The man had coal black skin that glistened under the lights. I knew what Jamal meant. Still, even if I was here just as research, I knew I still wanted Sean beating this guy down.

  “And now,” the announcer boomed. “The Oirish Tiger himself. The challenger to the throne. Give it up for your boy: Sean Smith.”

  The crowd erupted again as Sean stepped up into the ring from the other side. He didn’t go pumping his fists. He just prowled the edge of the ring, giving out a stern look that swelled the roar of the audience as he passed.

  He’d always looked intense, but now he looked deadly like a caged beast. Even though he probably couldn’t spot me in the darkness, I had to duck away from his glance as it passed over us.

  “Damn,” Jada said. “I forgot how he fine he looked that night.”

  “He’s good,” Jamal agreed. “But Lamar’s the best Detroit’s got.”

  The two men squared off, eyes full of anger. Sean rose well above the referee, but Lamar had a couple inches even over that. My stomach wrapped itself in knots as I realized that this man’s intent was to break Sean.

  The bell clanged and the two men circled each other. They looked like caged cats, approaching, growling, batting each other’s paws and then separating. Tension churned in my stomach with each pass.

  Then Lamar got a wide swing in that batted the side of Sean’s head. I yelped, but Sean just staggered sideways. Lamar came in swinging and I couldn’t see Sean at all. I jolted out of my chair, but just saw that broad black back and the elbows pumping like pistons. It sounded like meat being pounded in a kitchen.

  Oh god, why wasn’t anyone stopping this?

  Lamar came staggering back, and then he went flying back, straight into the cage. The crowd on the other side of the arena screamed for blood, and I saw Sean overhead, pounding at Lamar’s raised block.

  “Hey, sit down, bitch,” someone shouted behind me.

  I sat back in my seat, but already Lamar was back up and the two were circling, breathing a bit harder, but still up. Watching Sean’s chest heave, I couldn’t help but imagine him over me, grunting as he pushed into me over and over again. I’d put up no defense at all. I didn’t want to.

  A warmth flooded me that made me squirm in my seat. This wasn’t the effect I’d come here for. I needed to see things clearly.

  The first round passed after a couple more tussles. They were just wearing each other down, it was clear. The two went back to their corners and I saw a couple of the guys that had been at the restaurant talking to Sean as he wiped himself down and drank water.

  “That was hot,” Jada said. “That white boy’s good.”

  “He is,” I said.

  “He held his own,” Jamal said. “Why don’t you go offer him a little incentive?”

  I scrunched deeper into my seat. “Not yet.” It was true. I might be firmly in Sean’s corner, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do about us.

  Just then I spotted one of Sean’s friends in the crowd. He was the guy with the suit - a manager maybe. Right then he was being passed a thick handful of bills by some greasy looking guy

  For a flash, I wondered if the match was rigged, but then another couple men walked up and handed Sean’s manager other wads of cash.

  He was a bookie. That’s where the other cash was coming from. I doubted it was strictly legal, but it was a far cry from the gang-banger I’d built Sean up to be in my head.

  Some bikinied girls came and left and round two started. Right away, Sean slipped up. Lamar and he tussled in another engagement and I saw both take body blows.

  It was brutal, but I wasn’t feeling scared anymore, just the impacts. I was too in-sync. Each blow to Sean made me groan like I’d taken it, and each land of his fist made me want to jump out of my seat. There was more than just pure brawn at work in Sean’s head. He was following some rules for points and landing his attacks where they needed to go.

  The two men separated and when they came together again, Sean suddenly dropped to the floor. Lamar dropped on top of him and started raining fists.

  “What?” I screamed and turned to Jamal. “Can he do that?”

  “Until Sean stops defending? Sure.”

  I couldn’t see anything below Lamar’s furious face. I jumped to my feet. Screw whoever was behind me.

  Sean had his arms raised, but barely. Suddenly his legs whirred, and Lamar toppled over. Sean flipped on top and coiled around him like an anaconda. It looked really erotic. All I could think of were his muscles binding me instead.

  “Oh shit,” Jamal said. He was on his feet alongside me. The whole audience was.

  “What?” I asked, but I could already see. Lamar was jerking and pressing to get up, but Sean had left no room to move. The referee hovered close to both of them, signaling something with his hands. I saw fingers counting down.

  Lamar bellowed like an outraged animal, and then his whole body slumped. He tapped the mat.

  Sean leaped upright, arms thrust in victory. Some of the crowd groaned but the rest shook the roof, chanting Sean’s name. I was yelling right along with them.

  Lamar staggered to his feet, and Sean clasped his hand. The referee raised Sean’s fist into the sky.

  “Winner by submission,” he boomed.

  The crowd chanted his fighter name: I-rish ti-ger, I-rish ti-ger. Sean glowed at each side of his arena in turn, then paced towards the exit.

  I leapt from my seat and ran that way.

  “Gabi,” Jada’s voice called, but I was far away already.

  A lane had opened along the exit and rough-looking men crowded along it, eager for a glimpse of their champion. I thought I’d never get through, but one guy spotted me and pulled his buddy aside to make room.

  I slipped through just in time to see Sean pass.

  “Sean!” I screamed.

  He froze, looking around as if he’d heard a ghost. I yelled his name again, and he turned directly to me.

  His blonde hair stuck slick to his head and sweat dripped off every cliff on his chiseled face, but it lit up with a glow.

  He stalked up to me, clasped my chin wordlessly and fastened his lips to mine. I tasted the salt and sweat, and ran my hands through his damp hair. The crowd whooped around us.

  He pulled away, still smiling. “You like what you saw then?” he asked.

  “Heck yeah,” I said, feeling ashamed I couldn’t say anything stronger.

  His chuckle was lost in the noise, but he came back in and pecked me on the nose. “Guess that means you’re willing to see me again.”

  I nodded. “I am. I’m sorry.”

  Something hardened on his face. “I know just how you can make it up to me.”

  “I think I know, too,” I said. This fight might be over, but I was more than ready to be his next match.

  He reached across the low metal fences and plucked me over to his side as easily as a flower.

  Tucked into his raw muscle, I went out into the night with my champion.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Sean

  I checked myself in the mirror again and adjusted my collar. Over my usual gym tees, I now sported a checkered button down. I wore it furled back at the wrists and buttoned all the way down to where it met my khakis just like I’d seen on a male fashion site. Everything bulged at the seams, even though my muscles ran lean. Apparently this shit was built for hipsters.

  It was my first real night out with Gabi. I was like a damn high school kid going to the prom. Only difference was that I’d already fucked my date many times over. This was just the first time I’d be with her aiming to do more than get into her, but that had me on edge more than before any fight.

  I was my body. I’d built it up well and it served me now in business and pleasure. Take it away, and what did I have left to offer?

  Well, my body was still there at least, and it still had some power over her. For now.

  I checked out of my apartment and rolled downtown towards the Motown Lounge. It was the classiest place that my boys and I had ventured. I wanted to be on home turf, so I’d told her to meet me there. She’d turned down my offer to pick her up from her place, which wasn’t a great start, but I could deal.

  The place tinkled with elevator music as I walked through the doors. Rather than the damp darkness of the pubs I usually frequented, this place was open and bright. It was almost like a giant fight ring with tables and softer light.

  The bouncer checked my ID cautiously, then pointed me inwards. I found an empty table and had barely sat before a slim blonde in trim black uniform came up to me with a menu.

  She beamed as she handed over the menu and went over some fruity specials. Her eyes never left mine, and even after I ordered a pint of porter, they lingered a couple seconds longer.

  She had an hourglass body. All I would have to do to get her into my lap was reach out. I didn’t though, and she walked away.

  Didn’t know why the thought crossed my mind. It almost felt like I needed to prove to myself that I still had some worth. Gabi was screwing with my head, even out of sight.

  She didn’t stay that way for long. The next time the door blew open, Gabi breezed in. She had on a yellow number that was somewhere in tightness between a summer dress and a club dress. Her long legs and arms spilled out like smooth milk chocolate. It looked amazing and classy as hell.

  Her smile beamed down on me as she came over and sat across. The waitress interrupted our introduction when she came back with my porter. Her grin had ground down to business-only at the sight of my guest.

  Gabi ordered a cocktail without even looking at her.

  “Waiting long?” she asked.

  “Feels like forever.”

  She cupped my hand on the table with her slim one. “Well, I guess you must have a lot on your mind then.”

  I chewed my lips thoughtfully. There was just about one thing on my mind. The question that was making my leg jitter under the table, and getting my hands damp with just a brush of her skin. It could tank this thing from the start. I decided it’d be better to get it out of the way.

  “You think we got a shot at something real here?” I asked.

  She didn’t answer straight away, just leaned back and studied me, like I was a fancy painting or something. In fights, I could almost see what gears turned in the other guy’s heads, but I couldn’t read a damn thing off her.

  “Why do you think we don’t?” she said finally.

  “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

  “Bad stuff?”

  “Nothing horrible, just not up to your standards.”

  “My standards aren’t what you think you are.” She leaned in like a spy. “I just thought you might be too dangerous for me.”

  She had a twinkle in her eye that made me lose track of my words for a moment. “Too rough maybe.”

  “I like how rough you are.” She looked thoughtful a moment, then added. “I like the way you shake me up.”

  I started to explain that I wasn’t talking about my body or my fighting, but I left my own head and caught sight of her. She looked totally keyed in to the conversation, eager to part the sea to get to me.

  I smiled and decided to let it go. “You date any other rough guys?”

  “My last boyfriend played a mean saxophone.”

  I chuckled. Girl had wit. The waitress dropped off a clear martini glass, but I paid her no attention.

  “I never got into music as a kid,” I said. “Tried strumming my friend’s guitar a couple times and ended up breaking the strings.”

  “I can imagine. You probably didn’t need the music to woo girls though.”

  “This was back in ninth grade when I could use all the help I could get. I grew up super late.”

  I shook my head at the memories of fighting in my scrawny body. Lot of beatings. Pop never did teach me to hold my own - or much of anything else.

  “That’s hard to imagine.” Gabi sipped at her drink. “I was kind of the complete opposite. I grew up super early.”

  “Did those things come in in third grade?” I stared pointedly at her breasts.

  “Hah, no, though they did come in earlier than most. I’m talking more about the way I saw the world.”

  Saw the world. Everything outside of Detroit was still almost a distant haze to me - a complete fog of war if you took out my knowledge of MMA. Thinking about the world was a distant concept, but I wouldn’t mind learning.

  “Why’s that?” I asked.

  “My dad really. He had a way of drilling ideas into me, like I were just another engineering design of his. My sister didn’t get it nearly as bad as I did.”

  She went on about her upbringing. Her father was a manager at one of the big three car companies. They were well-off, but they’d only got there cause the man took his time charting a course for his life and building it up brick by brick.

  “So yeah,” Gabi concluded. “You’re kind of the antithesis of what I was raised to believe in. I mean the opposite.”

  “I know what antithesis means, Cadbury,” I said. “And I’m glad I’m a taste of the exotic for you, but our upbringings weren’t all that different.”

  “Really?” Her glass paused at her lips.

  “You’re your old man, plus a little risk. Well, I’m mine plus a bit extra too.”

  Gabi’s dad was a negative imprint of Pop. He’d been a machinist in the same company, ok at it, but he didn’t spend the money well. When Mom had run off, he’d gone totally AWOL, letting what little structure there was in his life fall to shambles. I guess he had kept a roof over our head, but that was mostly by virtue of living on property too shitty to be worth being foreclosed on.

  “The only thing that made me turn out different was discipline. I found out that I could fight, and I stuck to it.”

  I’d given Gabi the sanitized version. I watched her face carefully as I finished talking. This was just a medium dose of the poison in my past.

  “You have a younger sister?” was all Gabi asked.

  “I do.” Her name had been all I mentioned in passing.

  “You really care about her.”

  I must have been smiling without really knowing. Even Sarah’s memory had that effect on me. But I didn’t feel like scoring points on account of her.

  “Having her to take care of kept me sane growing up. I don’t know if I’d have the discipline to be where I am without her.”

  Gabi just leaned in. “Well, you’re here. I’m here.”

  I mirrored her. “And neither of us is queer, that’s for sure”

  She smiled, then cracked into a laugh. “Yeah, there’s definitely that.”

  A couple years back I probably would have used rougher words that would have killed the vibe. Maybe I wasn’t as out of this as I thought. We glowed at each other, helped along by the alcohol a bit, but not completely. It felt good.

  “Sean? Ma man!”

  Oh, shit.

  I looked up and saw Silvio standing over us with a slack-jawed grin. He had on sneakers and jeans and an oversized t-shirt. If he weren’t white, he might have been bounced out of here. Unlucky for me, his Italian ass had cleared through.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “What am I doing here? What are you doing out here by yourself?”

  “Oh, I got a hankering for this mixed drink they have. So freaking good. Did you get it?”

  He was pointing almost directly into Gabi’s drink. To her credit, she hadn’t flinched. The Guy was clearly high out of his mind.

  I sighed. “Gabi, this is my friend, Silvio.”

  She shook his hand gently. “Yeah, I think we met.”

  Silvio stared at where she had gripped his hand. His red eyes went wide. “Oh are you on a date?”

  “Yeah, we are.”

  He nodded, but made no attempt to move. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t whoop his ass and I couldn’t let him stay. I shot an apology to Gabi, but she just giggled.

  “It’s fine if he joins,” she said. “I remember that he was pretty funny.”

  “I am,” Silvio said, pulling up a chair. “Speaking of funny, did I tell you about that squirrel I saw the other day doing that thing with its nuts?”

  He launched into one of the dumbest stories I had ever heard in my lifetime. I would have laughed if we were alone or with the boys, but I felt a shame I hadn’t felt since middle school hearing it now. Gabi smiled politely through it.

  “That’s crazy,” she said, then turned to me. “Hey you mind if I call my friend Jada to join us?”

  “Sure, why not.” I wanted her to myself, but apparently fate wasn’t keen on us. Things had been going so damn good too.

  Silvio at least had the courtesy to keep talking, and move on to less dirty stories. The lounge door whipped open not long after and a tall black woman came in and beelined it to our table. She moved like a fighter almost, her long braids whipping behind her like lashes.

  Gabi yelped and jumped up into her with a hug. I took the chance to punch Silvio in the arm.

  “Ow, man,” he said. “I hope I remember that.”

  Jada shook my hand firmly. “Nice to meet you finally.”

  She shoved a chair in between Gabi and Silvio and sat.

  “So,” she said. “Tell me about this squirrel.”

  Silvio needed no other words to launch back into his story. Apparently her friend wasn’t here to rescue her. It was to rescue us from my friend.

  I nudged over next to Gabi and whispered apologies to her, but was interrupted by a peal of laughter from Jada. I took a closer look at her eyes and saw them tinged red.

  “Is she high?” I asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Gabi said. “Girl loves to smoke way more than I do.”

  My friend and hers started debating the merits of various strains. Gabi rested her head on my shoulder and we talked about them two in turn. It was nice, like watching animals in nature.

  Maybe our worlds weren’t so far apart.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Gabrielle

  “The zoo?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Seriously?”

  I still wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. The shower thundered and misted all around me. I was still vaguely dizzy from being pressed against the frosted glass and taken from behind. Now, Sean’s blurry body was facing me on the other side of the glass.

 

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