AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I nod. “Got it.”
Once I’m in the cage, I head for my corner… and immediately I feel at home. Everything within me seems to align as I take in the feeling of the canvas floor on my bare feet, the lights on my skin, the sight of the crowd through the cage and the sounds of their excited cheers. The anger, anxiety, and fear I’ve been hanging onto for months all fades away, and the misplaced energy is now exactly where it’s supposed to be. Finally, I feel fully awake.
As Giles enters the cage, I hop on my feet and shake out my arms. I take in everything about him as he walks to his corner, studying his movements and energy. He nods at me from his side of the cage, and I nod back.
When the cage door is closed, the ref motions for each of us to join him in the middle of the octagon. As I do, I keep my eyes on Giles. He chews his mouthguard and slides it into place, moving his gaze from me to the ref.
“Let’s have a clean fight,” the ref says, looking between us. “Listen to my instructions and protect yourself at all times.”
Don’t have to tell me twice.
Giles and I both nod and the ref steps back.
“Touch hands if you’d like, and begin.”
Giles holds out his fist, and memories of Hens clocking me on the side of the head instead of tapping my hand try to push their way in. But I keep them out as I reach out and tap his glove, then immediately find my guard. I’m fucking ready.
Giles wastes no time, coming in right away with a right hand. But I keep my forearm up and step to the side so it doesn’t land. He watches me as I continue to side step around him… taking a page out of Luca’s book to keep him turning so he’s constantly readjusting his stance and balance. I remember how fucking frustrating that is.
I quickly step in and land a hard low kick to his leg, and it’s immediately obvious that he feels it. And while he attempts to create some distance for a moment to recover, I step in again with a high kick aimed at his head, which he evades. And even though it didn’t land, it caused him to switch his stance, giving me an opportunity to get another low kick on him.
He grunts as he tries to once again control the distance between us. We’re almost a minute into our five-minute round, and so far, he’s just let me kick him. I have the height advantage on him, giving me more power behind my kicks, and he’s not going to be able to just absorb these the whole fight.
He seems to realize this as well, and he quickly moves forward with a body kick. But I keep my arm tight against my side to protect my ribs and let him get my forearm.
“Come on, Ty!” I hear Rosa’s voice from the corner of the cage and the cheers from my other teammates. And I let their voices urge me on.
I manage to get another kick on him, but he quickly enters my space and lands a cross to my head. But I don’t give him any time to make his next move, as I close the distance between us and land a body shot right to his side while he tries to keep his guard high and tight to protect his head.
He grimaces and steps backwards, so I close in on him again and kick the same spot on his side. I have him close to the cage wall, and I’d like to get him all the way over there.
And even though Giles appears to be in pain, he still looks fierce and hungry for it as he moves into my space once again. He’s fucking tough, I’ll give him that.
He lands a hard straight punch to the side of my face which knocks me down to my knees. The crowd cheers, but it quickly fades away as I zero in and bring this back into my control.
Immediately, I’m back on my feet and rush him, ducking my head and slamming into his torso as I push him right into the side of the cage. I let my fists fly as I connect with his head and face, over and over again, and Giles is forced to duck his head and wrap his arms around my midsection to protect himself.
So I go for his body instead. And he’s losing steam, as the body shots are now also taking a toll on him. My eyes catch the clock, and there are only forty seconds left in this round. I assume he knows this as well and is trying to finish out this round with his head down while he takes my hits, so he can bring it in round two.
But we’re not going to round two.
I manage to create enough space between us so I can lower myself under his arm. He allows this to happen since it momentarily allows him access to my head, and he takes advantage of it with a few hits to the side of it.
But that doesn’t last long, as I wrap my arms around his waist, lift him up and slam him right down onto the floor with a loud thud and he grunts in pain.
The crowd erupts in wild cheers as I fall down on top of him, and unleash a fury of hits to his head. He lifts his arms to block me, completely on his defense and unable to counterattack.
And as we reach the final seconds of round one, I slide up into high mount over his chest. So far, this fight has been all striking. But I’m still a grappler.
His arms are already up to defend against my hits on him, so I grab his wrist, swing my leg up under his neck, and squeeze, putting him in a mounted triangle choke.
And Giles taps, with four seconds left in the first round.
As I rise to my feet and the roar of the crowd comes rushing back in, my eyes close and I take a deep breath.
Fuck, I love this.
TWENTY-SIX
