The only thing I really wanted was to hold my wife in my arms.  I wanted to tell her how happy I was to know that she was pregnant and that I was going to become a father.  The joyous news should have been met with celebration instead of separation.  I sent her a message, just searching for confirmation that was she was safe and sound in Indian Springs.  There was no response, which worried me a little bit, but I had to assume she was reunited with her father and catching up. 

I waited around until it was time to go to the location of the fight and climbed into Monica’s car.  I lit a cigarette as I drove, feeling the anxiety creeping up inside me.  I reached over and flipped on the radio, hitting the buttons as I searched for something that would soothe me or provide a little bit of a distraction.  There was a lot of news, but very little music.  A series of words caught my attention and I stared at the radio, almost rear-ending the car in front of me as I came to a screeching halt.

“Fuck!”  My eyes nearly bulged out of my head.

The radio started to describe a horrific scene involving a car accident, The Devil Knights MC, and a number of injuries along with casualties in the double digits.  After the news anchor broke the news, there was a prerecorded clip from the Las Vegas Chief of Police, who described the horrific scene.  They thought it was some sort of turf war and went over some of the investigations that had centered around the MC over the years.  They didn’t know who did it, but when I heard them mention a black SUV and several black sedans that were seen leaving the scene, I knew it was Ray Stone. 

I kept listening as I pulled to the side of the road.  There was no mention of a woman.  Ray didn’t honor the bargain.  He had taken my wife.  My blood boiled in my veins as I put the car back on the road and drove to the location of the fight.  I was going to kill the motherfucker the instant I saw him.  I didn’t need to face him in the ring.

“Ray!”  I saw him across the warehouse and started running, but several members of his crew immediately jumped on me and held my arms.

“Grady.”  Ray’s emotionless smile crossed his face.  “I see that you made it.”

“Where the fuck is Monica?  We had a deal!”  I pulled against the men that held me, but there were too many of them.

“Your wife is fine.”  Ray folded his arms as he glared at me.  “She wasn’t injured.  As for your friends—well, they should have kept their business in Indian Springs where they belong.”

“You motherfucker.”  I pulled against the men that were holding me again.  “I’m going to kill you.”

“Then I guess it’s time for the fight.”  Ray turned to the crowd that had gathered and they started to cheer.

“Yeah, I think you’re right.”  I glared at him and curled my lip in a snarl.

“I have to thank you though, Grady.”  Ray turned back to me and chuckled.  “I only expected to get fifty thousand, but it seems like you’ve got quite a reputation around here.  I’ll clear at least double that when I finish you in the ring.”

“You think you can finish me?”  I snarled at him again.  “Let’s do this.”

“All that rage running through you—it’s delicious.”  Ray ran his tongue across his lips before turning to the crowd.  “Are you ready to watch me kill this motherfucker?”

There was a mixture of cheers and boos that erupted in the crowd.  Even if Ray had made a name for himself and had taken down Walter, it didn’t seem like he was very popular with the people that came to watch the fight outside of his own guys.  I was taken to the edge of the ring by the guys that held me and Ray climbed through the ropes.  He removed his suit jacket along with his button-down shirt, revealing an array of tattoos.  He was built like a tank and there was no doubt he would be a challenge. 

My adrenaline was coursing through my veins and I didn’t care how strong he was—I was going to fight him until my dying breath.  I climbed into the ring and stripped off my t-shirt, bouncing on my toes as I watched him flex and throw several shadow punches.  Ray reached over the ropes to one of his guys standing at ringside and walked to the center of the ring with a leather vest in his hand.  He tossed it towards the mat and as it unrolled, I saw The Devil Knights patch.  It was covered in bullet holes and blood, but the one thing that stuck out was the words on the front—President.  Ray had not only taken my wife, he had killed Reggie Dawson.

“Was he your friend?”  Ray smiled.  “I hope he was your friend.”

“You don’t even understand what kind of hell you’ve unleashed.”  I shook my head and picked up the leather vest.

“That’s the difference between you and I.”  Ray shook his head with a smile still plastered on his face.  “I don’t care.”

“You will.”  I hung the jacket in the corner and turned back towards Ray.  “I’m going to make you.”

“Brave words.”  He chuckled again.

The fight started and Ray circled me once we came to the center of the ring with our hands in a fighting stance.  I threw several wild punches to start the match and Ray dodged them, tapping his fists together as he did.  I swung again and he caught me with an uppercut in the center of my jaw.  I immediately saw stars and staggered away, only to feel an even harder punch being driven into my ribs.  I backed up against the ropes and Ray was on me in an instant, delivering a series of rights and lefts that slammed into my body.  I threw up my hands, barely deflecting a punch that could have knocked me out before it was driven into my skull. 

I pushed him away and walked back to the center of the ring, feeling pain resonating through my entire upper torso.  Ray hit hard—there was no doubt about that.  He was also pretty damn quick for a man his size.  I swung again and Ray sidestepped, spinning around and grabbing me from behind.  His forearm slid underneath my jaw and he started to squeeze my throat.

“You remember this don’t you?”  He leaned against my ear and snarled.  “This is how I killed Walter.  One quick snap and—”

“Fuck you.”  Before he could finish his sentence, I slammed my head backwards and felt my skull connect with his nose.

Ray released his grip and when I spun around to face him again, I saw that there was blood pouring from his nose.  He wiped it away and immediately took a fighting stance again with his fists ready for combat.  The hit I laid on him would have dropped most men, but it didn’t seem like it effected him, even if his nose was bent sideways and broken.  He charged at me and swung a couple of times.  I dodged the one aimed at my skull, but caught a stiff shot to my ribs.  I staggered backwards and gasped for air.  The crowd seemed to be shifting out of my favor, even though I had managed to draw first blood. 

A flurry of fists came at me while I was struggling to regain my composure from the impact to my ribs.  He used my midsection like a punching bag and finished the sequence with a shot to my jaw that sent two teeth into my throat as I spun around and hit my knees.  I coughed up my teeth and watched them bounce on the mat.  Ray came after me while I was down, and I had to scramble to avoid him.  He tried to kick me and I narrowly avoided having my head taken clean off.  I stood up and took a defensive stance, feeling my mind reeling from the shot I took in the face.

“Your wife fights more than you do.”  He stood in the middle of the ring and glared at me.  “I’ll enjoy breaking her just like I’m breaking you.”

“You son of a bitch!”  I felt my rage rising and I charged him.

Ray had suckered me in.  My fists swung wildly as I tried to defend my wife’s honor and it was exactly what he wanted.  He took one shot in his arm, but the rest were deflected and he pounded my flesh with his knuckles.  I felt a rib crack, an abdominal muscle rip, and then my jaw was nearly dislocated from the stiff shot he landed on it.  I didn’t feel any more teeth come loose, but it felt like two of them had cracked when they came together.  Blood was pouring from my mouth as I backed up into the corner and prepared to defend myself if he advanced, but he simply raised his arms and celebrated with more of the crowd turning on me as they watched the decimation. 

Ray was picking me apart like he was in the ring with a toddler.  There was so much pain that it was hard to focus on any solitary source.  Ray came at me again and I defended several shots, but he still managed to bounce two off my skull and drive one up into the bottom of my jaw.  I staggered forward and he stepped out of the way, letting me fall to my knees in the middle of the ring.  I had very little left.  My head was spinning, I was sure that I had a concussion, and my body was getting weak.

“Bring out his bitch!”  Ray roared and pointed out into the crowd.  “She needs to watch him die.”

“No...”  I muttered and spat blood onto the mat.

There was movement in the crowd and the sea of people parted.  I saw Monica in the grasp of two guys I remembered from the club.  My eyes were glossed over and my body was exhausted from the pain, but just seeing her seemed to bring a second wind.  If the horrified look on her face was any indication, then I looked worse than I felt.  I pulled myself up to my feet and turned towards Ray.  He seemed amused—even jovial at the sight of my wife’s terrified expression.  I glanced over at Monica and locked eyes with her.  Her hand moved to her stomach and it reignited the same feeling I had felt when I read the letter at her house.  My child was inside her—it was going to grow up without a father if I didn’t find a way to defeat Ray.  I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if Ray got his hands on her. 

I charged Ray and he laughed as he quickly moved and hammered me with a quick flurry from his fists.  I staggered into the corner and fell against Reggie’s vest.  My blood mixed with his and I pushed myself off the ropes.  I didn’t have much left.  My knees were weak and the pain was like fire running through my veins.

“Time to die.”  Ray took a fighting stance and advanced on me.  “Say hello to Reggie for me.”

“Fuck—you.”  I lunged at him, but felt his fist connect with my skull.

“I promised your wife she would watch you choke on your bones.”  Ray locked a hand around my neck and drove a knee into my sternum.  One wasn’t enough—a second one landed and it felt like he had splintered it from the impact.

“You talk too much.”  I swung wildly and my fist ricocheted off his shoulder before it weakly landed on his jaw.

“Just imagine.”  He wrapped an arm around my neck and he drove a fist into my midsection.  “My cock—fucking her in that tight little pussy that has never felt a real man.” 

“You’ll never lay a hand on her!”  I pushed him off and swung with my fist, but before it landed, I folded my arm and drove an elbow into his jaw.  “You’ll never touch her!”

Ray staggered and I quickly leapt into the air, using what little strength I had left to drive a knee into his sternum. He hit the ropes and the force propelled him forward, where my fist was waiting.  I drove it into his jaw and saw his head spin.  I was fueled by rage and adrenaline, mixed with the fury of a husband and future father that didn’t want to lose what was in front of him.  He swung, but I went on the defensive.  I caught him under his arm and instead of delivering a punch, I used his momentum to flip him.  He hit the mat and immediately started to stand, but I was enraged.  I caught the back of his head and drove a series of knees into his face. 

By the time the exhaustion stopped me, he was bleeding from his mouth and his eye.  He smiled, rising to his feet and wiping away the blood.  I had hit him with everything I had, but he was still coming for me.  I dodged a couple of weak punches and we staggered to the center of the ring.  The emotionless stare I normally saw from him reflected something else—fear.

“I guess you’re as good as people said you were.”  He spat blood and raised his fists.  “It’s too bad that it won’t be enough to finish me.”

“You’re wrong.”  I lunged at him, and as he tried to defend, I spun around behind him and clamped my arm around his neck.

“You think you can break my neck?”  He twisted in my grasp.

“Give up, Ray.”  I tightened my grip and squeezed his esophagus.  “It’s over.”

“No!”  Ray turned to his side and pushed me away.  He threw a weak punch and tried move behind me, but I locked my arm around his neck again.

“Do it!”  I hear Monica’s voice echo above the crowd.

Ray wasn’t going to give up.  There was no way he would stop until one of us was dead.  I kept my arm around his neck as he tried to fight, but I had no way to end the fight without killing him.  My body was exhausted and I couldn’t go toe-to-toe with him.  All it would take was one more of his powerful punches to put me on my ass and then I would be dead, just like Walter.  Just like Reggie. 

I couldn’t let him win—I certainly couldn’t let him touch my wife.  There was simply too much at stake and it transcended the importance of his life.  I squeezed my hand around his jaw and yanked with everything I had left.  The sickening crack echoed through the building and Ray went limp in my arms.  I let him fall to the mat and saw the blank stare of death reflected in his eyes. 

The crowd went silent as I staggered to the corner.  The men that were holding Monica released her and she charged into the ring.  She practically tackled me as she hugged me and our lips met.  As good as it was to hold her, I couldn’t enjoy the moment because the danger wasn’t over.  I walked to the ropes and leaned over them, looking at the men that supported Ray.  They looked nervous, and most of them seemed poised to flee.

“I don’t want any more bloodshed.”  I pointed at Ray.  “He ordered the hit on The Devil Knights, but everyone who participated in that massacre deserves to die.  If you walk out of here right now and leave Las Vegas, I will make sure you don’t pay the same price he did.  If you stay and you support this motherfucker, then you’ll have matching coffins!”

I wasn’t sure how they would react.  They could have easily stormed the ring and ended my life.  I watched as they shared glances.  After the first one headed for the door, it was like a domino effect.  Regardless of how much faith they had in Ray, they knew I was offering them one chance at redemption.  The room started to clear and a few remained, but once they saw their numbers diminish, they quickly ran for the door.  The crowd that remained was made up of locals that had assembled to watch the fight.  Money started changing hands and Monica returned to my arms. 

It was over.  The debt would never be repaid, but there would be nobody to collect it.  I took once last look at Ray Stone’s lifeless body before I collapsed in Monica’s arms.  The effects of the fight was finally starting to catch up with me.  She helped me out of the ring and we started walking towards the door.