The ref called them to the center of the mat. As the ref started running through the rules, Vinnie took his mouth guard out and leaned in with a sneer. “I want you to know, I enjoyed the hell out of your redheaded bitch. I like it when they’re helpless.”
The comment was like clamping jumper cables to Aiden’s high-voltage battery. Sparks lit up his muscles as his right fist connected with Vinnie’s cheek. The ref stepped in, pushing Aiden back and reprimanding him for not waiting for his mark. Vinnie had been knocked back a few steps, but he righted himself without problem and smiled as he replaced his mouth guard.
At last, the fight officially started, but even though Aiden finally had the okay to hit the asshole, he couldn’t go balls-to-the-wall. Instead he had to leave himself open for hits and pull his punches, but not enough that the crowd would think he was losing. He never realized how difficult it would be to throw a fight. There was a delicate line he had to walk, and it was almost more taxing to do that than it was actually fighting.
The first round was pretty even, with both fighters remaining on their feet. The second round had a mix of stand-up and some grappling. Vinnie surprised Aiden with his skills in jujitsu. He’d assumed the thug didn’t know much, since he’d gotten the arm bar drop on him in Kat’s apartment. But then again, the guy had no idea who Aiden was at the time and wouldn’t have been expecting someone to try something like that.
By the end of round two, both of them had given each other plenty of injuries. Vinnie was sporting a swollen eye with a cut on his cheekbone from Aiden throwing an elbow when he had him pinned on the ground. Aiden had a cut above his right eyebrow from trying to duck one of Vinnie’s hooks that kept dripping into his eye. That wasn’t including the red rib cages and lower backs on both of them that would become bruises later from continuous body shots.
During the short break, neither fighter had a corner man to come in and ice them down, offer water, or stop the bleeding. Sully, the only other person in Sicoli’s party, had the unfortunate job of holding Kat hostage. And Xander and Joey were hopefully in the process of finding and rescuing her.
The bell rang and the ref called them back to the center. This was it. The last round. If his boys couldn’t find Kat before the end, he’d have to take the fall so her life wasn’t at risk. Joey had tried to reassure him that Sicoli wouldn’t kill Kat because of her worth to him in his sex-trafficking business. But Aiden had seen Sicoli’s temper that morning when the man took his frustrations out on his body before they brought Kat in. If Aiden didn’t deliver, he wouldn’t put it past him to fly off the handle and give Sully kill orders.
And there was no way in hell he was gambling with Kat’s life.
The ref gave them the signal and the clock started counting down from five minutes. Five minutes he had to allow the man who molested Kat to kick the shit out of him. Five minutes that would determine whether the trust he’d put in Joey paid off or only placed Kat in further danger.
Aiden threw the occasional halfhearted punch, but mainly left his guard down and took the hits Vinnie gave him, which were no love taps. The man had an arm like a cannon. Luckily, Aiden didn’t have a “glass jaw” and could take a hell of a lot without going down.
The crowd didn’t hesitate to announce their displeasure in the turn the fight had taken. Boos and angry shouts echoed in Aiden’s ears so loudly he couldn’t even hear Vinnie’s taunts anymore.
Aiden glanced at the clock. Panic struck him the same time as Vinnie’s fist connected with his ribs. White-hot pain lanced through his side as he collapsed to the mat. The booing grew louder as Vinnie started showboating with his arms in the air as though he’d already won. Aiden double-checked the clock and confirmed his earlier fear: time was running out. Less than a minute remained of the fight. But he couldn’t give up yet. He needed to give Joey as much time as possible.
Aiden got his footing before slowly unfolding himself while holding his left side. He was certain he had a few cracked ribs. It hurt just to breathe, much less move. But he couldn’t focus on the pain. He had more important things to worry about.
Stepping closer to Vinnie, Aiden brought his fists up in front of his face, silently telling his opponent he was ready for more. Vinnie growled, obviously pissed he hadn’t been named the winner by now. Too fucking bad, asshole. I’m not going down for you yet.
Fueled by anger, Vinnie threw punch after punch, forcing Aiden backward until he was stopped by the cage. Vinnie leaned into him and tried grabbing him in a way that he could slam Aiden down on the mat. Vinnie had the brute strength to do it, but Aiden was taller and was able to keep his center of gravity where he needed it to make the take-down difficult as hell.
So while Vinnie continued to soften Aiden with body shots to try and take him to the mat, Aiden just held his ground and watched the clock tick down with a sick feeling in his gut.
Thirty seconds…
He should have turned the bayou upside down and looked for Kat.