Subject Me To Life [Book One] ✔️ *EDITING*

Chapter Forty-Four

*Not edited* Not proofread*

Chapter 44– What are you waiting for?:

        We walk into the familiar setting. It's stuffy and the air smells stale. There are two fighters in the ring, each giving and receiving decent hits from the other. From what I can tell, the fight is intense, people are out of their seats cheering and screaming for their favourite fighter. The managers are standing by the ropes, shouting out tactics, so amped up they're almost inside the ring, too.

        It's chaos.

        Landon's playful demeanour has long since disappeared. He towers over me almost protectively as we walk up the steps and find two empty seats at the back. I grit my teeth and distance myself from him, but he still doesn't stop glaring at anyone who so much as side-eyes me.

        We settle into the uncomfortable chairs, not really focusing on the on-going fight. Landon's eyes scan across the room with a blank expression. I can't tell what he's thinking and I don't try to figure it out as my eyes roam over the area beyond the stadium of seats.

        As expected, Mac stands slightly behind the ring and off to the side where he converses with another man. He's wearing a suit that makes him look fat, but clearly the guy isn't one for appearances or he'd brush his fucking hair every once in a while.

        Landon nudges my shoulder with his, and when I turn to face him, he jolts his head slightly forward, keeping his brown eyes trained on a specific spot. I follow his line of vision and find myself staring at Ricky— Mac's trusty steed. He's not dressed as formally as Mac, in fact, his clothing is quite simple. He's not talking to anyone, either, he stands alone as he watches the fight from the sidelines.

        Landon stands from his seat and my eyes quickly dart to him. My hand reaches out to grip his wrist tightly as I frown up at him and grit my teeth. He looks down at me with an equally deep frown. "What are you doing?" He tries to pull away.

        I shake my head, "Are you a fucking idiot? Sit the fuck down," I demand, tugging on his arm so he falls back into the seat next to mine.

        "He's right there!" He exasperates in a whisper, using his free hand to gesture in Ricky's direction. "What are we waiting for?"

        I let go of his wrist when I know he isn't going to try and leave again, and sit further into the chair, eyes on the fight again. "A smaller audience."

        There's a puzzled expression on his face as he seems reluctant to give in, but ends up nodding his head without so much as a word. He sits with his arms folded and his back stiff, his eyes darting around the room every so often like he's on full alert. I am too, but I don't make it as obvious as he does.

        We watch a few fights as we wait. I keep most of my attention on Mac and Ricky, alternating between the two. Mac speaks to quite a few people in the time that we wait for, and Ricky barely moves from his position a couple of feet away from his leader.

It's in the middle of the second round of the third fight when Ricky breaks away from Mac and heads towards a side exit. Landon turns to look at me and raises an eyebrow, silently asking if now's the right time. I give a single nod and we both stand from our seats, subtly rushing down the steps and causally following after him.

After the door that Ricky had gone through shuts behind us, we're left standing in a narrow hallway with only a few doors visible before it divides off into two separate turnings. Landon looks at me once he's done assessing his surroundings. "Split up?" He asks unsure.