“You’re something alright.”
“Come on, brother, seriously he needs this and he’s a damn good fighter. He made one mistake.”
My blood started to boil; in a flash I reached for Stray’s shirt, coming face to face with him. I growled, “One mistake that could have cost him his livelihood. He’s not like us.”
Stray gripped my wrists, meeting my anger. “You think I don’t know that? Doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve a leg up, a chance to better himself.”
I shoved Stray away, knowing that if we had argued anymore about the subject, something would have awakened in me.
I strapped some gloves on, knowing Dillon wasn’t going to be doing any serious damage, he needed more support on defensive moves. He was a powerhouse once he struck. Part of me knew that I wasn’t going to hit hard, this wasn’t life or death. He liked fighting combination style, unlike myself, who liked traditional boxing.
“Alright, princess, you think you can keep that face pretty,” I snarked.
“Aw, you think I’m pretty. You’re so cute.” Dillon walked toward me. I rolled my eyes.
“You keep it up with your mouth and you won’t have to worry about entering a fight,” I teased, steadying my hands to start some combos.
Like clockwork, he started to block a few of the shots, though missing a couple, landing him a few throws to the gut and the chin. He shook it off like a champ, though I wasn’t giving much behind the punches. Once he realized his mistakes, he fixed them, determined to settle on his strengths.
“Block. You know your opponent's patterns, what their preferred combos are, then you’ll get in their heads. That’s when you can counter. Again.” I got into position, sweat beading down pooling around my body. Dillon had captured the attention of the rest of the fighters as they circled around the ring.
“See what happens when you listen to me? Giving people something to look at. Keep going,” I commanded.
Stray stood by the side barking advice, watching his openings. Dillon needed to know more about his weaknesses than his strengths, because that’s when the demons come for you. With a growl of aggression, Dillon finally fixed his mistakes. A sense of pride sprouted across my face. But what I didn’t see was that he took my advice too well and swept his leg to the back of mine.
I knew what was going to happen and I didn’t prepare myself; I got too cocky.
My legs twisted under me, causing me to land, crashing to the side of my left leg. It wasn’t the move that had me, it was the rush of pain. I’ve taken bullets, I’ve taken some blows, always stitched myself back up. But this pain had me almost feeling sorry for the fuckers that we’d hurt.
“Shit, fuck, Shooter, man I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Dillon’s voice came out in a stutter.
“Oh Jesus, man, Hound Dog is going to murder me,” Stray groaned, standing over me, raking his hand through his hair nervously.
I couldn’t move. I had a good idea what happened to me and it was going to be a bitch to heal. I knew one thing, if I played it off, Hound Dog would murder me even more. I was the club’s medic. What signal does it send if I couldn’t even take care of myself?
“What do you want to do?” Stray asked, trying to roll me over to my back, but it just made it worse.
What choice did I have? I needed to get it x-rayed and possibly a boot. I needed the emergency room. The light bulb went off in my head, and a wicked smile plastered on my face.
I needed the emergency room.
What a poor fucking excuse to go to the emergency room, but maybe I’d be a good boy and get a lollipop to lick on… or maybe something else.
“Tell Hound we’re going to Baptist.”
There was a slight groan from Stray, because even late at night, the wait was going to be brutal.
But worth it in the end.
Chapter 4
Amelia
Non-stop.
The late shift was non-stop, and the board felt like it would never clear. Not much time for a pee break, but hey sometimes we do it for the rush, right?
Some moments I felt like my feet had disappeared, I walked so damn much. I got a moment to breathe, and I nearly slumped over one of the pod desks.
