Silver and Chrome: A Bad Boy MC Romance (63 page)

Joel wasn't surprised to
see Carlos enter the ring, he was obviously a fighter and already a member of
the club. He was actually kind of happy that he was fighting. The guy was a
prick, and Joel was looking forward to being matched up against him. He wanted
a chance to punch him in the face a few times.

He leaned forward in
interest as the bell sounded to start the fight. The smaller fighter, Darien,
seemed to run around the ring, back and forth in a confusing manner that seemed
to have no real purpose. But after watching him fight the first time, Joel knew
that was part of his game. Without warning, he leapt at Carlos and landed on
him, wrapping his arms and legs around the bigger man after taking a running
leap in an effort to throw him off balance.

Carlos stumbled, but the
big man wasn't about to go down so easily. Joel saw him widen his stance and
bend his knees to maintain his balance as the smaller man clung to him, and
then he pulled his right arm back and slammed it into the side of Darien's
ribs. The smaller man dropped off of him immediately and stumbled backwards,
holding his side in obvious discomfort.

Carlos didn't waste a
second. As soon as his opponent was on the ground, he pivoted on the ball of
his left foot and swung his right leg around, connecting with Darien's head.
The little man flew across the ring and landed on his back. He started to sit
up immediately, but not quick enough. Faster than Joel would have expected for
someone his size, Carlos leapt on top of him and started to pound into his head
with his gloved fists. Darien started to try to defend himself, but too many
blows had already slammed into him and his arms finally dropped as did his
head. The ref jumped across Carlos to stop him from swinging and the match was
called. He'd won in just over one minute. The crowd went crazy. Clearly Carlos
had a lot of fans at the club.

Joel glanced over at
Amber, and the look she gave him in return was wide eyed and full of worry. He
reached over and gave her leg a little squeeze. "He's strong and fast,
I'll give him that," he said. The words were out of his mouth before he
realized they'd be of no comfort to her, so he hastily added "but so am
I."

She just nodded, turning
her head back to the ring to watch as the referee and medic sat with Darien,
talking to him and making sure he was okay.

He hadn't expected Carlos
to be that good. He did think he could still take him, but then again, he also
thought he would win over Brutus.
 
I
lost my focus that time. It won't happen again
.

A few minutes later, the
next fight started. It went to a decision, and while the judges were talking,
Joel continued to analyze the fight, correctly predicting the winner.
"That's the right decision," he nodded.

They had another 15
minute break before the semi final round. Just two matches left before the
finale. This time he would be fighting second.

Carlos was up first
against a man who called himself Punisher. It was another two round match, but
like the first time, Carlos won in the first round. It took him more than a
minute, this time three of them, but it was another ground and pound knock out
and the crowd roared even louder this time.

"Joel," Amber
said, as he stood up to make his way to the back. "Are you sure you're
okay?" Her eyes flicked down to the towel that he was holding, a dark red
spot stained the center of it, but the bleeding had stopped again. For now.

"Just two more
fights," he said. "Then I'll take some time before I fight again. I
promise." He smiled at her, and she gave a half smile back, but her eyes
were full of worry. His hand reached up and touched her cheek, running his
thumb across her smooth skin. He gave it a little pat and then headed to the
back to get ready.

When he got behind the
curtain, Carlos was there talking to Marcus. When they saw Joel, they stopped
talking and Marcus nodded at him, giving him a smile. "Great fighting,
Joel," he said. "Good luck with the rest of your night." He
patted him on the arm as he walked past and through the curtain to take his
place back at the judges table.

"You'll need more
than luck if you beat this next guy, ese," Carlos sneered.

"Why? Is your
boyfriend Marcus going to fix the finale?" Joel asked in return.
"That's the only way I see you winning."

Carlos took a step
forward, his fists clenching.

"Bring it,"
Joel said, stepping toward the other man as well.

The men were toe to toe
and glaring at each other as the bell sounded and the announcer started to call
Joel's name. He continued to stare Carlos down and then finally stepped back.
"We can settle this in the ring," he said. Carlos wasn't worth him
losing his chance in this tournament. There was just too much at stake.

"Maybe once I beat
you down, I'll take your little girlfriend for a spin. I bet she'd like to ride
a real man. One that doesn't make her pay for his fights."

Joel paused at the
curtain, his teeth clenched as he fought internally to keep from spinning and
knocking some teeth loose in the fool behind him. Instead, he finally just
pushed forward and made his way to the ring.

Joel looked like he was angry
when he got into the ring, which surprised Amber as he had seemed relatively
calm when he had left a few minutes ago. By the time his opponent was in front
of him, though, he seemed to have more of a handle on himself.

His opponent was a big
man, surely out of Joel's weight class. The announcer had said he was 295
pounds and looked like he was at least 6'11. It hardly seemed like a fair
fight, but she knew that the tournament was open to anyone. Even his nickname
was imposing. He called himself the Steamroller.

"Nervous?" the
man beside her asked.

It wasn't until he said
this that she realized she was chewing on her thumbnail. She dropped her hands
to her lap and gripped them tightly. "The bigger they are, the harder they
fall, right?" she said.

"Something like
that," he replied.

The bell rang and the men
started to circle.

They started off trading
blows, each man landing a few punches and kicks against the other. Within a few
minutes, Joel was limping from a series of blows to the thigh that the bigger
man had delivered, and Steamroller had a cut under his eye that was dripping
blood down past his mouth.

Just then, Joel leapt
forward with a flying punch but he was deflected as Steamroller turned away and
pushed him with one big hand. As Joel landed behind him, his opponent turned
and slammed his fist into the back of his head.

Joel spun around and his
knees buckled. Amber jumped to her feet with a cry of anguish. That punch had
looked like it was directed purposefully at his injury. "Oh my god, can he
do that?" she cried out.

Her
neighbor
answered her. "Do
what? Hit Joel in his weak spot? Of course. That's smart fighting."

That might be true, but
it still seemed pretty dirty to her. Joel rolled onto his back as the big man
came closer, lifting his legs to fend him off from getting on top of him.

"Your boyfriend
ought to stand up if he can," the man observed. "I've seen
steamroller fight before. They don't call him that just because of his standing
game. He can roll over his opponents on the ground pretty good as well."

Joel was spinning on his
back, keeping his legs between himself and his opponent, but each time he moved
along the mat he would leave a fresh smear of blood in his wake. Finally, the
ref stood him up again due to not enough action. Amber could see by the way he
was
swaying
that he was having trouble standing, just like he'd been the
other night when he'd first been hit.

She quickly glanced at
the clock. He only had to last another minute before the round ended. She held
her breath as she waited out the clock. Steamroller threw a series of punches,
most of which were blocked by Joel but she saw at least a couple of them
connect. The big man moved forward with another onslaught, catching Joel on the
side of his head and dropping him to his knees again. Joel's hands fell, and
Amber's heart started to pound.
 
Raise
your hands
, she screamed in her head.
 
Protect
yourself!

It didn't look like Joel
had anything left, but just as Steamroller was advancing, the bell ended the
round and the ref jumped between them. Amber ran over to the side of the ring
as Joel slowly stood up and made his way over. His feet were still unsteady and
he was blinking rapidly.

"I think you need to
stop," she said when he got to her. "You're hurt!"

"I'm not giving
up," he replied simply.

She picked up a towel and
grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning him around and then pressed it against
him again. He winced without trying to hide it at all this time, so she knew it
was bad.

"Look, I know this
whole thing is important, but it's not worth your health. You need to get this
checked out, you might have a concussion."

"I will," he
said. "I will. After I'm done tonight. I'll go in the morning. You can
come, if you want." He paused for a moment and before she could say
anything, he added "I mean, please come. I'd like it if you were there
with me."

Amber blinked a couple of
times, her eyes stinging. "Of course," she said softly.

The referee gave Joel the
signal that they were about to restart and she removed the towel. The red stain
was much larger than it had been last round. She was about to try one last time
to stop him from continuing but the bell sounded again and he started to move
away.

Fearing for what was to
come, she ran back to her seat to watch the rest of the action.

"Your boyfriend
should probably forfeit," the stranger said. "That wound looks pretty
bad."

Amber just nodded, not
wanting to take her eyes off Joel in case he needed her.

He looked steadier on his
feet as he approached the center of the ring. His larger opponent wore a sneer
that seemed to indicate he knew he was in the lead and expected to finish
things off quickly. He started with a feint and Joel staggered to react, his
earlier steadiness beginning to waver. As he moved, Steamroller followed up
with a real punch that caught him in the temple, sending him reeling backward.
Amber gasped as she watched him hit the ropes and use them to steady himself.

Steamroller moved
forward, this time throwing a low kick that caught Joel in the shin and causing
his knee to buckle slightly but he recovered and moved aside to avoid being hit
by a follow up.

"Joel needs a
miracle, unfortunately," the man next to her said. "Even if he makes
it to the end, the decision won't even be close. If I were his trainer, I'd
throw in the towel to avoid further injury. I don't think this fight is
winnable."

Amber continued to ignore
him. She wasn't his trainer, or manager, or anything, really. Joel would never
forgive her if she made a move to try to stop the fight. But would his pride
ever allow him to do it himself?

Joel was standing tall
again, but limping as he circled. There was less than two minutes left on the
clock and then it would be over. Amber couldn't wait for the bell to ring. She
just wanted to run up there and pull him away.

Suddenly, Steamroller
threw a quick jab and follow up but as Joel ducked his injured leg gave way,
causing him to drop his knee to the mat. This put him underneath the guard of
Steamroller, and he used that to his advantage by throwing two solid punches
into his opponent's midsection.

The blows caught
Steamroller by surprise and the big man doubled over in pain. Joel reached up
and grabbed a hold of his head, using his neck as leverage to pull himself up
and around, landing on the big man's back as he attempted to go for a choke.

Steamroller was not
interested in being knocked out, though, and he stood up to his full height,
lifting Joel right off the ground. He struggled to unlock the grip of the man
on his back, but when he was unsuccessful Amber watched as he staggered to the
middle of the ring. He bent at the knees and then threw himself backward.

She watched in horror as
the two men crashed to the ground, Joel's head bouncing against the mat and
then having Steamroller's head smash into his face on the rebound. Blood
sprayed from Joel's nose, but somehow his arms remained fixed under the chin of
the man on top of him. If anything, the movements only served to dig him in
deeper.

Steamroller continued to
pry at his arms, but his strength was waning and finally the man started to
slap repeatedly against his own shoulders.

The ref was on top of the
men immediately, pulling on Joel until he let go. Steamroller rolled off onto
his stomach, breathing heavily, but Joel just lay on the mat without moving.
Amber leapt to her feet and ran to the ring, moving through the blur of tear
filled eyes.