Page 18 of Ruthless Prince

“You ok?” Vincent asks me.

“I’m fine. My father can just sometimes be careless with his opinion.” I force myself to look up. “What about you? You get to compete again. Are you happy?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel.”

No one has ever said something so fully relatable to me until this very moment.

VINCENT

The roar of the crowd makes the blood roar inside of ears.

I’m about to face off against a new opponent—a man nicknamed Viper. The last two times I’ve fought, I’ve lost. I won’t be given any other chances after this.

When I step into the ring, the crowd boos. In this world, you either keep the respect of the crowd or you lose it within an instant, and I’ve lost it. They think I’m going to lose again. It’s obvious from the looks of derision I am getting.

The only one who isn’t looking at me like that is Ellie, who’s in the audience with her father. I can’t lose this. If not for myself then for her. For some reason, I want to be around Ellie. I want to get to know her more. Seeing her almost cry the other day after her father made that comment about her outfit didn’t sit right with me.

I give her a small smile then turn to Viper. He’s already bouncing on his feet, ready to pounce on me, but I’m not going to let him. I’m going to win this time.

“Let’s fight!” Sebastian says.

Viper practically barrels into Sebastian on his way to me. I’ve been practicing non-stop for the past week to win this fight.

He tries striking at my eyes, but I kick him in the stomach, sending him sprawling back. I zip around the ring and land a punch to the back of his head. Viper snarls and wraps his arms around my stomach, trying to take me down. I slam my fist into his neck and knock him to the ground.

Using that to my advantage, I fall on top of him, slamming my elbow against his back. The sound of his cry makes meexcited. This is what I was made for. What I trained for all my life.

I hold Viper down until he has no choice but to tap the floor three times, signaling he’s out.

I stand up, and the crowd continues to boo for me. They don’t care that I won again. It will take a lot more wins for them to come back around to me.

Sebastian raises my hand high, announcing me as the winner.

I drop out of the ring and am surrounded by women. I try to look for Ellie, but she’s not there, and neither is her father. They must have left.

A pretty blonde approaches me. “Hey, there.”

“Hey,” I respond.

Her flirty eyes are intense and say everything—this is a woman who wants to fuck.

And honestly, I want to fuck, too. Seeing as I won’t be able to fuck Ellie ever, I can’t spend my time thinking about her.

“What’s your name?” I ask the blonde.

“Rachel.”

“Ok, Rachel. Let’s go back to your place.”

Rachel takes me to her small, cramped apartment. “Sorry it’s not better.”

“No, it’s great. But I’m not here to talk.” I grab her face and kiss her.

“I’m not here to talk either,” she says, pulling away from me. “You were much easier to get alone than I thought.”

“What can I say? I’m a man ready to fuck.”

“So, let’s play, then.”

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