Page 35 of Bratva Butcher

I will not kill my partner. I will not kill my partner.

“Son of a bitch!” Pain exploded across my face from Dimitri’s fist, his knuckles plowing into my cheekbone with zero hesitation.

I jumped back, narrowly avoiding another strike, and went on the offensive.

I know what you’re thinking, and no, we weren’t trying to kill each other. It would be a fair assumption, though, so I don’t blame you for assuming.

We were training.

Mr Paranoid over there said he didn’t want to train in front of the other prisoners. Didn’t want to show them what he was capable of or what our game plan for the fights were so they couldn’t prepare for it.

So, there we were, trying to fight each other in the fucking dark.

We’d spent both the morning and afternoon training sessions studying our opponents. The way they moved. If they favored their right side or left side. Trying to gather as much information as we could on them.

“This is ridiculous,” I hissed, blocking blow after blow. “I can’t see shit in the dark.”

“Neither can anyone else,” Dimitri replied, swinging again.

I ducked, blocked another strike with my forearm and then lashed out with a kick. My eyes had adjusted to the lack of light enough that I could see the outline of Dimitri’s body. See his face shrouded in shadows.

He was intent on training when everyone else was asleep. That way, no one could see our moves. I didn’t see the point in it, to be honest. Half the people in the room had been present when we’d both fought for our place in the games. Most of them already knew what we could do and how big of a threat we were. I suspected it was why we were getting eye-balled in the training area.

But still, I agreed anyway because I had to pick my battles with a man like him. Conceding to such a small thing would be more beneficial for me in the long run.

I’d hoped.

“They’re most likely going to try and split us up. Separate us. Get us one on one. It’s important to remember that if that happens, we need to keep an eye on each other. If one of us is in trouble, the other needs to be able to render assistance.” Dimitri front-kicked, and the impact of stopping it made me wince. The dude wasn’t holding back in the slightest. Most men would pull their punches when fighting a woman, knowing they were likely stronger than them and could cause a fuckton of damage, but Dimitri had no inclination to do that. He was going as hard as he would if he was fighting a male, and it was actually refreshing. I hated being babied because I was a woman.

He moved quickly, darting around to my side to attack me again. I jumped away, rolled and sprung back to my feet just in time to see him rush me. He shoved me up against the cell bars with a forearm against my throat. “Dead,” he whispered, a smirk dancing on his lips, an almost playful expression on his face.

I’ll show that motherfucker “dead”.

I reached up between us and twisted his nipples. He whipped back in shock, eyes as wide as saucers. The unexpected move caused him to drop his guard, and I took full advantage…by punching him in his Adam’s apple.

He choked, stumbling back another few steps. I dropped, sweeping my leg out as I spun around quickly, knocking him off his feet. Pouncing on top of him, I rammed my forearm into his throat like he did me, and gave him a dazzling smile.

“Dead,” I mocked softly, breathing heavily, my heart pounding in my chest.

Heat flared in his eyes for the briefest moment before it morphed into frustration. “Nice move,” he grunted begrudgingly.

My smile widened, which just seemed to piss him off even more. “Must have absolutelykilledyou to say that to me.”

He grunted again. “Get off me.”

It was a lot harder to do that than I would have thought. He felt…good beneath me. My legs were either side of his body, my own body flushed right up against his. I could feeleverything. He was all hard defined muscles. Pure masculine strength. All that power he had… There was no denying it was a massive fucking turn on.

It didn’t matter that he was an asshole of massive proportions. That he would kill me the first chance he got. Attraction was attraction. I didn’t have to like the dude to want to fuck him.

In saying that, though, I also wasn’t one to throw myself at someone who didn’t want me. Sure, there’d been a time or two where I’d glimpsed something in his eyes, something that could definitely be interpreted as attraction.

But then again, maybe not.

So, I pushed myself off him.

“Are we done?” I didn’t move far. Just shuffled a few feet over until my back hit the side of the cot so I could lean against it.

Dimitri did the same, dangling his arms over his bent knees, sitting directly across from me. “For now.”

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