... and Forever (Next Generation: Chaos Bleeds 1)

Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, she walked up to the main building. A large guy had his arms folded, ink displayed.

“You got to pay to get in.”

“See, we can’t go in. Come on, let’s go,” Niles said.

Tabitha pulled out some cash and handed it to him. “Now we can.” She took Niles’s hand and marched him into the fight.

They stuck out. This wasn’t like Ned Walker’s fights. People here were dressed in jeans, coveralls, and not a whole lot of anything else.

The scent of blood, smoke, and sweat was heavy in the air. Her heart raced. She hadn’t been this excited in a long time. It was exhilarating.

Glancing around, she saw men raising their fists in the air.

“Kill him!”

“Hit him!”

“Get it over with!”

“Stop toying with him.”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

She looked toward where they were shouting and she smiled.

The podium was raised. It was a fighting ring. Two men she didn’t recognize were pretty much killing each other.

She put a hand to her chest, feeling the pounding. Moving her way through the crowd, she saw the ref move toward the two men. One of them was in a chokehold. The other flailing around.

The ref slammed his hand to the mat.

The crowd shouted out the countdown and finally the man patted the mat, wanting out. This wasn’t an underground fighting ring. If it had been, this man would have been dead already.

They got to their feet and the crowd roared with approval. It was so vibrant, intense, and everything she’d been wanting. Watching the men walk off, she saw one had an arm across the shoulder of the other, like a team. There was no animosity.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, I know you all go crazy for a bit of girl-on-girl action.” There were some whistles and screams of fuck yeah. She shook her head and glanced over at Niles, who kept looking toward the door.

Poor him.

She wasn’t ready to call it a night just yet. She felt like she’d found the payload of fun.

“Let’s give it up for the undefeated champion right now, Melanie, The Dog, Tigers.” A muscular woman came into the ring, holding her hands up, begging for the cheers. Tabitha saw the strength in the woman, the confidence. This woman wasn’t waiting for life to come to her. She’d run headlong into life. She had some ink on her body as well. She wore a pair of tight shorts and a vest top. At first, with the reference to The Dogs, she worried this was about the Monster Dogs MC, but looking at her know, and knowing fighting the way she did, this woman was no relation to the MC.

She was clearly on top of the world and at that moment, Tabitha envied her.

The announcer was called to one end of the mat. Tabitha watched him nod and then turn to the crowd with a smile.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to miss our most prized part of the evening.”

Boos descended on the mat. No one was happy about being kept waiting.

Tabitha’s heart hadn’t stopped racing and she watched as people shook their head.

“Her opponent is not going to be able to make it tonight, but if you stop by tomorrow—”

“I’ll fight her!” The words were out of her mouth within seconds, before she could take them back.

Attention turned toward her.

“Tabitha, what the hell?” Niles asked.

She looked toward him.

“You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“No, I won’t. Besides, if anything bad happens, you can call my father.” She moved toward the mat, but he grabbed her arm, stopping her.

“This, all of this, is insane.”

“I know, right? It’s completely crazy, but here’s the thing. I’m doing this. I want to do this and I’m going to.” She looked at the mat and smiled. “Please, try to understand.”

“If anything happens to you, your father is going to kill me.”

She shrugged. “He won’t. He knows what a pain in the ass I can be.”

Heading toward the mat, she climbed into the ring and approached the middle of the ring. Melanie scoffed.

“You think you’ve got a shot against me, princess? You don’t have a chance.”

Tabitha wasn’t threatened. “I want to fight.”

“What are you, twelve?” Melanie asked.

“I can do this. I can fight,” she said, ignoring her opponent.

The crowd had gone silent, all waiting to see where this was going to go. The energy in the room was insane. She loved it.

“How old are you?” the announcer asked.

“Twenty-three and believe me, this isn’t my first fight.”

The man looked down at what she was wearing. The dress came to her knees, but it wasn’t tight at all. She had a lot of movement within the outfit, even if it wasn’t exactly the best.

“The heels will have to go,” he said.

As the announcer got the crowd ready for the action, she removed her shoes and tossed them toward Niles, who only shook his head.