Trials Of A Heart | ✔️

9

~Brielle's POV~

Harmony and I stood in the front row together as everyone cheered loudly for Phoenix when he finally came out, standing across from his opponent in the ring, a short man who was announced as Jake Allen. Everything looked very big from this close up, but not Jake Allen.

Phoenix gave Mr. Allen a smug, self satisfied smirk as he stared at him, looking ready to pummel the man right into the mat. A loud ding sound went off and Phoenix immediately swung his fist out, punching him in the face before he even had a chance to make a fist. Allen stumbled in surprise and looked up, taking another hard, forceful punch, though this one was to the stomach. From where we were, I could very quietly hear a choking cough from him as Phoenix continued to punch him repeatedly. The crowd was loving it, even Harmony was cheering her head off.

I, on the other hand, cringed slightly as I watched Phoenix give him a hard, sharp uppercut that sent his opponent falling onto his back. From here, I could see the blood dripping down his nose from Phoenix's first punch to his face and felt a little bit bad for the guy. It seemed as though he was losing horribly.

By the time the last round rolled around, Phoenix had won all of the other rounds already, and there was absolutely no chance of Jake Allen winning this match, even if he did win this last round. Mr. Allen was bleeding profusely from his nose and his right eye was swollen shut from how hard Phoenix had jabbed him in it, glaring at Phoenix through his only good eye as he spat blood on the floor of the ring. As expected of him, Phoenix just smirked at him and fixed his stance a little, staring down his opponent. The bell dinged again and the round started with Phoenix slamming his fist into Allen's other good eye, giving it a harsh jab that made me cringe. He was so strong, so muscular, that I knew his punches must've hurt very bad. I could almost feel them myself each time he hit Allen, imagining what it would be like.

He punched Allen again in the eye, even harder than before, and the shorter man fell to the floor of the ring, spitting more blood. I turned my head, grossed out at the blood and the violence of their fight, which didn't even really seem like a fight anymore. It was really just more like an opportunity for Phoenix to beat the life out of the man, since there hadn't even been a hit delivered from Allen to Phoenix. Really, not even one hit had been landed on any part of him. He was like a beast, the way he was able to fight his opponent without getting a single punch landed on himself.

Not at all to my surprise, Phoenix ended up winning the match, the microphone man from the first show that I went to holding up Phoenix's long, muscular arm as if showing off the winner. The crowd around Harmony and I cheered like maniacs, making me cover my ears as I cringed at the noise and the sight of the blood covering Allen's face, dripping onto the mat. It wasn't gory or anything, luckily for me, but he certainly didn't look very good from here. His face looked very beat up, and Phoenix looked victorious, smirking to himself as he peered out at the crowd of people cheering for him. I could tell he really liked this—fighting, and having people cheering for him when he won.

And, to be honest, I wasn't sure if it disturbed me more or just made me more intrigued about him.

**

After the match was over, I led Harmony back to the room that Phoenix was in earlier, as he had his own changing room all to himself this time. The two of us quietly slipped into his room and Harmony just stalked right in as I gently shut the door, not wanting to make too much noise.

I turned around and one of the two doors within the room suddenly opened, steam flowing out into the air. Phoenix walked out shamelessly, dressed in nothing but a pair of pants that were hung so low on his hips that they displayed the band of his boxers. My face burned as I looked at him, still not at all used to the sight of seeing him half naked even though I had been to two of his boxing matches by now, which he was always shirtless during. It felt different when seeing it so up close, though, versus seeing it among the rest of the crowd.