Pierce rolls over the body, hooks Stocky’s neck with his leg again, and this time grabs his own foot with his hand, and pulls.
Stocky’s body flails for a second, then I see the shoulders drop. He’s trying to get out from under it, but gets stuck on Pierce’s hip bone.
It’s only a few seconds before Stocky’s body goes limp.
“That’s the Pace choke,” I overhear Chance say to Cassie. “Lights-out in seconds. No blood to the brain.”
The fight is over. Pierce gets up, and somebody rushes to Stocky. I assume he’s a doctor.
The crowd bursts into manic cheering and applause, and Pierce trots about the cage, arms up, grinning.
He’s barely even broken a sweat.
Chapter Eight
“Did you see how fast he was?” Rose asks me. “God, he’s good.”
“I saw it,” I say as we leave the warehouse. The entire audience is filtering out at once, and it’s slow progress. The hubbub of excited chatter is thunderous. I can barely hear myself speak.
Everybody’s talking about how fast Pierce won. They’re saying that if this was a scored match, Stocky would have only received points for getting out of the first hold with that single blow onto his thigh.
I have to admit to myself that Pierce was impressive. Deceptively light on his feet despite all that muscle… it was graceful. Incredibly athletic.
“What are we going to do now?” I ask Rose.
“Well,” she says, grinning at me. “Now we see if we can talk to Pierce.”
“Really?” I ask.
“Yeah. I’m going to tell him your dad is dating his mom.”
“Damn Rose, why?”
“So we get a chance to meet him.”
“Rose, I don’t want to do this. You can’t tell him that.”
“Why not? You’re free to leave.”
I frown. “God, you can be such a bitch sometimes.”
“Hey, I want to meet him.”
“And what about Jason?”
“Oh, he’s not the jealous type.”
“I’m not?” Jason says, appearing from behind us. He was supposed to be using one of the porta-potties, but apparently the line was too long.
“It was going to be a hazmat zone in there once it got to my turn,” he explains, grinning.
“Gross.”
“Anyway,” Rose says, “Now you’ll get a chance to meet him. See what all that pointing was about.”
“I don’t really care,” I say. “To be honest, I might just head off early.”
“No!” she says, gripping onto my arm. “No, stay. Come on!”
“Rose…”
“They say Pierce’s nights out are legendary.”
“He drinks?”
She snorts. “What do you mean he drinks?”
“Well, aren’t athletes supposed to take care of their bodies?”
“Aren’t you adorable,” Rose says, laughing. “Anyway, if we can’t meet Pierce, Jason and I are going to go out anyway. Want to join us?”
“Where are you going?”
“Oh, probably a club or two.”
I pause. “I, uh, I’ve never been to a—”
“A club?”
“Well, no, back home you gotta be twenty-one.”
“You never used a fake ID?”
“No!”
She waves her hand. “Don’t worry about it, there’s nothing to it. Have a drink, feel the music, do what you want. Dance, sit, whatever. You only have to be eighteen here, anyway.”
“I don’t know, Rose,” I say. I’m starting to feel nervous now. I can’t dance! I’m not dressed for it at all.
“Oh, come on, Pen—” Rose’s eyes widen, and she looks past my shoulder. I turn around, and see Pierce Fletcher walking out of the train depot. He’s wearing a maroon dress shirt tucked into black slacks, and it all fits his body almost too perfectly.
“Pierce!” she screams, waving her hands. He’s already got a crowd of people around him. Everybody’s trying to get a selfie with him. Mobile phone cameras are going off left and right.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think we were at some red carpet event in Hollywood.
But Pierce isn’t paying attention to any of it. His eyes have found me, and he’s making a beeline straight toward us. Each of his steps is a long confident stride. He’s got a sway to him.
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was filming a commercial. The way each camera light flashes in seeming slow motion… it’s almost cinematic.
“Great fight, Pierce,” Rose says as he comes toward us. He doesn’t even acknowledge her. His eyes stay on me.
“You kicked arse tonight, mate,” Jason says. Pierce ignores him, too.