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Clutching my fluffy pink pillow against my naked chest, I ran towards the ring and climbed in just as the referee blew the whistle.
The moment the first round began, chaos erupted throughout the entire casino.
The fight seemed innocent enough at first—just a group of naked men and women in bunny masks engaged in a playful battle with soft, fluffy pillows.
The innocence didn’t last long.
I ducked and dodged pillows, trying my best to avoid the fray. I was hit in the back of my knees and flung to the ground by a strike meant for someone else.
From the safety of the floor, I watched in disbelief as Ransom’s favorite bunny with the black curls picked up a petite brunette half his size. Holding his pillow in one hand, he tossed her through the gold ropes and out of the ring with the other. Instead of helping her up, the guests standing around her started making new bets.
I scrambled to my feet, clinging to my pillow for dear life, using it as a shield until I found a space to regroup. Within seconds, I was cornered by Trippy, Caramel, and a few of their friends, all ganging up on me with ruthless determination. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to land a single solid hit on any of them.
Trippy yelled at her friends to back up away from me, and for a split second I wondered if I’d misjudged her. She drew back her arm, and a sudden, searing pain exploded in my head as her pillow made contact. It felt like a thousand white-hot needles piercing my skull all at once.
My vision blurred, and the room began to tilt, then spin uncontrollably. The last thing I heard before darkness swallowed me was the sound of the referee’s whistle as my body hit the mat.
* * *
I came to with a gasp, blinking up at the chandeliers overhead. A dull ache throbbed at the back of my skull, although the blinding pain from before had dulled to a manageable level.
"That’s the end of Round one! Five minutes until the next round!" the referee bellowed. Meanwhile, I lay there, struggling to make sense of what had just happened.
By some kind of miracle, I was still clinging onto my pillow.
I could feel Ransom’s presence before I saw him. His intoxicating scent filled my nostrils, drowning out the pain. As my eyes fluttered in confusion, I found myself gazing into his concerned face.
"Are you alright, Alice?” he whispered, his voice laced with genuine worry. I let him help me sit up but immediately regretted it as nausea washed over me. I’d already ruined one of his suits this evening. I didn’t want to puke on him and ruin another.
“No, I’m not alright,” I groaned, clutching my throbbing head. "I can’t do this for two more rounds. Let me get out of the ring. Please?”
"Listen to me," Ransom said, gripping my shoulders. "You’re stronger than you think. You just need to change your strategy. Don’t play harder. Play smarter.”
"I think that blue-haired bitch has a brick in her pillowcase," I told him as I rubbed my head. "That’s why it hurts so much."
"Probably," Ransom agreed with a nod. His lips curled into a sinister smile as he patted my pillow. "Which is precisely why I’ve just put razor wire in yours.”
My eyes widened in shock. I glanced down at my hot pink pillow covered in faux fur and sequins. Was it really full of razor wire? I dunked it on the mat a couple of times, hearing the distinct sound of coiled metal inside.
“What thefuck?” I squeaked. “Is this even allowed?”
He raised a sly eyebrow at me.
“You heard the rules. I never said itwasn’tallowed.”
My heart raced, torn between gratitude for Ransom’s help and horror at the idea of using such a brutal weapon.
“It just doesn’t seem fair,” I told him as I rubbed my aching head. I gazed past his shoulders at the other bunnies milling around the ring. At least half of them had been disqualified in the first round, and were now licking their wounds from the other side of the gold ropes.
“Do you want to play fair, or do you want to play towin?” Ransom caressed my cheek, trailing his fingers down to grasp my chin. He pinned his calculating eyes on me, waiting for an answer.
“I wanna win,” I said softly.
Ransom’s eyes narrowed at me, growing more intense by the millisecond.
“Then act like it,” he growled. He let go of my chin and crawled outside the ropes, dropping gracefully to the floor outside the ring. And all the while, his intense stare never left my face.
The ref’s whistle blew again. As round two got underway, I quickly realized that this was never meant to be an ordinary slumber party game. The other bunnies were ruthless, their pillows transforming into deadly weapons as they swung them with brutal force against each other.
