Ari Canizales whined in protest as she was rudely shoved forward into the large glass pane. Her voice succinctly expressed her outrage at the move, but simultaneously also betrayed her inability to do anything about it. The lovely brunette was presently being tied up in a standing full nelson that her opponent was employing to great effect - not only did the hold serve to keep her thoroughly immobilized, but it also put her on full display for the audience on the outside to see. With the weight of the other woman's body pressed against her back, and with her face, her midriff, and her bared breasts smooshed against the transparent and unyielding surface, the optics being presented in this moment were truly galling and surely would do zero favors for her reputation.
But just as grave as the ignominy of the situation was its inherent peril. The other girl had her completely under control with this lockup and likely could maintain it indefinitely. Ari's natural reaction to the restraint was to struggle against it, but their current position made it easy for her foe to outmuscle her. She thrashed back and forth, stamped her feet on the tiled floor, and tried to force her way off of the glass, but this just expended energy that she could ill afford to squander at such a late juncture in the fight. Meanwhile, the other girl could simply bide her time before making the next move, of which there would be no shortage of options to pursue.
All in all, things had very much not been going according to plan.
* * * *
"So glad to see you. It's great that you could be here!"
Everything about the fight that night was falling into place. One after another, all of the pieces were lining up just the way that she wanted them.
The venue was glamorous beyond compare. This particular hotel was often reputed as one of the best that the city had to offer, and to her eye, it easily lived up to that billing. The layout was designed around a large square atrium that served as its centerpiece; the floors on each side went up six stories with the hallways arranged in a terraced fashion overlooking the open space. No expense had been spared in any part of the decorum, and the decadence on display bespoke the high stakes nature of what was about to transpire.
The ring, so to speak, was an ideal complement for those environs. At one corner of the atrium was the hotel's elevator, situated in prominent sight for all who passed within. It projected outwards with the three sides opposite the door free and clear, and each of these outward walls consisted of full-height glass that offered an unobstructed view from most any direction. She thought the edifice's appearance to be stylishly minimalist, certain to excel in its role as a showcase for her in her element. Spectators were free to view the fight from any vantage point in the hotel that they wished - the sole exception was the third floor where the elevator was parked, which was being reserved for VIP attendees. The elevator would be a rather confined fighting space at approximately 8 or 10 feet square in standing room, but she was not especially perturbed - the way things were likely to go down, there wouldn't be much need for anything more.
The opponent was quality competition. Making the match had taken some doing, but she'd ultimately succeeded in convincing the other girl's handlers that the two were well-suited for one another. After all, the other girl was after the same goals she was; both possessed the same hunger for victory and fervent self-confidence in the skills that they would be bringing to this fight. But though alike in those regards, the conviction in her heart told her that the other girl was not her equal; her mind didn't think for one moment that it wouldn't be her who'd prevail. This win was going to solidify her bona fides as a contender and remove any lingering doubt that she wasn't where she belonged.
But for Ari, one extra little thing was poised to make the whole night almost perfect.
"You finally get to see me in action," the brunette gleefully remarked, "I can't believe it took you this long."
"Well, coming out to Vegas isn't exactly an everyday occurrence," Elliot Carter replied, somewhat matter-of-factly, "But admittedly it is pretty nice whenever the opportunity does arise."
Ari beamed with the brightest of grins as she hung onto the man's every word. There on the third floor, the two were facing one another as they approached to make conversation. The contrast in their dress was stark - him looking sharp in his suit and tie, her showing off considerably more skin in a black halter-style bikini with brass loop connections between the cups and at the hips. Ari loosely clasped her hands behind her as she showed herself off to him in her fight attire - a small arch of the back and a raise of the shoulders accompanied a not particularly subtle outward push of her chest as she made sure he had a good view of her décolletage. The reaction she elicited was not especially pronounced as such an indulgence of the male gaze might come off as ill-mannered, but his inability to resist the urge entirely still flattered her to no end.
From the moment she'd first laid eyes on him, Ari had been completely enamored with Elliot. He was such a dreamboat! Tall, dark, and handsome to a tee - there was nothing in the world she wanted more than for him to take her and everything she had to offer. And she could tell that the underlying attraction was there for him too, judging by what she saw ever time he looked at her. Though convincing Elliot to come around fully and see things her way remained a work in progress, Ari was just as patient as she was persuasive. She was confident that she'd get what she wanted in the end, but she was also certain that Elliot would have all that he could have ever hoped for, and more.
"I've still been thinking since we last saw each other," Ari overtured, "It'd be really great to have you as a manager. Wouldn't that be something?"
Elliot was coy with his response, in a cutely obnoxious sort of way. "Really. Is that what's on your mind?"
"Just think about it," she continued, "Imagine how the two of us together could make the most of things."
Before Elliot could answer, a new voice approached to interject. "Yeah. That would be a pretty wild notion. Wouldn't it."
Ari's gaze shifted as she watched
Erica Ellis come up from behind and sidle up next to the man on his left. The other girl was stunning in a fetching navy blue dress that gleamed from its satiny material, while her blonde locks were up elegantly with ringlets framing the sides of her face. A look of displeasure flickered across Ari's countenance before being suppressed; the gesture was reciprocated by the newcomer with a brief but unmistakable flash of animosity.
If everything about tonight was almost perfect, then the blonde's presence was the one obtrusive stain that was poised to spoil the whole affair.
This wasn't the first instance where it had occurred. Nor was it the slightest bit serendipitous, either. Every place that Ari and Elliot crossed paths, any time a chance came up for her to make a move, they would all be accompanied by Erica third wheeling herself in between. Erica and Elliot were not a couple, as far as Ari knew, and her ultimate designs on him were not yet fully apparent. All the same, the blonde was by far the next closest rival for his attention and a nuisance who seemed hell-bent on stifling the brunette's ambitions. Such competing wants and wills were not tenable over the long run, and perhaps it would be soon that a more decisive settlement would be required.
Barely missing a beat of the conversation, Ari turned back to Elliot and looked him in the eye. "Oh? I think it'd be shame if nothing were to come of it. Don't you?"
Ari's words were joined by her reaching out and running her hand along Elliot's upper arm. With this act, she launched herself headlong into a war of words - one that was being waged not by what was spoken, but by what was being left unsaid.
Erica was quick to make a rejoinder. "Seems like it could be challenging to make that work out in the end."
What the fuck are you doing.Ari gave the man's arm a gentle squeeze as she took her sweet time withdrawing her touch. "Who's to say," she answered, "Anything could happen."
I don't see anybody's name written on him."Where there's a will, there's a way," Elliot offered blithely, completely oblivious to the conflagration raging all around him, "But in the meantime, you've still got a match that you can't forget about."
"Yes," Erica added, "She seems like she'll be quite a handful for you. And it looks like she has plenty of people here rooting for her, too."
Nobody likes you.Ari did not immediately answer the veiled jab. Rather, her attention followed Erica's in suit as each turned their head to look out across the atrium. By tradition here, the VIP floor was delineated into halves for each fighter. Guests could mingle on whichever side they wanted, and the choice served as an unofficial vote with their feet for who they preferred to prevail. Much to the brunette's chagrin, her side was more sparsely occupied than her opponent's, and by a rather noticeable margin at that. The significance of this additional slight was not one to be downplayed. After winning a monumental victory in her
last match, Ari by all rights should have ascended to the top of the Las Vegas hierarchy; instead, the collective response of the establishment was to withhold their recognition of her accomplishment. Meanwhile, with
Haley Monroe no longer in the picture, a mad scramble had been set off to consolidate the pieces that were now up for grabs. It irked Ari that she would have to claw her way back up all over again, but if she had to do it the hard way, then so be it.
At the center of the opposition coterie stood
Casey Lavelle. Unlike the frosty reception that had been deigned upon Ari, the outpouring of support for her opponent that came from those who'd chosen to congregate with her was in ample supply. Casey was a 24 year-old with dirty blonde hair that went down to her shoulders. She was the slightly more diminutive of the two at 5'3 and 105 lbs versus Ari's 5'5 and 110, only outclassing the brunette with her D-cup breasts versus the latter's Cs. But where Casey lacked in stature, she more than compensated for it with a gym rat's physique. Her fit appearance and tone musculature, visibly striking in the white string bikini with gold leaf patterning that she sported, made it clear that she was not one to be taken lightly.
The blonde was smiling pretty as she basked in the admiration of the guests that were gathered around her. But with a stray glance, she caught the brunette staring at her and turned her head to meet the look being directed at her. Ari watched that same smile disappear from Casey's face and become replaced by a coldhearted glower; her own demeanor darkened in return as the two women fixed their menacing stares upon one another. The moments that followed were filled with a foreboding tension as brunette and blonde engaged each other in a standoff - no words were uttered across the wide space of the atrium, but an entire conversation's worth of taunts, boasts, and threats were passed between them in the span of only a half minute at most.
At last, the fighters broke off from one another and returned their attentions back to their own immediate surroundings. Ari's harsh disposition fell away and her softer tone came back to the fore as she regarded Elliot and Erica again. The pair had been keenly observing the confrontation, taking stock of it as a preview of the imminently looming contest. Much as Ari did not like to admit it, Erica had made a valid point about the challenges that Casey was going to present; at the same time though, she spotted a narrow window of opportunity opening up that she could take advantage of if she moved swiftly. It was best to pick her battles one at a time, and the one closer at hand was about to be concluded. A broad grin formed on her face as she found the line that she needed to take.
"Well, I have my work cut out for me. Wish me luck!"
Ari threw herself forward and glomped onto Elliot with an enthusiastic, full-bodied hug.
Go fuck yourself, you bitch.* * * *
Ari hated the feeling of being trapped and helpless. It rankled her all the more to be so beholden to a cheap blonde who was otherwise so far below her league. Her impulses thus drove her to continue fighting against the hold, even as she made no headway against it. There was no surprise as Casey elected to ride it out, pushing harder with her hands and arms to keep the brunette's upper half pinned to the glass. When at last this latest flurry of resistance was expended, Ari felt her foe's right arm unwind itself from her own as the hand move to seize her shoulder; the left remained where it was to retain a half nelson. With her opponent bracing off of her like this, she was wide open as the other girl took a step back and started thrusting with the knee into her glutes and hamstrings. Ari wailed loudly and piteously with the impact of each deliberate strike, the steady accumulation of which left her hobbled.
The nelson hold was released and Ari was sucked off of the wall by a hefty tug; she was turned about-face and then promptly shoved into it again with her back pressed against the glass surface. The blonde's left hand pawed at her shoulder, stacking her upright; moments later, the right swung in and struck Ari in the form of an open-handed slap to the face. Casey was a strong girl and the power she was able to put into the blow even at this late juncture made it feel like thunder as it cracked on the brunette's cheek. A second slap and then a third from the blonde came following and each in turn whipsawed her head sideways. Disoriented and hurt by the methodical onslaught, Ari desperately threw herself forward and managed to tie up with her foe, even as she was once again bodied back into the glass.
The fight for control was at a pivotal juncture. Ari clung tightly onto Casey with her left arm looped around the neck, pulling them close together to stymie her foe's offense. Her other arm however had quickly become pinned at the wrist to the glass, held onto by a firm talonlike grip. Opposite the brunette, the blonde was squirming ferociously in her bid to disentangle herself, first prodding with her right hand at Ari's outer shoulder and bicep in an attempt to create some separation, and then windmilling it out with a clumsy pair of punches. Ari winced as these blows grazed off of her brow and ribs, but she managed to hold on tightly; her foe's knee came up and drove bluntly into her thigh, but still she did not let go.
Drawing her arm out along the wall's surface, Ari wrenched sharply and succeeded in slipping her hand out from Casey's grasp. She immediately darted it out and seized her similarly topless foe's left tit with it as she began to maul the sizeable orb in earnest. It was spiriting at this stage of the fight to hear Casey's screams at these close quarters, but that good feeling proved fleeting as the blonde grabbed the brunette's right breast and started repaying it in kind. Ari's loud wails joined her opponent's to fill the air as they savaged each other's chests - neither could yank or tug to much effect while pressed up with one another, but that didn't mean there was any shortfall of ways to inflict harm. Ari opted to squeeze the breast and gouge her fingers into it, while Casey chose to alternate between twisting hers and its nipple. Both girls were suffering in this heated exchange, as evidenced by their tortured expressions and pain-wracked cries.
It didn't take long for the blonde's other hand to join the attack on the brunette's bosom. Ari's face twisted and her teeth gnashed together as she vainly tried to retain a modicum of composure, but it was no use as both of her breasts were being twisted and crushed in her foe's unforgiving clutches. She likewise could sense her own grip on Casey's breast beginning to wane. The outcome that would be in store for her if that grip failed was clear - she needed to do something soon. Ari still had her left arm around the blonde's neck, and she let go with her right hand to press on Casey's flank - with a heave, and a push, and a turn of her hips, she shoved off the elevator wall and managed to reverse their positions. Casey squealed in surprise as she unexpectedly found herself trapped against the glass, and for her troubles Ari tucked a short right hook into her toned abs. The claws around Ari's tits loosened as a second such punch struck home, and to her relief they fell away entirely as she crammed in a third repeated blow. Now Casey was the one who needed to tie up, pulling herself in tight and clinching to try to break the momentum.
Suddenly, the blonde's legs churned with hitherto unseen strength. Having gripped her hands around Ari's shoulders and pressed her head in beneath the chin, Casey surged forward and bulled her way off of the wall through sheer might. Ari could do nothing to stop herself from being carried backwards by the blonde tide as their trajectory took them diagonally across the space and straight into the adjacent wall with a forceful body check. She groaned as her foe's weight banged her into the rigid glass and as the small of her back collided against the protruding metal handrail; worse yet, she had been put right back into the same disadvantaged position that she had just escaped from.
Casey was surging now, eager to close things out. Her hands and arms were freely firing away as they applied a slow but steady beatdown on Ari's chassis. A forearm smashed against the bosom. A right hand snatched at her ribs. A left hook battered against her midriff. Crammed against the glass and in no position to deny these incursive blows from landing, Ari's expression was awash in the suffering that she was being made to endure. With her options running short and the threat of succumbing looming ever greater, Ari let go of her opponent and, after throwing her hands out, quickly clapped them back together into the sides of the blonde's head. The gamble paid off as boxing Casey's ears staggered her and compelled her to break off the attack in order to reach out for Ari's shoulders and steady herself. But moments later, the blonde's head snapped forward and plowed into the brunette's, devastating them both in one shot as they sank together to the elevator floor.
Ari's head was throbbing. Down on her haunches and with her back slumped against the wall, she felt a heavy strain as she tried to gather her wits just enough to continue the match. The lone saving grace was that Casey appeared to be suffering similarly in the headbutt's wake, clearly laboring to regroup nearby on her hands and knees. The race was on now to see which one could pull themselves together first - Ari held a slight edge in that she was able to reach for the elevator handrail and drag herself up by it, but the advantage felt razor-thin as Casey was not far behind in rising off of the floor.
As the brunette haltingly made it to her feet, the blonde suddenly lurched up and charged into her, tying up around the waist and driving shoulder-first into her midsection. The brusque move made Ari grimace as she bore the impact and was pressed into the glass, but yet it had been unable to impart the same blunt force as the one that had preceded it. Before the other girl could ram with the shoulder again, Ari braced both hands against Casey's back and thrust her leg up into the body. Though her thigh muscles ached tremendously in protest, the reward for that effort was the feeling of her pointed knee thumping into the blonde's torso. Casey definitely felt it too as she audibly groaned, but still she clung on tightly even after Ari coaxed out another pair of knee strikes. Clenching her right fist, Ari now raised it high above and brought her forearm crashing down across Casey's back - again and again she whaled down with the tired blows until at last the blonde faltered and sank to her knees.
Ari was breathing hard as she extricated herself from the arms that encircled her, but she couldn't afford to let up now. Reaching down to seize her foe's blonde locks, she tugged the other girl off of the floor and marched her back over to the center wall opposite the elevator door. Though Casey whined and tried to twist her way loose, she couldn't prevent the brunette from shoving her face-forward into the glass. Ari was now paying the blonde back for earlier with this reversal of their previous positions, holding her hands and forearms against Casey's head and upper back while leaning in with body weight to keep the other girl pinned. The technique was crude, but it served Ari's ends well enough as Casey was held up against the glass surface and flattened against it in full view of the crowd.
The blonde was still trying to fight her way out. Even with her fortunes appearing to be ebbing with each passing moment, she nonetheless was still trying to break free in hopes of turning the tables one last time. Ari attempted to quell Casey's resistance with a pair of knee strikes to the buttocks in payback for the shots she'd taken earlier, but for her troubles she felt the blonde's hand in her hair as it reached back and tugged wildly. Snarling as she and her foe wrestled with one another, Ari pulled back her right hand and fired off a strong punch to her opponent's kidney. Casey howled as she took the heinous blow; so satisfying was it to Ari's ears that she let loose another pair of punches to the same target that produced similarly agonized wails. The other girl was fading fast now and grasped onto the handrail for support - no opposition was offered as Ari seized the blonde's head by her hair, pulled back on it, and then viciously shoved it forward into the glass. Casey's face thumped hard off of the stiff material and she was sent reeling backwards, tripping over her own feet as she fell to the floor at the elevator's center.
Though she was weary, Ari did not wait for a respite as she dropped to her knees and climbed atop her foe. Casey groggily reached up and tried to shove her away, but a swift slap across the cheek chastened her with a gorgeously violent head-swivel. The sight of it moved Ari to replicate it immediately, and she rocked the blonde's face to the side with two more identical slaps before capping off the fusillade with a punch to Casey's left breast. The wretched howl this coerced out drew Ari's attention down to the other girl's bust, and an unrelenting furor came over her as she quickly brought both of her hands to bear on the blonde's tits. Casey screamed and writhed as Ari squeezed and clawed the twin quarries; she sobbed and grasped desperately at the brunette's wrists as the ravaged orbs were yanked upwards and twisted heartlessly, all to no avail. But even as Ari poured everything she had into subjugating her foe's rack, nothing akin to a verbal submission seemed to be forthcoming from all of the screams and sobs that filled the elevator's enclosed quarters.
At last releasing the other girl's tits, Ari slid forward and flattened herself out over the blonde. She pressed her own considerable chest down onto the blonde's facial features, while her hand and arm encircled the back of the head to lock in a breast smother. Snuggled up just the way she wanted it, Ari began to squeeze and ply the hold as her endowments wrung out every last remaining bit of fight that her opponent had left in her. Casey continued to mewl from underneath, but these final protests were being snuffed out by the tight seal of jug; she tried to twist her head from side to side, only to find that there was no escape to be had. Ari felt Casey's hand push plaintively at her flanks, but at no point with the inevitable looming did they tap out to signal a surrender. Rather, the blonde simply slipped away and went relaxed as the stillness of smother-induced unconsciousness overtook her.
Ari slowly unwound her arms and released her vanquished foe from the fight-ending hold. Sitting up, she took stock of the victory she had just achieved - though the match had been hard-fought, the momentous victory that she had just achieved was total and unambiguous. Her eyes surveyed the scene and glanced down to look over the other girl lying beneath her. Casey appeared tranquil in her slumber - even though the marks of battle were evident on her body, there was no sign that the losing effort was weighing on her now, or that it had bin at the point where she'd lapsed out of wakefulness. Nor was there anything about the expression on her sleeping face suggesting that she'd been cowed by the brunette that had bested her. In a way, it seemed as though the blonde had succeeded in striking out with one last act of defiance.
An upswell of rage took hold within Ari and rapidly burgeoned over into a physical manifestation. As her beautiful visage transformed into a malevolent scowl, she lashed out and delivered a fearsome slap to Casey's cheek, bearing with it all of the spite and anger that she bore within her. The blow cracked loudly upon impact and the blonde's head was knocked sideways in a picturesque display of violence, but as it lolled back the same insensate expression was still there. Ari's fury only grew as she unloaded with two more slaps, each having the same fruitless result. Her hands next moved lower and began to assail Casey's nipples, wantonly pinching and twisting them - the blonde's brow furrowed and her lips formed into a small fretful grimace, but nothing more. Ari's attacks would not cease as she doggedly kept after her goal, so tantalizingly close and yet so persistently out of reach.
The elevator doors were opening now as the powers that be finally acted to intervene on Casey's behalf. Several attendants moved in and restrained Ari, separating her from her opponent and lifting her to her feet so as to escort her out of the space, while others yet came in after them to tend to the defeated blonde. Ari was petulant like an unruly child as she resisted every step of the way, still not yet satisfied even though the fight was over. But as she came around the side of the elevator and stepped back into full view of the audience on her side of the floor, she caught sight of a set of eyes that were fixated her person with a look of undeniable disdain. Instantly, Ari's aggression was redirected as she was being led down the hallway, and she returned back a baleful glare filled with all of the pent-up animosity and ill will that she bore towards this other woman.
Not a single word was spoken in the exchange, and yet so much was being said.
