Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

RORY

The fight was unlike anything I’d ever seen in my life. The crowd shouts and yells. Women and men alike. The stands are a mixture of upper class and middle class. There was no discrimination. They were all packed together to see a fight that I wish more than anything wasn’t happening in the first place.

“It’s going to be okay,” Rosemary says from my left. Her hand holding my newly un-casted hand.

Mace’s mom had taken the cast off right before we got here, and it feels weird not to have it on. I’d have to do some exercises to strengthen it and maybe wear a brace, but all in all, I was good to go.

“Aries is going to kick ass,” Jade says from my other side, her hand squeezes mine.

“He’s got this,” Noelle states from behind me, giving my shoulder a light squeeze.

The three of them sit surrounding me. On either side of Noelle, I knew Cyprus, and a man introduced to me as Mateo sat. Next to Jade was Dutch. Wolf was situated in front of me. Next to Rosemary, though, sat a man I’d seen a couple times when he’d had a meeting with Roger. I never knew his name before, but he introduced himself as Izaiah Cordova. Cyprus made sure to tell me it was Izaiah who mediated this fight between Aries and Roger.

The whole thing has me freaked out. Especially when I spot Roger coming into the area with his goons behind him. I recognized the two of them immediately.

“Those are the two that he sent after me in New York,” I murmur for only Rosemary to hear. With it being so loud, there’s no way I could say it low enough for Jade and Noelle to hear as well without the others hearing. I don’t need the guys to know.

Rosemary shifts, leans, and whispers directly in my ear, “They’re a part of the fight. You don’t have to worry about them after this fight. Aries is going to tear them apart.”

I nod, understanding what she’s saying without her spelling it out. I don’t have to worry about saying anything to anyone about those men with Roger.

My eyes go over the crowd and then to where Aries, Kevlar, and Viper are making their way to the ring. Aries is shirtless, his hands taped, and his back tattoo on display as he jumps up into the ring.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the man on the other side of Rosemary stand, straighten his suit, and take a microphone from another man.

“Evening, everyone,” Izaiah greets, silencing the crowd in a way I didn’t think possible.

The silence becomes intensified when eyes twist in our direction. So much so I can hear my own blood coursing through my veins. My heart feels like it’ll burst from my chest at any moment.

“Tonight’s event has been changed up a bit. We’ll have the usual fights tonight, and the first fight will start in just a moment. However, I’ve decided along with my partners, to change things for our first fight. Instead of two-on-one as the first fight. The decision is decided it will be the second fight of the night, and the first will be one one-on-one,” Izaiah announces and points in Roger’s direction. “Get in the ring and face your opponent.”

My gaze goes directly to where Roger stands. Anger radiates out of his gaze as he stares directly at me. Not at Izaiah. Not at anyone else. He’s blaming this on me.

“If you do not enter the ring, then you forfeit the deal in which you struck and, in turn, deal with the consequences,” Izaiah says sternly.

“Oh shit,” Wolf says. If not for the silence of the crowd, I wouldn’t have heard him.

“This just changed things,” Jade whispers, squeezing my hand.

That it did. I just don’t know if it’s a good thing or not.

Cyprus leans in and whispers in my ear, “Remember, Aries has this. He’s ready for whatever he’s up against.”

I nod and do my best to keep my anxiety in check. Aries doesn’t need me to freak out right now. What I need to do is trust him to be able to take this fight and not get killed.

Watching him train the last few days, I’m sure without a doubt he’s got this. If I had to choose one word to describe the man, he’s a freaking powerhouse when it comes to the ring. Taking on Wolf and Kevlar in the ring proves it. He can do this. He can take Roger out easily. No matter what the other man has up his sleeve.

Roger moves into position in the ring, and Izaiah hands the microphone back to the man he’d gotten it from before retaking his seat.

“Now, the fights will start,” he says from the other side of Rosemary.

It’s all I can do to watch as the fight starts. The crowd grows even louder, making my ears hurt.

Aries and Roger circle each other several times, reversing. You can’t hear what they’re saying, but I could see their mouths moving, and from the smirk on Aries’s face, he is taunting Roger.

Something he says must set Roger off because, between one second and another, Roger launches himself at Aries. It all happens so fast. You couldn’t even call it a fight. Not with the way it went by so quickly. A few jabs at each other. A couple of kicks. None of the blows landed on Aries, whereas Roger took them all. He wasn’t able to outmaneuver Aries at any turn. With one final kick to the head from Aries,Roger goes down and doesn’t get back up.

A man wearing a solid black shirt climbs into the ring, checks for a pulse, and looks in Izaiah’s direction.

“That wasn’t worth a damn fight night,” he said loud enough and motions to the other two men who were to fight Aries.

They climb back into the ring. The two of them circle Aries, planning their attack.

I’d seen Wolf and Kevlar do the same thing with Aries during training. It almost reminded me of predators about to go in for the kill of their prey. But I also know Aries is no one’s prey. He’s a predator and will win this fight.

I won’t think of it any other way.

The fight starts, and I can’t look away. I watch the way the two men attack Aries. They work as a team, hitting him together, working to beat on him as they did me. Watching them brings back what they’d done to me. In my mind I could see what they did to me. The beating they’d delivered blow by blow. It’d hurt, and now, they were doing the same to Aries. Unlike the one I’d taken, Aries was fighting back. He’s giving just as good as he got.

The crowd went wild with each blow . . . each kick.

Finally, Aries gets the best of the bigger guy, his arm going around the guy’s neck. The guys explained to me that it was a sleeper move, but it could also be used to break a guy’s neck. Aries moves and jerks, and you could see the guy’s head twists funny. Aries lets him go, and he drops with a loud thud to the mat. The smaller guy doesn’t stand a chance when it comes to taking on Aries alone. Within minutes, he follows suit and falls to the mat, blood spurting from the guy’s nose and mouth. Eyes sightless, staring up at nothing.

It could be considered a horror sight, but to me, it’s honestly a relief. They were monsters. Only two who’d listened to direction under Roger and did what he told them.

You’d think the crowd couldn’t get any louder, but it does. It comes to the point where I have to cover my ears to protect them from the noise.

Wolf moves, gets to his feet, and twists to me, holding a hand out, motioning for me to come with him. I take his hand and hear Jade shout, “Finally, we can get the hell out of here.”

I couldn’t agree more. All I wanted to do was get out of here and get to Aries. It was over.

Finally.

We didn’t have to worry about the past any longer.