It wasn’t a good sign.
The crowd quieted as stats appeared in the air. Announcements boomed around the room. Rounds of betting fired off. Brit played to the crowd like the show-woman she was. Her opponent sat still with a dark grin on his face.
“She’ll wipe the floor with him,” Joe stated, taking a betting card.
I glanced up at the stats. “Odds are not in her favor. And his veins...” I took my own betting card. “He might be on something.”
Joe grunted. “You’ll see.”
Tension built between the two fighters until the ringmaster dragged them together, forcing them to shake hands. After he’d retreated far out of the cage, a bell sounded. Brit charged, hitting the guy with a good left hook. The mountain of a man didn’t even flinch. He reached forward, trying to grab Brit, but she dropped, rolled between his legs, and kicked him hard in the back of the knee.
The man grunted this time, but didn’t fall.
“Shite,” Joe said, some of his fun turning into tension. Two more jabs and kicks followed, each of Brit’s strikes hitting home. After the last kick, he turned to the side and spat. A wad of bloody saliva hit the ring.
“You warmed up now, little girl?” the man asked.
Brit set her stance, and her moss-green eyes glowed. “Get your lazy feet moving and find out.”
The man grinned and charged. Brit dodged his first hit, but his second took her in the side, sending her flying into the caged wall.
Quinn’s worry spiked in my chest. Wrong damn time for it.
The man was already on Brit, and she rolled away from him just before his knee would have dented her skull. She flipped to standing in one smooth movement. Her heel clipped the man in the ear before he lurched back. Such a slow response time for a fighter.
He grinned and stood.
“I’m excited to see you broken at my feet.” He wiped crimson across his face. “Where all women end up.”
Quinn’s worry turned to rage and excitement. And my gut twisted with certainty. I couldn’t ignore her anymore. I let her emotions wash over me, and the sense of her location seeped into my subconscious. My gaze zoomed in on a knot of men standing right at the front of the raised cage.
A collective “ugh” swept the crowd. I missed how he did it, but Brit was on the ground, blood pouring down her face. She managed to stand, only to fling herself sideways again. This wasn’t a battle. It was a slaughter.
Next to me, Joe tried to rise, and I gripped his arm, keeping him in place. My heart raced in my chest, instantly sobering me. It wasn’t just the danger. Quinn had run from violence, from seeing her friends get hurt, and now…
The man hit Brit again, slamming her into the chains and ripping the ribbons off her left arm.
Men booed. “This isn’t a fight.”
“Fuck this, I bet on her; it’s not even a show,” another man said.
Joe’s magic seeped out of his body, and I gripped him harder. “This is Brit’s job. She signed up for this. Stay calm.”
The weight of Quinn’s stormy emotions raged in me.
Brit bled in the ring, Quinn bled in my chest, and I couldn’t stop either.
Chapter 15
Quinn
Britwentdownagain.Blood speckled her glittering outfit, with a glob trailing between her breasts. She stood, visibly limping on her left leg.
My heart hammered in my chest. The multitude of injuries I’d suffered since waking up here throbbed despite being long healed. It hadn’t occurred to me that I’d paid to watch my friend get beaten up.
Everly gripped my hand. But not with fear. She looked at me and grinned before thrusting both our fists into the air.
“You’ve fricking got this, Brit!” she screamed, her facial hair trembling with the volume of her voice. The men around us turned, scanning our group and the others around us for the source.
