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Thor’s fists connected again and again with his opponent’s flesh. The slighter man’s reaction time had dwindled dramatically since the start of the fight. Head shot. Body shot. Two right-hooks. At any moment his opponent wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pace and Thor would get past his guard to land a KO hit.
It was too easy.
Thor had never had a semi-finals match change pace so quickly. The first round was close. Neither could break through the other’s defenses and they were left circling and taunting each other, trying to use feints to coax someone onto the offensive side. The round timed out and ended with the judges ruling in the other mans favor. The second round got a bit more intense when his opponent was able to break through Thor’s guard with a solid body kick and follow it through with a punch. They timed out and the judges once again ruled in his favor. Then there was a break for the fighters to sit and talk with their coaches.
Thor barely registered anything his coach was saying to him. His eyes were locked on his opponent as the man slouched onto the stool and looked up at his own trainer who looked like he was giving the standard “you’ve got this” speech. That was when he noticed a tall and sleek man from the crowd come up to the cage. He was dressed in an expensive looking suit and had his long black hair slicked back from his pale, sculpted face. He caught the attention of his opponent’s coach and they started talking in hushed voices. The coach’s face fell and he looked nervously at his fighter and then back at the man who was now wearing a rather smug expression. He gave a short nod before turning to his fighter and speaking quickly about something. Thor watched as a look of outrage and then disbelief crossed his face. The other fighter’s eyes settled on Thor apprehensively just as the bell for the next round rang-out giving him no time to think more about what he just saw.
Now, at the end of the final round, as he rained punches down on his opponent, he felt it sink into his mind what had happened. The entitled air that the man had, the fighter’s anger, the coach’s worried look.
That elegant asshole had offered them a bribe. And they took it.
He made the mistake of glancing at the crowd and seeing a pair of green eyes, set in that pale, face ablaze with anticipation. A red-hot rage flared under his skin and his hits became frenzied. He was wasting more energy than was necessary on each hit, but it didn’t matter at this point. His opponent wasn’t going to be able to recover soon enough to retaliate. A final swing at his head and the man collapsed like a ragdoll to the floor of the arena.
Thor’s ears were filled with the roar of the crowd, but instead of the wave of triumph that usually washed over him after a victory, he felt nothing but wrath uncoiling from his chest and preparing to lash out. His head snapped around to where the man was seated in the crowd and saw another man angrily stuff a wad of cash into his hand. His smug face did nothing to calm Thor’s growing rage.
The green-eyed man noticed Thor staring and winked.
Red washed over Thor’s vision as he made his way out of the cage, shoving the ref into the mesh.
“YOU THINK YOU CAN FUCKING PULL THIS SHIT AND GET AWAY WITH IT?” he yelled as he hurtled himself over the crowd barrier. He reached the man and violently grabbed his collar dragging him up out of his seat, his still bloody knuckles staining the pristine shirt. Thor’s voice dropped dangerously low as he brought back his other fist and said, “Give me one good reason. Give me one fucking good reason why I should pound your brains out onto the ground.”
The man’s face remained infuriatingly calm and complacent. He stared at Thor as a mother might look upon her child throwing an unreasonable temper tantrum. Slowly his hands moved to straighten the cash he was holding before removing a few bills and sliding them down into Thor’s waistband.
“You fucking-”
“Thor!” A pair of hands latched onto Thor’s raised arm before he could swing at the dirty cheating bastard’s face. “Thor, what the hell do you think you’re doing?! Do you have any fucking clue who that is?” his coach growled as he struggled to hold him back. Thor was oblivious to his attempts to reason with him and he twisted and jerked his arm trying to break free of the hold, all the while glaring viciously at the asshole in his grip.
“Thor! Listen- would you stop- hey! Look at me, you idiot!” He finally got a fairly solid grip on Thor’s arm and pulled down hard enough to throw him slightly off balance. Thor snarled and let got of the man’s collar to turn on the nuisance dragging him down. He stopped himself mid-throw when he saw who it was. His coach put one hand on Thor’s neck, grabbed his ear with the other, and pulled his head down.
“That is Loki, Thor!” he hissed into Thor’s ear. “He’s our biggest fucking sponsor in this game and you’re going to fuck it all up. We lose him, we lose your next tournament.” He let go of his ear so Thor could look at him, but kept the hand on his neck firm.
“That’s Loki?” he asked, incredulity now mingling with the anger coursing through his veins. “That fucking little rich shit is the benefactor that you keep going on about? He rigged my match. He bought out the other guy so I would win the fight!”
His coach groaned, pinching his brow. “Thor, you’re too noble. That’s how the game works. You can’t honestly believe that these have all been fair fights. No one in this business plays fair and anyone who tries to, gets crushed.”
Thor shoved the arm off his neck and straightened. He was speechless. He knew that there were cases of rigged matches and that audience members sometimes tried to buy out a certain side to make their bets happen, but his fights? He was a more than capable fighter. His record was unmarked and unparalleled.
Not that he could trust his own record anymore with this new information.
“Loki, sir, I’m so sorry,” he heard his coach say. “Thor can be oblivious. He’s prideful. You know how those people get. They refuse to see that the world turns on more than goodwill and honor. Are you all right? Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? I really-”
Loki held up a hand and he ceased rambling. His face remained impassive and unamused. “I’m fine,” he drawled as he continued to straighten his shirt and jacket. “If this were any other client, our dealings would be over, but this is Thor… and I do have a rather sentimental connection to this case. If you wish to continue with our business, I can be appeased with…” he hesitated and his eyes traveled slowly down Thor’s exposed torso, “favors.”
Thor felt his face flush and his breathing increased. Before he could make coherent words from the growing storm building in his chest, his coach was already there.
“Done. Thank you so much, you’re too generous.” Loki didn’t respond. He had moved on to inspecting his fingernails to make sure that none of the blood from his shirt had gotten underneath them. Thor’s coach grabbed his arm and started dragging him back towards the cage. The crowd had started to dissipate, having already collected their bet winnings and losing interest in Thor’s sudden move when they realized it wasn’t going to turn into a brawl. They walked past the cage and into the back towards the locker rooms. Thor pulled his arm away and shoved the locker room door open, slamming it against the wall. He turned on his heel as soon as they were through the door.
“Did you honestly just-”
“Do what needed to be done? Yes! You need to get it through your thick skull that we need him, Thor!”
“You sold me out!” he yelled. “I am not some whore that can be passed around to anyone who flashes a little money.” Thor was seething. He knew cage fighting was never a truly honest profession but this was beyond him. It was bad enough to find out that the outcome of his fight had been orchestrated, but then to be told in the same breathe that he was supposed to hand out ‘favors’ to an asshole with money so that he could keep his career? It was too much for him. He had honor. He had values. He always tried to be as fair as he possibly could in a world that had its foundation set in blood, money, and adrenaline.
His coach sighed. “For the right price we all are, and he named yours. If you want to keep fighting, you’ll do it.” His phone went off signaling a new text message. He pulled it out and checked it before quickly typing a reply and putting it away. “He’ll be waiting for you out back in a half an hour. Shower, get cleaned up, and make your choice. If you really want to follow your unrealistic morals… I won’t stop you. Just keep in mind that your career isn’t the only one on the line here.” He left the locker room without sparing Thor a second glance, his shoulders slouched in resignation.
The weight of his words settled on Thor with an uncomfortable reality as he dropped to the bench and put his head in his hands. He wouldn’t be the only life affected if he were to drop out of the fighting industry. He had a small team of people working for him, most of them had families to support, and finding a new job was not an easy task these days. Would he be able to live with himself knowing that his pride had ripped the financial security blanket away from innocent families? That because of his honor he could potentially uproot their entire lifestyle?
No.
It would be selfish to do anything but follow through at this point.
Within twenty minutes, Thor was clean and waiting just outside the back entry of the building. He didn’t have to wait long before a black Lexus with tinted windows pulled up to him. His heart increased its tempo as the reality of what was actually happening set in. This was the turning point. If he took one more step in this direction there would be no going back. He tried to solidify his resolve as the back window was rolled down to reveal the composed, ivory face of Loki.
He smirked. “And here I thought you would run out on me.”
“I keep my promises,” Thor answered gruffly.
“Even though the promise was not truly yours,” Loki mused, studying his face and waiting for some sort of retort. Thor’s brow furrowed but he remained silent. Realizing he did not plan on responding, Loki continued, “Then let me make you a promise of my own: I will own you. I will posses you in every sense of the word until your mind and body remember nothing, know nothing but my touch on your skin and my name on your lips. There will be no part of your mind left unburdened by the thought of my presence. You will be mine.”
A chill ran through Thor’s body. His mind was screaming at him to run now while he still can, that this promise would bring nothing good into his life. Everything about that statement was wrong, and any rational person would leave now. ... But there was a sinful voice in the back of his head whispering to him. He was curious, wanted to taste the poisoned wine. The voice pushed out his previous reasoning of selflessness. It wasn’t unlike a moth drawn to a flame. Thor knew if he didn’t keep his distance it would engulf him, he would be consumed and devoured in the burning heat of the flames. He would not come out of this unscathed.
“Get in the car.”
And he did.