Page 91 of Brandishing Balance
I narrowed my gaze on him, before I hit him back. “Then start talking.”
“Make the fight worth my time,” he grunted.
I growled and advanced on him, giving him what he asked for. Blaze and Phoenix shifted and glared my way for going against the plan, but this dude was toying with me. I needed to end him.
Tiernan grunted as I hit him in the ribs on his weak side. “Hillcrest has operations in Chicago.”
I backed off, immediately. “What do you know?”
“I know locations, I know his men, I know his routes,” Tiernan said, panting.
I bounced on my feet, weighing my options here. It was everything we needed.
“FINISH HIM!” someone behind me shouted.
Tiernan lunged at me, catching me across the face with his fist. My head jerked to the side with the force I hadn’t expected.
“Fuck.” I spat blood on to the floor.
Tiernan came at me again and I got serious. I blocked and jabbed and advanced on him. Going for his weak side, I drew his punches while I jabbed with my other fist.
He laughed. “Fucking finally.”
We both settled into the zone then. I had to admit that his videos were child’s play compared to what he was doing now. Clearly, he hadn’t had a decent fight in a long time. Not that Ihad either, the dude was on fire, and I was getting hit as much as I was hitting back.
“After the fight,” Tiernan grunted. “I’ll tell you what I know, and you hook me up with who runs the coke.”
“Deal, but I’m kicking your ass first.” I smirked and upper cut his jaw.
He laughed and we fought harder. We gave it our best. It was clear that Tiernan hadn’t shown his full potential in all the videos I watched. Blaze and Phoenix shifted again, I knew they were getting restless. The fight wasn’t going as planned, but hopefully in the end it would pay off.
“We gonna call a draw?” Tiernan grunted, after I landed yet another hit to his ribs.
“You think the crowd’s gonna go for that?” I shot back.
“Nah, but I’m not losing this one. I’ve got more intel than you can give me.”
I bit back a retort, because he was right. If he wasn’t lying to me about the information he had on Dax Hillcrest. I needed that information more than anything else. “I need assurances that you’re not lying.”
Tiernan huffed out a breath. “Hillcrest runs everything under a shell corporation, Summit Holdings. Dig into that and you should find what you’re looking for.”
I smirked and changed up fighting styles, there were no rules after all. I swung out my leg and caught him in the head with a roundhouse kick that sent him sprawling to the ground, stunned.
Standing over him, I waited for him to get up. The MC shouted into his mike and the crowd went wild. I crouched over Tiernan and snapped my fingers in front of his face. “You with me buddy?”
He grunted, his eyes blinking.
I put my hand on his chest in a mockery of a hold and glanced at my brothers. Phoenix raised an eyebrow at me while Blaze grinned.
Tiernan wasn’t done, though. He caught me in the temple with a sucker punch that seemed to have come out of nowhere. “Fuck.” I grunted and fell back on to the mat, my head ringing and vision swimming.
He scrambled over me and it became a wrestling match on the mats. I was still stunned, my head hurting, my body aching, while we grappled on the floor like a couple high schoolers. “Gonna have to my knock my ass out if you want it that easily.”
I laughed. “Do you use the product you’re asking for?”
“Nah, I’d already have you on your ass if that were the case.”
“Doubtful.”
