Free Teach Me by Ashleigh Townshend

and nod.
    “Can I ask you a favor?” He’s desperate and I watch him shudder as he stands and stares at me.
    “I guess,” I tell him.
    “I know you’re mad at me. I know we’re over. I know you hate everything about this. But I need you. Bad. And this is going to be a bad one – and I could really use you…”
    “You want me to fuck you, after everything that’s happened?” I’m incredulous. What the fuck?
    “Just tonight, before the fight. Once.”
    “How about this? Win the fight. And then I will fuck you all weekend long,” I offer.
    That seems to satisfy him, and he and Tim start strategizing. I sit on the couch and play with my phone. I don’t want to go to this fight. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be involved in this, but I can’t walk away from Lucas and it pisses me off. I need to get this shit straightened out, because if I don’t, I am going to be unemployed – and then if he gets out, I won’t be able to help him get it together again.

 
    Eleven
     
    The crowd is far bigger than I would have imagined, since that means people actually know about this whole thing. I feel like Alice in fucking Wonderland right now. Lucas holds my arm and points to a corner where the biggest fucking guy I have ever seen is sitting. Mike Ellis, he informs me. He’s going to die, I realize. Because there is no way Lucas can take that beast. Lucas may be an asshole and have a temper like no one else I know, but he’s still fucking human. Mike Ellis looks like a local prison let him out for some air.
    Lucas’s hand is soaking wet and I’m worried. I’m actually sick I am so scared for him, but he turns to me as he approaches the circle and pulls me in for one hell of a kiss. He lips find mine and his tongue explores the inside of my mouth.
    “He won’t hurt me,” he whispers.
    “What if he does?” I worry.
    “He won’t. Because I won’t be able to keep you to that promise of fucking me all weekend if he does – and it has been way too long.” He grabs my ass and it might be degrading under other circumstances, but it just makes me hope he’s right.
    I kiss him again. “Kick his ass,” I tell him and he grins.
    Tim leads me to the side, to a little area where he sits and people bring him bets. It looks bad for Lucas, which means if he wins, he will win a fuckload of cash.
    When they get started, I have to sit on my hands to make sure I watch. I don’t want to see this, but I need to be here for Lucas. Mike starts pounding on him immediately and I swear I hear bones break, but Lucas is still standing after the first barrage. There is blood streaming from his nose, but he’s steady and when Mike takes a break for a split second, Lucas moves quick. He pounds on Mike’s face and hits him low, so Mike is thrown off balance. It looks like a positive turn of events until Mike stands up again and then hits Lucas so hard he is thrown back several feet. His fingers hang off his hand at a strange angle and the blood starts flowing faster. Mike pounds Lucas’s face until he’s nearly unrecognizable and I scream Lucas’s name. I want to run to him, but Tim rests a hand on my leg to stop me.
    Mike just keeps going and I think I am going to watch Lucas die in front of my eyes. Suddenly, though, he sees an opening somehow and he gets out the hunting knife. I figured he would stab Mike in the side, cause some pain so he would have an opening to keep up the fight. I don’t expect him to shove the knife straight into Mike’s eye, blinding him. Blood pours from the socket and Mike reaches for the knife, but Lucas twists it deeper and then removes it, targeting Mike’s chest. Suddenly, this is not what I thought it would be. I thought, even with its violence, that this was like a UFC fight, but Lucas take the knife, plunges it into Mike’s chest, and twists. Mike gags and a stream of blood spills from his throat. Lucas keeps stabbing until Mike falls, and then he does it again. When Mike finally