Page 7 of Rayzor: Tell Me It’s Mine II

“Imma beat y’all!” he yelled, mashing the gas and turning the wheel every way but the right way.

“You’re losing, Levi,” Erin told him.

“No, I’m not,” Levi pouted.

“Yeah, you are.” She pointed to his screen. “Look.”

Rayzor chuckled. “You doing aiight, lil’ man.”

The corners of my mouth turned upward. His laughter hit me harder than it should. I enjoyed it.

It was competitive between Erin and Rayzor. Well, more so Erin because they were neck and neck. She had fallen behind and caught up, and vice versa.

“Come on, Rayzor, you gon’ let a girl beat you!” someone yelled from the crowd, and the crowd antagonized.

One round later, Erin did everything to win, but in the end, she fell short and Rayzor won.

“Cheater,” she pouted.

“Nah. That’s fair, lil’ bit.”

The crowd surrounded him, but he picked up Levi and kept Erin close.

“Head up…”

“Chin up,” she added, completing their saying.

“You take a loss and keep it moving. Life don’t stop because of an L.”

He handed Levi’s heavy ass to me, and Erin stood beside me when Rayzor was ambushed by kids.

“You’re the boxer Rayzor, right?”

A teenage boy approached him with a group of friends behind him.

“Depends on who’s asking.” Rayzor stood tall.

The boy’s eyes lit up.

“I told y’all,” he said to his friends standing by. “I wanna be just like you when I grow up. Can I get a picture?”

Erin rolled her eyes.

“Ugh. Another one. That’s like the hundredth one today,” she mumbled beside me.

“It’s his job, Erin.”

He posted with the boy for the photo while the crowd waited on their turn.

Rayzor searched for us amongst the crowd– our eyes locked. My insides somersaulted and went into overdrive when he winked at me. What the hell was wrong with me? This wasn’t normal. None of it was. Yet, I watched him bring joy into kids’ lives like he didn’t just cause an uproar in mine.

Left. Right. Pivot.

Sweat disappeared onto the mat as I glided across the canvas. The gym was dark, only the overhead light spotted me. I needed coordination. Clean movements. There were too many mistakes in my last fight I couldn’t afford to make twice.

Left. Right. Pivot.

Again. Again. And again.