The Struggle •Unedited•

Chapter 20

My chest was heaving after each impact to my abdomen. A shooting pain spreads across my face and my hearing mutes for a nano-second.

"Block, Tommo! C'mon!" A voice blurs.

My vision turns black, but it quickly blinks back in. The room's spinning and my knees impact the ring floor.

"Harry, stop!" A female voice shrieks.

I could feel myself topple over on my side. The surrounding environment stops moving and my trainer's feet are in my view.

"Take it easy!" Niall's voice growls, "He's a beginner!"

Their voices seem to fade in and out as I try my best to bring back my senses. Liam's dress shoes step in and they shuffle back, along with Harry's. As if telling him to back off.

"What? He needs to learn how to take some hits!"

"You taught him basics last week! He hardly knows how to protect himself," Zayn hisses.

My eyelids seem to be getting heavier by the second. I feel as if my body floated up a couple inches, but that could just be me going unconscious.

Liam's voice sounds worried, "Is he okay?"

Everything goes dark, but my hearing is still hanging in there.

"Call me back when everyone is actually on board with my training plan," I could hear him climb out of the ring and my body is placed back down.

"Harry, wait!"

Elisabeth.

I didn't even feel her hands lift me up from where I had fallen.

***

"Harry!" I call out as I quickly follow behind him, careful not to miss a step and trip straight onto my face. His feet are angrily stomping as his body descends further away from me.

"Fucking wait!" I snap, "Harry!"

I grab a firm hold around his bicep and with all the power I have, I yank him back.

"What, Lis?! What?!"

"What is your problem?!"

"He can't do it, Lis! He just can't!"

"He can't do what?!"

"Sam called me yesterday," his voice softened, "His registration passed through,"

A smile couldn't help but spread across my face. "That's great!"

"No! No, it's not! He's going to get killed,"

My eyebrows knit together. What is with Harry's sudden asshole attitude?

"How do you know?" I whisper as I place my hands on my hips.

"The way I was hitting him in there isn't even half as hard as how the others will hit him. I nearly made it passed winning myself,"

His green eyes were starting to look more worried and sincere. There has to be a reason on why he's thinking like this.

"I just-I pounded on him hard because if I hit him hard enough, he'd back out. I didn't want to look like the bad guy saying that he wasn't capable of doing this," he added.

A laugh stifles out of me, "Beating the shit out of him is making you look like the bad guy,"

He huffs, "I know. I feel fucking guilty for it, too. It's just...he has a son. He can't afford to get hurt,"

"I'm pretty sure a few bruises won't kill him,"

Those eyes pierce into mine and a look of disbelief covers his face.