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Chapter 21--- The Championship

I don't look away from Devil.
And he holds my gaze firmly.
We're the same height, almost the same size except that he's a little bigger than me.
He has a ripped shirt on and his huge muscles are popping as he flexed them.

His cold smile regarding me slyly.
He doesn't intimidate me one bit.
If anything, I want to punch his stupid face now than wait till later.

" You look softer, lover boy, every goddamn time I see you." he says in his deep voice, a mock in his tone.
My face is blank, except the vein popping on my forehead. And my jaw flexing from how hard I was gnashing on it

I closed the gap between us and stood toe to toe with him.
" I'll show you just how soft I am.... Later" I say back, my tone as cold as possible.
He snickerd lowly, drawing even closer to me as there's barely a space between us.

" You do that , lover boy, you show me" he challenged.
I nodded with a cocky smirk.

" Boys, let's not get out of hands. I bet Cold here can wait long enough for his ass to be whipped" Tucker says, patting the grinning Devil in the back.
" We'll see about that Tucker, we'll see" Rick said , standing beside me.

They laugh lowly and made towards the side, into the dark paths to the opponents room.
Rick turned to me and said " I know you Cold, you're ready, and when it's time, beat the crap out of that shit head"
That's it. And that's what I'm going to do.

I nodded and messed my hair.
" Good, now let's go practice, we need to go over it again"
" Sure" I agreed as I followed him into my training room.

Oh, I'm definitely ready.

***†***

I could hear the loud noise emanating from the arena.
Lots of people are here tonight.
Diaz came in earlier to tell us that almost seven hundred people are here.
That's huge.
Though that's not our Maximum number, it's still huge.
Our highest number has been over a thousand and two hundred.
But it's only 6:50 pm, others would come.

I won't lose again in front of these people.... In front of Hazel.

Rick says Jayden called my phone earlier, said he's coming with Bethany and Hazel.
The air knocked out of me at that.
She never said she'd be here.

I don't want her to see me fail, ever.
So for myself, and for her, I won't lose.
Rick held the pads up for me as I   punched them.
Rick is fast, goddam fast and an expert.
He's the very best trainer in the underground fighting and I've learnt a lot from him.

Sweat dripped down my entire body as I paused, grabbed a towel and wiped my face.
" Good, take a rest, thirty minutes. I'm going to check on things outside and I'll be back" Rick says and leave.
I sit, catching my breath as my phone screen lit.

Fiona: bby🥺.

I ignored it. A second later the screen lit again.
Fiona: bby I'm sorry, can I come watch? Plssss. I'm coming alone I promise. Don't be so hard on me Hagel, pls🙏😫.

I switch my phone off and picked up the skipping rope to skip a little.
A few minutes into it, the door opened and Jayden stepped in.
I stilled, watching him silently.

" We're here already, this place is huge. You should see the crowd chanting your name outside, it's incredible" he says with a smile.
"  I bet huh" I say, smiling back.
" Well I guess it'll start in a few minutes, gotta take our seats, good luck Cold, from us all."
" I appreciate" I bump fists with him and then he strolled out.

Call me crazy but something is not right. Jayden looked too....relaxed .
He's the wild type and I get that he's changed but these type of things excite him.