“You know what? Fuck you.”
He clearly wasn’t expecting that, because he actually reacts with a facial expression. He turns more fully to me, like he’s locking onto me, and raises both his eyebrows in surprise. “Excuse me?”
“I said fuck you,” I spit out, all my fire and rage still burning, burning. I was momentarily distracted by his good looks, but all that’s left now is resentment because–because– “Fuck you for all of that. Whatever that conversation was just now, fuck you for it. I’m gonna fight my way. I’m not your bitch.”
“Not a bitch,” Young-gi agreed, crossing his muscular arms. “But clearly a brat.”
I open my mouth to snap back a reply–admittedly, a bratty reply–but Brian calls to us obnoxiously, slamming his gloved fists together like the Hulk. “You guys ready or what? We don’t have all day!”
“Yeah!” The guy filming laughs. “We’ve got the speedboats waiting on the lake. Hurry it up!”
“No one said you have to stay and watch,” Lexie sniffs.
“I’m ready,” I growl, stepping away from Young-gi. I don’t know him very well, but I’m tuned into him hardcore so I think I can tell that he isn’t exactly pleased with me. Well, that makes both of us. Seriously, fuck him. My bruises? What the fuck ever. So what if I’m bruised? I’m bruised all the time. No one’s gonna take it easy on me, not even myself.
“Finally,” Leonard groans dramatically. He slams his gloved fist on the side of the clock, and it starts a countdown, beeping as Leonard hops on his toes in anticipation. My three opponents spread out a bit, but Leonard and Gregory are sticking closer together. Their body language is so obvious–they’re gonna fight together, and team up on Young-gi. They’re staring at him blatantly, while Brian is smirking at me again, taunting me.
My blood is singing as I finally,finally,get to punch something that feels it. The punching bag was fine, but I want to hit something thathurts… and if that isn’t fucked up, I don’t know what is.
The countdown gets to 3… 2… 1–
Young-gi, with a growl of irritation, like he’s making a choice he doesn’t like but must, suddenly grabs me and yanks me to his side. Like a dancer, he glides behind me, switching places with me as I stumble into his spot. Now, he’s opposite Brian, and I’ve got the brothers.
Our opponents hesitate, and Brian in particular goes pale. He’s been targeted, deliberately sought out by Young-gi, and that scares the shit out of him.
Good.
I can’t stop my smile as I leap forward. The brothers flinch but, to their credit, they aren’t total pushovers. Once they’re over their surprise at the change on their dance card, they jeer at me and fake jab, ducking me with more skill than I anticipated.
But not more skill than I have. I speed up. I take a hit to my side so I can land a stunner on Gregory’s gut, dropping him with a wheeze. He didn’t have his abs tensed properly, or he’d have been able to withstand that, just like I have so many times before. Spinning, I grab Leonard and flip him over my shoulder, landing him on the mat with a dramaticbang! The crowd freaks out about that one, their cheers an odd mix of nerves and impressed enthusiasm.
With a second to myself, I glance at Young-gi. And once I see what’s going on, my smile grows. My bloodlust surges. Because Young-gi is fucking with him.
He’s playing around with Brian, startling him, faking him out, dancing around him, cornering him, getting in his head. The steel in Young-gi’s expression surprises me, because he so rarely expresses anything, but I can tell that he wants to do this; he wants to take out his anger on Brian.
Why Brian? Then I remember the library. Duh, I told Young-gi that Brian called his precious niece a fat, prudish bitch. If I were Young-gi, I’d want to take a pound of flesh out of Brian’s hide, too.
“Fuck you, bastard,” Gregory manages to wheeze as he and his brother get on their feet. We’ve still got over a minute on the clock. I smirk at them, give them a little ‘come hither’ motion with my glove. They lunge as one, both gunning for my face because fuck the rules, I guess.
I slip under Gregory’s sloppy tackle entirely, jamming my shoulder into his gut to lift him with a squat like I’m deadlifting, and slam him down again onto his stomach. He grunts, and I laugh. Leonard takes the opportunity to get a hit on my cheek but I turn with it so it won’t do too much harm. It stings a bit, but I’ve had worse.
“He hit his face!” Lexie’s voice cries from the crowd but I don’t let it distract me. Instead, I let my anger take over and I tackle him to the ground, pinning him and trapping his arms at his sides. I hold my fist menacingly over his unprotected face, and now I’m the one jeering at him.
“Tap out?” I ask him sweetly.
Leonard struggles, but he’s stuck. I look up at Young-gi, and the edges of my smile wobble into something a little dreamy when I see that he’s got Brian pinned against the ropes, looking so terrified I wouldn’t be surprised if he pissed his shorts. He’s wheezing and has one glove protectively on his gut, standing crooked, and I realize that Young-gi definitely got a few good hits in.
Too bad he left Brian’s face alone.I really want that smirk gone for good.
The timer starts beeping, counting down from ten as we near the end of the match. Brian gets a fire under his ass and makes a last-ditch attempt to get a hit in, but Young-gi swings out of the way, sweeps Brian’s feet out from under him, and buries him on the mat. He kneels next to Brian, and as the crowd of onlookers makes ‘ooooh’ sounds, he says something low enough that it won’t carry out of the ring.
“If you keep causing trouble in my house, I’ll remove you,” Young-gi says. Icy, dangerous.
Oh shit.Logically, I know Young-gi means he’ll kick Brian out, but the undertone is promising a shallow grave. I shiver, kind of liking that.
“Keep my niece’s name out of your mouth unless you’re paying her respect,” Young-gi finishes. “And stop acting like such a child.”
Child. Usually, it’s just a word. I don’t have a lot of triggers like that. But in my current mood, with my dreams last night still bugging me, it hits me like a ton of bricks. Even though it isn’t directed at me, I flinch.
