Page 65 of Liquids

Oh fuck.

“If they’re all this size, our Rig is going to be annihilated,” Agnes mutters, echoing my racing thoughts.

The guy reaches the ring, parading around, black silk shorts catching the light as people whoop and holler. I glance over at Marge, and her eyes are shining, and suddenly I’m glad, so fucking glad, that I brought the old ladies with me. Who wants to sit at home feeling old and incapable, watching yourself decline daily? They should be out doing stuff. I swear, when we’re back in town, I’m taking them for more days out.

Another roar rips through the crowd as a second guy comes through the curtain, body glistening with oil. He’s short, dark, and rough-looking; about half the size of the man in the ring. No way. No way are these two going to fight. This guy’s going to get crushed.

A chant starts in the crowd, and I can’t make out what they’re saying, but the Alligator, too, clearly has a lot of fans in this makeshift arena.

“I think we need someone who understands the form here,” Marni mutters, and she leans forward and taps the shoulder of a man in front of us. All I hear is “Tell me more about the fighters,” and, amazingly, he’s happy to oblige.

In no time at all, they’re facing off against each other, and the whistle blows, and the short, stocky guy launches himself at the Beast by springing up and aiming a kick to his head. And, dear God, it lands. There’s a huge roar from the crowd as the big guy staggers back against the cage.

“Ooo, Lordy,” Agnes says from beside me as the Beast tries to shake it off. He bounces off the wire mesh and charges, but Joe the Alligator is fast and furious, snapping out kicks and punches, and I can see why he’s up and coming. He’s so fucking fast.

“Remind me why we came to see two guys beating the shit out of each other,” I say to Marni, after watching the Beast land a punch that makes the Alligator’s head snap back and blood run down from a cut on his forehead into his eyes.

“Because it’s exciting!” she shouts over the roar of the crowd, and when I turn to look, the Beast has the Alligator on the ground and is pounding his head into it. Fuck.

I’m not sure what causes me to glance at the purple curtain, but Rig is there, face serious, studying the fight, arms folded across his chest as he talks to Jake. Jake points and gestures, discussing something, and my heart leaps into my throat. I’m going to have to watch Rig go through this. I mean, I knew that, but oh, Jesus.

The guys who are fighting are off the ground now, and I’ve missed what happened. As I turn to Marni to ask her, she’s disappeared, and Konstantin is standing at the end of our row, his head bent down as he speaks to her and waves his arm.

My eyes are drawn back to the fight again, but then Marni appears at my side, sipping from the flask and handing it to me. I think I’m going to need some fortification. I was planning on not drinking and sharing the five-hour drive back with Marni overnight, but I can see that’s a crazy strategy now. We’re going to have to find a cheap motel and all squash into one room. She’s drinking, and there’s no way I’ll survive this if I don’t have some liquid courage.

“Okay, so Konstantin says it’s MMA rules. The format is a set of three rounds, five minutes each.”

A massive roar rises from the crowd as the Alligator lands another kick to his opponent’s head, and I can’t believe how high that guy can jump. The Beast staggers and sags against the wire. The referee blows a whistle and starts counting as the Beast closes his eyes. I can’t watch. As a nurse, I just can’t fucking watch this. The Alligator is bent over, breathing hard. The referee counts it out, and the whistle sounds again, and the Alligator erupts, punching his fist in the air. The crowd goes wild. The men in front of us are shouting and waving their fists, then there’s a huge surge on the other side of the ring, and I see punches flying. Holy crap.

“What’s going on?”

“No idea,” Marni says.

But it soon becomes clear that a full-on fight has started at the far side of the room, spreading around to the people by the ringside in front of us. Then suddenly all the guys in suits are wading into the middle of it all and holding people back. The MC comes running down the aisle from behind the velvet curtain and leaps into the cage, grabbing the microphone.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen! Unless we have calm, the fights cannot continue.”

A lot of yelling starts, some booing, and cries of “Fix, fix!” and “Give me my money back!” including one from a guy right in front of us.

“I think that probably didn’t go as expected,” Agnes says quietly from beside me.

“Everyone needs to return to where they were standing. Gentlemen, please!”

There’s more shouting and fist-waving, but gradually people begin to move and spread out across the floor again.

“Whoooeeee!” Agnes says.

“This is way more exciting than I was expecting,” June adds.

As it all calms down, the MC leans down to talk to someone by the ring, and I catch a glimpse of Angelo, Konstantin, and another man in dark shades.

The MC nods and straightens. “If everybody is back in their places, I’ll introduce the next fight. Anyone who throws another punch will be ejected immediately.”

More shouts and catcalls come from the crowd at this, but the MC says, “No exceptions,” which results in yet more jeering.

“Right!” he says loudly. “As we’re all calm now, I want to present the most exciting fight of this evening. We have a newcomer tonight, someone not seen on the circuit before and one of the best fighters I’ve come across in a long time. He came to our attention in a very close confrontation with the Bear, a couple of months ago.”

People murmur, leaning over to talk to each other.