Fighting For Life

by Kylie Alyssa Forte

  “I hope you know, once you fucked up your deal with my brother is off. I don’t have to keep my hands off of you, little girl!” he said menacingly as he grasped my chin harshly. He looked at the SUV and smirked one last time. “I’ll be seeing you around . . . little fighter.”

  I watched the vehicle disappear. As soon as it was out of my sight, I immediately began to cry and hyperventilate. I collapsed on the sidewalk and tried to calm down.

  I hated him! All of this was all of his fault. I wanted to solely blame him, but really it was my fault. I messed up. I may have hated him, but I hated myself so much more.

  ***

  I walked into the entrance slowly. From the outside, it didn’t look like much except like a large warehouse with alleyways surrounding it. It looked nasty and dirty. Well, that was because it was a very nasty and dirty place. The place was gross and dangerous.

  The Underground.

  Even before I met Aiden, I had spent a lot of nights there. I never paid attention to the fighters; I wasn’t interested in all the unnecessary violence. I was just there to sell drugs while trying to figure my way out of my messed-up life. I had hardly even thought about the people who were buying the drugs from me. I knew that made me an absolutely terrible person. I was an awful person.

  I was at least an hour early for my fight, but I didn’t care. I needed a drink. I needed to be numb. I just wanted to drink my sorrows away.

  “Aubry!” Jace said with a smiling face.

  “Jace,” I said plainly with a forced smile.

  He quickly fixed me a whiskey and coke and had a shot next to it. “Where’s Aiden? Does He want a bourb—?” he began, but I cut him off.

  “He’s not here.” I downed the shot and the drink quickly. “More please?” I asked in need of the burning sensation to drown out my hurt from his question.

  “Are you okay?” he asked with a concerned look.

  I nodded once and looked at him pleadingly. “More please?” I practically begged.

  He looked at me strangely but obliged. He quickly put a whiskey and coke in front of me and two shots of vodka down. “Slow your role Aub, don’t you fight tonight? You can’t fight drunk,” he said as he watched me take the shots too fast.

  “Did y’all break up or something?” he asked, finally realizing that something was up.

  “Yes. I need more. I’m sure I’m going to see him tonight. Please give me more?” I pleaded with him.

  “Aubry.” He looked at me with sad eyes and then looked around at the other people who needed service. “Finish that drink. I’ll help Tina with the other patrons and be back in a few. You need to slow down; you’re not going to win if you stay at this pace. I know it hurts, but you can’t drown out your hurt with alcohol.”

  He went to help the other people, and I sighed.

  He was right. I was going to lose if I kept it up, but I hurt so badly!

  I downed my drink quickly and itched for more.

  It was when I saw the face from across the bar that my eyes started watering and my pain became unbearable.

  Aiden. He was already there. He wore a disdained look as he stared at me. Every so often, his eyes left mine, but somehow our eyes always reconnected. It hurt.

  Our stares were eventually cut off when Jace stepped in front of me.

  “More. I need more!” I said desperately while trying not to cry.

  He looked at me with sympathy as he put more shots and a drink down. I took them gratefully and tried to get lost in the numbness, but the hurt was too strong.

  “I didn’t realize he was already here,” Jace said solemnly.

  I nodded and took another gulp.

  “Don’t let him ruin this for you. Fight hard, don’t get too drunk,” he said with concern. “You’re about to be cut off. You have the potential to win the whole tournament. I don’t want you getting drunk to ruin that.”

  I felt like crying, but simply nodded at him. Jace wasn’t one to budge once he cut someone off.

  I sighed as he put the last glass in front of me. I just stared at the shot glass. It was whiskey, but I wished that it were poison.

  “Thanks,” I whispered.

  Jace moved, and my eyes met his again. I finally tore mine away after a few minutes as I took in the whole scene around him. He was sitting there with Brandon on his left and Tommy on right. Crystal wedged her way in-between Tom and Aiden as she pressed herself against him. Aiden didn’t even acknowledge her, he just stared at me.

  I finally took the shot and let it greedily burn my throat. I needed to stop feeling, at least for a little while. It muted the ache in my chest for a few seconds, but it was back in full force when I looked up and Crystal had her arms around his neck. He still wasn’t acknowledging her, but that didn’t stop my hurt. He had a few shot glasses in front of him as he was talking to the other bartender, who was in front of Brandon.

  I downed half of my drink with a big gulp.

  “Aubry, what are you doing by yourself?” The voice that I had been dreading to talk to came from behind me.

  He pushed himself all the way against me. My whole back was against his front, making me want to barf. I immediately hopped up off of the barstool. Probably because of all of the drinks and because I stood up too quickly, I immediately stumbled and almost fell. The barstool fell down, making a loud clunking noise.

  Trey quickly pulled his arms around me and steadied me. Even though I would have rather fell on the floor if it meant that he didn’t touch me.

  I tried to step away from him, but he had a very firm grip on me. He overstepped the barstool and turned me to him.

  “Are you okay sweetie?” he said, rubbing one of his hands down my arm and the other down my back. My fists clenched with anger.

  “I’m fine Trey, thanks,” I said shortly.

  “Where is your boyfriend, Beautiful?” he asked.

  “We broke up,” I said with clenched teeth. “Which reminds me, from now on, if you need to contact me, then you can contact Brandon,” I said softly so no one else would hear. I didn’t see Bri there, but I still didn’t want to take the chance of Brandon getting in trouble with her.

  “Aww. The perfect couple broke up? What a shame,” he said with a smirk on his face. He leaned down and got close to my ear and whispered, “I always thought you were too good for him.”

  I tried to step back, but he was still holding me in place.

  “Well anyways, I understand. If you need anyone to talk to, or someone to help you forget, my office is always opened to you.” He bent down and left a lingering kiss on the corner of my lips.

  I watched him walk away with a sneer.

  I looked around cautiously. Brandon was standing a few feet away from me, watching me like a hawk. I forced a smile at him, letting him know that I was fine.

  I wiped the kiss off my face roughly as I angrily picked up the bar stool. I sat back down and saw more shots at my spot.

  “You need them,” Jace said with a look of severe concern on his face. “He is a real creep when it comes to women.”

  I took the shots with no question. It was then that I finally looked up at Aiden. He was talking animatedly to Brandon with a look of fury on his face. I hoped that he hadn’t found out that Brandon was being nice to me.

  It was like he sensed me looking at him and looked directly back at me. His blue eyes were burning with anger and hurt. We held each other’s gazes for a long moment.

  I kept trying to pull my eyes away, but I was paralyzed by that gaze that I had loved so much.

  With excruciating effort, I finally tore my gaze away. I downed the rest of my drink with a big gulp. I just wanted to be numb! I wanted to stop hurting.

  “Aubry, it’s almost time for your fight!” Jace said to me worriedly.

  My eyes widened as I nodded. I got up from the stool. Suddenly, I felt very woozy and slightly drunk. I was such a dumbass. That was a bad decision.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Idiot

/>   I’m a dumbass. That line repeated in my head as I walked up onto the mats. I tripped up on one of the stairs and barely caught myself on the railing. A few people snickered at my ungracefulness, but I wasn’t worried about them. I was worried about my fate.

  Why had I drunk so much? Why did I not think? I always drank before fighting; it calmed me down. However, I crossed the line from calm to intoxicated that night, and I definitely didn’t want to pay the price for it. I was such an idiot.

  I couldn’t lose that fight. I mean, the tournament was single elimination. One knockout, and I would’ve been done. One loss, and I would have been as good as dead. I needed that fifteen-thousand-dollar grand prize. I needed to win if I wanted to live.

  The thing was, though, I wasn’t completely sure if I genuinely wanted to live, but I sure as hell didn’t want to die at the hands of Daniel, so I had to win.

  I looked across and saw my opponent. He wasn’t a giant, but he was very muscular. I had never seen him fight, but Brandon said he was fairly good. He said that I had to stay on my toes. What an idiot I was for not listening.

  The guy looked ready to fight. Meanwhile, I was sure that I looked drunk as hell. This was a mistake.

  I needed an upper hand because at that point, I was sure that I was going to lose. I may have been a decent fighter, but I was intoxicated so my reflexes were going to be impaired. I wasn’t going to be able to rely on my speed.

  The looked at me with his eyebrow raised as he blinked at me a few times. He looked at me confused as I stood there like a deer in headlights. I stared back, trying to swallow the lump forming in my throat. I was an idiot.

  Suddenly, someone was behind me, and they put a hand on my shoulder. I immediately jerked around to face whoever touched me. Tommy stood before me with his head tilted to the side. He pulled me away from the middle of the mats, away from Connor.

  “Aubry, what are you doing?” he spoke lowly and looked around at the audience who was watching us carefully.

  “T-Tommy? What are yo—” I began slurring slightly.

  “Aubry! Are you drunk?!” he whispered with his eyes flaming.

  “A little, yeah, I didn’t mean to. With everything going on I just wanted to feel numb.. I’m such an idiot!” I whispered back.

  “Aubry!” he said exasperatedly with a serious look on his face. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now.” He paused and steadied me with his hand on his shoulder. “Listen to me, his left side is weak, so stay to that side. He was in a car wreck when he was younger that fucked up part of his brain or something. Aim for his face and head. He can’t take a lot of those shots, so he’ll knock out or tap out quickly if you get enough powerful hits on his temples.”

  I listened intently and nodded along. I could do it, I hoped.

  He reached out and began unbuttoning the sweater that I had on.

  “Aubry,” Tommy started.

  I just looked at him, surely Aiden had told him, right?

  “You’re not mad at me?” I asked slowly.

  “It’s complicated.” He sighed. “I don’t know how I feel about everything yet, but I couldn’t let you go up there and make a fool of yourself. You were just going to start fighting with your sweater on. I knew something was up. No matter how I feel about everything, I could never let you go out there and make a complete fool of yourself. I still care about you, and Aiden would be mad at himself later on if something happened. I’m trying to support him.”

  He sighed. “Look Aubry, get mad. Get mad at Aiden, get mad at me. I don’t care at who but get angry! Your anger can overpower your drunkenness. Please Aub, just don’t lose.”

  I nodded once as I studied him.

  He breathed deeply, then walked off of the mats disappearing into the crowd.

  I turned back around slowly. I was still an idiot, but Tommy had given me his Achilles’s heel. I just hoped that it would be enough.

  I walked back to the middle of the mats and a minute later, the betting was closed. The crowd quieted down, and I looked around. Connor hadn’t said one word to me, he just looked at me the whole time, sizing me up.

  Finally, it was time to fight. He smirked at me and got into fighting position.

  Oh shit, here we go. I got into stance and tried to pretend to be confident, I failed miserably.

  When they called out for us to start, I stayed put. I watched him carefully and dodged him sloppily as he threw his first punch. I stayed to his left, just like Tom had said. He punched again, and I moved again. That gave me false hope. I thought that maybe it wasn’t going to be too bad if it kept going like that.

  However, my hope was premature. As I tried to move again, I felt off-balanced, so I wobbled a bit. That slight falter in my step made me lose focus and left him with enough time to swing again. He hit me in the corner of my mouth. I immediately tasted the blood from my newly-split lip.

  I was still trying to recover from the powerful hit as another blow came in. That time, he caught my cheek directly below my eye. I felt it throb, but the pain was somehow in the back of my mind.

  I made myself focus as I punched at him. He dodged my first attempt, but I got him pretty good in the temple with my second hit. Unfortunately, that left me incredibly close to him and vulnerable.

  He recovered and hit me in the stomach ridiculously hard. I keeled over slightly, and he took that as an opportunity. By the time I realized what he was doing, it was too late to react.

  He picked me up easily and body slammed me down violently. The force shot sharp pain through my left hip as soon as we landed on the hard ground. However, the real pain happened when my left side flank made contact with the floor. My ribs were much better than they had been, but they were not healed all the way yet. That made the impact much worse for me. I felt them all crack once again when my side was smashed into the floor. I let out a loud scream and could no longer breathe as I laid there. My ribs had just rebroke.

  When he crawled off of me, I rolled onto my back and tried to make myself breathe again. With every breath, I felt sheer hot pain.

  I was so furious. I hadn’t even gotten all the way over my first rib injuries! I didn’t want to go through that pain again!

  My vision blurred slightly as pain engulfed me. I heard a lot of static. Through the static, though, I could also hear tons of people cheering.

  I had to get up! I had to fight! I had to win!

  I slowly picked myself up and stumbled a few times. I was disoriented, but my vision normalized quickly. Soon, I was ready to fight again.

  I had to win.

  That was the moment I snapped. The pain and anger helped me sober up instantly, so I was fighting with a new sharpness. He didn’t ever stand a chance.

  I punched hard. Again, again, again, and again. I was not going to lose. I couldn’t lose! I couldn’t let him get away with hurting me the way he had.

  When I finally pulled my fists back, he was on the ground, bleeding profusely from his face and cuts near his temple. Without further ado, he tapped on the ground and let out a loud groan. He was done.

  I won.

  I hobbled off the mats in pain. I was walking away, and as Aiden was walking up to the mats, we locked eyes as we passed each other. The pain from my ribs was instantly overshadowed by the pain from my heart. I missed him so much.

  I limped back to the bar and got a few more shots. At that point, I not only needed emotional numbness, but I also needed physical numbness as well. I was hurt incredibly bad on both fronts.

  As I drank, I watched Aiden in silence. He was like a well-oiled machine when it came to fighting. He won, very easily too. The other guy didn’t even get a single hit on him. He was so good.

  I immediately got a sinking feeling in my chest after that thought. If I won . . . if I made it to the finals, Aiden would have been who I’d fight. I’d have to fight Aiden!

  ***

  Aiden

  I was angry. There was no denying that. I was angry as I watched her drink a
cross the bar. I was angry as I won our messed-up staring contest. I was angry as I watched Trey come up to her. I was angry when he touched her. I was just angry.

  I barely even noticed Crystal, touching me, and immediately shook her off. I couldn’t even entertain the idea of someone else. Aubry was still all I wanted, and that pained me to no end.

  I watched Aubry like a hawk, her every move. I took her in and studied her. I was so overly obsessed with each of her movements that I didn’t even realize that it was time for her fight.

  When she stood up, I knew she was in trouble. Her body swayed slightly as she shakily walked up to the mats. I didn’t keep track of how many drinks she took, but I knew that she was hammered. How could she do such a thing?

  Tommy noticed too. I wasn’t surprised when he went up to talk to her. I wanted to be angry, but I couldn’t. She needed help, and Tom was going to be that help. I found myself grateful to him. That feeling just made the noise in my brain telling me that I was an idiot for loving her even louder.

  I took another shot.

  I watched as she was being sloppy in her fighting. She was sloppy, and he was using that to his advantage. He picked her up and body slammed her with a loud thud.

  Her scream was one from the horror movies. I closed my eyes tightly as I heard her cry out in pain. I didn’t even want to know what that felt like. She was hurt.

  It was then that I saw the drunken haze lift off of her as her fury replaced it. I didn’t even have to watch it after that. I knew, with that look in her eye, she was going to win. There was no doubt in my mind about her, she won.

  I took another shot, then stalked up to the mats just as she was announced the winner. When I passed her, my eyes locked onto hers, and my whole heart squeezed in painful anger. I was angry at her, but the haunted look in her eyes made me want to hold her. Everything in that moment was simply just painful.

  I didn’t really remember my fight. My anger and pain overwhelmed me, so I just saw red. When I came out of my messed-up rage, the guy was knocked out on the ground, and my fists were bloodied.