Chapter 17 #2
Not wanting their bonding session to end, Khrome prolonged putting her back in the incubator for as long as she could.
Symphony, Averi, and Giavanna were going to the fight too.
Along with Tech, his girlfriend, Mario, Tasha and a guy she was dating.
It was going to be a family affair for real.
God not only sent her Lethal, but he sent her Averi and Symphony.
For the past few days, Khrome had been on cloud nine.
Nothing could bring her down. Her and Lethal hadn’t flirted or had any acts of affection since the push party, but Khrome knew he had a lot on his mind, and she didn’t want to distract him.
Aside from their daughter, nothing was more important than the fight, and Lyric was good.
Khrome wanted to play the background and be supportive.
It wasn’t her objective to make Lethal’s life hard.
The goal was to not make him regret treating her like a human after what she did to him.
At the house, Khrome took a shower and dressed in baggy, black cargo jeans, a mock neck, sleeveless, black shirt, and yellow and black sneakers.
Khrome didn’t want to hide her freckles, so she opted for no foundation.
She brushed her lash extensions and put on eyeliner and lip gloss.
Her hair was in faux locs, so she didn’t have to do anything to her hair.
After spraying on perfume, she clasped a watch around her wrist and put large gold hoops in her ears.
Khrome was meeting the ladies at the venue.
Everyone was sitting together so when she arrived, Khrome sat in the car while she waited on the others.
She had only been there for two minutes when Symphony arrived.
As she was getting out of her car, Averi texted the group chat stating she had arrived.
The ladies met at the entrance of the venue.
They were dressed to impress per usual. After hugs and air kisses, they stood off to the side talking while waiting on Giavanna who said she was two minutes away.
“After the fight, Lethal gets to resume his normal activities.” Symphony wiggled her brows. “You gonna thank him for your car?”
Khrome giggled. For someone that didn’t have a lot of experience with friends as an adult, it amazed her at how comfortable she’d been with Symphony and Averi from day one. “I don’t know. Like, he flirted a little bit, but I still can’t be for sure he wants me like that.”
“Are you serious?” Averi eyed her with a slack jaw. “At the push party that man was looking at you like he wanted to take you down.”
“It’s possible, but maybe I just don’t want to get my hopes up.”
It’s okay to not want to be disappointed, but don’t be na?ve boo,” Averi stated. “That man is into you. He’s into you real bad, and you better put it on him tonight and lock your man down.”
The women spotted Giavanna walking in their direction, so she chose not to acknowledge Averi’s comment.
The ladies knew of course, that Giavanna had cancer, and they all agreed that she looked amazing.
She didn’t look sick. She was fly as hell in a colorful wrap dress and a matching head scarf that she had tied around a long jet-black wig.
“Hey Bookie Butt.” Symphony was the first to greet her. The other ladies followed suit.
Khrome found herself hoping that if for any reason things didn’t work out between the guys and any of them, that they would all remain friends.
Khrome refused to lie about the fact that she really liked having them in her life.
Even as far as Lethal’s family. There wasn’t one person that she didn’t like.
She didn’t have family of her own, so God gave her one by way of Lyric, and she would be eternally grateful.
The guys were her brothers, and the ladies were her sisters.
They entered the arena, went through security, and walked to their seats.
Khrome had never been to a live sports event.
When Vick or Cam would host fight parties, or she’d be out while they were playing in sports bars, she’d watch bits and pieces, but she never got deep into it.
Fourteen was the age that Khrome started drinking.
She had her first sip of alcohol at sixteen.
Back then, she smoked and occasionally drank because it made her feel good.
It made her feel grown. Moving in with Vick changed her reasons for indulging drastically.
Weed and alcohol made her lose concepts of time.
They made her numb to the suffering and oblivious to the mistreatment.
Any time they hosted any kind of gathering or she was out at a bar or club, Khrome was always high as hell giving fake smiles and being lost in her own little world.
Nothing she did was with intention or intense concentration.
People started filing in and soon, an entire section was filled with nothing but friends and family of Lethal.
Khrome thought it was so cool when Tech’s girlfriend and Tasha smiled and greeted one another while Tech and Tasha’s date gave each other dap and head nods.
Seeing the side of relationships and family dynamics that weren’t dysfunctional and traumatizing was new for Khrome, but she loved it.
She was most definitely taking notes because Lyric wouldn’t be raised in anything less than love and understanding.
Khrome was borderline embarrassed joining parenting groups on social media, but she needed tips and tricks on raising a child because she damn sure didn’t have a good example from her own parents.
The preliminary fights began, and everyone was tuned in.
There were going to be three undercard fights and with each passing one, Khrome became more and more nervous.
Of course, she’d only seen great things attached to Lethal’s name, but she had never seen him fight.
The closest she’d come was seeing him sparring at the gym.
She wanted him to win. Not because it would benefit her, but because she knew it was important to him.
The preliminary fights were pretty good and seemed to speed by.
The air inside the arena changed when it was time for the main event.
The commentators were doing a great job of building anticipation for the fight.
When she kept hearing them say they felt like Khrome had a pretty good chance of beating his opponent, it made her face light up.
When a Kendrick Lamar beat dropped, and the rapper came into the arena rapping into a microphone with Lethal and Lethal’s team behind him, the crowd went crazy.
For the past month, Khrome had been seeing Lethal’s face every day but seeing him in his element, shirt off, face serious, her stomach quaked.
If anyone dared to part their lips to tell her she didn’t have the finest baby daddy in the world, she’ll tell them they were a damn liar.
Her mind filled with enough impure thoughts to create an X-rated film.
Despite almost the entire crowd yelling and screaming for Lethal, Blak, Block, Belvin, Tech, and Mario stood up and shouted and screamed loud enough to be heard over everyone.
When Lethal’s opponent walked in, he was shown love indeed, but it was clear whose house they were in.
The people had come out for Lethal. When Lethal and his opponent were face to face in the ring, the air once again shifted.
It was thick with tension. The first punch hadn’t even been thrown, and Khrome was already holding her breath.
When gloves touched, her heart lurched. As soon as the bell sounded off, Khrome’s breath released slow and steady.
She watched intently as Lethal and his opponent, Jamie Woods, sized one another up.
Slowly, they moved around the ring before Jamie went in for a jab.
Lethal blocked a few punches before one landed.
Khrome didn’t know much about the sport of boxing, but she would bet her last dollar that Lethal was being strategic.
He wasn’t going to wear himself out in the first round.
Until Jamie began doing too much. He delivered a blow that snapped Lethal’s head back and once again, Khrome stopped herself from exhaling.
Relentlessly, Lethal hit Jamie with a barrage of body shots.
The only thing that stopped him was the screaming of the bell.
“That’s what I’m talking about! Take his ass to church!” Tech yelled.
By the third round, Jamie was leaning on the ropes whenever he could.
He was tired. Lethal’s forehead was drenched in sweat.
There was a small cut by his left brow, and his breathing was ragged, but he was still going.
Jamie wasn’t a bad fighter at all, and he was holding his own, but when it came to footwork, the power of punches, and combinations, Lethal was the better fighter hands down.
By the fourth round, it was obvious that with each punch that he threw, Jamie was exhausted.
Lethal preserved some energy by doing light footwork and doing what Khrome had heard some people refer to as running in the past. Lethal was trying to tire Jamie out.
When he was tired of playing with him, Lethal caught his second wind and hit Jamie with a head shot, body shot, uppercut combo that sent him crashing to the floor, and the crowd went wild.
The referee began to count causing Khrome’s eyes to widen with each number.
Block jumped to his feet while Khrome waited with bated breath.
When the referee reached ten, and Jamie still wasn’t on his feet, the crowd lost it.
“A fourth-round knockout is crazy!” Blak screamed.
“That nigga is lethal,” Tech laughed.