Page 103 of The Twins
Frustration gripped me, and I gave up the position by retreating, fists up. I was panting. Neat adrenaline coursed through my arteries.
He darted at me, then leaped up, knee at the ready, and attempted a knee-strike.
I slipped to the side and whacked him in the head twice for his trouble.
He paused, dazed. His partner yelled at him, arm outstretched to tag. It was a good moment for me, and I performed a level change, dropping and running at him in a take down.
We both flew to the floor, but I’d known it was coming and quickly hooked on to him. He tried to sweep, change the dominance, but I wasn’t giving up my top position.
His partner, Kev, was going wild just feet from us, desperate for a tag so they wouldn’t relinquish another point. But it was too late, Del had no choice but to tap out when I subjected him to a ground and pound and causing blood to spurt from his left eyebrow and lip.
The whistle blew, and I jumped up, wiping my brow with the back of my arm. I swept my gaze over the crowd, my attention landing instantly on Rebecca. She half smiled at me, her hands clasped beneath her chin.
My heart swelled with love for her, but I beat it down. The cage was no place for romantic emotions, the here and now was about annihilation and violent victory.
Kev tapped in, and I retreated, giving Cillian the space. Phil passed me water, and I drank deep.
The next five minutes were a real treat for the crowd. Both fighters were aggressive, hungry for the points and engaging all the moves. They grappled on the sides of the cage, each got a take down and Kev got a warning for a foul move—a head butt that split the skin on Cillian’s cheek.
I was buzzing with the speed of it, desperate to get in and fight again. I was flying high. Life was good in and out of the cage. What more did an Irishman need?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rebecca
I’d been dreading the fight all week and with good reason. Cillian was bleeding beneath his right eye, his chest was mottled red with the sheer number of body punches he’d taken, and right now he was in a spine-twisting chokehold.
“Fuck.” I squeezed closer to Amy. “Why aren’t they stopping it?”
“They will…surely,” she said and gulped.
The atmosphere was fever pitch, like a medieval crowd gone to see the burning of witches or the hanging of heretics. I’d never known anything like it, and my ears were ringing and my heart racing.
“Oh, thank God,” Amy said.
Cillian had flipped Kev and pinned him to the floor in a hold that appeared impossible to get out of. The referee was poised to give a point. The crowd bounced up and down, and from the corners of the cage both Del and Finn yelled wildly.
A point was given to Cillian, and he jumped up. He spit out his mouth guard and roared at the crowd, banging the side of the cage and riling them up further. He was high on his victory, every tendon in his neck taut and his muscles bunched. He pounded his chest and ran a circle, giving the crowd the spectacle they’d come to witness: a bloody and bruised fighter showing off his skills.
Finn high-fived his twin, and then they both shook their fists at their fans who clapped and cheered so much the building seemed to shake.
Pride rushed through me. These two men were mine. All mine. They were bad and dangerous, talented and wild. Theyhad depths and ambitions I’d probably never understand, but that just made me want them all the more. My body tingled at the thought of getting up close and personal with all that muscle later on. Having their sweat glide on my flesh, feel their power lurking beneath the surface of their skin as they held me, penetrated me, pleasured me.
A shiver started in my pelvis and wound its way up my spine. I’d be glad when the fight was over and I’d get them to myself again instead of having to share.
Amy hopped on the spot when Finn tagged in. She was getting into the spirit of it. I wasn’t quite there and watched Phil apply something to the cut on Cillian’s face. Anxiety gnawed.
Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, the fight was over. Finn and Cillian were victorious and their home supporters ecstatic at the victory. The four men, after tearing so brutally at each other, fist pumped and clapped each other on the back before leaving the cage.
Beer flowed. The heady scent of sweat and alcohol filled the gym. Amy slipped off with Mitch. She had a sparkle in her eye I hadn’t seen before. What was going on with them? Amy was usually slow to trust, slow to let new people into her life…but Mitch. He seemed to know just which of her buttons to press, what to say…how to handle her fucked-up past.
“You okay, doll?” Finn wrapped his hand around my waist and kissed the top of my head.
“I am, what about you?”
He slugged on a can of beer then grinned. “Nothing a shower and naked time with you won’t fix.”
Cillian sidled up to me and squeezed my ass. He’d pulled on sweats and a white vest with a red-and-orange cobra on the front. “Fighting makes me horny, shall we get outta here?”
