Page 25 of Unexpected Temptation

He’s big, taller than me, leaner, and his stance tells me he knows what he’s doing. The brown in his hair and the flush of his face tell me he’s in his twenties. It’s as if I had to face myself at twenty-five, but I can’t let any thoughts interfere, even about Maya and that Mob fuck grabbing on her.

“I’m sorry, old man,” the lad calls over to me, shifting from foot to foot in a long kickboxer’s stance.

“Old men have old-men strength,” I call back, grinning.

We’re wearing thin gloves, which is a blessing compared to bare-knuckle, but elbows, knees, kicks; it’s all fair game. The kid nods with a grin on his own. They’re all here for a show, but he understands, at least. This is combat—battle.

The announcer raises his fist.“Fight!”

The kid rushes forward in a straight line, throwing a superman punch, essentially launching himself like a projectile at me. I duck to the side, keeping my distance, my guard up. He wants a flashy KO. Maybe he’s placed a bet on himself.

He turns, throwing two quick front kicks to my stomach. I harden my abs, but it feels like a spear digging into me. Kicks are just brutal. I catch his leg on the third, as he grins like a cocky ass, then quickly step forward and sweep out his back leg.

When he yells, there’s a twitch to it, anoh, like this feeling of falling is unfamiliar to him. That’s when a surge rushes into me. He thought he was going to mess me up. He didn’t even consider I’d grab him and ragdoll him.

Once, on an operation, they gave us modafinil because we’d been up for thirty-two hours straight. I thought that was the most wired I could ever be.

Then I hear, through the piercing noise of the crowd, a female voice raised,“Let go of her!”

Something primal snaps in me. I have to end the fight.

“Oh, fuck!” the kid yells as I land on top of him and start raining down strikes on his head, bouncing it from canvas, before he panics and turns onto his stomach. I quickly slide my hand around his blood-slick throat, choking him until he starts tapping and begging me to let him go.

When I stand up, somebody enters the cage, holding a worn-looking med kit. I turn away in disgust as the kid sits up, looking disoriented. I’m surprised when he cocks a grin at me. “Thanks for choking me. You could’ve beat my face in.”

“Look in the mirror. I did.”

“Could’ve been worse,” he says, spitting blood.

“It can always be worse.”

I walk over to the edge the cage, looking up at Raffie and his little gang. Maya sits off to the side, her arms over her middle.

“Good shit, T! I told everyone!”

“What was that I heard? Somebody was yellinglet go? A woman?” I call up to Raffie.

“It’s nothing,” the sleazeball sitting next to Maya says.

“The fuck you say to me?” I growl. “I’m talking to Rafeal Trentini, motherfucker.”

Too much adrenaline is coursing through me.

Raffie calls down over the mayhem. “Relax, brother! You’ve still got the Mystery Box event?—”

He cuts off when I grab the cage and scale the wall, then hop over and scale the balcony area. The crowd stares as I shimmy around and slip through a gap in the fence. Raffie stares up at me, mouth falling open, several other men cringing away even as they try to look tough.

“What happened?” I growl.

“We said it’s nothing,” the sleazebag insists.

“Shut up, man,” the man next to him snaps.

“Are you giving her trouble?” I snap, gesturing at Maya. It’s hard to even look at her. I want to take her out of this ugly, fucked-up place. She doesn’t belong here. She doesn’t need to see me like this.

“She’s just not as friendly as she pretended to be. That’s all!” the man snaps.

I walk around the table, standing over him, my hands curling into fists, the leather of the cheap gloves making a cracking sound. “Leave.”

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