Fighter(13)

That wasn’t in the plan. I needed him to go away. “What do you want, Dylan?”

“Wanking it for comfort and joy!”

His eyebrows furrowed together, and he turned toward the carolers. While his back was turned, I waved at Haley. She lifted her hands in a helpless gesture. I snapped my fingers and pointed at my brother. She mouthed back, “I don’t know.”

I glared at her, inclining my head forward. She winced and bit on her lip. I wasn’t getting help from her. I could see that now.

The mascot came back to us, waving his arms in the air in rhythm with the crowd. He paused in front of Dylan and turned to wave his black stinger in the air, rubbing against the front of Dylan’s pants. I waited. This wasn’t going to go well, and it didn’t take a second swipe before my brother reacted.

His hand shot out and grabbed the stinger. “Buzz off, *,” he growled. “If you rub that thing against me one more time, I’ll drag you into the ring for an impromptu ass-beating.”

The mascot looked back. He swung those beady eyes to Dylan, then to me. After a second, he lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “Suit yourself.” He moved over, his stinger poised toward me now, and I tensed.

“That’s it, you f*cker—” Dylan started forward.

“A blessed angel came, wearing wings and nothing else, brought tidings of glad releases—” The carolers continued, but a roar came over the crowd, cutting off my brother and their music.

“Green Jacket! Green Jacket!” the crowd chanted.

A spotlight went to one of the doorways, and there stood Jax’s opponent, striking a pose—similar to the one his mascot had used just a few minutes earlier.

Dylan cursed, skimming the crowd with his eyes. “Where’s your boy, Dale?”

The mascot jumped into the ring and began dancing in circles. He waved his arms, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Holding back a grin, I ignored my brother and turned to watch the Green Jacket instead. He made his way toward the ring, and as he got to us, he grabbed the ropes—and saw the mascot. Pausing, he frowned, but glanced at the crowd. They were clearly loving the mascot, and he shrugged, pulling himself up into the ring.

I hit Dylan’s shoulder and pointed to Haley. “You might want to help her.” The carolers had stopped singing, and instead, the one closest to Haley was giving her the up-and-down look. He licked his lips, and his eyes darkened.

Dylan groaned. “Where’s Jax, Dale?” He started walking backward toward Haley, but he was still waiting for my answer.

I pointed to the mascot. “He’s already in the ring. You’re too late.”

Dylan turned to look, and the announcer started the introductions. “Ladies and gentlemen, your main event! In one corner, at two hundred sixty-three pounds and six feet, two inches with a record of twenty-eight wins and six defeats, heralding from our neighbor Broughten Falls, is the Green Jaaaaaaaacket!”

The announcer pointed, and Jax’s opponent went to a corner in his green elf robe. At the end of the introduction, another man removed it and handed it to a group standing outside the ring like I was. The Green Jacket swiveled his head around, a questioning glint in his eyes. The only others in the ring were the announcer, who turned to the corner where I stood, and the mascot, who continued to swing his black stinger at the crowd.

A hip-hop song came over the loud speakers, and the yellow jacket waved his stinger with the beat, pretending to pounce and thrust it out at the crowd, to their continued amusement. Laughter and cheers filled the room.

Then the announcer started again. “And in the other corner, we have our local reigning champion. Weighing in at one hundred seventy-two pounds and standing six feet tall with an impressive record of twenty-four wins and two defeats: Jaxon Cutlerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!”

As the announcer finished, the yellow jacket jumped one final time, then reached up and yanked off the mask. A grinning Jax smirked back across the ring at his opponent, whose eyes took on a feral glint. Then Jax turned and looked down at me. I wasn’t even trying to hold back my own smirk. The plan had gone off without a hitch. As one, we looked over at Dylan, who’d stopped in the middle of an aisle, halfway back to Haley. His mouth dropped open. Then he snapped it shut and sent me an accusatory look.

I shrugged.

Jax squatted and touched my shoulder. “Part one complete.”

I nodded. Part one was getting him in the ring. Part two was his actual fight. My brothers couldn’t interrupt it, but he needed to win. Then there was part three: getting him out of the ring and out of the bar without my brothers getting him.

The first bell rang, signaling the fight to start, and I glanced back at Haley. She nodded. She was ready for part three too.

The Green Jacket didn’t fare well during the fight with Jax, who looked more like he was getting in a workout than waging a battle. He jumped around his bald opponent, dodging, weaving, doing funky-looking patterns with his feet. At the end of the first round, he dropped to his seat with a wide smile on his face. I didn’t have a towel, but I used the arm of the yellow jacket costume to wipe off some of his sweat. The fact that he wasn’t sweating much had my competitive side cursing at him and the girl in me swooning. Wrinkling my nose, I pressed the sleeve to the two tiny spots and wiped at some imaginary sweat on his cheek.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.