“You should know how it feels to be second best.” I throw a jab that he dodges then takes a swing that misses me. “Always coming up short. Just not good enough, even when Daddy backs you.”
His anger rises as he seethes, “Daddy issues are your thing.”
He attempts to kick my legs out from under me, but I escape the tactic. His movements are too eager and that makes him predictable. At least it did until he strikes my knee. His knuckles connect with my nose, and before I can recover, his foot smashesinto my knee again. He’s targeting my old injury. Fucking dirty fighter is right. He’s always been and always will be.
I shake off the pain, blinking to clear my vision as I block a hit to my stomach.
Once I get some distance, I motion to where Brooke and Ivy are standing. “Have you told her yet?”
His rage comes out in a left jab as I pivot.
Two can play at that game. His weakness is as fucking obvious as mine. And she’s watching from the sideline. Only his will undeniably be his undoing.
He takes another shot at my knee, but I anticipate the move, and he misses. I don’t. I bring my foot up, connecting with his chest as he staggers back but recovers quickly.
Micah stays out of reach as he tells me, “It’d be a shame for something to happened to her now after all she’s endured.”
He charges at me, and his arm ends up around me as we both go to the ground. I’ve gotten into the exact situation that will be my demise even when I knew better.
I can’t resist and look to where she’s watching.
If I lose her, I’d lose myself.
50
IVY
“This is utterly ridiculous. How can two guys who are carbon copies of each other hate one another so much? ” Brooke shouts over the racket, and I agree as we watch the two dumbasses roll around on the floor.
She yells, “We should’ve made them compete on the same team. Then maybe they could work together. Or just leave us out of it.”
“Have they always been like this?” I ask, trying to maintain my footing as I get shoved by the swarm around me.
“For as long as I can remember,” she answers. “It got worse when their grandpa died though. He left the majority of his fortune to them, and their dad has resented them ever since. I think he’s using them to destroy each other.”
“Really?”
I’m still processing the information as Brooke adds, “Yeah. I mean their father has his own share of the Montclair empire, but one thing I’ve learned about people with power is the more they have, the more they want to acquire.”
“Their dad is a prick.”
“Yeah, my mom doesn’t think so,” Brooke mutters. I almost think I didn’t hear her correctly, but from the disgust on her face,I don’t ask for specifics and can guess the underlying context that she’s insinuating.
The dual idiots look like they’re wearing down, their movements growing sluggish, but they refuse to give up. “We’re gonna be here for a while.”
They’re on their feet; Micah throwing a punch that lands on Luca’s chest. He staggers back a foot before taking his own shot which lands on Micah’s cheek. Both are covered in blood so much so that it’s hard to tell where their actual injuries are.
Brooke is right. They hate the very replica of themselves. However, I understand hating someone whose blood runs through your veins.
Luca ends up on his back, Micah on him as he pummels his head. Luca’s arms shield his face as his legs come up and hook around Micah’s neck, taking him to the mat. Luca keeps his brother pinned in the position as he looks at me, and I just shake my head. I’m so over this spectacle. I lift my arm and tap on my wrist like,Hello, it’s way past time to stop beating the shit out of your twin.
Luca appears utterly insane as his mouth twists into a blood-splattered smile.
The match seems like it’s wrapping up because Micah can’t get out of the hold even though he swings erratically. Once he does escape, Luca kicks him in the face, his head jolting back to the point where I cringe and pray that’s the end of the fight. The brutality is too much.
Sure enough. Micah stays on the ground. After a few minutes, the referee announces Luca as the winner and lifts his bloody fist in the air.
Brooke goes over to Micah, kneeling next to him as I watch Luca. He doesn’t celebrate with the mob around him. And he shouldn’t. Because neither of them were ever going to walk away from this fight a victor.
