Page 84 of Ravaged Saints

I glance between them, not understanding what Knox is talking about, but I catch the mockery in his tone.

“Knox,” Dante murmurs, his eyes locked on him, shaking his head with disapproval.

Knox ignores him, his grin widening. “If you pin one of us, you can come on the trip.” He crosses his arms, and I can see that cocky look in his eyes.

“Fine.” Ethan’s agrees. “But I’ll pick who I face.”

Knox nods without hesitation as if expecting this.

“Ryker.” Ethan’s gaze lands on him, and my body stiffens involuntarily.

Ryker steps forward, shrugging nonchalantly. “Fine by me, man.” Without a hint of hesitation, he moves past me and heads outside. The others follow.

I trail behind, my steps slower as I glance at Max. “Is this a good idea?”

Max chuckles softly, “Ethan thinks Ryker’s the easy choice. He’s the leanest of us, the recon guy. And Ethan has seen Knox and me pin Ryker down before. But…” He pauses, his voice lowering. “What he doesn’t realize is that when Ryker reaches his breaking point, he becomes a fucking beast, and Knox knows that.”

We gather around the same patch of sand where Knox and Dante sparred the other day, and Knox turns the speakers on.

“Any requests?” He asks with a grin.

“Daggers by We Are Romans,” Ryker answers, and Ethan just shrugs. Knox nods, and the song starts to play.

The guys have speakers all over the place connected to the main stereo. Tons of MP3 songs are stored in a flash drive, and rock and metal are their go-tos.

Ethan is already warming up, rolling his arms and cracking his knuckles. His movements are sharp, and he looks like one of those boxers my father used to watch on TV, full of aggression and confidence.

Ryker, on the other hand, barely moves, singing to the song as he rolls his neck lazily, cracking each side. He looks completely unbothered, but his eyes never leave Ethan.

“Let’s do this,” Ryker says, heading to the center, but before he even reaches it, Ethan lunges forward, throwing a brutal punch that cracks against Ryker’s jaw. The force of it snaps Ryker’s head to the side, and my stomach twists as I see blood streak from his mouth.

Ryker spits on the ground, his face impassive, and he doesn’t flinch.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Max says, his hand resting on my lower back. The unnatural calm in his words makes my frown deepen. He glances at me, a slow smile tugging at his lips. “Ryker’s got this.”

Ethan doesn’t wait for Ryker to fully recover, rushing at him with another hit, and this one lands against Ryker’s ribs with a loud thud, but he doesn’t even lift his arms to block it.

“Come on, fight me!” Ethan growls with frustration as he throws another punch. This time he goes for Ryker’s head, but he sidesteps slightly, letting the blow graze him, and then slowly rolls his shoulders, as if he’s just getting started.

“That’s all you got?” Ryker chuckles.

Why isn’t he defending himself? I’m getting as frustrated as Ethan!

Ethan snarls and lunges again, his punches coming faster and harder, and Ryker takes the hits. His body absorbs the blows like he is being hit by a feather.

The others watch in silence, their expressions full of amusement. Knox leans against a post, his arms crossed, a faint smirk playing on his lips.

“Come on, Ryker!” Ethan shouts, his frustration boiling over. He swings again, but this time, Ryker catches his fist in midair, and I see him looking at Knox, and he softly nods, and that’s when everything changes.

Ryker’s grip tightens around Ethan’s fist, his knuckles white, and his expression hardens. The indifference he was showing so far disappears to reveal something colder and more menacing.

“You done?” Ryker asks, his tone low, almost a growl.

Ethan doesn’t respond, yanking his fist free and going for another punch, but Ryker ducks it with ease, and as I blink, he’s behind Ethan, hooking an arm around his neck, kicking his knees, and pinning him to the ground.

The impact sends up a cloud of dust, and Ethan grunts, struggling against Ryker’s hold. But it’s no use. Ryker pins him with one knee digging into Ethan’s back while his arm twists Ethan’s wrist behind him.

“Stay down,” Ryker says, his tone calm but commanding.

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