Page 123 of Cruel Academy (Princes of Ravenlake Academy 2)

But this is by choice, and suddenly I’m doubting myself.

Did I train enough with Caleb to know what I’m doing? Am I strong enough to take on John? And will I freeze up the second he lays his hands on me, flashing back to all the other times he touched me and hurt me?

“We don’t have any gloves,” John says, turning to face me when he gets to the middle of the ring. “We also don’t have any rules.”

“Nothing’s off-limits?” I ask, remembering Caleb’s joke from earlier. I hope stuff below the belt is allowed because half of the self-defense moves Caleb taught me depend on me being able to utilize that particular weakness.

John shakes his head and then lifts his arms, squatting down to get into position. “Nothing. Hit me with your best shot, Haley Bear.”

Hearing my old nickname on his lips is enough to shake me out of my worries and fears.

It’s enough to cut through my panic and doubts and remind me why I’m here. What I’m fighting for.

Using the hair tie on my wrist, I tug my curly hair back into a tight ponytail, shake out my arms and legs, and step into the ring.

“Let’s go, motherfucker.”

47

Caleb

“We’re positive this is a good idea?” Noah whispers in my ear.

I’m annoyed at him for asking but only because the same question has been playing in my head on loop since Haley spoke up and stopped what was about to be a brawl.

I have no fucking idea if this is a good idea.

Yes, I taught her to fight, but mostly as a means of self-defense.

But I didn’t imagine she would ever call out Bumper in an underground fight situation.

I didn’t train her to grapple and spar with a guy twice her size.

I didn’t train her to bareknuckle street fight.

I taught her to escape—to fight someone off and then flee.

Haley can’t escape this. Now that she and Bumper are in the ring, the fight won’t stop until one of them is on the ground and the other is declared victorious.

“Haley can take him,” J.C. says. He cups his hands around his mouth and whoops his support for Haley.

“This isn’t a pay-per-view fight.”

He shrugs. “Maybe if you’d invited me to the underground fights before, I would know how to act.”

I roll my eyes and focus on the mat. Usually, a kind of nervous excitement flows through me at the start of any fight, whether I’m in it or not. When I’m watching other fighters in the underground, it’s almost like I get a sympathetic adrenaline rush. I know what they are feeling and experiencing, so I feel it, too.

Right now, however, there is just cold fear.

Haley pushed me into training her to fight, but somewhere along the way, I decided it was my job to keep her safe.

I decided that I wanted to be the person to protect her and care for her the way Bumper should have.

The way she deserves.

But I can’t interfere now. No matter how much I want to jump in and take her place, this is Haley’s fight. I saw the determination in her eyes, the drive.

She wants this, and no matter how nauseous I feel watching her ready for a fight with Bumper, I can’t step up.

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