After She Falls, page 19
Exhaling, she steps out in her red sports bra and shorts, her heart drumming uneasily inside her chest. The official is gone, but Max is leaning against one of the lockers, waiting for her. Adri’s pulse jumps. His eyes move over her slowly and carefully, as if he’s studying someone in a photograph and can’t figure out who it is.
“Does it bother you?” he asks.
“What?”
“That I dated Tamie?”
His voice isn’t smug or teasing, but her face still fills with heat.
“I . . .” She almost denies it, but there’s no point. Once again, her frustrating feelings for him got the better of her, and she spoke without thinking. “I was just curious,” she says quietly, sidestepping his question. She focuses her attention on taping up her hands. “Shouldn’t we warm up?”
His eyes briefly lock on hers with a questioning expression, but he agrees. Once she finishes, they fly through her warm-up, with Adri moving even faster than before. The feelings surging through her—fear, regret, hope—are overwhelming, but she knows from experience that fighting will overpower them. At least temporarily.
As she walks through the tunnel, she remembers God is with her now. More than any moment in her life, she’s aware of her newfound need for his power as she gets closer to the cage.
“Hit her first,” Max reminds her as she unzips her jacket and hands it to him. “You always hit her first. And if she hits you once, you hit her twice.”
Adri stands still, unblinking, as an official smears Vaseline on her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose, then checks her mouthguard. She enters the cage and cracks her neck, then her wrists, easing some of the tension that’s steadily building in her body. Roman’s voice mingles with Max’s mantras, creating a rhythm in her head that slowly merges with the pulsating beat of her song.
You’re free.
Adri exhales slowly, electrified by those words as they cut through all the noise. They remind her that despite all of it—the abuse, the doubts, the disappointment, the mistakes—she’s free. And in that moment, she really believes it, and that fills her with a strange, soaring feeling as she realizes she’s free to fight for herself again, for the simple joy of it—not just to survive.
On the other side of the cage, Sabine enters to a slow, haunting Slayer song as her fans scream. Adri holds her gaze as Sabine paces the cage, dressed in purple, her eyes fixed on Adri like a predator watching its prey. There’s no hint of the warmth she showed Adri last night—just hard, practiced coldness. Adri’s fear resurfaces for a moment, but it rises and falls like a wave when she and Sabine meet in the middle.
“Be first, Adri!” Max yells, behind her. As she and Sabine circle each other, Adri and Max both know that all of Adri’s work culminates to this—twenty-five minutes or less in a cage. Seizing her first opportunity, she shoots in and lands two hard jabs to Sabine’s face. Sabine instinctively punches back, and Adri barely slips them as the crowd goes crazy.
“Watch her reach!” Max yells as Sabine swings wildly and nearly hits Adri with a nasty hook. Adri tries to listen to him, but her ears are ringing now as pain and adrenaline flood her.
Sabine’s arms are inches longer than hers, but Adri manages to close the distance and land another powerful jab. Sabine’s face contorts in pain, but in one expert motion, she drops down and grabs Adri’s legs, pushing her against the cage.
“Sprawl!” Max yells, as Adri struggles to stay standing.
She bears down to stop Sabine from swiping her left leg and knocking her to the ground, but it’s a struggle against Sabine’s size. Adri’s back is pushed against the cage, while Sabine’s head and shoulders press against her torso, pinning her in place. Desperate, Adri throws the only thing she can, her elbow, slamming it repeatedly against the side of Sabine’s head. The crowd collectively groans with each hit that makes its mark.
“Don’t let up, Adri!” Max yells. He sounds as desperate as Adri feels.
Adri keeps at it, only stopping when Sabine rams her in the ribs with a sharp knee. Adri quickly adjusts, ignoring the searing pain, and keeps throwing elbows until Sabine finally releases her.
“Get after her, Adri!”
Max sounds more hopeful now, but Adri’s not fast enough. Sabine swings first and hits Adri with a powerful punch, and warm blood gushes from somewhere near her right eye just as Sabine goes for another takedown. Adri’s vision blurs as she struggles to break free, pinned down by Sabine’s legs.
“Thirty seconds left!” Max shouts. “Get out of there!”
Blood still pours from her face, but Adri barely notices as she fights off Sabine’s grip, which is slowly inching toward a choke. She feels Sabine’s arm slide, damp with sweat and blood, so she uses it to slip out of her grasp. The audience roars.
“Ten seconds, Adri!”
Sabine dodges two strikes from Adri but fails to block a heavy hook just as the buzzer sounds. She staggers backward but recovers quickly enough to flash Adri a cocky grin before retreating to her corner.
Breathing hard, Adri ignores the lingering pain and meets Max in her corner and sits down. A camera circles them as he works fast, pressing ice against Adri’s torso and pouring water into her mouth. When he wipes the blood from her face, Adri winces.
“I think she got my eye.”
A hint of panic flickers across his face. “Can you see out of it?”
She blinks a few times. Slowly, the angles of Max’s face become sharper and more vivid. “Yeah. I think so.”
He signals for a medic, who examines her quickly. He flashes a light in her eye, temporarily blinding her again.
“Her eye is fine,” he says, after some more light prodding. “The cut is right underneath it.”
Max breathes a sigh of relief, although he and Adri both know it’s a significant disadvantage. When the medic leaves, Max lowers his face to Adri’s so their foreheads almost touch.
“Adri, listen. You scared her.” He looks over his shoulder at Renux, who’s being tended to by her coaches. “Look at her.”
Adri glances in that direction and sees he’s right. Sabine looks rattled. Her chest is rising and falling fast, and she can’t keep her hands still as her coaches motion wildly toward Adri.
“New plan,” Max says, pouring more water into her mouth. “If she gets you on the ground this time, just finish it there. I wasn’t sure before, but you can do it.” As he helps her to her feet, his hands close firmly around hers. “Knock her out standing up or on the ground. Just finish it. This round.”
Surprised but out of time, Adri meets Sabine in the middle of the cage a second time. They lock eyes, and Adri sees a hint of fear again, which dissolves some of her own as the second round begins. Her uncle’s voice fills her head.
“Everybody’s the same in a fight, Adri. No matter who you’re fighting, there’s always some kind of unknown. The smallest person can throw the hardest punch. The tough guy can stall out in the first round. The only thing that’s not unknown is you—your weaknesses, your strengths, what you can do. So, focus on that.”
She exhales.
“Ask yourself—what can I do to win this fight? What’s it gonna take?”
Sabine seems more willing to stand and throw punches this round, so they exchange blows for a while, both of them growing more fatigued but also more determined. After what feels like an eternity, Adri lands the one she really wants—a heavy uppercut that cracks against Sabine’s jaw. The audience cheers wildly as Sabine staggers back, her eyes slightly crossed, but she waves off the ref when he approaches.
“I’m fine,” she says, fixing her cold gaze on Adri again. Her eyes still have a slightly dazed look to them, but she manages to throw two fast punches that knock Adri off balance before going for another takedown. She curses as Sabine pulls her to the ground a second time.
“Finish it on the ground, Adri!” Max roars. They both know this is the moment that will determine Adri’s future in the fight world.
Adri and Sabine’s limbs slide with sweat as Sabine struggles to mount her, but neither of them lets up, not wanting to give the other an inch of momentum. Sabine tries to throw a few punches as she works on the mount, but every time she raises her arm to strike, Adri inches upward, erasing her advantage.
Fatigued, Sabine stops punching long enough for Adri to throw her own barrage of hammer fists. Sabine’s body presses painfully against her, but Adri fights through it. She knows she only has mere seconds before Sabine takes the winning position.
“Don’t stop punching, Adri!”
Adri punches with as much power as she can, one strike after another, hitting the sides of Sabine’s head. She can hear Sabine’s labored breathing and the occasional sharp gasp of pain. When Sabine groans in frustration and moves to avoid another punch, Adri knows that’s her opening. In one swift motion, she rolls, taking Sabine with her and reversing their positions. Sabine, slowed from so many blows to the head, can’t react fast enough to stop Adri’s mount, nor does she protect herself from Adri’s elbow as she slams it against her face.
“You have her now, Adri! Finish it!”
Sabine wrestles to break free and manages to shift Adri’s weight some, but it’s too late. Adri is poised to strike, and that’s exactly what she does, throwing relentless elbows and fists. Blood pours from Sabine’s nose, but she doesn’t give up, and neither does Adri. She feels a storm brewing within her as she punches—black clouds and pouring rain, lightning and whistling wind, heaviness and lightness mixing together as time seems to stand still.
Suddenly, she feels rough hands pull her away from Sabine.
“She’s done, fighter,” the referee says sharply, bending to protect Sabine from Adri’s strikes. “You’re done. She’s done. It’s over.”
Adri blinks, momentarily stunned by his words and the sight of Sabine motionless on the mat. As Adri stands up again, the audience erupts, and it hits her—the sounds, the people storming the cage, the colors and cameras, Sabine still on the ground, struggling to stand. Adri turns and finds Max standing amazingly still in all the uproar. His eyes meet hers, and for a second, it’s like the veil between their past and present splits, like light pouring through heavy clouds. It was the kind of moment she used to dream about before she gave up on dreaming.
The referee takes her hand and lifts it high in the air. “The winner, by technical knockout, Adri Rivera!”
She hears people talking somewhere behind her.
“Wow. I can’t believe Sabine Renux got knocked out by a nobody.”
Someone else laughs. “Well, she’s not a nobody anymore.”
An official approaches, holding out a microphone. “Adri, how does it feel—”
Strong arms wrap around her waist as Sabine, recovered now, easily lifts her up before she can answer the question. Adri laughs, surprised and touched, as Sabine carries her around the cage to more wild applause until she sets her down again and takes the mic. “Come on, let’s hear it for this underdog,” she yells, before leading the crowd in chanting Adri’s nickname.
“La Tormenta! La Tormenta!”
When Sabine sets her down again, Adri’s eyes are filled with tears.
“I guess I was wrong for once,” Sabine says with a wink. Her face is still tinged with blood, but her smile is genuine. “It was your time.”
When Max takes Adri’s hand and raises it a final time, she feels that soaring feeling again and gives God a silent thank-you, aware that it’s much more than just a win or her name filling the arena.
It’s the sound of a broken dream being put back together.
14
DO YOU WANT COMMUNION, ADRI?”
Adri looks up and finds Boom looking at her. Five other pairs of eyes stare too.
“Oh. Sorry,” she whispers. She was lost in her thoughts, reliving her fight with Renux from the night before. She glances at the plate of bread in Boom’s hand and frowns.
“You tear off a piece and then dip it in the wine,” he explains, with a slight smile. “Then I’ll say a prayer, and we’ll eat.”
“Okay.” She tears off a small piece of bread and dips it in the wine glass in Boom’s other hand. The others already have theirs, aside from a young woman strumming a guitar.
Boom dips his bread in the wine and closes his eyes. “God, thank you for giving us all of you. As we eat this bread and drink this wine, remind us of your love and what it costs.”
“Amen,” Adri says in unison with the others before eating the wine-soaked bread. She feels oddly moved by Boom’s simple prayer. “Communion” at Roman’s church involved small flavorless crackers, grape juice, and a lot of words she doesn’t understand yet.
The woman with the guitar ends the service with a classic hymn, filling Boom’s living room with her beautiful voice. Her hair is ink-black and streaked with blue, and when she finishes singing, Adri feels at peace for the first time since her fight with Sabine, which left her with plenty of euphoric feelings, but conflicted ones as well. She catches Boom’s eye and returns his smile, but she turns away when Rocco nudges her.
“Does your eye hurt?” he asks. He sits nearby on a floor cushion. His hair is in a small bun today, like Boom’s.
“Honestly?” She touches the bandage beneath her eye. “Everything hurts right now.”
Rocco looks sympathetic. “I do jujitsu with my dad sometimes. I hurt my wrist really bad once. I had to use a brace for a while.”
Adri smiles at the hint of pride in his voice. “That’s cool. Have you ever tried judo?” As they talk, she discreetly studies Boom’s apartment. It’s small but sun-filled, and secondhand furnishings give it a cozy feeling. Interesting art—mostly of faces and places—covers the walls. Her eyes linger over a photo of Boom and a woman covered in intricate tattoos. A much younger Rocco sits between them, smiling wide enough to show off a few missing teeth.
“Hanging in there?”
She turns as Boom takes the empty seat beside her. He’s dressed up in a denim shirt and suspenders. She smiles. It suits him. “If I don’t move at all, I’m fine.”
He laughs. “Yeah, the morning after sucks. But it’s worse if you lose, right?”
She nods, acutely aware of the sharp pain in her ribs where Sabine kneed her, but she turns her attention to Boom’s interesting guests again. The guitarist laughs with a young man named Vinny, while Charlotte washes coffee mugs with her granddaughter, Ruth. Charlotte flashes Adri and Boom a motherly smile as she takes their cups. Vinny is a former fighter turned street preacher, but none of the others are fight fans, which meant Adri didn’t have to spend the morning answering any questions about Sabine or Max or her fight. Instead, she just talked about God—easily and openly—with strangers. She smiles faintly, remembering the time in Miami when she stepped into an old, quiet church with Eva. That feels like a lifetime ago. “This was really nice, Boom. Thanks for inviting me.”
“Of course. Are you and Max headed back to Sparta after this?”
She nods. She can’t wait to see Eva, but she’s less enthused about spending so many hours alone with Max. Things between them are complicated as ever. Their last conversation ended abruptly in her hotel room late last night. Max ordered room service to celebrate her win, but when she mentioned going to Boom’s church in the morning, he fell silent and left before the food arrived.
“I think we could make a good team, Adri.” Boom’s voice breaks through her thoughts.
He grins sheepishly. “If you want to work with me, that is. I think we have a lot in common.”
She blinks, processing what he said. “I . . .” Just then, her phone buzzes, and she glances at it without thinking. To her relief—and dismay—it’s a text from Max letting her know he’s waiting outside. When she looks up again, Boom smiles knowingly at her apologetic expression.
He extends his hand. “Anyway, congrats again on your big win. I’m sure there will be many more in your future.”
She frowns at the subtle hint of resignation in his voice. “Boom . . . let’s talk again, okay? When things settle down.” She knows she’s not thinking clearly now, not with her lingering exhaustion and the unspoken words between her and Max. “You should come to Sparta sometime. You too, Rocco.” She finds her purse and hurriedly drapes it over her shoulder. “There’s not a lot to do, but the mountains are beautiful.”
“I’m sure it has other draws.”
Color fills her cheeks as her eyes meet his. Of course he knows there’s something going on between her and Max, even though she desperately wishes there wasn’t. Flustered, she says hasty good-byes to the others, makes her way down a long flight of stairs, and finds Max waiting in the rental car, his music blaring. He turns it down when she opens the door.
She glances at him as she slides inside. His hair is unkempt, his face covered in dark stubble, but he still looks annoyingly handsome.
“Hey,” he mumbles.
“Hey.”
He waits for her to buckle her seat belt, then starts driving. He seems to be in a hurry to get out of Albany because he drives faster than he needs to and occasionally hits the brakes too hard. Adri grips the edge of her seat.
“How was it?” he asks.
“I liked it.”
He throws her a skeptical look. “How do you have a church service in someone’s apartment?”
“It’s small. There were only seven of us.”
He frowns. “Did you sing and stuff?”
She nods.
“Weird. Sounds like a cult or something.”
“No, not really. Boom said they do it that way because it keeps the church small. That way, everyone can know each other.”
He makes a soft scoffing sound. “I bet he did.”
Adri glares at him, tired of his ever-changing attitude. “What does that even mean, Max?”
He looks at her out of the corner of his eyes and smirks. “It means that it’s pretty obvious that Boom is interested in more than your soul.”
