Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 150(@200wpm)___ 120(@250wpm)___ 100(@300wpm)
The problem with Tommy, though, is he thinks he’s winning. He sees the blood on my nose and the bruise he put on my cheek and thinks he’s on a roll. Even after all these years in the game, he doesn’t understand the entertainment aspect of what we do any more than he understands the importance of learning and evolving in his style as a fighter. Judging by the cocky grin on his face and the way he’s dancing around, the dude believes he’s doing well. It’s all I can do to keep from rolling my eyes.
“You lose a step, old man?” he asks.
He throws a jab, which I casually block, and follows that up with a low kick, which I also block with little effort. He looks perplexed for a moment, but when he sees the blood trickling out of my nose, he quickly regains his swagger. That’s the way it goes for the first three rounds of the fight—back and forth, both of us getting a few shots in, bloodying each other up, and giving the crowd a good show. And after every round, I steal a glance at the girl in the front row and laugh to myself at how concerned for me she looks.
“Let’s go,” Tommy says as he comes out for the fourth round. “Let’s finish this up. I want to get out of here so I can bang the redhead in the front row.”
The words have barely cleared his mouth when I start seeing red. A growl drifts from my throat, and I clench my fists tight.
“Hey, what if I let you watch me fuck her?” Tommy presses. “Maybe I can do it on a livestream. I’ll even have her give you a special shout-out. What do you think? Would you like that?”
The crowd got three good rounds out of us. They got what they paid for, but it’s time to end this. I’m not going to stand here and listen to him talk that way about that girl. I know he’s hoping it’d knock me off my game, but all Tommy has managed to do is focus all the heat and rage flowing through my veins onto himself. I don’t know the girl, don’t know her name or a single fucking thing about her, but all I want to do is protect her from a disgusting little prick like Tommy Fucking James.
Stepping to Tommy, I light him up with a dizzying barrage of jabs and hooks. He blocks some, but many of them connect and rock him. He staggers back a step, looking dizzy and unsteady. Smelling blood, the crowd is going absolutely fucking berserk, so I decide to end it with a flourish to give them all something to talk about. Winding up, I deliver a spinning high kick that catches Tommy square upside the head and sends him sprawling to the canvas.
He’s out cold.
The crowd erupts, taking their bloodlust to an entirely new level as the referee ends the fight. I walk back to my corner and high-five my trainer as the crowd chants my name. My eyes drift to the girl in the front row. When our gazes meet, my heart lurches again, and my gut starts to churn. And when she favors me with a smile, it does something unnatural to me.
How is this girl, a stranger to me, able to have this effect on me?
3
GRACE
“That was awesome. What an incredible fight,” I practically scream.
“What?”
I turn to Lila and see her nuzzling up next to the douchey frat boy she’s been trying to get her claws into. She apparently succeeded. He came over about halfway through the fight, and they spent the rest of the bout with their tongues down each other’s throats. It’s been nauseating. At least I had the fight to pay attention to.
“Never mind,” I say.
The house lights come up, the music starts to play again, and the crowd filters out of the Warehouse, everybody still chattering away excitedly. I get to my feet, ready to go, but Lila is so absorbed with Chris that she doesn’t seem to notice. He whispers something in her ear, and she giggles. When she turns her gaze to me, I already know what she’s going to say before she utters a single syllable. She’s so predictable sometimes.
“Gracie, I was wondering—”
I cut her off with a disgusted snort. “I’ll find my own way home.”
“I’m sorry—”
Without waiting for her to speak further, I turn and storm off. I hear her calling after me, but I ignore her and walk away, so angry, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was steam coming out of my ears. I knew she was going to do this. I knew it. Why the heck did I agree to come with her tonight? I should have known better. I did know better. And that’s why I want to kick my own butt right now. Lila likes to say she only bailed on me once, but the truth is, she’s done it to me more times than I can count. She’s only left me without a ride once. I guess by her math, that’s the only time she’s truly bailed on me.