Page 40 of Green Flag (StormSprint #2)

Everly

My heart was racing with the deep bass from the music in the stadium. I could feel the beat, but the notes, the angry lyrics were a muted buzz.

My high had truly crashed and hit rock bottom.

What an Icarus moment.

How dare I trust myself to get comfortable.

I adored Luca. It was pretty obvious, and everything about him weakened me to my knees. The way he climbed two steps at a time, threw his cap on backwards, and even rolled his sleeves made my heart flutter.

Which was ridiculous.

Luca had good intentions. I genuinely believed it. Maybe he’d tell me later.

I nodded, muttering to myself as I sat back down next to Bella who smiled at me.

Luca’s song played, and then he came out on the large screens. His grin beamed as he high-fived the people on all sides, pausing to smile at a young lad with noise-cancelling headphones with a large sign in Italian. I couldn’t read Italian but it moved him.

Then Marco gave him a pep talk and looked him over to check whether my elbows had bruised him.

The screen changed as another song played and Tyler Wells came from the corner closest to us. I should have sat with Dad.

Our ‘relationship’ had been papped, but this was a prime time when the press would be looking for us. Especially when Luca won.

“Who booked these seats?” I had to scream in Arabella’s ear. We were on the far side, near where Tyler Wells would come out. It looked like we were supporting him , not Luca.

She shrugged. “Don’t know. But surely everyone knows we’re on Mendes’ team. You’re shagging him, for crying out loud.”

Hmmmmm. If I pretended I wasn’t shagging him, what reaction would I get?

I was always thinking of ways to wind him up.

Like the other week when he’d thrown me over the bed, questioning if I thought he was the worst or not.

For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me.

Then I felt stupid for wanting him to. I was a means to an end for him. The end of his contract.

The spreadsheet kept on interrupting my thoughts.

“Is that where you were for the first three fights?” one of the other grid girls, Penny, asked, leaning over Bella. “Did you give him a little good luck kiss?”

Her cocked brows told us she didn’t mean a kiss .

“My own version,” I said and flipped my hair back dramatically as Luca’s furious face filled the screen, holding onto the bars of the boxing ring.

I might be confused, and I may have a pit in my stomach, but I was here for Luca.

Tyler Wells was a wanker. I mean, Luca said he wasn’t.

He said that they’d been friendly and in the spirit of the charity Christmas match, they often had vicious banter to raise publicity and funding, but no one could get away with some of the shit Tyler had said about Luca and his family. About his cousin .

There was no excuse for the cruel things he’d said about Luca being the ‘back up Mendes’ and the ‘second choice’ for Ciclati.

It boiled my blood.

I wanted to put the gloves on. He was no punching bag, but if he could just stand still, I’d give him a good run for his money.

The fight started smoothly. Luca wasn’t too eager, but Tyler always was.

Luca had told me one night what his strategy was; too far away to let him kick out and land him on his ass, but not too far to get a hit in. Always on the move. Luca would not be taken to the floor. If he were, he would lose.

There was no doubt Tyler knew his weakness and was ready to exploit it.

It was going to be okay.

The first round went by quickly, a few jabs in each. But this was just a warm up for Luca. Nothing more.

The second round was not.

Luca got Tyler square in the nose, bouncing from one foot to the other.

And his perfect form took me right back to that day in the gym when I’d told him I didn’t want to squat because it would look like I was going to the toilet. The loud crowd swallowed my laughter, but Arabella stared at me as if I was mad.

Luca Mendes was my favourite person. It wasn’t hard to admit.

Actually, it was a relief.

Maybe giving him a blow job — and risking our friendship — hadn’t been my finest moment.

Even if it gave me an absolute thrill.

As the bell dinged to announce the third round, something shifted. Tyler shouted across the ring and Luca didn’t get into his perfect form, he stormed across the floor right to Tyler and went to give him a thunderous punch when Tyler kicked out, blocking Luca’s hit in the same movement.

I was unable to tear my eyes from him as he wobbled back, lip curled in angry pain. His eyes flickered to the crowd before narrowing in again on his opponent.

Whatever Tyler had said riled him. His movements stiffened, his punches had more power, his breaths were shallow.

His face was starting to swell on the left side, just as a glint of sweat appeared on his arm and dripped from his hairline.

It would be easy to fall in love with Luca Mendes, I decided there and then. I didn’t know if there was one thing about him that was unlovable.

Even the random boners made me howl with laughter. I was normally so much lighter in his presence. But, at that moment, my heartbeat was in my throat.

The punch came out of nowhere. A brutal right hook right into Luca’s side. He jerked back with the impact, his head and legs almost following behind him. His knees buckled and I was on the edge of my seat, hands to my mouth, ready to scream at him to not back down.

He couldn’t.

No.

He was stumbling. His feet were tripping over themselves as he tried to stand and there was a flicker of doubt in his eyes before he managed to collect himself.

But it was too late.

Tyler followed him into the corner like a predator.

My Luca was no one’s prey.

Because, despite everything, he was mine.

I was clutching my seat as Tyler stood looming over my boyfriend, and I could see that Luca was actually hurting now, just as Tyler slammed his fist into Luca’s jaw. He swayed and my heart was beating no, no, no. Come on, Luca. Come on.

Time stopped. I was in the moment of that punch, the aftermath of Luca’s shocked and angry face, my thoughts rioting as his must have been.

I wanted to run to him and pull him out before he got seriously hurt.

But, above all, I wanted him to redeem himself. To be proud of himself.

Because he wasn’t done.

The punches kept on coming and Luca took them. His lip was bust, his left side swelling, bruises purpling on his handsome face.

He wasn’t done. He couldn’t be done.

And when the bell dinged to signal the end of that round, I was worried I might be wrong.

Marco was shouting in his face as he downed a bottle of water, sitting on the stool in the corner he’d just been beaten in.

If it went down to points, Luca would be losing that round, without a doubt.

But when he stood and shook out his arms, I knew I had nothing to worry about. Tyler had said something to him to piss him off. But my calm and collected Luca was back with one final deep breath.

For the first part of the round, they circled each other with a couple of jabs, but the second Tyler went to throw a punch that was too wide, Luca pivoted, ducked under the punch, and fluidly slammed his left hand straight into Tyler’s jaw.

The blow knocked Tyler, and his feet wobbled as he stumbled back into the barrier. Luca didn’t stop there. He grabbed him, and I was confused for a second. I was overjoyed by his sudden burst of energy but baffled when he took him to the floor .

I wasn’t conscious of the pain until blood was dribbling down my bottom lip. I wiped it, uncaring to sort out the mess on my chin when Luca told me he would lose if he got on the floor.

He quickly swivelled, wasting no time as he got Tyler on his back, Luca’s legs around his ribs, his arms around his throat, choking him out.

Tyler was sprawling, kicking, trying to grab him with his hands, scratching and clawing at him.

But Luca had no mercy.

Yes, he would be very easy to love.

Any woman in this place would happily take him to their bed tonight and go all the way with him.

Maybe even me.

Then Tyler was tapping relentlessly on the floor and Luca released him. He jumped up, and the crowd went wild, erupting with noise.

I was up, as was half the place, screaming and cheering for him. Because Luca deserved the world.

And I was lucky to be in his for however long this would last.

I was rushing down the stand towards him, to be in his precious company. Tyler was still being interviewed, and Marco was in the ring, patting Luca on the back, beaming.

The roar of the crowd didn’t pause for Tyler’s muffled words.

Because who cared what he had to say?

Luca smiled at me — me — before going into the middle of the ring where the camera and presenter stood, ready to ask him questions.

I would be on the right side when he got out. Nowhere near Tyler’s.

The crowd had moved, some already leaving through the tunnels, some barging to get closer to where Luca would walk through, some running past me in the opposite direction to see Tyler as he jumped down from the ring.

With how busy it was, I stood to the side, letting everyone pass, a current of bodies making it harder to get through to where I could also see Saliha, Nix, Livie and my dad.

Where I should have sat.

“Everly?”

My blood ran cold, spine snapping straight.

I turned, feeling the blood draining from my face.

“I thought it was you,” Pedro said with a smile. “I couldn’t mistake you anywhere.”

My laugh was forced as I tried to see past him to Luca answering questions, half-faced away from me.

Damn it.

I knew how to punch now if I needed to.

And Luca had said that if Pedro so much as touched me, he’d ‘handle’ him.

But not here. Not where there were witnesses and cameras. I couldn’t let that happen.

“Hello, Pedro,” I said, and I wanted to avoid looking at him, but with the crowds on either side of us, pushing us closer, he stepped forward, not a foot away.

I forced a smile, then added all the warmth to it from my tours where I’d had to pretend to be lovely.