BAD BOY SAVED (male pov)

Fight

Crowds gathered on the stadium seats, they had no idea that an hour before kick off I was signing on the dotted line and binding myself into a legal contract for the next five years. It was a clash of excitement and complete terror.

The music started playing and our team lined up at the locker room door ready to assemble on the pitch. There was a lot of discountenance between my team and me, it was constant battle of shady digs or back handed insults but I didn't care. I've been though worse in my life than having people dislike me. On the pitch we collected together and told the crowds a different story and that's all that mattered.

I stood on the turf at my starting marker, Zak waved at me from the opposite goal and I gave him a head nod back but I scanned the stadium for Olivia, finding her next to Reece and Lola. Seeing her face smiling back at me from the crowds felt unbelievably good, I knew she was just there to support me and it gave my heart an instant warming feeling. She wore my colours on her face and I was surprisingly pretty into it.

The whistle got blown and kick off started. The game was intense from the start, having Zak as the goal keeper on the enemy team proved to be hard because he knew all of my tactics and blocked every goal attempt that I made. It was frustrating but that's what I liked about the game, it made me want to focus harder. Zak loved it, I could see it on his face that he was enjoying having the upper hand.

His team scored putting them in the lead.

I got the ball again and dribbled it up the pitch but Luke approached me from behind and tried to tackle it away.

"What are you doing?" I said as I got around him, still holding the ball at my feet. Luke came after me again and the crowd volume started picking up with boos.

"Why are you trying to tackle your own player? Get free!" I said as I managed to avoid his legs. Luke ran along side me, we were heavily guarded by players on both teams who had no idea what was going on.

"I see your girl up there." He said as we ran across the pitch, I took my eyes off the ball for a nanosecond and gave him a side glance, not knowing what game he was playing here. "I'm going to stroke that pussy real good, get her nice and wet and then listen as she calls out my name when she comes."

A surge of anger ran through my veins, turning my blood cold. I stopped dead in the center of the pitch, letting the ball roll away. The players around me halted their steps as well, not even caring to chase after the ball. Luke wore a sly smirk and I grabbed the scruff of his jersey and pulled him closer.

"Don't you ever fucking talk about her like that again." I shouted as I threw my first towards his face. The smile didn't drop from his face but he spat out blood and then coiled his own fist back, he looked amused I took the bait, like this was his plan all along.

Before I knew it we were in a full blown fist fight, half the team tried to break it up, the other half joined in. Silence filled the stadium as everyone watched the blood bath that spread across the turf like wildfire. Somehow Zak had got across the pitch in seconds and was hitting someone on his own team, I think he was the only green jersey defending the reds.

I don't think anyone really knew what they were fighting about besides Luke and I. But there was a rush of anger and male testosterone filling the pitch and it made the air putrid. The stands started clearing out like everyone was instructed to evacuate, Olivia was no longer there.

Luke grabbed my head inside a headlock and repeatedly brought his knee up to my face. My nose was bleeding and I could feel the tension behind my eyes like a new bruise was forming. I managed to flip him over my back and he landed on the floor with a thud. It didn't take me long before I had climbed on top of him, pinning him down with the whole strength of my body weight.

"She felt so good on my lips, I can't wait to taste her other lips." Luke prodded. I punched him repeatedly, without stopping for air. He laughed in a bloodied heap under my fist and his whole body shook underneath me but I didn't stop. I kept pounding on his face until there was nothing left of him.

He was unrecognizable and blacked out in the center of the grass.

"Liam c'mon man, that's enough." Zak pulled me away with reluctance. I fought my way out of Zak's arms "Liam he can't fight back, he's done." Zak shouted as he grabbed me back. A few guys from his team stepped in to help him hold me in place.

The medics came and lifted him onto a stretcher, they wheeled him off the pitch. Coach came walking over a scowl on his face and pointed his index finger at me.

"You." He said aggressively. "Come with me." Zak and his teammates let go of my arm and I followed behind coach ignoring all of the stares I was getting from pissed off soccer players.

I sat down opposite him in his office, it was informal and shoved at the back of the changing rooms so it didn't smell too grand. The chair was brown and made from an itchy fiber that I didn't like rubbing up against the bare skin of my legs. Coach studied me like he was trying to figure me out and I just waited to get the upbraiding over and done with. His nostrils flared with anger and his eyebrows were set to a permanent hard frown.

"Never in my twenty one years of coaching have I ever experienced anything like that. You've just signed a contract Liam, you can't act like this." He spat out, literally. Small splatters of saliva coated his desk because of how harshly he spoke his words.

"I know." I said with a huff, there was no remorse to my voice. I think that made him angrier.

"Is this all a joke to you? Do you not want this? Because they'll take it away. You're not invincible just because you signed a five year deal. They can take it away if you're not acting lawfully." Coach seethed in his chair, his skin turned red with aggression all the way up to his hairline.

"I know." I repeated, this time a little more sincere.

"You made a mockery out of our team today, Team members fighting with each other. Pfft." He scratched his head momentarily "Then we had players from the other team defending ours like we needed the help. Hmm." I sat in silence as he pieced together the games events for the clarity of his own mind. "You need to publicly apologize, to the people in the stands, to the players on both teams and individually to Lucas. It's not happening again, not on my pitch."

I scoffed and sat back in my chair like a stubborn child. Coach raised his eyebrows knowing full well that I was challenging his order.

"Let's get one thing straight." I started. " That dirtbag said some messed up things about my girl and I don't care where I am in the world on your pitch or any other pitch I would still do the exact same thing again with no regrets. I'm not sorry and I'm certainly not going to apologize for defending someone I love."

Coach sighed in defeat "Liam you're suspended for the rest of the term, get out of my office, close the door and go and ice your eye." I didn't linger long enough for him to change his mind. I stood to my feet and made my way back to the pitch.

Zak was waiting for me by the goal, mindlessly doing rainbows with the ball and other soccer tricks. I walked across the grass to him and I could see the colours in his face popping vibrantly from his cuts and scrapes. He noticed me and kicked the ball into the net with ease.

"Liam! What happened? Did you lose your contract?" He shouted as he ran over to me.

"Nothing happened, no I - wait... how did you know about that?" Zak's mouth dropped open and he threw his hand across his lips realizing he just gave away a crucial bit of information that he was never meant to know. I shook my head at him with amusement.

"Dumbass." I insulted playfully.

We walked out together as I walked down the steps of Stanford that led into the parking lot I noticed my group of friends standing across the way.

Everyone was there and in the middle Liv and Jordan held a huge poster that said 'CONGRATULATIONS LIAM' in bold font. The others had helium balloons in red and black.

"Fuck, you all know?" I asked Zak.

He smiled widely at me as we walked over to our friends.

"Course we do." Zak replied.