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“We’ll see,” he said with a smile.
“How did you find him?” I asked as I felt one of the men behind him move. Viper’s grin faltered a little bit, so I guessed he didn’t want his friends to know about our little deal. But then, he retorted and said, “I saved his life.”
He smiled a reptilian grin that crawled all the way up and wrapped itself around my throat like a noose. “There’s a fight to start with. An all-out cage match. You should watch.”
Cage matches were the bloodiest and messiest matches. They were a free-for-all where all the people in the ring went against each other and didn’t stop until only one person was left standing.
“Sit,” Viper commanded with an evil grin. “The match is about to start. Might as well enjoy it.”
I’d never really enjoyed watching matches as I’d much rather be fighting in one. I’d done this as work, not for the entertainment, and truly, after being in it for so long, watching men beat themselves up turned my stomach.
But I didn’t have a choice.
Viper and his men stalked back to their seats while I watched the men standing in the ring. They were all sizing each other up. There were no weight classes, but everyone knew better than to underestimate based on size. The small guys could be just as fucking deadly. I had one hit me in the balls once, and the bastard nearly took me down until I knocked him out in my pure pain-fueled rage.
I walked over and took the seat beside Meech, watching the match go on with dispassionate eyes.
“That’s him,” Meech said from beside me, pointing. “The masked bastard. That’s The Maniac. He’s supposed to be the next best newbie.”
I could tell. They were all staring at him with the same eyes they used to look at me in my first cage match. But he wasn’t staring at them. Oddly enough, even from behind the mask, I felt like he was staring right at me.
I frowned at him, and he looked away abruptly in a way that made it obvious he was clearly looking at me.
I was immediately on alert. I knew Viper was planning something shady, and the kid probably had something to do with it. Or maybe he knew something about it, and he wanted to warn me.
“We’re here for the cage match,” the announcer screamed over the din of people who were already demanding blood. “And without too much yapping, we’re gonna start on the count of three. Three, two—”
Someone threw a punch before the announcer got to one, and chaos abounded. The crowd roared as the match started immediately. I didn’t watch much of it. Instead, I turned to observe Viper. The bastard was practically glowing as he watched the match. He sat like a king watching jesters in court. I noticed his men were all relaxed. I was trying to see if they were keeping an eye on someone, tensed up in case anyone tried to talk to me and clued me in. But no. At the same time, I knew Toby had to be close. I just fucking knew it.
They were all watching the ring.
“What the fuck is this?” Meech muttered beside me right before the crowd roared again.
The din increased, and I turned back to ring again and saw that most of the contestants had already been eliminated.
It was down to the masked man and three more contestants, but instead of going for the weakest link, clearly the boy who was already limping, all of them faced the masked fighter. They immediately ganged up on him, going blow for blow, and he was holding them off pretty well. He dropped one of them, and then his eyes honed in on me again.
And it was like he froze. A stray spotlight passed over his face for a second.
In that split moment, I saw his eyes.
And familiarity raced through me.
No. No fucking way.
The moment of distraction proved disastrous for him. A blow connected with the side of his face, and it snapped back. The minute he fell on the floor, they all feasted like animals, targetting his head, hands, and leg.
“Fuck, they’re going to cripple the motherfucker,” Meech muttered, but I was already racing toward the ring and jumping into it.
I heard the crowd shout even more when I did, but the blood was an already loud din in my ears.
I went after the bastard stomping on his head first, knocking him out with one blow. Then, I quickly threw off the other one, and the last one backed up with confusion in his eyes. Without wasting a second, I turned back to the boy on the floor and ripped off his mask. My blood ran cold as I confirmed my suspicion. Fuck, he looked like a wreck. There was a giant bruise around his eyes, and he was bleeding from his nose. His eyes were shut.
I stuck a finger under his nose. He was still breathing, thank God.
“Are you alive? Toby, are you fucking alive?” My heart was in my throat. If they’d killed him, then this would all be for nothing.
One eyelid fluttered. And that was all I fucking needed.
