Halfway There | COMPLETE ✔ + Sequel

Chapter 22 - An Unwanted Solution

"Ladies and Gentlemen, in just a few minutes, our main fight of the night will begin!" I could hear the announcers voice over the speakers and people slowly gathered closer to the cage. My chest tightened at the sight.

"You're kidding?" I said facing Kyle again to distract myself from the horrific cage.

He shrugged as if this information didn't bother him anymore. Bradley's son? My skin felt as if it were crawling off my body. Not only did Bradley have men follow me around, he probably had his son keeping a watchful eye on me at school. It makes complete sense why Nova had wanted me to stay away from him. Could he be with Bella just to keep a closer eye on me? My head was spinning.

"On the left end of the cage, weighing in at 175 pounds with 35 knock outs since the beginning of his career is Tyler Adams!" Taking a deep breath, I turned to face the cage. I didn't have time to panic about Thomas. Not here. I watched someone walked through a door on one end of the cage. It immediately closed behind him as soon as he handed someone his boxers hood.

I was relieved to see that Tyler was not anyone that I knew or recognized. He looked closer to his mid twenties than his late teens, which comforted my disgruntled heart; but not by much. His chest was bare and he wore loose gym shorts with scars and scrapes all across his chest. His entire head was shaved and his features were so crooked it made me wonder how long he had been doing this.

The cheers slowly faded as the announcer spoke again, "Entering in on the right side, weighing in at 178 pounds with 42 knock outs since the beginning of his career with The Hit you have, our one and only, respected and loved by all, Ryyyyddddeeerrrr."

The entire club erupted with cheers. Even the naked women above our heads whooped and hopped up and down at the sound of Nova's name. I watched with sweating temples as he stepped into the ring. He kept his head down as the crowd almost shook the platform that the cage stood on. He slowly pulled his boxers hood off his head and handed it to a woman before she closed and locked the door he had come in from.

I gasped at the sight of him. He was a completely different person. Just like Tyler, Nova's chest was bare and wore only gym shorts. His arms were at his sides, hanging, almost relaxed. His knuckles and the arches of his feet were wrapped in a white bandage but his gaze stayed down, not looking at anyone but the white, blood stained platform at his feet.

"Fighters, Begin!" The crowd exploded again, eager to watch the fight unfold before them.

Just as Nova had done when he fought Tony in the alley, he completely transformed. In half a second, his fists were up at his face, blocking it. His knees were bent and from far away his feet appeared as if they were levitating on the platform.

I felt a hand suddenly on top of mine and when I snapped my head in the direction it was in, Kyle was giving me a kind expression. He looked down at my hand and I followed his gaze, realizing that he was pointing out that I was gripping the edge of my seat so hard that my knuckles were bone white. I inhaled, quietly realizing that I had also been holding my breath. I nodded my thank you and released the edge of my seat, and let the color of my fingers go back to normal.

I turned back to the cage just in time to see Nova dodge what looked like might have been a very damaging hit. My eyes were completely fixed on Nova and the way his body moved, sharp and quick, dodging left and right, charging when there appeared to be an opening and throwing his fists anywhere he could.

"How can you watch this all the time?" I asked Kyle without taking my eyes off of Nova, afraid he would get hurt if I did.

"Nova is a really good fighter, he can handle himself. He's been doing it longer than he's been with The Hit." I mentally tabbed that in my brain, reminding myself to ask Nova later how he has been fighting that long.