Jagged Harts, page 10
“Oh, we are really good friends. This is my girl right here,” Cole says, cutting me off again as he winks at me.
I furrow my brows and twist my mouth to the side. I know what he said is true, but he just made it sound like there is more to it, when there definitely isn’t. Obviously Cole and I need to have an uncomfortable conversation, but that conversation definitely doesn’t need an audience. My gaze swings over to Dax who is staring me down as if asking me to confirm or deny what Cole just said.
“He is one of my friends,” I say blandly.
Dax nods sharply once and pushes off the building, not wasting another breath on us apparently as he walks towards the parking lot. Well, that wasn’t uncomfortable or anything. Cole drops me off at my room and I thank him for the lift before practically shoving him out the door. I so don’t have the energy to deal with all of that right now. Once he is gone, I take a long hot shower and spend the rest of the day just how I originally planned. In bed.
CHAPTER
TWELVE
DAX
Left, right, left, right. Jab, uppercut, cross.
I repeat my sequence over and over again just like I have been doing for hours. The heavy bag swings from side to side at the impact of my hits and my muscles are screaming for a break. I should stop, but I can’t. I can’t because currently the bag has Cole Simmon’s stupid fucking face, and I can’t help but pulverize the damn thing.
Fuck that douche.
I used to think he was a nice enough guy but my opinions of him have severely changed. Fucker better hope he never runs into me on a bad day, or I will rearrange his fucking body. He has acted like a prick ever since the beginning of the semester, or should I be more specific and say since he has been following Aubrey around with stupid ass heart eyes for her.
Obviously, Aubrey can hang out with whoever she wants, God knows that I do. But I know her well enough by now to know that if she is looking for a casual fuck or even something more, she won’t be able to get what she needs from Cole fucking Simmons. He is too soft, too weak. He has friend zone written all over him. He couldn’t handle a woman like Aubrey.
Fuck, Aubrey. Just thinking about her sends my pulse racing. She is the most infuriating yet intriguing person that I have ever met. I have never gotten off to such a bad start with someone so quickly in my life. It took weeks just for her to not look at me like she wanted to detach my head from my body. The girl has quite a bit of issues, and I should know because I am the fucking king of issues.
I came by her place today to say thanks for last night. I wanted to talk to her more after the fight, but everyone stormed the cage, and she took off like a bat out of hell. I tried to follow after her, but Chase and a bunch of girls wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone. They kept yammering on about how epic the fight was and all of that shit.
Epic is not the word I would use to describe me losing absolute control and almost killing a fucking child. Because that is what he was, a child. Cameron found out while he was getting bandaged up that the kid lied about his age. He was 16 years old and had no fucking business being in that cage, let alone with me.
Fuck. I really thought I was getting my shit handled. One step forward, three steps back, I swear.
If it wasn’t for Aubrey last night, I have no doubt that I would have killed the kid. I was so far gone I wasn’t even in the room. I wasn’t looking at the kid in front of me. Instead, he was a faceless monster. He was the shadow of a man that destroyed my life all those years ago and I wanted to end him once and for all. I needed it. The darkness inside of me thrived off the bloodshed. With every fleck, it pounded its chest and begged for more.
Somehow Aubrey was able to bring me back. One moment, I was lost in my own personal hell and the next a siren voice was calling me out of the dark and into the dimly lit basement of Cameron’s gym.
Come back, Dax. Come back. You aren’t there anymore. You are safe. Deep breaths.
I can still practically here her sweet voice coaxing me out of the darkness, running off my demons with a few simple words.
I wanted to say thank you, genuinely. Maybe even explain where my head was at before she intervened. Fuck knows why I would want to explain myself. It isn’t like I need to or anything. She is easy to talk to though. The way she looks at me sometimes, the way she talks, makes me feel like I don’t have to explain myself. Like she already knows me better than I know myself. I think it is because we are one in the same.
I have her number and could have just sent her a quick text or even called her, but I wanted to do it face to face. It was the right way to do it.
Sure, keep telling yourself that.
It felt like I was waiting forever for someone to come in or out of her building before she finally showed up. I planned to slip into the building and ask around until I found her room. I didn’t know what she was up to today but her coming back from an early morning hike with Cole, getting a motherfucking piggyback ride from him, was not what I had expected.
Instantly, I was fucking livid. I wanted to rip his arms out of their sockets for even daring to touch her. That initial thought sent my head spinning and made me a little slow to realize why he was carrying her. When I asked if she was okay, the little prick wouldn’t even let her speak before he cut in, saying how she was all good, calling her fucking darlin’, and then saying that she was ‘his girl’.
Rearing my arm back, I begin attacking the heavy bag with a fucking vengeance at the memory. Scrawny motherfucker. I will snap him in fucking half if he refers to Aubrey as his anything ever again. I don’t know why I feel this overwhelming sense of possession over Aubrey. She isn’t anything to me, not really at least. But the thought of someone like Cole trying to get with her has me ready to fall into a murderous rage.
“Damn. What crawled up your ass?” My Uncle Marcus calls out as he props himself in the doorway of the garage.
I don’t answer him as I continue raging against the bag with everything I have. I have been at it for over an hour, and I am still not fucking calm, but my body is ready to give out and I know that I need to stop. Taking a step back I let out a rough breath as I put my hands on my hips.
“I’m fine,” I say shortly as I try to slow my breathing.
“Yeah, right. Look at you, you can barely stand up. I haven’t seen you like this in years.”
As soon as he says it, I notice that I am having a hard time standing up. My legs shake as I slowly make my way over to Aubrey’s self-proclaimed couch before sinking down into it. I lean my head back against the cushion and inhale deeply. Vanilla. It even fucking smells like her.
I am so fucked.
“Does this have anything to do with Aubrey?” My uncle asks, nailing it right on the head. But how does he fucking know?
My head snaps up at the mention of her name before I look over to him. He gives me a knowing look, but I brush it off and shrug as I tip my head back up to look at the ceiling.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Marcus snorts. “Boy, I may be getting older but I ain’t stupid. I see the way you look at her.”
I shrug, not choosing to answer as he continues.
“Does this thing with Aubrey also include Cole?”
My head practically breaks off my spinal cord with how fast I whip my gaze to his. How the fuck does he know so much? Maybe I don’t give him enough credit.
Heaving an aggravated sigh, I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees as I look down at the ground and run my fingers through my hair.
“I went to see her. To talk to her about something and she was coming back from a hike with Cole. He had his fucking hands all over her and,” I pause and shake out my hands, just now realizing that I have been tightening them into fists with each word that I spoke.
“Ah. I get it. So, you have been too much of a pussy to go after what you want and now you are pissed that someone else is trying to take her?”
“You don’t know shit,” I spit aggressively as I look up to him.
I watch as his mirth filled gaze fades at my disrespect as a dark thunder cloud rolls over his face. Ah, fuck.
“Boy, don’t think that just because you are grown that I won’t knock your ass into line. You may be a man now, but I bet I can still get a few good licks in.”
He isn’t lying. Marcus is still in damn good shape, and he has a nasty temper like me, one that I was on the receiving end of more times than I can count growing up. Each time I deserved probably more than the last.
“Sorry,” I mutter as I let my head sag forward.
Fuck. Why am I getting all twisted up over a chick like this? I have never dealt with shit like this before. I don’t date. I hookup and I never go back for seconds. It keeps things less complicated that way. I like no strings and no feelings attached situations. Girls I get with always know the score and it just works. But Aubrey doesn’t fit into any of that.
She is fucking gorgeous, no doubt about it. From the first moment I saw her I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I catch the guys at the gym practically drooling over her daily. She is so fucking hot no other girls seem to compare.
I have imagined hooking up with her more times than I can count but the really fucking scary thing is that after the fantasy is over, she is still on my mind. She isn’t just any girl that I will forget her name by morning. She isn’t someone that I could ever imagine hooking up with and never speaking to again. As much as I hate to admit it, I have come to look forward to the days that we talk, crave it even.
I am so fucked.
The next Friday I stroll through the gym doors, fist bumping and nodding to people that call out to me. I am not on the card tonight. I was, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I have been pushing myself harder than normal this week and I am fucking feeling it. Besides, the guy they had me up against is hardly challenging. He is a big fucker, but he is slow as fuck, and I have already handed him his ass too many times to count. So, I decided to just kick back and watch the others tonight instead.
Chase is talking with a few guys near the octagon downstairs when he sees me come in.
“Where you been, man? It’s been a minute,” he greets me with a half bro hug.
“Just been training, class, helping at The White Oak,” I shrug.
Chase nods as he glances around the room. My eyes do the same and I furrow my brows.
“Where is Blake at?”
A look of irritation passes across Chases face before it fades into nonchalance as he shrugs.
“He is helping your fill-in get ready.”
“Who did you get?” I ask as I notice the normal guys that would be willing to go up against Collins are all standing around or already look like they have fought.
Chase is quiet for a second before a smirk crosses his face.
“You’ll see.”
Shaking my head at his weird cryptic answer, I turn to face the room where the lights begin to flicker, indicating the start of the of the fight. I take a seat in the front with Chase and some other guys as everyone gets settled. A lame song comes on that I know to be Collins walk out song. Sure enough, he steps out of the locker room, strutting like a peacock.
The guy is comparably my size. Except where I am solid muscle he is solid bulk. Don’t get me wrong, his hits pack a pretty decent punch, but he doesn’t have the speed to back it up. As long as whoever they have fighting against him stays light on their feet and can throw a decent punch, they will probably have a good chance at taking him down.
Once Collins is in the octagon, the music changes to Lose Yourself by Eminem. Sick beat. The bass is bumping through the room and the anticipation for the fight ratchets up as the next fighter comes out from the locker room. When my eyes lock on them, my stomach drops. What the fuck? Aubrey?
She is stalking towards the cage, a hard look across her face with determination flaring in her eyes. She is wearing a baggy t-shirt and a pair of spandex shorts with her hair up in a tight bun. I try to get her attention to see what the hell she thinks she is doing going up against a guy that is well over twice her weight and size, but her eyes are firmly focused on Collins.
“What the fuck, Chase? Why would you let Aubrey take my place? Collins is a tank. He is going to fucking destroy her!” I bark.
Chase rolls his eyes. “Relax. She volunteered. Besides, the cocky little bitch needs to be taken down a peg or two. Why does it matter anyways? What’s it to you?” He asks with a questioning eyebrow.
I shrug nonchalantly. Doing my best to brush off his bitch remark as I turn to face Aubrey. Blake is standing in the corner behind her, talking in her ear as she nods resolutely. She reaches down and strips off her shirt, tossing it to the side. Instantly, the room fills with chatter and even a few wolf whistles. The sounds have me clenching my jaw in irritation as my eyes greedily take their fill. Fuck. Her body is fucking perfection. I have to shift slightly to hide the hard on that I now have.
Aubrey doesn’t pay any of the vultures any mind, though. Her jaw is tightened in irritation, eyes narrowed into spite filled slits and body rigid with barely controlled anger. If Aubrey can stay out of the way and get a few decent hits in on Collins she may come out of this fairly unscathed. Either way though, if Collins hurts her too bad then I will have to return the fucking favor tenfold.
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
AUBREY
I narrow my eyes at Collins as we get into our stances. I am ready to beat this piece of shit into the floor. My workout ran later than expected again and I decided to stick around for the fights. I wasn’t sure if Dax was fighting tonight or not and for some odd reason, if he was, I wanted to be here for him. For moral support or whatever. Don’t know why the fuck I would even care, honestly. It isn’t like we are friends or anything. We are barely acquaintances. But still, here I was.
When I walked through the basement door everyone was talking about how Dax bailed at the last minute on his fight and they were looking for a volunteer to fight his scheduled opponent, Eric Collins. I had seen the guy in passing but that was the extent of my knowledge of him. I was shooting the shit with Blake when Collins approached me, talking about how I was the new gym whore and how unfair it was that he hadn’t gotten a taste.
I was ready to lay the motherfucker out when Chase stepped in between us. He told me that if I wanted to fight, I would have to do it in the octagon. So that is exactly what I am fucking doing. Blake took me to the back and told me every useful piece of information he could give me on Collins. He was just as pissed as me about his bullshit comments, even more pissed at Chase for pushing me into fighting Collins. But no one ever forces me to do anything that I don’t want to, not anymore. I’m gonna wipe the floor with this fucker.
From what Blake told me, Collins is slow as fuck, but his hits are brutal. I can’t let him get too many swings on me or it will be lights out. Good thing I don’t plan it. I am pretty quick too. Being small and light has some advantages, I guess. I just need to get in some good hits and then get out. I will tire him out and make him chase me, wear him down and then I will go in for the kill. It’s the best shot I have.
My eyes flick out to the crowd to see a thunderous looking Dax in the front row next to Chase. Dax’s arms are folded across his chest and his body looks to be riddled with tension. As soon as he sees that my eyes are on him he mouths to me ‘what the fuck are you doing?’. I roll my eyes at him before turning back to face Collins.
Cameron steps into the cage, throwing me an uneasy look before he looks at Collins. I know what everyone is thinking. The guy is well outside of my weight class, obviously. Normally no one would be stupid enough to fight someone so far out of your own class but like I have said before, I never claimed to be smart.
At the word fight, a sense of calm sweeps over me as my adrenaline skyrockets. This is my sanctuary. My peace. Collins fucked up by mouthing off to me and now I am about to show him what happens when people fuck with me.
He reels his arm back and swings on me. I can tell there is quite a bit of force behind it, but it is so slow that I easily dodge it and he hits air. I jump back a few steps before I bounce around on my toes. Collins doesn’t pause, advancing on me with several more combinations, all that I manage to outmaneuver.
It only takes a couple minutes of this for his movements to begin slowing down even more so. He sure doesn’t have my stamina. Seeing a window, I slide into the left and throw a hit to his gut. I hear a rough breath leave his chest before I jump back. Unfortunately, it isn’t quick enough, and he lands a hit across my cheek. The sharp sting that accompanies the hit tells me that the skin split open at that. Fuck.
Moving my hands in front of my face, I dance from side to side, waiting for another opening. When I get one, I throw my leg out and get a nice kick in to his ribs. While he bends down to cradle his now tender side, I wind my left arm back and pop him in the nose, causing the thing to explode in a gush all over the mat and himself.
He grunts in pain before his beady eyes turn near black. He throws a wild haymaker at me that I am just able to duck in time before I give him a nice uppercut. He stumbles back at the impact, working his jaw from side to side as he does.
A fire seems to light under his ass because in the next moment he charges like a raging bull. I go to duck his advance, but he anticipates it with a kick to my side. Fuck, that hurt. I step back quickly to maintain a healthy distance between us until I can catch my breath, but he follows me with a hit to my nose.
Eye for an eye, I guess.
Blood splatters across the mat as it runs down my face. For a moment, the pain doesn’t even register though, my face is just fucking numb. I throw a blind hit just out of protection, but I only hit air as Collins leans back and kicks me square in the stomach. I stumble and despite my best efforts I fall to the ground.
Oh, fuck.
Quicker than I thought he would be able to, he straddles me. I am still a little dazed from that face shot to register it all, but I do have the good sense to get my hands up to protect my head. This motherfucker could probably give me a concussion with one hit to the temple.
I furrow my brows and twist my mouth to the side. I know what he said is true, but he just made it sound like there is more to it, when there definitely isn’t. Obviously Cole and I need to have an uncomfortable conversation, but that conversation definitely doesn’t need an audience. My gaze swings over to Dax who is staring me down as if asking me to confirm or deny what Cole just said.
“He is one of my friends,” I say blandly.
Dax nods sharply once and pushes off the building, not wasting another breath on us apparently as he walks towards the parking lot. Well, that wasn’t uncomfortable or anything. Cole drops me off at my room and I thank him for the lift before practically shoving him out the door. I so don’t have the energy to deal with all of that right now. Once he is gone, I take a long hot shower and spend the rest of the day just how I originally planned. In bed.
CHAPTER
TWELVE
DAX
Left, right, left, right. Jab, uppercut, cross.
I repeat my sequence over and over again just like I have been doing for hours. The heavy bag swings from side to side at the impact of my hits and my muscles are screaming for a break. I should stop, but I can’t. I can’t because currently the bag has Cole Simmon’s stupid fucking face, and I can’t help but pulverize the damn thing.
Fuck that douche.
I used to think he was a nice enough guy but my opinions of him have severely changed. Fucker better hope he never runs into me on a bad day, or I will rearrange his fucking body. He has acted like a prick ever since the beginning of the semester, or should I be more specific and say since he has been following Aubrey around with stupid ass heart eyes for her.
Obviously, Aubrey can hang out with whoever she wants, God knows that I do. But I know her well enough by now to know that if she is looking for a casual fuck or even something more, she won’t be able to get what she needs from Cole fucking Simmons. He is too soft, too weak. He has friend zone written all over him. He couldn’t handle a woman like Aubrey.
Fuck, Aubrey. Just thinking about her sends my pulse racing. She is the most infuriating yet intriguing person that I have ever met. I have never gotten off to such a bad start with someone so quickly in my life. It took weeks just for her to not look at me like she wanted to detach my head from my body. The girl has quite a bit of issues, and I should know because I am the fucking king of issues.
I came by her place today to say thanks for last night. I wanted to talk to her more after the fight, but everyone stormed the cage, and she took off like a bat out of hell. I tried to follow after her, but Chase and a bunch of girls wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone. They kept yammering on about how epic the fight was and all of that shit.
Epic is not the word I would use to describe me losing absolute control and almost killing a fucking child. Because that is what he was, a child. Cameron found out while he was getting bandaged up that the kid lied about his age. He was 16 years old and had no fucking business being in that cage, let alone with me.
Fuck. I really thought I was getting my shit handled. One step forward, three steps back, I swear.
If it wasn’t for Aubrey last night, I have no doubt that I would have killed the kid. I was so far gone I wasn’t even in the room. I wasn’t looking at the kid in front of me. Instead, he was a faceless monster. He was the shadow of a man that destroyed my life all those years ago and I wanted to end him once and for all. I needed it. The darkness inside of me thrived off the bloodshed. With every fleck, it pounded its chest and begged for more.
Somehow Aubrey was able to bring me back. One moment, I was lost in my own personal hell and the next a siren voice was calling me out of the dark and into the dimly lit basement of Cameron’s gym.
Come back, Dax. Come back. You aren’t there anymore. You are safe. Deep breaths.
I can still practically here her sweet voice coaxing me out of the darkness, running off my demons with a few simple words.
I wanted to say thank you, genuinely. Maybe even explain where my head was at before she intervened. Fuck knows why I would want to explain myself. It isn’t like I need to or anything. She is easy to talk to though. The way she looks at me sometimes, the way she talks, makes me feel like I don’t have to explain myself. Like she already knows me better than I know myself. I think it is because we are one in the same.
I have her number and could have just sent her a quick text or even called her, but I wanted to do it face to face. It was the right way to do it.
Sure, keep telling yourself that.
It felt like I was waiting forever for someone to come in or out of her building before she finally showed up. I planned to slip into the building and ask around until I found her room. I didn’t know what she was up to today but her coming back from an early morning hike with Cole, getting a motherfucking piggyback ride from him, was not what I had expected.
Instantly, I was fucking livid. I wanted to rip his arms out of their sockets for even daring to touch her. That initial thought sent my head spinning and made me a little slow to realize why he was carrying her. When I asked if she was okay, the little prick wouldn’t even let her speak before he cut in, saying how she was all good, calling her fucking darlin’, and then saying that she was ‘his girl’.
Rearing my arm back, I begin attacking the heavy bag with a fucking vengeance at the memory. Scrawny motherfucker. I will snap him in fucking half if he refers to Aubrey as his anything ever again. I don’t know why I feel this overwhelming sense of possession over Aubrey. She isn’t anything to me, not really at least. But the thought of someone like Cole trying to get with her has me ready to fall into a murderous rage.
“Damn. What crawled up your ass?” My Uncle Marcus calls out as he props himself in the doorway of the garage.
I don’t answer him as I continue raging against the bag with everything I have. I have been at it for over an hour, and I am still not fucking calm, but my body is ready to give out and I know that I need to stop. Taking a step back I let out a rough breath as I put my hands on my hips.
“I’m fine,” I say shortly as I try to slow my breathing.
“Yeah, right. Look at you, you can barely stand up. I haven’t seen you like this in years.”
As soon as he says it, I notice that I am having a hard time standing up. My legs shake as I slowly make my way over to Aubrey’s self-proclaimed couch before sinking down into it. I lean my head back against the cushion and inhale deeply. Vanilla. It even fucking smells like her.
I am so fucked.
“Does this have anything to do with Aubrey?” My uncle asks, nailing it right on the head. But how does he fucking know?
My head snaps up at the mention of her name before I look over to him. He gives me a knowing look, but I brush it off and shrug as I tip my head back up to look at the ceiling.
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Marcus snorts. “Boy, I may be getting older but I ain’t stupid. I see the way you look at her.”
I shrug, not choosing to answer as he continues.
“Does this thing with Aubrey also include Cole?”
My head practically breaks off my spinal cord with how fast I whip my gaze to his. How the fuck does he know so much? Maybe I don’t give him enough credit.
Heaving an aggravated sigh, I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees as I look down at the ground and run my fingers through my hair.
“I went to see her. To talk to her about something and she was coming back from a hike with Cole. He had his fucking hands all over her and,” I pause and shake out my hands, just now realizing that I have been tightening them into fists with each word that I spoke.
“Ah. I get it. So, you have been too much of a pussy to go after what you want and now you are pissed that someone else is trying to take her?”
“You don’t know shit,” I spit aggressively as I look up to him.
I watch as his mirth filled gaze fades at my disrespect as a dark thunder cloud rolls over his face. Ah, fuck.
“Boy, don’t think that just because you are grown that I won’t knock your ass into line. You may be a man now, but I bet I can still get a few good licks in.”
He isn’t lying. Marcus is still in damn good shape, and he has a nasty temper like me, one that I was on the receiving end of more times than I can count growing up. Each time I deserved probably more than the last.
“Sorry,” I mutter as I let my head sag forward.
Fuck. Why am I getting all twisted up over a chick like this? I have never dealt with shit like this before. I don’t date. I hookup and I never go back for seconds. It keeps things less complicated that way. I like no strings and no feelings attached situations. Girls I get with always know the score and it just works. But Aubrey doesn’t fit into any of that.
She is fucking gorgeous, no doubt about it. From the first moment I saw her I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I catch the guys at the gym practically drooling over her daily. She is so fucking hot no other girls seem to compare.
I have imagined hooking up with her more times than I can count but the really fucking scary thing is that after the fantasy is over, she is still on my mind. She isn’t just any girl that I will forget her name by morning. She isn’t someone that I could ever imagine hooking up with and never speaking to again. As much as I hate to admit it, I have come to look forward to the days that we talk, crave it even.
I am so fucked.
The next Friday I stroll through the gym doors, fist bumping and nodding to people that call out to me. I am not on the card tonight. I was, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I have been pushing myself harder than normal this week and I am fucking feeling it. Besides, the guy they had me up against is hardly challenging. He is a big fucker, but he is slow as fuck, and I have already handed him his ass too many times to count. So, I decided to just kick back and watch the others tonight instead.
Chase is talking with a few guys near the octagon downstairs when he sees me come in.
“Where you been, man? It’s been a minute,” he greets me with a half bro hug.
“Just been training, class, helping at The White Oak,” I shrug.
Chase nods as he glances around the room. My eyes do the same and I furrow my brows.
“Where is Blake at?”
A look of irritation passes across Chases face before it fades into nonchalance as he shrugs.
“He is helping your fill-in get ready.”
“Who did you get?” I ask as I notice the normal guys that would be willing to go up against Collins are all standing around or already look like they have fought.
Chase is quiet for a second before a smirk crosses his face.
“You’ll see.”
Shaking my head at his weird cryptic answer, I turn to face the room where the lights begin to flicker, indicating the start of the of the fight. I take a seat in the front with Chase and some other guys as everyone gets settled. A lame song comes on that I know to be Collins walk out song. Sure enough, he steps out of the locker room, strutting like a peacock.
The guy is comparably my size. Except where I am solid muscle he is solid bulk. Don’t get me wrong, his hits pack a pretty decent punch, but he doesn’t have the speed to back it up. As long as whoever they have fighting against him stays light on their feet and can throw a decent punch, they will probably have a good chance at taking him down.
Once Collins is in the octagon, the music changes to Lose Yourself by Eminem. Sick beat. The bass is bumping through the room and the anticipation for the fight ratchets up as the next fighter comes out from the locker room. When my eyes lock on them, my stomach drops. What the fuck? Aubrey?
She is stalking towards the cage, a hard look across her face with determination flaring in her eyes. She is wearing a baggy t-shirt and a pair of spandex shorts with her hair up in a tight bun. I try to get her attention to see what the hell she thinks she is doing going up against a guy that is well over twice her weight and size, but her eyes are firmly focused on Collins.
“What the fuck, Chase? Why would you let Aubrey take my place? Collins is a tank. He is going to fucking destroy her!” I bark.
Chase rolls his eyes. “Relax. She volunteered. Besides, the cocky little bitch needs to be taken down a peg or two. Why does it matter anyways? What’s it to you?” He asks with a questioning eyebrow.
I shrug nonchalantly. Doing my best to brush off his bitch remark as I turn to face Aubrey. Blake is standing in the corner behind her, talking in her ear as she nods resolutely. She reaches down and strips off her shirt, tossing it to the side. Instantly, the room fills with chatter and even a few wolf whistles. The sounds have me clenching my jaw in irritation as my eyes greedily take their fill. Fuck. Her body is fucking perfection. I have to shift slightly to hide the hard on that I now have.
Aubrey doesn’t pay any of the vultures any mind, though. Her jaw is tightened in irritation, eyes narrowed into spite filled slits and body rigid with barely controlled anger. If Aubrey can stay out of the way and get a few decent hits in on Collins she may come out of this fairly unscathed. Either way though, if Collins hurts her too bad then I will have to return the fucking favor tenfold.
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
AUBREY
I narrow my eyes at Collins as we get into our stances. I am ready to beat this piece of shit into the floor. My workout ran later than expected again and I decided to stick around for the fights. I wasn’t sure if Dax was fighting tonight or not and for some odd reason, if he was, I wanted to be here for him. For moral support or whatever. Don’t know why the fuck I would even care, honestly. It isn’t like we are friends or anything. We are barely acquaintances. But still, here I was.
When I walked through the basement door everyone was talking about how Dax bailed at the last minute on his fight and they were looking for a volunteer to fight his scheduled opponent, Eric Collins. I had seen the guy in passing but that was the extent of my knowledge of him. I was shooting the shit with Blake when Collins approached me, talking about how I was the new gym whore and how unfair it was that he hadn’t gotten a taste.
I was ready to lay the motherfucker out when Chase stepped in between us. He told me that if I wanted to fight, I would have to do it in the octagon. So that is exactly what I am fucking doing. Blake took me to the back and told me every useful piece of information he could give me on Collins. He was just as pissed as me about his bullshit comments, even more pissed at Chase for pushing me into fighting Collins. But no one ever forces me to do anything that I don’t want to, not anymore. I’m gonna wipe the floor with this fucker.
From what Blake told me, Collins is slow as fuck, but his hits are brutal. I can’t let him get too many swings on me or it will be lights out. Good thing I don’t plan it. I am pretty quick too. Being small and light has some advantages, I guess. I just need to get in some good hits and then get out. I will tire him out and make him chase me, wear him down and then I will go in for the kill. It’s the best shot I have.
My eyes flick out to the crowd to see a thunderous looking Dax in the front row next to Chase. Dax’s arms are folded across his chest and his body looks to be riddled with tension. As soon as he sees that my eyes are on him he mouths to me ‘what the fuck are you doing?’. I roll my eyes at him before turning back to face Collins.
Cameron steps into the cage, throwing me an uneasy look before he looks at Collins. I know what everyone is thinking. The guy is well outside of my weight class, obviously. Normally no one would be stupid enough to fight someone so far out of your own class but like I have said before, I never claimed to be smart.
At the word fight, a sense of calm sweeps over me as my adrenaline skyrockets. This is my sanctuary. My peace. Collins fucked up by mouthing off to me and now I am about to show him what happens when people fuck with me.
He reels his arm back and swings on me. I can tell there is quite a bit of force behind it, but it is so slow that I easily dodge it and he hits air. I jump back a few steps before I bounce around on my toes. Collins doesn’t pause, advancing on me with several more combinations, all that I manage to outmaneuver.
It only takes a couple minutes of this for his movements to begin slowing down even more so. He sure doesn’t have my stamina. Seeing a window, I slide into the left and throw a hit to his gut. I hear a rough breath leave his chest before I jump back. Unfortunately, it isn’t quick enough, and he lands a hit across my cheek. The sharp sting that accompanies the hit tells me that the skin split open at that. Fuck.
Moving my hands in front of my face, I dance from side to side, waiting for another opening. When I get one, I throw my leg out and get a nice kick in to his ribs. While he bends down to cradle his now tender side, I wind my left arm back and pop him in the nose, causing the thing to explode in a gush all over the mat and himself.
He grunts in pain before his beady eyes turn near black. He throws a wild haymaker at me that I am just able to duck in time before I give him a nice uppercut. He stumbles back at the impact, working his jaw from side to side as he does.
A fire seems to light under his ass because in the next moment he charges like a raging bull. I go to duck his advance, but he anticipates it with a kick to my side. Fuck, that hurt. I step back quickly to maintain a healthy distance between us until I can catch my breath, but he follows me with a hit to my nose.
Eye for an eye, I guess.
Blood splatters across the mat as it runs down my face. For a moment, the pain doesn’t even register though, my face is just fucking numb. I throw a blind hit just out of protection, but I only hit air as Collins leans back and kicks me square in the stomach. I stumble and despite my best efforts I fall to the ground.
Oh, fuck.
Quicker than I thought he would be able to, he straddles me. I am still a little dazed from that face shot to register it all, but I do have the good sense to get my hands up to protect my head. This motherfucker could probably give me a concussion with one hit to the temple.
