Chapter 10

JACOB

Ibounced on my toes as I warmed up and eyed the guy opposite me. He was fucking huge, much bigger than me, even with all my training I'd been doing. When I wasn't fighting, I was trying to fit training around seeing Phoenix. I was pretty big in size now, too. I'd gone up a size in clothes because my shoulders had rounded off, and my arms were bigger, too. Phoenix loved that I was bigger. Most nights, she would run her fingers over the sharpened lines of my abs or down my biceps. But now, as I focussed on him, I wasn't feeling quite as confident.

"Hey," Danny nudged me sharply, "get out of your fucking head. You've got this."

Danny was the vocal one out of the two of my mates. Ethan was the quiet, supportive kind. Danny was the loud, get it done and ask questions later kind. He didn't stop to think of consequences most of the time. Which is why Phoenix used to get ratty with him. Not that he fucking cared, but I could've done without the earache of it all.

I nodded in Danny's direction, but I hadn't taken my eyes from the big fucker opposite me. The speaker drew the crowd's attention and introduced us. "You ready?" Ethan asked as he tapped my chest. "Come on, man. Danny's right, you've got this." I inhaled a deep, cleansing breath and stood tall, not that that was hard to do, I was six-foot-three.

"I got him."

"Too fucking right you have," Danny added, "now get out there and take him."

As soon as the other guy saw I was ready, he moved to the middle. My feet moved too, but before I was within arm's reach, he swung, his fist caught me on the chin and forced me to stumble. I shook my head. It was a wakeup call I needed to really get into the fight. I brought my guard up and puffed out my chest before I swung back. He dodged my fist and hit out again, followed by his foot sweeping the back of my leg, but I was ready for him and stood firm. I needed to get into this fight, otherwise I was going to come off worse. I didn't want to lose. I didn't want to lose money, but more so I didn't want to lose the reputation I'd been building for the last couple of months. The crowd chanted my name over and over. I looked at the front of the crowd and saw the same guys that I'd met in the pub, they'd been here for most of my fights I'd noticed. The smarter dressed one, Liam I think his name was, nodded at me. Danny and Ethan stood next to them and joined the crowd, and with that ego boost, I finally got into the fight.

Punch after punch connected with my face, and as I heard the crack under his fist, I knew my nose was broken. I lifted a hand to my nose. Blood coloured the white straps I had on my hands, then I lunged at him. Kicking and punching. He held me in a headlock when he knew he couldn't stop me, but with a swift elbow to the gut and rabbit punches to his kidneys, he released me. Those were my speciality. You could see why the boxing federation banned them all those years ago. They were devastating, and the pain that came from it would stay for days, sometimes weeks.

I was so caught up in punching him I didn't realise that he was almost down. It was Danny's voice that had me turning my head to look at him. One good hit and he'd be down. His forearm was draped around my chest, holding me so as he didn't fall to the ground. I elbowed him, his arm loosened, and swiftly I spun around and hit him. My knuckles hit him square on the jaw and as he wobbled, I hit again, once on the nose and then the side of his head.

It was slow motion as I watched the impact turn him away from me, and like a sack of potatoes, he hit the ground.

I stared at him as I bounced with excess energy. My fists were tight and my arms flexed ready to carry on until the ref came in and called it. While the guy was out cold on the ground, I was called winner. The crowd roared and my ego soared even higher. I was really starting to believe that no one was going to beat me. This was my crowd. And no one could take this away from me.

"YEAHHHHH." Danny screamed in my face as his grin spread from ear to ear. With my shoulders in his hands, he shook me in delight. "You're the fucking man!" he yelled. His arms wrapped around me and he lifted me from the ground. My arm shot up in victory, and I played to the crowd as they cheered again. When my feet hit the floor, I grabbed the towel from Ethan and wiped it over my face, careful to not catch my nose. It stung like a bitch.

"Come on, let's see if we can get Phoenix to look at your nose." Ethan came up beside me, and with a firm hand on my arm, he led me from the middle of the room and into the cloakroom. Rico appeared as I sat down on the bench. My head fell forward to expel the excess blood in my nose as I placed my elbows on my parted knees. Ethan left the room and I knew he was going to ring Phoenix.

"There he is. My champion." He sang as he clapped loudly. The noise echoed around the small room. My head was pounding and my face throbbing, and that fucking noise was the last thing I needed. I twisted my head slightly and frowned up at him. Although Rico had an Italian sounding name, he couldn't have been more British if he tried. He shortened his name from Richard to Rico to make himself sound more important. His dirty blonde hair was slicked back, and he walked around in a suit that didn't actually fit him properly.

It hadn't taken me long to realise that Rico was only out for himself. He loved the respect and the admiration of others. He wanted punters to think he was somebody, when really, he was a dick. But I was his earner, his golden ticket, but I soon realised that while I was winning and lining my own pockets for mine and Phoenix's future, then I'd let him carry on until I didn't need him anymore. This would be on my terms from now on.

"Rico." I greeted, then turned my head back and closed my eyes to the pain that was zapping through my face.

"How's the nose?" he asked smacking the back of my shoulder. The pain reverberated through my face as I jolted forward. I had to grit my teeth to stop myself from pounding the fucker.

"Just dandy," I replied, full of sarcasm. I cupped my nose loosely. "I need to get out of here." I snatched the towel from the bench next to me and held it against my nose. I pulled it from my face to check for more blood. It had been pissing out from the time he'd cracked me, but it seemed to be slowing. I let my head hang for the blood to drain. The white towel was almost red, all but a few patches. I found a white spot and dabbed it against my nose, thankfully, apart from a few spots now, it had slowed down. I stood up from the bench, towering over Rico. "How's the other guy?"

"Don't worry about him, he's a big boy, he knew what he was getting himself into."

"What the fuck does that mean, Rico?" My voice rose.

"Nothing. He's a fucking illegal fighter, and we don't exactly play by the book in here, do we?" I pushed my hands out to the side and waited for him divulge. "His guys took him out. He didn't look good, that's all."

Fuck!

"Was he breathing?"

"Yeah, I think so, fuck me, King. Who fucking cares?" I stared at him for a long minute and shook my head,

"I'm not in the business to kill someone, Rico."Panic settled in my gut and my pulse raced as I paced. I wasn't that kind of person.

"Hey," he stepped in front of me and pointed his finger in my chest, stopping me in my tracks. "He knew what he was getting into, like every fucker does in this game. It's not my fucking problem."

I looked between his finger and then him. I stood taller than him by about two inches. Two inches might not have been that much, but I was wider and stronger than him. I used my frame and my weight to push forward. "Get your fucking finger off me, before I fucking snap it off." His finger dropped from my chest and he backed off. "I tell you now, Richard,' I said his full name with disgust, "if I have any fucking backlash from this, I'll come looking for you." Shoving his shoulder, I let him know I wasn't fucking happy with him. "Are you listening?" he quickly agreed and visibly recoiled.

"Money?" I questioned grumpily. His thrust his hand out in front of him with a wad of notes tucked inside his fingers. "How much?" I asked as I shoved the towel under my arm so I could flick through the money.

"Twenty-five hundred." His eyes focussed on the cash in my hand as I checked through it. "It's all there." Rico grinned nervously.

My chin lifted and my eyes narrowed. "I'm trusting you, Rico."

"Hey, would I do that to you?"

"I dunno Rico, you haven't got any morals so who the fuck knows."I told him as I dropped the money into my bag.

Ethan's phone pinged; I watched him check it before sliding it back into his pocket. "Phoenix is here."

"Get out of my fucking face." I growled as I pushed past Rico. As I headed towards the door and out into the hallway, the two guys entered.

"Mr Campbell." Rico said suddenly not looking so cocksure of himself. "Have you met King?"

"We have."

"I'll leave you guys to talk." I watched as Rico left the room without looking back. I didn't have time to question his quick departure though before the other two guys were stepping up to me.

"Jacob?" The suited guy said as he slipped his hands into his pockets and walked towards me. "We haven't had a proper introduction, have we? I'm Lewis Campbell." His hand darted out towards me and I took it. "That's a nasty break, think you'll be ready to fight again in a few days?" He says as he studied my nose. I didn't like being under such close scrutiny so I turned my face away. Danny stood at my side while these guys were in here and listened to every minute of the conversation. I looked at him for guidance but got nothing.

I shrugged, "I'm not sure."

"Okay, maybe this will change your mind." He took my hand and slipped a roll inside, "five thousand now, five thousand after the fight." I studied his face; he was serious.

"I don't understand. If you're friends with Rico, why is he letting you just step in and take over?"

"Let's just say Rico knows what side his bread is buttered on. And there're no friends in business, you'll do well to remember that, kid."

We shook hands again. "Get yourself cleaned up, have a couple of days to recoup. I think Rico already has a fight set up, but I'll be in touch. We can take it from after that one." Lewis said as he flicked his head towards the door of the cloakroom. Him and his sidekick left the room without so much as a goodbye, and I was left with my mouth hanging open and wondering who this guy really was.

With Liam and Lewis gone, I got my things together and pulled my bag onto my shoulder, and clapped hands with the bouncers at the door as I reached them. They held the door open for us as we passed. As I went into the adjoining corridor, I saw two guys obviously doing a drug deal. One guy lifted his chin to me. With a swift nod to him I carried on walking.

"Yo, I can help you out if you want some?" The fucking prick shouted out.

My face screwed up in disgust as I turned to look back at them, if there was one thing I wouldn't do, it was drugs. I didn't need to slide down that slippery slope. "Fuck off, scumbag." After the little altercation with Rico, I wasn't in the fucking mood to deal with another dickhead.

Swiftly, I turned away and carried on walking but I heard him answer. "You know where to find me."

I ignored the dickhead and headed out the back. I saw my ST parked near the doors as I left. There were people hanging around the carpark tonight, there wasn't usually, but as I looked over at Phoenix, she looked nervous.

"I'm gonna get her out of here."

"Sure," Ethan replied. He and Danny headed for Danny's car and I went to get inside mine but the door was locked. As I looked through the window at her, she hit the central locking button and opened the door for me. I quickly got in and shut the door.

"Fuck me, Jacob. You know I'm not your personal nurse. And please don't ask me to come here again." She eyed the carpark through the windscreen and the colourful characters that were loitering.

"Sorry," I tried to give her a smile even though my nose ached like fuck, and I leant across the centre console and kissed her cheek. "Actually, when you've graduated and got your nurse's uniform you can model it for me, if you want." I winked cheekily. "You know, as you patch me up."

She sighed but grinned. "Let's get you home and get that nose patched up again."

I reached over and palmed her knee before I took her fingers in mine. "This won't be forever, I promise."

She turned her head as she started the engine. "Can you make that promise? Because it seems to me like you enjoy this more than being with me."

"Never, Nix." My voice was firm, there was nothing more important than her. "You will always come first."

Her head nodded as she put the car in gear. "I used to think that, now I'm not so sure."

I took my hand back and looked out of the passenger window. Noticing how seedy the club looked from outside. For anyone that didn't understand this kind of sport, I could see how dangerous it looked - hell it was dangerous, but I had this.

"I promise," I mumbled as she pulled off the small car park. "I promise you, Nix. Just a bit longer, and then I'll give up."

A tight smile formed on her lips and she drove us back to mine in an awkward silence.