Turn 133 of 226

Fight each other without holding back. It is violent and animalistic and turns the both of you on

The fight starts without a signal. The body moves first — the jab that is the body's weapon, the jab that has opened every bracket. Diane's head snaps back. The snap is the thing the body has seen fifty-two times — the chin taking the force, the brain bouncing, the eyes going vague. Diane's eyes do not go vague. Diane's eyes go sharp. The sharp is the thing the body has not seen in an opponent — the thing that is recognition, the thing that is the fighter who has been hit and is not hurt and is coming back. Diane's cross lands. The cross is the thing that hits the body's jaw and the hitting is the thing the body has not felt in the warehouse. The body has not felt it in the ring. The body has not felt it from Marcus. The cross is the body's cross and the cross is thrown by the body's equal and the equal hits hard.

The body's blood is on the lip. The blood is the thing that is the copper taste — the taste the body has in the mouth when the mouth is on Diane's mouth. The taste that is the same. The body's vision narrows. The narrowing is the thing the body has not experienced — the tunnel that is the animal's tunnel, the focus that is not strategy but instinct. The body throws the combination — the one-two-three-hook-cross-body shot. The body shot is the thing that lands in Diane's liver and the liver is the thing that drops most fighters. Diane does not drop. Diane folds and comes back up and the coming back up is the thing that brings the knee. The knee is the body's knee — the jumping knee, the weapon that ended three tournament fights. The knee hits the body's chest. The body staggers.

The staggering is the thing the body feels in the warehouse floor — the floor that shifts under 1,040 pounds that are not balanced. The body catches the ground. The catching is the thing the body has drilled — the hip escape, the base widening, the toes gripping the concrete. Diane is already coming. The coming is the thing that is not careful. Diane's hands are swinging — the hooks that are the body's hooks, the wide arcs that are the power shots. The body shells up. The shelling is the thing the body's guard does — the elbows in, the forehead forward, the structure that takes the impact on the bones that are calloused. The impacts are the things that thunder through the arms. Diane is hitting the body's guard and the guard is the body's guard and the guard is holding and the holding is the thing that makes the body's chest swell with something that is not breath.

The swelling is the thing the body does not have a word for. The swelling is the arousal. The body has been aroused by the body's own growth. The body has been aroused by the fighting. The body has been aroused by the food and the pissing and the sex. The arousal now is the thing that is different — the arousal that is the violence, the arousal that is the being hit, the arousal that is the hitting. The body's hand goes low between the legs. The hand that is not a fist. The body is wet. The wetness is the thing that runs down the thigh while the body is throwing elbows. Diane is wet. The wetness is the thing the body can smell — the smell that is the musk and the sweat and the copper and the urine and the arousal, all of it mixed, all of it the warehouse's air.

The ground is where the fight goes. The body shoots the double-leg and the shooting is the thing that takes Diane down but the taking down is the thing that costs — Diane's elbow on the way down, the elbow that catches the body's temple, the temple that blooms with the pain. The bodies hit the concrete. The mounting is the thing the body does and the mounting is the thing Diane reverses — the upa that is the body's upa, the bridge that lifts 1,040 pounds, the scramble that puts Diane on top. Diane on top is the thing the body has not experienced. 1,040 pounds of Diane pressing down, the belly on the body's belly, the breasts against the body's chest. Diane's elbows come. The elbows are the body's elbows — the ground strikes that the body developed, the elbows that ended tournament fights from mount. The body shells. The impacts are the things that shake the body's skull inside the guard.

The body bridges. The bridge is the thing that reverses and the reversal is the thing that puts the body on top again. The body's mouth finds Diane's mouth. The finding is not the kiss. The finding is the bite — the teeth on the lower lip, the lip that bleeds, the blood that is the thing the body licks. Diane's legs wrap around the body's waist. The wrapping is the closed guard — the guard the body taught, the guard that is the position that is also the sex position. The bodies grind. The grinding is the thing that is fighting and fucking — the hips that are fighting for position and the hips that are moving against each other and the wetness that is between them. The body's hand goes between the bodies. The hand finds Diane. The fingers push in. Diane's legs tighten. The tightening is the guard and the guard is the sex. The body's hips move. The moving is the thing that is both — the pressure of the thigh against Diane and the pressure of Diane's thigh against the body. The orgasms come. The coming is the thing that is the simultaneous — the two bodies contracting, the two voices filling the warehouse, the two masses shaking on the concrete. The bodies do not stop moving. The movement is the thing that continues. The fight is the thing that is not over.