
Nick chuckles. “Sometimes, Doc.”
“That’s not a good way to live a long life.” The doctor examines Nick’s back pulling in some spots, and pushing in others. “I think all of the stitches and staples are ready to come out, but you’re going to still need to be careful. You have some wounds that still have not healed completely.”
“I’m not wrestling again for almost two weeks, so I’ve got plenty of time to recover,” Nick says.
“Good.” The doctor leaves the room and comes back a minute later with the nurse and a kit to remove both the stitches and the staples. In less that a quarter of an hour everything had been taken out of his back and he was on his way back to the hotel to take a nice long hot bath.
December 25 6:05AM
As an adult Christmas has slowly become one of Nicky’s favorite day of the year. Growing up he hated it, because their was a good chance that he was going to be disappointed. Some years he would get nothing, and some years it was probably something that one of his mother’s crackhead boyfriends stole. He was in a position where not a single one of his loved ones was ever going to have to worry about that.
Penny, Cin, and JC were all bleary eyes as they waited for breakfast to be delivered, but Nick could not be more excited. Unable to wait any longer he digs three identical wrapped packages out of his bag and passes them out. “You have to open them at the same time.”
The three people that Nick loves most in the entire world tear into the fancy paper to reveal identical velvet boxes inside. Opening up the jewelry boxes they found keys inside confusing all three of them. Picking up the remote control Knight turns on the TV, before hitting the play button on his lap top.
There is a slight pause before the video begins with Nick standing in front of a door. A dumb grin on his face he says, “Welcome home.”
The next few minutes was a video of him walking through a home showing off the best features. When he is finished showing off each room he says that he saved the best for last and walks out the back door and onto a deck overlooking a private beach. Waves break onto the sand as the sun slowly sinks out over the water.
“What the fuck?” Penny is obviously angry, and Cin doesn’t seem to be any happier.
“I bought us a new house,” Nick is taken back by the reaction.
“I see that, but what happened to making all decisions as a unit? You decide that it’s alright just to put us in debt up to our eyeballs just to stroke your ego. I can’t fucking believe you!”
“We aren’t up to our eyeballs,” he argues. “I sold the condo for the down payment. My accountant says that I’ve earned enough money in the past three months as TV Champion that I should be able to cover a good chunk of the remaining cost. I also came into some money recently that I really didn’t want to talk about, because I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it.”
“What are you talking about,” Cin asks.
“My brother was killed in a helicopter crash several months ago, and he left me a nice inheritance. Knowing the kind of man that he was, and that he made that money doing gods only knows what, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it. Finally I decided that this what I wanted to do with it.”
“How much do you still owe,” Penny asks.
“Just under half and million.”
“How do you plan on paying that?”
“When I beat JJ I’m going to get another huge bonus, which will knock out a lot of it.”
“You mean, if you beat JJ?”
“No, I mean when.”
“You're such…”
“Stop it!” Every looks over to JC who is on the verge of tears. “It’s fucking Christmas, and dad has done something awesome for us. All you can do is bitch at him for spending the money he’s made literally bleeding for this family.”
“JC is right,” Cin says. “I’m just wondering why you think we need a new home?”
“I bought our place before Penny and I got married because I knew that we would need somewhere for our family to grow. I decided that maybe we need a bigger place for our family to grow into, whatever that might mean.”
“Does that mean you want to have more kids,” she asks.
“Possibly.” A big dumb smile comes onto Cin’s face. “I just want us to live in a place that’s big enough for us to be ready for whatever might come. This place is also right on the ocean and has a private beach, so we can do whatever we want without having to worry about being run off.”
“Are you guys talking about…eww,” JC says.
“Actually, we’re not,” Nick replies. “Sex on the beach is really not that great. You get sand in really uncomfortable places.”
“We can talk about this later, but let’s just try to enjoy Christmas.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” Cin says.
“Then I think we should go surfing one last time before we leave in the morning,” Nicky says.
“Where are we going,” Penny asks.
“We’ve got a wedding to get ready for.”
Nick Knight leans his head against the cool wall as the shower cascades down his shredded back staining the water red. He leans down to pick up a bottle of Sapporo Premium off of the floor and winces from the pain of just moving. The ice cold beer tasted good after a hard fought win, but it did nothing to numb his pain. He could not help but think that he was getting to old for this death match shit, but his plan had worked. He had taken everything that Wraith had thrown at him, and he was able to pull of the win with seconds to spare. One more win and he would earn a chance to face Angel Blake, and finally become IWF World Champion.
“Oh my God, Nicky!” Penny walked into the showers carrying him a fresh beer. “You need to get your ass to the hospital.”
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he lied.
“Bullshit, I’m going to get a doctor.”
He turned off the water and gingerly made his way back into the dressing room. He knew that he was still dirty and probably smelled, but the idea of washing his back made him a little nauseous. So he just sat and finished his beer why he waited for Penny to return with one of the company doctors. He’d much worse done to him in a match and survived just fine, but she was a worrier.
“Holy shit!” Nick looks over to see his son and Cin walking into the room. “Your back is all kinds of fucked up, dad.”
“Language JC,” he scolds the younger Knight.
“Are you alright,” Cin asks Nick
“I’ve been better, but I’ve been a Hell of a lot worse,” he answered.
“Do you need anything?”
“Maybe another beer.” Nick tossed his empty into the trash can a few feet away. “I could seriously use an edible, but this country is so fucking backwards about weed.”
“Sorry, love. I’ll go find you a beer.” She leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Keep an eye on your dad while I’m gone.”
JC sat down in the chair next to his dad and took time to really look over the old man’s injuries. “That was one Hell of a match, but you look like hammered shit. Have you seen your back?”
“Not yet. Do I really want to?”
“Probably not.” JC stands up and takes a quick picture with his phone. “Here.”
“Fuck me!” Nick takes a look at the picture and nearly throws up. In the hundreds of death matches he had been a part of all over the world he had never been so torn up. The barbed wire had ground his flesh into hamburger and there were multiple burns from the explosions. Maybe Penny was right, he needed to go to the hospital this time. Goddamn, he might actually be getting too old for this hardcore shit. “Do me a favor and Tweet that shit out for all the world to see the Hell that I’ll go through to keep this fucking championship.”
“You weren’t kidding.” Nick looks over his shoulder to see Penny walking back into the room with Dr. Kingsley in tow. The doctor quickly walks over to him and starts to look over his wounds closely without touching them. “The good news is that most of these cuts are superficial and won’t need any treatment besides some Neosporin, however a few of them are going to need stitched up. I’m also concerned by a couple of these burns might be deep second degree burns and need a little more treatment.”
“Do whatever you need to do, doc.”
“Do you mind if I touch, Nick?” Knight shakes his head and Dr. Kingsley pulled on a pair of gloves. Gently she examines each one of the wounds, several of them making him wince in pain. “I hate to say it, but a couple of these are too deep for me to do anything with here. You’re going to need to go over to the hospital.”
“Fuck me! Alright, let me put on some pants.” Nick dug through his bag and found a pair of gym shorts and carefully slid them on over his legs, which had only been scratched up by the barbed wire. Not bothering with a shirt, and only wearing his shower shoes he slowly stood up grimacing. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Call us to let us know what’s going on,” Penny said, handing him his cell phone.
“I will.” Nick gives both of his fiancees a kiss, and JC a fist bump before following the doctor out into the hall.
“I don’t really see any reason for you to take an ambulance for this,” the doctor said. “There’s a taxi waiting for you in the loading docks and we called to let them know that you’re coming.”
“Thanks, doc.” Nick gives her a fist bump, before gingerly walking towards the loading docks. A translator was waiting next to the cab and they exchanged pleasantries as he carefully climbed inside the car. The driver was silent as he navigated his way through the heavy Tokyo traffic, and fifteen minutes later they were arriving at the entrance to the emergency department. A quick thank you to the driver and he was limping into the hospital.
“Nicky-san, I am Dr. Ishii” A doctor greets him as soon as he walks through the automatic doors. “Dr. Kingsley told me that you have some pretty serious cuts that she would like me to treat.”
“Nice to meet you, doctor.” Knight bows politely, fighting back a moan. “From the picture my son showed me I would say I’m going to need some help.”
“Well let’s get you back into a room and see what we can do for you.” Dr. Ishii leads the way to a small private room in the back corner of the emergency room. Nick climbs up on the table and tries not to scream as the doctor feels around on his back. “I am going to have one of the nurses come in and clean up your wounds, and then I will be back in to sew them up.”
“Thanks, doc.”
An hour later he was in a taxi heading back towards The Peninsula Tokyo with thirty-eight stitches, six staples, and a couple of pain pills on board. Normally he would have enjoyed watching the beautiful chaos that was life in Japans capital city, but he was too beat to shit to really care about anything. So he just leaned his head against the window and dozed off on the half hour ride.
“Wake up, Nicky san,” the cab driver said when they reached the hotel.
“You know who I am?” A now semi-stoned Knight looked shocked.
“Of course, I am a big fan. I was there when you won your second Lord of the Death Matches. I will never forget that electrified barbed wire cage match you had against Wrestler X.”
“Yeah, me neither. Hitting that electrified cage was some of the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life.”
“How did your match go tonight?”
“Well, good and bad I guess. Good because I won, and bad because my back got absolutely shredded and I’ve got a few pretty nasty burns.”
“Well I’m glad you won. Only one more defense and you get to face Angel!”
“What’s your name?”
“Minato Sato.”
Nick pulled out his phone and sent a quick text message. “There will be two tickets waiting for for Diamonds Are Forever.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. Thank you for the ride, and I hope you enjoy the show.”
“Thank you for the tickets, Nicky San.”
“Thank you for being a fan.”
Nick climbed out of the car and walked towards the front doors of the hotel, but a man dressed in a suit came running to bar his way. “Sir I’m sorry, but you cannot go into the hotel dressed like that.”
“Listen I’ve had a really long night. I just left the hospital, because I had to get both stitches and staples in my back. All I want to do is go up to my room and get some sleep, because I have to be at the airport in the morning.”
“I’m sorry that you’ve had a rough night, but I cannot allow to enter the hotel like that,” the concierge says.
“Fine call up to Apartment Three and ask whoever answers to bring me down a shirt.” Nick sits down on a bench while the snooty man calls to have someone brings him a shirt. The novacaine that they used to numb his back before putting in the stitches was starting to wear off, and even with the pain pills he was starting to feel the effects of the match. He really just hoped that Sabin was feeling just as shitty.
“You were supposed to have called us.” Cin comes out the front door and walks in his direction. “We were getting worried.”
“I didn’t really see the need, sorry.”
“What did the doctors have to say,” she asks, sitting beside him.
“Thirty some stitches, a few staples, and bandaged me up. I’m supposed to change the bandages every day and find a doctor to remove everything in a week,” he answers.
“Well put this on, so we can go inside and get some sleep.” She hands him a t-shirt, which he pulls over his head. Tears well up in eyes and he has to fight back nausea the pain is so intense. “Sweetie, are you alright?”
“Just fucking ducky.” He stood up and nearly fell over, but Cin was right there to help him. “Thank you, my love.”
“Anytime.” The pair walk into the lobby and towards the elevators, Nick’s arm draped over Cin. “You still haven’t told us where we’re going tomorrow.”
“It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I told you, now would it.”
“Don’t you think that the brides should know where their wedding is going to be?”
“You will know in a couple of days, and you’re going to love it.”
“You know that normally it’s the bride that does most of the planning for the wedding? They want to make sure that their big day is exactly what they’ve always wanted since they were a little girl.”
“True, but this isn’t exactly a traditional wedding and you are far from being a typical bride.” Nick leans down and kisses her on the forehead. “You are just going to have to trust me that we are going to have an absolutely amazing wedding.”
“You know that I trust you, but I’m also scared shitless.”
“Me too.”
A couple of minutes later they are opening the door to the apartment that they’ve been renting for the past week. IWF had rented out two entire floors at one of Tokyo’s other five star hotels, but Nicky had decided to stay somewhere that is family could be together. It wasn’t the cheapest decision he had ever made, but he did talk the office out of giving him a stipend to help pay for it.
“Why didn’t you call us,” Penny scolds him, as soon as they’re inside the apartment.
“When I found out it wasn’t going to take too long I just let them do their thing and hurried back, sorry.” He gives her a careful hug and a kiss on top of the head. “Before you ask what he had to say, here is the paperwork.”
Penny flips through until she finds it in English. “Thirty-eight stitches, six staples, second degree burns over eighteen percent of your body, some of which are deep, and multiple contusions. Nicky this is pretty serious shit.”
“Nah.” He gives her a weak smile. “I actually had more stitches after this fucked up Prison Break Death Match in Mexico right after we split up, and they had to use more staples when they opened up my knee the second time because I had a staph infection. I also had burns over forty five percent of my body after the first Lord of the Death Matches that I won, but most of those were first degree.”
“Just because you’ve had worse, doesn’t mean these aren’t bad. Your eye is swelling shut for fuck sake, and we’re getting married in two weeks. Speaking of which…”
“Don’t bother, I already tried,” Cin cut her off. “Our asshole fiance is going to be secretive until the end.”
“Do you know,” Penny ask JC.
“No, he won’t even tell me.”
“Here’s what I will tell you, we are not spending Christmas in the same place as the wedding. So you're getting two surprise vacations.”
Nick begins to wobble on his feet. “Let’s get you to bed before you just fall right over.”
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about you wanting to take me to bed just to sleep,” he says, with a weak smile.
“I think right now that’s about the only thing you can do in bed.”
“Normally I would want to prove you wrong, but I think you’re right.”
“Come on stud.” Cin giggles and starts helping him towards the bedroom, while Penny runs ahead and pulls down the comforter for him. Carefully they help him pull his shirt over off and he is asleep before his head even hits the pillow.
10:12 PM Local Time
Nick wakes up with his stomach growling and his bladder ready to burst. Rolling out of bed he nearly pisses himself from the pain coursing through his body. “Fuck!”
Cin runs into the room with concern painted all over her face. “Why didn’t you ask for help?”
“I didn’t think I was going to need help to take a piss,” he answered.
“Well obviously you do.” Being sure not to touch his back she gets him to his feet and walks next to him as his hobbles to the bathroom. “Do you need me to hold it for you, too?”
“You know what, fuck you.”
“I don’t think you could right now.”
“You know what, I’m pretty sure you’re right.” Nick’s laugh is cut off by a grimace of pain. “Alright, laughing is off the menu for a day or two.”
“You poor man, let’s get you back into bed.”
“No, I really need to get something to eat. I haven’t had anything since dinner last night.”
“Let me go grab the room service menu.” She starts to walk out of the room but he catches her wrist and pulls her in for a tender kiss.
“I want to go out and get something. Where’s Penny and JC?”
“They went to the kabuki theater, and then out to dinner. They should be back in a little while.”
“I’m sorry, I got you girls were supposed to be doing that tonight.”
“It’s alright, Nicky. I was only going because Penny wanted to, and I think it’s pretty cool that JC is getting to hang out with his mom and do something so cultural. That and we’re going to be back in Tokyo in a couple of weeks if I change my mind.”
“What sounds good,” he asks.
“I don’t care.”
“Alright, get dressed. I know the perfect place.” Nick limps back into the bedroom and digs through his suitcase until he pulls out a pair of red and black Zubaz, a Lord of the Death Match ‘11 t-shirt, and shiny black satin bomber jacket.
“You’re seriously not going to wear that are you,” Cin says, turning her pretty nose up at his choice of clothes. “Can’t you at least dress up a little bit. It’s our last night in Japan.”
“Trust me, where we’re going this is perfectly dressed up.”
“So you’re taking me to that McDonald’s down the street?”
“No, smartass. You’ll see when we get there, I promise.”
The couple quickly gets dressed and makes their way down into the hotel lobby to have the concierge order a cab for them. A couple of minutes later the car arrives and Nick tells the driver where they’re going in Japanese before doing his best to get comfortable. It felt nice just being with his fiancee having a normal conversation after spending so much time on the road lately.
“I’ve really missed you,” he tells her.
“I’ve missed you, too. I hate these long overseas tours when you can’t come home every week.”
“I’m really not much of a fan, trust me. I miss the California sunshine, I miss surfing, I miss driving the El Camino, I miss my family, I miss…”
“Sex. You can say it, you miss sex.”
Nick does his best not to laugh, knowing that it will hurt, but he can’t help it. “Yes I miss sex. I know you and Penny are both crazy busy with work, but I wish you could get away more and come on the road with me.”
“I’d love that, but it’s just not possible if I’m going to open up the third location in the Spring.”
“Have I told you lately how proud I am of you?”
“Not lately,” she says, with a smile.
“I’m extremely proud of you, my love. You have an amazing mind for business, hire fantastic people, and give the best massages I’ve ever had. I’m not just saying that because most of mine come with happy endings either.”
“Well that’s good, or I’d cut off the happy endings.”
“Do you mean stop them, or cut something off?”
“You don’t know do you?”
“No I don’t, and I’d rather not find out.”
Nick reached for her hand and they start to walk into the restaurant, but she stops. “Wait, you got that jacket from this place?”
“Yes I did. It’s a very special tradition that when gaijin tour Japan for the first time they are brought here for dinner and the manager will gift them a jacket. It’s a big deal because it means that you belong to the brotherhood.”
“That’s why there’s pictures of wrestlers on the the sign?”
“Exactly. Now come on, I’m fucking starving.” The couple walk hand in hand into the restaurant, which so late was nearly empty. Taking one of the rugged tree stump seats they wait for the employee to take the order of two businessmen that had walked in just ahead of them. “If you look over in the corner there’s a picture of me with my friend Adryn. It was taken the first time he and I came over to work a tour for HJW.”
“I’ve never heard you talk about him before.”
“I honestly try not to think about him too much, because it just depresses me. He died from an overdose ten years ago.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” She lays his head on his shoulder. “Maybe I can do something to cheer you up when we get back to the hotel.”
“After this meal neither one of us is going to want to do anything. Trust me this food is so fucking good all your going to want when we get back to the hotel is sleep.”
A man walks over with a menu when his eyes suddenly go wide in surprise. “Nightmare San!”
“Hello Toshihiko, how have you been?”
“Excellent, my friend.”
“I wasn’t expecting to see you here tonight,” Nick says. “I thought you managed the new location.”
“One of my workers has a very sick child, so I am filling in for a few days. I am very glad that I am, because it has been far too long since I’ve seen the great Nicky Nightmare.”
“I wasn’t able to get in to eat the last couple of times I’ve been to Tokyo, but I wanted to treat my fiancee to something special.”
Toshihiko gives Nick a funny look. “Of all the restaurants in Tokyo you bring her to a steakhouse? Don’t you have one of those on every corner in America.”
Knight chuckles. “Almost, but none of them are Ribera.”
“Thank you for your compliment. What would you like tonight?”
“We’ll take two pound and a half steaks with corn,” Nick answers.
“Coming right up.”
“They actually know who you are here,” Cin says, impressed.
“I would hope so after almost twenty years of eating here. I mean, my picture is on the wall afterall.”
Nick stands up and begins looking over the pictures of some of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the business that covers the entire wall. Cin stands beside his and points to one, “Is that your brother and Joey Noxx?”
“Yeah, that was on a tour we did when I was running xXx.” Knight points to another picture. “That’s a picture of JJ when he was much younger and less hairy.”
“You should have invited them, jerk.” She punches him on the arm.
“I didn’t know we were coming here until an hour ago, besides it’s nice just to spend time with you.” He wraps his arm around her and pulls her close. “It has been far too long since the last time we went on a date.”
“It’s not my fault that you never come home.” He hears genuine hurt in her voice, and it nearly breaks his heart.
“After this next show I won’t be TV Champ one way or another, so I probably won’t be booked on every single show and can get home more, but we’re going to be in Japan for three more week and then the UK.”
“Those are some pretty long flights just to have to turn around and going back in a couple of days,” she admits.
“Yes, but it’s worth it.” He lovingly kisses her on the top of the head. “I promise that anytime I have a week off I will come home for a few days. I know that you’re busy with work, but I would love if you could join me on the road for a few days also.”
“I’d like that, and I can stay home with JC so Penny can spend some time with you also.”
“That would be great. I love you Cin.”
“I love you, too.”
Toshihiko gestures to Nicky that there food was ready and he leads Cin back towards the counter. The meal was nothing much to look at, just some steak, corn, and a bowl of rice, but Nicky had to laugh when Cin moans around a bite of the juicy meat. He honestly enjoyed watching her eat one of his favorite meals in the world, as much as he enjoyed eating it.
“What is in this sauce? It’s delicious!”
“I’ve never been able to figure it out, and they ain’t saying,” Nick answers. “Now you can see why this place is so over with the boys.”
“Yes I can. Will you bring me back?”
“All four of us will have to go to the other location, it’s bigger.”
“That will be awesome.”
Nick called Toshihiko over so he can pay the bill. The owner was happy that Cin found the meal to be so delicious and as they were walking out he stopped her. “Young lady, what size jacket do you wear?”
“Probably a medium.”
He reaches up above the grill and pulls down a jacket wrapped in plastic. “Please come back and see us again.”
“For me, really. Thank you.” Cin tears open the plastic and pulls out a black satin jacket with a red bull on the back that perfectly matches Nicky’s. “This is awesome.”
“Welcome to the brotherhood,” he says, laughing. “Just a heads up, JC is probably going to be pissed that you got one of those.”
“Well he’s training to be a wrestler, he can earn his.”
“You tell him that.”
The couple stand in the street outside of the restaurant and wait for the ride that Nick had ordered using the app on his phone. The car arrives in only a few minutes and they are on the road back towards the hotel. His stomach full and still feeling the effects of the beating he took at the hands of Wraith earlier in the day he found himself dozing, his head leaning on Cin’s shoulder most of the way.
When they reached the hotel they made their way to their apartment hand in hand. Penny and JC are sitting in the living room area watching a movie and they both look up when the door opens. Nick can see instantly that JC is in fact pissed when he sees Cin’s jacket, “What the fuck, Dad? No I will not watch my language. Why in the fuck does she get to go to Ribera and get a jacket.”
“What’s Ribera,” Penny asks.
“It’s a restaurant that all of the wrestlers go to eat at, and the owner given the boys those jackets as a gift. It’s a right of passage of gaijin,” JC explains.
“So your dad took Cin out for dinner. I’m sure we can all go when we get back to Tokyo.” Penny tried to calm her son down.
“That doesn’t explain why she got the jacket,” JC says, still angry.
“The owner gave it to me when we were leave,” Cin explains.
“For what, fucking my dad?”
“JC, that’s enough. You can pissed that I took Cin to Ribera all you want, but you will show her respect. Now I think it’s a good idea that you hit the sheets, because we’ve got a fairly early flight.”
The younger Knight stands up and stomps his way into his bedroom and slams the door behind him. Penny stands to follow him, but Cin stops her. “No, let me go talk to him.”
“Did you think he would react like that,” Penny asks.
“No. I thought he might be a little bit pissed, but not like that.”
“Cin will smooth it over. Those to have a pretty close relationship, and it’s not just because he wants to see her naked.”
Nick grins and shakes his head. “I try to see her naked every chance I get. Lucky for me I get to, and touch her too.”
“Lucky for both of us.” Penny walks over and gives him a quick kiss. “How are you feeling?”
“I hurt and I’m tired.”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you need to stop taking those kinds of risks. You aren’t a twenty year old kid trying to make as much money as possible. You already make good money, you don’t need to do that crazy shit any more.”
“I’m not sure I could have won that match if it was anything other than crazy, besides I owe the Japanese fans almost everything. If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have the house that we live in right, because they are the ones that paid for it.”
“That was fifteen years ago.”
“Yeah, but beating Sabin has me one step closer to making a whole lot more money. My career has a shelf life and I need to make as much money as I can before it expires. We can talk about this more later though, because I want to finish packing and try to get some sleep.”
“What time does our plane leave?”
“I have a car picking us up at ten.”
“I’ll be in just as soon as I make sure everything is fine between JC and Cin.”
“Alright. I love you.”
“I love you too, Nicky.”
December 17 8:17 AM Local Time
Nick wakes up alone in bed and feeling like he had been hit by a bus. There didn’t seem to be a single muscle in his body that wasn’t sore, and some of the aches felt like they went clear down to the bone. His back was mostly on fire from the combination of deep cuts and burns, except the numb patches where the fire scorched. At least he had carrying that giant gold belt around for two weeks to look forward to for another couple of weeks.
Rolling out of bed he nearly screams as the pain goes from burning to absolute hellfire. He could not remember a time when he had ever hurt so much after a match, and he would do entire weekends of nothing but death matches. He had been set on fire, hit with only god knows what, and had weed whackers used on him; just to turn around and go to work at some shitty 7-Eleven. Now after just one match he was left feeling like he was going to fucking die.
The shower was running when he reaches the bathroom, and his bladder was about to splatter so he opens the door and steps into the steam filled room. Penny was inside of the glass stall washing her hair and he wishes he could join her, because as much as the nurse cleaned him up the day before he fells like he still stinks; but his stitches couldn’t get wet for another day.
“Good morning, sweetie,” Penny says.
“Good morning, my love.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Like flaming hammered dog shit.” He nearly faints as he takes a piss. It seems like bruised kidneys can be added to his list of injuries. “Are you almost packed?”
“I just need to pick out something to wear today, and then I can get everything zipped up. That would be easier if I knew where we were going.”
“I’m not going to tell you, so please stop trying to get me too. All I will say is wear something comfortable, because it’s a rather long flight.”
She begins to bitch, but he walks out of the bathroom ignoring her. She was just going to try to guilt trip him into telling her where they were going, and he wasn’t going to do it. They would be to the airport soon enough and she can find out with everyone else. He honestly didn’t even feel bad about it.
He pushed through the pain and dressed in the same clothes that he had warn the night before, because they were probably the most comfortable thing that he owned. Next he put on his fanny pack that held his passport, wallet, and a couple hundred bucks in both Yen and Vietnamese Dollars.
Out in the living room JC and Cin were enjoying a nice breakfast that they had room service bring up. He greets them with his best forced smile. “Good morning family.”
“Good morning my love,” Cin wrinkles up her nose when she sees how he’s dressed. “Do you have to wear that thing?”
“Yes, because it is the easiest way to travel. You don’t have to constantly be digging your passport out of your bag, and you don’t have to worry about some asshole pick pocketing you. That and it represents the height of nineties wrestler fashion, which I’m doing my best to bring back.”
“Whatever,” she says, shaking her head.
“Good morning, JC.” JC just ignores his father. Frustrated by his son’s actions Nick says, “James Christopher come with me.”
The petulant teenager stands up and Nick leads him into the other bedroom. “What?”
“JC it’s really easy to get pissed off at your age. Hell I got pissed off and hitchhiked across half the country when I was your age. So I’m going to give you a piece of dad advice that I sadly had to learn the hard way, don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“That means that the last three people that you want to fuck with are in this apartment,” Nicky explains. “We put a roof over your head and food in your belly. Just about everything that you own we have given you at one time or another. It is because of my hard work that you are standing in Tokyo Japan right now and not visiting your grandparents in Indiana for Christmas.”
“Maybe I’d rather be in Indiana.”
“I’ll go tell your mother that plans have changed and that the two of you are going to your grandparents, instead of what I have planned.”
Nick starts to leave the room. “Dad wait!”
“What? I need to go and grab my phone so I can order tickets for you guys.”
“Don’t! You know that I fucking hate Indiana.”
“One, watch your mouth. Two, why should I give a shit what you like, or dislike? You’re being a little shit head, and I’m not sure I want you around to ruin my Christmas. It’s just a shame that you’re going to be ruining your mother’s.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What was that?”
“I said, I’m sorry.”
“Are you really sorry, or do you just not want to go to your grandparents?”
“A little bit of both,” JC says, with a grin.
“Smartass. Go finish your breakfast and make sure you’ve got everything packed. The car will be here to pick up up in an hour and a half.”
The next hour was a whirlwind of activity as everyone eats and finishes packing their suitcases. A bellhop shows up at ten minutes before ten to take their bags down to the lobby where the SUV is waiting to take them to Haneda Airport. The ride all the way to the airport was tense and Nick could tell that they were all annoyed that he would not tell them where they were going. Finally ten minutes before they reached their destination he sent each of them a text message with their flight information.
“Where in the heck in Da Nang,” JC asks.
“Vietnam,” Nick answers,
“Why are we going to Vietnam for Christmas,” Cin asks.
“An hour flight south of Da Nang there’s a small community that has killer surfing. I thought it might be a good time to spend a week just hanging out and hitting the waves.”
“We don’t have any of our gear,” JC says.
“Yes we do. I had Joey go to the house to get it, and ship it to us. It’s waiting for us at the hotels all clean with a fresh coat of wax. I even bought myself a little Christmas present and got a brand new board.”
“You let Joey Noxx touch my swimsuits,” Penny asks.
“Yeah. I also told him to go through your underwear drawer and keep a couple things if he wants. You know as a tip.”
“Nicky, you’re an ass.”
“What? You don’t think that’s a good enough tip?”
JC starts to laugh, and Penny gives him a dirty look. “What do you think is so damn funny?”
“You’re letting Dad get you all wound up, Mom. Of course he’s not going to let Uncle Joey dig through your underwear drawer, he would obviously prefer dirty underwear.”
Nick and Cin both laugh at that, earning them dirty looks. “I don’t know why you two are encouraging him.”
“You should be happy that you have a kid that’s smart enough to get one over on you,” Cin replies.
“Whatever. Let’s get inside before we miss our flight.”
The family checks their bags at the counter and are fast tracked through security. Arriving well ahead of the scheduled flight they all make sure that all of their electronics are charged, and Nick hits a book store to get a copy of the first book in The Wheel of Time series. He’d watched the first season of the show on Prime Video and has been looking forward to having a chance to read the book. Ten hours on airplanes would be more than enough for him to get the book started.
When their plane finally arrived they were among the very first passengers allowed to board, and were comfortably seated in first class with a drink in their hands before they were ready for takeoff. As the craft taxied down the runaway and big dumb smile comes on Nicky’s face, because no matter how many times you has flown, he absolutely loves the rush you get when the engines wind up and the g force pushes you back into your seat. He even love a little bit of turbulence, always thought it was like a rollercoaster at thirty thousand feet.
He was listening to his Modern Metal playlist and just cracking open Eye of the World when JC tapped him on the shoulder. “They just announced the card for the next show.”
“Yeah, and?”
“Looks like you’re tenth defense is going to be against JJ.”
“Cool,” Nicky replies.
“It doesn’t bother you that the only person standing between you and a shot at the World Championship is one of your best friends?”
“Not at all. Booking me against JJ means that either win my tenth defense and automatically get a match with Angel, or another member of The Revolution is the TV Champ. Sure I want to be World Champion, but win or lose the group stays strong.”
“So you’re perfectly alright with losing,” the younger Knight asks, obviously confused.
“That’s really complicated,” Nick answers.
“How’s it complicated, you either you are, or you aren’t fine with losing.”
“As an athlete, fuck no I’m not alright with losing, but as a business man it’s not the worst thing that can possibly happen. JJ, Fi, and I are partners in The Revolution Academies, so as long as a member of our group has that belt it’s good for business.”
“I don’t get it,” JC admitted.
“Son, when you get to be my age you find that decisions are more about dollars and cents, than they are wins and loses. Being a World Champion will put money in my bank account right now, but owning an academy that students want to come to will put money in my bank account for a long time.”
“I guess I can sort of understand that, but I want you to win.”
“I want to win, too.” Nick puts his headphones back on begins to read. Soon he found his eyes getting heavy and he leaned against the window and he leaned his seat back and was out like a light.
He wasn’t sure how long he had been out when JC shakes him to ask if he wanted anything to eat or drink. Not really hungry he forces himself to eat a sandwich and drink a can of Coke. As soon as he was done though it was right back to sleep, and he didn’t wake up again until the flight attendant was telling him that he needed to put his sit upright. Even after that he dozed until they were on the ground in Da Nang.
Being in first class they were the first ones off of the plane and they met up with Cin and Penny, who were seated several rows away. Cin looks at Nick with worry in her eyes and asks, “How are you feeling?”
“Like shit. Sleeping on a plane, even in first class, is never the most comfortable thing to do. When your back is all fucked up its even worse.”
“We should probably check your dressings,” Penny says.
“We can do it when we get to the hotel. We have a layover that’s just over an hour, and it’s about an hour flight to Nha Trang.”
“I think you should let mom take a look at them,” JC says.
“I said we can do it at the hotel,” Nicky says, a little louder than he had intended.
“Nicky, there’s blood on the back of your shirt,” Cin says.
“Fine.” Nicky stomps off leaving the other three to chase after him. After a few minutes he finds a family restroom and waits for Penny to catch up. “Let’s hurry up, because we still need to find our gate.”
Penny shuts and locks the door, before telling Nick to pull his now blood stained shirt over his head. Carefully she pulls the dressings off of the wounds until she finds the one that has been oozing blood. “Some of your stitches have pulled loose. It probably won’t be a problem if you’re careful the next few days.”
“Well if they get too bad we can just pull them out.”
“No more of this macho bullshit Nicky! You’re hurt and you’re going to take care of yourself, because we get married in two weeks and you’re going to be healthy for it goddamn it. Do you have anything to redress this with?”
“There’s some vaseline and gauze in my carryon bag. Can you also grab one of the yellow pills.”
“What are you taking?”
“It’s a low dose of oxy.”
“Is that why you slept the entire flight?”
“No, the only thing I’ve taken since I left the ER was some naproxen this morning.”
“Don’t you dare lie to me Nicholas James Knight!”
“I would never lie to you, damn it!”
“You better not.” Penny takes the vaseline and gauze out and begins redressing his wounds. Each time she touches him he can almost feel the barbed wire ripping his flesh all over again Tears are running down his face by the time that she is finished and he is gasping for air from holding his breath. “All done.”
“Thank you,” he says, once he’s finally able to speak again.
She reaches up and wipes away his tears before tenderly kissing him. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“No, Sabin hurt me. You’re doing what you’ve always been able to do, make me better.”
“I wish you could see yourself through my eyes just once. You’re not the man that you think that you are, and you never have been. I know we agreed not to talk about it a long time ago, but all of that shit that happened before was not because you’re a bad man.”
“I wish I could understand how you see that.”
“Maybe one day you’ll see it too. Now take your pill, so we can get out of here and find our gate.”
He swallows the pill using a mouthful of tap water before joining Cin and JC out in the concourse. Luckily their gate was right around the corner and they made it in perfect time for business class to be boarding. Once they were seated Nick once again got out his book and turned on his music. Reading about the events of Bel Tine while listening to The Hu made the hour fly by fast, and by the time they landed in Nha Trang the pill was kicking in and he was starting to feel a little better.
Once on the ground they made it through customs with out any problems and then find a chauffeur standing right inside of the doors holding a sign that reads Knight Family. The man leads them out to a van and loads their luggage into the back as they make themselves comfortable. Twenty minutes later they were in line to check into their rooms at the Radisson Blu Resort Cam Rahn.
“This place looks really nice,” Penny says.
“It has really great reviews online, and it’s less than ten minutes from the beach by car,” Nick replies.
“What do you mean ten minutes from the beach? Just look out the back window, dad.”
“I meant the beach we’re going to go to for surfing. It’s considered the best in Vietnam.”
“It’s probably pretty empty, since Charlie don’t surf,” JC says, smiling.
Nick gives him a fist bump. “I didn’t know that you’ve seen Apocalypse Now.”
“I watched it a few weeks ago for English class,” he replied.
“They’re letting eighth graders watch Apocalypse Now?”
“The assignment was to read a book, watch the movie version of it, and write a report comparing the two,” JC explained.
“You picked Heart of Darkness to read?"
“Yeah. I really wanted to do Fight Club or American Psycho, but they were already taken by the time the sign up got to me.”
"That's some pretty heavy reading for college students, let alone middle schoolers."
"This new school of mine lets us work to our own level, so I'm not stuck reading some bullshit book like The Outsiders."
"I never read the book, but the movie was pretty decent," Nick says.
"Don't tell me you actually liked that 'Stay Golden Pony Boy bullshit?'"
"I guess I just understand it a little bit more having grown up on the streets."
"I never thought of it that way."
The conversation dies down for a moment, before Nick says, “Was Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas available?”
“I didn’t even think of that.”
“A Clockwork Orange would have also been a good choice.”
“I’ve never seen it,” JC admits.
“We’ll have to watch it sometime this week. It’s a fucked up flick, and the book is even more fucked up.”
“Have you actually read all of those books?”
“I haven’t read Heart of Darkness, but I’ve read all of the other ones. When I was on Gator Island there really wasn’t much to do, so your uncle would send me boxes of books to read. I also got an Associates Degree by mail.”
“I didn’t know you have a college degree,” Penny says.
“Yeah, in general studies.”
“You should be proud of that,” Cin says.
“It’s really not worth the paper it’s written on, but when I retire I’d like to get a Bachelors Degree.”
They finally reach the counter and get checked in to their two rooms. Nick thanks the young lady helping them in Vietnamese before leading the way towards the elevator. “We’re up on the tenth floor. They don’t offer any kind of suits with multiple bedrooms unfortunately, but I got two rooms right next to each other. So you’ll have plenty of privacy to jerk off.”
JC’s face turns beat red. “Dad! I don’t do that!”
“Bullshit! You’re a red blooded teenage boy, you probably do it four or five times a day at least. Hell I’m almost forty and I rub one out at least once a day when I’m on the road.”
“Don’t let him lie to you,” Cin says. “He rubs one out at least twice a day when he’s on the road. I know because he video calls me for at least one of them.”
“He usually video calls me for the other,” Penny says.
“Sometimes it’s a three way call,” Nicky says.
“Ewww, gross! I don’t need to know this.”
“Just trying to prove a point that everyone masturbates.” Nick hands JC the key to his room. “Would you like some lube, or is hand lotion good enough?”
“You’ve got lube?”
Nick starts to laugh. “I’ll bring some over once I dig it out of my suitcase.”
The three adults unlock the door and walk into their room with a balcony overlooking a stunning view of the white sand beach and blue waters beyond. The bathroom was massive with both a rainfall shower and a tub big enough to float a battleship. Having spent over twenty years of his life staying in hotels, Nick had to admit that this was easily one of his favorite rooms.
“This place is amazing.” Cin pulls Nick in for a hug, careful to not touch his back. “Thank you for the surprise.”
“I honestly would never have thought of celebrating Christmas in Vietnam,” Penny admitted.
“I wanted to go somewhere that none of us had ever been, so I chose Vietnam.”
“I’m amazed that you’ve never worked in Vietnam,” Cin says.
“The pro wrestling scene is pretty new here, and it doesn’t pay well enough to bring in foreign talent. I’ve seen some stuff on YouTube and it’s on the level of a small indy back home.”
“Would you ever come work here?”
“Maybe one day when I’m retired from IWF, but right now there’s no way they can offer me enough money.”
“Fair enough.”
“I’m not sure about you ladies, but I’m getting hungry. I propose we get cleaned up and go find some food.”
“That sounds good,” Penny says.
Nick sets his suitcase up on the bed and opens it up and pulls out a toiletries bag. Unzipping it takes out a small clear bottle. “I’ll let the boy wonder know to get cleaned up and put on some decent clothes.”
“Are you seriously giving him that?”
“Yes, do you really want our little boy to chafe?”
“He has a good point,” Cin says.
“Please don’t encourage him.”
“I’ll be right back.” Nick leaves their room and knocks on JC’s, before using his key to enter. “Is it safe to come in?”
“Yeah, I’m just catching up on TikTok.”
“Here’s that lube I promised.” Nick tosses the bottle to his son. “We’re going to go find something to eat, so take a shower and put on some decent clothes.”
“Alright. What else do we have planned for the night?”
“We should probably try to get to sleep early, so we can you can hit the waves first thing in the morning.”
“You’re not going?”
“I’ll go to the beach with you, but I can’t go in the water until my stitches are removed,” Nick explains.
“That sucks.”
“Tell me about.” Nick turns towards the door. “Be ready in half an hour.”
Nick can hear the shower running as soon as he opens the door to his room and he looks into the bathroom to see Penny covered in suds. Fighting the urge to join her he joins Cin in the living room where she is unpacking her suitcase. She turns and flashes him a perfect California girl smile. “What should I wear?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
“I’m thinking you should go with that shirt I bought for you for your birthday last year and a nice pair of jeans.”
“Sounds good.”
“We’ve got you figured out, now what should I wear?”
“That blue dress that I really like, but ask Penny for her opinion.”
“My opinion on what,” Penny asks, walking into the room wearing nothing except a towel around her head.
“What should I wear tonight,” Cin asks.
“I’m sure Nicky said that blue dress, which is always a good choice.”
“How’d you know…”
“You’re as predictable as high tide Nick Knight.” Penny points down towards the front of Nick’s shorts. “I also see that you’re feeling a little bit better.”
“When I’m looking at something as gorgeous as you he doesn’t give a shit how I feel,” Nick replies, making both women laugh. “Would one of you be able to help me wash up? I shouldn’t get my stitches wet yet, but I desperately need a shower.”
“I will, come on.” Cin leads him into the bathroom and turns on the shower. “Strip.”
Knight undresses and she helps to remove the dressings that Penny had put on back at Da Nang. Stepping into the shower he let the warm water fall over him, being careful to keep most of it off of his back. Taking a cloth and a bar of soap Cin gently washes the wounds that he suffered the day before never touching the stitches or staples. Once finished with his back she left him to finish his shower alone.
Twenty-five minutes late they were all dressed and heading to a Vietnamese style seafood restaurant on the property called The Blue Lobster. The food was excellent and by the time they had walked back to their rooms they were all more than exhausted, and ready for bed. Setting an alarm to get up early to head to the beach Nick cuddled up with his future brides and was soon asleep.
December 18 7:08 AM Local Time
Nick was up before the rest of his family and decided to find the exercise room and get in a couple of miles on the treadmill. Just like the rest of the hotel the gym was fantastic with a mix of dumbbells, weight machines, treadmills, bikes, and stair steppers. Everything looked to be brand new and not a single piece of equipment was out of order.
Putting on his headphones he fired up his workout mix and started off on a slight jog. Pretty soon he was breathing hard and he could feel the lactic acid building up. Worse than the burn in his legs though was the stinging on his back as sweat got into his many cuts and burns. He refused to stop though until he ran at least five miles.
Finished working out he made his way back to the room to find his family sitting around the small table eating breakfast. “I’m going to jump in the shower and then I’ll be out to join you.”
“Do you need help,” Penny asks.
“I’m not sure.”
“I’ll come just in case.” She follows him into the bathroom and closes the door behind them. Before he can ask why she closed the door her lips were attacking his. “We should probably hurry.”
“What’s got into…” She cut off his question with another kiss.
“I said, we need to hurry.”
Nick’s shower probably took a little longer than normal, but no one said anything when they both came out with smiles on their faces. “Let me get dressed and I’ll run down stairs to see about getting the stuff Joey shipped over. If you ladies don’t have suits to wear to the beach I saw a store just off the lobby that sells some very nice looking stuff.”
“I think I have something that will work, but it never hurts to go shopping,” Cin says.
“I’ve been wanting to get a new suit,” Penny agrees.
“Just have them charge it to the room.”
Half an hour later Nick with the help of a hotel maintenance man had uncrated the surf boards and was loading all of the gear and cooler full of snacks and drinks into the back of one of the hotels many shuttle vans. Just as he was finishing up JC came out in a pair of board shorts and a white Kobe Bryant jersey. “Is that your new board?”
“Yeah. I was thinking that you could try it our for me.”
“That doesn’t see very fair,” JC argued.
“Well I’m not going to be able to use it until I get these stitches out, which probably won’t happen until it’s time to leave.”
“How about we just wait to see what happens?”
“What happens with what,” Penny asks.
Nick’s jaw drops when he sees his fiancees walk out of the hotel in matching wraps. “Umm…”
“Cat got your tongue, Nicky?” Cin giggles at him when he blushes. “Do we really look that good?”
“You look hot,” JC answers, before his dad can.
“You know you shouldn’t say things like that about your stepmom,” she teases him.
“He’s not wrong.” Nick finally find his voice. “You both look amazing, and JC doesn’t want to try my new board out for me.”
Cin walks over to the back of the van and looks inside. “Why wouldn’t you want to use this sweet board?”
“It’s his first new board, he should be the one to use it first.”
“Fair enough.”
“Load up,” Nick says.
The ride to the beach was less than ten minutes and it only took another five for them to find a place on the white sand. Penny and Nicky quickly and spread out a blanket to sit on, before both ladies shuck off their wraps revealing the new bikinis that they bought back at the hotel. Penny’s is a dark pink that matches the streaks in her hair and perfectly shows off her toned and tattooed body, while Cin’s is yellow and it matches her golden locks and makes her beach bunny tan pop.
“Wow, I thought you looked hot in the wrap,” JC says to Cin.
“Didn’t I tell you that you shouldn’t say things like that to your stepmom,” she scolds him again.
“You’re probably right. Good thing you're not my stepmom yet,” he replies, earning a laugh from everyone.
“You both look incredible,” Nick says.
“Thank you,” the ladies say, at the same time.
“Now go, hit the waves.” Nick shoos them towards the water. Listening to him they pull on their wet suites and grab their boards before running out into the perfect waves. “God I wish I was out there with them. It’s been way too long since I’ve been in the water.”
“Well if you weren’t an idiot and get yourself into a exploding barbed wire dumb-ass match right before a surfing vacation, you could be out there with them.”
“True, but do you know how much money I made from that match?”
“No idea.”
“A bout thirty-five grand, before any attendance bonus, which is going to be very nice since I was in the main event of a show that sold out the Tokyo Dome. Still think I’m an idiot?”
“Yes, but you’re a well paid idiot. Now put some sunscreen on my back.”
The rest of the morning Penny and Nick sat in the sun and watched their loved ones play in the water and talked about the things going on in their lives. They had discussed many of the subjects on video calls the past couple of months, but it just wasn’t the same as doing it in person. When they all were hungry and in need of a break Nick called the hotel to have a shuttle sent back to pick them up.
After lunch they decided that they would grab one of the cabanas and hang around the pool until it closed. It was a perfect eighty degrees and sunny, which felt even better after spending the past couple of months in either Canada or Japan. Nick also felt pretty good about life when he saw the kinds of looks that his fiancees were getting from the other hotel guests. Damn near every single man that they past was eye fucking them, and most of the women looked like they were ready to leap up and scratch out their eyes. He will never understand how he managed to be so lucky.
The next few days went exactly the same, with the Knight family enjoy fun in the sun. Then on Christmas Eve Nick has to bow out and take a shuttle into the nearest town to visit the local clinic for his back. Having wrestled all over the world he’s been in more than his fair share of hospitals and clinics, he was never quite sure what he was going to be walking into, but the clinic was a very clean building only big enough for a couple of exam rooms.
He was immediately taken back and a short gray haired man wearing wire rimmed glasses came into the room with a smile on his face. “Mr. Knight, my name is Dr. Nguyen. I understand that you’ve got some stitches and staples that you need me to take a look at.”
“Yeah, Doc. The stitches are definitely ready to come out, but I’m not sure about the staples.”
“Well, let me take a look.” Nicky pulls his shirt up over his head and Dr. Nguyen removes the dressings. “Did you lose a fight with a bear?”
“I’m a professional wrestler.”
“Are you one of those crazy guys that hit people with the lightbulbs that you see on YouTube?”
Nick chuckles. “Sometimes, Doc.”
“That’s not a good way to live a long life.” The doctor examines Nick’s back pulling in some spots, and pushing in others. “I think all of the stitches and staples are ready to come out, but you’re going to still need to be careful. You have some wounds that still have not healed completely.”
“I’m not wrestling again for almost two weeks, so I’ve got plenty of time to recover,” Nick says.
“Good.” The doctor leaves the room and comes back a minute later with the nurse and a kit to remove both the stitches and the staples. In less that a quarter of an hour everything had been taken out of his back and he was on his way back to the hotel to take a nice long hot bath.
December 25 6:05AM
As an adult Christmas has slowly become one of Nicky’s favorite day of the year. Growing up he hated it, because their was a good chance that he was going to be disappointed. Some years he would get nothing, and some years it was probably something that one of his mother’s crackhead boyfriends stole. He was in a position where not a single one of his loved ones was ever going to have to worry about that.
Penny, Cin, and JC were all bleary eyes as they waited for breakfast to be delivered, but Nick could not be more excited. Unable to wait any longer he digs three identical wrapped packages out of his bag and passes them out. “You have to open them at the same time.”
The three people that Nick loves most in the entire world tear into the fancy paper to reveal identical velvet boxes inside. Opening up the jewelry boxes they found keys inside confusing all three of them. Picking up the remote control Knight turns on the TV, before hitting the play button on his lap top.
There is a slight pause before the video begins with Nick standing in front of a door. A dumb grin on his face he says, “Welcome home.”
The next few minutes was a video of him walking through a home showing off the best features. When he is finished showing off each room he says that he saved the best for last and walks out the back door and onto a deck overlooking a private beach. Waves break onto the sand as the sun slowly sinks out over the water.
“What the fuck?” Penny is obviously angry, and Cin doesn’t seem to be any happier.
“I bought us a new house,” Nick is taken back by the reaction.
“I see that, but what happened to making all decisions as a unit? You decide that it’s alright just to put us in debt up to our eyeballs just to stroke your ego. I can’t fucking believe you!”
“We aren’t up to our eyeballs,” he argues. “I sold the condo for the down payment. My accountant says that I’ve earned enough money in the past three months as TV Champion that I should be able to cover a good chunk of the remaining cost. I also came into some money recently that I really didn’t want to talk about, because I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it.”
“What are you talking about,” Cin asks.
“My brother was killed in a helicopter crash several months ago, and he left me a nice inheritance. Knowing the kind of man that he was, and that he made that money doing gods only knows what, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it. Finally I decided that this what I wanted to do with it.”
“How much do you still owe,” Penny asks.
“Just under half and million.”
“How do you plan on paying that?”
“When I beat JJ I’m going to get another huge bonus, which will knock out a lot of it.”
“You mean, if you beat JJ?”
“No, I mean when.”
“You're such…”
“Stop it!” Every looks over to JC who is on the verge of tears. “It’s fucking Christmas, and dad has done something awesome for us. All you can do is bitch at him for spending the money he’s made literally bleeding for this family.”
“JC is right,” Cin says. “I’m just wondering why you think we need a new home?”
“I bought our place before Penny and I got married because I knew that we would need somewhere for our family to grow. I decided that maybe we need a bigger place for our family to grow into, whatever that might mean.”
“Does that mean you want to have more kids,” she asks.
“Possibly.” A big dumb smile comes onto Cin’s face. “I just want us to live in a place that’s big enough for us to be ready for whatever might come. This place is also right on the ocean and has a private beach, so we can do whatever we want without having to worry about being run off.”
“Are you guys talking about…eww,” JC says.
“Actually, we’re not,” Nick replies. “Sex on the beach is really not that great. You get sand in really uncomfortable places.”
“We can talk about this later, but let’s just try to enjoy Christmas.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” Cin says.
“Then I think we should go surfing one last time before we leave in the morning,” Nicky says.
“Where are we going,” Penny asks.
“We’ve got a wedding to get ready for.”
Well howdy there pardner.