Bridge Jump (rewrite)

Chapter Fourteen: Bridge Night

This time the fight was in this huge mansion, Lindsey clung to Austin as they walked through the house with some guys she'd never seen, the only familiar face being Gray from the restaurant. Austin wiggled his finger signaling for Lindsey to loosen up her grip, he could tell she was nervous, shit so was he. When they reached the area that was cleared for him to fight, he took in his surroundings. They were in a basement, which resembled that of a wine cellar, but everything was cleared except for a few empty shelves and a few barrels labeled '1986'. He then looked over at his opponent, a frown forming on his face. He knew the prick. He was the guy who would never tip him after coming in, taking up a table, order water and a coffee and then leave after his 5th refill. To make matters worse, when he was younger, he dine-and-dashed, so Austin had to pay him and his friend's meals out of pocket. Austin could feel his blood boil, he wanted to murder this guy. He took in his opponent's body, he was big, bulky. This meant that he was slower but packed a hell of a lot of weight in his punches. Austin knew one blow to the kidneys from him and Austin would be out of the fight.

 He looked at his guys giving them a nod, they knew what to do. Lindsey watched as Grey pulled a small clear vile out of his bag, followed by a caped sterile syringe needle. She felt a shiver race through her as they injected Austin with whatever was in the vile. The adrenaline slightly burned as it began its course through him. Austin shook out his joints and did a few jumping squats to help open him up and prepare him for the fight. When He saw the center of the room clearing, he quickly reached into his bag pulling out a small bottle of ammonia quickly giving it a whiff. This fight needed to be over with immediately.

Austin stepped into his spot in the cleared floor watching his opponent, Austin wasn't going to make the first move, especially not with a man as big at that. His challenger had to be at least six-foot-five, weighing no less than two-hundred-and-fifty-pounds. He heard the shout signaling the start of the fight. If Austin wasn't as trained as he was, he wouldn't have been able to dodge the first punch thrown. The man was incredibly faster than his physic had led Austin to believe. The first few seconds consisted of Austin dodging and weaving his way around, trying to come up with a plan of attack. So far, he knew that the man favored his left. Austin had noticed some scaring on the man's right-side figuring maybe he had some type of operation, surgery, or possibly even an injury he could exploit on his right. When he finally saw the opportunity to strike, he did. 

He stuck his opponent twice with great force right on the healing scar. The man cried out in pain, quickly reacting by rushing Austin. Austin tried to quickly evade the body that came running towards him, but there was no way out. The large man's arms wrapped around Austin, throwing him to the ground. Austin felt all the air leave his body, he felt as if he lied there for hours before he finally reached the man on top of him preparing to pummel him. The large man's hands came down around Austin's throat, tightly squeezing. Austin's eye's crossed from a second, He tried to break the man's grip. Once that didn't work, he resorted to digging his thumbs into his opponent's eyes. Once the man was distracted, he worked to flip their positions, Austin now on top, grabbed the large man's head and harshly banged it against the ground. That was it, lights out. He rose, puffing, out of breath looking down at the large beast he had just defeated. 

He slowly stood, still feeling wobbly from when he was slammed down, his vision was significantly blurred. He could feel the blood trickling from his nose and mouth. The room began to spin. He heard Lindsey call out his name, she sounded panicked. That kept him standing, trying to balance. He felt hands on his forearms, he didn't know how but he knew it was Lindsey. Soon more hand found their way on him guiding him, forcing him to sit. After a few minutes of sitting, his vision cleared, and he could clearly see. Lindsey was staring at him; everyone was staring at him. The commotion had died down from the ending of the fight, the burly man was still unconscious on the floor, his guys checking on him trying to wake him. He returned his gaze to Lindsey's brown eyes. He wanted to know so badly what she was thinking. Their moment killed when his 'boss' came barreling towards him a large happy grin on his face.

"Austin, Austin, Austin," the man laughed as the room cleared out, "You never disappoint."

Austin nodded to the man as he downed two painkillers and a bottle of water. Hector Lucian, one of the biggest kingpins for the Italian mob, a man not to be messed with. Austin's only reason for being there was to pay off his father's debt, which never seemed to truly end. Austin zoned out most of what Lucian said, but the second the conversation turned towards Lindsey, he snapped back in, sharply slapping Lucian's hand away from her. Lucian just laughed it off before handing out the share of the winnings. With that, the night was over. Usually, after a fight, he'd go to a bar and drink off and then call one of his hook-ups and fuck the night away but not tonight. Austin softly grabbed Lindsey's hand leading her out the house and to his car. They found themselves at the bridge. He looked over at Lindsey as he put the car in park. She glanced at the bridge through the window and back to him. He simply stated, "you gotta face it some time."

The car door slamming behind him. Lindsey sat in the car, she gulped as she unbuckled her seatbelt her hand resting on the handle to open the door. Before she could bring herself to do it, the door was opened, Austin standing outside with his hand extended. She grabbed it allowing him to help her out. They walked up to the top, gazing out at the cityscape before him. The air was cool, and the wind light. The streetlight helped to illuminate around them. She watched as Austin a pack of cigarettes out his pocket. His placed one between his lips tipping the box to her in an offering. Lindsey shook her head, declining his offer. She watched him pull out a lighter and bring the flame to his cancer-stick. She was so invested that she hadn't even noticed she was not staring at his lips as he spoke. "So, Lindsey. Tell me something you think I don't know."

She looked up at his eyes, they were bright. His lips held a mischievous smirk to them. She thought for a second before replying, "turtles can breathe through their butts."

Austin's eyes went wide in wonder as he took a drag. "You've got to be shitting me, seriously?" he questioned, "Those little shell fuckers can breathe through their assholes! That's fucking crazy, shit you win. Damn, and I thought I knew something."

He turned away from her as he blew out the smoke. Through it wasn't a big deal, Lindsey's heart swelled at the considerate act, once she was done fixating on it her brain brought to attention what Austin had said and she instantly snapped out, "Wait, what were you going to say?"

Austin looked down on her smiling before looking away and saying, "Oh nothing, I already told you I couldn't possibly beat what you said." Lindsey pouted at him repeatedly flashing her eyelashes until Austin sighed and gave in. "Okay, I was going to say that before I met you, I didn't know what it was like to be able to look at someone and smile for no reason."

Austin could feel his heart beating a mile a minute, his stomach tying themselves in knots. Not even the nicotine-laced tobacco was helping his nerves. He glanced back down at Lindsey. She was still staring up at him. He sighed tossing the cancer stick off the bridge. He was about to mutter, "forget it, it was stupid." When Lindsey's hands found his face and brought him down. Her lips landed on his and everything around them melted away. His hand found their way to her wait and hair, drawing her in closer. Their lips moved synchronously, their hands gripping at each other. This was the most heated kiss that Lindsey had ever experienced in her entire life. She felt as if every muscle in her body had tensed and if the kiss were to end, she would simply explode. Austin pulled back, looking into Lindsey's eyes whispering, "I'm guessing I'm not the only one feeling this way."