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“You can give in now.” His eyes gleam with hope, but I’m not stupid enough to think he wants to stop this fight because he doesn’t think he can win. In his head, he’ll feel bad if he kicks my ass because I’m a precious girl.
Well, he needs to get the fuck over it.
“Just kick her ass, so we can get on with this, Evan,” Roza says from behind him.
That makes me smile even wider.
I know from experience that I have to wait for his move. His reach is far longer than mine, so I have to get through his to the inside. I have to be quick. Strike hard and strike fast before getting out again.
We circle one another, and this time, it’s apparent the fight has started. He won’t be saying any more remarks to me. He’s in his own head, just like I’m in mine.
He’s watching every move I make, just like I’m watching his. He has good technique. Unlike Brawler, he’s had technical training.
So have I, though.
I fake him into moving forward. I catch a right hook to the jaw for it, but I also come up on the inside, punching him in the gut and then coming up on the other side of his body, giving him a backfist to the neck. He cranes his neck this way and that, and then we both circle again. Cheers erupt on both sides. Each one calling out words of encouragement for their chosen one.
I fake a punch, wait for his reaction, and then move inside, punching him square in the jaw three times before getting back out again. It’s a bare-knuckle fight and my knuckles split for the pleasure of it, but his lip is split too. He reaches up, wiping a smear of blood over his lips and grins.
I know that feeling. You smile, even though it hurts like hell.
Evan rushes, trying to use his strength against me. I know if this goes to the ground, I’m done for. All he has to do is use his weight to hold me down while raining blows down on my head. I sprawl, my forearms cutting into his shoulders, allowing me time to get out of the way. He wasn’t ready for the force of my stop, so he puts his hand down to steady himself. I take the opportunity to knee him a few times in the face before getting back out of his reach again.
He bounces around, shaking his head like what I just gave him didn’t bother him at all.
“Is it wrong I’m fucking turned on right now?” he asks.
My gaze narrows. Shit like that pisses me off. Don’t demean me in a fight between equals, motherfucker.
He comes at me. I block his punches until he kicks me in the gut, and I stagger back. Even with the adrenaline pumping through me, that fucking hurt.
“Come on, Kyla,” Johnny says from behind me. His voice is low, growly.
He’s rooting for me.
I step forward again, Brawler’s words repeating in my head.Do anything necessary.
Evan kicks me in the gut again. “How’d that feel?”
“Like you’ve got a weak kick.”
His face tightens. He wipes at his lips, which trickle blood from the center. This time when he comes in, I round house him in the stomach. He groans but catches my foot.
Fuck!
He brings his elbow down into my calf, connecting with a crack. I suck in a breath, wrenching my foot from his hold. As soon as I put my foot down, my leg buckles, a fierce pain emanating from the point his elbow connected with my bone. It’s not broken, it just hurts like a bitch.
I flex my toes and absorb the pain as I step back on it again. I need this foot. It’ll hurt way worse after the fight is over when all the energy has died down and I’m not hyped up on the fight itself.
Seeing that I’m injured, Evan goes to kick the same leg, but I block it by bringing my knee up, then faking a kick high to get his guard to rise while I get in another body shot on him.
He starts sucking in air. I wouldn’t be surprised if I broke a rib with that one. At the very least, they’re bruised, and it’s super difficult to breathe with a bruised rib.
“Time to stop playing,” Roza says behind Evan.
I hate to say this, but the girl’s a dumbass. We’re not playing. Unless she really thought he was just going to be able to walk through me, and now she’s worried I’m actually still fighting.
We trade blows, each of us getting some solid punches to the face. I have a goose egg on my forehead like the one I got the first day of school.