With a clearly manufactured bravado, the smaller fighter stepped into the ring. She wore a torn up, sleeveless tank — one she could’ve ripped directly from Spencer’s closet — and her hair was cut into a tight buzzcut.
Jumping around the pit, The Spider kept her arms up near her face, trying not to let her guard down for even a millisecond.
Once the two stood at the center of the pit, they gave each other a smack on the hands that hovered somewhere between a greeting and some kind of pact.
I should have been more concerned, more worried about watching these two strangers potentially beat the shit out of each other. But I’d watched UFC fights while Gabe got drunk with his buddies.
And honestly, this seemed more civilized than televising it.
Without bothering to explain the rules of what was about to happen, a bell dinged over the loudspeaker.
Breaking my trance, Spencer placed her hand on my knee. “You okay?”
I couldn’t look away, afraid I would miss something important. Some explanation of what I was going to witness here in this strange, dingy tunnel.
“Yeah.” I nodded.
Leo looked away, long enough to check if I was lying.
But the truth was, I couldn’t tell if I was lying or not.
And then The Bull lifted her fists, the smaller Spider tightened hers to her own face.
Even from up here, I could see the nerves on the small fighter. Now in view as the two of them sized each other up, moving in a small circle, the Spider was tall and spindly. The nickname made sense for her build.
Spencer leaned forward and shouted toward Leo. “Feel kinda bad for this fucker. First fight and she gets pitted against this monster?”
With a shrug, Leo watched the pair in the ring. “Don’t count her out. Size ain’t everything.”
It almost made me laugh coming from Leo, but the joy was cut short by the sound of fist meeting skull. Athudechoed up the concrete walls as The Spider took a hit to the face.
“Jesus.” I winced, but couldn’t look away as blood splattered across the sand at the fighters’ feet.
Relentless, The Bull charged The Spider, pummelling her ribcage with boulder-sized fists. Despite The Spider’s attempts to protect herself, there was no fending off punches like that.
Someone’s going to call it.
They couldn’t let this go on.
Against my wishes, I’d seen plenty of MMA fights that dragged on too long. Gabe got off on the brutality of it all and loved betting on the gnarliest fighters. But this was somethingelse. There was a feral energy in that pit that I’d never seen behind someone’s eyes.
Maybe just once.
The Bull backed away, giving The Spider a second to recover. The smaller fighter blinked away the blood pouring out of her face and lifted her fists.
Are they laughing?
My eyebrows knit as The Bull’s shoulders dropped, a smile creeping onto both fighters’ faces. “What is she…”
Before I could finish the question, a fist hurtled toward Spider. Landing just under the chin, the punch flung her head back and up and sent her body flying to the floor.
Out cold on the ground, the crowd roared for the beast standing at the center of the arena. Two people came out and grabbed The Spider’s arms and legs, carrying her back into the tunnel from whence she came.
“Jesus Christ, how could they let her get hit like that?” I felt my chest heaving, anxiety and fear filling my body.
Leaning down, Leo intercepted my gaze. “Princess, they all know the rules. It’s their choice.”
My eyes flicked across her face, trying to read anything into the blank calmness in her steady gaze. “And what rules are those?”
