Page 1 of Phoenix's Redemption

Chapter One

LIAM

Warrior’s Den Facility

Sunridge, Illinois

Fight Night. I lived only for this night.

The roar of the crowd pressed in like a high tide, surging with each hit that I landed on my opponent. Sweat slicked my skin. The muscles in my legs coiled and released as I danced around the octagon, evading the next punch.

My opponent Wyatt, some cocky twenty-two-year-old kid, closed in. If he ran his feet like he ran his mouth, he might get somewhere. He should’ve used his energy to practice his footwork instead of telling the media how he was gonna kick my ass.

I used to be like him. Hell, I still could be at times, but at least I could back it up. He was going to learn today. I’m Liam O’Connor, the Phoenix of Fury Combat. I’ve sunk to the bottom and clawed my way back up both in and out of the ring.

Life made me reinvent myself more than once, but I refuse to give up. Not in the past, and not in this moment.

I felt the springboard of the mat through the rough white canvas under my feet. I feinted left, then struck right in a combo that sent Wyatt staggering back.

"Stay on him, Liam," my friend and fellow MMA fighter Ryder McKenzie shouted from my corner of the ring.

I nodded as instincts took over. I was in the zone.

Yet beneath the adrenaline, I fought another battle. Its name was Jack Thornton. My former friend and partner in petty crime got out of jail last week. He was free to go anywhere in the state, so long as he didn’t violate his parole.

Years ago, I tipped the cops to his next break-in, and they got him for robbery. I wasn’t sure if he ever figured out I was the one who turned him in. If he did, he would come looking for me. I had to protect myself and the new life I built.

Jack stole part of my life before. No way in hell was I going to let him do it again.

"Keep your guard up!" Cody Stone, my other friend and cornerman, yelled.

I bobbed, weaved, and let loose strikes that would make any heavy bag proud. This was where I belonged, where the past couldn't reach me.

"Nice combo!" I heard someone yell from the stands, but their praise was muffled by the blood pounding in my ears.

I watched Wyatt in case he tried to counter my hits. At the same time, I shook off old memories. The possibility of Jack returning for revenge never left my mind. I couldn't let the thoughts get to me—not here, not now.

I forced my mind to the present, to the proud kid circling me with clenched fists and hungry eyes. Each kick and punch I unleashed was all a big middle finger to the old life I'd left behind. Fury Combat was far from the streets that knew too much of me, from the prison bars I almost got locked behind.

"Stay sharp, Liam. He's looking tired." Cody’s voice pulled me forward.

"Yeah," I grunted under my breath, acknowledging the strategy without breaking stride. "Gonna end this."

And maybe when it was over, my win would give me something good to think about before Jack came back to prowl the edges of my brain.

My breath came in ragged gusts. My muscles screamed, but this chorus was familiar.

Until it wasn’t.

Wyatt’s body coiled like a spring. His fist arced toward me as time thinned to a razor's edge.

Instinct kicked in as I pivoted. I threw my counter-punch, a right hook that should've been textbook perfect. But my wrist buckled under an unnatural angle. White-hot pain blew up from my hand straight to my shoulder.

"Damn." Agony splintered my focus. My guard broke. Wyatt got his chance to clock me in the temple.

"O'Connor's hurt!" The announcer’s voice boomed across the arena, carrying with it the gasp of the crowd.

I had to shake it off. I made a useless attempt to ignore the throbbing in my wrist and pounding in my head. The fight had shifted. Wyatt smelled blood, and he charged.