“What do we do now?” I asked.
“Well, we have a while until we leave. My pants are open. My cock is hanging out.”
“And…?” I asked with a flirty grin.
Duke pulled at my hands, bringing me on top of him.
We both started to laugh… but that only lasted a few minutes.
After that, it was down to business… naked business.
chapter twenty-nine.
(duke)
I threw another wicked right hook and smashed the guy in the jaw. I swore his jaw moved a foot off the rest of his mouth as he spun around. He grabbed for the ropes and missed with one hand, grabbed with the other, and ended up on his knees. He started to pull himself back to his feet, the crowd all around us going wild. They wanted more violence, I just wanted to get the fuck out of the ring.
I hadn’t been slated to fight but the guys suggested I get in the ring and earn a little cash for the MC and I wasn’t going to turn that down. So I stripped to my jeans and boots and got into the ring to take on some tattoo punk name Wreck.
And trust me, the fucker got wrecked bad.
He managed to get to his feet one last time. His knees bobbled as he looked back at me. He gave a nod, wanting to go down with honor. That was fine with me. One last punch finally knocked his ass out for good.
When he hit the mat, the crowd exploded with cheers. I went to my corner and that’s where Cash and Austin were waiting for me. All in all it was a decent fight. My right eye was swollen and bleeding. My jaw hurt. My bottom lip was still bleeding. My muscles were achy and tired. I just wanted a fucking beer and to fuck Belle.
But that was hours away.
The next fight was the big one.
It was Jim’s fight.
I climbed out of the ring and walked through the crowd. People shouted at me for winning. They were happy they won money. People shouted bad shit at me because I had won the fight. They were unhappy they lost money.
None of that mattered to me. I walked to a table where the rest of the guys - and Belle - were waiting. When I saw Belle she ran at me and hugged me. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight.
“I don’t like that stuff,” she said to me.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I won.”
Trev came walking over with a grin on his face. He waved a wad of cash at me and handed it to me.
“Congrats,” Trev said.
I rolled the money up and put it in my pocket. I then put on my shirt and leather cut. I took a cold beer from Jasper and sat on the table to catch my breath.
“Should we walk our star to the ring?” Trent asked me, referring to Jim.
“No,” I said. “I’m not walking to the ring. Jim is on his own.”
“Kye,” Trev said. “You and Tristan take Jim to the ring. If he goes down, walk the fuck away.”
I grabbed for Belle’s hand and squeezed. She was on edge because this was her brother.
“It’ll be okay,” I whispered.
A few minutes later the ring was ready to go again. Jim climbed in and stood there, wearing a pair of shorts. The guy announcing the fight called Jim a cripple. That pissed me off and I hoped it would make Jim go crazy. Trev had been making calls about the fight to build up the bets and buzz. So did Ivan. There was a ton of money on the line with this. The goal was to push all the money to Jim’s opponent, making the winnings heavier on our end when Jim knocked the guy out.
The guy was named Carl and had a bad reputation. He was as tall as Jim but much wider. Not built with muscle but built with cheeseburgers. He was covered in hair and had a thick black beard and ‘stach, but no hair on his head. He was a sight to see and had a good record of fighting. His greatest strength was his arms. They were a mile long, giving him a ton of power and position to hit hard. Fucking hard.
I worried the second I heard Jim was going up against Carl.
The two stood in the ring and the fight was called to start.
Jim went right in, a smart plan, but not with Carl. As soon as he was within reach, Carl swung a left and got Jim in the shoulder. Jim stumbled and Carl attacked. There would be no love lost or care for Jim’s handicap. People were betting for Jim to lose because of his missing leg.
Within seconds, Jim had a firm grip on the ropes and Carl started to work on Jim’s ribcage. Every time he hit Jim, Jim popped up off his good leg. He looked battered as he tried to scurry down the ropes.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
“No,” Belle said. “No…”
Jim got to the corner and faced Carl. That was a dangerous spot to be because Carl could easily smother Jim.