“This is gonna get fucked-up,” some guy next to us said to his mates.
“I would not want to go against Lockwood. He’s a fucking animal. A machine that renders men unconscious,” another said laughing.
“So is Brandon,” I jumped in and the group of guys standing by us all turned to look at me, probably to call bullshit, but when they saw Ryan standing behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist they soon changed their minds. “Yeah, that’s right. Shut the fuck up and just watch, assholes.” I didn’t know what had come over me, but I was suddenly rooting for the little guy.
“God, I love you,” Ryan said, chuckling and kissing the top of my head.
I froze.
Did he just use the L word? In a basement, when we were about to watch two men kick the shit out of each other? Was I supposed to say something back?
I felt him go tense behind me. He’d obviously just realised what he’d said, and he wasn’t sure how to react.
“I’ll always have your back. All of you,” I answered, hoping to cut the tension. I didn’t want him to clam up on me or think that I took it any other way than how he meant. He loved that I stood in his corner. That I defended his friends too. I had to remember not to read too much into things. I was, after all, the worst for over-analysing.
The guy who I assumed was the referee for the fight said a few words to Brandon and Jensen. Both men stood facing each other, shirtless, with their fists held up ready. The familiar hay bales kept the rest of the people out of the ring and they leant over them shouting their encouragement. When the referee stood back, and the fight started, I felt my stomach twist into excruciating knots. Ryan’s arms around me went solid and he started to shout over to Brandon.
Jensen threw the first punch, landing a nasty smack on Brandon’s jaw, but Brandon stood his ground, waggling his jaw and running his taped-up fist over his mouth, before holding his hands back up in front of his face. He wasn’t rushing into this fight. He was doing what he did best, studying his opponent, waiting to see where their weakness lay. I just hoped Jensen didn’t use Brandon’s previous eye injury against him. The stitches were long gone, but the area would still be tender.
“What if he gets his eye?” I shouted into Ryan’s ear over the noise of the crowd. “Brandon will bleed out like before.”
“He’d rather have twenty hits in the head than one in the body, trust me. The bones in the head are stronger than the ones in your hand. If Lockwood keeps hitting him like that, he’ll do more damage to himself than Brandon. It’s the body punches that hurt the most.”
I wasn’t convinced and when Jensen started hammering blows down on Brandon’s head I had to turn away. I couldn’t take it. The sound of the smack as his fist hit the skin and the hissing sound they made as they punched each other, it all made me nauseous. Brandon got in a few good punches, but from where I was standing, Jensen looked like the better fighter.
“How long till this round is over?” I said into Ryan’s ear as I avoided watching the blood bath playing out.
Ryan laughed. “There’s no rounds, babe. No bells, no rounds, no judges. You fight until you win, that’s the beauty of it. There’s no draws and no chicken-shits either. Just boom and goodnight. This is the purest form of combat.” He hugged me and looked down at me. He didn’t look shit scared like I did. “Relax. He won’t lose. Losing isn’t an option for Brandon. It isn’t in his mind-set.”
The crowd around us suddenly let out an almighty roar and we both turned our focus back to the fight, to see Brandon reining blow after blow to Jensen’s body and face. Jensen was grabbing his head, trying to shield himself from the hits, but Brandon was relentless. He’d found his focus and he was primed and ruthless.
“See. He thrives under pressure. He needed Lockwood to have the upper-hand, so he could rise up and fight back harder.” Ryan joined in the shouts of the room, spurring Brandon on. As gritty and primal as this whole scene was, I couldn’t look away either. I wanted Brandon to win.
Suddenly, Jensen dropped to the floor. A knockout. The ref jumped in front of Brandon to stop the fight. He probably knew Brandon liked to taunt his opponents and an all-out fight with Jensen’s crew wasn’t the best finish to the night. Brandon spat his mouth guard onto the floor and took the bottle of water Kian was holding out to him. Then he took a huge gulp, spat it out and doused himself in the rest as the crowd cheered.
My adrenaline was through the roof, so Brandon’s must’ve been in orbit. I never thought I’d have felt something so visceral whilst watching two men fight in such a brutal way, but I did. I felt pride and I was grateful that Brandon had got the retribution he’d deserved. I didn’t doubt for a minute that it’d all end here, but this was a good start. Brandon had had his day. Wasn’t that what every victim wanted?
The referee cleared the ring and two other men stepped up, ready for the next fight. We didn’t stay to watch though. Ryan led me back out to the corridor and down to a side room. Zak was there with Finn, both of them grinning like lunatics.
“That was fucking awesome,” Zak said, and we all nodded.
Brandon and Kian were the next to fall through the door. Brandon’s face was cut and bruised. His eye would probably be so swollen tomorrow he’d struggle to see out of it, but he didn’t care. He looked like he’d won the lottery. He jumped onto Ryan and the others followed suit, hugging him in congratulations.
“Un-fucking-defeated. Every. Fucking. Time,” Brandon shouted, fist-pumping the air.
I stood back, letting them have their mome
nt.
“Get in here, Winters. I think I deserve a hug from you too.” Brandon waved me over, but I stood still. I was proud of what he’d done. I felt happy for him, but I wasn’t patting him on the back. That was never gonna happen.
“Back off, mate,” Ryan said, coming to stand next to me and pulling me into him.
Brandon didn’t like that and flipped faster than a fish out of water. “She needs to leave. We have business to discuss.”
He was so high off the endorphins it must’ve made him punch drunk. What ‘business’ did he have to discuss now, with a face that was throbbing and swelling right before our eyes?
“She’s going nowhere,” Ryan bit back. “Whatever you wanna say, you can say it in front of her.”