The moment the referee announces the beginning of the fight, there seems to be a collateral holding of breaths. Everyone has been looking forward to the clashing of two titans, the leaders of the Heathens and the Elites and the lifetime rivals at REU and TKU.
This is the fight for the championship. Maybe a final before the final.
Jeremy and Lan circle each other for a few seconds before Jeremy lunges at him. He lands the first punch successfully, causing an uproar of the crowd.
But he doesn’t even pull away when Lan drives his fist into the side of his face, so hard that blood explodes on Jeremy’s lips.
I gasp along with many others. Ava is jumping up and down and punching the air.
“Yes! That’s my boy. Get him, Lan!”
A whole-body shiver goes through me and I can’t even breathe properly as the same scenario happens again.
Every time one of them punches, the other jumps back up and delivers a stronger one.
The crowd alternates between holding their breath, gasping, and cheering so loudly that my eardrums nearly explode.
I’ve never seen a more brutal manifestation of violence and testosterone than right now.
It’s like they’re out to kill one another while everyone watches.
I was aware of the animosity that ran between them, but I didn’t think it was this savage.
Or out of control.
The more I watch, the tighter my stomach gets. I don’t think I can stay for the whole thing.
I’m sure Ava will be able to get home by herself—
My thoughts are cut off when Jeremy wipes the blood off the corner of his mouth and stares straight at me. As if he knew I was there all along.
How the hell did he find me in the middle of all these people?
My stomach flutters the more he watches me with that icy stare of his. Only, right now, fire erupts in their gray depths. No, it’s a wildfire that won’t be stopped unless it devours everything in its wake.
He’s looking at me as if I’m the first he’ll devour.
As if I’m the only one he sees in the crowd.
And that doesn’t make sense. Jeremy has never looked at me this way.
Or has he?
That night, the first night at the deck, after he took me inside and went down on me in the middle of my stupid sleep paralysis, I think he had this look before he attempted to choke me.
I gasp when Landon uses his small moment of distraction and pummels him to the ground.
He leans down to whisper something in his ear, then stands to his full height, opens his arms wide, and grins, showing bloodied teeth as our students chant.
“King! King! King!”
But their celebratory yells end in a collective “Ahhh” when Jeremy jumps up and punches Lan into a corner.
He drives his fists in his face over and over. The brutality is criminal level and keeps heightening with every passing second.
Our students go silent while TKU’s become insane. Their cheers grow with Jeremy’s craziness.
The referee jumps in to announce that he won by points, but instead of backing away, Jeremy punches Lan one more time.