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“Right,” he finished with the same scowl he always had. “Let’s get out and do this. Don’t fuck up.”
We lined up to enter the main room that housed the cage, and all of a sudden, as I heard the noise from the crowd, the headlines started to flow through my mind.
Disgraced boxer, Bones Vega, to return to the ring.
Will Bones throw the fight again?
Bones brings his tainted past to a once-respected gym with a legacy.
A sickness swirled around in my stomach, and my confidence level dropped. When I woke this morning, I’d felt ready to conquer. I’d wanted to prove to the people who believed in me that I was worth it. The surprise kiss I’d shared with Ari a little over a week ago floated to the forefront of my memory, and I’d wanted to make this work for her. I’d felt like I could take on the world and nothing would bother me. That I could brush it all aside and focus on all the nonstop training I’d been doing to prepare for this moment. But now all that confidence was gone.
Fuck, what the hell was I doing here? Why did I ever think that this was going to be a good idea?
If only my dad could be sitting in the crowds somewhere. I would feel a million times better if I could know he was there. Instead, he was at home, watching me on the Internet, which was all the support he could give me. It had to be enough, but I still wanted him nearby.
Where was Ari? I had Frankie, Lotto, and the team prepping me, painting my classic bone mask onto my face, standing near as I was weighed, had my hands inspected, and readied for the fight, but I never saw her.
Ever since that kiss, she had been keeping her distance. She wasn’t exactly cold, but she always seemed busy and rushing to the office and closing the door when I was around. I didn’t exactly have much time between the non-stop training, but I had still hoped she would be present for the fight. I needed her. I needed that positive energy. I needed my bloody angel right now.
I sucked in a few deep breaths, trying to calm my panic-stricken body, but it didn’t do much good. My heart still raced away, my palms were still sweaty, and I was trembling all over.
Just think about the fight. Just focus on how you’re going to show everyone what Bones is made of.
As the announcer called out, and we entered the cage with deep bass music blaring through the speakers, I forced out all my negative thoughts and looked around the audience seats… until a loud mass of boos rang out, just for me.
Booo.
You suck.
You fraud.
Go home, you cheat!
The Godwins should have killed you.
I hung my head, looking only at my feet, praying it wouldn’t last forever. I could win people back. I could prove I was a different person. I just needed to weather this storm first. If I fought well, if I gave it my all, I might even be able to start winning again.
“Ignore. Focus. Win,” Lotto coached, snapping me out of my self-pity, before leaving me to battle all the demons that awaited me.
I finally stood alone in the cage and faced my opponent who was already there waiting for my arrival as he bounced, pounding his fists together. I didn’t recognize him from when I last fought, so I wasn’t sure what he would deliver. With him being slightly larger than me, his punch might have enough force to knock me out.
I would have to dodge the bull like I had mastered doing so in the past. His aggressive nature didn’t intimidate me at all. I knew how to deal with brute force. Giving the man a cocky nod and a wink, I took pleasure in seeing it pissed him off. He was hoping he would scare me, and instead he did nothing of the sort.
The audience, however. That was a different story.
Wave after wave of sounds from the crowd added to the chaotic noise in my head. I could barely focus on anything when finally, the ring of the bell broke my spell.
It was on.
It was fucking on.
Like any bull, my opponent charged. This made it easy for me. He was the bull, and I was the fucking matador. It didn’t take much to avoid his punches, which allowed me the room to jab his ribs and get the kidney shots that would eventually hand me the win.
Dodge, punch.
Dodge, punch.
This was like stealing candy from a damn baby. I could have kept at this pace all night, but it was time to go in for the kill. One charge from the man out of frustration was all it took for me to land an uppercut to the jaw, and he was down.
