Right Through Me

T W O

"You got tickets to the Gladiators?" Leslie squealed at work the next day, eyeing the four tickets in Mia's hands.

"My boyfriend--well, ex-boyfriend--was going to go with his buddies but I took them when he was getting his shit from my apartment," Mia explained, her eyes shining brightly. "So, what do you say, ladies? Why don't we all go out? Maybe get some dinner before and go and see one of these legendary fights for ourselves."

"I'm not so sure," Lina said quickly, the three turning to look at her. "Look--fighting isn't my thing and I don't like watching people intentionally hurt each other."

"Oh, come on, Lina," Amanda chimed in, surprising Lina. "We haven't had a girls night out in a long time. Don't you think we should do something together for once? Besides, this is a big deal. It's not like we'll get this opportunity any other time."

Lina was being cornered, she knew it. She sighed heavily, rubbing her temples tiredly. "Okay, okay. When?"

Mia smirked wickedly. "Tonight."

* * * * *

"Oh, leave her be, will ya?" Amanda said, stopping Leslie and Mia's banter at Lina's outfit. Although the three of them flaunted their beautiful figures with nice dresses and high-heels, Lina felt more comfortable in a pair of leggings with an over-sized sweater than hug off her shoulder, her short hair left down. "She looks good no matter what she wears, let's just go."

Lina made it her purpose in life to dress comfortably because it's better to be comfortable rather than uncomfortable. She slipped on her white vans and tucked her phone in the waistband of her leggings and followed the beautiful girls inside the taxi.

"The Coliseum," Mia said, her voice low and cool.

The taxi driver glanced at them through his rear-view mirror and drove, never saying anything. Once we came upon the large entrance that lead to the underground Coliseum, Mia paid the driver and gave the bouncer the tickets.

LINA

"I can't believe I am here of all places, on a Saturday night," I mumbled, taking a seat beside the three models I called my friends and co-workers.

Our seats were relatively close to the cage, which only seemed to unsettle my stomach further. The crowd was buzzing, the place was loud and packed to the rim. In a matter of moments, the lights-dimmed and a spot-light flashed around the room, a loud drum roll playing.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen," a voice announced, furthering people's cheers. "The moment you've all been waiting for!"

The crowds were screaming and a loud theme music began to play, the large flat playing slideshows of the two fighters for tonight.

"Tonight, we have the Hungarian Warrior, Hans Olo!" the announcer said, the crowds going even wilder. 

On the flat, it showed images of an extremely big and muscular man, his hair a strawberry blonde color, his skin too tan and a thick red mustache laid above his lip, making his intimidation grow further.

"And, our undefeated warrior," the announcer began, another drum roll playing. "The Gladiator of Gladiators, Fifth time champion...Donovan Ander!"

The same guy on the TV. But he just fought last night, how can he go again?

The crowds were even wilder than before and I glanced around at everyone's crazed reactions, my three friends being apart of the crazy reactions.

"You can't seriously say you don't know Donovan Ander, right Lina?" Leslie asked, all three of them eyeing me with curious eyes. I shook my head. "He's like a legend around here, he's from here, he started fighting in those cages at seventeen. He's only just recently starting being undefeated, but he was made to fight."

Made to fight?

I glanced at the cage, no realizing the two competitors stood inside already, circling each other like prey. I watched intently. Donovan was tall, at my angle, he seemed around six foot, maybe taller, his hair was dark, maybe black, and hung in his face, already drenched with sweat. He was built, that's for sure. In person, he looked even more muscular. His body was hard with tough muscle that moved and flexed with his movements. Tattoos decorated his arms and part of his chest and his dangerous blue eyes were trained on Hans.

I gulped and shifted around in my seat, feeling a bit more uncomfortable than before.

"Fight!" the referee shouted and in an instant, Donovan threw a jaw-breaking punch to Hans.

Hans went down, the weight of his body hitting the ground shook the stands and I watched horrified. Donovan didn't even bother going over and beating him up in his vulnerable state, he just continued to circle him, eyeing his prey to see if he'd run away.

"He's knocked out," Amanda breathed, everyone dead silent.

"From one punch?" I mumbled, my eyes widening as Hans slowly stood to his feet, his nose gushing blood. "Broken nose, class three; shattered."

The three girls beside me all gasped. There was no fixing that man's nose but he stood up and readied himself, eyeing Donovan with clear pain in his eyes.

"He should've stayed down," I whispered.

The fight continued. However, it only took two more punched to the jaw by Donovan to get him knocked out for good and he was announced the winner.

"That man didn't even have a chance," I found myself saying to the three as we left the Coliseum and headed for a restaurant. "This is truly like Roman times, many would be put up against someone so far out of their league just to be publicly humiliated."

"Don't take it so personally, Lina," Leslie said, putting a hand on my shoulder as we slid into a booth at a wing joint. "Hans was way bigger than Donovan so it wasn't really a disadvantage. He just didn't seem well prepared, he walked in very cocky."

We ordered beers and appetizers to keep it light and continued to talk about the fight. "You all saw it too, right? His nose, they'll be lucky if they can remove all the bone fragments, that was a comminuted fracture."

We all shivered at the memory of it. Our conversation was going well until sudden screams of joy echoed through the restaurant, causing all of us to turn towards the entrance. Our eyes went wide and our mouths dropped, Donovan Ander strode in with his one bodyguard and two other men at his side. They walked past our table and sat at the booth behind ours. I, being the one facing away from them, lowered my head.

"Are they looking?" I whispered to the three in front of me but they were in shock.

"Ladies," the bodyguard that came in with him said, standing before our table. "If you stare for longer than five minutes I'll have to charge you."

Leslie, Mia and Amanda giggled at the guards charm. 

"What's the charge, a broken nose?" I found myself asking, smiling up wickedly at him. His charm faltered and he glanced at the table behind us, no doubt looking at Donovan. "Or maybe a dislocated jaw?"

Now it wasn't funny. His face fell and he frowned at me while I continued to smile. "A joke is all it is," I said, laughing quietly. "Please, enjoy your time with the killing machine."

I stood up from my booth, chugging down the last of my beer and glancing back at Donovan who was staring at me already with his cold blue eyes. 

"If you'd be so kind," I found myself saying, stepping towards him and tossing him my business card. "Send your beaten opponents over to my clinic."

With that, I gave him one of my signature smiles, him never showing any signs of emotion, and walked out of the restaurant.

* * * * * 

"I made a complete fool of myself!" I shouted, entering my home and groaning loudly, grabbing my head out of embarrassment. "What was I thinking?! He's a giant fighter who could easily snap me in two!"

It was the alcohol.

"Right! The alcohol!" I rationalized. "It was just too much beer. Too much to drink, that's all."