Chapter Ten Seraphina
Chapter Ten
Seraphina
The crowd went wild when the champ landed a hard punch at Ryder’s ribs during the second round. He did some type of spinning kick next, sending Ryder against the fence, right along with me. I clutched the thing, trying to stifle my gasp of panic.
Ryder wasted no time going at him, ducking under his arm, missing a swing. But another three-sixty kick took him down on all fours. He lifted his head, spit out blood like it was nothing, then locked eyes with me.
“Get up,” I mouthed, unsure if sound came with the words. My heart was flying so fast, I didn’t think I could take much more of this after watching the first round.
While Ryder had held his own—much to the surprise of everyone there, based on their bets and their shouting at the champ in Spanish to “finish him already”—ángel didn’t seem tense or shocked.
I wanted to take his cue and relax, but that was a little hard to do, especially with Ryder still on the ground. Still staring at me.
While it felt like he’d been down there forever, only a few seconds had passed. But why wasn’t he getting back up?
And then I understood it.
Why he hadn’t budged.
The second the champ came for him, Ryder sat back on his heels in one fast movement, somehow catching the guy’s leg between his forearms with precision, and he twisted his leg, taking him down.
Ryder caught him off guard, as he’d clearly planned to do, and, well ... damn, that was impressive. But the fight was far from over. I needed to survive another round and a half, and my deodorant wasn’t strong enough for my anxiety.
I looked across the other side of the cage to where Ryder’s friend stood holding on to the fence, shaking it while yelling out instructions from his corner.
Ryder and the champ were now in some type of hold up against the cage, battling with elbows and knee shots to the body. I wasn’t sure who was even in the dominant position from this angle.
“You know him. This is no coincidence there is an American in that ring tonight.” ángel’s words pulled my attention to him. He had a hand casually propped up on the fence, observing me instead of the fighters.
“Why would you say that?” I probably should have gone with a solid and firm no instead, but apparently I’d forgotten the art of lying even though I’d done such a great job of it while working for Ezra.
ángel looked back and forth between me and the action in the ring.
“You’re nervous about the result. You hold your breath every time the American takes a hit.
” He narrowed his eyes at me. “I thought maybe you just don’t like fighting, but you are unaffected when the champion takes a beating. Well, more like relieved.”
You really can read and judge people. I’d need to keep that in mind.
He faced the cage again, clutching the chain link. “You didn’t know he’d be here?”
No point in lying. “No, I didn’t. I barely know him, but he saved me from ... well, the enemy. One of the enemies, I should say.” Not sure how or why he’s here, but here he is.
“Well, that makes much more sense now why he’s in that ring. He realized it was his only way to get inside my club. Determined like you, I see.”
Stubborn, that was for sure.
He shoved away from the fence, retrieving his phone from his pocket.
“Now that you know this, what will you do? Stop the fight?” I was okay with that as long as he wouldn’t hurt or punish Ryder for this.
“Why would I do that? I just bet a lot of money on him winning.” He held up his phone, showing me an electronic bet he’d made only a few seconds ago.
“Now that I know why he’s fighting, I’m even more confident he’ll win.
” He gestured with his head to the exit.
“I need to make a call, but I’ll be in touch tomorrow around noon.
Looks like you have an escort and won’t need Javier. ”
“Wait—um, you don’t want to see what happens?”
“I need to see if there’s a chance I can still save—”
“The fighter who didn’t show?” I finished for him, and he gave a resolute nod. At that, he left my side, and I was uncertain what to make of the exchange. He didn’t seem pissed, so that was a plus, I supposed.
Once he was out of sight, I rounded the cage, getting jostled around in the wild crowd on my way to join Ryder’s friend.
I made it over to him just as Ryder forced his opponent to tap out, which meant I wouldn’t have to survive watching a third round.
Shock waves surrounded the ring as Ryder turned his attention on me.
“Seraphina,” Ryder’s friend said, barely loud enough for me to hear above the mix of cheers and boos, which was good, since I was there as Anna.
You know my real name? “Sera. You can call me that.” I faced the cage.
“Alejandro, but you can call me Alex,” he added as Ryder helped the defeated fighter up to his feet.
“Good fight,” I overheard Ryder tell the champ while accepting a hand towel from the ref to pat down his body, which was glistening with sweat. He tossed the towel and started for the exit. He climbed down the steps, pointing at Alex. “Told you not to doubt me.”
“Last time I’ll be doing that,” Alex said before deferring to me with a nod as if Ryder hadn’t already noticed me.
Ryder stared deep into my eyes. The look swirling around in those blue greens of his said it all. He was both upset and curious about what in God’s name I was doing there.
“Hi.” That was the best opening I had for now.
“Hi,” he echoed.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered, ignoring the crowd still going wild all around us. Some had lost a lot of money, from what I was overhearing. Bet on the wrong man.
“I could ask you the same thing.” He lifted a hand, pushing his hair away from his face while keeping his eyes pinned on mine, as if worried that if he blinked, I’d disappear.
“It’s not what it looks like,” I rushed out, feeling defensive for some reason.
“It sure as fuck better not be.” Ryder dipped closer, bringing his mouth to my ear. “Because how it looks is that you’re in a club owned by the cartel, and you were taking shots with a cartel member.”
“Looks are deceiving. You should know that by now,” I murmured once he pulled back to locate my eyes.
He shook his head, more than likely preparing a speech but then realizing this wasn’t the best place to lecture me. On that note, we needed to leave.
“Nice job in there,” I forced out before swiveling around to make my escape, assuming he’d remain on my ass and follow me out. And he did, but he didn’t speak or try to slow me down.
The line out front had dispersed, but a few people lingered, which made me uncomfortable. It’d be a bad idea to have a confrontation with Ryder in the presence of others.
When I turned to face him, he was in the process of covering up, pulling his shirt over his head. Thankfully, his face didn’t look banged up. That was lucky.
Ryder quietly accepted his shoes from Alex next, and once he had them on, I asked, “What do you want? Why are you here?”
“We came here for you—and let me be very clear, we won’t be leaving Mexico without you.”
Direct and to the point. But the why still hung heavy and unanswered in the air between us. “You’ll resort to kidnapping, huh?” I locked my arms across my chest.
“Hostage rescue isn’t kidnapping.” He motioned toward a black SUV not too far away. Was that my cue to get in?
Ha. He was crazy. Crazy for fighting to get in the club, and as crazy as I was for being here alone in the first place. “Do I look like a hostage to you?”
“No, just like someone who’s lost her damn mind.” He stepped forward, still breathing hard from the fight—or maybe because he was pissed at me.
“Look in the mirror,” I remarked, not willing to back down. “You followed me to Mexico and stepped into a cage to fight someone to get to me.” I freed my arms from their position to point at him. “Between the two of us, I’d say you’re the one who’s lost his mind.”
He came in front of me, so close he had to lower his chin to look at me since he was a half a foot taller. “Maybe. I. Have.” The grit in his tone sent a shiver up my back. “But you’re coming with me whether you like it or not. Willingly or over my shoulder.”
I scrunched my nose, searching for ammunition to withstand the intensity of his gaze, which had me wanting to do something I hated doing: Give in. Surrender. Let him take all my problems from me so I could breathe a little easier.
“Dammit, woman.” He cursed again, then shocked me by doing exactly what he’d said he’d do. He picked me up. “I guess over the shoulder it is.”