I was at the gym with Eli and I did my usual workouts while he did his. It was leg day for me but he worked on his back and arms. Since we were downstairs and not upstairs, there were a few other people there with us.

I had a band wrapped around my thighs and was doing jump squats, I could see Eli doing bench presses a couple of feet away from me.

After an hour and a half, we were finally done and on the way back to my house so Eli could drop me off.

I stared out of the window the entire time and ignored him.

Then I felt a tight squeeze on my thigh and I jumped.

"You mad at me?" he asked.

"No." I said and looked back out of the window.

We pulled into my driveway.

"Look at me." he demanded.

I did.

"I'm only doing it for your safety. I want you to be there, too, but you can't. You understand?" he asked.

"Yea." I got out of the car without another word.

He rolled his window down.

"So you're just gonna leave? No kiss, no 'bye', no 'good luck'?" he asked.

"Kiss, bye, good luck." I said as I began to unlock the door.

"You're such a pain in my ass." he chuckled as I headed inside and heard his car pull off.

When the coast was clear, I went back outside and hopped in my car.

I've been there so many times I know the exact route to get there.

____________________________________

I got to the ring and saw Eli's car parked and empty. I left the parking lot and decided to park somewhere else and walk to the ring to seem less suspicious, which is what everyone does.

I put on the hoodie from my backseat and got out the car to walk.

When I got inside there was no one in the main entrance but I could hear plenty of voices coming from downstairs. 'It's only 9pm shouldn't someone be up here taking money?'

I took the free pass and walked down the stairs.

When I got down all the rings were holding fights and the guys did, in fact, have knives. It wasn't Eli's turn yet, obviously, so I stood against the wall, with my hood on, away from both the office and lockerroom, behind the crowd in hopes he wouldn't see me.

'If he finds out I'm here he's gonna kill me...'

...

Gio was the announcer again tonight and he was in one of the rings and the other two rings had cleared out which made me believe it was Eli's turn since they wanted all of the crowd's focus.

I was right and Eli stepped into the ring. He had on a tight black t-shirt, grey sweatpants, and his hands were taped up. His opponent stepped in, too. He was skinny, a bit below average height for a male, had shaggy hair, no shirt, and long loose shorts. Both were barefoot. The opponent had a knife that looked a little too big for them to allow in the ring but I guess they had high hopes that Eli would win, who, however, was empty handed.

'That's so fucking stupid why doesn't he have one too!!!' I thought in concern for Eli's safety.

The bell rang and Gio left the ring.

Eli's opponent, who goes by the name of Psycho, started circling around Eli while Eli just stood there.

"I don't have all day." Eli said as he watched Psycho.

Psycho threw a punch that Eli dodged and then he tried to stab him while he was in the process but Eli moved too fast and dodged that as well.

The two threw punches and kicks and dodged each other left and right.

'I see why he's called Psycho.' I thought while I watched him mindlessly sling his knife around.

The fight was going on forever and both had made contact a few times with the punches they threw. The crowd was roaring at how they both started to become quicker and more aggressive in their fighting styles.

"You know, I've been watching you." Psycho sang. "You fight like a genius. So quick, so talented, so mercilessly." he continued as he attempted to dodge.

"Shut up." Eli demanded and kept punching.

"You're used to your opponents running away from you, right? I mean I would know, I've seen every fight for the past two years. I've studied you."

"You talk too much and you take this too seriously." Eli stated and sounded annoyed.

"My question is, if you're so used to them running away from you, what will you do if they run right to you?!" Psycho asked and backed away then charged at Eli.

Eli hurriedly threw a quick jab at Psycho's face and he fell to the ground before Eli kicked him in his stomach then leaned down and punched him in his face, knocking him out cold.

The crowd cheered and Eli looked pleased with himself.

But then his face slowly fell.

He looked down and he touched his stomach. He stumbled a few times and removed his hand to look at it.

"Wha-...What's happening?" I wondered and tried to get closer.

"BOSS?!" I heard Teddy yell.

'For god's sake just call him Eli.'

"ELI?!" Jason started to run into the ring but Eli's eyes had become lazy and he fell into the gate then slid down to the floor next to Psycho.

I could finally see his open hand as it laid on the floor and it was covered in blood.

Before Eli had knocked Psycho out, Psycho had stabbed him in his stomach.

A rush of fear, sadness, and rage filled my body as I watched Gio and Teddy run into the ring and grab a dazed Eli.

My eyes filled with tears of worry and I couldn't stop my feet from running into the office behind them.

____________________________________

"What are you doing here?!" Gio shouted as I barged in.

I saw Eli laying on the couch and he seemed unconscious.

I ignored Gio and tried to walk over there.

"No..." I said shakily.

"Hey! No, no, no. You're not supposed to be here." Jason said and blocked my path. I ran into him and stayed there, on my toes, to look over his shoulder at Eli and I cried.

Teddy walked over to him with a first aid kit and I watched him lift up Eli's shirt. The gash was bigger than I expected and I figured the knife slid and the cut was made longer than usual when Psycho fell to the ground. Eli's adrenaline must've stopped him from realizing sooner. His lower part of his torso was smeared in so much blood, you'd think he had his liver removed out there.

My legs gave out and I started to slip as I cried harder.

Jason held onto me and we both slowly fell to the ground as I cried onto his shoulder.

"He's gonna be okay. Shh Shh Shh Shh. Everything's fine." He rubbed my back. "It's just a little cut, that's all." he said, trying to make me feel better.

'A LITTLE CUT?! YOU TRY BEING SHANKED IN THE ABDOMEN WITH A STEAK KNIFE!' I thought. The words couldn't leave my mouth, nothing could.

"We need to bring him to a hospital." Teddy said as he held pressure on Eli's wound.

"We can't all go. It's nothing but thugs out there, we'd get robbed." Gio stated.

"I'll go." I sniffed.

"You're not even supposed to fucking be here, you have no say, dumbass." Gio claimed.

"It wasn't a question. I said I'd go. And watch your mouth when you speak to me, bitch." I stated and side eyed Gio.

"Yea, you two are definitely made for each other." I heard Teddy mumble.

"You can go. Don't worry about Gio." Jason stated.

"I'll just say we called you to watch over him at the hospital so he doesn't know you were here." he said with a nod.

Jason was the scariest looking out of the three because of the tattoos and strange piercings but he was definitely the most caring towards me.

I gave him a nod and we stood up.

____________________________________

The boys wrapped Eli up to the best of their abilities and then helped him to my car.