His finger lightly touches the bottom of my chin, and he pushes my face upwards so that I'm looking into his eyes. Eyes that are solely on my lips.
I can't help it. I bite them.
"Oh, Delta," he whispers, quietly giggling under his breath. His laugh...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I scream. The crowd immediately goes quiet, and I take this as a signsomething horrific has happened to him. Maybe he collapsed on the ground? I can only think of so many possibilities when everyone around me begins to cheer.
"No," I say. "No. No, no, no, no!"
I turn my head to Brooklyn without facing the fight, and she smirks at the men in the ring as she takes a short swing of her beer bottle. "Quite the fighter you got there," she says.
Confusion wraps it's fingers around my mind, but my curiosity is cut short when I force myself to watch the knockdown in front of me.
I can't believe it, Xavier's off of the ground! And woah, he's fighting. He's defending himself and he's actually winning!
I begin to laugh at myself, feeling warm tears spill down my cheeks and reach my undeniable smile. The kid had me so worried, I wasn't ready to watch him get beaten to death by a mountain.
Xavier steadies his body, wiping away the wet blood from his face and positioning his hands over his chest. He flexes his biceps, and the muscles in his chest ripple with his arms. I watch the tattoo on his skin move along with him.
"Look at you!" Muscle Man says, gesturing over to Xavier. "You are strong."
He doesn't say a word, keeping his fists balled and at the ready.
"You don't know when to give up, do you?"
Xavier shakes his head. "Never do, never will."
Muscle Man laughs, and I can spot the clench of Xavier's jaw. He's mad, but he's holding himself off. He's not fighting, not yet. He's waiting. Waiting for the right time to pounce.
"I never knew they let little boys in the ring." Xavier's opponent smiles. "You're just a kid. You can't beat me."
Some people in the crowd laugh, and I bite back the urge to punch all of them in the face. Meanwhile, Xavier's fists tighten in anger, and I bite my lip in anticipation.
"He will never win," Muscle Man snarls.
At that moment, Xavier jumps for his opponent, knocking him to the ground with a single shove. I hear a loud shout and a hard thump before he's up from the ground, staring at the other competitor with fury darkening his eyes.
Muscle Man gets up from the floor, wiping fresh blood from his mouth. "There he is," he growls. "No longer a pussy cat, are ya now?"
Xavier spits on Muscle Man's face, showing off clear distaste towards his opponent and snarling in his direction. I can see the smoke shooting from his nostrils, as vicious as the engine of a train.
