All smooth and summer-skinned.
So vital and alive.
That same body of his is now getting beaten up.
Oh my God.
Oh myGod.
That other guy is killing him. He’sso totallykilling him and it happened so fast.
Like, that first punch flew and caught him in the jaw; then he rolled out a punch of his own that got the other guy just under his solar plexus. And after that there were a series of punches that the other guy threw that Reign was able to dodge and duck and leap away from, while getting a few punches of his own in. The bell rang, signaling the end of the round. And then rang again to signal the start of another one.
Butnow,now there’s no leaping or ducking or whatever the fuck all these defensive moves are called.
Now there’s only beating.
There’s sweat and blood flying in the air, and bones and muscles smacking against each other. And then the bigger guy flips Reign and snakes his arms — both arms — around his neck and presses and presses.
Holy shit.
He’s trying to choke Reign.
That’s when I start running.
I start hearing noises, shouts and screams and cheers and jeers around me.
As if this is a show.
What is wrong with people?
Why isn’t anyone stopping this? Why isn’t anyone doing anything?
As it turns out, I can’t do anything either. Because I come crashing against something. A metal fence kind of thing that runs all around the ring. And just when I decide that I’m going to fucking climb over it even though my climbing skills aren’t anything to write home about, someone grabs my arm from behind.
It’s Ledger.
I know he’s saying something, clearly something related to me running away from him when he’d specifically told me and Tempest not to. But I don’t care and I don’t even hear him, my eyes glued to the horror that’s happening in the ring.
Neither do I hear a couple of other guys, one of them with tattoos peeking out of the sleeves of his suit jacket, who arrive only moments later and are now engaged in a conversation with Ledger. I think that tattooed guy is someone important and I hear Ledger calling him Ark or something.
But whatever.
Ark can go suck it. Ledger too and all these other people who are trying to stop me.
Frustrated and angry and scared out of my mind, I call out, “Reign.Reign!”
I don’t have a lot of hope that he’ll hear me over the ruckus and I’m ready to call out even more loudly. I’m ready to bring down the roof, the walls, the fucking sky, for him.
ButJesus Christ, he does hear me.
Like always, my voice somehow reaches him and his gaze flies over at me.
The force of his reddish-brown eyes is such that I draw back slightly.
I start to struggle even harder in Ledger’s hold now that he’s looking at me with a confused frown.
Then his eyes shift.