Page 61 of If You Fight

Chapter Nineteen

Serena

Ryder’s second fight came less than a week after his first one and even before he’d fully healed from the beating he’d taken at the hands of that monster of my father’s. He practically begged me to not go back to that terrible place to watch him, but I couldn’t bear to just wait at the apartment, not knowing if he was hurt and helpless to do anything.

My father stood at the back of the crowd like last time and said nothing to me as I took my position near him. Not that I wanted to spend even a minute with him since he decided risking Ryder on a weekly basis for the crowd’s enjoyment was more important than any happiness I might hope for. Even seeing him made me so angry my hands curled into fists so tight my fingernails dug into my palms.

I marveled at the people around me as they yelled for the fighters to beat the hell out of one another. Drunk and high, they grew practically rabid as the night wore on, so by the time Ryder and his opponent’s fight came up, the people around me were almost foaming at the mouth at the chance to watch one of them crush the other just a few feet away.

Any attempt to ignore the crowd’s screams for blood would have been a waste of time, but even as I stood there listening to the madness around me, my heartbeat slammed in my ears from the terror racing through me at the mere thought that Ryder might be hurt this time.

He believed in his ability to fight, and it wasn’t that I didn’t believe in him. I just couldn’t get used to knowing he had to pummel another human being so my father didn’t throw him out into the streets. I wondered if living in the streets would be better. At least then we’d have our freedom.

But Ryder insisted fighting would be the way we’d get away from my father and everything that came with him, and I believed him. He’d saved me too many times for me not to.

A middle-aged, overweight man elbowed me in the arm and spilled his beer down the front of my shirt in his excitement at Floyd’s announcement that Ryder’s fight would be next. Turning his chubby red face toward me, the man grinned and slurred, “Sorry. I just got psyched at hearing my fighter is up next. I used to watch him a couple years ago when he had a nearly twenty fight undefeated run going. He was fucking good.”

I stared at the man’s corpulent face as he talked and wished I could be happy for his pride in Ryder’s accomplishments back then. All I felt was revulsion, though. His lust for seeing people hurt one another for his pleasure sickened me as much as my father’s did. The only difference between them was this man wasn’t a billionaire who could order a man to put himself in harm’s way because it gave him some sick thrill to throw his power around.

“Just watch him tonight. He’s a beast!” the man said gleefully before he turned his attention back toward the ring.

Floyd let the crowd know that Ryder and a fighter named Seth would be up for that night’s marquee match. Howls erupted from the men and women in front of me, followed by fist bumps and high fives as music like the last time thundered throughout the room.

I struggled to see what was happening without the aid of that bench from the last fight, but I didn’t want to ask my father for anything, so I craned my neck and peered between the heads of everyone in front of me. In truth, I didn’t want to see the fight. I just wanted to be sure that Ryder didn’t get hurt, and if he did, that I was there by his side for him.

Amid the cheers and shouts for the fighters to hit one another, the fight began just as the other one had. Ryder’s opponent rushed at him with the aggression of a wild animal that made my stomach tighten in fear he’d defeat him in just the first seconds of the fight. The guy looked like a man possessed, and I turned away, afraid to see the damage he’d do to Ryder.

When the crowd let out a collective cheer, I couldn’t help but look to see if he’d hurt him, but when I let myself see what had happened, it was Ryder who had done the hurting, not that Seth guy, who now stood holding his bloody nose and mouth.

I waited to see if the fight would end, but instead I watched as Ryder lunged at the man, taking advantage of his weakness. Over and over, he landed punches to the very areas that were already injured until the man was covered in blood. Horrified, I wished for nothing more than for this to be over, but it went on for what seemed like an hour more until Seth gave up and Floyd announced that Ryder had won again.

He turned around to face the crowd in front of me, and the sight of him covered in that man’s blood made my stomach turn. I couldn’t reconcile the person I knew and loved with this creature, a man more barbaric than anything else. He smiled as Floyd declared him the winner again, and I saw he wore that same look that I saw when we were alone and he was genuinely happy.

My gaze met his for a brief moment before my attention was directed to the man he’d just beaten. Bloody and defeated, he hung his head and hobbled away. I knew I should be happy that he had suffered and Ryder hadn’t, but I wasn’t.

At least not about that.

I turned to see my father grinning as Ryder walked past him toward the dressing room. Unlike the horror I felt at all I’d seen that night, my father looked blissfully happy at what he’d witnessed. If ever I’d thought I understood him, watching him enjoy these fights made me realize I didn’t know him at all.

The crowd talked about the fight as I hurried to the room to join Ryder. I didn’t want to hear any more of their assessment of his abilities. I’d seen the beast that man had claimed he was. I didn’t need to know what else they thought of him.

He sat in that same chair as I found him in after the first fight, but this time he was alert and joking with another man who’d fought earlier. I walked in and waited for him to finish, and when he turned to face me, still wearing Seth’s blood all over his chest, I had to stop myself from throwing up.

“Come here,” he said, waving me over to stand near him.

I hesitated, and he looked down where my gaze sat fixated on all that blood. He asked the man for a towel and quickly wiped his skin, leaving faint traces of the evidence of his brutality behind.

“Better?” he asked with a smile as I slowly walked over to him.

“Yeah,” I said, forcing myself to smile back at him.

“Floyd wants my help with something, so I’ll get home as soon as I can, okay?” he said, surprising me with the news he wasn’t coming home with me.

“Oh, I thought we would go together.”

Taking my hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed my fingertips, looking up at me so sweetly I couldn’t be upset with him. “I promise it’s for a good reason. I won’t be long, and when I get home I won’t even be sore since that guy was practically no challenge at all.”

I cringed at the memory of Seth being helped away. “Okay. I guess I’ll go then.”

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