Page 5 of King

My stomach did a flip as we passed through the doors, Danny led us through the crowds as Ethan met us halfway to the makeshift ring. He also gave me a friendly pat on the back and nodded. The punters parted for us to pass through, stares and insulting comments were slung at me, but they didn’t deter me; in fact, it made me stronger. I followed Ethan through the warehouse and Danny stayed behind me. The crowd were still shouting and bawling, their voices echoed off the basement walls. But I closed them down, shutting them out of my head, and focussed on the ring and the voices of my two best friends.

I moved into my corner; Danny massaged my shoulders while we waited for my opponent. I didn’t expect him to be a pushover; expect the unexpected, that’s what I was taught. But the unexpected had a way of shocking the hell out of you, too. The crowd got louder by the second, and I looked up and saw the guy I was about to fight. Although he looked older than me, he was much bigger. But I wouldn’t let that deter me either. He looked mean as fuck, his eyes black as he stared at me. There were scars on his face and his nose was crooked. Jesus, I thought as doubt crept into my mind. I couldn’t back out now, I needed this money.

My gaze wouldn’t shift from my opponent, I was sure if there was a weakness, I’d find it. His eyes met mine for a split second, I didn’t want to look away. I didn’t want to seem weak, but Danny slapped my cheek to get my attention. “Hey, look at me.” He pushed his forehead against mine. “Don’t look at him, just focus on me.” I did. I let his strength urge me on. “You’ve got this, mate. Now, get in there and beat the fucker.” He tapped my cheeks again. “It’s you or him, remember that.”

I nodded. He was right. I stood tall as the bell rang, I wasn’t sure what you’d call the guy stood in the middle, there was no referee, and he wasn’t really a master of ceremonies, maybe more of a speaker. Who the fuck knew. I didn’t even know where all this stupid shit running through my head had come from. I should have been concentrating on the fight.

“Good evening. Do we have a treat for you tonight? We have our defending champion, The Punisher, and in the other corner, we have an exciting newcomer, Jacob King.” The noise rose even more, with a mixture of applause, chants and boos.

The speaker pulled us in closer. “Guys, remember there are no rules. There will be a count out, but as it goes, it’s last man standing.” He looked between us. “Do you understand?” I think he said it to me more than the other guy, what with me being new. I nodded my agreement and banged fists with The Punisher before I shook out the tension in my arms and kicked my legs to the side. Danny shouted and clapped his hands at me, while Ethan said nothing, he just observed quietly as we communicated. He’d always been the more silent type. I turned back and faced my opponent. We met in the middle as I brought my guard up in front of me to cover my face.

Right off the bat, he punched out, but I saw it coming and leant back from it, so he couldn’t reach me. It wasn’t long before we were exchanging punches, that is until I’d had enough of his pussy punches and swung for him. As my fist connected with his jaw, he wobbled slightly, but he brought himself back and pushed forward. I was bored. I swung a leg out but missed. The Punisher carried on around the ring as he ducked and dived, I was almost dizzy as I followed him around the ring. He was moving around so much that I didn’t realise he was trying to distract me, at least not until his fist connected with my face. As stars formed in my eyes, I blinked in quick succession to rid them and regain focus.

His leg swept mine and I hit the deck, my back slammed against the ground. I scrambled back up to my feet and shook my head still trying to get my eyes to focus. He moved towards me again, but I was ready for him this time. My next punch connected with his jaw, his head turned to the side from the impact and as I went to follow it up, he was quicker and blocked it with his arm. I didn’t see his other fist until I felt it cracking me on the side of the head. I stumbled back a couple of steps, but then ran back at him, attacking his body with short, but quick, punches to the kidneys. It slowed him down long enough for me to hit him again and again. As he staggered back from the array of punches I slammed into his body, I moved forward. Danny shouted from the corner to hit him again. And suddenly I’d found my feet, and my confidence soared. I attacked again as I filled his body and face with a quick succession of hits, pounding his ribs and followed it up with more rabbit punches. He managed to shove me away from him and bolt forward, but I pulled my arm back, and let it go. His nose split and the blood splattered across his face and onto the mat, but I carried on, regardless. He got a sneaky hard punch in as his fist connected with my right eye, but he moved so quickly I didn’t know what was going on, I was dazed. It wasn’t until I felt his meaty forearm wrapped around my neck that I realised he had me in a headlock. His tight hold squeezed my neck and the blood rushed to my head. I had to get out of this. I heard Ethan shout out to hit him. I heard Danny yell at me to sweep his legs, but I couldn’t get a firm foot on the ground.

I took a second to compose myself and breathed through my nose. I focussed on the arm wrapped around my throat, trying to cut off my air supply. I knew the only way to get him to release me was to be underhanded. After all, there were no rules in here. I used all the strength I had and yanked on his arm. It pulled away just enough for me to bite down on his arm. He yelled out as I fought to catch my breath as he released me. I turned and lunged forward and hit him. A barrage of punches and kicks attacked him. I took a second to look at him as he stumbled backwards. His nose was broken, his lip and eye split… blood poured down his face; I just needed to go on.

He wobbled on his feet as I hit him with everything I had. I couldn’t stop now. I had this. I could see it; he was weakening. The blood, mixed with sweat, ran down his face. As he lifted his arm and wiped away the blood he hesitated, it was only slightly but it was enough to distract me. He looked at his hand then powered forward. A punch was thrown from his right and his left hand got me in the gut, causing me to bend in the middle from the blow. He then struck my head with his hard fist, but it wasn’t enough to stop me. I ducked out of his way and shook my head to focus again. He danced around me a little, but I knew he was tired, he breathed harder now and as his heavy feet moved around me, I pondered my next move. I needed to lure him back in to stop him.

We exchanged a couple of light punches again, but we were both getting tired now. He was bigger than me; held more weight than me. His shoulders dipped slightly, and I made my move. I caught him with a punch in the side of his head again, his head dropped from the impact and wobbled slightly. I kicked out and shoved him back and landed one last, hard punch to the side of his head, and with enough force, it was his undoing. He hit the floor. I waited a second and watched closely as he tried to lift his head, but it was useless. I must’ve blocked out the crowd while we were fighting, and as I refocussed, I heard some of them now chanting my name. Then, the more loyal fans were calling for The Punisher to get up and finish me off, but there was no chance. He was out cold.

I glanced at Danny and Ethan, they were jumping up and down at the side of the ring, cheering as the speaker came over and counted him out. When he got to eight and still wasn’t getting up, I knew I had this. Danny launched my arm above my head just as the speaker made the announcement,

“Your new winner, Jacob King!”

CHAPTER FOUR

JACOB

The crowd parted as we made our way back to the dressing room. I had pats on the back, and as hands were pushed in front of me, I clapped them in gratitude. I could barely see out of one eye, and I knew it was already closing. But I didn’t care. I was where I wanted to be, and to hear punters calling out King in a chant filled me with pride. Danny slipped his arm around my shoulder and leant in. “Hear that mate, that’s your name they’re calling. The King. That’s what you are.” His words of praise made me proud. I’d done it.

I nodded as Ethan held my arm up as we walked through the room. The majority of the crowd cheered along. We pushed through the doors and back into where I’d come from earlier. It wasn’t a dressing room. It looked more like a cloakroom. I chuckled to myself, but my eye stung and my body ached after being put through its paces.

As the bench came into view I pushed away from the guys and sat down with a thud and breathed out. My legs hurt. My arms hurt, and my head was aching after it had been pounded. I leant back, pressing my heated and sweaty back against the wall, the coldness of the plaster seeped into my skin, and instantly cooled me. “Fuck man.” I blew out in exhaustion. “He was tough.”

“No, he just used his size to his advantage. You could beat anybody, Jake. That guy was closer to thirty, and you showed him how it was meant to be done.” Danny said as he dabbed at my eye.

“Yeah, he hadn’t met his match yet. But to see you thunder at him like that, man, you were fucking good.”Ethan added, I heard the pride in his voice.

With one eye now closed, I looked up at him through my good one and grinned. All I needed now was to see Phoenix. She could clean me up. I grabbed the bottle of water and guzzled it down in one. My body began to cool down as Ethan produced more water. I swapped the empty one for the full one and screwed off the lid, drank some, then moved it above my head and tipped the bottle. My body jolted at first with the shock of the cold water, but I soon relaxed when the water hit its mark as I’d finally stopped sweating. My heart began to beat at a normal rhythm again.

My hand moved to my head as I rubbed the beads of water through my short hair, gently shaking off the excess. My face hurt like a bitch. “Take me to Nix. I don’t think I can drive yet; I can hardly see.”

“Yeah, man.” Ethan replied, nodding.

“She won’t be impressed, seeing you like this.” Danny added on a snigger.

“Don’t be a prick, she’ll be fine.” I start to get up, but Ethan stopped me.

“Just sit there for a minute, we can go soon.”

With a nod, I stayed where I was, and instructed Danny to grab my bag. “Hey, I’m not your bitch.”

“Just fucking get it.” I felt the scowl forming on my face, but as my brows pinched, my eye and nose hurt even more. My fingers moved towards my face as I dipped my head. “Fuck. That hurts.” He’d pissed me off with his childish comment. Best mate or not, he wasn’t going to diss Phoenix. I wouldn’t let him.

I pushed to the edge of the bench, unzipped my bag, pulled out my t-shirt and tried to pull it over my head without hurting myself or catching my nose. Gently, I pulled it down my body after threading my arms through the short sleeves, ignoring the pain in my ribs and back. Ethan helped me to my feet just as Rico came waltzing into the room looking fucking smug. “Well, here he is.” He clapped. “My hottest new thing,” he took my hand and shook it as he stood before me. “How you feeling?”

“Sore. But fucking good.”I grinned, still amazed that I won.

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