Page 252 of Barinov

My chest locks up. I nod toward the dark stands. “Up there.”

We trade a few more blows before he asks me again. “Is he still here?”

“Gonna have to do better than that,” Luca yells from his spot in the stands.

I nod.

Lex doesn’t even bother turning around to look at the empty seats. He just shifts his weight, his jaw setting tight. “Okay. Let’s try this Knox’s way.”

“Knox’s way?” I mutter, raising my guard.

Lex launches forward and drives a brutal combination into my ribs and stomach that forces me back against the ropes.

“What the fuck happened to you in there, Z?”

“You know,” I grit out.

“Not the shit you told the shrink,” Lex says, shaking his head and rearing back. “The shit you’re keeping in here.”

“No,” I growl, ducking beneath a swing to my head and throwing a wild left that catches his brow.

We slam back into the center of the ring, the violence escalating. I’m throwing wild and hard, but I’m holding back. I’m not putting the real weight into my punches because deep down I’m terrified what’ll happen if I actually let go.

“Tell me,” Lex orders, taking a hard punch to his chest without even flinching. He steps right in front of me, his face inches from mine, bleeding from a cut above his eye. “What are you so afraid of?!”

“I can’t.”

“He’s not going to go away until you face it.” Lex spits blood on the mat. “And you know I’m right.”

“Shut the fuck up, Lex!” I roar, rearing back.

“TELL ME!” he yells, planting his feet and taking my vicious shot directly to his jaw.

“He raped me! Okay?!”

The scream rips out of the absolute bottom of my lungs, tearing my throat raw. It echoes off the matte-black walls like a gunshot.

“He forced me to fall for him because that’s all I could do to fucking survive in there! Is that what you want to hear?”

The dam shatters. A terrifying, unhinged tear takes over my body. I stop blocking. I stop thinking. I just launch into a blind, frantic fury, throwing devastating punches over and over into Lex’s face and body.

CRACK.

THUD.

CRACK.

One after another.

Lex never swings back. He never tries to dodge. He stands there like a stone wall, taking the absolute brunt end of my agony. Blood is streaming down his nose, his cheek is swelling rapidly, and his face is badly bruised within seconds.

But he keeps his feet planted.

He takes every single hit.

“Zeke, stop!” A frantic scream slices through the air from the entrance of The Pit.

Through the haze of my own rabid breathing, I see Bella and Cade rushing down the steps. Both of them sprinting hard across the dried-blood concrete toward the ring.