Takedown Teague (Caged #1)(46)

I grinned, but she just narrowed her eyes a little and looked at me sideways. Once I was in the locker room, I changed into my green trunks and taped up my feet. Yolanda came in and taped my wrists, but she didn’t say much of anything. I knew I had strained things a bit this afternoon, but I put it out of my mind.

You can’t be upset about shit you don’t think about.

After she left, I stretched and waited for my cue. It came quickly, and I was pumped and ready for it.

Hier kommt die Sonne

My song started playing, and I moved swiftly out of the locker area, up the ramp, and into the roar of the crowd.

Die Sonne scheint mir aus den H?nden

kann verbrennen, kann dich blenden

I raised my arms up over my head and balled my hands into tight fists. I spun in a circle, flexing my back and listening to the screams from the audience. I leapt forward at the fence in front of me, snarling at the guy on the other side and pounding against the metal a few times to add to the show.

Yolanda escorted me into the cage, felt me up, and then brought in the other guy. As soon as the cage door slammed shut, he was on me. I felt a good punch that was definitely hard enough to bruise. I blocked the next two but let him come forward and get comfortable with what he thought was advantage.

He was quick and threw multiple punches at my face as I backed against the cold metal. I slammed a fist into his chest and a knee into his gut. He grunted, and in retaliation, he grabbed a handful of hair at the back of my head, yanked me forward, and then threw me back. Shouts came from all directions as he stepped back and threw a kick at me.

Big mistake.

I had a hold of his ankle, and twisted his whole leg to the side, nearly turning him completely upside down before dropping him to the mat. My body followed, landing on top of his with my knees in his gut. With the wind knocked out of him, he slowed down quite a bit, and his punches lacked the fervor that had been behind them only sixty seconds ago.

“Not ready for me, are you?” I snarled through what was probably a rather maniacal smile. I punched knuckles down into his face and watched the blood flow from his nose. His fingers reached for my shoulder, and I felt distinctive tapping against my skin.

Jumping off the mat, I waited for Yolanda to reenter the cage and raise my hand above my head, calling out my victory to all those around. With bright eyes and muscles bristling with raw energy, I searched out Tria’s table.

As soon as I looked up and saw Tria sitting there at the edge of the cage, her arms wrapped around herself, I could tell right away that something was wrong. I pushed past Yolanda and headed out, beyond the fence that kept the fighters away from the customers during the battle, and over to where she sat, ignoring people’s attempts to get my attention.

“What is it?” I asked over the bar sounds of music and laughter. I moved quickly to her side and looked down at her. Her eyes were red. “What’s the matter?”

“I…you…oh my God,” she gasped. “How badly are you hurt?”

“Me?” I questioned. I reached up and tried to find blood coming from somewhere, but I didn’t think he’d drawn any. I brought my hand down and looked at my fingers just in case, but they were clean. “I’m fine.”

“But he…and you…” She couldn’t seem to get any words out, and I could barely hear her above the noise, so I pulled her back down to the locker room with me and shut the door to the sounds.

“Tria, I’m fine, really.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

I had to laugh.

“Positive—look.” I spun around in a circle with my arms spread out. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“Really?”

I shook my head a little, surprised and maybe even secretly thrilled that she was showing concern for me, and this hadn’t been a bad fight at all. Little wisps of fantasy bobbed around in my head, and they included images of Tria softly kissing bruises and fussing over cuts.

“I don’t have anything to hide here,” I said as I glanced down my body, which was clad in only my trunks. Still high from the fight and realizing that she cared, the next words just came out with a cocky grin but without any real thought behind them. “I can show you the rest if you want to be sure.”

Tria’s eyes went wide, and I watched her throat bob as she swallowed. Her tongue darted out over her lips, and her cheeks flamed red as I realized what I had just said. My own tongue wet my lips, and I considered making a move, consequences be damned.

At that moment, Yolanda burst through the door. She stopped short, eyeing us both briefly before crossing her arms and glaring at me.

“There are about twenty people out there waiting to talk to you,” she said, scolding me. “What’s the holdup?”

She eyed Tria and then looked over to me with a roll of her eyes.

“You two going to be long? You are still working, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I dismissed Yolanda’s comment. “I’ll be out in a second.”

Yolanda threw one last look at Tria before she walked out.

“Look, I—”

“I don’t want to hold you up,” Tria said quickly. “Go on. Talk to your...um…fans or whatever.”

I took a long breath in and then let it out with a huff through my nose.

“Yeah, I should,” I agreed. “I need to shower first.”