The Fighter

Chapter 2

|Andy|

Simon and I continued that pattern for the next few weeks. Show up at an event together and act like a couple, him telling me to leave, me leaving and putting £20 on him and then us waiting tensely for Ryan.


"Miss Parker, I'm going to have to steal you away from, Simon." Ryan grasped my arm and led me towards some of the other dressing rooms. "Miss Parker, my other fighters are getting...suspicious of you always coming with Simon." 


"So you want me to quit coming?" 


"Oh no, my dear, but you'll be spending more time with my other fighters a after tonight." It took everything I had not to slap that smug look off his face. I hurried back to Simon to tell him. 


"He's going to regret it, and he's probably got one of his boys watching you." He was running his fingers through his hair repeatedly, and mumbling to himself. 
That night I was a little paranoid when he dropped me off. My parents were gone once again, leaving me all alone. I got a text around 5:30 from Simon asking about anyone coming after he left. We talked for a few minutes before I went back to sleep. Around six, I heard something downstairs. There were quit voices and I could hear then moving around. I texted Simon but didn't get a response at first. By the time he was finally almost over, I was locked in my bathroom on-and-off crying.


Most of the noise downstairs stopped, but I could hear a single pair of footsteps on the stairs. There was knock on my bedroom door that I obviously didn't answer. Whoever it was finally gave up on knocking and let themselves in, making their way over to my bathroom door.


"Andy, open up. It's Simon. I made sure they were gone, nothing's going to happen to you." I opened the door very slowly and was greeted by an upset and concerned Simon.


I began to cry all over again, letting Simon pull me into an embrace. My breathing was uneven and my body was trembling slightly. Simon tried soothing me by running his fingers through my hair and rubbing my back, but that wasn't working.
He moved back and away from me suddenly, then quickly forced my chin up and made our lips meet. Everything in my mind froze. For half a second I stopped thinking, and I held my breath. And everything slowed down. my heart rate began to go down and my breathing began to even out a bit.


We broke the kiss, but Simon pulled me back against him, mumbling small encouragements to me.
We decided skipping school would probably be beneficial to us both. I was fairly well silent and stayed with Simon as much as possible. He was nice about it. He let me hold on to his hand when I wanted to and he sat with me most of the time.


"Andy, I know you're still really rattled, but I do need to use the toilets." I nodded and let go of his hand. I was nervous as I sat there, waiting for him.

When night came around, he stayed. I didn't need to ask, he just did. I offered to share my bed with him, but he slept on the floor instead. 


"You know there's a fight tonight." It was the early hours of the morning, still extremely dark out.


"I don't want to go, and I don't want you to go."


"But we have to." A few silent tears began to escape. This is not what I'd signed up for. I didn't want people breaking into my house, or being forced around the other fighters. 


"I swear on my life I will not let anything happen to you."