Chapter Thirty
Amir
Myworldwasadizzying flash of lights, swirls of movements, sounds that were nothing more than crashing waterfalls and ringing bells. There were hands on me, lifting, carrying, digging into broken places—skin, bone, spirit. And then I was down, on something that might have been soft, but to my live-wire nerves, it might have been a bed of nails.
I struggled to open my swollen eyes. Vulnerable. I didn’t like being out of it, but I couldn’t bring my mind around yet. Over the raging whoosh in my ears, I heard Julien and Marco’s voices. They were close. It was their hands on me, wiping blood, sweat, grime. Adding bandages to the worst of my cuts. I hadn’t seen myself, but there was no way bandages were enough. My face split multiple times under Ishkov’s relentless hits. His knuckles were knives, so sharp and precise, they sliced through skin.
Someone trickled water into my mouth, wiped my eyes and forehead, slapped my cheeks a little to bring me around. This time when I tried, I got my eyes open. Julien and Marco were hovering over me.
“There he is, Sleeping Beauty finally rejoins the land of the living.” Julien’s words were light, but there was no humor behind them. He was pissed at me for the decision I’d made that had brought me to this moment.
“I’m good,” I grunted. “Help me sit up.”
Marco grabbed my hand, slowly pulling me upright. My ribs were on fire, but that was no surprise since I’d heard the crack as they’d broken.
“If you pass out, I’m not helping you up again,” Marco warned.
The world tilted from side to side. Once I was sitting, but after some slow breathing, it went steady again.
“I’m good. Just feel like I got run over by a truck.” As the fog lifted, I glanced around the room. “I’m ready to go.”
Julien put his hand on my shoulder. “No. Sit here. Make sure you’re not going to keel over the second you stand up.”
People came in and out of the room while I got my shit together. Before Julien was ready, I climbed to my feet, moving like an old, arthritic man. I tossed on a hoodie and pulled the hood over my head.
Outside, we started down the sidewalk to my truck, but Reno’s voice had us spinning back around. He came jogging up, a deep frown furrowing his brow as he looked me over.
He clapped me on the shoulder. I winced at the hard contact, but he didn’t notice. “You’re all right, man. Shake it off. You just made me a shitload of cash. Ashitload. Are you sure you want to retire?”
A whip lashed at my forehead. “Never been more sure of anything.”
That was what tonight had been about. Reno wasn’t happy with me, but I hadn’t given him a choice. Let me walk from the business, or I’d walk from him, and it wouldn’t be pretty. Not that allowing myself to be beat to shreds was pretty. It sure as hell wasn’t, but it was Reno’s price, and I’d paid it in blood.
He clicked his tongue against his teeth. “So serious. Always so serious, my baby brother.”
I grunted. “This is it, Reno. The last time.”
He rose to his feet, holding his hands up. “All right, all right. I heard you. You’re straight as an arrow. You’ve told me enough times over the last two weeks. Pussying out on me for a girl.” He scoffed, running his hand over his mouth. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
A girl.
More fog lifted. Her face came back to me. It was only a split second, and I still wondered if she’d been a vision. But no, if I was going to imagine Zadie, she’d be smiling at me, not gazing at me like she’d finally seen beneath my veil and the monster had been revealed.
“What was Zadie doing here tonight?”
I didn’t know who I was asking. The fucking universe? Was I living in a cosmic joke? It felt like it. I’d spent two weeks extracting myself from every strand of my part in Reno’s business, and it was all supposed to culminate tonight. Then I was going to go to her. Tell her it was over, and she was mine.
“I don’t know, man,” Julien said. “I saw her while you were in the ring. I tried to get her to go, but she wouldn’t.”
Reno busted out with a deep chuckle. “Oh shit, the girl you were getting out for, the one who can’t stand violence, she was here tonight?” He slapped his leg, laughing harder. “What the fuck are the chances?”
“Slim,” I mumbled. “Who told her about the fight?”
There was no way she showed up here by chance. She’d avoided me like the plague on campus. Twice I’d seen her, and both times, she’d fled as soon as we’d made eye contact. Both times, it had taken everything in my power not to chase her down and fuck some sense into her. Because nothing about being apart from Zadie made any damn sense. She had to know that. She had to see it.
Reno patted his chest. “You know it wasn’t me. It’s fucking poetic, though. You think she’s gonna take you back now, brother?” He laughed like this was a joke. Like I’d just paid in blood for some shits and giggles.
“That isn’t helpful,” Julien barked.