feeling about it. You haven’t lost it bad in ages. Not since…. Look you just can’t fuck it up now.”
I knew Matt was referring to when I’d had gone destructo in epic portions in the cage. It was a few months after Kylee left for college, right after I’d started to ignore her calls and texts.
Nodding, I lifted my head up. “Aight man. I got it.” Matt got busy cleaning up the gash on my cheek after I got my music restarted and leaned my head back so he had better access. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down, to prep for my final fight.
About a half hour later, Matt gave me the signal and I made the trip back to the cage. I hadn’t achieved calm status but at least I wasn’t postal anymore. I stripped off my hoodie; I wasn’t a robe wearing kind of dude and mounted the steps, striding back inside.
My final opponent of the night had won as many fights as I had; the way it worked with single elimination style; each fighter advanced in their bracket until only two remained. Only one would get the payout. The final fights were always the most brutal and the one I looked forward to the most.
The Ref did his thing and me and Ray “The Ricochet” Ramone got down to it. We’d both been around the scene for the same amount of time. Ray was only a year older than me but this was the first time we’d been synced up for a fight. He usually fought in a higher weight class. He had a younger brother that was new on the scene, Javier, but he was a much lighter weight class than me or Ray and the kid was not our caliber. He was a young buck trying to make a name off his brothers. Ray was good. He had a real shot at going pro.
Jab, kick, block. Strike, barrel into each other, round each other off the cage fencing, start again. Bell, sit, bell, meet in the middle. We were four rounds into the five round fight and were prettily evenly matched skill wise, it was going to come down to who made the most mistakes. I was enjoying the fight. Lately it’d been more of a job, less of a passion and it had become second nature to knock the shit out of someone and go home. Ray was testing me every bit as much as I was testing him.
I shot for the take down, backing Ray into the fence and using the fence’s momentum as it sprung back to take us both to the floor. Quickly mounting him, my knees on either side of Ray’s torso I began raining hammer fists down on him. Unlike before, I didn’t haze out, I clearly saw each fist land, took the time to make each one count. My face and body had taken a fair amount of abuse from Ray too, we both were going to be sore for the next few days but in that moment, I didn’t feel a fucking thing. I was at peace. Doing what I was good at. Ray stopped covering up, his eyes glazing over and a towel was tossed in. I immediately stopped much to the Ref’s surprise after my previous fight and got to my feet, reaching down to grab Ray’s arm and helping to pull him up as his team flooded in.
“Good fight man.” Ray tapped my back with a fist, shaking his head as his team escorted him to his corner and I heard him mumble. “Fuckers brutal.”
Arm up, winner announced and it was time to go. Something caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise and when I looked out into the crowd I saw why Matt had been acting odd as hell. Kylee was standing two rows back, her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide. Before I could get out of the cage she was gone in a blur of movement.
I yelled, my voice booming as I called her name but it was no good. Matt grabbed me and started to pull me towards my locker room. “Dam it man, get it together. She just saw you covered in blood, bruised and battered. You got to know what that might do to her.”
I had just gone round after round after round and won each fight, I should have been feeling high as giraffe pussy and instead I felt like a prick.
Matt was right. Kylee and her family had cleaned me up time after time when my old man used me as a punching bag.
I knew Matt was referring to when I’d had gone destructo in epic portions in the cage. It was a few months after Kylee left for college, right after I’d started to ignore her calls and texts.
Nodding, I lifted my head up. “Aight man. I got it.” Matt got busy cleaning up the gash on my cheek after I got my music restarted and leaned my head back so he had better access. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down, to prep for my final fight.
About a half hour later, Matt gave me the signal and I made the trip back to the cage. I hadn’t achieved calm status but at least I wasn’t postal anymore. I stripped off my hoodie; I wasn’t a robe wearing kind of dude and mounted the steps, striding back inside.
My final opponent of the night had won as many fights as I had; the way it worked with single elimination style; each fighter advanced in their bracket until only two remained. Only one would get the payout. The final fights were always the most brutal and the one I looked forward to the most.
The Ref did his thing and me and Ray “The Ricochet” Ramone got down to it. We’d both been around the scene for the same amount of time. Ray was only a year older than me but this was the first time we’d been synced up for a fight. He usually fought in a higher weight class. He had a younger brother that was new on the scene, Javier, but he was a much lighter weight class than me or Ray and the kid was not our caliber. He was a young buck trying to make a name off his brothers. Ray was good. He had a real shot at going pro.
Jab, kick, block. Strike, barrel into each other, round each other off the cage fencing, start again. Bell, sit, bell, meet in the middle. We were four rounds into the five round fight and were prettily evenly matched skill wise, it was going to come down to who made the most mistakes. I was enjoying the fight. Lately it’d been more of a job, less of a passion and it had become second nature to knock the shit out of someone and go home. Ray was testing me every bit as much as I was testing him.
I shot for the take down, backing Ray into the fence and using the fence’s momentum as it sprung back to take us both to the floor. Quickly mounting him, my knees on either side of Ray’s torso I began raining hammer fists down on him. Unlike before, I didn’t haze out, I clearly saw each fist land, took the time to make each one count. My face and body had taken a fair amount of abuse from Ray too, we both were going to be sore for the next few days but in that moment, I didn’t feel a fucking thing. I was at peace. Doing what I was good at. Ray stopped covering up, his eyes glazing over and a towel was tossed in. I immediately stopped much to the Ref’s surprise after my previous fight and got to my feet, reaching down to grab Ray’s arm and helping to pull him up as his team flooded in.
“Good fight man.” Ray tapped my back with a fist, shaking his head as his team escorted him to his corner and I heard him mumble. “Fuckers brutal.”
Arm up, winner announced and it was time to go. Something caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise and when I looked out into the crowd I saw why Matt had been acting odd as hell. Kylee was standing two rows back, her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide. Before I could get out of the cage she was gone in a blur of movement.
I yelled, my voice booming as I called her name but it was no good. Matt grabbed me and started to pull me towards my locker room. “Dam it man, get it together. She just saw you covered in blood, bruised and battered. You got to know what that might do to her.”
I had just gone round after round after round and won each fight, I should have been feeling high as giraffe pussy and instead I felt like a prick.
Matt was right. Kylee and her family had cleaned me up time after time when my old man used me as a punching bag.
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