Mario Peretti lunged in, his feet fast ac
ross the ring. I heard a chop whistle past my ear and lifted my leg for a kick. The move did not land, but it swung my leg out of the way of his roundhouse kick. My rival smiled at me, his eyes flat, as we circled around again.
Kya had to know what she was getting into when we started spending time together. Even as I thought it, I knew it was not true. I remembered Kya in the nightclub, the first time we met. She had drunk too much, left herself too open. Then, she came back for more. I used her, she entertained me, and then I finally shocked her and she dropped me. I would never see her again.
I got in a fast and hard combination, but Peretti was still standing. When he circled around the opposite way, my eyes traveled past him and into the crowd. Kya's green eyes looked up at me.
I stumbled and heard the arena crowd gasp. It was something I had never done before. I was the unstoppable fighter, the angry fighter, the one that came back from a hit harder and fiercer every time. I did not lose my footing; I did not lose my way.
Fenton Morris did not get distracted by a pretty face. A face that wanted me to be different, to be more or better. I was what I was, and I was good.
Still, I looked at Kya for one second too long and Peretti struck. The arena tipped sideways and blackness swallowed me before I hit the mats. It was a total knock out.
Chapter Eleven
Kya
I let the crowd push me along out of the arena and into the casino. I did not put up a fight as we moved toward the slot machines and bars, instead of the door that lead to my hotel. Instead, I drifted along and eavesdropped on the fans as they discussed the fight.
"Peretti fights dirty, that's the only explanation," a short man said.
"I've never seen Fenton Morris slip. How could he not see that hit coming?" The short man's bald friend threw his hands up in the air. "Something had to be wrong."
"It's all over already, they’re calling it the surprise upset of the year," an older woman with bottle red hair announced as she studied her phone.
"Bet Morris is the most surprised," her husband said. "He's never lost yet."
"Best he did it now so he won't in the title fight," the man next to them in the crowd said.
Upset, I thought, is the right word for it. My stomach heaved as the image of Fenton falling to the mats flashed through my head again. I was just as surprised as everyone else, more so since I had been close to Fenton and felt his strength. He had seemed invincible until tonight.
And, it was all my fault.
"I heard he was out at the strip clubs last night, probably why he wasn't up to the fight tonight," the short man continued.
"I believe it. He looks like the kind of man that comes to Vegas for the strippers," the young man closest to me said.
"I saw him there," an older man in a garish cowboy shirt said. "Me and my buddies were down near Fremont Street and saw him head into one of them gentleman's clubs."
"A night out drinking at the strip clubs could be enough to throw anyone off their game, eh, Ed?" his friend said.
"Yeah, but it was worth it," Ed agreed.
I swallowed hard and slipped out of the crowd. I took refuge from the wave of people in a small gift shop and tried to stop my spinning thoughts.
The look on Fenton's face when I walked into that strip club was the same he gave me seconds before Mario Peretti knocked him out. I was interfering and it was wrong. Fenton Morris did not need anyone's help, much less mine. He did not want me. I was just getting in his way.
My phone rang and in the relative quiet of the gift shop, I had no reason not to answer it. "It's not a good time, James," I said.
"Just tell me if you found him last night or not," my boss said.
"I did, but we didn't talk, it was a huge mess. He was at a strip club, all surrounded by women. I kinda just turned around and ran," I said.
"So, you kicked him out, slammed the door in his face, then found him with a bunch of strippers but didn't say anything? No wonder he was shocked to see you at the fight," James said.
"You're kidding, right? Do you really think that's why he got knocked out? Everyone thinks something was wrong. He was distracted. He looked right at me and didn't even see the hit coming." I picked up and twisted a Vegas keychain tight around my finger.
"Jesus, honey, I was joking, but really? He looked at you right before?" he asked. "I mean, you turn heads, darling, don't get me wrong, but now you're taking down fighters just by being in the audience?"