Baller: An Interracial MMA Stepbrother Romance by Simone Scarlet MMA Read Free Book Online Page B

blood-flecked canvas.
    At least in the first fight, the neck-bearded kid had bothered to study some martial arts. He at least struggled his way through some real Brazilian jujitsu moves.
    But Jules? He was going at Mendoza like this was a playground brawl – and the only thing more astonishing than Jules’ lack of technique was how Mendoza eventually let himself get locked in a rear naked choke and tapped out.
    Hannibal blinked. It even took the assembled crowd a few seconds to realize that the fight was over.
    “That was it ?” Kristen asked.
    But apparently it was. The ref came in, and hoisted up Jules’ hand. Hannibal’s brother punched the air as he was announced the winner.
    “See,” Red grinned, leading over and patting Hannibal’s arm. “Ain’t nothing fixed about this. If there was, d’you think your lil’ brother would be acting like that ?”
    And it was true. There was a ton of stuff about the fight Hannibal had to question – but the way his brother was leaping up and down on stage was clearly genuine.
    Rightly or wrongly, he’d won the fight – and was obviously ecstatic about it.
    Red slurped his beer.
    “You can look down your nose at me all you want, Baller,” he sneered, “but I do something your fancy MMA league can’t do. I help dreams come true for kids like that.” He jerked his head towards the cage. “You remember the first time you won a fight?”
    And Hannibal did. It was years ago now, and in a venue not that much more salubrious than this one.
    Obviously, Hannibal had been studying martial arts for years, and had won sparring and rolling competitions dozens of times.
    But the first time he won an MMA fight? In front of a crowd?
    It was better than sex.
    “I don’t expect you to appreciate what I do,” Red said sternly, “but you owe it to your brother to congratulate him.” His eyes flashed. “Besides, I’m payin’ him his purse money after this fight. You wanna be there for that, right?”
    Hannibal’s eyes bulged.
    Not only at Jules won the fight – he’d won money, as well. Presumably making back more than the same purse he’d used to buy his way into the fight in the first place.
    The whole seemed screwed up – too good to be true.
    And if there was one thing Hannibal had learned over the years, it was that when something seemed too good to be true, it normally wound up being exactly that.

Chapter Sixteen
     
    Hannibal
     
    As Jules and the defeated Mendoza were led out of the cage, the assembled crowd fell into hush.
    Kristen reached over and squeezed Hannibal’s hand. The atmosphere in that raucous warehouse had changed.
    “This is the headliner,” Red explained, his own voice hushed reverentially. “Rashaan’s fight.”
    The announcer grabbed the mic, and his voice echoed through the hushed warehouse.
    “And now, tonight’s headline fight ,” he announced. “Reigning league champion Rashaan ‘Hungry’ Jackson against challenger Josiah ‘The Hammer’ James.”
    Kristen looked over at Hannibal, as if to ask: “ Who ?”
    And Hannibal didn’t know. He just shrugged his shoulders.
    “In this corner, with a 12-0 undefeated record and weighing in at 255lbs, Rashaan Jackson .”
    The crowd went wild as Rashaan Jackson swaggered out. With his Mohawk and beard, he looked like a cracked-out Mr. T. It didn’t take Hannibal’s years of MMA knowledge to know that the kid was tough and dangerous.
    “And in this corner,” the announcer continued, “with a 3-0 undefeated record, and weighing in at 215lbs, we have challenger Josiah James .”
    The crowd’s response was underwhelming – and when a lanky, pot-bellied white man swaggered out onto the canvas to take his corner, Hannibal could understand why.
    This Josiah James kid looked like a washed-up, thirty-something computer nerd. With his balding head and pale skin, he looked like the ‘before’ photo in those muscle and fitness ads. What he was doing in an MMA cage with a fighter like Rashaan