UNBROKEN: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 2) (10 page)

Amy squeezes my fingers a little tighter, but says nothing to argue with me.

Lillian speaks again, her voice noticeably low. “I have not witnessed a blood duel in ten years,” she says to the two of them. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was positively
excited
.” She lingers in her place and almost hesitates to step out of the ring before finally doing so and pulling the metal whistle out from between her thick breasts.

The moment feels long, frozen in time. Tobias stands in his corner, his eyes locked on Rick at the other side. As much as I hate it, I feel a surge of excitement. I look at Rick and his confidence scares me. Tobias rolls his fingers down to make thick fists and holds them in front of his face. Rick laughs at him, but does the same, mocking him as an exact mirror image. Even his shorts are black, just like Tobias’, almost as if it were all planned from the start.

Lillian blows the whistle.

Rick moves on his toes, inching closer to Tobias, but he doesn’t attack. He gets in close, close enough to easily touch Tobias, but he doesn’t make a move. He bounces back, only to inch in close once again. It’s obvious how much he’s trying to make Tobias break his form. He’s baiting Tobias, pushing him towards the edge with each twitch of his toes.

I realize I’ve stopped breathing. I take in a long inhale and choke on it as Tobias lashes out and hits Rick on the cheek with a hard blow.

A wave of silence hits the crowd, but they roar back to life just as fast.

Tobias the Untouchable
never strikes first.

Rick jumps backward, his high-pitched laughter on the air around them and celebrates his minor victory. I step forward and my hand slips out of Amy’s fingers. Anger swells inside of me and I silently urge Tobias to take him down.

Tobias shoots forward, almost as if he could hear my plea, and rattles Rick’s body with a flurry of punches, striking him in the face, neck, and ribs — anywhere that offers him a sure hit and never in the same place twice. I watch him move. He still has his speed, but he’s not nearly as precise as he was before.

Rick stumbles backward, but he continues laughing as he takes every one of Tobias’ hits.

Then, he stops and grabs Tobias’ arm in mid-air and crushes forward with a hard head butt against Tobias’ nose.

The crowd groans as Tobias falls back, but stays on his feet. He shakes his head, his vision blurred from the hit, and struggles to right himself in time to block Rick from hitting him. Rick aims for his ribs and rolls his fists along them fast, the brute smack of flesh against flesh echoing in my ears.

Tobias keeps his hands up to protect his face, just like he always does. He pivots his hips to take the punches. I smile, finding comfort in the familiar style. He’ll take the abuse and wait until Rick gets tired. Rick will show a weakness and Tobias will strike quickly to take him out. I’ve seen him do it multiple times before. I bite my lip and wait as each punch to his side brings him a little closer to victory.

Rick pauses and lowers his hands. I notice Tobias’ lips twitch behind his fists as he rounds to deliver a hard jab to Rick’s perfect jaw — but Rick dodges at the last possible second.

“No—!” I scream with disappointment.

He swings low to sweep Tobias’ legs out from under him, sending him down onto the mat. The back of Tobias’ head smacks against it and tears fall down my cheeks.

“Get up!” I shout, my voice getting lost in the outburst of the crowd.

Tobias rolls to his knees, but Rick doesn’t let up. He kicks him hard in the ribs, slamming his bare foot against him over and over again to knock him back down and keep him there.

I dart forward, my instincts driving me to intervene, but Amy grabs my arm again. “Claire—”

“We have to stop him!” I beg.

“We
can’t
,” she says, her own voice full of desperation.

I turn back to the ring just in time to see Rick bend over and land a hard punch against Tobias’ jaw. He lays flat against the floor, still and unmoving, as Rick’s foot kicks him once again.

“Why isn’t he tapping out?!” I cry.

Amy holds onto me even tighter. “He can’t,” she says. “There’s only one way out of a blood duel.”

I can do nothing but watch. Amy urges me to look away, but I can’t bring myself to do it. Tobias is my lover, my friend, my
Alpha
. He’s taking this for me, to protect me.

My heart breaks amid the vibrations of the ravenous audience, each one of them happy as clams they decided to make it out to the first tournament fight tonight. I doubt any of them expected something like this. I sure as hell didn’t.

Finally, Rick stops. His eyes turn up and he scans the room until he finds me. Sweat drips off his brow as he stares me down. He issues me a silent warning, one of promise and horror.

This is all your fault, Claire. Remember that.

Lillian takes a step into the ring, her tall legs towering over Tobias’ limp form. “Ladies and gentlemen,” she announces, her voice displaying a slight quiver. “Meet your new
Alpha
…
Rick the Unbreakable!
”

They all throw up their hands and Rick grins among the whistles and hollers of his new fans. He holds up his fists and I shudder. They’re covered in blood.

I break free of Amy’s grasp and quickly rush for the arena. “Tobias!” I shout his name and pull myself up to enter the metal cage. He doesn’t move, a silent lump of freshly bruised flesh on the floor. His face is red and pink, no longer perfect or untouched. I touch his face, but he doesn’t react to me. “Get up!” I scream at him.

“Claire—” I feel a pair of hands on my shoulders and they gently try to ease me away from him. I pull back, refusing to leave Tobias’ side until a strong grip finally forces me away. Amy holds me back as I watch a man in a black hooded sweater pull Tobias off the mat. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see his stunning green eyes open and moving, even if they are blood shot and cold.

The man helps Tobias out of the ring. I turn to Rick and stare at him with shaking eyes. He regards me without emotion, not even an ounce of thoughtfulness crosses his stare.

“Well, let’s not dawdle now!” Lillian announces, her attentions on her paying customers. “We have plenty more fights in store for you all tonight!” The crowd screams. “Let’s have one more round of applause for
Rick the Unbreakable!
”

Amy pulls me off the stage, forcing me out in front of her to keep me moving while the man in black leads Tobias out of the room. We enter the back hallway and I cringe as I look at Tobias in the new lighting. His wounds stand out far worse under the white, fluorescent tubes.

“Come on,” Amy gestures. “I don’t think Lillian will mind if we put him in her office.”

“Tobias…” I push myself underneath his other arm. “Can you hear me?”

“He’s all right, Claire…” The man’s voice turns suddenly familiar. I look up at him as he pulls his hood down with his other hand. Ryan grins back at me with perfectly white teeth. “If getting stabbed was just a scratch, then this was surely just a light BDSM spanking.”

“Ryan!” Amy gasps, her cheeks turning a sudden shade of pink. “What are you doing here?”

“Something I’ll probably regret later,” he says, “but that’s a normal Friday night for me.” He pauses in front of the office entrance. “Would you kindly open the door? He’s a lot heavier than he looks…”

“Oh…” Amy steps forward and pushes the door open for us.

Ryan and I carry Tobias inside, Ryan taking most, if not all, of his weight. We lean down and let him slip onto the large couch in the corner.

“Wait!” Amy rushes out of the room, but quickly returns with a small stack of large towels from the locker room. “Lillian will not be happy if we get blood on this couch…”

We push a few beneath Tobias to catch any blood falling from his wounds, of which there are many, mainly on his face. His lip is split open in two places, blood falls from his nose, and there’s a serious gash just above his right eye. His torso is riddled with bright red rashes, ones that will surely be purple and black by morning.

“Tobias?” I say his name and he opens his eyes to look at me.

“I’m okay,” he whispers, forcing a comforting look into his eyes.

I shake my head, easily seeing through it. “What the hell were you thinking?”

He doesn’t answer and grabs a towel to start wiping the blood from his face.

“Ryan, thank you,” Amy says to him. “If you don’t mind giving us a little privacy…”

“Right, Midwest Alpha business,” he says, taking a step back. “No problem.”

“I’ll catch up with you later,” she smiles.

He gives a quick and happy nod before stepping out of the room.

“I thought you were going to stay away from him, Amy,” Tobias says, his voice charged with warning.

“Oh, don’t you
dare
,” she seethes, her kind demeanor turning a harsh shade of red. “Do you have
any idea
what you’ve done tonight, Tobias?”

“I did what I had to do—”

“You
had
to forfeit your
Alpha
status?” she spits. “You
had
to invoke an old, abandoned practice? For
what
?” He says nothing, but he looks at me. Amy shakes her head. “Have you kept up with your training at all?”

“No,” I answer for him.

“Well, then you better hope that it’s like riding a fucking bike because you need to get back in shape fast.”

Tobias sighs. “Amy—”

She takes a short, but purposeful, step towards the couch. “Do you have any idea how humiliating this is? I brought you into the Alphas, Tobias. When you did well, it was a reflection on
me
as your Dame. Your failures are equally damaging to
my
reputation as they are to
yours
.”

“Amy—”

“Fix this, Tobias.”

“I will.”

“And do it
quickly
, before this district loses what’s left of its reputation. I will not be a one-hit-wonder in this league. Do I make myself clear?”

He holds his face up to her. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Now…” She inhales a deep breath and her eyes turn soft on him. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he answers.

She looks at me. “Is he okay?”

“He is.
For now
,” I say. “Can’t guarantee he will be once I’m through with him.” He silently glares at me. I refuse to look away from him, holding his eyes with a deadly stare.

“I don’t care how you two work your shit out,” she says, holding up her hands, “just make sure he can fight next time.”

“Fine.”

Amy spins around and throws the office door open before slamming it closed behind her without uttering another word. I stand up and pace around the room for several moments, attempting repeatedly to gather my thoughts, but everything feels like a constant blur.

“Claire…” I hear him whisper my name, but I don’t want to look at him for very long. There’s only so many times I can force my tears down before they dominate my cheeks again.

The office door opens again and a chill runs down my spine.

“Well, if it isn’t the Dame…” Rick says as he closes the door behind him. He’s fully dressed now, clad in jeans and a sweatshirt. “And her
Mutt
.”

My eyes fall to the desk and I spot a pair of scissors poking out of a cup on the edge. I grab them, my survival instincts driving my actions, and rush at Rick with them held high above my head.

“Now, now,” Rick says as he snatches my wrist out of the air and holds me in place without even flexing his arm. “Let’s not overreact here…” He disarms me and tosses the scissors across the room. They land with a metallic rattle in the corner behind the desk.

“What do you want, Rick?” I ask as tears spill down my lashes.

“The same thing I always wanted, Claire,” he says as he releases my wrist. “You.”

“Claire, get away from him—”

I turn to see Tobias standing on his feet, greatly favoring his right side.

“Calm down, cuz’,” Rick says. “I’m not here to start another fight with you— although thanks for starting that last one. I hear being
Alpha
comes with lots of perks—”

“What do you want?” Tobias growls.

“Well, I already have your crown, Tobias. Now, I want your girl.”

“You’re insane, Rick,” I bite. “I’m not a prize.”

“No, you’re more than that to me. Always have been.” His eyes flick back to Tobias. “What do you say? I get further in the tournament than you do and you hand her over, fair and square.”

Rage burns beneath my skin. “Get the hell out of here—”