Ava Morris

"Hold on," Julian shouted, holding my hand. My eyes widened as I saw how big the whole place was. My gaze goes to the people standing with beer cans in their hands.

Everywhere you see, people are filled and the seats are occupied. There is a huge boxing ring in the middle of the floor. I looked up to see the VIP area. The people over there looked powerful. They were having private conversations while looking down at the people.

"What are you looking at?" I quickly gazed back at Julian, who was looking at me.

"Nothing." His gaze went to the VIP area.

"I understand that you are curious but do not look up at the VIP area. We don't want them catching us looking at them." I nodded my head, understanding his words.

"What are you two doing, come on?" Ron called out, standing before us.

I immediately looked down as everyone went over to their seats. Some are settling in their seats while others are coming in continuously. I have seen this kind of environment but it is much larger than what I have been to.

I looked at Lola and Poppy, they both had enormous smiles on their faces. They are excited and happy to be here. Didn't know that they were fans of street boxing and fights. Not only them, but many girls are wearing the same smiles as Poppy and Lola. "They are waiting for their favorite fighter," Ron whispered.

"Favourite?" I turned my head to look at him. He nods his head while looking ahead.

"Yeah, he is actually new here but he never lost a fight. He won every match and everyone you see here came to watch him fight. It's hard to get tickets now."

"They even started fan clubs for him, which is insane. Like if anyone here mouths bad about him, these fan clubs are ready to bash their faces. He has got some dangerous fans who would punch faces," Julian said. "And we have seen girls in action for him. Though he doesn't give a fuck nor cares to glance at them."

"Ohh!"

"Are Poppy and Lola part of this fan group?" I crossed my arms trying to figure out everything that was happening around me.

"No idea. Maybe they do follow those fan clubs."

I sat down and Ron passed me popcorn. We are close to the ring. I don't know how Max got the front tickets but we have a clear view of the boxing ring. Julian removed his glasses and put them inside his hoodie. I looked around to see girls who were smoking hot.

"Everyone is hot over here." Julian chuckled, standing beside me. "They are hot but sadistic," Julian added, checking out the girls.

A buff man walked into the ring with an electronic mic in his hand. My gaze shifted to his arms where he got tattooed. He even got ear, lip and eyebrow pressings. His voice boomed in the entire arena. I winced as he cursed out loud and the crowd cheered up. "You good? It's kinda common and this is just the beginning," Julian whispered.

"Yeah..."

The first person who is fighting tonight walked towards the ring. He is tall and buff, he has a beard look going on. Not many cheered for him. Poor guy...

I clapped for him because I know how it feels if no one cheered for us. Seeing me, Jullian and Ron cheered up. I smiled at them before looking back at the ring. Max pulled his phone out to record, but the bodyguard who was standing near the row quickly tapped Max's shoulder. Telling him not to record anything.

"We are not allowed to record or take a picture?"

"No, this is illegal and if it gets posted somewhere on social media. It will bring trouble for them."

"Point."

"And now the mother fucker of the house, Brad McCarthy!" The guy with the mic yelled. Roars... Shouts... Yellings and excitement-filled screams filled the whole place.

My mouth parted and my eyes widened in distraught when I saw Brad walking out of the dark tunnel towards where the lights were. I froze to the ground, I couldn't take my eyes away and I could feel the shock and nervousness creep into my veins. My heart started beating fast against my ribcage and I placed my hand on my chest.

"It's him!"

"It's him, Brad McCarthy, we were talking about! Look at him!" Ron yelled, holding my arm. I blinked my eyes and looked down at the ground. Shallow breaths and with a shake of the head, I looked up. Back in the ring.

"Fuck! Look at the crowd cheering for him! See how excited they are!" Julian spoke, placing his hand on my arm. I closed my eyes and lowered my head as I thought about it.

'It's him...'

'He is here and we are here to watch him fight.'

'They know him'

I shook my head as questions started playing in my mind. I can hear the loud cheers of Ron and Julian who are standing beside me. They are excited... They are excited about him. I snapped my head towards Poppy and Lola to see them shout and cheer for Brad like girls on high.

"They are huge fans of his. And that man is something else. We all love that guy's fight." There was a huge smile on Julian's face as he said that. My eyes followed Brad's every step.

He didn't have any expression on his face. It is blank as always. He didn't even care to look at the crowd who was cheering for him. He has his eyes set on his opponent.

I'm sure he is calculating his opponent's moments. I just watched them both while listening to the commentary. Brad waited for the opponent to take the first step and the guy took the first step.

He threw a punch toward Brad's left side but Brad stepped away and in a millisecond he punched the guy in the stomach from the right side. The opponent didn't see that coming and Brad didn't waste a second before he gave a cross punch, making the opponent step back because of force.

I gulped when Brad punched the guy in the face, making the guy fall to the ground. The crowd roared wildly while I breathed heavily. I exhaled, looking away. He punched the guy continuously till the opponent knocked him off. Brad is different― He changed. I used to be scared of looking at him in the local fights but now...

I can feel my heart beating loudly against my rib cage. My throat dried up and nervousness creeped me out watching Brad. Goosegumps rose on my skin seeing Brad's face.

I couldn't say anything as everyone started cheering for their favourite. The buff guy from before yelled something and announced Brad as the winner of the fight. Poppy and Lola jumped up and down in happiness and excitement while I looked at Brad with wide eyes. I saw him fight before but this one is different, it's very different from what I saw.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Julian asked while keeping his hands on my shoulders. He slightly turned my body towards his.

"Yeah."

"Ava, if you aren't comfortable, we can leave this place."

"No... No. It's okay."

"Are you sure?" He asked. The others are busy cheering and shouting Brad's name out.

"Yeah," I said, smiling at him. I turned my head towards the boxing ring. Brad was looking at the seats and at the people who were cheering for him. His face was blank and expressionless. If he is looking over the front seats, he might see me as well.

"Shit."

I tried to hide my face but he had already seen me. He took a second glance before a dark expression took over his face and I watched as his jaw clenched. I rolled my lower lip into my mouth hoping he would look away and ignore me. He didn't look away, I couldn't break my gaze off him. "Is Brad looking at us?!" Lola asked. I broke the gaze off him and snapped my head towards her.

"Fucking hell! Brad is looking at us!" Poppy yelled in happiness. Julian must've understood something. "Why is Brad McCarthy looking at you?"

"I don't know. When will this end?" Julian looked at Ron, as he didn't know when it was going to end.

"It just started, three more fights. We will stay for two hours and leave." Ron answered, looking at the ticket. It must've been printed on the ticket.

"I- I." I turned my head to see Brad talking with someone with his eyes on me. I need to leave this place as soon as possible.

They were all looking at me with a questioning look. "Let's get out of here," I said, pulling Julian with me. I turned around just to see Brad making his way toward where we were.

"Shit!" I cursed before rushing out and pushing people aside.

"Is everything okay, Ava?" I heard Julian ask. I didn't answer him. The only thing on my mind is to leave before Brad catches me.

We made it outside and towards the car. I turned my head towards where we came from to see Brad looking at me with a hard look. He didn't come running. He knew I would be running away and it would look like chasing me.

Max started driving. I shut my eyes to gather my thoughts about what I was going to answer my friends. I freed my eyes to see everyone looking at me with curious eyes. They are itching to ask me questions.

"I'm sorry that you guys had to leave because of me." I looked at Lola and Poppy. "It's nothing."

Lola wanted to ask something but I beat her off by saying "I don't wanna talk about it, please. I hope you guys understand."

"Lola, give her space. If Ava doesn't want to talk about it, let's not force her," Auden said.

"Yes," Julian said. They clearly know not to mention that again. I don't like it when people ask me questions when I don't want to talk about it. Thankfully, they didn't ask anything about it. I'm scared of one thing― Vincent. Vincent doesn't like it when I go to shady places. If Brad informs Vincent about me being present in a shady place. I know I'm in deep shit.

Vincent would skin me alive if he found out that I was out with my friends in an illegal underground fight. It's not like Vincent doesn't give me freedom. He just doesn't like it when I go to scandalous pubs, places and dangerous areas. I closed my eyes and leaned against my seat, praying to God that Brad kept this to himself. I don't want Vincent to know about this matter.