48. Theo Fairview
Alexa Play: Let You Down by Three Days Grace
My gym bag, thankfully, had still been at my father’s grave, where I must have left it the night before.
I’d killed several hours before the fight just sitting with my dad, alternating between sips of wine and water as I did my best to keep myself just drunk enough to fight off the incessant creep of Samwell’s phantom fingers, while staying sober enough that I could pass for normal.
I knew Jerry wouldn’t let me fight if he thought I’d been drinking, so when I showed up at the ring, I made sure to take a shower and brush my teeth before seeing him.
The white wine wasn’t as potent as my usual choice of vodka, so if I kept my distance from him, I was hoping he wouldn’t smell it on me like last time.
As I taped my knuckles and listened to his pep talk, I kept quiet, only giving one-word answers when absolutely necessary.
It seemed to work. He didn’t appear to suspect anything, and he was patting me firmly on the shoulders as he ushered me down the concrete hall that led to the main arena.
“Remember what we talked about. No mistakes this time. DeLuca has a mean cross, and it lights out if you let her connect.” Jerry was rambling, and I was nodding, my half-drunk mind feeling slow but somewhat level as I focused on putting one foot in front of the other.
“Svetlana beat Thompson last night, to no one’s surprise. Which means if you nail this, you’ll finally get your chance to fight her. So don’t fuck this up.”
Even in my fucked up state, my heart beat faster at that.
Svetlana.
The Russian.
She was the only other fighter in my weight class that I personally considered to be on the same level as me.
She was absolutely lethal, with two casualties under her belt.
I was flippant about it with Jerry, but I knew he was right.
I couldn’t pull the shit I’d pulled with Andrea Bulgetti when it was time to face Svetlana Petrova in a few weeks.
To beat her, I would need to be on the top of my game, which was somewhat concerning considering I was about to go into a fight half drunk and traumatized.
The screams from the crowd grew louder as we approached the ring.
As soon as I stepped out into the venue, the usual rush of adrenaline I chased like some sort of junkie coursed through me, and I felt a little steadier.
Squinting against the lights and the bone-quaking, blood thirsty screams of the crowd, I climbed up into the ring and settled down into my corner.
The announcer came online and began the usual bullshit. Stating mine and DeLuca’s names and weight classes, which got the crowd even more revved up.
Neither DeLuca nor I had killed anyone yet, but it was always a possibility in these fights, which is why I made so much money doing this.
The entrance fee for nosebleed seats alone was over a grand, which the gangsters and criminals that normally attended these matches usually had no problem paying.
I think the pot for this fight was close to thirty grand if I won, not that I really cared how much I made. I never spent any of it anyway.
I split everything 50/50 with Jerry, and honestly, I would give him more if he would take it.
The stakes were high, and this particular clientele always showed up, hoping to see a fighter pay the ultimate price.
It made it addictive for both the fighters and the attendees.
I wondered vaguely if the crowd would get what they paid for tonight, considering I was so mentally out of it that I barely cared if I won or lost.
“Alright, kid, they’re gonna ring the bell. You got this,” Jerry said, and as if on autopilot, my body responded.
Slipping in my mouthguard, I stood and walked to the center of the ring to meet DeLuca.
She was leaner than me, but just as heavily muscled. Her eyes were clear and focused, and she frowned slightly as we circled each other, waiting for the bell to sound.
I’d fought her before, so I wasn’t surprised that she seemed to be able to tell something was up.
The bell rang, and she gave me a wicked smile… A smile that told me she thought she’d already won.
She swung, and I instinctively stepped back, missing the hook Jerry had warned me about by mere millimeters.
Muscle memory took over, and although I was much slower and less coordinated than usual, I managed to fall into a groove.
She was in full offense, and she was much faster than I remembered, which was another thing I vaguely recalled Jerry warning me about.
Fuck. It was taking all my energy and focus just to avoid getting hit.
Retaliating at all seemed impossible. Not when she was coming at me like she wanted me dead.
Maybe she did.
Hoping that if I maintained a strong enough defense in the first round, she would eventually tire and make a mistake, I focused on getting my body to move fast enough to evade her.
But even that was hard, as the more I sweated, the more my buzz seemed to fade, which opened the door for Father Samwell to walk into my mind.
Out of nowhere, I was hit with a flashback so strong the ring around me winked in and out of existence.
I barely managed to dodge another cross when I physically felt Samwell step up behind me.
Not real, not real, not real!
Christ, Theo! You know it isn’t real!
Despite knowing there was no way Samwell was actually in the ring with me, it didn’t matter.
It felt like he was literally standing at my back, whispering in my ear the way he used to when he locked me in that dark office with him.
‘So docile, Theodora… Such a pretty little lady,’ he cooed as I barely managed to block a jab. DeLuca’s fist connected with my forearm, and a splintering pain shot down my arm to my elbow.
She was like a brick wall. Her broad shoulders rippled with muscle, and the focus in her eyes was sending me into a tailspin as I did my best to shake off Father Samwell’s phantom voice.
My ears pricked as I heard the familiar shouts and cheers from Callum.
I hadn’t known he was coming to this match…
I glanced over at him to find him beaming with his silly foam finger, and my heart sank as I realized Cassandra was standing there next to him.
Cass was here!?
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
For once, she wasn’t wearing her designer business-casual labels. Tonight, she was in expensive athleisure, and her perfect, toned legs looked fucking killer in tight black leggings.
But it was the look on her face that made me break out into a cold sweat.
She was frowning, and her hands were tucked in the front pockets of her blood red Lululemon hoodie. Her entire body was tense, and she looked extremely uncomfortable.
She was so pissed.
I didn’t have time to dwell on her presence as DeLuca came for me again.
My reflexes kicked in, and I ducked, nearly tripping over my feet in my effort to get out of the way.
But she didn’t stop.
Again and again, she unleashed vicious combo after vicious combo, and I was too slow.
I could barely keep up.
Duck, swerve, spin, FUCK, duck again!
Cass’s eyes were burning a hole into the back of my head, and if Father Samwell’s ghost hadn’t been pressed up against my back the entire time, I would have relished my chance to show off in front of her.
As it was, I was having a hard time focusing when his imaginary fingers curled around my hips, and he began tracing gentle circles on the insides of my thighs, directly under the hem of my shorts.
Fuck, no. Stop it!
‘You look so pretty in those heels, Theodora.’
Suddenly, the gentle touches were too much for me to handle.
I crushed my eyes shut in an attempt to banish the memory that was so strong it felt like a full-blown hallucination… then… DeLuca’s fist connected with the side of my face.
Cassandra screamed as my head snapped to the side, and my mouth guard went flying.
I took another shot to the face, and suddenly, I was horizontal. DeLuca was on top of me, landing blow after blow into my head, and the pain was all-consuming.
It was a blessing and a curse.
The pain was a welcome distraction. Father Samwell’s gentle touches were replaced with the ruthless smash of DeLuca’s fists, and I sighed in relief, even as another blow connected.
With my tormentor’s ghost gone, I could finally focus again, and I knew I needed to turn this around or I was gonna lose.
Cassandra’s screams were ringing through my mind as I rolled. Taking DeLuca with me, I wrapped my legs around her waist.
Without hesitation, I flipped us and locked her into a chokehold.
I felt the breath rush out of her as I crushed her windpipe with my bicep, using my left arm to pull my own wrist back as leverage.
“Tap out,” I growled in her ear, and she tried to shake her head, but I just squeezed harder, crunching her ribs between my thighs until I heard a satisfying crack.
“It’s over!” I snapped. “Tap out!”
She struggled for another moment, then her body went limp, and she finally tapped her fingers on the mat.
Thank fuck.
I hadn’t killed anybody yet, and I really had no desire to do so, but this was the nature of this league I’d buried myself in.
Every time I stepped into this ring, I didn’t only risk my own life, but the life of my opponent.
It was something every fighter here needed to be prepared to do.
But that didn’t mean I wasn’t relieved when I didn’t have to follow through.
The bell rang, and suddenly Jerry was holding my fist up as the crowd went absolutely wild.
Everything was spinning.
I blinked against the flashing lights, and I felt like I was underwater as Jerry helped me stumble out of the ring.
Fuck, I hoped I didn’t have a concussion.
My face was already swelling, and I was having trouble seeing out of my right eye. I couldn’t tell if it was because it was full of my own blood or if it was because it was swelling shut. Maybe both.
Jerry supported me as I stumbled out of the underground arena and into my changeroom.
He was talking to me, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
I lost time.
All of a sudden, I was sitting in the decrepit chair by his desk, and I felt like I was having deja vu.
Sienna was in my lap, bouncing up and down, dropping kisses on my swollen face.
Jerry was yelling at her to get out, and I groaned.
Sienna?
I blinked, a rush of dizziness making it difficult for me to process what was happening.
Why was Sienna in here?
“Get…off…” I tried to growl, weakly shoving at her narrow hips.
“Theo, that was amazing!” she screeched, and I winced.
My head was fucking pounding.
“Off… Sienna…” I tried again, but she wasn’t listening.
Suddenly, she wasn’t on my lap anymore, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I must have managed to push her off. Thank god.
Then, Cassandra’s cold voice rolled through the fog of my very obvious concussion, and I shuddered.
“Put your hands on her again, and I will fucking kill you.”
Those were the last words I heard before everything went dark.