Hard-Won Attraction Ch. 03

It was two days later, and Cadee was in her element. She was walking along the club walk with her friends in stiletto heels, a dark red mini skirt that showed off her prominent long legs, and a tight top fashioned like a corset that displayed her breasts quite prominently. It was an outfit that was bound to provoke and it did, eliciting catcalls and wolf-whistled down the street, which Cadee reveled in, buoyed by the fact that she was with a dozen like-dressed friends and they could go anywhere they wanted with only a shake of their top or bottom. Life was good, she thought, now the only question was to what bar they wanted to grace with their presence.

"Hey, let's go to the Blue Piranha," suggested one. Immediately, it was nixed by many in the group, as it was a little further away and catered to a rowdier crowd from the normal bars. It was also the most packed and usually the most fun, with many different special events going on. Cadee was feeling adventurous, and convinced the nay-sayers to change their minds. She needed the excitement after her "date" a few nights ago.

Not that it was bad, it was just a little boring from what she had originally wanted to do that night. They had gone to the club, gotten in, and while Evan didn't know exactly had to swing dance, he made a valiant effort, until his knees were aching from the unexpected exertion. Even Cadee was a little winded, as he had lasted longer than she had expected. They had then sat at the bar, sipping mild drinks and talking. Apparently Ben was in fact in a Special Education program in his school and Evan hadn't seen him or Mark for a while since he had been at school, and had first seen them again that day. That explained their exuberant roughhousing. Cadee smiled, inwardly and externally, as it sounded cute. At least he was not the arrogant sort that she usually was set up with, and when he took her home for the night, she was a little sad that their time had to end, although she was also a little tired from the entire day, so she pecked him on the cheek and gone into the house.

If only he was a little more interesting, he might be worth investing something more in, Cadee decided. But now was time for some fun, she decided, pushing these thoughts from her mind. Now it was time to do some heart-breaking.

Evan wasn't thinking, he was only feeling now, and what he was feeling was an indescribable force pushing him, taking hold, taking possession of his body and forcing it to do incredible things. The adrenaline rush sated for the moment, he checked his surroundings, doubled checked his taped gloves, and checked again with his friend/manager for a signal on when to begin. At first sign of his longing, his friend flashed 5 fingers, indicating 5 minutes left. Evan sighed, then growled hungrily. Although he was a little nervous about doing this so near home, he felt like he had to get out and do something. It was nice being back at home, but it was too laid-back for his taste. And that date a couple nights ago with that girl, that was cool, but it had been a little boring and by rote, as if she had been forced into it. Probably the mother's doing, as his dad had warned Evan that the mother was kind of snotty. Still, he had had a good time talking to her once the dance options had been exhausted. He ginned, as it felt she had opened up more once she knew more about him. He would like to get to know her more, but overall she didn't seem too interesting, and those clothes that she wore didn't flatter her at all. Maybe if she had worn a little more daring clothing, then she would have been a little something. Still, he had been wrong about people before, but he couldn't worry about that now, it was too close to go time...

As Cadee and her friends found their way inside, she noticed that the place was packed with an assortment of people that were of a noticeably rougher quality than even the Piranha usually catered too. The majority of men wore jeans and t-shirts, unheard of up the street, and the women were in various stated of trashiness. Cadee and her friends were probably the most well-dressed people in the place. They stood horribly out of place for a few minutes until spotting a table next to the DJ large enough to hold them all. Cadee reflected at least here they would be close enough to the bouncers protecting the video equipment that they wouldn't be messed with.

The reason for this new crowd became apparent to Cadee when she saw the banner overhead that read "OPENNING 2NIGHT, ROUND ROBIN ULTIMATE FIGHTING!" Some of her friends were a little shocked and a few were put off with the imminent display of violence. But Cadee and the rest were curious and eager for it, and, Cadee admitted to herself, a little turned on at the prospect. She had gone to some boxing matches with her friends before, when one of their Boyfriends had been on an under-card, and a few times one of the other girls had a martial arts tournament, and they all tagged along to support her. Cadee had enjoyed every minute of it, especially the actual fight. The thought of those sweaty, near-naked bodies grappling for domination and pounding one another until one of them had to submit was arousing to her, representing a primal world as far from her mother's circle as possible. Her crotch tinged in anticipation, as she allowed herself to fully forget about the circle that her mother and her friends were in and only allowed herself to visualize what would happen

The only thing that would make this better, she thought as she sipped her drink, is if someone that we know would be fighting. When her friend's boyfriend was boxing she had only needed one look at him in his fight gear to be in fantasy land, watching his every punch taken and thrown. He had been a secret fantasy as long as he had fought, until he had been in a car accident and had to retire from injury. Still, the thought of 2 men savagely competing against one another was thrilling, and she, the former boxer's girlfriend and the one that did martial arts convinced the rest of them to stay and watch, as in their words, if nothing else they would see two fit, muscular men without their shirts on.

When the dancing music dies down, the DJ came on the mike and announced the beginning of the tournament, and if everyone would please not throw anything on stage, otherwise the newly hired security team would happily take the offenders outside. Cadee looked out around the room and saw a few squads of some of the biggest, hardest looking men that she had ever seen mingling through the crowd. The ring, or cage as that was almost exactly what it was, was wheeled into place. It was like the common UFC Octagon, only the walls were 7 feet of chain link instead of the usual 5. No escape for the combatants except through victory or defeat. Cadee felt her breath start to quicken as she saw what was to be the battleground of the evening.

Before she could get over this feeling, the DJ went on,"We have brought in some of the fighters from all over, but there is a good showing of local fighters as well. Please welcome one of them, 'Dangerous' Danny Mathers, now!" The DJ dramatically turned on "When Worlds Collide" by Powerman 5000 as the first fighter walked in. Cadee and her friends anxiously looked and saw that it was one of the local College gym-rat muscle heads. He did look good with his 'pecs and deltoids glistening in the spotlights, and although they knew him as a kind of airhead, Cadee and her friends drank in the sight as the other fighter, a big, overweight trucker type, was introduced. A moment later, the fight was underway, although it didn't last long. The gym-rat looked like he had never been in a fight before, and he tried to punch the bigger, fatter trucker stand-up, which the trucker just shrugged off and kept coming in, raining powerful rights and lefts. About 4 minutes into the first round, the trucker tagged the gymrat with a good left to the jaw that put him out for good. As the trucker celebrated with some big posturing, Cadee and her friends applauded with the adrenaline fueled audience. Although it was too one-sided to be much of a contest, Cadee appreciated the effort just the same.

The next match was between two out of town fighters, both more grapplers than sluggers. It ended 3 minutes into the second round, with one managing to trap the other in a nasty arm lock. The man tapped out before any permanent damage was done, and the entire audience cheered both competitors.

The 3rd match was clearly a mismatch, with one out of town fighter towering over the other and outweighing the local fighter by at least 50 pounds. The fight went 2 rounds of the bigger and more experienced fighter playing cat and mouse to the other. It ended with the bigger fighter putting the smaller in a sleeper hold that the younger one, out of pride it seemed, didn't tap out of. Cadee thanked god that the refs were right there watching, since as soon as the smaller man lost consciousness, the refs were there to pull them apart and rouse the fighters. As the bigger man strutted around, Cadee and the girls cheered instead for the spunky defeated fighter that had not given up. At first he was sullen, but after seeing that a group of a dozen attractive females were cheering his determined efforts on, he held his head a little higher and managed to give them a wry smile. Cadee and the girls gave him a bunch of wolf whistles as he went back into the locker room.

The DJ picked up the mike shortly after the competitors were gone. "And now, ladies and gentle men, for the last fight of the first round of elimination, please welcome 'Big' Boyd Grambling, and Evan 'Raging' Watters!" Cadee's head snapped around at the sound of the names. Her girlfriends noticed her instant change in demeanor and asked what was wrong. Her surprised reply was "I think I'm dating one of these fighters!"

This got an immediate frenzied response from the cadre, and Cadee was forced to relate the entire situation. "Do you think he knew that you like men who fight, and did it just to impress you?" asked one after Cadee had told the story.

"No, so far we've only gone on one date and he just got back in town recently," replied Cadee, still stunned by the unexpected intrusion and clash of her family and personal life.

"Is it even the same guy?" wondered another girlfriend, oblivious to Cadee's still dazed expression. That question snapped Cadee out of her reverie.

"We'll have to wait and see," she said, although she hoped beyond hope that he was...

Lion roaring. Waves crashing. An A-bomb exploding. That was the closest imagery that could be seen in Evan's mind at the moment. He was deep, deep in what is known to professional athletes as the ZONE, disregarding all else save the immediate task at hand. His muscles flexed knowingly, his steps became a little more sure-footed, and his awareness of the task was second to none. His manager led him to the ring from the locker room, nodding grimly as he made sure all obstacles were moved out of the way. Then Evan was in the ring, where he needed to be, where he wanted to be. The ref's pleasantries were heard and duly noted, then filed away for the end of the fight, one way of another. Now there was only one thing to do, fight! and win....

"Holy crap! Is he fast or what?" exclaimed one of Cadee's girlfriends, the martial arts one. Cadee could only nod in agreement, transfixed as she was by the spectacle before her. Evan was VERY fast, she had to agree. If she hadn't been staring at him intently, she might have missed the speed of the flying front kick that he landed on the opposing fighter. Now as the fighter staggered, Evan's fluid transition from flying kick to stand up stalking allowed him to successfully rain punches swiftly and accurately down on his opponent. Cadee's breath caught in her throat. He was even more gorgeous than she had expected.

HE had looked muscular under his t-shirt at the BBQ. Now he looked positively ripped. The fluid motion of his fighting style highlighted the muscles contracting themselves under his skin and seemed to offer Cadee a new, sexy glimpse of his body with every move he made. His face had the fighter's mask of concentration, and on him it only made him look better. The deep blue eyes, so deep and intense when Cadee looked into them, seemed to reflect a raging ocean tempest now, his mouth pulled down in a set grimace, to protect his mouth guard Cadee realized. His hair was even shorter than she remembered it from their date, and his new crew cut only added to his determined look. A trace of a goatee completed the look and she was about to approve of the whole package when the action stopped. She blinked, confused, then realized that the fight was over.

Evan had stalked the other fighter all over the ring for a minute and a half, all the while raining punches, until the other fighter slipped during the onslaught. Evan had then been able to apply a successful chokehold, which had gotten his opponent to tap-out almost immediately once he realized it was unbreakable. The ref then presented the winners to the crowd, raising Evan's hand in victory. The crowd erupted into cheers, as it had been the most action-packed fight so far, and Cadee and her girlfriends cheered the loudest. Strangely, Evan seemed not to take notice of it all, and was the quietest fighter she had seen so far leave the ring, with barely and fanfare of acknowledgement of the cheers from the crowd. The DJ came up then and announced the next fight, a battle between the big shot and one of the grapplers from the previous fights,

Cadee still couldn't get over the fact that Evan was a cage fighter. It seemed like such a role-reversal from his gentlemanly act during their date. It was a different side of Evan that completely turned her on. Unthinkingly, she dropped her hand to the front of her skirt and with a start realized it was damp. She looked down, thank god she was wearing dark in a dimly lit room. Her panties were soaked through as well, and Cadee realized just how VERY turned on she was. Still, she still had to at least appear composed and calm in so public a place, so she excused herself and went with a girlfriend to the bathroom to go get cleaned up as the next fight got underway.

Evan's mind was still racing, the haze only slightly lifted as he waited back in the locker room. His body was aching in a few places, but he knew from experience that in a around robin tournament like this, that wasn't quite as big a factor, as everyone was hurting as well. He sat down and was immediately lost in his own world. His manager noted where he was and went to check on the status of the next fight to see when Evan was up next. Near the ring the crowd roared as it seemed one of the fighters had triumphed. Evan didn't notice, still lost on feeding the raging torrents, stoking the fires of intensity within him...