Fighter: 10 Seconds or Less (a bad boy romance) (North Side Kings Book Book 5)

by Scarlett Winters

  Round two began and Liam came out swinging. He pounded over and over at the big man, but his arms were too big. He easily blocked everything that Liam threw at him, and in a pivotal moment of a mistake, the big man landed a punch to Liam’s face. Liam staggered back as the man came in for another blow. Liam ducked and escaped what could have been a death blow delivered by the big man. Liam danced around, landed blow after blow to the man’s ribs, but not one punch having any effect on him.

  The bell rang to end the second round. Liam’s crew giving him water and saying something to him. Molly could not hear what they were saying but saw them acting out punching moves. Obviously giving him advice and strategic information.

  The third round started. Liam walked towards the big man with his arms down. He was not defending his face at all. He walked right up to the big man and as soon as the big man threw a punch, Liam ducked out of the way and swung his right fist landing directly on the big man’s jaw. This caught the big man off guard to where he almost fell to the mat. Liam started to dance and wave his gloves towards his chest. She could read his lips screaming “come on!” to the big man.

  The big man walked towards Liam, whose arms were down and threw another punch at him. Liam ducked again and landed another crushing blow on his jaw. This time the big man fell to the mat. Molly jumped up in her chair and screamed out loud in delight.

  Liam continued to taunt the big man. The big man came racing over each time and each time Liam landed a blow to his face. The fourth blow opened a huge gash above the man’s left eye.

  The bell went off and Liam returned to his corner. The medical team came out and did a quick repair on the gash on the left eye.

  The bell to start the fourth round rang. Molly had her hands clenched and her body was shaking as she sat on the edge of the chair.

  Liam continued to taunt the giant, the big man continued getting frustrated as he kept swinging and missing, and every time receiving a punch to his face for his efforts.

  The third punch to his face landed the big man to the mat, and it was a 10 count to give Liam the win.

  Molly, alone in the house jumped up from her chair and screamed for joy. Tears running down her face in happiness of Liam’s outstanding performance.

  She turned off the computer, poured herself a glass of wine and waited by the phone.

  It was not long before the phone rang and Liam was on the other end.

  “Hello my love!” he said.

  “Hi champ!” she replied.

  Just the sound of his voice put a smile on his face.

  “Did you watch the fight yet?” he asked.

  “Yes! Oh my God! You were amazing. You are doing so well. I am so proud of you.” she said.

  “Thank you.” He replied.

  “That guy was massive!” she said.

  “Yea, and his punches really hurt! Thank God he only tagged me once.” he said.

  “Are you ok?” She asked.

  “Yea, medical team has cleared me for the next round!” he said.

  “When is that?” she asked.

  “Thursday. If I win by TKO, I will head straight to the finals. No one else has had 3 consecutive TKO’s. So I want to destroy this guy!” he explained.

  “I know you will! Kick his ass for me. Just think that he said something rude to me, and kick his butt.” she said with a laugh.

  Molly knew Liam had zero tolerance for people who treated others poorly, or abused women or children. She knew a little mental fuel would go a long way in his next match.

  “Hmm, I think that will work. But you’ll need to kiss me when I get home.” he said teasing her.

  “Baby, get your sexy buns over here. You will get a lot more than a kiss when you get home. I do not like going without sex!” she said laughing.

  “I know, nor do I!” he said.

  They talked for a little while longer before they hung up.

  Thursday came, and Liam’s fight was again at a time where she could not watch. She came home and looked up the fight on YouTube. The fight lasted 37 seconds as she watched Liam destroy his opponent, setting a new international fight record.

  During their next phone call she learned the final match would be at 10 PM Ireland time, or 4 PM local time.

  She knew Hunter and the crew would have the room setup to watch.

  Chapter 12 – For the gold

  Molly arrived at the club and headed straight to the VIP room. Hunter had prepared the room well in advance of the match. Molly sat near the front and the waitress delivered her normal vodka paralyzer. Over the next 30 minutes she watched as people poured into the room. By the time the first lightweight fight started at 4 PM there was standing room only. Octavia took her seat beside Molly and clinked her glass with Molly’s.

  “Let’s do this shit! Let’s bring home the Gold!” said Octavia.

  Molly deducted from the slur in her speech that Octavia had been here a while.

  The second and third match of the finals were long. Both going the full 15 round distance and needing the judges to decide the winner.

  “All right, everyone shut the fuck up. This is it!” Shouted Hunter as the announcer introduced the fight. Hunter turned down the lights and turned up the volume.

  Silence filled the air as everyone in the room had their eyes glued to the screen.

  The two boxers met in the middle of the ring, the referee quickly went over the rules with them. The two boxers punched their gloves together and returned to their corner. A moment later the bell rang to start the match.

  Liam came out swinging and threw two quick jabs, both of which were defended quickly. His opponent fired back just as quickly but was also defended.

  The two fighters dancing back and forth, trying to get a feel for each other. Delivering jabs to each other, but never landing one worth a point.

  The bell rang and the fighters returned to their corners.

  The second and third round were just like the first. Delivering punches, but not landing. Very few points being scored by either fighter.

  The fourth round Liam came out dancing, but he led with his left foot this time and not right. For the entire tournament he had fought as a right handed fighter. He had not shown his dominant south paw once throughout the tournament.

  Liam switched to his right foot, threw a right handed punch, then shifted back to his left foot and fired a hard left to the boxer. Direct smash to the right side of the boxers face. Liam shifted to the right, landed another punch to his face, and finally delivered a left upper cut sending the boxer to the floor.

  The arena went wild. Moves like this were uncommon in the amateur circuit. This was professional level moves and the crowd showed their love with a loud roar of approval.

  Liam stood in his corner as the referee counted to six. The boxer stood and gave the nod to the referee. Liam shook his head in disbelief but danced back to the fight.

  His opponent threw a weak right hook which Liam dodged easily. Liam returned with a hard left, followed by two rights and a finished left uppercut to send the boxer to the mat like a sack of potatoes.

  Liam went back to his corner and watched as two lines of blood trickled down the face of his opponent from a cut over each eye.

  The referee counted to 10 and the boxer still lied in the middle of the ring almost lifeless. The medical team racing in as the referee raised Liam’s hand victorious and winner of the International Championship.

  The crowd at the nightclub erupted, drinks were being spilled, high fives everywhere, every one hugging Molly. It was an eruption like Hunter had never seen in this room.

  The celebration went on as long as the celebration in Ireland did. Finally, the announcer came on, after they had cleared the ring. Both boxers were in the ring as the referee held each boxers hands.

  “And your winner, by Technical Knock Out, this year’s International Gold Medal winner, is Liam Callahan!” said the announcer.

  The arena in Ireland erupted as did the room at the night
club.

  The referee raised Liam’s hand high in the air. A man in a black suit placed a gold medal around Liam’s neck and handed him a belt from the International Amateur Boxing Association indicating he was this year’s winner.

  “Liam, an outstanding performance all tournament long. You have fought better than I think anyone we have seen in years at this tournament. Do you have anything you would like to say to the people back home?” said the announcer.

  “Thank you! It’s been a privilege to fight against so many gifted boxers. I’ve had a lot of fun. I look forward to defending this title for hopefully years to come. To my girlfriend Molly, I love you baby. I can’t wait to be back in your arms. To Hunter, Ethan and the crew! You’re my family! Love you guys! I’ll be home soon!” said Liam.

  A tear ran down Molly’s face as he mentioned her in his speech!

  “Told you the first time I met you how much he liked you!” said Octavia, nudging Molly’s arm.

  Molly nodded her head in agreement and hugged Octavia. Hunter turned off the TV and sound system.

  “And now, we celebrate!” shouted Hunter. He went to the bar and noticed countless shooters on the bar.

  “Folks, in honor of Liam, who could not be here to celebrate with us. Please grab a shot and help us honor our friend, our hero, who is the International Amateur boxing champion of the world.” He said.

  He waited until everyone had a shot glass in their hand.

  “To Liam! Cheers!”Hunter said.

  The crowd in unison said cheers and everyone slammed back their shot. The counter of the bar quickly filled with empty shot glasses. Molly’s cell phone rang, and on the call display it read Liam.

  “Oh My God! He’s calling us!” she screamed.

  “Everyone shut up! Put it on speaker Mol!” said Hunter. Molly tapped the speaker button on her phone.

  “Hello?” she said with a smile on her face.

  “Hey baby! Are you still at the club?” he asked.

  The crowd of the club erupted with cheers, multiple congratulations and other statements that were muffled in the jubilation.

  “I’ll take that as a yes!” he said laughing once the cheers subsided.

  “Yes, I’m still here.” she said.

  “I just want to thank everyone that is there, from the bottom of my heart. Your support has meant the world to me. I will be home tomorrow I land at 5 PM local time.” he said.

  The crowd of the room erupted again as Molly took her cell phone to the hallway for a short private chat. About 10 minutes later Molly returned to the room.

  “That was a long good bye” said Hunter as he smiled at her. Molly just smiled but said nothing in return.

  Chapter 13 – Welcome Home

  Molly left the house at 4 PM. She couldn’t wait to be in Liam’s arms again. She got to the airport around 4:30 to see almost 100 people gathered around Hunter and Ethan. She could not believe her eyes.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked as she gave Hunter a hug.

  “There is no way he is not getting the welcome of a warrior!” he said.

  “You guys are sweet. Thank you, he will love this!” she said.

  The crowd waited and monitored the arrival board of his flight. It remained “on time” while they waited anxiously for their friend to arrive home.

  At exactly 5:01 PM the board changed the status to “arrived.”

  Everyone gathered around the international doors where he would be coming from any minute.

  They waited patiently for the doors to open and Liam to appear. The wait was painfully long. The doors would open, but someone else would walk through.

  Finally, after 20 minutes of waiting, the doors opened and Liam appeared with the belt hung over his shoulder and the gold medal wrapped around his neck. The crowd erupted in celebration. Congratulations were heard over and over as everyone crowded around him to hug him, pat his back, shake his hand or offer some sort of congratulations.

  “Thank you everyone. This means a lot to me.” He said as the crowd gave him some room to speak.

  “I have something very important to say. And I cannot think of a better time than right this second, in front of all my friends.” He continued.

  Liam pulled a small box out of his pocket and knelt before Molly and opened it to reveal a gorgeous engagement ring with a huge diamond in the center.

  “Molly! I realized on this trip how much you mean to me. How much I love you, and how being away from you for just one day makes me feel empty inside. I know we have only known each other a short time. But in that short time you have stolen my heart, and more than anything in this world, I love you. Would you please, marry me?” he asked.

  Silence filled the airport, including people who were not part of the entourage. Everyone was looking at Molly, holding their breath in anticipation of her answer.

  Molly burst into tears and nodded her head up and down indicating a yes!

  The crowd erupted as Liam stood and took Molly into his arms. He kissed her lovingly not caring that hundreds of people were watching them making out in the middle of the airport.

  They paused for a moment so Liam could place the ring on her ring finger. The ring fit perfectly. He kissed her again as the crowd continued their roar of approval.

  Molly continues to dance and she is quickly becoming a favorite instructor at the studio. Liam continues to fight and defend his title while also growing his fight club stronger. He loves working with talented up and comers. Molly and Liam fall deeper in love every day, she hardly ever leaves his side. Their happily ever after had finally come.

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  Bestselling Author Scarlett Winters.

  If you love steamy romance-short stories, with insta love, dominant alpha males, and happily ever after endings with no cliff hangers, just feel good and spicy. Then you will love my stories! I love to interact with my amazing readers and can’t wait to get to know you!

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