My knuckles hurt, but I push it away and keep hitting him. Punch after punch, I strike him over and over again. Head, chest, gut, back, head. Anywhere I can hit him, refusing to let him get even one shot on me.
All it takes is one last punch to the side of the head, and he slumps over, his body falling face-first into the ground. Shocked, I stare down at him while Franco counts to ten, giving the fucking beast a chance to get up and fight again.
Thankfully, he stays down, completely unmoving. Sweat drips down my aching body, and all I want to do right now is get the fuck out of this ring, grab Kennedy, and leave.
As soon as I’m announced as the winner, I climb out of the pit and head straight for her. The crowd erupts around me, threatening to swallow me whole, but I push through the masses to get to her. People rush past her to get to me, almost shoving her to the ground to congratulate me. Anger ignites deep in my gut, and when I reach her, I wrap a hand around her wrist and tug her to my chest.
The way she’s looking at me, like a helpless little bug, it makes me want to save her and squish her at the same time. There is way too fucking much going on around us. I can’t think straight.
Heading for the doors, I wrap an arm around Kennedy and drag her along beside me. Once outside, I can think, breathe, my mind becomes less foggy, and I drop my arm from Kennedy and instead take her wrist into my hand.
Her small legs can barely keep up with me as I practically run across the parking lot toward my car, wondering how and why she came.
“How the hell did you get here? Did you drive?” I ask. I’ve never seen her drive anywhere, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a car. The other option is that she came with someone, and if that’s the case, it better not have been a guy. Because if she came here with some dude, I’ll kill him.
“I walked,” she announces. She walked? That’s, that’s like five miles.
“You walked here? All the way from campus?”
“Yes, took me a while, but I did.” She sounds almost proud.
“Why? Why the fuck did you come here?” Better yet, how the fuck did she know where the pits were and that I was going to be here. Talon. Talon was spreading the word about the fight. She must’ve overheard someone talking about it. That still doesn’t really explain why she was here though.
When she doesn’t answer, I speak a little slower, “Why-did-you-come-here?” I’m tempted to shake the answer out of her. I’m tired of her making stupid choices and putting herself in danger, a danger that she acts as if she doesn’t see.
“I–I… well. I overheard someone talking in class, and they said you were in danger. So… I came here to warn you.”
The words trickle slowly into my brain, almost like I’m having a hard time understanding them. “You’re fucking joking, right? What do you think this is?” I motion between us.
“Nothing. I just… nothing.” Her face falls, and her eyes drop to the ground. “I shouldn’t have come here. This was a mistake.”
“Damn right, you shouldn’t have, but now you’re here, and you’re coming with me,” I tell her, and unlock the SUV with my keypad on the door.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she replies, her voice stronger now, “and I’m definitely not getting into a car with you.”
Of course, she isn’t. I roll my eyes and open the passenger side door with my other hand. “Get the fuck in, or I’ll put you in. I don’t care if you want to ride in a car with me. Your fears are not my fucking problem.”
My patience is thin as fuck, and if she doesn’t decide in five seconds, I’m going to choose for her.
“Please, Jackson…” she pleads, but like I said before, my patience is good as gone.
Picking her up, I place her ass in the seat and strap her in with the buckle. She struggles for half a second before I pull back and slam the door.
Walking around the car, I climb into the driver’s seat and grab the key from the center console. I start the vehicle, and the engine roars to life. Strangling the steering wheel, I throw the bitch into reverse and pull out of the parking spot. Tires spin and gravel flies as I shift to drive and rip out of the parking lot.
Glancing over at her, I see her fear-stricken face. Her hands are in her lap, where she is nervously playing with the zipper on her jacket. I wish she would calm the hell down. She has nothing to be scared of, at least not while I’m driving.
I’m not even sure why I give a fuck about her? She’s nothing but a means to an end, really. Revenge and nothing else. Yet, I saved her life the other day and had this intense need to protect her tonight. I don’t understand why I’m feeling this way, and it’s annoying as fuck. I want to hate Kennedy. Need to hate her. Wanting or feeling anything else is a betrayal to my sister.
Halfway to my apartment, Kennedy speaks.
“Where are we going?”
“My place,” I say through clenched teeth.
“What happens when we get there?” she asks, her voice meek.
“What do you think happens?” I shoot back.
“I… I don’t know.”
She doesn’t know. Ha. What a fucking liar.
I don’t reply, and instead, wait to say anything till we pull into the parking lot of my complex. Finding a spot, I put the car in park and kill the engine.
“You’re coming inside with me,” I tell her. She’s coming inside willingly, or I’m forcing her. That’s the only choice she gets in the matter.
“Why?” she asks as if she doesn’t already know.
Leaning across the console, I inhale her sweet scent. She smells like flowers and fear, and fuck my cock is hard already.
“You know why,” I say before forcing myself out of the vehicle.
Kennedy takes a minute to get herself together but climbs out as well, walking around the car to meet me. It’s time for me to settle the score. It’s time for Kennedy to pay the piper.
10
Kennedy
As I step into his apartment, all I can think of is what he said in the car.
You know why.
Yes, I know why he wants me to come in, but how am I going to get it into his head that it’s not happening? I’m not giving him a blow job. I can’t. I’ll do anything else, but not that.
Walking closely behind me, Jackson closes the door once we’re both inside. His spacious living room suddenly seems smaller, like the walls are slowly moving toward us. The space is surprisingly clean for a college student.
“I’m gonna take a shower, and when I come back, you’ll be on your knees ready to suck me off–”
“No! I won’t. Either we have sex, or I’m walking home.” I shock myself saying the words out loud, but even more surprising is that I’m not scared. I’m not scared of sex with Jackson. I’d rather do that than anything else.
I’ve never actually done it, but when I was younger, I thought about him being my first. I imagined him taking my virginity, even touching myself at the thought of it. So, I’m definitely not scared of sex, I’m more worried about him turning me down.
When he doesn’t answer right away, I look back at him over my shoulder. I’m not really sure what I expected to find when I looked at him, but the shocked expression on his face is new. I guess he didn’t expect me to say that either.