I straightened my shirt like there wasn’t a line of blood on my arm. “But I’ll have the last laugh.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he responded.
I narrowed my gaze and looked for a weakness in his stance, knowing that he had the same training I did, from the same person. We blocked each other’s hits, my eyes ever watching where the knife was. He knew where to sever tendons, and if he did so, I would be helpless to fight back.
I wasn’t about to go down like that.
The knife bit into my side and I hissed, knowing that cut was a little deeper than the one on my arm. It was a game Adrian was playing. Death by a thousand cuts. My shirt was growing sticky with blood, and by the look on Adrian’s face, he knew that he just had to drag out the process.
Well, I wasn’t going to let him win tonight.
I didn’t even glance over to see how Leda was as I came at him with my fists raised, landing a few blows before feeling another sting on my upper thigh.
“What’s wrong, whore? Looking a little slow there,” Adrian taunted. His own face was a blooming red from my punches. His mouth was bloodied, and he was starting to favor his left side.
I, on the other hand, was dripping blood all over the floor from the various cuts Adrian had inflicted. I had to stop this shit now.
With a growl, I charged him, catching Adrian off guard as I did so. We crashed against the wall, the movement jarring my body, but it was enough to loosen Adrian’s grip on the knife, sending it clattering to the floor.
Adrian’s grin dimmed as he realized that he was now unarmed.
I kneed him hard in his balls and he doubled over. The moment was all I needed to grab the knife off the floor. In a flash, I plunged the knife into his thigh and pulled it back out. A spurt of blood emerged from the open wound.
It would have to do for now. I was growing weak, and if we didn’t leave now, it would be too late.
Adrian bellowed with pain and rage as I hurried over to Leda. She had wrapped my coat around her naked form, her entire body quivering.
“Let’s go,” I told her urgently as Adrian tried to pull the knife out of his bloodied hand. “We have to go now.”
“Lucas,” she breathed, standing. “You’re—”
“Don’t fucking worry about me,” I panted, hating that I had to be this way with her right now. My vision was starting to get blurry, and I was afraid that I would pass out if I didn’t concentrate. “We don’t have much time.”
Luckily she heard the urgency in my voice, and together we started toward the door.
“This isn’t the end!” Adrian yelled behind us.
I knew it wasn’t and hoped that he would come after me. It would give me a chance to finish what I had started.
“This way,” Leda finally said, leading me away from the way I had come in my disorientation. “It’s the way they brought me in.”
My heart twisted at her words, and if we got out of this mess alive, I would be begging her forgiveness.
Right now, I could barely feel my own legs. I felt like I was drunk, but it was just blood loss.
I stumbled into the hallway, and Leda let out a cry, tucking her arm around my waist to keep me upright. “Come on, Lucas!” She urged, propelling me forward. “It’s not too much further. Just a little while longer.”
“I’m sorry,” I rasped, shaking my head to clear the sudden cobwebs. “I’m so fucking sorry.” I wanted her to know that I hated every minute of what I had subjected her to, that it would be one of my biggest regrets.
“Apologize later,” she responded, coming to a shut door. It only took a few tries to get it open, and the cold night air rushed in when we crossed over the threshold, not far from the entrance of the underground club.
“Goddamn it.” Rocco swore the moment we rounded the small exterior building. “We got to go.”
I let him take my weight, and he dumped me in the back seat, with Leda scrambling inside before the car was moving, tearing down the road. “Tell me what to do,” Leda was saying, her hands roaming over my skin. “Tell me what to do, Lucas.”
I opened my eyes, seeing her frantic gaze meeting mine. “Stop the bleeding.”
She nodded and pulled the shirt out of my pants, tearing the fabric at the bottom. She balled up the fabric against my thigh and my rib cage. I groaned against the sudden pain, but now that I was lying down, my vision was clearer.