Thicker Than Blood (Thicker Than Blood #1)(93)
“Fighters!” Jeffers continued. “To your corners!”
As Misty retreated to where Liv was waiting for her, I returned to my corner, ignoring the small stool that had been placed there in favor of searching the crowd behind me for Leisel and Alex. I found them easily, noticing Alex first, pushing his way through the crowd as Leisel hurried after him.
I turned back to the ring, still sensing E’s intense gaze on me as the crowd fell silent. It was a deathly sort of silence, like a dark shadow that swallowed up the light, shrouding everything in blackness.
“Ding, ding!” Jeffers bellowed, his deep voice thick with amusement.
The crowd erupted with another ferocious roar, still chanting Misty’s name as Misty herself leaped into action and raced across the ring, headed straight for me.
I stepped to the side, just a hairbreadth out of reach from her bony fist, only to come face-to-face with another punch. Her fist caught my left ear and my world went instantly quiet, quickly giving way to a loud ringing that made me cringe and stumble backward. She swung again, this time connecting with my stomach, causing me to fly backward, my body sprawling across the ropes. She joined me there, her fist connecting with my face, then my stomach, her punches relentless, one after the other after the other…
In an attempt to block her, I lifted my arms, managing to thwart merely a few of her punches. I had misread this woman entirely; she was quick and powerful, and brutally efficient.
The pummeling stopped rather abruptly. As I chanced a peek between my raised forearms, I found Misty heading back to her corner to where Liv was waiting for her. Still smiling, Liv winked in my direction, letting me know that she’d won and that I’d lost, making sure I saw the sick satisfaction she gleaned from all this.
As my arms dropped from my face, I watched Liv turn to the crowd, seeking out E, who was now standing directly next to the rope. A silky smile graced Liv’s face as she watched him, even though he didn’t look her way. She followed his gaze back across the ring to me, her smile gone now, her nostrils flaring angrily, and I realized then that she knew. She knew about E and me; she knew, and she was goddamn jealous.
Staggering back to my corner, I found Leisel and Alex waiting for me. I shook my head slightly, annoyed that my hearing was still spotty; I was only catching a dull hum of the commotion around me.
Gripping my arm, Alex dragged me down onto the stool and began wiping my face with his sleeve. His mouth was moving but I couldn’t hear his words, and my vision blurred in and out of focus. Between that and the several dozen punches I’d taken to the gut, I was positive I was going to throw up all over myself at any moment.
But then Leisel was there, pushing Alex out of her way and kneeling down beside me. Taking my face in her hands, she blocked the world out, leaving only her and me. Her mouth, both hard and soft, found mine, pressing a kiss to my lips.
“You promised me, Eve!” she yelled, her voice nearly lost among the shouting. “You promised me we’d always be okay! Don’t break your promise!”
Blinking through the blood that trickled down my forehead and into my eyes, I nodded. She was right; I had promised her. I’d promised her that we would always be okay, and I wasn’t going to break that promise.
Leisel helped me back to my feet and then she was gone, tugged away by Alex.
I turned to see Jeffers once again standing in the center of the ring. “Ding-ding!” he shouted again with a wicked grin, and my stomach plummeted.
Like a wild animal sprung free from its confines, Misty attacked. No dancing around, no dodging, just another hard-core assault that I wasn’t quick enough to dodge. Her fists slammed into me yet again, splitting open my lip, and my mouth filled instantly with blood. Yelping, I dropped to my knees and spun around, missing her second swing.
Grabbing my arms, Misty wrenched me upright and threw me against the ropes. As I hit them, I bounced back, falling into her arms where she promptly kicked my legs out from under me, causing my entire body to slam painfully to the ground. As I lay there, trying to catch my breath, her foot shot out, connecting with my ribs, and what little breath I had all left me in one painful whoosh.
She kicked me again and again, until I could no longer breathe. I was wishing she would end it once and for all, just send that boot of hers straight into my head and end this, but then suddenly she stopped. As I pried open my swollen lids, I found that she was walking away from me.
With a grunt, I rolled onto my stomach, attempting to drag myself across the ground and back to my stool. I’d only managed a few inches when Alex was suddenly there, lifting me off the ground and setting me back down on my stool.
“Eve!” he shouted as he grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. I stared at him, though everything was fuzzy and it hurt just to keep my eyes open.
“She’s going to kill you! You need to fight back!” he yelled, his features contorting in anger.
“I don’t even care,” I mumbled, letting my head hang to one side, where I was greeted with Leisel’s face. Her beautiful, heartbroken, tear-stained face.
“You promised!” she yelled.
“I can’t do this!” I cried out, pushing her hand away as she reached for me. I looked away from her, not wanting to see her pain, her frustration, or her damn pity.
My gaze snagged on E to find him still watching me. His entire face was creased with a frustrated frown, his body taut and rippling with anger. His anger probably stemmed from the fact that I was losing—that he’d bet on me and was going to lose.