A Necessary Sin (The Sin Trilogy, #1)(31)

“No. Sin’s f*cked me over again,” Leith says. “But that’s nothing new.”

Completely untrue. “I didn’t f*ck you over.”

“Says the mate who’s with the girl I wanted.”

“She isn’t interested.”

“She didn’t have a chance to be. You made sure of that.”

“Bleu met you before me. She’d be with you if she wanted to be.”

“Hello? Right here, guys,” Bleu calls out. “I can hear everything you’re saying.”

I stop foot working and bobbing. “Hit me, Leith. You’ll feel better so just do it and get it over with.”

“Not with a sucker punch. I’m going to beat you fair and square.”

“We’ve never done anything fair and square in our lives.” I resume the defensive stance.

“Come on, mates,” Jamie says. “You’re both being arses.”

“No, Jamie,” I call out. I’m pissed off now. “My best pal wants a real fight so that’s what he’s getting.”

I bob, dodging Leith’s signature right jab. “When you goin’ to learn that punch is predictable coming from you?”

Leith’s an out-boxer fighter. That means he stays out of my reach because he knows when I hit, it’s a potential knockout. He steps in and makes the identical punch again, landing it against my right cheek. I roll my shoulder upward and rub it against my face. Motherf*cker, that hurt.

“I don’t guess it’s too predictable since you didn’t see that one coming,” he says, laughing.

He’s slipping, a maneuver to evade my coming punch, but it’s not enough to avoid the left uppercut I land against his jaw. “Just like you didn’t see that one comin’, pal.”

I’m a brawler. I don’t have the finesse or the footwork I had before my amputation but my strength is in the power of my punch. I win with knockouts. Hard ones.

He stumbles backward and shakes his head before stepping in too soon and taking a hook. He closes his eyes and I suspect it’s because he’s seeing stars. “Had enough yet, mate?”

He growls and charges, attempting to trap me in the clinch so I can’t throw a straight punch, but it’s me who pins his arms instead. The clinch isn’t a strong defense position for me because of my amputation. He knows this so he’s using it against me. He means to take me down in front of Bleu.

He uses his foot to sweep my prosthesis off balance. I go down hard and fast before he straddles me and begins punching. “Why do you always have to take everything I want? Every. Fucking. Time.” I have no idea what he’s talking about.

I have to defend myself so I flip him onto his back and land punch after punch against his face before Jamie grabs me beneath my arms and drags me away. “Stop!” he yells.

I stand and adjust my prosthesis so I can regain my balance. Bleu rushes to get between Leith and me, holding me at bay while looking at my nose. “That escalated quickly.”

I feel warmth oozing down my face. I put my glove under my shirt and wipe it away. It’s blood, as I suspected. “This is what we do when we have a problem.” I lean around Bleu and look at Leith. “Except for the part where my best mate uses my prosthesis as a way to drop me in front of a lass.” I wipe at the blood continuing to stream from my nose.

“She knows?” Jamie asks.

“If she didn’t, she would after that cheap shot.” I take my gloves off and pull my shirt over my head so I can use it to stop the bleeding. “By the way, Leith. Bleu won’t be back to work for you at the bar.”

“Why?” He looks at her. “Is he paying you to be his whore?”

Bleu spins around and the peacekeeper becomes the assailant. “Me and you. Gloves off.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not fighting you,” Leith says, laughing.

“You don’t mind insulting a woman but you’re too much of a gentleman to hit one?” I recognize the stance Bleu takes and laugh inwardly. Leith is in deep shit. He has no idea he needs to take the defensive against Bleu, but he’ll get no warning from me.

“Come on. You just saw what I’m capable of doing.”

“I wasn’t impressed.” Bleu delivers a short-straight punch to Leith’s chin, a hit he clearly wasn’t expecting based on his reaction. “You want to know why I chose Muay Thai over the other forms of martial arts and kickboxing?”

Leith rubs his chin. “Damn, Bleu.”

“Knee and elbow strikes are permitted.” Bleu darts to Leith’s side and spins before delivering a well-placed elbow strike to his ribs, sending him to his knees. “Just so you know … he isn’t paying me to be his whore. He’s claimed me.”





Chapter Eleven





Bleu MacAllister




One night together and he asks me to move in? I suppose my virginity was a bigger asset than I anticipated. Who knew it would be so easy? But I won’t mistake confidence for trust. Sinclair Breckenridge shared his secret because he would have no qualms about killing me if I even thought of talking.

I feel bad about what I did to Leith. But in my defense, he called me a whore. He shouldn’t have done that. I’m certain it’s a mistake he won’t be making again. All ended well between us, though. He apologized, and I accepted. Water under the bridge as far as I’m concerned.