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Hard.
I didn’t have to wait for the count from the ref to know I’d won. The man would not be standing again.
Fucking knock-out without so much as breaking a sweat.
A massive cheer burst out from the crowd, filling my chest with an intense joy until I felt like they had the power to knock me out as I had to the poor man lying on the mat. I’d done it. I’d actually fucking done it.
I’d won.
Someone rushed up behind me and threw my arms into the air. As that happened, a chant started forming in the crowd. I listened closely for a second, trying to work out what was being said.
“Bones, Bones, Bones…”
They were cheering for me. Not a single ‘boo’ existed. Sure, I could see people who were pissed they’d lost their bet, but even then, there wasn’t hate in the air.
I felt lighter, happier than I had in a very long time, and for the first time in what felt like forever, the future looked more filled with color. I pictured my dad standing in front of the laptop screaming with his bowl of popcorn spilled all over the floor. The man was probably wheezing and gasping for air, but so overjoyed he wouldn’t even notice. I had made him proud, and that was worth every hour of training and every negative write-up about me reentering the scene as more than a freelance scab.
It transported me back to the time when I’d first joined the world of cage fighting. Everything had been so shiny and new back then. I’d never thought I would get sucked into the underbelly of power, the negative side of it. I’d thought that I was stronger than that, and that I was a better person.
Of course, I was proven so very wrong.
That wouldn’t happen again. I wouldn’t allow anything to grip me in the way gambling did before. Not this time. I was a grown-ass man. Not a fucked-up twenty-six-year-old kid with no real responsibilities. I would grasp this opportunity with both hands. I would appreciate it for what it was, and I was going to make the best of it, no matter what it took.
Dad was right. This was always where I was supposed to be, and I was so unbelievably glad Ari had forced me to take that chance.
“You did it.” Frankie grinned at me, all of a sudden my friend. “You fucking did it.”
“Yes, you did,” someone else said. It was the voice I had been waiting for. The only voice that mattered at that moment. The voice of the one person I wanted to make proud. “I knew you would. I never had a doubt.”
I realized the person holding my arms up in the air as the winner was Ari. She was standing behind me, holding me up. Holding me up...
Chapter 18
Ari
Iwas on top of the world as we headed out to the bar for drinks after our first win in what felt like forever. This was a good start for us. Bringing on Bones to be the new face of Smiley’s was a good move, and I was glad everyone else was now on board with that decision. The man had proven himself with not only the win but by how hard he had trained to get to this point in such a short time.
We quickly reached the local bar where, luckily, they were used to us being loud and boisterous, and Frankie grabbed everyone a round of beers.
“That was an amazing fight. The first of many,” Frankie toasted, clinking glasses with all of us. “If we can keep you fighting like that, mixing it up wherever necessary, then there’s nothing that can stop us.” Everyone cheered in agreement.
“And to Smiley’s,” Lotto added. “To the best fucking gym there is. Thanks for taking a chance.”
Lotto and Frankie were beginning to form a friendship of sorts, as much as anyone can with Frankie. But tonight they seemed even more united. They sat next to each other chatting excitedly, which was good to see. The pieces of my masterplan were starting to fit. Maybe, in time, I wouldn’t be the only Frankie-whisperer. Someone else could help me extinguish his flames when they blazed.
As I glanced over to Bones, my gaze was drawn to him like a magnet. I couldn’t help but notice that he wasn’t drinking much, if at all. I didn’t know if he wanted to keep a level head, or if it was more to do with his addictive personality, but I instantly felt a bond with him—like we were the outsiders of this rowdy, crazy group.
He seemed to sense me looking, and his eyes drew back to me as well. We smiled secretly at one another, sending my heart racing like a love-struck schoolgirl’s. Every time I vowed I was going to behave, that I was going to keep away from him for everyone’s sake, I couldn’t seem to do it. It was as if everything was working against me.
