“CARTER!”
The voice was preceded by the slam of a truck door. Relief surged through me as I saw Bodie, fists clenched, standing at the mouth of the parking lot.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” my friend snarled.
He advanced, positioning himself between where Cole stood and where Hayden rested on the ground. She still hadn’t gotten up yet. That worried me.
“All I wanted to do was talk,” Cole growled, circling to keep us from flanking him. He pointed to Hayden, who was sobbing. “All she needed to do was—”
“Save it,” Bodie snarled. “Nobody gives a shit.”
“She was never yours to begin with,” I barked at him. “We’re done with this — all of us.” My hands screwed into fists. “This ends tonight.”
Cole feinted my way, driving me back, then rushed at Bodie. For such a giant, he was amazingly fast. The two wrapped their arms around each other, twisting and turning, each tryingto get an edge. Bodie was Cole’s height, pretty much, and it was giving the fighter trouble. He had longer legs than him, too.
“Carter…”
Hayden’s broken voice reached my ears. It tore my heart in half, not to run to her. But I had to help Bodie. I couldn’t leave him, not now. Not with this psychopath looming over us.
I stormed forward and punched him as hard as I could, square in the jaw. Cole took the blow, but barely flinched. With his arms wrapped up, I delivered a couple of shots to his exposed side. He absorbed those too, but the last one seemed to do the trick. He screamed in pain and doubled over, bringing Bodie in that direction.
“Cowardly fucks!” he spat, shoving away from us both.
“Ha!” I pointed downward. “This coming from the guy who beats on women!”
“I didn’t beat on—”
Bodie kicked him mid-sentence, square in the chest. The way his voice cracked, interrupted by the air abruptly leaving his lungs, was something I wanted to remember forever. He fell backwards, sprawling in the direction of the bar. As he reached the wall, he rested a hand on it. With the other, he clutched his heaving chest.
“Don’t let him breathe,” Bodie growled, just loud enough for me to hear. “Don’t give him an inch.”
I charged from one side, Bodie the other. To his credit, Cole was ready for both. He rolled left, blocking Bodie momentarily, then kicked outward with his good leg. If I hadn’t twisted, I would’ve taken a boot to the balls. Instead, the forceof his strike caught me mid-thigh, spinning me to the ground. I scrambled quickly, to get back up…
And that’s when a wave of shooting, searing pain rocketed straight up my back, collapsing me to the ground with a guttural scream.
“Bodie…”
I fell in a fraction of an instant; like a marionette whose strings had been cut. I couldn’t stand, or move, or reach out. I could barely even speak. My chest felt like someone was standing on it.
Hayden rose then, and fear gripped me. She ran straight into the fray, beating on Cole with her fists. He shoved her aside and pulled Bodie close, as the two grappled for a second time.
Again, Bodie sprawled to maintain his balance. This time he threw a flurry of uppercuts into Cole’s midsection, but the hits bounced off and only enraged him. Still unable to sweep Bodie’s leg, Cole planted his feet and violently twisted his hips in the opposite direction they’d been wrestling. The resulting throw sent Bodie sailing through the air, straight into the back wall of the building.
Oh no…
The bricks were hard, and unforgiving. My friend crashed into them head-first, with a thud and a groan. He was out cold instantly, and dropped like a sack of dead weight.
“BASTARD!”
Hayden was on her feet again, but dangerously unsteady. There was still fire in her eyes, but it couldn’t hope to compete with the roaring flames of Cole’s adrenaline-fueled rage.
“We could’ve been good together,” he shouted into her face. “Like we used to be!”
Hayden’s pretty brown face was streaked with mud. It stuck to her rain-soaked face as she shook her head. “We were never good!”
“See how stupid it was? To underestimate me?” He waved an arm at the three crumpled forms surrounding him. “And now you’re going to pay for it,” he roared. “Right here, right now!”
Through sheer will, I forced myself to my feet. But after only one step, I fell to my knees.
