Ava Morris
"Hold on," Julian yelled, gripping my hand. My eyes widened as I took in the vast expanse of the place. I noticed people standing around with beer cans in their hands.
As I looked around, every seat was taken, and the room was packed with people. A large boxing ring was positioned in the centre of the floor. I glanced upwards to spot the VIP section, where the attendees appeared to be influential individuals. They were having hushed conversations while looking down at the crowd below.
"What are you looking at?" I quickly gazed back at Julian, who was looking at me.
"Nothing." His gaze went to the VIP area.
"I understand you are curious, but do not look at the VIP area. We don't want them catching us looking at them." I nodded my head, understanding his words.
"What are you two doing? Come on?" Ron called out, standing before us.
As everyone went to their seats, I immediately looked down. Some were settling in, while others were still coming in. I have been in similar environments before, but this one is way larger than I am used to.
I noticed Lola and Poppy, who had huge grins on their faces. It was clear that they were thrilled and elated to be present there. I had no idea that they were enthusiasts of street boxing and combat. Strangely, many other girls in the crowd were also sporting the same broad smiles as Lola and Poppy. Ron leaned over and whispered to me, "They're eagerly anticipating the arrival of their favourite fighter."
"Favourite?" I turned my head to look at him. He nods his head while looking ahead.
"Yeah, he is new here but never lost a fight. He won every match, and everyone you see here came to watch him fight. It's hard to get tickets now."
"They even started fan clubs for him, which is insane. If anyone here mouths bad about him, these fan clubs are ready to bash their faces. He has some dangerous fans who would punch faces," Julian said. "And we have seen girls in action for him. Though he doesn't give a fuck nor cares to glance at them."
"Ohh!"
"Are Poppy and Lola part of this fan group?" I crossed my arms, trying to figure out everything happening around me.
"No idea. Maybe they do follow those fan clubs."
I sat down, and Ron passed me popcorn. We are close to the ring. I don't know how Max got the front tickets, but we have a clear view of the boxing ring. Julian removed his glasses and put them inside his hoodie. I looked around to see girls who were smoking hot.
"Everyone is hot over here." Julian chuckled, standing beside me. "They are hot but sadistic," Julian added, checking out the girls.
A buff man walked into the ring with an electronic mic in his hand. My gaze shifted to his arms, where he got tattooed. He even got ear, lip and eyebrow pressings. His voice boomed in the entire arena. I winced as he cursed out loud, and the crowd cheered up. "You good? It's kinda common, and this is just the beginning," Julian whispered.
"Yeah. . ."
The first person who was fighting tonight walked towards the ring. He is tall and buff. He has a beard look going on. Only a few cheered for him. Poor guy. . .
I clapped for him because I knew how it would feel if no one cheered for us. Seeing me, Jullian and Ron cheered up. I smiled at them before looking back at the ring. Max pulled his phone out to record, but the bodyguard near the row quickly tapped Max's shoulder. Telling him not to record anything.
"We are not allowed to record or take a picture?"
"No, this is illegal if it gets posted somewhere on social media. It will bring trouble for them."
"Point."
"And now the mother fucker of the house, Brad McCarthy!" The guy with the mic yelled. Roars. . . Shouts. . . Yellings and excitement-filled screams filled the whole place.
As Brad walked out of the dark tunnel towards the light, I was struck with a sense of dread. My mouth hung open, and my eyes widened in shock as I watched him approach. I felt my body freeze in place, unable to look away. A wave of nervousness and fear washed over me, causing my heart to race and my hand to instinctively clutch at my chest.
"It's him!"
"It's him, Brad McCarthy, we were talking about! Look at him!" Ron yelled, holding my arm. I blinked my eyes and looked down at the ground. With shallow breaths and a head shake, I looked back in the ring.
"Fuck! Look at the crowd cheering for him! See how excited they are!" Julian spoke, placing his hand on my arm. I closed my eyes and lowered my head as I thought about it.
'It's him...'
'He is here, and we are here to watch him fight.'
'They know him.'
I shook my head as questions started playing in my mind. I can hear the loud cheers of Ron and Julian, who are standing beside me. They are excited. . . They are excited about him. I snapped my head towards Poppy and Lola to see them shout and cheer for Brad like girls on high.
"That man is impressive. We all admire his courage," Julian said with a massive smile as we watched Brad's every step.
As always, he had a blank expression and didn't even glance at the cheering crowd. His eyes were locked onto his opponent.
I'm sure he's analyzing his opponent's moves. I watched as they both played while listening to the commentary. Brad waited for his opponent to take the first step, and he did.
He threw a punch towards Brad's left side, but Brad quickly stepped away. At the exact moment, he punched the guy in the stomach from the right side, taking him by surprise. Brad didn't hesitate and immediately followed up with a cross punch, causing the opponent to step back due to the force of the blow.
I felt a knot in my stomach as Brad threw a punch at his opponent, causing him to fall to the ground. The crowd erupted in cheers while I took deep breaths and tried to steady my nerves. I looked away, unable to watch Brad deliver blow after blow until his opponent finally knocked him off. Brad was different now. He had changed. I used to be scared of watching him fight in local matches, but now. . .
I can feel my heart beating loudly against my rib cage. My throat dried up, and nervousness creeped me out watching Brad. Goosebumps rose on my skin, seeing Brad's face.
As everyone cheered for their favorite, I found myself speechless. The muscular man from earlier shouted something and declared Brad as the winner of the fight. Poppy and Lola were thrilled, jumping up and down excitedly, while I looked at Brad in shock. Although I had seen him fight before, this time was different - it was unlike anything I had witnessed before.
"Hey! Are you okay?" Julian asked while keeping his hands on my shoulders. He slightly turned my body towards his.
"Yeah."
"Ava, if you aren't comfortable, we can leave this place."
"No―No. It's okay."
"Are you sure?" He asked. The others are busy cheering and shouting Brad's name out.
"Yeah," I said, smiling at him. I turned my head towards the boxing ring. Brad was looking at the seats and the people cheering for him. His face was blank and expressionless. If he looks over the front seats, he might also see me.
"Shit."
I tried to hide my face, but he had already seen me. He glanced briefly before a dark expression took over his face, and I watched as his jaw clenched. I rolled my lower lip into my mouth, hoping he would look away and ignore me. However, he didn't. I couldn't break my gaze off him. "Is Brad looking at us?" Lola asked, interrupting my thoughts. I broke the gaze off him and snapped my head towards her.
"Fucking hell! Brad is looking at us!" Poppy yelled in happiness. Julian must've understood something. "Why is Brad McCarthy looking at you?"
"I don't know. When will this end?" Julian looked at Ron as if he didn't know when it would end.
"It just started three more fights. We will stay for two hours and leave." Ron answered, looking at the ticket. It must've been printed on the ticket.
"I―I." I turned to see Brad talking with someone with his eyes on me. I need to leave this place as soon as possible.
They were all looking at me with a questioning look. "Let's get out of here," I said, pulling Julian. I turned around to see Brad making his way toward where we were.
"Shit!" I cursed before rushing out and pushing people aside.
"Is everything okay, Ava?" I heard Julian ask. I didn't answer him. The only thing on my mind is to leave before Brad catches me.
We made it outside and towards the car. I turned my head towards where we came from to see Brad looking at me with a stern look. He didn't come running. He knew I would be running away, which would look like chasing me.
Max started driving. I shut my eyes to gather my thoughts about answering my friends. I freed my eyes to see everyone looking at me with curious eyes. They are itching to ask me questions.
"I'm sorry you guys had to leave because of me." I looked at Lola and Poppy. "It's nothing."
Lola wanted to ask something, but I beat her off by saying, "I don't wanna talk about it, please. I hope you guys understand."
"Lola, give her space. If Ava doesn't want to talk about it, let's not force her," Auden said.
"Yes," Julian said. They know not to mention that again. I'm not fond of people asking me questions when I don't want to discuss it. Thankfully, they didn't ask anything about it. I'm scared of one thing― Vincent. Vincent doesn't like it when I go to shady places. Suppose Brad informs Vincent about me being present in a shady spot. I know I'm in deep shit.
Vincent would skin me alive if he found out that I was out with my friends in an illegal underground fight. It's not like Vincent doesn't give me freedom. He doesn't like it when I go to scandalous pubs and places in dangerous areas. I closed my eyes and leaned against my seat, praying that Brad kept this to himself. I don't want Vincent to know about this matter.