Hard Bastard(158)

They were at the pinnacle of their physical skills, and we were watching them work as hard as they possibly could to destroy their opponent. MMA was different from boxing; there was a wider variety of moves allowed, not just punching. The two men kicked and wrestled and punched each other, and the fight went for a few rounds, seemingly close.

And I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I could feel Cole next to me, and he felt it too, that same adrenaline boost. When the taller man landed a rough punch on the smaller one, knocking him down, the crowd went absolutely insane. The taller man pounced on the smaller one, pummeling him, and then the fight was over.

It happened so fast. One second they looked evenly matched, though both of them pretty were beat up, and the next second the one man was standing in the middle of the ring, victorious.

The crowd was on its feet, cheering wildly. Cole was clapping, a huge, vicious smile on his face. I couldn’t stop myself from cheering along.

It was such a rush. I’d never experienced anything like it before. Although the fight still wasn’t really my thing, I was beginning to understand why Cole loved it and why so many people wanted to get involved with it.

“Come on,” Cole said over the roar of the crowd.

He shifted his way through the seats, and I had to struggle to keep up. Lacey was right behind me. I gave her a look, but neither of us knew where Cole was going. We went back up the ramp and toward the front. Cole pushed open an unmarked door and led us through a back hallway and into another room.

The sounds of the crowd receded, and I glanced at Lacey again. She gave me a confused smile but didn’t say anything.

This was smaller, more intimate. There were still a good amount of people in there, but it was quieter. There was a bar in the back with a TV showing replays of the fight just above it. Men and women all sat around talking, drinking, and watching each other.

“What’s this?” I asked Cole.

“Bar for the fighters,” he grunted.

“Oh hell yeah,” Lacey whispered. “Showtime.”

She disappeared toward a table of young men before I could say anything. I couldn’t believe how forward she was being, but then again, you never knew with Lacey.

“Come on,” Cole grunted.

We made our way to the bar. Several people in the room gave Cole a nod of recognition, and he nodded back, though nobody came up to him. We sat down on stools and ordered drinks.

“How many people in here do you know?” I asked him.

“Most of them.”

“These are your people, then, I guess.”

“Used to be.”

We got our drinks and I looked at him, interested. There seemed to be something bugging him, though he wasn’t saying what.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Since I was gone for so long, it’s like they all forgot about me.”

“You were gone a long time. You’ll get back into it.”

He nodded. “I know. It’s okay.”

“When do you fight again?”

I didn’t know why I asked, because I shouldn’t have cared. I just wanted my divorce and that was that. But being there, in that crowd, I suddenly had a new respect for what Cole did.

“Soon,” he said. “Very soon.”

I sighed, sipping my drink. He didn’t seem very talkative, and I didn’t feel like drawing him out all night. If this was his way of convincing me to stay married to him, he wasn’t doing a good job.

As I sat there looking around the room at all the interesting people, at the trophies lining the walls and the women in too-short dresses, I couldn’t help but wonder why he even wanted me around. The fight seemed so exciting, almost glamorous, and I was just a regular, boring girl. There didn’t seem to be any reason for him to want to mess with me so much. It wasn’t like he actually wanted to be my husband; I couldn’t imagine that was the case, at least.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to leave your friend over there alone?” Cole grunted at me, breaking the silence.

“She’s a big girl. Plus, she does this a lot.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“She doesn’t mean anything by it. If I really cared, I’d tell her.”

“Bet she doesn’t do it in a fighter bar much.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Means these aren’t your usual guys, sweetheart. She should be careful.”

I looked over and watched Lacey take a shot, laughing loudly with the group of guys. They seemed harmless enough, or at least they weren’t the scariest guys in the place. She was going to be fine.

“Since when do you care?” I asked, frustrated. “And what am I doing here, anyway?”