Fight(23)

“He was trying to protect you,” Sarah said.

I looked at Sarah. I thought about arguing with her. I thought about smacking her. She was as dumb as the… rest of them…

But wasn’t I one of them? I was Sarah just a couple weeks ago. Succumbing to the allure of the leather cut and the patch.

“Are you ready for this one?” Stoney’s voice bellowed.

I wasn’t ready, but I kind of was. It was sort of exciting to actually see Tripp fight.

“This guy is a beast,” Stoney said. “He’s vicious, vile, he’s… he’s horrible. Let’s hear it for our patched in boy, Harlan!”

The crowd cheered.

Harlan pushed through and entered the circle. He was shirtless. He was cut with muscle, but his gut was round and flabby. He had beer muscles and tattoos that littered his body in weird places. He showed his fists and then lifted his middle fingers.

“And now,” Stoney said, “a man that’s not patched in. A man who attacked Harlan.”

The crowd boo’d.

“That’s right,” Stoney said. “This guy tried to hurt one of our own!”

“He has to stop,” I said.

“You know him,” Sarah said. “He just gets them excited.”

I didn’t like it though. They were all drunk.

“Everyone… meet Tripp…”

They all growled and boo’d Tripp as he walked into the circle. He looked like normal Tripp. A guy in jeans and t-shirt. When he saw Harlan shirtless he then grabbed his shirt and tore it off.

Behind him, a guy name Mac was howling. “Fuck you, you piece of shit. You hoodlum motherf*cker.”

Tripp turned and threw his shirt at Mac.

Mac was nothing but a useless drunk. He was fat, going bald, and couldn’t run from the bar to the bathroom without needing a water break.

I flickered a smile, thinking of how sexy it was to see Tripp like this. But then Harlan came after him. And Stoney didn’t stop it. So when Tripp turned, Harlan was there and a fist connected with Tripp’s jaw.

Tripp was on his ass a second later, the crowd going wild.

Tripp jumped back up, nodding. He touched his jaw and then flexed it. He put his fists up.

“That was cheap,” I muttered.

“He should have been looking,” Sarah said.

I felt my blood starting to boil now.

Better yet, looking at Tripp’s bare body, my jaw almost hit the ground. It was the first time I got to see Tripp without a shirt. Yet he had seen me basically naked. He’d touched and tasted my body. His fingers had dug between my legs. He’d brought on a rush of pleasure that made me so relaxed, it was like a drug.

And yet, right now, this was the first time I saw him without a shirt.

His chest was wide, his pecs cut with beautiful lines of muscle. Not too big, but definitely well earned. When he breathed, his stomach moved in, showing more stomach than I’d ever seen on a person before. Two lines from the sides cut down into his jeans.

He was the sexiest man I’d ever seen in my life, officially.

“Wow,” Sarah said. “That’s not bad at all.”

“Nope,” I said.

She leaned close and said, “You better let that in you. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

I caught myself nodding.

Yeah, I wanted Tripp inside me.

But first he had to get through this fight.

He and Harlan circled each other and Tripp waited him out. He let Harlan throw the first couple punches, which Tripp either moved out of the way of, or boldly smacked them away.

Then Tripp lowered his hands and shook his head.

Harlan lunged forward.

Tripp moved to the side and whacked him in the gut. Harlan stumbled forward and fell into the crowd. Tripp danced back and waited for Harlan.

When Harlan stood, he turned and moved right at Tripp.

They exchanged some punches, nothing too serious, but when Harlan tried to lock up arms with Tripp, Tripp was ready. He broke the hold, and threw a one, two, three, jab, jab, hook combo that sent Harlan flying back. The hits were someone throwing bricks.

Harlan’s face opened up where Tripp had already hit that night in my house. It also opened up Tripp’s knuckles. He stood and blood trickled down his arm.

I slowly stood, watching with amazement.

Harlan inched back in and Tripp lit him up again. Tripp’s punches were calculated and lethal. He wasn’t just throwing a punch because it was a fight. It was like he knew what Harlan was going to do - or not do.

A hit to the gut then had Harlan hunched over a little. Tripp pushed him back and came up with an uppercut.

Harlan hit the ground.

“No!” Sarah yelled.

She clawed at my hand. I shook her away.

That’s when I saw Stoney nod his head.

No, no, no…

There was nothing I could do to stop what was going to happen next.

Two guys came forward and grabbed Tripp by the arms. The shocking part to me was that he didn’t fight back. He just stood there with two Red Aces guys holding him. Stoney crossed his arms and the crowd started to go a little quiet.

I felt Sarah touch my wrist. “I don’t know what this is.”

I knew.

Harlan climbed to his feet and wiped blood from his nose. He then approached Tripp.