He unfolds slightly on the downward fall which protects him a little from the hard landing but not much. I drop down on him and start punching him as hard and as fucking fast as I can. Soon I feel Harry diving into me but I continue to land blows on Ethan's unprotected face.
I know I opened up a couple of spots on Ethan’s face before I allow Harry to pull me off of him.
A loud bell is ringing off to the side of the ring and I stand up, raising my hands triumphantly into the air.
Slamming my right hand across my chest, over my heart, I roar. The sound is drowned out though as the crowd howls and cheers for the win.
I walk over towards Ethan as the cage door opens and trainers and medical staff come rushing in to attend to us both. I lean over Harry's shoulder and smile down at Ethan. Ethan is now leaning back against the cage as Harry helps him reorient himself.
“Good fight, brother,” I say and reach a hand down to pat him on the shoulder. He may be an asshole but I try to show no hard feelings from all the pre-fight crap that has been said. In my experience, it’s always best to end a fight on a good note.
“Fuck off, asshole!” Ethan yells as he pushes my hand away.
Shrugging, I turn away from him. He's not the first person to respond badly to losing. I try to always be at least humble in winning, but fuck him then. I raise my hands into the air and cheer as I walk away.
With what only feels like seconds, Harry has us both standing up. He latches on to us by our wrists as the announcer belts out, “The winner by referee stoppage at forty-five seconds in the second round, the still reigning champion, Chase Winters!”
I let Harry raise my arm in triumph and try one more time to get Ethan to acknowledge that it was a good fight, but he turns away from me and marches out of the cage.
I follow him more slowly, watching him stomp past the beauty I winked at earlier. Man, she is hot yet totally not my type at all. I tend to prefer the blonde bimbo with big tits type. But for some reason right now, Ethan’s girl is completely hot. And from the look of horror on her face as I grin at her, she really does not like me at all.
Dale pushes me lightly on the shoulder and escorts me past her. My fans stand and cheer at me, yelling for my attention. Smiling, I head right for them.
Avery
Ethan just lost. I can’t fucking believe it. I think I’m in shock.
He storms out of the octagon without even looking at me. He looks rough, parts of his face are swollen and he’s bleeding in several places. I’ve never seen him so beat up.
It makes me feel sick, seeing him like this. It’s heartbreaking watching your best friend get pounded on. I wouldn’t wish this feeling on anyone.
It was bloody, and it was horrifying. It was the most brutal thing I’ve ever forced myself to watch. Ethan won’t be able to pay me to attend another one of his matches. I’m done, I’m so done. I guess I’m just not strong enough to watch the people I care about get brutally beat up.
To me, watching the fight was like watching the perfect storm form. I could see from the very beginning that they weren’t very well matched. Reaper just seemed so much more comfortable, so much more in his element. He oozed experience, but somehow I still thought Ethan might still have a chance. He’s always had incredible luck.
Ethan started strong but showed his hand early on. Then from there, things just seemed to spiral downward, going from bad to worse. The cheap nut shot to Reaper was obviously the final straw.
There was nothing I could do to stop it. I was powerless, useless. I had to sit on my hands and bite my lip. And still, knowing that Reaper was the better opponent, I hopelessly hoped that somehow Ethan would pull out a win. I still rooted for him. Even knowing logically what was probably going to happen, I didn’t give up. Best friends never give up.
When Reaper lifted Ethan into the air as if he weighed nothing and slammed him down, I wanted to scream. It was straight up crazy. It felt as if the entire arena shook as Ethan hit the mat. Then Reaper fell upon Ethan, throwing punches like a man possessed… When someone had to pull him off Ethan, I was afraid he had gone too far.
I almost cried in relief when Ethan peeled himself off the mat.
He was alive and he was still breathing, thank God.
But now that it’s over, it’s the worst outcome possible. It’s Ethan’s very first loss.
He must be pissed. No doubt his pride probably stings the worse. Now that it’s done though I’m just glad Ethan survived that fight without breaking anything or worse, ending up in the hospital. He walked out of the octagon on his own, without any assistance. He was so mad he didn’t even look at me.
I’m getting ready to stand up and head back to Ethan’s room to help soothe the sting of the loss when Reaper walks out. Reaper grins at me and it feels like he just punched me in the gut.
What. The. Fuck.
The air goes out of me and my heart starts racing. I’m not sure what’s going on. There’s just something about that grin, even swollen and lopsided, that does something funny to my insides. I feel like he found my dial and cranked my temperature all the way up.
I felt this or something like this when I first passed him in the hall. His eyes fell upon me and when they met mine it was like there was a jolt. It was some kind of weird electrical shock. I shook it off then, thinking perhaps it was my imagination running wild. But now, I’m not so sure…
Reaper walks past me, tall and triumphant. Fans in the crowd congratulate him on his win and thank him for such an entertaining match.