19. Dove & Reighvyn
ONE WEEK LATER
I watched in a mixture of fear and awe as Reighvyn took blow after blow to his side and to his head, lying on the mat, curled in a fetal position. My fear was the damage his body and psyche were taking, and my awe was how his body could take such a pounding, and he could still be breathing.
I wasn’t prepared for this . . . The brutality . . .The aggression . . . The violent cries from the crowd. I knew what he did, and I had even seen a few bouts. Being here in person was completely different than experiencing it from the confines of my living room and watching them on TV, though.
From the living room, all I could hear were shrieks and cheers. In the arena, I heard “Bash his fucking head in!” “Quit being a bitch and get up and fight!”, “Paralyze him and end his career!”, “Get your ass up, nigga. I’ve got too much riding on you!”, and so much worse.
It brought out a violent side in me, one where I thought about hitting the people in the mouth who said those things or kicking them in the gut the way I had seen Reighvyn do.
“What is wrong with y’all? You’re acting like animals!” I screamed at the guy two seats over from Kandi Grace. Then I turned to another guy and shouted, “I wanna see you keep that same energy when he gets up and beats the hell out of Warren!”
“If he gets up. More like he’ll be carried out on a stretcher!” the guy shouted back.
“Keep talking shit, and you’ll be carried out on a stretcher!” I threatened.
“You really wanna try me, lady?” he asked, standing up.
Before I knew it, four men behind us stood up. Two of them had been flirting with Kandi Grace and Myracle since we’d arrived. The other two tried to flirt with me until they learned that Reighvyn was my boyfriend.
“Aye, nigga. You might wanna lower that bass in your voice when you’re talking to a woman,” the one who flirted with Myracle demanded.
“Man, did you hear the shit she was talking?” the obnoxious guy asked.
“Nigga, I don’t care if she was talking about ya mama. You don’t ever come at a lady like that.”
“I suggest you apologize unless you wanna have ya ass dragged in the ring,” one of the guys who had been flirting with me demanded.
The obnoxious guy turned red in the face and turned to me. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”
I rolled my eyes and turned back to the men and smiled. “Thank you.”
“It’s all good, shorty. I ain’t ever gon’ be cool with a man disrespecting a woman like that,” the one who flirted with Myracle stated.
We sat back down in our seats and turned to watch the fight.
There was Kandi Grace on one side of me, rubbing my back and soothing my nerves, and there was Myracle on the other side of me shouting, “The fuck wrong with y’all?
Bet y’all won’t get y’all bitch asses in the ring and do what the fuck he’s doing! ”
I wasn’t sure who was worse, the crowd or Myracle. I sucked my teeth.
“Breathe, girl,” Kandi Grace advised.
“I’m really having a hard time with this, KG.”
“Don’t count him out yet.”
“I haven’t counted him out. I’m worried what will happen in the aftermath.”
I knew that Reighvyn could make a comeback; my concern was whether he would.
This was the first time that he’d had a fight scheduled after a visit with his mother.
From what Paloma told me, he usually had nothing scheduled for weeks or months after an interaction with their mother.
He had always stayed away in the past when he had a match scheduled.
“He’ll be fine. He’ll go on like he always does, Dove. He’s a professional, and this is what they do,” she replied.
“He’s never lost a fight. He’s undefeated, and I’m worried what will happen when the audience goes home, the cameras shut down, and the lights go off. What happens then? How will he handle it?”
She sighed and smiled a tight smile. “You’ll be there for him to give him the encouragement, the strength, and the love that he needs. Just pray for him, girl, and have his back through it.”
“Look!” Myracle shouted. “Told y’all bitches! What now?”
“Ohmigosh, Dove! Look!” Kandi Grace exclaimed.
I lifted my eyes to the octagon again. Reighvyn had gotten back up, and though his legs were shaky, he had taken a defensive posture and was ready. I whispered several quick prayers with my hands folded together in prayer position.
Over the next several minutes, I watched my man regain the advantage, pull amazing strength from somewhere, and kick his opponent’s ass. He managed to get the man down and pound the hell out of him until he knocked him out. It was like he punished him for every blow he’d taken.