Page 77 of Unleash Hades
Hugo
Edinburgh, Scotland
Harrison Guile was ahandsome man. It was irritating that after taking blows to the face that the imperfections just made him more roguish. He had one of “those” faces. Bastard.
It made me want to punch him just a little harder, and break something. If I couldn't make him uglier, maybe it was cosmic rebalancing to make him feel pain.
We circled each other like two roosters, even as I scanned around to look for the She-Bear and her entourage. They were nowhere in sight.
Neither was Richard, even though Rose had kept a wary eye out.
There were so many things to think about. The She-Bear, her girl, Calissandra and then Dick Davenport. Every op worked this way. There were a thousand moving pieces. A dozen plates spinning in the air that we had to keep up until the final act. The conclusion of our mission. We hoped that the conclusion was a slow fade out, but sometimes it ended on an explosive, and bloody, note.
I was very, very distracted by a certain plate with hazel eyes. The woman who seldom smiled. When she did, it felt like the greatest gift.
She was sitting next to the popinjay. The peacock journalist with the colorful scarves.
I should have been paying more attention to Guile, who circled in front of me with an amused twinkle in his eye.
Some people fought in the Underground out of desperation, like the She-Bear. But it was clear that Guile did it for genuine enjoyment. In a lot of ways, he was like Rose. Their blood belonged on the canvas.
I tried to weave as Guile lunged with a cross punch, his fist hit me square in the sternum, rocking the breath from my lungs. He tried to follow it with a take down that I blocked with my forearms, lowering my center of gravity to keep my feet firmly planted. He struggled, and grunted. So did I. But it was clear that I weighed more than him, and I would use that to my advantage.
We struggled.
Guile had this strange, feral energy that made trying to control him like trying to harness a tornado.
We separated, breathless, and he gave me an appreciative nod. Guile was a sportsman. I didn’t want to like him, but I kind of did.
I caught Calissandra’s eye, and she gave me a shy smile. She even blushed. It gratified me that I could still bring color to her cheeks.
Her children would be eighteen tomorrow. I could convince her to be mine. I had been patient. Now, could I be kind? Could I care for her the way she deserved?
Guile looked at me with his blue eyes, giving me a smile.
This was all just a game to him. A job. No hard feelings, even as he jabbed at my right arm, following it with a hell of a cross punch that I narrowly escaped with a pivot of my right heel.
I wasn’t convinced I’d win this fight either.
Not when I was obsessed with keeping Cali in my line of sight. When I tasted her. She was so close.
“You’re distracted,” Guile said, his voice garbled by his mouthguard. “Bro, come on.”
“I can just let you win,” I said, as we clashed together, fumbling for dominance.
“Nah, bro.” He ground his molars on the green plastic in his teeth. “You new or something? You gotta give them a show, or you’ll never get the paychecks.”
He shifted his weight to one leg, and in a stilted, choppy move, kicked his calf between my thighs, sweeping me off balance. I managed to stay upright, and we separated, circling each other again. The small scrape had gotten the crowd engaged, and men in seats who had never dirtied their hands were now telling us how to win a fight.
“There you go,” Guile said with a nod, as if he was coaching me.
“Sweep!” Rose yelled from the sidelines. I did as she commanded, coming down to a knee and lunging forward to grab Guile’s legs.
Guile, unlike the She-Bear, was a cooperative fighter. She had been as unyielding as a brick wall, but Guile was entirely different. He bent and bowed, sliding this way and that, giving in and then taking, like an accordion.
He was a showman, and after the complete barrage that had been the She-Bear, I found his style refreshing.
“Hey man,” he said, as he dodged my jab. “Is the Vixen looking to coach others?”
