Page 66 of Fight for Forever

When Sam sees me coming, he frowns as I hurry over to him.

“What the hell?” he asks me. “You’ll put him off,” he shakes his head.

I hadn’t thought of that. Will I?

“I need to know he’s okay.”

“Of course he is,” he says with annoyance. I’m too concerned to care or feel intimidated by his snapping at me. “Joey lives and breathes this stuff.”

The round ends and Sam moves past me, not saying anything further. I stand at the side of the cage, second guessing what I’ve done, but I hear him. Over the noise and music, I hear him.

“Kitten.”

I rush up to the bars. He’s still sitting on the stool in the corner, his face soaked in water that someone just threw over him. Sam is applying Vaseline to a cut on his brow to stop the blood running into his eyes and his lip is swelling. I want to cry. He’s worried about me, like Sam said.

I’m here to support him. He needs to know that. I reach up and touch his fingers. He squeezes them through the bars. Determination takes over me and I stare straight into his eyes.

“You can do this.”

Joey’s eyes widen for a second, then a grin splits his face. “Anything for you, Kitten.”

Everyone exits the ring as the one-minute break ends. Sam huffs at me but folds his arms and makes no more comments about me being down here.

Joey winks at me, then walks to the center of the ring. He bumps fists with Perry and the crowd goes crazy. This is the final round. I’m not sure how the points system works or how many each fighter has.

Down here, this close, I hear the sounds of their fists making contact, the grunts from both men as they fight. They get tangled up in a grapple, each of them trying to fight their way out of it.

Perry grunts as Joey lays into his side, forcing him to let go and bounce back. Joey doesn’t stop his forward motion as he lunges after him. Perry is caught off balance and Joey pulls back and then swings his fist. It connects with Perry’s chin and his head snaps back.

He goes down like a sack of shit. I’ve never understood how well that phrase describes someone hitting the deck hard. Two of the trainers from his team rush toward Perry, as Joey steps back.

My breath stops as I watch. As much as I want Joey to win this, seeing Perry down like that scares the hell out of me. Then Perry’s leg moves and the relief on the people in the ring is obvious.

Sam yells and I turn to him, not quite understanding. Everyone is cheering and screaming, and I glance up as the words ‘Knock Out’ appear in huge letters on the screen above us.

He won? My brain is struggling hard to catch up. Then the screen flashes to a picture of Joey, the words winner flashing beside his face. Sam gives me an appraising look as he goes past me. He shakes his head.

“I’m gonna regret this,” he mutters. “Come on.”

“What?”

“Now, Megan.” He doesn’t touch me, but he guides me up the steps towards the ring.

Perry is sitting up getting some kind of treatment. Joey is bent over beside him, making sure he’s okay. The noise gets louder as he taps Perry’s shoulder and shakes his friend’s hand, showing him respect for the hard battled fight.

Then he turns and lifts his hands, a wide grin on his face. As he turns around, he spots me there. We stare at each other across the ring and as scared as I was, the elation I feel now outweighs it. Without further thought, I hurry across the space between us and Joey opens his arms, grabbing me and lifting me up.

He’s sweaty and bloody and I’m so worried he needs medical attention, but Joey doesn’t seem to care as he spins me, then lowers me to the ground and kisses me.

The crowd doesn’t matter, the people trying to get his attention don’t matter. His full focus is on me.

“You did it,” I say.

“For you.”

I shake my head. That isn’t right, he did this on his own. It had nothing to do with me.

“You’re my inspiration, Megan,” he says as a man in a suit with a microphone tries to get his attention. He waves him off. “Your strength, your determination, your heart.”