He didn’t stop, managing to catch Hayden’s face more times than I could count. Hayden slumped against the fence and barely managed to avoid Axel’s next blow when he ducked and darted behind Axel.
Axel was fast, spinning on his heel and swinging his fist at Hayden’s already battered and bruised face, but Hayden blocked it with his forearm and punched his cheek with his other hand. Axel staggered, which Hayden used to land a flurry of quick punches all over his abdomen.
The crowd was ecstatic. The pungent smell of blood and sweat spread through the stale air, and nausea swept over me as I watched them hit each other mercilessly.
“Come on, Axel!” spectators cheered him on.
“Get him, Black!” others said. “You can do it!”
Axel fell down, and Hayden came at him, but he swayed, which Axel used to trip him with his leg. Hayden crashed down to his stomach and had just enough time to turn to his back and shield himself when Axel straddled his waist and began throwing punches at his head.
No. Get up, Hayden. Get up!
He managed to catch Hayden’s cheek, and his head pounced against the floor, causing a cracking sound that turned my stomach. No, no, no. This was bad.
Hayden seemed so stunned he could barely raise his arms to deflect Axel’s hits.
“He’s only blocking him,” Blake said.
“He isn’t fighting like usual. Not good,” Masen added, creating a whirlwind of panic in me.
No way. This couldn’t end like this!
Axel landed his next hit right into Hayden’s left ribs, and a heart-shattering scream filled the warehouse. “You can’t win, Black.”
He struck again and caught Hayden’s right ribs. Another scream pierced the air, breaking my heart into thousand pieces. Each inch of me begged me to do anything to save him. But I couldn’t do a single thing.
Axel’s fist caught Hayden’s nose with a crunching sound, and Hayden cried out. I pressed my hand against my mouth. The cheers and boos blended together, and everything indicated this was the end...
“It’s time to finish this,” Axel said and raised his fist.
I reacted on impulse. “You can do it, Black,” I screamed, blind to everything and everyone but the guy my heart beat for. “You can do it! So fight back!”
Hayden moved his head to look at me, his eyes half-closed and swollen. I could hardly recognize him with his broken nose gushing so much blood that it turned his face into a repulsive image.
Axel pressed his forearm against Hayden’s throat and cast his gaze at me, blood trickling down his cheeks in gruesome trails. Hayden clawed at his arm to separate it from himself, but his move was sluggish and ineffective.
“You can do it!” I repeated. “You can win!”
Axel made a smile that felt like a kick in my gut. “Look at her. Cheering her pathetic novio. Maybe I can play with her once I’m done with you? Have some fun?” He pressed his forearm harder against Hayden’s throat, almost strangling him. “Die, hijo de puta.”
Defining seconds ticked off, and everything slowed down as I waited for something to happen. Just when I thought that this was it, some switch flipped inside of Hayden, and something changed in him. His eyes flashed with rage, bringing my hope back to life.
“No,” Hayden gritted out through his bared teeth, gagging as he struggled to push Axel away from him. “NO!”
Too quickly to comprehend, he struck him into the throat with the heel of his hand and elbowed his groin. Axel bent and automatically reached for his crotch, howling in pain.
Hayden used that moment to roll Axel to the right with a roar that showed how painful and strenuous that move was, but he didn’t stop as he positioned himself between Axel’s legs. He pinned his arms against the ground and started kneeing him into his groin, ruthlessly hitting him again and again.
Axel groaned and almost freed himself when he pushed against Hayden’s hands, but Hayden grabbed his hair and used all his force to slam his head into the ground. The contact emitted a loud crunch, and terror replaced all joy I’d felt at seeing Hayden turn this fight around.
Axel lost his consciousness immediately, but Hayden hit his head against the ground one more time before he stood up. He extended Axel’s arm, held his wrist, and smashed his knee into his elbow, managing to break it.
I couldn’t swallow past the constriction in my throat. The puddle of blood spreading under Axel’s head got bigger, and its smell violated my nostrils.
Looking like he was on the verge of passing out, Hayden did the same thing to Axel’s other elbow and kicked his waist a few more times before he finally moved away from him. He groaned as he swayed on his feet.
“Axel is down! Black wins!” the announcer said, and everyone turned delirious, chanting Hayden’s name triumphantly.
It was over. It was finally over.
Our gazes barely met before he collapsed to the ground, falling on all fours.
“Hayden!” I took a quick step forward, but a hand wrapped around my upper arm to keep me in place. I looked over my shoulder and found Blake shaking his head at me.
“Don’t move.”
“What? Why? He won. The fight is over, and he needs our help.”
“It isn’t over.”
“What? What do you mean?”
The announcer entered the cage and encouraged the crowd to keep cheering with his arms raised high in the air. He stopped above Hayden, who sat on his heels with his head hung low.
“Good job, Black,” he told him, kneeling next to Axel. He checked his pulse and nodded to T. “Still alive.”
“Take him out,” T ordered, and two guys got in the cage to pick up Axel.
Hayden didn’t move from his spot or raise his head. His blood dripped from his badly injured face, and it was frightening. He just stared at something on the ground as he tried to catch his breath.
I tugged my arm, but I couldn’t set myself free from Blake’s grasp. “Let me go,” I hissed at him. “What are you doing? Why don’t you go and help him?” I looked at Masen, who also didn’t move, and his stony face only added to my anxiety. “And you too,” I said to him. “You’re just standing here, doing nothing.”
“T isn’t done with him,” Blake told me.
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means he’s still not out,” Masen said.
“But he fought Axel and won. What more does T want?”
T got in the cage and stopped right above Hayden. “For the sake of old times, I’m giving you one last chance,” he said loudly. “Are you absolutely sure you want out?”
Slowly, Hayden tore his gaze from the floor to T. “Yes,” he replied in a quiet, hoarse voice.
The mass started booing. T inhaled deeply and looked over the spectators until his gaze stopped on me, stealing the air out of my lungs. I didn’t dare move. Fear gripped my throat when it dawned on me that he could use me against Hayden as part of some sick punishment.
His face didn’t reveal anything when his gaze moved from me and continued scanning the crowd until it settled back on Hayden. “All right. Since this is what you want, this is what you’re going to get. If you survive.”
I snapped my head at Blake, all hairs rising on the back of my neck. “What does that mean?” I asked him, but I didn’t get to hear his answer because the crowd booed even louder, and I turned to see two guys enter the cage.