Full Contact (Redemption #3)(51)

Jess chokes on her vodka and her smile fades. “Blade Saw isn’t like that. He’s more of a friendly protective type. He’d be like, ‘Hey, guy, you want me to buy you a beer so you have something else to do with your hand than put it on my girl’s ass?’ And then he’d be all cool about it. Become best friends with the dude. Not much gets him riled up. He’s probably down there because he feels he should, not because of some primal protective instinct.”

“So are you with him or not?” Makayla tilts her head to the side and gives Jess a questioning look. “I saw the two of you together at Amanda’s party.”

Jess gives a noncommittal shrug. “We’re sort of together, but it’s pretty casual. I like to leave myself open to options.”

I snort and almost choke on my vodka. Jess looks over and frowns.

“What’s with you and Ray?” Amanda leans back on the bleachers, her lips quivering with a repressed smile. “You guys put on quite a show at my place. Never thought I’d see Ray hook up with someone.”

Now it’s my turn for noncommittal. “We’ve hung out a couple of times. It’s nothing serious. Neither of us wants a relationship.”

Amanda and Makayla share a glance, and then Amanda lifts an eyebrow. “Really?”

My stomach clenches. Ray does PI contract work for Amanda and, according to Tag, they are also good friends. Does she know something I don’t know?

“Really.”

She gestures to the alpha male cluster at the foot of the bleachers. “So why is he switching off with Tag down in the defensive zone?”

Twisting Jess’s ring around my finger, I look down and spot Tag heading to the other side of the gym. Ray is talking to Renegade, just below us, his beautiful body, clad only in fight shorts, gleaming under the overhead lights. In the space of a heartbeat, four days’ worth of longing sweep over me, stealing my breath away, and in that moment, I want him more than any man I’ve ever wanted before. Ray looks up as if he knows I’m watching. We stare at each other for what seems an eternity, and then he turns away without so much as a smile.

Crushed, I sigh and meet Amanda’s sympathetic gaze. “See. Nothing serious.”

We join the crowd in a cheer as Torment and Ray enter the cage. Torment is about an inch taller and two inches broader than Ray, but Ray’s muscles are sleek and more defined. He’s wearing purple fight shorts with yin-yang symbols down the sides, an odd choice for a fight. Doesn’t Taoism advocate unity?

Shayla blows a whistle and Ray throws a few jabs at Torment, then follows up with a hard shot that drops Torment to his knees. The crowd gasps, and so do I, but for a different reason.

“Something’s wrong.” I grip Jess’s arm. “He’s not fighting the way he usually fights. He never feints, and his punches weren’t controlled. Usually he feels out his opponent. Dances around the ring a bit. And look how tense he is. His face…his stance. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s angry, but usually in a fight he keeps his emotions contained.”

“Then maybe Makayla’s right.” Her gaze is fixed on Tag and not the fight. “Maybe Torment said something else to him, wound him up on purpose.”

Torment rises quickly to his feet and returns fire, coming after Ray with a dizzying barrage of fists and feet. Ray dodges every blow and snaps off a kick to Torment’s midsection that sends Torment staggering back two steps. But Ray follows him with another vicious kick, followed by a massive punch that drops Torment to the mat.

Makayla shoots out of her seat, her hand clamped over her mouth, and then descends the bleachers and runs out of the gym. My heart squeezes and I stand to go after her, but Amanda pulls me down.

“Don’t worry about it. She’s a paramedic and can handle blood and trauma, knife wounds and broken bones, but she can’t handle watching actual violence. Torment likes her to watch him fight, so she shows up, stays for a few minutes, and then has to leave. Usually, he gives her a bucket.”

Torment is up again, his face curled into a scowl, but before he regains his balance, Ray thrashes him with a brutal knee. An ache forms in my chest. This isn’t him. This isn’t the way he fights. There is no artistry in the way he is moving today. Only anger and pain.

Doubled over, Torment wavers and Ray follows up with a hard left and then a right, dropping Torment back to the mat. He follows Torment down, dropping hammer fists until Torment taps out.

The room stills. No one has ever beaten Torment on home ground before. And no one could have imagined the fight would be over in only one round. Finally someone claps. And then everyone is clapping and cheering. But Ray doesn’t take Shayla’s hand for the victory salute. Instead, he kneels beside Torment, says a few words, and pats him on the back. Then he leaves the cage, stepping to the side for Makayla to rush in with her medical kit.

“He’s not himself,” I say to Jess.

“Go talk to him. He needs you.”

I twist the ring she gave me around my finger. “What if he doesn’t want to see me?”

She gives my arm a squeeze. “Then I’ll be here to pick up the pieces. Just like you’ve always done for me.”





Chapter 14


Soothing the savage beast

“Sorry. Rules are rules. I can’t let you into the men’s changing room, and especially not the VIP area.” Rampage points to the bench. “You can wait there.”