Free Desire Uncaged: An MMA Romance by Ina Anielka

stands; a thought he found oddly comforting.
    He was in the same locker room, hitting pads with the same coach. As he hit, his heavy lands grew lighter, his tired legs loosened. As the sweat started to drip from his forehead, and his hands hit the leather mitts with a steady, crisp thwap , Ethan found the tension easing away. His heart thudded in his chest, the blood rushed in his ears. Like a sports car shifted into gear, Ethan felt his body surge, and find its true capacity. At last, his coach dropped the mitts.
    “You’re ready Ethan. Rest up, you’ll be walking out in a minute.”
    Ethan laid down on the floor, legs and arms spread wide. He closed his eyes and listened to his slowing heart. He focused on his breathing: Each breath long and deep. Filling his lungs to capacity each time. Ethan deliberately relaxed his muscles. He forced his legs, then hips, back, shoulders, neck, arms and even his fingers to settle. Ethan seemed to melt into the floor.
    And then, his coach’s voice brought him back to reality.
    “Ethan. It’s time to go.”
    Ethan opened his eyes. He rose slowly, his nerves firing with readiness. He held his head high, shoulders back as he waited outside the door to the main floor of the arena. He closed his eyes as the lights dimmed as his entrance music blared over the speaker. He waited, just for a moment, just enough to remind himself that this was his show, that he was the central figure in all of this. And Ethan walked out.
    The crowd gave him a warmer reception than the first fight. While there were still some detractors, more people were cheering for him, apparently won over by his last performance. Ethan noted it, but stayed focused on the cage, and on the fight.
    Her arrived cage side and stripped down to his fight shorts. The referee checked him head to toe and Ethan entered the cage. He paced back and forth, staying warm as LC Roberts entered the arena. As he shed his shirt cage side, Ethan was surprised to see how thin and soft his body looked. Now that he was clean and free of performance-enhancing drugs, he looked like a shell of his former self. Ethan smirked. Any fear the name LC Roberts once held for him was gone.
    LC climbed into the cage and stood across from Ethan. Ethan stared at him. The referee made sure both were ready. The bell run g and the fight was underway.
    Ethan gave Roberts respect, staying outside of arm’s reach and only entering in time to tag his opponent’s face with a jab. Roberts still swung with wide, looping punches, but Ethan could tell they were slower and less powerful than the first fight. It was shocking to see how much he had just a few weeks off the juice could effect a fighter. Ethan’s comfort level soon improved and he started to string his punches together in combinations, throwing out two jabs and sending a blistering left hand at Roberts. The left never connected flush but it seemed to garner considerable respect from his opponent. Roberts’ punches were markedly more conservative as Ethan tagged him.
    Roberts , realizing that out striking Ethan simply wasn’t in the cards, changed up his strategy halfway through the round. He rushed at Ethan swinging wildly, pushing him against the fence. Ethan could feel Roberts’s cool, perspiring skin as he held Ethan against the fence. Roberts struggled to wrap his hands around Ethan’s straining legs and drag him to the canvas. Ethan fought tenaciously, frustrating Roberts’ efforts. Ethan soon turned his adversary, reversing him and forcing Robert’s back to the cage. Committed to making him pay, Ethan used his knees to hammer Roberts’ legs. Punishing him for even attempting a takedown. And by next round, Roberts’ legs would be sore and stiff. He wouldn’t be trying for takedowns after Ethan got done with him. For nearly a minute, Ethan held Roberts against the cage and battered his thighs and hamstrings. Only with a thirty seconds left in the round did Ethan wrap his hands around Roberts’