Page 76 of I Am Lioness

Already?

I wanted to laugh.

Trapping her in a headlock, I flipped her over and slammed her down onto the mat. My body blanketed over her a second later, my knees trapping beneath me as I continued to wail on that same tender spot. Each hit broke the skin a little more, the blood dripping off my hand a true testament of just how hard I was beating her down.

“Submit, Lexi.” I gritted out beside her ear.

My answer was an unexpected blow to face.

I shook it off and chuckled, pinning my legs around her tighter and smashing my fist into the bloodied side of her face repeatedly. “Is that all you got?”

She swung out again but I ducked my head and she caught nothing but air instead. An irritated growl ripped from her chest and then I felt her fingers snake their way into the tight bun on my head.

She yanked me back and slammed her fist into my face. Stars instantly clouded my vision and I fell back, scrunching my eyes and breathing through the pain. It wasn’t the worst hit I’d taken but it was enough to put me down for a moment. I couldn’t stay down on the mat though. That was suicide.

Quickly rolling to my knees, I lifted my head to locate Lexi and jumped back onto my feet. She was a bloodied mess of sorts barreling toward me. As she approached, I shot my leg out in a swift kick, whacking her right in gut and she folded onto the mat with a loud thud, gasping, struggling to fill her lungs with air.

I was seconds away from mounting her once more when her arms flew up and she tapped her fingers against her palm.

“TIME!” The announcer’s voice blared over the crowd.

The cage door flew open and in came Knox, followed by Lexi’s coach who flew past me as I trotted to my corner. Knox was in full-on coach mode. He handed me my usual chilled bottle of Gatorade and wasted no time, closely inspecting both my hand and face.

“It’s hers, not mine.” I said before taking a long, refreshing sip.

“I figured but I wanted to see it for myself.” He stepped around me and gripped my shoulders, rubbing them with the perfect amount of pressure. His head dipped low, lips a mere hairsbreadth from my ear. “You’re kicking ass, baby. You keep this up and she’ll be down in no time.”

“That's the plan.” I smirked, melting into his touch.

“That'smy girl.” He growled playfully, pressing into me.

I jabbed him softly in the ribs and turned to hand him the bottle.

“Behave.”

That wicked smile I loved spread across his face, swirling my stomach with a swarm of butterflies. It wasn’t lost on me that he was far more calm and collected than I thought he would be, given his reaction last night.

Either he was hiding it well or he wasn’t nearly as worried now that he’d seen me dominate from the get-go.

He pecked my cheek as the announcer called the end of the timeout. “Finish her so we can get the hell out of here.”

“Way to keep me focused, coach.” I chided.

“It’s your reward. Thatshouldkeep you focused.”

“Fiend.”

“For you, always.” He called out, backing away toward the cage door.

I shook my head in amusement and took off trotting to center ring, Lexi joining me moments later. Her face was clean now but the swelling was ever prominent, forcing her eye shut. Yet another factor that could only work in my favor.

The crowd started up again, pumping my blood in time with their voices.

“LI-ON-ESS, LI-ON-ESS, LI-ON-ESS!”

I grinned, bringing myself into stance.

“ARE WE READY, LADIES?!” The announcer’s voice blared above the chanting.

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