Chapter 3
In the morning, Max woke up on the couch. His legs hung off the side and his body was barely covered with the small blanket. Groaning, he got up, feeling the pain radiating through his sore muscles. He touched his head, feeling it pound. Limping slightly, he made his way into Tammi’s bedroom.
She was fast asleep, cuddling into her blanket. He smiled and walked over to her before sitting down on the edge of her bed. He reached out and touched her hair, gently caressing it. Slowly, she started to wake up, looking up at him.
“Mmm… Max… what time it is?” she asked.
“Around ten,” he answered, leaning down and kissing the top of her head. “You can go back to sleep after I leave, but I wanted to say goodbye first.” Tammi sat up quickly.
“Wait… where are you going?” she asked, holding the blankets against her chest as she felt the chilly air of her bedroom settle around her.
“Mayhem.”
Tammi gave him an annoyed look. “You can’t go into the ring. You’re still hurt!” She tried reasoning with him, but he just shook his head stubbornly.
“I’ll be okay. The guy I’m fighting is a small fry.” Tammi kept frowning as she looked at him. He would never learn. She sighed softly, her eyes imploring him to stay. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. This could be the chance I have been looking for. The opportunity to prove myself.”
“To whom?” she demanded, her eyes fierce as her hand rested on his, squeezing it slightly. “You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. You can stay… stay here with me.” She gave him puppy dog eyes, but it only made him look away, standing up.
“I can’t. I have to do this. I can’t give you a logical reason why. I just know that I have to,” he answered, standing his ground as he leaned down and kissed her head. “I’ll be careful. Promise.”
Tammi sighed, watching him leave. He would never learn. She plopped back into bed, looking at the ceiling. As she heard him get ready in the other room, she got up, walking into the living room.
“No work today?” he asked, seeing her still in pajamas. Usually, Tammi would always be ready in the morning if she had work. She shook her head and wrapped arms around herself, rubbing her sides. She had to buy warmer pajamas. “Well in that case… why don’t you come with me?” he asked, hopefully.
“To Mayhem? No way,” she said, crossing arms over her chest, giving him a stern look.
“C’mon, it’ll be good for me. You can be my number one fan.” He chuckled before winking at her. She rolled her eyes in derision, moving into the kitchen. “Tammi! I’m being serious.”
“I don’t want to go,” she called out, popping some waffles into the toaster.
“And why not?” he asked, leaning against the doorway.
“You know I don’t like the idea of you fighting. There’s no way I am going to sit there and watch you get hit!”
“C’mon, if you go I’ll be extra careful! Plus you get to see me in my fighting shorts!” he added in as if it would change her mind. She stared at him for a moment before sighing, giving in.
“Fine. I’ll go, but not because of your shorts. Just to keep an eye on you,” she said. Max laughed, walking over to her, playfully tossing an arm around her shoulder, messing up her hair like when they were kids.
“Whatever you say, Tammi. I saw how you looked at me last night!” Tammi’s face colored as she turned her back to him, busying herself with the dishes. Max pulled her away, grabbing the dirty mug from her hand. “I’ll wash those, you go get dressed.”
Tammi huffed, but walked off, disappearing into her bedroom. Soon enough, she came back dressed in some casual clothes. Max’s eyes swept over her with a grin.
“Stop looking at me like that, you perv!” she teased playfully. He smiled and walked over to her, grabbing her hand. Together, they walked out of the house, a pile of dirty dishes still in the sink.
Soon enough, they pulled up to Mayhem. As they entered the arena, Tammi began to look around. She was impressed but didn’t want Max to find out. She had never been there before and all the sights and sounds were new to her.
“You can sit anywhere. This isn’t an official fight so it’s no big deal,” he said, leaving her in the front row. She sat down, waiting patiently. Before long, an unknown man entered the ring. He looked big, much bigger than Max.
“So much for his opponent being small fry,” she muttered under her breath. As she said this, Max entered the ring, disappearing into his corner. The unknown man did the same and Tammi waited with an unwilling anticipation for the fight to begin.
The fight was going relatively well for Max at first. He was dodging punches and was keeping light on his feet as he made his way around the ring, but everything went downhill when the man landed a kick on his bruised ribs.
Max gasped in pain before falling. His opponent capitalized on the opportunity and pounced. He rained down punches on Max, using him as a human punching bag. The man was overwhelmed with an unaccountable rage, destroying Max in the process.
Tammi looked on in horror as her best friend was mauled in the ring. The referee tried to pry the opponent off Max, but the large man lashed out, throwing the referee to the ground. In the end, it took three men to pry the insane fighter off Max.
Tammi rushed into the ring, looking at her friend. It was obvious he had a series of broken ribs and was bleeding hard. “Someone, please, we need help!” she called out. Quickly, a pair of standby paramedics stepped in, pushing away Tammi. They started to perform first aid as someone called an ambulance. It was clear Max would need more help than the paramedics could provide.
“You idiot. I said you weren’t ready to fight. Why don’t you ever listen to me?” she whimpered, her eyes filling with tears.
Wincing, Max nonetheless reached out his hand and caressed the side of her face, trying to comfort her. “Hey… I’ll be okay.”