Page 28 of Sucker Punch Drunk Love

“That’s right!” I assured, but settled her with some words that would get her through because while I wanted her to prevail, I knew there was a chance we could possibly leave here without a win.

“Listen, mami. Even if you can’t turn this thing around, Héctor and I saw the wolf in you. You did your best and gave it a go.”

“I just do better when I know you're watching me.”

“Well tell you what, next round you'll know I'm watching you. If you know that I'm watching you…you sure ashellbetter make a statement,” I demanded, the time moving in slow motion at the beginning of the fourth round.

If Sierra was nervous this time around, she was doing a good job at not showing it. She did a better job at protecting herself, and when she managed to grapple Natasha to the floor, the tides finally seemed to turn around. But still, it wasn’t enough for her to win.

She needed to know thatIknew she could take this shit, and she wasn’t going to start fighting better if I didn’t deliver what I promised. Standing up in my chair, I brought my hands to my mouth to amplify the sound of my next chant. Then I howled. Ihowled like a wolf howls at the moon. Howled in the way that helped them communicate with their pack. The only way I knew how to let her know I was watching.

To my surprise, Hector started in the howling too, and before I knew it, half the crowd had joined us. Maybe I’d been wrong that in thinking she hadn’t swayed the audience. In a transformative performance, the girl moved with a different kind of power. Fighting hard and keeping her opponent back.

Sierra faked a swing leaving her challenger open as one hard punch to the jaw sent her staggering to the ground. The ref checked on her, giving her the grace period to rejoin the fight but as she struggled to stand, the ref blew his whistle.

“Sierra “La Loba?*” Medina wins by clean knockout.” Pandemonium broke out, the crowd going wild with their cries and cheers. The chant of her stage name La Loba?* filled the packed arena, a sure sign that she’d won over the reluctant crowd. The referee lifted her arm to the sky, her expression smug and stunned. I knew that look. She was still registering that she’d won.

“Give it up for our newwwwwww champion.”

***

As I cut away the gauze that shielded her hands, Héctor did his best to clean up her face to stop the swelling.

“Medina, say something. How do you feel?”

“I don't know,” she gushed.

“You know,” I challenged through a grin.

“I wasn't sure I had it in me.”

“I knew you had it in you,” I reassured, with a caress to her forehead. “You did good.”

In an instant, tears started forming in her eyes but with one curt look, I shut that shit down quick. “Eh, don’t you start with that? What did I say? No fuckin’ crying.”

“I know,” she sobbed, barely getting her words out as she wiped her running nose.

“It's just I've never known what it was like to have someone believe in me. For so long, it's only ever been me believing in myself. But sometimes that's not enough.”

“Well, it was enough tonight?—”

“No, I'm being serious. You were really hard on me, and I know it's because you want to see the best of me. You didn't even want to train a woman. So, I thought you would remember why you didn't want to take me seriously. I was half expecting you wanting me to fail to prove your point.”

“So, what changed?” Sierra beamed, and even though she was still a little puffy, it lit up her face.

“When you started howling. Then the crowd started howling,” she gushed.

“Wasn't that shit fucking amazing?” I agreed.

“Yeah. At first I thought people were making fun of me, but you told me you'd let me know you were watching. And then I knew, that the crowd was cheering for me.”

“Honestly, when I started, I didn't even think it'd catch on.”

“Yeah, that shit was fucking sick,” Héctor agreed.

“So, when half the crowd started hollering, I was like, this better fucking stick, because it’s fucking A to know when you could physically see when you won the crowd over.”

“That's when I knew I had it in me to win.”