the divine art of bullish*t

Chapter 3

A/n-Not edited

I sit at the bar stool as Annika cleans up my split lip and cheek. And once I am grateful that my parents are too neglectful to notice the array of bruises and cuts that show up every morning. 

People who passed me cheered me on and i rewrapped my bloodied bandages and replaced them with the spare ones i had in my bag, my eyes travel to where Sean sits with a medic, his nose had stopped bleeding and the medic was kneeling to re-stitch the injury i had busted open in the ring, his eyes meet mine and he winks before giving a boyish smirk. i break his nose, and he replies with a wink?

"Dudes a real charmer isn't he?" Annika says, I can basically hear her eyes roll.

"who's my next opponent?" I Ask Annika, and she shoves the battle roll in my hands i skim my eyes down the page and land it 'Verena Everson vs Mason Morelli'

My eyebrows narrow at the name, and before i can think, the bell for the next battle to begin rings, Anni massages my shoulders before patting me on the back and shoves me to the ring, 

"knock em' dead Everson" Annika encourages before downing her drink.

my boots meet the smooth concrete and i wait for this Mason guy to finish hearing what looks like a shitty pep-talk from his group of drunk friends. I roll my eyes and my temper rises slighty and i glare at mason when he finally turns to meet my gaze, my glare disappears.

holy fuck this man is sexy as hell.

he got skin a shade lighter than Annikas but compared to me he looks gloriously tanned. he's got dark brown pools of chocolate in his eyes, which almost make him look cute, but his hard jawline perfectly contrasts it, and he's got a long scar which goes from the bottom of his lip to his collar bone where it meets his war tattoos, that must be why i've never seen him before. tattoos were for the privileged and the rich, and you can choose one each time you win a battle in the war. the war which he fights in. 

it takes me every inch of my sanity to not run my fingers down his jet black wavy hair down to his tattoos and ask what each one means. Gods, if we were in another situation i could probably take him. his muscles in his biceps bugle when he crosses his arms over his loose black wife beater.

 I shake my head, not letting something as irrational as a sexy man to be my downfall. He smirks and I shudder at the sexiness of it "Like what you see Verena?" he uses my first full name, and i mistakenly let my mind wander what my name would sound like when I-

I'm getting over my self. i mentally slap myself, twice, but his voice is deep with hints of playfulness makes me return a small smile back.

"maybe i'm just judging " i retort stepping closer,

"we'll the way that you've been gawking says other-wise" he says, spinning around so i can get the full view of his toned body. small cheers from at the edge of the ring break our glaring contest, and i compose myself before asking.

"any rules you want to add?" i ask, he returns a confused look, and i scoff ,

"you're not from around here are you?" i add, he send an surprisingly beautiful but apologetic smile,

"okay since you're new here i'll be kind enough to explain," i swallow, moistening my throat before continuing, "when you start a battle, you can offer a rule to your opponent for both of you to abide by, it depends on who asks first. it can be anything, from no weapons, no tapping out, or first blood." I explain, and he nods,

" first out of the ring then, for simplicity sakes" he offers shrugging his shoulders. 

i nod, glad this ring was 40 feet in radius, he could easily shove or throw me off if it were any smaller. we both get into a fighting stance and i watch his eyes, trying to pick apart his first move. his eyes dart to my legs, I know what he's about to do. I take a step back, barely missing his attempt to sweep me off my feet.

"she's observant" he smirks,

"He's just obvious" I retort. I cant let him get me off my feet. the moment my boots aren't in contact with the floor i know i'm screwed. I step forward and try land a punch but he beats me to it.

 he steps forward and lands a punch to my face. and i'm too slow and don't have time to dodge. he's insanely fast. I land face tot he floor, splitting my cheek open wider ,and in the time it takes for me to make my head stop spinning I grunt, and force my self up despite the pain. he keeps trying to land a punch or a kick. I dodge every time, trying to wait for a perfect time to strike, but my nervousness grows as I get closer and closer to the ring. of course I fucking forgot about the rules. he's trying to get me off. I bend down and slide under his legs and he spins around quickly. landing a kick on his chest. my poor attempt to move the muscle man and trying to shove him off fail.

his arms are suddenly on me and he and grips my biceps, wrestling me closer to the other side of the ring, i adapt and grab his own arms, he's too tall for me to reach his biceps but i use him as an anchor so i don't fall. and if i fall off, so does he. my feet are making their way to the edge of the platform, the grip on my boots barely holding me to the floor. i tense my muscles and get on my tip-toes when i see the heels off my boots almost touch the end of the ring. my legs are too short to reach and kick his groin so i use my last step to launch myself forward in the air and kick him in the face. he lets go and i gain feeling back into my arms, he steps back enough for me to gain more space and land a couple of punches on his stomach. 

People cheer, but the match goes on like this for a while, he doesn't fight back, and every time i get close enough just to land a couple of kicks and jabs, just enough to annoy him basically. i'm on a fine line here, my temper giving me the burst of adrenaline like it usually does, breathing heavily, too tired to think strategically. 

I catch a small smirk on his lips.

fuck. how did I not see that. this bitch has been tiring me out ever since i escaped his grasp. but its too late. he runs at me and i gasp,

"clearly, not observant enough."

my feet flail in the air as he picks me up by my waist and throws me off the platform, my ass hitting the floor out of the ring. 

The people cheer. And i know its not for me.