dissolve. nh

Chapter 1

She had to be the most lovely girl I've ever seen.

I smirked. This was going to be a fun fight. Before Henry and Nixon could come up to me, I was already inside, circling the cage and looking at the crowd through narrowed eyes. I got to my end, standing and waiting to see who was coming through the door next, who I would be fighting.

My heart was thumping in my ears and again my world slowed to near nothing. I saw him come in, and I blocked out all sound. The announcer came on, and the rules were said before this punk started playing up the crowd. Oh no, he wasn't ready. He really, really wasn't ready.

The bell dinged, and he started for me. We stopped, awaiting to see who would make the first move. He was blunt with it, a bold move, I'll give him that, but it was useless. A jab to my face, blocked easily with my left arm, his right thrown away from me. His speed wasn't enough, and though his reach was greater than mine, I had more control.

A few punches, two jabs, and one landed smack to the side of my face, he'd gripped my hair bringing me into his chest before laying his knees into my palms, blocking his shots to my abdomen. I reached up through his failed attempts, pulling his head down to mine before rolling us over and onto the ground, climbing on top of him and laying punch after punch into his face.

The bell dinged, signaling the end of round one, and he walked away huffing. I was barely even started when Henry forced me onto a bucket, pulling out my guard and squirting water into my mouth. I rinsed, spitting into a second bucket as Nixon wiped my brow, my eyes trained on my opponent still.

We got up, everyone clearing out before the second round started, and he was a bit hasty coming after me this time. He took off, slamming me into the side of the cage, his head tucked near my hip, laying punches to my ribs. I rolled my eyes, letting a knee fly up and land square in the jaw. He stumbled backward, and I let out jabs with precision, timing my breaths as each one hit perfectly.

I won't lie, it surprised me when I felt a sharp snap to my ear, and a ringing noise flooded my senses. I pulled back enough to look into his glazed eyes, a toothy grin flashing from the Irishman's mouth before I hauled off and laid one into his eye. Fury clouded his face, and instead of crumpling, he punched me in the face.

I glared before giving him a one-two combo, then laid all of my body weight into a solid kick with my right foot, his head snapping to the side, and he free-fell onto the sweat-covered mat, blood leaking from his mouth. He was down for the count, beady eyes shutting finally, and they ruled it a knockout.

Knock out in the second round, I'd won another, and I was pleased with it. It usually didn't take me this long to knock them out, but he was good. And my right arm, as sore as it was, was yanked into the air by the ref, and I was placed under a new title before I caught the eye of the same girl I'd seen just before the fight.

She was watching me with a steady gaze, not cheering like the rest of the people around her, and it intrigued me. Her lips were pursed slightly, and oh, how I lusted for them. I shot her a wink, praying that she'd be at the after-party held at Benny's after I got cleaned up. To be honest, I didn't really want the title as my prize...

I wanted her.