Tyler's Undoing (23 page)

My chest tightened, the guilt of my inner thoughts causing my stomach to roll. I wanted Cole to win, but I didn’t want Pax to lose. Once the bell rang, I nervously sat on the edge of my seat as both attacked, jabbing and blocking each other’s blows. Paxton had gotten good over time, much better than a couple of years ago. His body even proved it by how muscular and toned it was.

There were only forty-five seconds left in round one, but when the sound of the final hit echoed throughout the arena, I had a feeling it was all over. Gasping in horror, I watched as Paxton’s fist connected to the side of Cole’s head and he fell limp to the floor, body smacking against the mat.

Half of the crowd roared while the other half kept screaming for Cole to get up. Unfortunately, he was knocked out cold. I held my breath as the medics rushed into the ring. When they gave the thumbs up, I breathed a sigh of relief. Fighting was dangerous and many people have been seriously hurt and even killed in the ring. However, when my brother fights, I honestly don’t think he cares if he accidentally kills someone. In fact, I was pretty sure he’d be proud.

Paxton, on the other hand, was genuinely concerned for Cole’s well-being. Kneeling down on the mat, he waited with the medics while Cole finally became responsive. He even helped Cole to his feet. The crowd clapped and screamed their encouragements as Cole was led out of the ring, licking his wounds. He wasn’t going to be happy he lost.

The announcer congratulated Paxton and lifted his arm. “Ladies and gentleman, I give you tonight’s winner,
Paxton . . . The Avenger . . . Emmmeeerrrsssooonnn
!”

I clapped and whistled for Paxton as he made his rounds and left the ring, disappearing into the crowd. Out of everyone back home, I missed him the most. When I left, I changed my cell number and basically disappeared. I had to do what I needed to do in order to get away from my family and start fresh.

“All right, are you ready for the final fight of the evening?” the announcer asked, circling around in the ring.

“
Yes!
” the whole arena replied, everyone’s booming voices made the stands tremble.

“Now that’s what I like to hear. Again, whoever wins this match will go on to Las Vegas next weekend to fight for the Heavyweight title. So first up, let’s hear it for
Joshua . . . The Tamer . . . MaaacccEnnntttiiirrreee!
”

Joshua walked out in a pair of shimmering gold shorts with his blond hair in cornrows. He used to be the Heavyweight champion, until my brother beat him and took away the title. After that, Matt Reynolds beat my brother and kept the title ever since—until now.

It was Tyler’s turn to win it.

“And finally, I want to introduce you to our last fighter for the evening. Let’s hear it for
Tyler . . . The Terror . . . Ruuussshhhiiinnnggg
!”

The room crackled in energy as
Bad Company
by Five Finger Death Punch, played across the loud speakers. My heart thumped wild in my chest the second he walked out of the curtains and down the aisle. I wanted to be down there with him, to have him look at me and smile when he entered the ring. Alas, he had no idea I was there. His father and his agent took up the rear, and they each took turns speaking to Tyler before he gave them a nod and jumped into the ring.

Tyler and Joshua met in the center and bumped gloves before getting into their fighting stance. As always, the arena went deathly silent as we waited on the bell to ring. When it did, the whole crowd exploded as both guys tensed and started toward each other. Tyler swung first and hit Joshua on the right cheek, and then Joshua countered quickly by connecting with Tyler’s jaw. The sound was deafening and made my body hurt, yet the men didn’t seem fazed by it. I had never been in a fist fight before, but I could imagine how horrible it must hurt to get hit with all of that power. They fought relentlessly and never once stopped.

Ding, ding, ding.

Joshua was tired, but Tyler had paced himself quite nicely, conserving his energy. His father seemed extremely pleased with the outcome. After a quick break and some water, it was time for round two.

“Come on, Tyler, I’ll give you the ride of your life if you win,” a woman shouted behind me.

When I looked back, there were about four women, all around my age, holding up signs for Tyler, giggling. The girl who shouted was actually pretty, but she had too much makeup on her heart-shaped face, and her clothes were way too tight for her curvy body. I wanted to tell her to fuck off, but I reminded myself this was the kind of shit I’d have to deal with, dating a fighter like him. I saw it all of the time with my brother. Women were constantly throwing themselves at him.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Jenny, but he must be seriously dating someone,” one of the girls responded. Immediately, I faced forward and leaned back in my seat so I could listen.

“What do you mean he’s dating someone?”

“Apparently, he’s not letting any more girls into his room after the fights. One of my girlfriends tried to get back there and was told to turn around and leave. The same thing happened to her when she tried to get into Matt Reynolds’ room two years ago . . . and now he’s married.”

“Well, shit. That sucks donkey balls,” Jenny sulked.

Putting a hand over my mouth, I held in my snicker. It was pathetic how some of these women were. Turning around, I sighed and nodded my head. “Yeah, it sucks a big fat one, but I think it is true,” I began. “I’m staying at the same hotel as him and I saw him with another girl. They looked pretty cozy together.”

“Fuck,” Jenny snarled. “That’s no fun.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I turned back around to watch Tyler, grinning from ear to ear. He was still pumped, pummeling Joshua with everything he had. Once Joshua was on the mat and close to tapping out, the bell rang for the end of round two. He almost had him.

Looking at Joshua on the monitors, he had blood pouring down the left side of his face from a cut above his eyebrow and his left eye was almost swollen shut. Tyler, on the other hand, only had a bruise on his right jawline. His father grinned with pride and nodded in approval, which made Tyler smile in return. Steven Rushing was hard on him, but I knew it was because he loved his son and only wanted the best.

Ding, ding, ding.
It was the third and final round.

“Come on, Tyler!” I shouted. If only he could hear me.

Smacking his gloves together, he smiled slyly at Joshua and went for the kill. It was as if all of his energy came out all at one time. Sweeping Joshua’s feet out from under him, he fell to the mat and Tyler pounced, wrapping his arm around his neck, holding tight. About two seconds later, Joshua tapped out . . . it was over. Immediately, Tyler let Joshua go and jumped to his feet, circling around the ring with his arms in the air. The crowd went crazy, yelling and chanting his name over and over.

“
Tyler! Tyler! Tyler!”

I even shouted it too; I was so happy for him. Getting to my feet, I whistled as loud as I could when the announcer lifted Tyler’s arm and announced him the victor. His next fight was for the title, with my brother. Sooner or later, I had to tell him the truth.
He loves me and I love him—it has to be enough.

It didn’t take long to figure out where the dressing rooms were for the guys. All I had to do was follow the trail of skanky women. Bree was nowhere to be found because she was probably already in the room with Cole, cheering him up. I could only imagine how she planned on doing that. He had to be bummed about losing the fight to Paxton.

There were so many people walking down the hall, women and fighters alike, I couldn’t figure out which room was Tyler’s. There were no signs on the doors. Pulling out my phone, I texted both Bree and Tyler and told them I was at the arena and I didn’t know where to go. Patiently, I waited on one of them to text me back, but then someone caught my eye. Down the hall, I saw Gabriella, dressed in a white sundress with her long, dark hair pulled high into a ponytail.

What the fuck?
Tell me she’s not knocking on Tyler’s door.

My stomach coiled into knots and I held my breath as I waited on whoever was behind the door to answer.
Please
don’t let it be Tyler
.
Slowly, the door opened just a crack and when I saw who was there I gritted my teeth tight, the pain exploding into my head. It was Tyler, wearing only a white towel around his waist. Blood boiling, I watched as he opened the door and she walked in, kissing him on the cheek as she passed.

Frozen in place, I clenched my hands into tight fists and felt the anger boil through my veins. Before Tyler shut the door, he stopped and slowly directed his attention to me. Immediately, he glanced into his room and then back at me, wide-eyed and shaking his head. “Kacey,
no
,” he shouted. “It’s not what you think.”

Turning on my heel, I glared at him one more time over my shoulder before taking off down the hall.

“Kacey, stop! Please, beautiful . . .”

I didn’t stop, I kept going. The last thing I wanted was to be made a fool of in front of everyone—possibly people who knew my brother and who could recognize me. Instead, I kept running in hopes of getting as far away as I could, away from Tyler’s voice screaming my name.

Looking back, I didn’t see him behind me, but when I turned around, I ran right into a set of arms that closed tightly around my waist.

“Kacey, what the hell are you doing here?”

Immediately, I froze and glanced up into the same set of sea green eyes I used to look at almost every day of my life. “Paxton,” I breathed.

Tyler shouted my name and Paxton instinctively held me tighter, protectively. “What’s going on?” he demanded, glaring down at me.

He looked like he was about to leave anyway since he was dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans with his bag slung over his shoulder. Quickly, I pushed him toward one of the doors. “I can explain, but first, I need you to get me out of here.”

“Is that Rushing calling after you?”

“Yes, now let’s go!”

Keeping his arm around me, he rushed me toward the door and out into the heat-filled night. What the hell was I going to do now?

“KACEY!”

Everyone stared at me as I raced down the hallway in just a towel. At this moment, I believed I had the shittiest luck of anyone in the world. Out of all of the times Kacey could’ve seen me, it had to be the moment I let Gabriella walk into my room, with only a towel around my waist.

By the time I turned the corner at the end of the hall, she was gone. “Goddammit,” I hissed, running my hands angrily through my wet hair. I had hoped to be out of the shower and dressed by the time Gabriella showed up, but unluckily, that didn’t happen.

“Tyler, what’s going on?” she asked, placing a hand on my bare shoulder.

Instead of answering, I slid away from her touch and rushed back down the hall to my room. Quickly, I grabbed my bag and pulled out a plain gray T-shirt, my jeans, and a pair of boxers.
I have to get the hell out of here.

“It’s Kacey,” I snapped impatiently, throwing on my clothes. “She saw you come in here and I can only imagine what the fuck is going through her mind.” It also didn’t help that Gabriella was provocatively dressed either.