Page 89 of Breaking the Habit

But Levi scrapped hard, managing to end the round with a brutal rain of punches that kept Benny cowering against the cage. When the bell rang, the ref had to pull Levi off him. Levi struggled only briefly, launching himself to the edge where Travis and Lex waited for him.

“Strange start to that one,” Travis mumbled, squirting water into Levi’s mouth.

Levi shook his head, chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. “I don’t fucking know,” he mumbled around the mouthguard.

“Not what I like to hear,” Travis said. “Don’t let him rattle you. We’ve been studying his weaknesses for three weeks. His jujitsu background will keep you guessing, but once you get him in place, you’ll show him who’s fucking winning this.”

Levi nodded vehemently as he spoke, staring across the octagon at Benny. Time for the next round. Levi and Benny met again in the middle, and the bell rang.

Levi struck first in the second round, trying to even the score and knock him off balance in the same way. But Benny didn’t get knocked off. No, he sprang back and knocked Levi to the ground with a shockingthud. All the air left Levi’s body, and Benny was on top of him.

He registered the distant roar of the arena as the audience protested or cheered for the turn of events. Thousands of sets of eyes sizzled on the octagon. Levi fought the headlock that Benny tried to serve him with, the image of the title belt burning behind his eyes. Thinking of Gage. The payout he’d miss because…what? Because he couldn’t focus and let this asshole get a submission.

Levi wriggled out of the hold and slammed Benny onto his back. Cheers swelled through the arena. The tables turned. Levi pinned him with his knees on either side of his shoulders and brought out the lead fists.

The crowd went wild. Chanting erupted again.

You got this. You got this.

But Levi didn’t get the knock out, and somehow, Benny magicked his way out of the hold. Face busted and bleeding freely, Benny backed Levi up against the cage and locked him there.

And then the pummeling began.

Levi’s ears were ringing by the time the ref pulled him off. Which meant the round was over. Once again, neither of them had a clear lead. No submissions. No knock outs. No fucking winner.

Anxiety pulsed through his veins as he stumbled back toward Travis. The lead tang of blood reached his tongue. Lex dabbed at his face, swiping gel across his cheeks, frowning.

“He got you good on your forehead,” Lex said. “You got a gash the size of the Grand Canyon.”

“I fucking can’t with this guy,” Levi mumbled around the guard, chest heaving.

“You fuckingcan,” Travis said.

“I’m not in the fucking lead,” Levi shouted, desperation finally edging past his defenses.

“Because you haven’t had the third round yet,” Travis snapped, snatching up the water bottle. “Do you remember the last six months we’ve been training? You’re really gonna act like two even battles mean you’ve lost?”

Levi sighed, his rationale clicking into place. “No, dude. I’m good. I’m here.”

“Good. Now look at him.” Travis pointed Levi toward Benny, who was being similarly patched up. “And imagine the handshake at the end. Telling him, ‘Good fight.’ And watching him walk the fuck out of the octagon because he couldn’t fucking win.”

Levi clenched and unclenched his jaw. Time shrank and went rigid under the glare of the lights. He drifted back into the octagon, tranced out as the third round began. The bell echoed through him. Everything hung on this round.

It was time to show up or show himself out.

Benny didn’t launch at the start of the third round, and neither did he. They circled each other tentatively. The audience started stomping, the tempo of their thuds growing quicker.

Benny swung. He got in a punch, but Levi retaliated. They started a tit-for-tat dance. Each punch garnered a punch in response. Nobody could edge out ahead. Even when Levi got Benny down to the ground, they rolled and grappled without any real progress.

They’d both come up against the brick wall of the other.

Levi became aware that the round had to be damn near over. He needed to throw it all out there. Win this fucking thing, even if it was by a hair.

He got gutsy and pulled Benny into a hold, keeping him trapped and half-strangled. But Benny escaped and returned the favor, pinning Levi to the mat as he unleashed a terrifying stream of punches all over his body.

Levi’s heart settled in his throat. He couldn’t see, couldn’t think, couldn’t fucking breathe. Somehow, he ended up on Benny’s back. There was a stumble, and they both crashed to the ground so hard it made the whole octagon shake.

The bell rang. End of the third round.

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