Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
DREW
One more round.
My arms had turned to lead—the pain in my knuckles and fists like acid on the skin, yet it was my mind that hurt the most.
I’d got out of so many situations by the skin of my teeth, and now I had it all to win, the sense of loss hung over me, ready to bring me to my knees.
I’d met some sick motherfuckers in my time, but Travis Gatlin was up there with the worst, and whether I won this fight or not, he wasn’t about to let me get out of this alive.
I just had to make sure Ayda and the baby got out.
That was the one goal that kept my body driving forward with a need to kill.
It didn’t matter if I died, as long as they got to live.
My thighs throbbed, my chest fucking ached, and my feet were getting sloppy as the disruption to my vision made everything off balance.
“Come on, Tucker,” Slater hissed at me.
“You’ve got this, Drew,” Kenny shouted to me. “Get off, motherfucker,” he snapped at someone else. I didn’t have time to look or listen to any of them.
Trigger’s smile had slipped as he concentrated on the thrill of the kill and pulling in enough breaths to keep him moving.
His first serious shot came in triplicate, my jaw taking the first hard jab, and my chest tensing against the second before he rounded it off with a hit that made my teeth rattle.
Grunting and shaking it off, I blinked away to move the blood, and I tried to see through the red spots that were blurring the world around me.
Trigger’s teeth were bared through his smile, his amusement clear.
“Too easy,” he panted, two-stepping closer to me to throw another, but I managed the dodge this time, and Travis went past me, quickly finding his feet and bringing himself back around.
“If it were that easy, you wouldn’t feel the need to stay on your toes and bounce a-fucking-round like that.”
Trigger planted his feet in place, his legs wide apart, his shoulders sagging as he looked at me. “This better for you?”
I moved quickly, my left fist aiming for the fucker’s eye. If I could only see out of one, he sure as shit was going to have the same impairment.
Trigger’s head snapped back from the impact of my fist to his face, his laughter sadistic, and I took the chance to hit him in the chest over and over while I had him. Speed was no longer my friend, and I was going to make the most of every opportunity I got.
When I bounced back on my toes and took a chance to drag in a feral breath, I watched Trigger lift a hand to the eye I’d hit, his fascination clear when he pulled it away to find a stream of blood on his fingers.
“Damn, that felt good,” he whispered, looking back up at me. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
He was soon moving again, circling me effortlessly, and taunting me at every chance he got.
Trigger was too quick, and before I could maneuver my body to launch an attack on him, he was on me, pouring every punch he could muster onto my already bruised and beaten body, making sure he got my face, my arms, my stomach, and even throwing in a punch to the side of my head.
I drew my arms up, blocking him as best I could, but I couldn’t see for shit.
It was raining red in front of me, and I was a blind man having to feed off sounds and energy, knowing I needed to make an escape before this turned into the very thing I was trying to avoid.
“Fuck!” Trigger laughed, his panting breaths as loud as his cries of victory when he stepped away from me. “Come the fuck on, Tucker.” He punched me again, my chin taking the brunt of it, sending me stumbling back until I had to press my hands to my knees and pull in some fucking air.
“Kick his fucking ass, Drew. You’ve got this.” Ayda’s voice should have been lost in the sea of people, but it was the only feminine sound in the room, and it stood out from the rest.
I blinked hard, opening my eyes as wide as I could get them as I looked up through fucked-up eyes to see Trigger staring at me, waiting to kill.
This wasn’t a fight for me. I was fighting for her.
The grunt I released drove me forward, and I swung at him harder than I’d ever swung at anyone, the roar of survival tearing at my throat.
My fist hit him like thunder, the smack to the left side of his head making his eyes roll to the side, his mouth to fly open, and his body twist and turn to the side.
I caught his impending fall with a returning left punch to the right side of his face, my features twisted in anger and the blood rushing to my brain, my rage uncontrollable.
Trigger was gone, his head and body shook as he stumbled back, right into the arms of his waiting Navarro Rifle’s brother, who caught him in his arms. When Trigger’s eyes opened, his lips parted, and he stared up at me, dazed and somewhat confused.
I stood there, fists hanging down by my sides, and I stared right back at him, my teeth grinding together and my nostrils flared as I struggled to breathe.
“Get up,” I demanded quietly.
He stared. His silence his only response.
“I said… get up.”
Trigger swallowed, letting a slow smile grace his bust-up face as the Nav behind him guided him back to his feet. His body swayed as the aftershocks of my attack rattled through him.
That’s right, motherfucker. Feel me in your bones. There’s more where that came from.
He leaned into his brother and whispered something, following it with a wink before Travis turned back to me and tapped his fists together.
“Okay, Tucker. You’ve shown me your strength. Can feel it in my damn balls, brother.” He laughed roughly. “No more performances. Now it’s time to fight how real men fight.”
I had no idea what the fuck he meant. I could hardly see anything, and my head felt like it was about to roll off my body, the lightness of it making the room spin around me.
My feet seemed to move of their own accord, and I stumbled to the side, forcing my shoulders back and my chest out in a bid to stay upright.
Every Hound around me grew louder, their voices one big sound of noise I could no longer decipher, and when Trigger stood toe-to-toe with me, I saw my short future playing out ahead of me.
But only one voice stood out.
One voice I hadn’t heard in a very long time.
Pete:
“A true leader looks their enemy in the eyes and he says, ‘I’m never gonna back down, no matter what you throw at me and no matter how beaten to the ground I am. If you want to win this fight, you’re going to have to kill me.
’ Do you get that? There’s no in between.
No middle ground. No negotiations. This is do or die.
A leader—a true leader—they’ll do whatever it takes to make things go their way. ”
The memory of him was so real that I had to blink hard to refocus on the world in front of me.
My body swayed as I widened my eyes to stare back at Trigger.
“You with me, Drew?” he asked in a whisper, taking a controlled step forward.
Widening my nostrils, I inhaled and exhaled slowly, watching as his eyes taunted mine.
“I’m not a man of honor, and I’m not ashamed to admit that. What I am is the real deal. I’m a real man, and real men do whatever they have to do to win,” he whispered at me, taking a final step closer until there was nowhere else to go.
He stared into my eyes, holding them hostage.
And then I felt the nick of something sharp slice through my skin, just under my ribs.
Wincing, I pulled in on myself, scowling up at Travis, who simply stared at me with no emotion.
I’d been cut, deeply, my head spinning from the pain.
The noise of my brothers grew around me, but I was locked in on my enemy. The rest of the world was fading to nothing.
“Fuck you,” I spat as bile rose in my throat.
“See you on the flip side, brother,” Trigger breathed, and in a strike so powerful, he rained his punches down on me, one after the other, after the other, after the other.
I brought my hands up to fend him off, my body not giving in just yet, and I fought back, ducking and weaving, despite everything being on fire while the icy fingers of death trailed its finger down my spine at the same time.
Scars were being reopened.
Skin was being torn from my chest.
Sweat mingled with the blood.
Stars appeared in front of me, mixing with red and black until I wasn’t sure where I was or who I was with anymore.
With one last swing, I lunged forward, hoping to connect with something that felt like flesh and bone. Instead, I missed, and my legs gave out from under me.
I fell, my body straight and uncooperative, sailing to the cold, rough ground with a thud, my cheek hitting the deck and bouncing back up before hitting the concrete once more.
The sound went off, the silence piercing and painful in my ears.
The taste of warm metal collected in my mouth.
And when I tried to open an eye, my whole world tilted, with Ayda’s blurry face scrunched up in the distance.
I love you, darlin’. I failed you.
Then the pain stopped, and I closed my eyes, letting myself sink into the black.