"GENTLEMEN, NEXT UP WE HAVE THE BOSSMAN ANTHONY RIZZO WITH US HERE FOR A FIGHT. HIS OPPONENT THIAGO IS A JU JITSU CHAMPION AND MIXED MARTIAL ARTIST. PLACE YOUR BETS ON WHO YOU THINK WILL BE LEFT STANDING TONIGHT" the guy I hired to run the show was doing his job and directing the crowd.
Bringing attention to both them and the fighters so everything moves along.
The circle of bodies surrounding the thick columns of the garage all fell away from me when I stepped forward into the fight ring. Concrete. Smears of blood half heartedly wiped by a street kid who wants a few bills as tip money for helping clean up around here.
You don't wanna slip on another man's blood during a fight, but it does happen. Depends how depraved a fight you wanna watch.
"GET HIM RIZZO" I heard the two female voices briefly in the background. "KNOCK EM DEAD CUZ" I heard Enzo's voice now with them. I didn't look. I was getting in the zone. Focused. Alert. That's why the voices pull away, and the voice inside my mind comes into focus.
'You got this, Rizzo. You know his favored techniques.' The voice tells me.
'Don't let him take you to the ground or you won't get up. He's a material artist. You wanna keep him using his fists not his body, Rizzo.' The voice tells me more.
'Think of all the shit you wanna forget and pour it into every hit tonight. Fight to forget, Rizzo'.
And I do wanna forget some stuff. I wanna forget that Domani De Luca fucked my cousin raw then fucked my ex fling raw while I was still in the picture. I wanna forget that Giana was stupid enough to get herself pregnant, and that she did it with not one, but two De Luca men.
I wanna forget the drama I've been dealing with all week while she cried in my house and ate all my food. I wanna forget about the looming mob war. I wanna forget the Russian's that'll surely bust my balls as much as they can to get what they want from the Italians. How that responsibility now falls on my plate.
I wanna forget that I still feel something for Mia. That I felt my gut flip when she talked, laughed, or smiled at me.
I wanna forget that she used me when she was in between some bullshit toxic romance with Dom. I wanna forget that I let her come here tonight when I shouldn't be spending any time with her at all.
I wanna forget how she felt around my cock. I wanna forget what she tastes like. I wanna forget the private moments shared between us. I wanna forget.
Thiago has thick legs and solid arms. His belly is pudgy and a little fleshy, but he's got the stance of a fighter. The eyes are like coco beans and they're fixed on me. Watching my every movement. He's assessing me as I am assessing him.
Close cropped hair and cauliflower ears. If you don't know what that is, it's a fighter's ear. Look it up. It's kinda gross. His chin is tough and his face is flat by years of being hit in it maybe.
"FIGHT" I heard the announcement.
Cheers started around the circle of men. Voices yelling all kinds of things. 'Hit 'em!', 'kill em', 'guage his fucking eyes out', 'he's coming on your left. Swing! Swing!'. 'Go Thiago,' 'Go Rizzo'. It's all kinds of stuff and it gets crazier and crazier as the fight gets better and better.
Thiago and I slowly started circling each other, but neither of us stepped too close so the other couldn't take them down just yet. Thiago knows how to subdue a man. I know how to knock one out. It's more so who gets to do which thing first.
Thiago let off one swing when the crowd started screaming louder and louder, 'HIT HIM.' I dodged the attempt and we continued to circle each other and plant our feet ready for the other to act.
Oh come on. This can't be a boring fight on the night I'm trying to impress a girl. But if I start fighting risky am I gonna regret it? Sometimes I do some risky ass shit and most of it pays off, but I have a true audience tonight.
Not these guys. Her.
I took a step closer and started with my right hook, but faked him out with a solid left hand, even if it isn't my dominant hand. I landed the punch to his ribcage and stepped back. Thiago absorbed the punch and started getting amped up. Swing, swing. Step back. I dodged one, he dodged one.
Fuck it. Enough.
I tucked my head behind my fists and started swinging. He wasn't expecting the sudden enthusiasm since it's not my typical fighting style when I face him. It tripped him up a bit.
I hit him in the right eye, the left rib cage, and against his forearm when he blocked his jaw from getting knocked when my powerful fist came at him.
One more knock to his face with only my wrapped knuckles and his skin split open. Here comes the blood. "BLOOD,BLOOD,BLOOD" they chanted. Thiago started getting mad and he too was starting to throw more fists than he usually would. He likes taking guys down or being smart about where he hits you.
Everybody has a fighting strategy. My strategy is to not have a strategy. It makes you predictable. And if you have an individualized strategy it won't work on every fighter. They're all so different. My strategy is to adapt and adjust my way of fighting once I see how my opponent fights.
Simple as that.
In the heat of the moment Thiago felt desperate. His face was leaking, he hadn't gotten a good enough hit on me yet. Don't get me wrong he landed plenty of punches. I'm just used to them. It takes more than a few hits to get me down.
My cheek was red, my torso and shoulder had been hit. He brushed the side of my head in one of his flying fist moments.
We were starting to sweat. We both felt slick and Thiago had red smeared on the side of his temple and made his eye lashes look moist and crimson. So yeah, in the heat of the moment Thiago felt desperate. He wanted to take me down to the ground.
When he lunged his strong body at me he was ready to take me down in possibly an arm bar or any other kind of leg lock to subdue me. The voice inside my head shut everyone out again and told me something.
'He's used to matted floors, Rizzo. He does have the talent, but he's not used to the harsh concrete the way you are. Use this as your tool to weaken him in what should be his strongest position.'
And I was absolutely right. He fights in respectable places. Mats and professional rings. I've been fighting on the streets since I can remember.
So when Thiago grabbed my body and tried pulling me down I stiffened my planted feet and struggled with him. I started elbowing his inner knee so his feet would slip and scratch along the concrete. He was getting scuffed up the more I struggled against him and he struggled against me.
I threw my head back and knocked his chin almost enough to knock him out. But fuck that hurt my head. In that momentary lapse I flattened his shin down on the concrete and started shoving at it like grating cheese. He hollered out and lifted his leg, putting him in a weak position for me to knock him all the way down on his back.
And I would've probably had him there if I jumped on him and tried to subdue him, but that's his domain. No. I wanted to win in my domain. On two feet and with fists.
So I let him up. I could see his big toe was bleeding and he had long scraps across his shin. I probably did too, but I don't even feel it.
When we got to our feet Thiago was through with me. He punched, jab, jabbed. And I swiveled, blocked, blocked, and struck. A well landed fist hit the side of my head and I stumbled slightly, but I returned the swing while he was dislodging from his and I clipped him in the jaw.
Thiago stumbled backwards and then fell flat on his back.
Now I mounted him and started throwing punches. Pound, pound, pound. My fist hit his face, his eye, his nose, but he didn't tap out. He was trying to get me into an arm bar or leg lock again. His limbs were curling and coiling all around mine like a snake.
I knew this had to end. So I took everything I wanted to forget and I let it fall into my closed fist. And then I struck. SMACK. I knocked Thiago in the face so hard his limbs went slack and his head rolled to the side. Total knockout. He laid snoring.
The crowd went wild. It was the perfect cocktail of a fight, and what I mean is this- It didn't go too fast and end boring. It didn't drag on. There was blood. Enough to dirty Thiago's face and drip down around our bare feet as we moved. He clipped my lip so I was spitting pink saliva off to the side of us too. There was good movement. Some floor stuff and some really good punches.
I've certainly had more wild fights, but this was a good fight for Mia to watch, so I wouldn't scare her off if she saw me pound a man's face completely in.
"WINNER: ANTHONY RIZZO" the man announced and you heard cheers and guys sucking their teeth pissed they bet against me and lost. I got a bunch of slaps on the back in congratulations, but I moved on and walked through the thicket of people to get to the girls, who Enzo had step back in a less crowded, more elevated place.
Thiago was helped to sit up and moved from the circle so the street kid could wipe the place down in preparation for the next fight.
The rest of all that madness continued behind me as I showed up to the girls shirtless, sweaty, and a tiny bit bloody. Most isn't my blood though. Enzo was already getting me a wet rag to wipe myself down.
"Oh my gosh! My heart was in my throat the whole time! You did so good, but I was so nervous!" Mia exclaimed and rushed forward when I got to them. I chuckled at the way her eyes danced around in her head.
"Yeah? Did I do alright?" I asked pathetically just to hear her say it again. "Yes! Definitely. You knocked him out. And his eyebrow...ouch" her pretty eyes dropped down to my stained flesh.
At the same time Enzo slapped a wet rag against my chest and I grabbed it to wipe myself down. "Do you need ice or anything?" She asked me quickly when she decided to assess me. Sophia laughed and threw her hand up for a high five.
"That was hot, Rizzo" Sophia stated bluntly, as she always does.
When I looked back at Mia she was observing me closely, but looked away when I looked back at her. What's she thinking? I started watching her now. She turned to my cousin and laughed at whatever he just said. When she bit down on her lip it was actually Lexi that came to mind.
My blood is still pumping. I wish I told her I wanted to link up tonight to fuck instead of tomorrow. I just wasn't sure how late this thing was gonna run.
And if I'm being honest with myself I wondered what Mia would suggest we all do after I finished fighting. I left my plans open and that's pathetic. I'm not going down that road. Mia might be a model, but so is Lexi. I have a hot, single, and willing model.
I can't be digging up old crushes because she gave me the time of day today, probably as some revenge move against Dom. It's silly and I don't wanna be a part of it. Lexi is easy.
"Where to next?" Enzo threw his arm over Sophia's shoulder and pulled her into his side. He's been flirting with her the whole time. He's gonna fuck her if he has his way. I saw him playfully pretend to bite the side of her neck, which got her squealing and squirming in his arms.
Mia glanced over her shoulder at them before looking back at me.
"I think I better go home. Sophia might have other plans tonight" she basically agreed to my thought that those two were gonna fuck.
Oh Enzo. You think he'd learn from my mistakes. If he gets on Dom's bad side he may just take out the Rizzo crime family and be done with us.
"Did you drive?" I asked Mia in reference to her mentioning she should go home. "No, but I'll have a ride. I was...honest with Dom. I texted him a few minutes ago letting him know Sophia took me here. I just didn't wanna make this look like some secret and have it be misinterpreted" she let me know.
"You told Dom?" I had to re ask.
She saw my face and assured me it wouldn't land on me.
Oh my fucking god. She has no idea. Fuck. Why'd she go and tell him? He's gonna flip out whether she thinks she's being a good honest girlfriend or not.
I went around her and snapped in Enzo's face to get his attention off Sophia. "She called Dom," I gave him a look. Enzo's eyes snapped over to Mia.
"Why the fuck would you do that?" Enzo deadpanned. She looked suddenly unsure of herself. "We're honest with each other, even if the truth will annoy us. It's...it's our thing" she looked at Sophia to back her up. Sophia slapped her in the arm instead, which would've made me laugh if I didn't think I was about to get shot in the face.
"Little Fiore, sweetheart, you might think you did the right thing...but Dom is gonna take it out on this guy right here. And then me" Enzo thumbed to me then himself.
Mia blushed a little bit. "I'm sorry. I thought you knew I would tell him. I wasn't...I was just curious about this fight night stuff. I'll go upstairs, I won't even let him come in" she told me. I snorted.
"He's our boss, he'll see us anyways" I was actually kind of annoyed right now.
"Guys! Stop. Don't make me feel bad for being honest with my boyfriend. None of you are responsible for having me come here. I'll let him know that you specifically asked me not to come. Now, thank you for the fun night. I'm glad you won, Anthony. And good night" she told us in a flustered huff before turning on her heel to leave.
"Soph?" She decided to double check with her friend. "I wanna stay, but if you tell Dom I'm here, which I'm sure you did, then I don't know if he'll be a dick about it or not" she told her friend.
Odds are he'll be a dick about it.