“Have at it, you two assholes.”
He’d barely moved out of the way, and we were already coming at each other. We both wanted our pound of flesh, we both wanted to win, and we both wanted to show we were stronger than the other. We had something to prove, in front of the entire club, most of both chapters, in fact.
“Gonna make you eat those teeth, you smug cunt,” Grease murmured as he threw a punch at my face, and as I backed off,he tried tripping me. Bush league stuff. I easily dodged that, and flipped him off.
“You wanna go crying to the big man after this? Beg for your home back?”
Grease glared at me and threw another punch, lunging at me as he did, so I moved back to give him room, then ducked as he pressed forward, and slammed a fist hard right into his gut. Yeah, he might have training, but I had skills from the streets, and I was willing to play dirty, though I avoided his lower rib, which would have been far more effective and really brought a tear to his eye.
“Cunt.”
“Aw, you wanna tap out already?” I taunted, and he smirked.
“You wish. I’m just playing with ya right now. Cat and mouse stuff. Easing you in, so you don’t shit your pants with fear.”
“Wow, you’re gonna try and talk me to death, aren’t you?”
Grease’s next punch caught me right on the jaw, and I staggered for a moment before I landed another on him, and punches were flying as we both tried to break the other’s face.
I dimly heard cheering and yelling, with some backing me, and some backing him. None of that mattered now. What mattered was the fact that he was still smirking at me, like he thought he was fucking winning.
I suckered him in, swept his legs, and drove him into the dirt, pinning him on his back, an arm over his throat, with my bodyweight behind it. He clawed at my face, choking a little as I constricted his fucking breathing.
“You wanna know why I fucking hate you?”
He rolled his eyes, punching the side of my face, almost dislodging me.
“Don’t really care. You literally don’t even matter.”
“That’s okay. You don’t either. See, I get it. This life seems like a fun break and all, but you’ll fuck off back to your cushy life, and we’ll all still be here living it.”
Grease snorted, rocking from side to side and trying to drive a knee into me, as he tried to dislodge my balance, but I was steady right now. That could change any moment though.
“Rocket! Don’t fucking kill him!” I heard Micro yelling, but fuck that. I wasn’t about killing, but I wanted to put this shithead in his place.
“Thinking you’re one of us, just because you get to wear a cut, and skip prospect phase. Fucking pretending at this life, but it’s all some of us have. You get it? It’s not a fucking holiday. It’s everything.”
Grease paused his efforts, frowning at me.
“That’s what you think?”
“It’s what I know.” He wasn’t fighting me now, so I eased up on his throat a little, letting him speak.
“This life is everything to me too. I was born to the wrong fucking people. Do you get that?Thisis home. This is what fucking matters.” Born to the wrong people. I could understand that, more than any of them would know.
“Easy to say, but you could still walk away. You could still live it up when you get bored with this.”
Grease heaved a sigh, and slammed both hands against the sides of my face and ears, momentarily deafening and disorienting me, and that’s all he needed to turn the tables.
V
Ithought there wouldbe more of the flailing fists and stuff, but they were mostly trying to choke each other out and stuff. I mean, they’d still taken plenty of hits each, and both were bleeding somewhere on their faces. They were muttering god only knows what at each other, but when Grease turned things to his benefit, the guys around them all seemed to think it was hilarious.
“It’s not fucking date night, guys. Wanna stop making out?”
Whatever Grease said to Rocket seemed to take the wind out of his sails, just like he’d done to Grease, but then Rocket surged up and slammed his forehead against Grease’s and with that, they were scrapping again, rolling around in the dirt, throwing punches and trying to get a knee into the other’s gut, and cursing at each other.
“Kinda lame, really. We all know Grease could break him in half,” someone said beside me, and I turned to glare at him. He lifted both hands, palm up, and smiled at my reaction.
