But as I walk out my front door and make my way down the quiet hallways to our conference room to meet the boys, I still feel like something is not right. She was pale this morning when I tucked her in. I quickly pull out my phone and send a quick text to Maria to see if she can check up on Annie this morning. Perhaps it was because she is tired and hasn’t eaten yet this morning, but I have a niggling doubt in my head that is starting to fester, and I feel like she is keeping something from me. Something she knows I won’t like.

I meet Sebastian in the hallway, and watch him as he rubs his eyes, clearly having had a late night.

“I fucking hate getting up early and leaving Goldie in bed,” he grumbles to me, and while 6am is not too early, I am beginning to understand what he means.

“Well, she is your weakness, you know that,” I say to him as we continue to walk together. I never thought I would see the day that my best friend fell in love, and it has been a privilege to watch. Growing up, we never really saw a happy marriage, all of them arranged and merely business transactions. But when Sebastian spotted Goldie, it was game over for him, and now all he does is grumble when he is away from her. A feeling that I am discovering in myself.

“You will see, brother, you will see,” he says to me with a knowing smile as he takes a sip of his morning coffee.

We walk into the conference room and see both Carter and Nico having an animated discussion about one of Carter's upcoming fights, and Sebastian and I take a seat, watching them.

“You really should. You get calls about it all the time!” Nico says, obviously trying to convince Carter to go pro, but we know he will never do that. Nico has a good business mind, and I can see the wheels in his head turning, thinking about managing Carter to become a world-renowned MMA fighter, which he is more than capable of being.

But underground fighting is what he enjoys. Carter loves to walk on the wild side; he doesn’t like restrictions, rules, or anyone telling him what to do. He is a tough motherfucker who had a bad upbringing and a rough start at life, and he is now taking out his anger on the poor suckers who think fighting with him in a warehouse, on a cold concrete floor, in the darkness of night is a good aspiration to have.