Twenty-Two
OLIVER
Iknew they would freak out when I told them that I was fighting twice tonight.
They’re validated in their reaction. Mia wasn’t there when AJ nearly let herself break her body.
She would take every fight offered to her because she was addicted to the pain and the exhilaration of spilling someone else’s blood.
But she pushed too far and she couldn’t even be classified as a shell of a person, she was a ghost. And we couldn’t stop her.
Then she walked away. Something in her broke and she left this place and didn’t come back for months.
She hasn’t fought since. But everyone knows and remembers. It’s why they always make room for her when she walks through and why no one touches her.
I’m not going to be like her. I don’t fight to spill blood or have the power.
This is what I’m good at. The money I win is nice, and it’s one of the reasons I can afford to do all the renovations to my house.
But I also have an impact here. It doesn’t seem like it.
You walk into this and it’s just a pit of partying and drinking and fighting.
But there are countless young people here hungry for somewhere to belong.
AJ and Mia have their sponsorships for memberships to hand out to youth that need a home.
I meet young guys here all the time and they want to know where I train and I get the opportunity to send them to the gym.
They don’t last long because our gym isn’t a boys club.
We train hard there and we have a variety of classes.
Dad has spent his whole life creating the gym to be a haven for everyone who needs it.
But every once in a while, I get to bring someone in who needs that haven too.
And we wouldn’t find them if it weren’t for the fighting here.
Then there’s the feeling that engulfs me when I’m in that cement hole in the ground.
I’ve spent my whole life training for something that I lost in one moment.
Eli never wanted to go pro. Maxie just lives each day doing whatever he loves at the moment.
Dad had to pivot because he met mom and we became priority.
I had the shot and I lost it. This is the closest I will ever be to reaching everything I never got.
There’s a million reasons why someone would choose to spend their weekend nights taking hit after hit or delivering them. These are mine. This is where I matter.
Walking through the crowd is routine. Mia’s hand in mine is not.
I feel her fingers grip mine a little tighter as the people start to close in more and I pull her closer to me in reflex.
I don’t know what I did to deserve for her to want to be here with me, but I won’t let anything happen to her to make her regret her decision.
We reach the side of the pool I always fight in as the crowd grows even larger.
Mia comes down the ladder and I watch her look around excitedly.
I go to remind her to stay in the corner but she beats me to it.
“I won’t move. I know your dumb ass rule.” She rolls her eyes at me before nodding her head over to where the guy I’m about to fight is lazily shadowboxing. “He’s taller than you.”
I shake out my shoulders as I invade her space. “I’m bigger.”
“Oh I’m sure.” Her lips twitch and her eyes dance. They are more of a honey color tonight.
I want to kiss her smart mouth but we don’t do that in public.
“Fight now. Fuck later. Or I’m leaving.” Eli complains from beside us.
“We only fuck sometimes.” I correct him.
“Yeah. It’s like a bad habit. Sometimes you just need a fix.” Mia plays along.
“I love a good bad habit.” I wink at her, turning to go to the center before Eli has a conniption.
I stand across from the other guy. I think his name is Alex.
A flash of nervousness crosses his face and is gone just as fast. He’s maybe a year younger than me but he’s broad.
I’m going to bet that he will be a heavy striker just like Eli thinks.
He comes in strong, throwing a punch straight down the middle, which I easily side step out of the way of.
He chases my movements and throws a lazy kick but does land a quick hit to my ribs.
There is no power behind his movements though, it’s like he is running through drills in his head.
He throws a hook this time, I duck. Another kick, this time to the lower leg.
He is fast, Eli was right about that too.
I spend the last half of the first round letting him chase me and watching his movements.
Eli meets me in the corner and hands me some water. “He seems new.”
I turn to face Mia. “How do you want me to end it?” Her eyes go wide at my question.
I feel like more guys should have girls in their physical corners.
There’s something so innate about wanting to do what a woman asks you to do.
The need to prove to her that you are good.
“Answer quickly or I have to wait another round.”
“He’s trying really hard.” She sputters out.
“Maybe don’t hurt him?” I glance to see Eli’s reaction to her request. I can tell he’s on the same page just by the way he slightly raises his eyebrow.
Sometimes new guys come in and ask to be paired with someone the crowd loves.
If you can beat someone the crowd is behind, it’s the fastest way to gain notoriety here.
It’s also the quickest way to get hurt. And since my own injury, I have a new appreciation for not allowing your hunger to fight big to steal your ability to fight at all.
I go back to where he’s waiting and we start again.
I know the crowd wants blood, they always do.
And I know for sure my second fight will be full of it.
But this one won’t be. He comes in strong again, throwing another punch to my face.
I pivot to the left and come up strong with a hook to follow up.
I catch the side of his temple just right and he falls hard.
The crowd cheers loudly but I reach down to pick him up.
He isn’t out for long, maybe a minute. Long enough for me to get him back to his people in his own corner.
Tucker meets me back in my corner which causes some alarm and not only because he is smiling creepily at Mia.
Tucker never comes down unless it’s to take bets for the next fight and it's always before the next fighters are brought in.
“What the hell are you doing down here, Tuck?” He takes one more look at Mia before finally facing me. “Your next fight got moved up.” He announces and holds out a wad of cash to Eli.
“I thought he would have a few fights between them?” Eli is always the one to keep me organized at The Poolhouse.
“Well that was until he knocked out his second guy’s little brother.
” Fuck. Tucker laughs, all of this is like gold for him.
He doesn’t care what happens as long as he is making money and no one dies.
Death gets too messy. That’s what he told us once.
“Who’s this? Didn’t think you were the girlfriend type, West.” He appraises Mia again and I fight the urge to stand between them because I didn’t even like his eyes being on her.
“He’s not.” Mia chirps and all of our eyes are on her now. “I’m not his girlfriend. I work at the gym.” I try not to let it show how her words flayed my flesh open.
“You want to watch his next fight from the best viewpoint?” Tucker points to the balcony where he usually stays, where I wish he would go back to. “Wouldn’t want blood to tarnish this dress.”
“It’s black. It’ll hide the blood.” She smiles sweetly but I know her. She’s annoyed.
He tries a different tactic. “I have drinks and snacks up there.”
“What drink would you make me?” I watch as her question catches him off guard.
Tucker tilts his head, clearly amused, before saying, “I’d have Ty make you whatever you want.”
“That’s not what I asked. If you want me to give you my time up on that balcony and leave my favorite spot to watch him fight, then you would make me a drink yourself.
What drink would you make?” I cover my mouth to hide the knowing expression.
It’s the game we’ve been playing. But she’s reversed the roles.
She bites down on her thumb nail, awaiting his response.
“You definitely like a kick to your drinks. Lemon drop.” Wrong answer, asshole. Tuck doesn’t know that though, he seems proud of his response.
“I’m a tequila girl.” Mia’s lips lift to the side, her eyes finding mine over his shoulder. “Enjoy your balcony.” Tucker wets his bottom lip and softly shakes his head in defeat.
“You’re enticing.” He breathes out.
“And you should stop while you’re behind.” This time when she looks at me I know she is giving me permission to step in.
It takes me less than a step to place myself between them. Tucker looks between myself and Mia, gauging what is actually going on between us. Good fucking luck. I still don’t know what it is and I’m too scared to ask.
“He’s a big guy, Ol. Has only lost maybe two fights in the past five months. And they are from New Jersey. Big family.” Tucker warns me before nodding at Eli and making his way out of the empty pool.
“Do I look like a lemon drop type of girl?” Mia scoffs, clearly offended.
“You look like you need to maybe stand up top with Maxie.” Eli steps closer to us.
“No way. I never moved a muscle.”
“Are you going to be able to stand here if he gets hurt?” Eli argues.
“I’ve seen him get hit before.” She crosses her arms, which makes her breasts push up and I’m more worried about her being around a bunch of strangers than standing in this corner and potentially seeing me get my ass kicked. She has seen me take a few hard hits, but she hasn’t seen me go down yet.
“Max!” I yell up top to where he is standing with a few of his friends. He pokes his head over some guy's shoulder. I wave him down.