Fighting For Life

by Kylie Alyssa Forte

  I swallowed hard at the lump forming in my throat. “Thank you, Brandon . . .” I was feeling awkward with all of the touchy feeling talk going on, so I decided to lighten the mood a little. “But if you do ever hurt Briana, I’ll help Aiden kill you.” I giggled.

  He smiled back at me and shook his head. “I love her. I wouldn’t do that.”

  I shrugged nonchalantly. “People hurt people they love all the time.”

  He was speechless for a second, but then he nodded. “Yes, you’re right, but every single person you know will hurt you in some way. You just have to decide which pain you can make it through and which you can’t, which people are worth that pain . . .”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Promise

  Aiden

  When I rounded that corner, I wasn’t completely sure what I was going to see. I thought that maybe I’d see Aubry being hurt and needing medical attention. I thought that maybe somehow, she’d gotten trapped or something.

  When I saw all of their faces and his arms holding her in place, I wasn’t even sure what to think. Anger was all that I felt. My blood boiled and all of their lives flashed before my eyes.

  How dare they hold her against her will! How dare they touch her! How dare they even look at her!

  Five men against one girl. Who the hell did they think they were?!

  “What the fuck is going on?” I asked, barely able to contain my fury.

  “Ah Aiden, came to join the party?” David, the quarterback of the football team, asked in an amused tone.

  “Leave her the fuck alone and let her go, David,” I said. My voice laced with so much venom that I barely recognized my own voice.

  “Nah Aiden, I don‘t think I will,” he stated in that easy-going tone of his, grating my nerves. “James is right; you can’t keep a little gem like this one all to yourself. I mean, look at what she did to James over there. Hell, look at my face.“ He pointed to the dark bruise that was formed on his jaw. “Besides, I think she kind of likes me.”

  David’s hand ran down her beautiful body quickly. He was greedily touching her. I felt my blood run cold as soon as his landed on her ass. He groped her with a menacing stare, looking directly at me.

  He had a death wish.

  The slight satisfaction that I got when Aubry elbowed him wasn’t ever close to enough. He needed to pay! He was going to pay!

  “I’m telling you one more time, let her go.”

  “Make me.” David smirked.

  He wanted to play a game, but I wasn’t playing.

  Without replying, I snatched Aubry from him as if she were a rag doll and pushed her behind me, all while, I got David into a sharp and dangerous armlock.

  The jock was surprised, but he shouldn’t have been. I didn’t get into many fights at school, but there had been rumors. He should have listened to the rumors.

  “Aiden?” I heard Aubry’s concerned voice from behind me, it brought me slightly back to earth.

  “Brandon, can you walk Aubry to her class please?” I said, struggling to contain my fury.

  “Aiden, please don’t do anything stupid. I’m no—”

  “Do not say that you’re not worth it, Aubry. Now go, let me do what I have to do!” I couldn’t believe that she actually thought that about herself. It was so far from the truth. She was the whole world to me.

  Thankfully, Brandon reassured her. I was grateful that he was going to let me do what I had to do. He knew that they had crossed a line.

  “Aiden . . . please don’t do anything stupid,” she told me softly when she finally resigned herself to walking away.

  “I’m giving the rest of you one single chance to leave. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that David somehow manipulated all of you into following him, so this is your one chance. If you stay, just know, you’ll wish you hadn’t,” I said when I could no longer hear Aubry or Brandon’s footsteps.

  Every single one of the other guys practically ran from the hallway, including James. Before he could get a chance to get too far, I grabbed him harshly with my free hand and threw him against the closest wall.

  “Not you, asshole, you already got your chance. You’re just lucky you aren’t dead right now,” I told him sharply.

  David tried to pull away from me at that moment because he thought I was distracted by James, but I held on to him tighter and pulled him back to me harshly.

  “Listen here you fucker,” I began as I twisted his arm harder.

  He whimpered in pain.

  “Aubry is off limits to you, to him, to all of you. She is mine!” I said, sounding like a possessive jerk. I wanted to amend that because I knew that even if she’d never know what was said right then, she wouldn’t want to be portrayed as a helpless possession. She was much more than that.

  “And even if she wasn’t mine, you wouldn’t get her! She is not some piece of meat that you can have whenever you feel like, and you certainly don’t get to try to force her into anything, much less gang rape her in the middle of a school hallway! What the fuck is the matter with you dumbasses?!”

  Just saying what they were thinking about doing to her, pissed me off beyond measure. I twisted his arm even harder, making sure he felt my anger. He screamed out in pain and the sadistic side of me got a sick enjoyment out of it.

  James must’ve felt like I was distracted enough to get away because he tried to discreetly scoot down the hallway. I quickly caught sight of him and kicked him in the face, making him fall backwards with a grunt.

  “I’m not done with you, fucker.”

  David tried to thrash around and get away due to my interaction with James, but that only backfired for him and made pull him tighter, then I heard the deafening crack and his satisfying scream. I let him go, and he fell to the ground practically sobbing. It felt good. I put my foot on his chest and rolled him towards me with a smile on my face. He deserved it.

  “That’s what you get for touching her, for putting your filthy hands on someone so pure and magnificent. You deserve this. You deserved much more than merely a broken arm. Consider this to be your warning!”

  I picked my foot up off his chest. David instantly got up and scurried away, cradling his precious arm. I was glad that the quarterback wasn’t going to be able to do the one thing that he was going at.

  I wasn’t worried about him running off. I knew that he wasn’t going to tattle on me. He wouldn’t dare. He had just as much to lose as I did if he told on me, he was the one that orchestrated an attempted gang rape in the middle of school.

  It was just James and I in the hallway after David ran off. His scared expression made me smile with a sense of satisfaction. I felt powerful, and I was sure that he felt puny and weak.

  “Do you know what I’m capable of James?” I asked casually while leaning on a locker across from him.

  He didn’t say anything.

  I walked up to him and kicked him back into the lockers, pinning him there with my shoe. “You know that one of my nicknames is ‘death’? They say that I’m lethal when I fight. They say that I can kill.”

  He visibly swallowed while shaking.

  I bent down and picked him up roughly by the collar. “I didn’t get ahold of you before . . . the first time you touched Aubry.” I bashed his head into the locker violently, making him cry out in severe pain. I could see blood drip from the back of his head to match his bloody face. I smirked sadistically once again.

  “If you go after Aubry ever again, I will kill you. I don’t give a shit about going to jail, nor do I have any moral objections for ridding the earth of scum like you.” I dropped him and let him fall to the floor in a heap. I kicked him in the stomach just for good measure. “So, next time you even think about looking at Aubry, just remember that it will be your funeral.”

  I used my shoe to make sure he saw my serious face. “Don’t test me, James. I keep my promises, and that is exactly what this was . . . a promise.”

  ***

  I was lean
ing up against my truck, looking over at Brandon and my sister who were laughing with each other intimately. I quickly averted my gaze. I knew that I was supposed to be happy that my sister and best friend were happy with each other, however, she was my baby sister, and I couldn’t get the thought of what Ronnie had done to her out of my mind. Her being with someone, even Brandon, was difficult to wrap my brain around.

  I heaved a loud sigh; I knew that I had to accept it. It was something that I had to work on.

  I glanced over to the door that Aubry was supposed to be coming out of. She was taking a long time. I tried not to be worried, but with her, I never knew what to think.

  People had already been talking about David and his broken arm. They talked about how he was out of all sports for the foreseeable future. I smiled at that, giving myself a mental high-five.

  I could feel eyes on me, so looked up from my mental stupor.

  “What are you over there smiling so creepily at?” Brandon asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

  “Nothing,” I answered, keeping the smile on my face.

  Finally, I saw Aubry hobbling out of the school. She looked like she was in severe pain. I knew that all the jerking around from the dumbasses before didn’t help her already bad injuries. My anger flared up again, thinking about them hurting her; stupid bastards.

  I met Aubry halfway and stopped in front of her. “You’re hurting.”

  She smiled up at me and gave me big, long hug. Then, in true Aubry fashion, she let me go and gave me a firm slap. “I’ve been so worried about you!” She then gave me another big hug.

  I laughed at her and rubbed my face where she slapped me with a headshake. “You were worried about me? I told you I’d be fine. Those guys were nothing,” I said, wrapping my arms around her waist to help her walk better.

  “Yeah, I heard the quarterback’s arm mysteriously broke. Do you know anything about that?” she asked playfully, leaning into me and letting me take more of her weight.

  “No, why would I?” I said, smiling at her with a shrug.

  She rolled her eyes playfully.

  “You know you don’t have to train today. You’re pretty hurt,” I said more seriously now.

  She rolled her eyes just like I knew she would. “I’m fine, Aiden. I need to practice for my fight tomorrow.”

  I knew she would say that, and I also knew that she would not listen to me at all. “Okay, fine, but I want Tommy to take a look at you to make sure that they didn’t hurt you even more.”

  “Deal!” she said while smiling widely.

  I shook my head at her with an eye roll as I helped her into the car. She was too stubborn and tough for her own good.

  What was I going to do with her?

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Closure

  Aubry

  Tommy had examined my ribs in silence. I could see him gritting his teeth in anger as his eyes roamed over my back and sides. He was far too quiet for my liking. Tom being silent wasn’t a good thing.

  “I told you that I’m fine. I’m just sore after everything. The doctor told me my body would be tired anyways, so really, I’m fine. There’s no need to worry,” I said, trying to be reassuring. I knew that I was in a lot more pain though. People jerking me around and stuff didn’t help a single thing.

  “Exactly! Tired,” Tommy began as he crossed in front of me while looking extremely impatient. “Aubry, you need rest! After what those low lives did today, your ribs are struggling as are your lungs. You need to give your body a rest! It’s been through trauma after trauma; It can’t handle all of the stress you’re putting on it,” he finally finished.

  “Sooo . . . does that mean that I can’t spar today?” I asked impatiently.

  Tommy snorted in disbelief.

  “Before you answer, realize I have a fight tomorrow.”

  “I’ll make you a deal,” Aiden finally spoke up instead of Tom. We both knew his answer. “You can spar Shawn, the best of the elite fighters that train here. If I think that you’re ready for tomorrow, then he will be the only one that you can spar today. Trust me, I won’t put you up to fight at the Underground if I don’t believe that you’re ready. Okay?”

  I didn’t want to accept it, but I knew that Tommy didn’t want me to fight at all, so, Aiden’s alternative was better. “Fine.”

  “And no training in the morning. Sleep in and chill for a change. Give yourself some time to recover. You’re gonna end up killing yourself at the rate you’re going,” Tommy said, narrowing his eyes at me.

  I blinked at his words. Killing myself was a thought usually sitting in the back of my mind. It usually plagued my every thought and sat there ominously, like a stalker waiting for me. However, it hadn’t really made that big of an appearance since I had moved in with Aiden and his family. Sure, a thought or two might’ve crossed my mind that afternoon because of my slight panic attack, but nothing like usual. It felt nice not to have that lurking in my head all the time.

  Granted that it had only been a few days, but I could feel myself sort of unwinding and slowly relaxing into my new home. I felt kind of almost happy.

  I knew that was dangerous. Happiness never lasted and eventually, something was going to change. That was how my life went. I never got happiness. I got despair and crying; never happiness.

  “Hey, what are you thinking about?” Aiden said, sliding his chair closer to me to see me better.

  I looked at him and forced a smile. “Life,” I said softly to him.

  “Let’s go see you kick this guy’s ass. Then we can go home, and you can nap.”

  I was thankful that he didn’t ask any other questions. He respected my boundaries.

  I followed Aiden to the gym area towards the elite fighters. Suddenly, I was feeling nervous. I seemed to be finally realizing that it really wasn’t my sort-of place to go up against the giant men. Those guys had been fighting for years upon years. I had just started barely two months ago. Who was I to go up against them?

  I knew that I had something that they didn’t, though . . . a purpose. I didn’t have a choice. It was literally a life or death situation for me. I wasn’t fighting because I wanted to, or because I was good at it. I was literally fighting to stay alive.

  They were all sparring fiercely with each other. The closer we got, the more gruesome their fighting seemed. It was rather intimidating, watching people almost twice my size being beat up by one another.

  I stepped behind Aiden quickly, not wanting to bring a lot of attention to myself as we got closer. Aiden looked at me and shook his head, pulling me out from behind him.

  “Stand tall and be strong. I know hat you can beat any of these guys. You’re fast, quick, and strong,” he said quietly to me, giving me some of the confidence that I needed to face those people.

  I nodded and stood up straight. Straightening myself out made me feel the intense stinging from my ribs, but I simply embraced it. I let myself get angry at the pain, angry at my life.

  The guys immediately stopped sparring when they saw Aiden.

  “What’s up?” a guy with dark brown hair asked Aiden, giving him a “bro” handshake. “Haven’t seen you fighting very much lately,” the guy commented and then glanced at me.

  “You know it’s off-season, Shawn. I don’t go as hard during off-season,” Aiden said, getting visibly annoyed.

  “Oh, is that what it is? I’m pretty sure that you usually continue your training and fighting during the off-season,” Shawn said with a shrug.

  Without further ado, he stepped to the side and sized me up. “I was under the impression it’s because of her.”

  He then turned to me and addressed me directly. “I’m assuming that you want to spar?”

  I nodded in response.

  “I’m warning you. I’m better than those people that you’ve been fighting. I won’t go easy on you,” he said with a smirk on his face.

  Aiden opened his mouth up to defend me presumably, but I cut him off quickly, “Good.
I don’t want you to go easy on me.”

  Without waiting for a response, I walked up to the sparring mats with my head held high. I could feel the anger radiating off me in searing hot waves as I replayed his taunts in my head. I was ready to prove myself.

  Shawn finally began walking to the mats with a blank face.

  When he made it to the mats, I said in a loud sugar sweet voice, “Don’t worry, I won’t go easy on you either.”

  Shawn faltered slightly at my words but regained his control in an instant while narrowing his eyes at me.

  The other guys, including Aiden, Tommy, and Brandon were all gathered around us to watch the fight. That was the fight. The one that determined if I was good enough. It was the one who decided if I could be elite. I needed to be an Elite. Too much was at stake to lose. Granted that the real fight wouldn’t be until the next day against someone else, but it felt just as real to me right then.

  As soon as someone said that we could fight, Shawn was in action. He advanced on me quickly, but I was fast and smaller than him, so I had a slight advantage in movement. We simply played with each other for a few minutes. We were seeing exactly how good each of us were.

  I darted around him quickly, but he stayed with me, picking up my every move expertly. He finally swung his fist full fledged at me, but thankfully, I dodged it. I threw my foot at his stomach in reaction, but he backed up, smirking again at me.

  “You’ve got to be quicker than that, little one,” Shawn said, instantly pressing my buttons.

  I swung my fist out in a smooth quick motion, catching his right jaw as his head turned to the left quickly. Just as fast as I threw the punch, he threw one at me, catching my right shoulder as I was moving out of the way. I knew that the hit was hard, but I barely felt it.