Tyler's Undoing (Gloves Off #1)(73)

Shaking my head, I took a deep breath and sat up taller. The thought of seeing my brother cleared my head and gave me new focus. “No, I’m going to watch you fight and I’m going to sit in your corner, with my head held high. My brother likes to break people and we’re going to show him he can’t break us. This all ends tonight.”





By the time we got back to the arena, Tyler had ten minutes before the fight. My dress was part way ripped and my makeup was smeared down my face, but Tyler held my hand firmly in his as I raced along beside him to his room. When he opened the door, I gasped at the amount of people in there.

Paxton and Bree were the first ones up, rushing to my side. Reluctantly, Tyler let me go and Pax took me up in his arms—his skin warm and sweaty from his fight. “Your brother is so f*cking dead, Kace. Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I whispered. “If Tyler didn’t show up I wouldn’t have been. Did you win?”

“You know it.”

I smiled and held him tighter.

“All right, let me have her. You boys can’t always keep her to yourself,” Bree scolded.

Pax set me down and Bree immediately brought the tissues to my face and wiped under my eyes. She even had to use them on herself when she looked at me. “We were so worried. When Paxton told us you weren’t here . . .”

“Shh. I’m okay now,” I consoled her. “I’m safe.”

Over her shoulder, I saw Matt and Gabriella, along with one of the Jameson twins. Gabriella smiled at me, her dark hair pulled into a low ponytail and dressed in a royal blue tank top and jeans. Hesitantly, I smiled back.

Matt, looking exactly like Gabriella with the same dark hair and green eyes, shook Tyler’s hand and slapped him on the shoulder. “It’s time, Rushing. Are you ready to go out there? I’m in your corner tonight.”

Tyler smiled, but then looked back at me, his expression uncertain.

“Go,” I said, nodding my head. “I’ll be out there as quick as I can.” I held up my wrists. “As soon as I get these bandaged up.”

“I’ll do it,” Gabriella cut in, coming to my side. “You boys need to get out there, now. Us girls can handle it from here.”

Tyler tensed, but Matt grabbed his tape and gloves and started for the door. “Come on, boys. It’s time to kick some ass.”

All the guys left the room, except Tyler, who took me in his arms and kissed me long and hard. Gabriella and Bree both turned their heads, giving us privacy. “I love you, Kacey. Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need luck. I have faith in you.”

He kissed me again and disappeared out the door, closing it behind him. Now I was left alone with Bree and Gabriella. The awkward silence was thick enough to choke on.

“Okay, I’m just going to break the ice,” Gabriella began. She took my hands and pulled me over to the couch and gently pressed down on my shoulders. I sat down and watched her rummage through Tyler’s bag until she pulled out the triple antibiotic ointment and gauze.

Kneeling down in front of me, she turned my hands over and hissed when she saw all of the damage. Bree sat beside me and put her arm around my shoulders.

“I’m going to do this as gently as I can, okay?” Gabriella murmured soothingly.

“Okay,” I whispered.

Closing my eyes, I gritted my teeth together as she rubbed the ointment onto my sores and slowly wrapped them in gauze. When both were done, she smiled and got to her feet.

“There, that should take care of it. Tyler can put more medicine on them and rewrap them for you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Gabriella. I appreciate it.”

Bree took my hands and helped me up, clenching her teeth at my ripped dress. “I hope Tyler beat the shit out of the guys who did that to you.”

“He did,” I informed her. “If I wasn’t tied up, I would’ve tried to do it myself.”

“Do you happen to have something else to wear?” Gabriella asked.

I shook my head and ran my hands through my hair. “No. After everything that happened, Tyler rushed me out of my house and away from there as fast as he could.”

Reaching for her pink duffle bag on the floor, Gabriella picked it up and set it down in front of me. “I know you have no reason to like me and you can say no if you want, but I have something in here you could wear.” She pulled out a pair of jeans and held them up. “We’re basically the same size, so these should fit. I think my ass might be a little bit bigger, though.”

Bree chuckled when I took the jeans and I rolled my eyes at her. Gabriella was actually nice, considering everything between us. It wasn’t what I was expecting. Rummaging through her bag some more, she pulled out a couple of tank tops and passed one to Bree and to me. “I know this is kind of silly, but I used to do this a lot with my brother.” She pointed to the tank tops. “Hold them out.”

When I lifted the black tank top there were words written in the center in bright neon green letters . . . Team Tyler. I looked down at the royal blue one she was wearing and noticed that it said Team Ryley on it in big, white letters. The tank tops were the same colors of the guys’ fighting shorts.

“I would wear the ones for my brother at his fights. Eventually, I had some made for all of my friends, including Tyler. You don’t have to wear them, but I figured it would be a good smack in the face to your brother.”