"Is it over yet?" I anxiously groaned.
"Almost," the girl next to me cheerily replied, "there's still one more round."
"My goodness, are they trying to kill that poor man?"
I didn't know much about boxing—what I did know, though, was that Elias was a beast in the ring. As they took a brief intermission, his opponent, Mikey, weakly sat hunched over on a stool. Sweat was dripping from his body and his eyes were barely open. His coaches and trainers wiped at his bloody nose and fed him water.
On the other side stood Elias, who looked hardly phased. He was energetically bouncing from side to side, as if to not lose any stamina. There was not a mark on any part of his body. In fact, he looked more alive than ever.
A slim woman clad in lingerie held up a sign with the number three on it. The final round was now beginning, much to the rowdy crowd's enjoyment. One of Mikey's coaches patted him on the back before exiting the ring, as if to encourage him. However, it was useless. Everyone in the room knew he wasn't winning this thing.
"This is barbaric!" I covered my eyes.
"If barbaric means amazing, then yes, it is," replied the girl next to me. "Oh, I can't wait to get paid up after this."
"You mean... you bet on this?"
She laughed, as if I'd asked a silly question. "Honey, of course I did. A thousand dollars, actually."
I gasped. "But, aren't you afraid to lose money?"
"Not at all. Elias has never lost a match. He'll be making about a hundred grand from this thing," she casually shrugged.
"What?" I coughed, eyes bulging in alarm. One hundred thousand dollars, from just one boxing match? Goodness gracious, I couldn't even fathom what I'd do with that kind of money!
The crowd suddenly oohed, and I snapped my eyes forward. I didn't know what I'd missed, but suddenly, Mikey was on the ground receiving powerful punches from Elias. I suddenly regretted getting front row seats to this thing, as the sight of all the blood was causing me to feel quite anxious.
"Oh God," I whispered underneath my breath.
Not many people heard me over the noise of the stadium, but suddenly, Elias' dark eyes snapped in my direction. Shock flickered over his face, and he froze for a moment—not long, but just long enough for Mikey to land a hit right on Elias' jaw.
I gasped, though Elias quickly steadied himself once more and delivered a merciless blow that caused Mikey's head to lifelessly fall to the ground.
"H-He's dead!" I stammered in horror.
"Don't be silly, he's just knocked out," the girl next to me laughed.
The commentator entered the ring again and grabbed Elias' wrist, lifting it into the air. "Ladies and gentlemen, the victor of today's match, Elias Matthews!"
The crowd was so loud that my ears hurt. Everyone rose to their feet, clapping and cheering and screaming words of adoration for Elias. There it was—that cocky, satisfied smirk. His dark eyes roamed the crowd as his sculpted chest heaved up and down.
Before I knew it, his eyes landed on me once again. The proud smirk fell from his lips, slowly being replaced by a murderous scowl. I immediately took that as my cue to get the hell out of here.
Squeaking a nervous goodbye to the girls I sat with, I weaved in between the sea of people each exiting the arena. Relief flooded me once I saw the velvet staircase from which I'd come from. However, I froze in my tracks when a strong hand clasped my shoulder. I didn't even have to look to know who it was.
"Look, it's Elias!" a young boy shouted. Did people seriously bring their children to these things? Before I could react, excited people began to swarm around Elias and me.
"Elias, you were amazing out there!"
"Could I get your autograph?"
"Elias, are you on steroids?"
"Mr. Matthews, is this your girlfriend?"
"No!" Elias and I both shouted at the last question.
We both turned to give each other angry looks. He looked like he was going to say something, but decided against it and began to tug me along. People moved out of his path without him needing to say a word.
We made our way to what looked like the backrooms of the arena, where he entered a room that was titled Elias Matthews. I supposed being champion gave you certain perks, like your own private suite.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Daisy?" he furiously barked, turning around to face me.
"Pardon me?" I nervously spoke in a British accent. "You must be mistaken, sir. I don't know anyone named Daisy."
"You must think you're so funny," his eyes narrowed into slits.
"Of course I do," I blurted.
Elias took a step towards me. I stepped back. He took another step forward. I took another step backward. The cycle continued until my back hit the wall, and his arms caged me in between his body. My heart began to palpitate as his head bowed to darkly murmur in my ear.
"I'm only gonna ask you one more time, D. What the fuck are you doing here?"
We maintained unwavering eye contact, neither of us willing to back down.
"D? Is that a nickname, I hear?" I couldn't help but smile.
"Don't be ridiculous," he sneered. "Nicknames are for friends, and you and me are not friends."
"You and I."
"Excuse me?"
"You said you and me, but the correct saying is you and I."
"I don't give a damn, you stupid nerd."
"Well that's a bit contradictory, isn't it? How can one be stupid, but also be a nerd?"
Elias backed away and emitted a strangled noise between a shout and groan. He looked like he wanted to rip my head off. Just then, the door banged open, and in walked Andre and Malcolm.
"Elias, you were awesome out th—Daisy?" Malcolm yelped in alarm, coming to a pit stop.
Andre bumped into Malcolm, before staggering backwards in surprise. "Daisy, what are you doing here?"
"She followed us here, like the nosy little brat she is," Elias rolled his eyes.
"Did not! I just... accompanied you guys without your knowledge. Enough about me, what about you two?" I pointed an accusatory finger at Andre and Malcolm.
"Us?" Malcolm raised his arms with a frantic look. "We're innocent!"
"Liar! You told me you were gonna be studying Friday night—which, now that I say it out loud, I realize how unbelievable that is..." I trailed off.
"I actually said I was going to be golfing," he corrected.
"Aha! So you admit, you lied."
"Well, I'm not the one who—"
"At least he didn't—"
"Mind your own business—"
Elias, Malcolm and I began to talk over one another.
"Enough," Andre shouted, to which we all huffed and went silent. "Now that we've all caught each other red-handed, we might as well come clean."
The three boys exchanged eye contact, seeming to be silently communicating. I never really understood how they did that.
At last, Andre sighed in exasperation. "Fine, I guess I'll be the one to say it. Elias is a boxer."
"Yeah, I kinda figured that one out on my own," I huffed. "But I don't understand why you had to be so secretive about it. So what he likes to beat people up in his free time?"
Andre winced at my poor wording, Malcolm giggled, and Elias looked like he was still debating between chewing my head off or strangling me to death.
"I just don't get why you guys had to lie about it. I mean, it's not like it's illegal or anything," I laughed.
The three of them were straight-faced.
"Oh," my mouth dropped open, "so this is illegal."
"Bingo," Andre said, carefully watching my reaction.
"So, hypothetically, if I were to call the cops right now, would Elias go to jail?"
"Hmm. Well, hypothetically, if I were to strangle you by the throat right now, would you die?" Elias mused. "Let's test it out."
I yelped as Elias made a move at me and ran behind Malcolm, who only rolled his eyes at our antics.
"Blah blah. In conclusion, Elias is a secret boxer, Daisy's a stalker, and Andre and I are liars. Anyways, I'm hungry. Can we go get burgers?" Without waiting for an answer, Malcolm swung an arm around my shoulder and began to guide us out the room.
I chuckled at his antics. Of course he was only thinking about food in a moment like this. Andre and Elias trailed behind us, talking amongst each other.
"Hey, Malcolm," I looked up at him.
"Yeah, love?" he nonchalantly replied.
"I can't help but ask—why does Elias need to fight underground? I mean, I'm sure there are tons of legal boxing clubs that would be willing to take someone as talented as he is."
"Well of course there are, but none of them would pay nearly as much," Malcolm grinned.
"But, what does a seventeen year old boy need that much money for?"
His smile wavered and he looked away. "I'm afraid that's a question you'll have to ask our dear Elias."
I hummed thoughtfully before glancing back at the 6'4 mystery, wondering what other secrets he had in store.
*****
QOTD: do you know how to swim?
AOTD: unfortunately not.
So so so so so sleepy right now. Hope u guys liked this chapter. What would you like to see more of? Don't hesitate to let me know!
Love, Emmanuela
01/23/2023