Page 23 of Vying Girls

I push her into the centre of the cage, taking swings with both fists. She blocks almost all of them, and when she doesn’t, she’s wearing a smirk that tells me she allowed them.

She soon grows tired of that, pushing me into the bars again. The force is jarring, making me choke on blood. Leaning over, I cough red onto the floor. Blakely gets a leg behind mine. They buckle, knees thudding on the concrete.

A meaty arm comes around my throat. She arches my neck, tightening the headlock.

‘Come on,’ she croons. ‘Who’s going to be my reading buddy if you’re six feet under?’ Pressing her lips close to my ear, she says, ‘Whoever she is, she ain’t fucking worth it.’

I buck against her hold, damning her for reminding me. For a few blissful, painful moments, I’d forgotten.

‘Tap out,’ she commands, thrusting black hair away from her face. It’s stringy from the sweat of her workout, limp on her shoulders. She smells of herbs, probably from some balm.

‘Not done,’ I grind out, slamming an elbow into her. She might as well be made of rock for all the good it does.

‘I think you are, bud.’

She rolls onto her side, pulling me with her. She gets both legs around me, as well as her arms. I wince. It’s like being in a vice.

‘Tap the fuck out, Nic.’

I won’t.I can’t.Because the moment I do, it’ll all come crashing back. It’s already leaking through the cracks, her face filling my quickly dimming vision.

‘Tap out before I knock you out.’

I fight against the panic, her tightening hold, letting the darkness come. It’s wiggly like the raindrops on the window this morning. Like iron filings. They’re helpless, even with a million of them to one magnet. They can’t resist; they’ll move. It’s in the nature of things. An inevitability you can’t outrun.

But if I die here, I can.

I close my eyes, unable to keep them open if I tried. I feel Blakely all around me, her chest moving up and down against my back. Dying in an embrace. Wouldn’t be the person I’d choose but she’ll do in a pinch.

Then it all releases. The arms around me, Blakely’s sigh of annoyance. The light floods back in; my limbs tingle.

‘Never pegged you for a fool, Nic.’

I roll onto my back, the cage’s bars blurring above me. ‘Love to disappoint.’

‘Vi,’ Blakely calls, summoning the orange-haired girl to unlock the door.

They both grab an arm, hauling me none too gently onto the unforgiving cave floor. I come onto my side when blood chokesme again. I wipe it from my nose gingerly, wondering if it’s broken.

‘Get your shit together, Nic.’ Blakely slams the cage door shut. ‘And don’t do that again. Ain’t third time lucky with me. Vi, sort her, will you.’

The girl comes to her knees, assessing my injuries. Bobbed, silky hair falls into her face, the orange shade too saturated to be natural.

She must do this a lot. There’s not much surprise on her face, despite all the blood. Not a lot of anything, to be honest. Cool as a cucumber, this one.

‘Vi, is it?’

‘Violet,’ she confirms, helping me into a seated position.

‘Are you Blakely’s girl?’

Violet glances at her, sat in the corner watching us, drinking from a water bottle. ‘Think a girl like her can be kept? She’s the beast in the woods girls run away from.’

‘Poetic.’

I close my eyes, letting her mop up the blood. Adds something to my Anarchy t-shirt, I suppose. It’s all throbbing now and I feel sick, sicker than I did waking up this morning.

Wonder where she is now. Back at the lodge confiding in the others? Haz’ll have my head for keeping this from her.