Broken #3 (The Broken Series - Book #3) (8 page)

I watched Ford as he walked out
and headed down toward the ring. He walked toward me, toward his fate. I was
going to destroy him, and move on to the finales. Ford was a strong fighter. He
had plenty of wins on his record, but I refused to fear any of them. The moment
I started to do that, I would be doomed.

I stood in my corner, and my lack
of a cocky response to Ford’s bravado was showing as he headed to the ring and
jumped in.

Ford came into the cage, and
removed his black robe, his body looking no less fit than mine. Ford's eyes
fell instantly on mine, and a smile that could only be described as evil spread
across his lips; a smile that was already victorious. Why was that guy so
happy? Feeling victorious already?

We touched gloves in the middle
of the cage and headed to our corners. The bell rang as we both went to the
center of the cage and went toe to toe. Ford landed a massive punch to my ribs,
and then quickly slammed my jaw back with an awful one-two punch. The sickening
sound of flesh and bone meeting caused the crowd to go mad. I could hear my
corner screaming for me to focus and keep my hands up. I held my ground, but
shuddered as I recovered, and continued going after Ford. As I went in again, I
made sure to protect my head against another onslaught.
 
In every fight I have had, I never kept my
guard down low. It would be suicide for any fighter to do so, never mind an
experienced fighter like me.

I got it in on the next one,
however, as I went in and rammed a punch into Ford's gut. Then I followed it
with an uppercut to the jaw that Ford took far too easily. He straightened up
right away and glared at me, almost daring me to come at him again.

The next three punches took Ford
in the body again; two in the chest and one in the ribcage, and he had yet to
hit get into me again. I was taking things a step at a time, and I knew if I
kept things the way they were going right now, that I could win the fight.
 
I was not sure if Ford's ribcage could
withstand any more blows, but I threw them in quickly, in a three punch combination,
hammering him with body shots. I heard the wind come out of him as he staggered
backwards. He wasn't getting any punching into me at all. He came at me and
lunged, trying to take me to the ground. He pushed me into the side of the
cage, but I held my ground. If he wanted me down there, I was going to avoid it
at all costs.

Ford swung out with his left hand
and landed a good one to my jaw, then landed a straight punch that brought me
right to my knees. The crowd was going wild, screaming profanities into the
cage. They were not happy with what was happening to their champ.

“
Booo
!
Boooo
!
Kill him, Jet! Fight back!”

When I stood again, the fight
continued in an endless gray world of kicking and punching. I wasn't sure how
Ford's body was withstanding the damage I was doing to it. Every time he was
punched, he kept coming. My corner was going nuts, and I knew that I had to
seriously focus, or I was going to lose everything. Blood was pouring from both
of us, and I worried that I was too injured―that it would affect my
second round, if we even got that far.

 
After a serious round of punches to Ford's
abs, he dropped to his knees. But he wasn’t ready to give up yet, and I
wondered why he didn’t just throw in the towel. Panting for breath, my face dripping
with blood, I delighted my fans by jumping back and waiting for Ford to get
back up. When he did, I sent out a spinning back kick, and landed it right to
Ford's head.

The crowd was losing themselves
in that fight. People were screaming, “Ford, get up and fight. Fight him! Fight
him!”

 
When Ford reset and comes back in, he landed a
punch that took the breath right out of me. I pounded his body and then took a
shot to the head, but I reset immediately. I sent out a roundhouse kick, and I
heard the crack. Ford
fell
face down on the floor.

Blood oozed from my body,
dripping into the canvas floor of the ring.
 
I could feel my face swelling, and I was panting for breath. I was sure
Ford was down for the count, but then I watched as he planted one shaking hand
on the ground, and then the other. The room had grown completely silent as they
watched Ford try to push himself back up. I couldn’t understand why he just
didn’t stay down; he was one tough mother.

Ford pushed himself up, and spit
more blood on the ground. He used his arms to get back up on his feet, only to
catch a strong left hook to his temple that swung his head around. My corner
was going crazy; they
were loving
every minute of the
fight. This was probably one of the most exciting fights anyone had seen all
year.

At this point Ford was hurting
pretty badly. The ref went in immediately and called the fight done. It didn't
matter anymore how much Ford wanted to continue the battle―the fight was
called.

 
Silence fell over the entire stadium as everyone
waited in agony to see what happened next. The medics were in attending to
Ford, and as soon as they were sure that he would be fine until they could take
him to the hospital, he was brought to the middle for the judges to call the
fight.

The crowd started cheering as the
announcer spoke.

“Our victor for the night is Jet!
The conference semifinals belt goes, ladies and gentlemen, to Jet!”

My corner came in, and I
practically fell into the arms of my coach as they helped me out of the cage. I
would go back to the locker room and get checked by the medic as well. It had
been one hell of a fight. I couldn't even imagine fighting again anytime soon.
I would need to heal. As I made my way back to the lockers, I heard the crowd
chanting my name. They were thrilled that I had won, but I certainly took one
hell of a beating for it. I wondered if Natalie would be up for giving me
another massage, ‘
cause
I surely could use one, that
was certain. I had considered inviting her to the fight as I thought she would
really enjoy it. I was glad I didn't, however. She would have found it
upsetting that I took the beating I did, despite the fact that I ended up
winning.

We went into the locker area, and
sat down on the bench while the medic looked me over. I had no broken bones and
no real damage. But my body was already bruising, and I would be incredibly
sore for at least a few days.
Maybe weeks.
I had a cut
above my eye, which was the cause of the blood that kept pouring from my head.

I would have to go to the
hospital to get my eye stitched up. It would need to heal before I could fight
again, or it would become a weakness. I hated weaknesses, and didn't want to
give my opponents anything to go on if I didn't have to.

Coach helped me pack up my
things, and we left the gymnasium with my belt around my shoulders. We were
headed to the hospital, where I would be stitched up, and could then return
home to spend the night in an ice bath to bring down some of the swelling that
was occurring all over my body.

Chapter Seven

Natalie

Brenda and I were sitting in
photography class, chatting as our fight assignments came back. We had
submitted pictures to the Dean for the fight, and he had absolutely loved them.
These assignments were now being handed back.

I looked in the folder, went
through the pictures from that fight, and I beamed with pride. I looked at the
assignment sheet and saw that I received an A+ on the photography. It made me
feel incredible that I had done so well.

“Great job, girl. That was a
pretty great assignment, and you had good reason to do well.” She meant Jet,
and yet I didn't think it had anything to do with how well the pictures came
out. I put the pictures back into their folder, and made note that I would have
to show them to Jet the next time we got together.

“Don't forget that we have that
campus costume party to go to tonight.”

“How could I forget?”

“Don't be a party pooper; I think
it will be a lot of fun. Plus, everyone is going to be there.”

“Yeah, well that's usually part
of the problem. So what did you decide to be?”

“
Ansel
Adams.”

I started laughing. “You're
kidding me?”

“No. I went to a vintage store
and collected a bunch of things together, and I even found an old camera.”

I was still laughing. “Well good,
then. You will probably win for originality, that's for sure. Is your new beau
going to be there?”

She smiled. “He's not my beau.
This is only going our third date.”

“Well, you know what happens on a
third date.” I couldn't help but smile when I saw her eyes go round. Brenda
blushed deeply. She was really shy when it came to boys, but I thought the guy
she was dating was a stand up fella, so I didn't think she would end up in over
her head. Not like me.

“So what did you decide to be?”

“Oh, nothing as original as you.
Julie dragged me to one of those
costume stores, and that's where we did some damage. Julie ended up getting a
vampire costume. You know how she is about vampires.”

Brenda giggled. “Yeah, sometimes
I think she would like to be one.”

I nodded. “Yeah, and to be
honest, I couldn't find a damn thing that I felt comfortable in, so I just let
Julie pick for me.”

“
Ohh
, that
was probably a bad
idea. Did she get you something slutty?”

I laughed. “No, I did draw the
line there; I didn't want anything that required me to wear a short skirt. So
she picked
Catwoman
for me.”

“You're not joking?”

“No, and although I don't show
any skin, the outfit itself is skin tight. There really are no words for it.”

Brenda chuckled. “Well, that's
why I choose to make my own. Had I Googled my costume, I guarantee I would have
pulled up a slutty version of
Ansel
Adams.”

We laughed together. I started
gathering up my books, as class was ending. Brenda decided to come back to my
apartment and get ready there. Then we would all go to the party together.

“Oh God, I can't be seen in this.
I don't know what I was thinking when I allowed you to choose a costume for me.
I may have been better off with a short skirt.” I stepped out of the bathroom
where Julie and Brenda were waiting. They looked amazing, Brenda really outdid
herself with the originality of her costume, and she didn't even have to look
slutty. Julie looked stunning, of course, as part of the undead world. She had
found adhesive fangs that were so real looking that they gave me the creeps.
They were a hell of a lot better than those fake choppers that used to worn
with vampire costumes.

Although she looked creepy, her
outfit was also hot as hell. And that left me,
Catwoman
.
I had the traditional pantsuit that was skin tight, and a face mask that covered
my eyes, and some cat ears. I had curled my red hair so that it was full enough
that I could attach my eyes to it, and it would look less like a costume. When
I stepped out of the bathroom, their mouths dropped open.

“What? What happened?”

“Oh my God, Natalie, you look
ridiculously hot; no one at that party is even going to remember that you are
an art student in that getup.”

“Oh, stop.”

“No, seriously.
If Jet is there, he may have to
fight for your attention this time.”

She managed to make me blush as
well, and we decided to have a glass of wine before we headed out to the party.
We sat and talked about boys and assignments, and vowed that we would all end
up back at our apartment that night without any guys in tow. It was certainly
something that I had to keep a handle on, so I was glad the girls were okay
with stopping such situations if they happened.

We called a cab, and headed out
to the campus costume party.

When we arrived, the place was
packed. It was wall-to-wall people, and everyone was dressed up. It was
actually a lot harder to find people I knew when they were donned in their
finest costumes. There were plenty of zombies, what with the popularity of
The
Walking Dead.
There were also a lot of superheroes and vampires. I saw some
Duck Dynasty
apparel, as well as fairies and angels. There were a few
people whose costumes I couldn't guess, and I wondered if they chose the same
type of original idea as Brenda had.

We continued to make our way
through the crowds until I saw Jet. He wasn't hard to find at all. He was
shirtless that October night, with an open robe and boxer shorts. It wasn't
hard to guess that he was Rocky. He had a cut above his eye and some bruising
on his face, and I couldn't tell whether it was makeup or not. Kyle was there
as Batman, and a few of his other teammates surrounded him in various forms of
costume.

He spotted me immediately and
made a beeline for our little group.