He lands one decisive hit to the guy’s solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him and practically folding the guy in half.
Then another blow to the bottom of his chin, knocking the guy clean out.
The crowd falls silent, shocked at the speed of the match.
“Wow,” Mirabelle breathes out with wide eyes. “That was fast.”
The referee stumbles back into the ring as Ash takes a step back, his lips curled back in a disgusted snarl.
“The Punisher is out for the count! The winner of this match is Ash!” The referee announces, shooting Ash a wary glance. He doesn’t even bother trying to lift Ash’s wrapped hand into the air to declare him the victor. The older alpha just edges out of the ring, leaving Ash’s opponent sprawled out on the floor.
“Yay! Go Ash!” Mirabelle yells over the quiet buzz of the room.
There’s a small pocket of people who start booing, though I’m not sure whether it’s at Mirabelle’s enthusiastic cheers or the fact that Ash’s fight was a little lame because it lasted all of fifteen seconds. They shut up real quick when Ash takes a menacing step towards them.
He returns his attention back to us, his expression softening ever so slightly before he steps over his unconscious opponent, vaults over the wall of the cage, and stalks towards us.
“Boy, am I glad to be one of your pack mates, you are one scary motherfucker,” I say, letting out a huff of laughter as Ash approaches us.
“Anyone give you guys any trouble?” He asks, tugging Mirabelle under his arm.
“No, no trouble!” Mirabelle answers, smiling brightly up at him. “I think Rage kept all the trouble away.”
“Good job,” Ash nods, holding out his wrapped fist to Rage, who returns the fist bump with a nod. “Sorry my fight wasn’t more exciting.”
“I mean, I liked it, you didn’t get hurt at all! I like it when you don’t get hurt in your fights.”
“Yeah? Well then maybe I’ll just have to not get hit in any of my fights from now on,” Ash chuckles.
“Do you think they’d actually let you?” I ask, not wanting Mirabelle to get her hopes up.
“No one gets to tell me how to fucking fight anymore. They can suck myfucking dick if they tell me what to do,” Ash says, his lip curling up in a snarl.
I offer a deep nod of understanding. I was surprised when Griffin and Ash seemed so hell-bent on fighting, now that we all escaped my family. They were right though, it’s been the easiest way for us to make quick cash in order to provide for ourselves. It makes sense they’d want to do it on their terms.
“I’m the only one who gets to do that!” Mirabelle says, pulling me from my thoughts.
The three of us, even Rage, burst into laughter at Mirabelle’s comment.
“You guys could make a lot of money,” I add with a shrug, once we all catch our breath. “You get a reputation for being untouchable, then when you and Griffin let yourself get paired with each other, he beats you and we bet on Griffin winning.”
“Who the hell says Griffin’s winning?” Ash huffs, rolling his eyes.
I raise an eyebrow, letting out a small huff of laughter.
“You’re forgetting I spent weeks watching you guys train. You’re good but Griffin’s?—“
“Yeah, yeah, you don’t gotta rub that in,” Ash says, rolling his eyes. “Mr. Perfect New Guy is up soon, so we should watch his match too.”
He leans down and brushes a tender kiss to the top of Mirabelle’s head.
“You should probably brace yourself, Shortcake, Griffin draws his fights out. The bastard likes to put on a fucking show.”
“Oh,” she breathes, her eyes darting warily to the cage, where a couple of the bouncers are hauling Ash’s opponent from the ring. “Well, it’s pretend, right? He could fight well enough to do what you just did?”
“Yeah, definitely,” Ash nods.
“Okay, then I think I’ll be fine! I’ll cheer him on too!”
