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But honestly, I didn’t know the answer to that.
Because Jordan was wrong about one thing. Barrick didn’t just bend my heart a little. He full on broke it. It was a shattered mess inside my chest, and there were times, when I was alone in the middle of the night and aching so badly to have his arms around me, that I hurt so bad, it was physically hard to draw my next breath.
The place went dark except for the spotlight shining on one of the locker room doors. I clenched my hands around my drink, wondering if Barrick was going to be one of the fighters or a referee like he sometimes was.
Some guy named Ridge was announced, whom I’d never heard of before. As soon as he walked out, to equal screams and boos, I nearly dropped my drink. The guy was scary as hell, with muscles and veins popping from every direction. His head was shaved, and he wore a pair of shorts that looked like they’d been painted on his massive legs.
He walked right by me, and I shivered in fright, causing Jordan to tuck me closer, his hand staying at my hip as he used half his body to shield me when Ridge looked down at me and smirked.
“You know him?” Jordan asked.
I shook my head. I’d never seen the guy before, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of who I was. Lyla and I had come to every Underground
fight whether Barrick was fighting, refereeing, or just watching. Other fighters were bound to know who I was and that I was with Barrick.
Once Ridge was in the cage, the spotlight shifted to the other locker room door, and I went cold when they announced Beast.
“Oh gods,” I whispered and tossed back the rest of my drink in one gulp.
The door opened, and Barrick walked out with a sense of purpose to his stride. Everyone went crazy, screaming for Beast. His hair was pulled back into a man bun, his eyes focused on the cage and the man standing there waiting. He wore his lucky shorts that clung to his muscular thighs, but he was also wearing a T-shirt. He never fought in a T-shirt because his opponent could use it against him.
Unless he took that shirt off at the last minute, this wasn’t going to be good. Ridge seemed like the type to use anything he could against someone in the cage.
I hated watching Barrick fight, even though I knew he loved it when my eyes were on him while he did it. Ridge looked like he could destroy Barrick with a single hit, and just thinking about it made my stomach twist and turn until I was fighting down bile.
“That’s your ex?” Jordan asked, and I could only nod, knowing if I opened my mouth to answer, I was going to vomit at his feet. “Damn. No wonder you’re so torn up over him.”
Barrick got all the way to the door that opened into the cage before stopping, his dark eyes zeroing in on me. As I watched, his body started to relax a little…
Until his eyes landed on Jordan—who was still using his body protectively to shield me from Ridge. Barrick’s head snapped back as if he’d just been punched, and he took a step back before righting himself.
I’d brought Jordan in an attempt to get exactly that reaction from Barrick. If it was possible, I wanted to make him hurt as badly as he’d made me hurt. But now that I was witnessing it firsthand, I felt no pleasure in it. Seeing the pain flash in his eyes only made me hurt more, and my eyes began to sting with tears.
Tender fingers brushed a few locks of hair back from my face before Jordan lifted my chin so I had to meet his eyes. “Hey, no tears,” he chided gently. “I’ll have to go kick his ass if you cry.”
His threat had my lips tilting upward in a tiny smile. “Idiot,” I choked out.
The cage door shut with a slam, drawing my attention back to Barrick. He was standing just inside, his tormented gaze devouring me.
Moments later, the ref entered, and in no time, the fight began, but neither man moved. Barrick’s eyes dared me to look away, but I couldn’t. All week, as he’d followed me from dorm to class to work and back again, I hadn’t allowed myself to look at him for more than a second or two at a time. Now, my eyes were hungry for just the sight of him.
He was so focused on me, he didn’t see Ridge coming until a helpless cry left me when I saw the other fighter moving up behind him.
Barrick turned and punched Ridge in the face.
And he collapsed. His legs went slack and he fell back, his eyes closed. I’d heard the term “glass jaw,” but I’d never seen it before. Ridge had been so intimidating, he’d scared me more than a little. But one hit to his jaw and he was out cold.
The crowd was going crazy around me as the ref tried to revive Ridge, and after a good thirty seconds or so, the big man lifted his head, still dazed, confusion wrinkling his brow.
Once the winner was declared, Barrick walked out of the cage and right up to me. He didn’t even spare Jordan a glance as he bent and lifted me over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I screeched. “Put me down.”
“No,” he snarled, walking toward the door he’d come out of only minutes before.
I looked to where Jordan was still sitting, a bemused grin on his face. He gave me a salute, mouthed, “Have fun,” and sat back, looking for all the world like he was relaxed.
“Some friend you are!” I yelled just as Barrick walked through the door and toward the locker room Lyla had taken me to that first night I’d met him.
