Fuck.
Now I wish Pandora wasn’t here to see me lose, especially to Reaper. What’s she going to think of me?
He tightens his grasp on my hair, twisting, and keeps me down.
I grit my teeth. Sweat pours down my face. I grunt and grab at whatever part of Reaper I can reach. My hand ends up on hisface, scratching his cheek, while Reaper tries to force my head to the ground.
I can barely hear the crowd anymore.
It’s nothing but my breathing, my heart, pounding and pounding and pounding in my ears.
Reaper punches me in the face, and I cry out. The smell of blood fills my nostrils.
I cough, gasping for more air.
Reaper gets my head onto the ground and presses his entire weight onto me.
I can’t lose here.
Not in front of Pandora.
But my body doesn’t cooperate anymore, and despite my struggles, I can’t get up.
“He’s out!” the ref calls.
Boos and cheers rise up around us in equal measure. Reaper releases me and steps back—then extends a hand to me.
It’s not something I expected, and while part of me wants to ignore it, I take it anyway. “Thanks,” I mutter, trying not to be a sore loser. “Good fight.”
Pandora won’t think so.
On the heels of a win she didn’t care about, she’ll see this loss as something else entirely.
Something weak.
I hate that I care.
Now that I’m standing, I can feel every single blow. My entire body is on fire with pain, my vision is fuzzy, and I wonder how I’ll make it home.
I step out of the cage as the next fighter steps inside. I get two more steps, then Pandora is right there, in my arms, kissing my jaw.
“So fucking hot,” Pandora says while she presses her body against me. “Fuck, River, when did you start doing this?”
I wrap my arms around her, ignoring the crowd as they focus on the next fight. All I care about is her; all I need is her.
Why?
I’d been so angry at her when I’d arrived.
I guess getting the shit beaten out of me did wonders for my attitude.
“A few weeks,” I tell her, then I narrow my eyes at her. “How did you know where to find me?”
Blaze pushes his way past somebody nearby, Asch on his heels.
“Fenrir told us,” Pandora says. She leans up to lick the blood from my cheek. “He was really mad too. Because you abandoned the team. You were supposed to go for drinks or something?” She wraps her arms around me. “I would have been your date, River! You should have said.”
Blaze rolls his eyes. “We already had date plans. Which…” He glances at his phone and shakes his head. “Restaurant is definitely off, but we could still go to the hotel.”
