Chapter Twenty-Eight
Isla
T he VIP box door burst open with a bang, and Adrian filled the doorway in sweatpants and a crop top.
His green eyes immediately found mine across the room, and his face split into that wild, beautiful grin that made my heart skip beats.
"Angel!" he called, crossing the space in three long strides. Before I could even breathe his name, he scooped me up in his powerful arms, burying his face in my neck where the ribbon circled my throat.
He smelled of soap, adrenaline, and the faintest metallic hint of blood, a combination that definitely should have scared me.
"You were amazing," I whispered, wrapping my arms around his massive shoulders. "I'm so proud of you."
He lifted his head just enough to capture my lips in a kiss that tasted of victory and pure obsession.
His hand cradled the back of my head, fingers tangling in my hair as he showed me the same intensity he had in destroying his opponent.
“You demolished him," Connor praised from beside us .
"Never doubted it for a second," Jax added. "Poor bastard looked terrified the moment Adrian stepped into the ring."
When Adrian finally released my mouth, I was breathless and more than a little embarrassed. He kept me cradled against his chest as Sierra and Estelle approached, both grinning proudly.
"That knockout was brutal," Sierra sparkled with an appreciative grin. "Like watching a nature documentary and you were the top of the food chain!”
"But with more tattoos,” Estelle added, earning a threatening look from Jax that had her laughing.
Adrian's chest rumbled with laughter, the sound vibrating through me.
"The poor fucker never stood a chance," he replied, bouncing slightly with excess energy.. "Not with my angel watching. I had to put on a proper show."
He turned to Connor and Jax, who were already preparing to leave. "I'll meet you in the SUV," he said, shifting me in his arms. "Got something to take care of first."
Without waiting for their response, Adrian carried me toward the door.
The security women moved to follow, but Adrian shook his head. "Two minutes, down to the ring and back."
Before I could process what was happening, Adrian was carrying me down a concrete stairwell marked "Employees Only," taking the steps much too quickly for having all of my weight in his arms.
"Adrian, what are we doing?" I laughed, clinging to his neck as he navigated the steps.
"Making it official," he replied, that manic grin plastered across his face. "Your followers get to know who you belong to now."
We emerged at ground level, and Adrian strode confidently toward the boxing ring.
The arena was mostly empty now, just cleaning crew and a few lingering staff members who looked up in shock as the champion boxer carried me directly into the ring, stepping between the ropes with practiced ease.
"Adrian!" I protested, noticing the spatters of blood on the canvas. "My shoes?—”
"Will stay perfect because I'm holding you, angel," he interrupted, adjusting his grip so I was cradled securely against his chest. "Take the picture. For your army of followers."
I gasped as I understood and fumbled for my phone, unlocking it with excited fingers.
Adrian positioned us in the center of the ring, the bright overhead lights illuminating his tattooed self and the triumphant gleam in his eyes.
"Like this.” He shifted me in his arms, bringing one tattooed hand up to wrap around my throat, just above the ribbon.
His touch was possessive but tender, his fingers applying gentle pressure to my pulse point.
The pose was pure dominance wrapped in tenderness.
Me in his arms like a claimed prize, his hand at my throat marking as his, both of us illuminated by the harsh arena lights with the blood-stained ring as our backdrop.
I held my phone up, angling it to capture both of us.
The contrast was striking—his huge, inked body against my smaller frame in the pale blue dress, the violence and tenderness, the danger and protection all contained in one perfect image.
"Got it?" he asked, his breath hot against my ear.
I stared at the photo on my screen, my heart racing. It was crazy, sweet, dangerous. Everything we were together.
"It's perfect."
"Good," he rumbled, already turning to carry me out of the ring. "Now show the world who their angel belongs to."
The walk back to the SUV was quick, Adrian's long strides eating up the distance.
When we emerged into the underground garage, the black vehicle was waiting, Connor and Jax flanking either side while Sierra and Estelle chatted inside.
Adrian slid into the backseat with me still firmly in his lap, clearly unwilling to let me go.
As we pulled away from the arena, I showed my phone to Sierra and Estelle, who immediately leaned forward with eager expressions.
"Oh my GOD!” Sierra squealed, grabbing the phone for a closer look. "This is so good! Connor, look!"
She thrust the phone at Connor, who glanced at it with a raised eyebrow before returning his gaze to Sierra with new intensity.
"You want one like that?" he asked, his voice dropping to a dangerous register that made Sierra visibly shiver.
"Yes," she admitted breathlessly. "Just like that."
Estelle snatched the phone next to show Jax, whose slow smirk promised similar photos in their future. "Next fight," he said, fingers playing with the ends of Estelle's hair. "You in my ring. My hand around that beautiful throat."
I took my phone back, excitement thrumming through me as I opened my apps. With slightly trembling fingers, I crafted the caption:
My chaos, my champion, my entire heart. @AdrianCatalyst.
The moment I hit "post," Adrian's arms tightened around me, his face buried in my hair as if breathing me in.
"Mine," he whispered, the word both a claim and a vow. "All mine now, for everyone to see."
And I was his.
Within minutes, my notifications were off the charts.
Likes, comments, shares, but my DMs began flooding with messages, all from similar accounts:
Burner00
This is him?
Burner01
Is this really him?
Burner02
Him????
Burner03
Him? Really?
Account after account, all asking the same question with slight variations. No profile pictures, generic usernames, all created recently.
Adrian chuckled beside me, pulling my attention from my phone.
"See what you started, angel? Everyone wants a piece of what we have."
I looked up to see Sierra pulled fully onto Connor’s lap, his hand cradling her throat in a mirror of Adrian's pose in our photo.
Beside them, Jax had Estelle pressed against the window, his body shielding her from view as he whispered something in her ear that made her go quiet.
My cheeks flamed, and I dismissed the weird messages.
I was too happy, too content in Adrian's arms with our perfect photo announcing us to the world, to care about a few weird DMs from random accounts.
I melted deeper into his embrace, feeling the solid strength of his body surrounding me, protecting me.
For so long, I'd hidden parts of myself, worried about fitting into the perfect little box I'd created online.
But here, with Adrian's arms around me and our photo broadcasting our truth to the world, I felt completely free.
The rest of the world could wait. Right now, I had everything I'd ever wanted.