The Fighter

Chapter Four

Circling each other, I watcher her movements carefully and wait for her to make a move. Never make the first move, my brother's voice echoes in my head. 

  Let her make the first punch, then strike her where it matters.

Waiting, I begin to feel impatient as does she; I can tell that she is by the way she begins to shift her weight before finally yelling and coming towards me. Blocking it effortlessly, I watch as she falls to the ground with a loud gasp.

Looking up, I notice that her nose is bleeding and I toss her a rag from one of the benches and she scowls at me. Wiping her face aggressively, she stands up and prepares for another assault; her body now tense and tired. Everything she does is slower than before I wonder if it's just a ruse.

"Come on, you bitch! Fight me!" I shake my head and she growls before launching herself like a cat. Stepping out of the way, I feel something sting on my cheek and I raise my hand to find blood. "I didn't even touch you!"

"The claw marks say otherwise," Jeremy says while looking them over with a careful eye. "You'll be fine, but you," he turns to the woman and she gulps, "are done here. Have a nice life, Victoria."

"Is that a threat," she calls out as we leave the shed.

"Have a nice life!" Jeremy smiles at the screams of the woman and then down at me and I raise a brow at him. "What?!"

"Nerd," I say quietly and he laughs loudly.

"Shut up, blame your brother!" The laughter slowly dies and I pat his shoulder before leaving the shed and heading back inside. Walking in, I see many of the old members staring at me in question while the newbies look on in shock as to what happened with the woman.

"Damn," Nicky says in shock, "you let out with nothing?" Looking at me, he gently grasps my face and turns it to see the cuts. "Ben, get me the first-aid!"

I start to sign that he doesn't need to but he shakes his head and sits me down so that he can clean my wounds easier. Wincing at first contact, he apologizes but I simply wave it off and let him continue. The shop erupts in a series of conversations about the fight and me, nothing too shocking other than a couple of them seeming to recognize my car from the ring. I tense a bit as the conversation continues.

"I swear, Mike, it's the same damned car!" Mike laughs lightly at Bobby and brushes off the comment. "Mike!"

"What," he asks in a higher pitch. "Oh come on, why would she drive it around if she uses it at the ring?"

"So that people like you would say things like that because you're too ignorant to see what's right in front of you! It's the same car!" Mike turns to Bobby, blocking his face from my view but standing with a sense of anger-- tensed shoulders, firm stance, and a finger pressed on Bobby's chest for added flare.

"Then we let it be," he says slowly. "June has been a part of this family since the beginning. Her brother, Jeremy and her have been like my kids almost since I've been working here and I plan to protect them no matter what. You know the kind of people in that ring but you don't know her; if she is apart of it, leave it be."

"How can you protect her?!" Bobby is at the point of yelling now and all of the guys around them look on, including Nicky. "Why the fuck are you protecting that bitch?! She doesn't even know her way around the shop and yet all of you are fucking terrified of her! You act like she owns the fucking joint!"

"She does," Nicky responds smoothly. "Well, technically she's the co-owner."

"Co-owner with sass", I sign to them and the group, with a few exceptions, laughs. The others look on confused until someone translates what I had said. "Nicky, will you take out the trash."