He walks me out of the cage and I get swept up into Blink’s arms before Vega steals me away so he can check out my side.
“Jesus, this fucker Wolverine or something? One of these scratches is deep enough to need stitches.”
“I’m okay, Vega. I promise. I have some superglue. You can patch me up when Graves is done.”
I turn to face Graves, both of us pointedly ignoring Bruno as he is dragged from the cage.
“You ready?” I ask him, reaching up to cup his face.
His breathing is steady as he focuses on me. “I’m next?”
I nod slowly, searching his eyes for some clue of what’s going on.
“Yeah, as soon as you step into the cage, they’ll announce your opponent. You have to win this one to proceed, but if you need to bail now, I get it. No hard feelings.”
“I’d never bail on you,” he tells me quietly, pressing a kiss to my forehead. He strips off his T-shirt, leaving him in just his basketball shorts.
The women in the audience scream at the sight of his body, and I’m tempted to join them. You know, after I lick the valleys and hills of his abs.
I take the T-shirt from him and step back as he heads inside the cage.
Now I know how the guys felt. Watching him trapped in there while I’m on the outside, unable to do anything, is horrible. I hate feeling helpless, and that’s what I am right now. Helpless to aid him should he need it.
“Here, use it to put pressure on your cuts. There are plenty of sharks in here. Let’s not whip them into any more of a frenzy.” Blink takes Graves’s T-shirt and presses it to my side, making me hiss.
Vega stands at my back with his hands on my hips to steady me as the speakers start blasting “Barbie Girl”.
“Oh fuck,” Vega curses, realizing a second before I do who Graves’s opponent is.
“Diamond. Shit, I thought she left years ago,” Blink growls.
“Seems we’re all coming back,” I murmur, watching her strut her way to the cage.
There is no love lost between me and Diamond. She hated me on sight. Not that I cared. I had a chip on my shoulder and no time to deal with wannabe cheerleaders. She never beat me in a fight, but only because she didn’t have the same raw need inside her that I had.
She was a strong fighter, and I could see why she would be sought out for this. Each competing team of four has to have at least one female on it. The lack of female fighters meant some of them would have been scouted far and wide.
How skilled she is or isn’t wouldn’t matter since Graves is easily the more dominant fighter. There is just one teeny-tiny problem.
Graves won’t hit a girl.
“We’re fucked,” Blink hisses.
Yeah, Blink. I think we are.