The Fighter

Chapter 13

|Andy|

Mind games. They were getting old, very old. That was what all of this was. That was the way they held on to their fighters. They played mind games on them and the people they cared for. And I was tired of dealing with it.

"I'm not going tonight, Simon."

"What do you mean you're not going?"

"Um, exactly what it sounds like it means. I'm. Not. Going."

"Andy, you can't just—"

"Watch me!"

"Oh no you don't." Simon grabbed me around the waist and drug me out to the car. I was yelling and screaming the entire time. "Andy, shut up. Screaming isn't going to help."

"Then put me down right now!"

Not going to happen." He forcefully buckled me into the car, hitting the door lock so that I couldn't get out while he walked around the car. After that, I refused to talk. Hell, I wouldn't even look at him. He acted like it was nothing, like it was normal, which only pissed me off more.

I walked off the second we got to the venue of the night. He wanted to play this game, well we were going to play it. I found Cal and Tobi in the hall leading to the ring.

"Hi, Cal, Tobi."

"Andy, hey, where's Simon?"

"Don't know, don't really care."

"Well then, how ya been beautiful?" Cal seemed to like to flirt, a lot. At this point, I was more than willing to let him. It'd probably push Simon's buttons, so why not?

"I've been better, Cal, but things are looking up now that you're here." Cal laughed and pulled me against his side. These boys were used to getting what they wanted, and this was something he definitely wasn't going to turn down.

"What. The. Fuck?" Cal and I moved apart. Simon was standing at the first doorway of the hall, a look of pure and undiluted anger on his face. He came and grabbed me by the arm, roughly making me follow him back in the direction he'd come from. "Andy, please tell me you have a fucking good explanation for what I just saw?"

"Like what?"

"Like I mis-fucking-heard you. Something along those lines."

"You probably didn't."

"Get up on the counter."

"What?"

"You heard me. Get up on the counter." I boosted myself up and sat down. Simon forced my legs apart, roughly locking them around his waist. He tugged my face down to his using my hair. He'd never kissed me like that. He'd never kissed me when he was angry like this. "We're not done." And he left. He walked out, just like that.

He'd also locked the door, so I wasn't getting out. I got to spend another fight in a dressing room. Great, absolutely great. Exactly what I wanted to spend my evening doing. I didn't even have anything to keep me occupied. My phone was at home, I didn't have a book or any homework, just my mind to keep me entertained.

Simon was more than ready to leave. He basically carried me out the door and back to the car. He also drove breakneck speed back to my house. If I weren't pissed, I would have told him to drive slower, but I honestly didn't care at this point. And like the stereotypical angry couple, he had his lips on mine the second we were in the door.

"This isn't going to fix anything, Simon."

"Does it look like I care? Now jump." I obeyed, wrapping my legs around him. How pathetic was I being? Seriously? This had to stop, and it had to stop now before we did something we'd regret. I had to stop. This was not me. This was not us.

"Simon, stop." He just proceeded with what he was doing, frustrating me even more. "Simon, stop!" He jerked backwards, backing away from me like I was the plague or something. "We need to talk, not whatever this is going to turn in to."

"Okay, then talk."

"What do want me to say exactly?"

"Maybe why all of a sudden you're too good for the fights?"

"I never said I was too good for the fights."

"Might as well have, you sure act like it."

"Then why are you still around? If I act so high and mighty, why not just leave?"

"Because I can't walk away from you, dammit, trust me, I've tried. Now please tell me why you tried not to go tonight."

"I didn't want them to play more of their mind games on me."

"That's unavoidable."

"Why does it have to be?"

"I-I don't know, to be honest with you." We'd both calmed down some now. Our breathing was evening out and we were both coming to terms with the anger we'd just expressed. "Andy, come here." I walked over to him, putting my forehead against his chest because I wasn't tall enough to put it against his shoulder.

"I have told you how adorably tiny you are, right?"

"Not this again."

"Look, I'd have to pick you up for you to put your head on my shoulder."

"I'm well aware, Simon." He fiddled around with his phone for a minute and then some Ed Sheeran music was playing over the house speaker system. "I did not take you for the Ed Sheeran kind of guy."

"I'm full of surprises, kitten."

"I'm kitten now?"

"My innocent little kitten, that I would do anything for." He lifted me onto his toes and began to move along with the music. "Absolutely anything."

"That's a lot to promise."

"I'd promise you the stars, if that's what it took."