I scoffed while the crowd laughed and cheered.
"Now, now. Be nice,” Joe said. “We've all been the new guy at some point. So please, make this young man feel welcome… The Greenie!"
I could see Levi from the corner of my eye. Pacing opposite me with his thumbnail between his teeth, he glanced from the pit to the back door, and then back to the pit where Joe was waiting in the center, gesturing for Levi to move. If Levi was getting second thoughts, it was a little late to back out now. He would run the risk of pissing off a shit load of people. Myself included. I understood his fear but also hated being stood up at a fight.
Levi took a deep breath, told himself to "pull it together" while looking like he might pass out, and forced himself to start moving into the pit.
The crowd roared with a mixture of boos and cheers the second he stepped foot in the walkway, while I caught myself grimacing as I watched the kid. With limbs on him like overcooked spaghetti, visibly shaking as he took in the crowds and bright lights with glazed eyes, I didn’t see him walking away from this okay.
"Welcome to the basement. And good luck. You're gonna need it," Joe said.
Levi's face was pale, and I doubted he even registered what was going on.
"Let's get this show on the road by introducing our next fighter," Joe continued, barely finishing his sentence before the crowd went bat-shit crazy again. I had to rely on their reaction to know when I needed to walk out. Unable to hear anything but the roar of them chanting my name, stomping their feet, and clinking beer bottles against the metal barriers.
I raised a hand, acknowledging the crowd as I turned slowly. Calm and focused.
Antonio sat in the front row of the seated area with his business friends, dressed in a dark green suit with his hand resting on his cane. His gold wristwatch and rings glinted under the harsh overhead lights.
We shared a nod before I brought my attention to Levi, who was trying hard to look everywhere else but at me.
"Hey!" I spoke loudly, and his eyes snapped to me. “Focus!"
He didn't say anything but nodded quickly, the only indication I had gotten through to him as he stared wide-eyed, petrified, almost jumping out of his skin when Joe rang the bell in his hand as he circled us.
To my surprise, Levi was the first to make a move. Running at me like he was running into battle, taking a swing once he was several feet in front of me.
I stepped around him, making him spin on the spot to keep up. He threw another punch, blocked by my forearm, and kicked out a foot aimed at my crotch. I jumped back, huffing a laugh at the close call while the crowd voiced what I was thinking.
"That's fuckin' low, man!" someone yelled.
Levi's punches kept on coming while I blocked each one, waiting for him to show some kind of strategy to his onslaught of unplanned jabs. But he left himself open.
My right hook, the first and probably last of the match, connected with his jaw. It was more to knock him out of his whirlwind than to knock him unconscious.
He stumbled backward, his face a blend of dumbfounded confusion, and offended as he tried to figure out what happened. Once his eyes stopped spinning, he was able to focus on me again, gaze dropping to my ribs before he charged again. Ready to shoulder barge me through the middle like a crazed bull. All he was missing was the horns.
I readied myself for the impact, playing along with his sloppy technique. Right before his head could collide with my ribs, I stepped aside.
His arms pinwheeled as he flew by on uncoordinated legs. Unable to stop himself after picking up momentum, he smashed headfirst into the metal barrier, knocking himself out instantly as his body crumpled in a heap on the ground.
"Shit," I muttered while the crowd cheered. I walked over to him and crouched down to roll him onto his back, grimacing at the state of his forehead.
There was an impressive split in the skin, roughly three inches long, running vertically down his forehead with a small piece of loose flesh hanging from one side. The gash was deep and had a steady flow of blood oozing down onto his face and through his scalp. His blonde hair was turning a light shade of red.
Levi wasn't exactly conscious but he wasn't out of it either. His eyes rolled back while he raised his hand to his head to figure out what was going on.
"Yeah, I wouldn't touch that if I were you," I said, moving his hand away.
Joe didn’t need to ring the bell as he stooped over the kid. “I think that was the shortest fight of your career.”
I hummed my agreement as I pulled Levi up by the arm. Taking his weight when he swayed on his feet, I hunched over to wrap his arm around my shoulders. He was a beanpole of a person but not quite as tall as me.
Blood dripped in large blobs onto the sand as he hung his head, dragging his feet and muttering to himself as we left the pit, leaving behind the sound of the crowd.
The other fighters had gathered around the entry to the pit, sniggering amongst themselves as we passed. Seb was the only one to step forward and help, attempting to clear a path by asking the guys to move. Where his politeness didn’t work, I shoved them with my spare hand.
We lay Levi down on the coffee table, his legs hanging off the end as Seb tucked a couch cushion under his head.
