Page 32 of Viktor at Sea

Crosby actually had the nerve to lay a finger on me.

If he thought he could get away with this, then he had another thing coming for him.

Crosby grinned widely and made a show of glancing around the crowd, putting on a real show for them.

The coward was actually proud of himself for landing a punch on me when I was distracted. How pathetic.

I was quick to put a stop to that when I spat a mouthful of blood at his face. The crowd gasped loudly, but that didn’t stop me from punching him back ten times harder than he had hit me, my fist landing square on his mouth. The force of my fist sent him flying, and he landed on his ass a few feet away from me.

Unlike Crosby, I didn’t allow my pride or need for attention get the better of me. Instead, I ignored all the gasps and shouts from the crowd as I jumped on Crosby, rearing my fist back and feeding him punch after punch. My knuckles stung as I felt his teeth dig into them, but the adrenaline rush meant I hardly acknowledged the pain. I would definitely feel it later, but right now, with Crosby underneath me, crying hysterically and with blood spewing from his mouth, I could focus on nothing else.

Another punch landed in his mouth. One on his jaw. One on his eye.

Before I could land another punch to him, determined to give both his eyes matching bruises, multiple arms wrapped around me. I didn’t go without a fight, and it took several men to finally haul me off Crosby. They restrained my arms behind my back, preventing me from doing any more damage, but they didn’t think to do the same to my opponent.

“I hate you! I hate you so much!” Crosby spat at me with so much hatred and malice in his eyes. “I wish you had never come back. I wish you had drowned at sea!”

“Let go of me!” I roared at the men restraining me. There were four of them holding me back, and I hated to admit that I couldn’t fight them all off at once. “Just give me a minute, and I’ll remind Crosby why I’m Captain of The Serpent, and he’s a lowly no one!”

“That’s enough from you, Viktor!” One of the men restraining me yelled, and with all the anger fuelling me, I couldn’t decipher who it was. “Your anger is justified, but you can’t let Crosby get under your skin like this. You have to learn to ignore him! You’re better than this, Viktor!” This man was speaking nothing short of the truth, but I couldn’t think clearly right now. Not when Crosby was grinning at me with a bruised eye socket and bloodied mouth.

He had come out of this fight a loser, yet he still had the nerve to grin at me with such pride.

I hated Crosby, and I hated what this man was saying to me right now. I didn’t want to take control of myself. I wanted to let out my anger and do more than just mark Crosby’s pretty little face. I wanted to knock all of his teeth out and then so much more.

I wanted to teach him that there were consequences for speaking and acting in such a way. That he wasn’t as deserving as he thought.

He needed to be taught that Astrid didn’t love him.

That she would never love him.

That she would never settle for him when she could have me.

“Let go of me,” I growled to the men by my sides, trying to tug my hands free of their grasp. “I won’t hit Crosby again, so let go of me.”

The men were reluctant, and I could hear them whispering among themselves. They still had me restrained, and Crosby was still grinning at me like he had won this battle when, in reality, he had won neither the battle nor the war.

“I said, let go of me!” I roared, uncaring of who I offended. When their grip on me finally loosened, I tugged my hands out of their grasp and freed myself from them, though they had no reason to worry.

I was a man of my word.

Instead of hitting Crosby again as everyone expected, I leaned in close until my forehead knocked against his. I took great comfort in how his grin quickly slid off his face, and he gulped in fear, his breath shaky.

“Next time you decide to start a fight, you should consider the skills of your opponent,” I warned, my tone low and threatening. “You got off lucky this time. If these good men weren’t here to hold me back, you would have wished for the sea to drown just so you could escape me.”

When I felt my anger rising again, my fist yearning to punch the living daylights out of him, I knew it was time for me to leave.

Turning around, I kept my gaze low as I walked away from the square and toward the sea. It was the one place I could find any solace right now.

My march toward the sea came to a swift end when someone stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I groaned in disdain at the sight of her and seriously considered going back to the square to allow Crosby to throw another punch at me. Thatwould no doubt be far less painful than dealing with Chara right now.

This day had just gone from terrible to worse.

Chara was the last person I wanted to see right now, but as of late, my luck had been nothing short of non-existent.

“What do you want, Chara?” I groaned in frustration. “I’m not in the mood to talk right now.”

Her face twisted into a sultry expression. “We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.” She reached out to press her fingernail to my chest, but I took a step back to evade her touch. “I came here to offer my services.”

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