Hitting his ego in front of all his men?
Bad idea.
“Actually, I want them here to watch me win. To show them what happens when people cross me and my family,” Marko fires back, but I can tell that Rhett’s comment angered him. This man has a fragile ego, and clearly must be mentally unstable.
Then, as if out of a movie, Marko rips off his white T-shirt, exposing a muscled body, with hair on his chest and a tattoo of a lion covering the side of his torso.
His men all cheer.
I share a look with Decker, and I can see from his eyes that he is as concerned as I am.
“They didn’t even check us for weapons,” he murmurs, glancing around.
Yeah, he’s on edge too.
“What do you think they are going to do?” I whisper.
“I don’t know, but if shit goes down, grab Clover and get the fuck out of here,” he says, squeezing my hand in a silent plea. “And know that I’m pretty sure you are the one for me.”
“You’re the one for me, too.”
And that’s the moment that I fucked up.
Because Rhett hears me say those words, and he turns to me, blue eyes filled with pain.
“Rhett—” I whisper, reaching out for him.
But he turns his back on me.
And then he steps into the ring, pulling his shirt off.
Those words from my lips are the last ones to play in his head before he goes into a fight for his life.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Decker
Rhett stretches his neck from side to side. I watch Cara, and I know this has to be hard for her. Watching the two of them talk privately was hard. What was harder was seeing her mouth the words I’ll always love you to him, right in front of me. I’m not going to lie, it felt like someone had punched me right in the gut.
I might as well be in that ring too. It would probably be less painful.
“He’s going to be fine,” I promise her. I turn to Clover, who is clasping on to Felix like a lifeline. “He’s a good fighter, right?”
She nods. “Yeah, he’s good. Is this definitely a one-on-one fight, though?”
“If it isn’t, Marko has called a full-on war with not just the Wind Dragons, but the Knights too. Would he risk that?” Cara asks, sharing a look with Clover. “What’s our plan B, guys?”
I mean, we all have guns, but I’m assuming the FC do too. “I have the plan B. I just need the bikers to get here.”
I pull my phone out and send a quick text to Temper, telling them to hurry their asses up.
“You ready?” Marko calls out to Rhett, who nods.
Marko then turns to his audience. “These are the rules. We keep fighting until someone gives up, or someone is knocked the fuck out. You can tag in two other people if you need a break, but only two at a time in the ring.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” Clover calls out, stepping forward with her hands on her hips. “The deal was a one-on-one with you and Rhett, and then it was settled.”
Marko calls out two of his men, huge motherfuckers that belong on one of those old warrior movies. One must be nearly seven feet tall, and pure muscle. The other is smaller, but no doubt well trained and just as deadly.
“I changed my mind,” Marko replies, laughing. “I think this will make it more interesting, don’t you think? And it’s still fair.”
Felix turns to me. “I call shot-gun on not fighting that tall bastard.”
Fuck.
Technically, Marko is right, three versus three is still a fair fight, one fighting at a time, but he knew this and brought in these WWE bastards, who could easily destroy most men. He didn’t want to just teach Rhett a small lesson; he wanted to set that giant on him to annihilate him.
That was Marko’s plan all along, to destroy Rhett—have him broken, beaten and bloody, and then still call it a fair fight.
I personally don’t think having one man the size of the rest of us put together is a fair fight, but this is what we’ve been given to work with.
And you know what? A big man goes down harder.
Marko doesn’t know I’m a martial artist, so he probably would have thought that we would have been easily beaten. Or maybe he does know, but assumes his giant will trump all...
And maybe he will.
But little does he know I don’t like to fucking lose.
Especially not when I’m fighting in front of my woman.
I quickly eye all the men, taking in any weak points just by observing their body language and posture.
“Let me fight,” I hear Clover tell Felix, and I wince, feeling sorry for Felix. I’m glad Clover isn’t my problem.
“Clover, no,” I hear Felix reply, his tone full of steel.
I ignore their arguing over who beat who in the police academy and turn to Cara.
“Who is going to fight against that behemoth of a man?” she asks, whisper-yelling. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“We’re going to have to fight these assholes.”
She purses her lips. “You’re going to fight him, aren’t you? Decker, don’t get me wrong—”
“What choice do we have? I’m the best fighter out of us,” I tell her, cupping her cheek in my hand. “And it will be fine. Have a little faith.”
“Oh, I have faith in you. But I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a man that size,” she replies, staring at said man in concern. “He looks like he could eat me.”
“No one other than me will be eating you,” I remark in a dry tone.
She flashes me a “this is not the fucking time” look and I can’t help but grin.
The fight begins, and we all move closer to the ring. Marko and Rhett both start circling each other, arms up in fighting stance. Rhett is taller than Marko, but as they commence throwing punches, it’s quick to see that Marko is indeed a good fighter. But so is Rhett.
“Come on, Rhett!” Clover calls out, encouraging him.
“Both of you stay together,” I tell Cara and Clover, and Felix and I get ready for whenever Rhett decides to tag us in. I’m not going to lie, I’m fucking nervous, and I don’t know how this is going to play out. If we win, will they just let us walk away? Or will he throw in some other last-minute rules and find a way to make us all pay?
I don’t trust Marko, and I don’t think that he will let us make him look bad in any way, shape or form.