Fighter

Chapter 59: Stay Calm, Fight Hard

We were nervous, well, Jade and I were, Tommy seemed calm but angry at the same time. They had been doing hard training for weeks now getting ready for this tournament, and here we were. We sat with Tommy, he was first, jades first fight was tomorrow. He laid on the floor with his feet in the wall, I wondered why but he just liked it. He was silent, not really talking to any of us. He had told me about Manny some time ago, and about Pilar and the kids, and I knew if he won he would be sending some money out to them.

Brendan walked in, he was nervous too. Tommy was so calm it almost bothered me. "Is he ok?" Brendan nodded.

"You ever see him fight?" I laughed.

"Yeah I saw him almost kick your ass" Brendan laughed, he was the one who ended up winning. "Who's he up against?" I asked, Tommy could hear us but he stayed by the wall quietly. Jade shifted uncomfortably, and looked at Brendan who scratched the back of his head.

"Mad dog..." My smile faded, I forgot that he was here! I sighed, bringing my hands to my face. There was a knock at the door and someone opened it.

"Is he ready?" We all looked at Tommy who stood up now and walked slowly towards us, sliding on his black hoodie. Brendan slapped his shoulder and hugged him with Jade in the middle unable to breathe between the two. He looked at me but I didn't say anything, I just kissed his cheek. We walked out with him, through the crowd, no music, Brendan insisted on Beethoven but Tommy didn't want it. I could see mad dog on the other side with his new trainer, his eyes locked on me and he was very, very angry, then his eyes were locked on Tommy, who took off his sweater and put in his mouth guard. I held his sweater for him as we watched him step into the ring.

They were pulled to the middle, mad dogs eyes full of fury, and he muttered something to him, and then they both looked at me. Tommy's eyes grew animalistic, and he looked angry now.

"Tommys gonna kill him..." Jade breathed and Brendan laughed.

"Good" they touched gloves and went to their sides.

Tommy brought his hands to guard his face, and he looked so good doing it. Mad dog came right at him, no patience, no strategy, he just wanted to hurt him. Tommy wasn't throwing punches, just dodging him, making him angry. Tommy brought his leg up, tripping mad dog and then bringing his knee to his face, knocking him on the floor as Tommy proceeded to punch him. Mad dog tried to stop him but Tommy had him in a hold, punching him over and over and over... He was saying something to him that we couldn't hear over the crowd. The ref had to pull a heavy breathing Tommy off of the unconscious mad dog, Tommy didn't waste a second to get out of the ring and head to the back room, he won the fight, but I learned Tommy never stuck around, he walked out as soon as he got the knockout.

Tommy seemed angrier than he did getting into the ring, but when we got to the back room Jade jumped on his back,

"YOU FUCKIN' SHOWED HIM TOMMY" she yelled happily "I HATE HIM SO MUCH" Brendan laughed, plopping down on a couch. Tommy looked at me and gave me a crooked smile walking over to me.

"That was for you." He said quiet enough for only me to hear. He turned around "now you!" He said pointing his finger at Jade "we need to get you ready for tomorrow."