“I can’t believe you just did that.” I frown, “You’re such an embarrassment.”
“Yeah, but you still love me.” She quips as she moves towards the bar. “And it worked didn’t it.”
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure you just put feminism back a full decade with that performance.” I motion to the barman and order two glasses of wine as Lexi scowls at me while waiting for our order to be served.
After receiving our drinks, we head into the empty arena to find our seats. There’s a huge octagonal shaped cage in the middle of the floor with a lighting rig overhead so we head down the stair and towards the seats beginning to fill up with people I barely recognise. A few of the guys I recognise from the fight videos I watched before my interview but there’s this one guy with his long black hair in braids, wearing nothing but a Gucci robe with trousers that match the sash and a pair of dress shoes. I make the assumption that he’s probably a fighter, based on the fact that no one else would probably pull that off at an event like this.
Feeling extremely out of place, we eventually find our chairs and take a seat. Lexi immediately flirting with the robe guy, who she tells me is called Mateo Jimenez, the current Welterweight Champion.
I sit taking in my surroundings as the venue fills around us and promotional videos playing on the screens above flood the arena. The first fight is due to start in about ten minutes and worrying that if tonight doesn’t go as planned, Ethan won’t want to see me so I’m anxious to see him before the fight.
“I'm going to go find Ethan. You okay here?”
“Yeah, good luck.” She waves a hand nonchalantly, barely even acknowledging me as I slip away, travelling through the half empty arena and heading up the dark tunnel towards the training rooms.
Wandering around aimlessly trying to find my needle in a haystack and after checking two rooms, I realise the doors have little silver plaques on with the names of the fighters. At least that should make it a little easier to find him. I continue to the end of the corridor, checking the rooms on both sides as I go with no luck and then I spot one of the guys from Ethan’s team out of the corner of my eye so I follow as best I can until he is out of sight.
“Excuse me miss, you can't go in there.” The huge balding security guard stands in front of me, blocking the only way through the gloomy corridor as I try to pass. “Miss, these rooms are for fighters and members of their teams. I'll have you...”
Oh my God! This guy.
He's been chasing me down ever since I came out of the tunnel and started checking the room doors, looking for Ethan's name. Can he not see the stupid pass hanging around my neck?
“For the last time, get out of my way! I have a pass, so I'm allowed to be here... Look.”
Starting to lose my temper, I pull the pass over my head and wave it in front of his face. Out of the corner of my eye, a door plaque catches my attention as I realise, I'm stood outside Ethan's training room.
I hear laughter, and for a moment I lose my nerve, maybe I should just wait until after his fight. What if he doesn't want to see me?
Turning to face the door, I push the door open forcefully and suddenly, five pairs of eyes are on me. Ethan turns to face me, standing rigid in front of me, staring at me with those lust filled eyes that make my whole body tremble and flashing me a smile that dampens my panties.
Nervously, I pace the floor in my training room following a warm-up sparring session, my feet sticking to the sweaty blue training mats placed over the rough grey carpet tiles in the centre of the room.
The team busies themselves in preparation as I glance at the flat screen TV bolted to the wall to confirm whether the Early Prelims have started yet.
The first fight of the night has just finished so I've got a while before making my journey to the octagon. Hopefully, that will give my nerves chance to calm the fuck down.
It's a strange sensation, usually before a fight I'm pumped up and raring to go but as I gaze at the Hall of Fame fighters framed across the dull grey walls, a mixture of emotions take hold. With this being my first fight back after two years and knowing that she's not here, my anxiety levels are through the roof. I gulp down a bottle of water, hoping to settle the nausea rising in my gut, partly due to my nerves but mainly as a result of the epic weight cut, I've had to make this week.
After days of water loading, I basically had to dehydrate myself to the point of almost shutting down my organs so I could shed those extra three pounds to make the championship weight yesterday and have been trying to get my body back into fighting shape for the main event.
“Excuse me miss, you can't go in there.” There's a huge commotion going on in the corridor. “Miss, these rooms are for fighters and members of their teams. I'll have you...”
“These fan girls are ridiculous,” Jesse laughs, “They'll do anything to get backstage for a bit of ass.”
My team-mates start fooling around and telling stories about their fan girl experiences from previous fight but I resist the urge to join in. I have a fight to prepare for. Come on Ethan, focus!
“For the last time, get out of my way! I have a pass, so I'm allowed to be here... Look.” I'd recognise that voice anywhere and
