Page 138 of Heal Me, Love Me

The cage door closed, and the referee began giving his instructions.

“Okay,” Dawn announced. “Tell me when it’s over.”

I looked again to find she’d covered her eyes with one hand. “You’re not even going to watch?” I teased.

“I’m listening.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“It is for me.”

Nolan laughed while Frank shook his head, but the fight started before Dawn could defend herself any further.

Navarro came forward immediately, looking to pressure Rowan against the cage. Not long ago, Rowan probably would’ve met him head-on. Instead, he stayed patient. He gave ground when he needed to, circled before Navarro could trap him, and forced him to keep resetting.

The first clean punch landed about a minute in. Rowan slipped a right hand and answered with a straight left that snapped Navarro’s head back.

The crowd reacted instantly.

So did Dawn. “What happened?”

“Rowan punched him.”

“Way to go, sweetheart!” she shouted, still covering her eyes.

A second later, she peeked through her fingers. “Okay, maybe I’ll watch a little.”

My attention stayed fixed on the fight after that.

Back when Rowan and I first visited Atlantic Combat, Coach Isaac had pointed out that Rowan had all the pieces, but he needed to learn how to put them together under pressure. Watching him now, I could understand exactly what Coach Isaac had meant because Rowan looked like a completely different fighter from the one I’d watched in LA.

Every movement flowed into the next. When Navarro stepped forward, Rowan didn’t just retreat. He jabbed, and after it landed, Rowan lowered his stance enough to make Navarro react, but broke away before Navarro could answer. Everything looked smoother. Cleaner. More complete.

“Wow,” Nolan muttered.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “He looks fucking awesome.”

The second round began much like the first, but Rowan looked more comfortable. Halfway through the round, Navarro threw a kick, but Rowan caught it, and the crowd leaped to their feet. Instead of rushing, Rowan used his momentum to push Navarro back while threatening a takedown. The exchange lasted only a few seconds before they separated and reset.

Rowan looked dominant, but Navarro wasn’t making it easy. In a move I didn’t see coming, Navarro landed a hard right on the side of Rowan’s face, drawing a groan from our section.

“He’s okay,” I heard Frank reassure Dawn.

By the third round, Navarro’s right eye had begun to swell, and a small cut on Rowan’s cheek bled. Both of them looked tired, yet neither man seemed interested in slowing down.

The pace picked up considerably, and the crowd responded to every exchange. Another hard punch from Navarro landed, causing Rowan to take a step back, but he quickly answered with a sharp counter, and that drew an even louder reaction from the fans.

Dawn finally gave up pretending she was watching and openly hid behind Frank’s shoulder.

Nolan laughed so hard that he nearly missed one of the exchanges. “I’ve never seen anyone watch a fight like that.”

“She’s been doing it since Rowan was a kid in jiu-jitsu,” Frank explained.

Two minutes later, the final buzzer sounded, and I didn’t think there was much doubt about who’d won. Rowan threw his arms around his coach as the rest of the team circled near them.

“Did he do it?” Dawn’s eyes bounced between her husband and me.

“Yeah,” I said, unable to stop smiling. “I think he did.”