Fighting For Life

by Kylie Alyssa Forte

  We all walked in like a unit despite taking separate cars. However, as soon as we walked in, Briana, Brandon, and Tommy went to the middle of the club to get a better look at the fight that was going on. Aiden and I went straight to the bar to get some liquid courage.

  We sat down at the bar and Jace immediately turned to us.

  “Hey Jace!” I said, waving at him.

  He smiled widely and said, “Hey Aubry!” He was openly checking me out.

  Aiden instinctively put an arm around me and pulled me closer to him. That immediately made Jace look away from me.

  “Hey Aiden!” Jace said politely.

  Aiden grunted and nodded his head.

  We both got our drinks and slowly sipped them. After a few minutes at the bar, the three others came up, looking like they had just seen a ghost.

  “What’s up guys?” Aiden asked cautiously.

  “W-We just saw who Aubry has to fight tonight,” Brandon answered looking down at the floor.

  “And . . . ?” I ask expectantly. “Who is it?” I finally asked after no one said a word. Another long pause passed. “Come on, who is it?” I asked again and looked at Aiden.

  Oh God, was it really Aiden?

  “Who is it?” Aiden asked in a rough voice.

  “It’s . . . it’s TJ!” Tommy finally spit out.

  Aiden’s face was hard, and his jaw was clenched tightly. “Dammit,” he said roughly, taking a long drink of his whiskey.

  “W-Who is that?” I asked as I looked at everyone’s bleak expressions. Briana was the only one who looked as confused as I was.

  “He beat Aiden two years ago in the tournament. He’s good. He makes it to the last round almost every year,” Brandon answered my question.

  “Aww, now you are just too kind, Brandon,” a deep voice drawled out from beside us.

  I looked over to my right, and there was a tall, lean man leaning on the bar right next to me, shaking an empty glass at Jace. Jace gave him a dirty look but refilled the glass anyways.

  “Well . . . I’m going to assume you’re Aubry,” the guy said to me as he stood up straight, towering over me with his hand outstretched. I could tell he was trying to intimidate me.

  “Yes, I am.” I stood up as I put my hand in his and shook it gently.

  “TJ . . . Nice to meet you,” he said and paused for a moment. My hand was still in his, making me feel uncomfortable. “You fight huh? Wow. I must say that I’m pretty surprised . . . You look like you’d be better at sucking my dick rather than fighting me.”

  I abruptly snatched my hand out of his grip and glared at him. “You don’t even know me or what I’m capable of,” I said, looking him directly in the eyes.

  Aiden stood up next to me and slung his arm around my waist protectively.

  “Ahh . . . Aiden, how are you? You ready for me after your little girlfriend?” TJ said cockily.

  “I’m fighting you tonight?” Aiden asked with distaste.

  “Yep.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. I thought that you’re fighting me?” I asked annoyed.

  “Yeah, as a warmup.”

  “And what if I beat you or knock you out?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

  He started laughing hysterically, gaining everyone’s attention around us.

  “You—” he began laughing again. “You b-beat me?! Oh good one, Aubry! That’s hilarious!!” He continued laughing which was really getting on my nerves.

  “You’re grossly underestimating me.”

  “Oh really?” He chuckled again. He walked closer to me and lowered his face to my level. “I’ll knock you out in one hit, little girl. You’re nothing.”

  He put his index finger on my shoulder and pushed me slightly. My body didn’t move a single bit, though. I didn’t even react to his touch. His eyebrows furrowed together.

  “Mmhm. Well if that’s the case, do you want to make a friendly little . . . wager?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.

  He looked at me and cocked his head, “I’m listening.”

  “If you don’t knock me out, then I get all of your winnings from the whole night . . . both fights.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Mmhm . . . and what do I get when I do knock you out?”

  “Obviously, all of my winnings from the night,” I said roughly.

  “Hmm. Nah, I don’t want your money,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

  “Okay . . . What do you want then?” I asked very annoyed. I took a sip of my drink slowly, waiting for his answer.

  He smirked at me and then looked at Aiden. When his eyes landed on me again, he was full blown creepily smiling.

  “I want you to suck my dick,” he said triumphantly.

  I spat my drink out and coughed several times. Aiden patted me on the back a few times until I finally regained my composure.

  “Excuse me?” I asked, wondering if I heard that right.

  “You heard me correctly, Aubry. If I knock you out, you have to suck my dick,” TJ said wickedly.

  I stared at him for a minute. What the hell kind of person was he?!

  Aiden shook his head with a scowl and grasped my hand. “Come on let’s just go get you ready for the fight. Screw him!” he whispered to me with a glare directed to TJ.

  I frowned at him and yanked my hand out of his. Did Aiden honestly not think that I could do it? He thought I’d lose . . . I was upset at his non-belief in me.

  “. . . . okay, fine. But In that case, I want a contingency,” I said business-like.

  “Anything you want, sweetheart,” TJ said confidently.

  “If I knock you out then you have to . . .” I paused and looked around the whole club. I wasn’t completely sure where I was going with that statement, but when I saw Trey, a wicked idea popped into my mind. I smirked devilishly at TJ.

  “Trey!” I yelled loudly and motioned for him to come over to me.

  Unable to stop his curiosity, he came over to me. His eyes took me in as they held deep questioning in them. He looked between all of us, and his curiosity deepened even more.

  Before he could say anything, I pulled him down so his ear would be near my lips as I began whispering, “How do you feel about the prospect of receiving some free head tonight?”

  His eyes widened and he looked at me very surprised. “What’s the catch?” he asked, looking at Aiden then back to me.

  I wanted to laugh evilly, knowing that he thought the mouth would be mine. He was sorely mistaking, though. “No catch, you don’t have to do a single thing. I was just feeling kind of . . . generous.”

  “Well then . . . absolutely!” he said, smiling widely at me.

  “Perfect,” I said with a grin. I straightened up and then smirked at the big man who I’d be fighting later. “Okay TJ, if I knock you out then you have to suck Trey’s dick!” I said triumphantly.

  Everyone around me gasped and stared at me slack-jawed. No one could believe the words that just spilled from my lips.

  “Well, I did think it would be from you. However, I don’t discriminate when it comes to head. After all, everyone has a mouth, right?” Trey said with a tantalizing smirk to TJ.

  “What?! Hell no! I’m not gay!” TJ yelled.

  “I mean, okay then. Sorry about that, Trey. I guess he’s just too scared that I’ll knock him out,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

  “I’m not scared that you’re going to knock me out!” he said too quickly.

  “Well then, shake my hand and the bet will a done deal,” I stated casually as I held my hand out for him to shake.

  Aiden let out an angry huff at me, but I completely ignored it.

  TJ shook my hand nervously but eventually smirked at me with mock confidence. “I hope you like the taste of a dick,” he said maliciously.

  “Ditto,” I said sweetly, making his face turn red.

  Aiden growled as TJ still had my hand in his. He then snatched me by the arm and dragged me away furiously. I frowned as Aiden stepped he
avily with barely contained anger coursing through him.

  “God dammit Aubry!” Aiden yelled at me as he walked. He still had yet to look at me. “What the fuck was that!?” he asked, grasping my arm a little too tightly.

  I knew the other three people that were there with us followed us, staying cautiously behind Aiden’s fury. I knew because I had heard Tom saying something about calming down, but I was mostly just looking at Aiden.

  I wasn’t scared of him like I felt that I should have been. Even with his grip biting a bit painfully into my arm, he didn’t scare me at all. I was, however, a bit annoyed because he didn’t seem to believe in me like he always said that he did. That cut a bit deeper than I cared to admit. Aiden’s belief in me was one of the sole things that I counted on.

  Aiden jerked me to a stop for a moment as his hand tightened just a bit more around my arm. His lips sneered angrily, so I finally looked up at what had him so worked up. TJ was standing across the platform, making obscene blowjob gestures towards me with a smirk.

  Suddenly, Aiden turned to the closest support beam to us with me still in hand, then punched the beam with sheer anger and hate. His hand tightened even more around my upper arm when we walked back closer to the platform entrance.

  At that point, his grip had started to cut off my circulation and burn a bit. It wasn’t so much that it was painful. I mean, I had far worse things done to me all through my life, so I was not a very good judge of what was deemed “painful” or not. It definitely uncomfortable, though, so that was the way that I knew it was supposed to be painful.

  “Aiden, let go of me please,” I told him while he just simply muttered to himself, not paying attention to my request.

  I was already annoyed at him for not believing in me, but the way he was acting was annoying the hell out of me. His temping was flaring, and he was taking it out on me. Granted, I was the one that might have been the cause of his anger, but that did not warrant his childish behavior. I refused to let him make me his punching bag, figuratively or literally.

  “Let go of me,” I said a bit louder. Still, Aiden ignored my request, not even acknowledging that I spoke. I growled at him in annoyance and pulled at my arm.

  “Aiden let go of me right this second. You are hurting my arm and pissing me off!”

  Aiden finally looked over at me, and his face softened while he let go of my arm. “Sorry . . .” he whispered while rubbing my arm, trying to soothe the angry red marks that were left there. “Oh Aubry, I am so sorry!” He almost sobbed when he saw the marks that were slowly disappearing. His face was full of horror as he looked on.

  “Aiden, it’s fine—” I tried to reassure him.

  “No! it’s not fine! Look at this!” He pointed to marks that were still barely fading. “I hurt you. Oh my God, I’m just as bad as the rest of the people who’ve—”

  “Aid, it’s okay! It’s not like you got all angry and hit me. You lost your cool and gripped me too tightly, which is not okay. You didn’t do it out of malice, nor did you mean for it to hurt me. This is why you need to be aware of your anger at all times, and not let it control you. I get it, I do. However, that is something you need to work on. You can’t go around letting your anger rule you. It was an accident. It does not mean that you are anything like the people in my past who’ve hurt me. Do you understand me?”

  “I . . .” He sighed and then nodded. He carefully kneeled down and kissed all up and down my arm where his tight grip was. There was absolutely no pain there as it was. However, in his wake, he only left for pleasure.

  After a few minutes, he stood back up and then kissed my lips. “I’m sorry,” he whispered

  “I know . . .” I nodded. “Now . . . What was all that about? Why don’t you believe in me?”

  “Are you serious right now, Aubry?” he asked incredulously. “What that “all about” was, was that you made a bet with the consequences being you having to suck some gross guy’s dick!” he huffed, but his eyes softened when he looked at mine.

  I knew that my eyes had hurt and disbelief swimming in them because I felt like he didn’t think I could win.

  “Aub, this has nothing to do with me not believing in you or not having confidence in you,” he said gently. “My anger is that you would even make that stupid bet. I am a fighter too, Baby. I know that people can get lucky shots in. No matter how good you are, this is not a “sure thing”. I know that you are so incredibly strong, tough, and talented . . . but so is he. I don’t doubt your abilities in the slightest, but I know that shit happens. As your boyfriend, I feel like I have a right to be angry. You didn’t think about the consequences when you made that bet.”

  I opened my mouth to rebut, but he gave me a glare.

  “You didn’t,” he said in a statement. “Because if you had, you wouldn’t have done it. What if he, by some miracle, does knock you out?” he asked.

  I couldn’t come up with an answer.

  “The only answer that I can come up with is that I’ll have to kill him or damn near do it in our fight,” he said gently. “Which to be fair, doesn’t sound like an awful idea. The way he was looking at you was enough to make me want to kill him anyways, but that’s not the point.”

  I looked down in shame. I hadn’t thought of it like that.

  “Look, you tell me to not to let my anger rule me outside of a fight, so I am telling you that too. You let him push you too far tonight.”

  He grasped my chin and looked me in the eyes. “That does not mean that I don’t believe in you, though. I know that you beat the crap out of him. I know that you can knock him out, and he’ll have a dick in his mouth later.

  Besides, out of the whole time you’ve been fighting, you’ve never been knocked out even once which is absolutely insane and shows how superhuman and tough you are.” He smiled at me and shook his head in disbelief. “I believe in you. One of the very first things I learned about you was how you can do anything once your mind is to it. Therefore, I’d be stupid to doubt you now.”

  I smiled at his words, then kissed him gratefully. He was right about the bet being stupid. However, I knew that I could beat him as long as I had his full support.

  I could beat him.

  ***

  Aiden

  She could beat him.

  It was the only thing that was playing throughout my head.

  She could beat him.

  When they both sized each other up, I could see that he was talking mess. I could see that he was trying to get under her skin. The thing that he didn’t understand was that it was good for her for him to do that. It made me smirk in satisfaction, knowing that he was surely sealing his own fate with his words to my girl.

  She was going to beat him.

  I let all of my worries and pent-up aggression subside with that realization. She was going to win. I knew that she was going to, there was no denying it by the look on her face.

  When the fought began, TJ started out on the offense. He came up with quick strides and tried to punch her full on and strong.

  She dodged him easily while looking at him in disbelief. She couldn’t believe that he thought that it was going to be that easy. Honest, was he so stupid?

  They both played with each other after he realized that he was going to get a feel for her first. He realized that she wasn’t going to be an easy win. She was quick, patient, and had enough stamina to out last pretty much any other person in the whole room, me included. He had to play smart.

  Once they both began realizing the other’s fighting styles, their blows became stronger and stronger. They were both building up confidence, and both were getting beaten on by the other. They were both landing big hits while tiring out.

  Aubry made a simple mistake. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if her opponent were someone other than TJ. Unfortunately, TJ was a very strong fighter, and had been training for probably just as long as I had been.

  When she swung at him, she clipped his chin nicely. However, she left her right h
and down not blocking her face. It was only for a split-second, but unfortunately that was all it took. His right fist bounded towards her face.

  It was all in slow motion for me.

  His fist contacted her face harshly with a sounding punch. Aubry’s body quickly plummeted to the ground making everyone but us cheer.

  That was a hard hit. It looked even harder than one of Brandon’s hits, and those are powerful.

  I am going to have to kill him.

  That was what was going through my head in those few seconds.

  A few seconds time to contemplate everything was all I got, though. After a total of three seconds, Aubry popped back up from her downfall. Her cheek had a gash across it that was bleeding, and no doubt was going to bruise severely, but she was not in the least bit concerned about it. Her face was angry and murderous as she looked at TJ who was shocked. He was pissed that she was standing there before him and not knocked out.

  She quickly pounced on him, coming at him with everything she had. She punched, kicked, kneed, and stomped him so quickly that the only thing he could do was try to block her attacks. He was doing a crappy job at blocking her attacks though because she was so quick and small.

  “So, when she wins . . . who fights you?” Tommy asked lazily.

  “I’m game!” Brandon volunteered.

  “Excuse me?” Briana asked bewildered. “Absolutely not.”

  “Come on babe! We fight all the time at the gym. Besides, I need to not lose all of my training!” he said happily. “I know I’m gonna lose, but I like fighting Aiden. He helps me be better.”

  “I don’t want to see you get hurt,” Bri said worriedly.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy. I always do!” I laughed, punching Brandon’s arm softly.

  “Shut up or I’m gonna m—” Brandon started but got cut off by the “ooh’s” and “aah’s” from the audience.

  We all looked back up to see TJ was laid out on the ground with Aubry glaring at the man. I laughed loudly and cheered my girl on with gusto. I was so proud of her! I seriously couldn’t believe how good she was!

  Much to my dismay, he got back up angrily. His face was bloody and deformed as he tracked Aubry’s movements shakily. I could see how unsteady he was. He’d be knocked out soon if Aubry kept it up with her savage attacks. Aubry high kicked him in the stomach, making him stumble back and cough out blood. I couldn’t help the satisfied smirk that ran across my face at that blood.