Adams was a pretty girl and shared an Italian heritage on her mother’s side with Troy. She had the same olive complexion, had dark hair, and eyes with outrageously long eyelashes. Troy had given her the cold shoulder and tried to remain friendly with her, but she just wasn’t getting it. She continued to pursue him.
Honestly, I didn’t get it. There were plenty of available men here. A lot of them even pursued her, but I guess she liked the hunt and not the chase. She liked hunting her men, and the more they ran, the more she wanted them, apparently. The guys that chased her weren’t challenging enough for her, I guess.
I went too far in my musings and hadn’t been paying much attention, when suddenly, Adams landed a hard roundhouse kick and a spinning hook kick. I felt my teeth jar in my mouth as she connected with my face. I spun away from her to keep her out of reach as I tried to center myself again and refocus.
She got over confident and cocky. I could see it in her expression. She was already giving herself the victory, but I wasn’t going to give it to her that easily. I came at her with several kicks she wasn’t expecting. I landed four of them and chased her out of the ring for the last one. She screamed a curse when she realized she had stepped out of the ring. Now she was angry.
She advanced toward me as the whistle blew. I dropped my hands and went to go to my ‘corner’ once more. I never expected the punch to my temple as I turned away. I gasped as I leaned forward. Bright white stars were all I saw behind my closed eyelids.
“Adams needs to be DQ’d!” Remy barked out in the stunned silence that followed.
“What?” I could hear Adams say in a loud high-pitched voice. I could hear her attempt at an innocent tone. “I never heard the whistle blow.”
“I didn’t blow it that loud,” Bradford added. I dropped my empath barriers, and I could feel the self-satisfaction rolling off them. Bradford had smugness emanating off him, and Adams was ecstatic. They were playing dirty.
“Its fine,” I gritted between clenched teeth as I felt two pairs of strong hands lead me off the mat. “Let’s finish this.”
“I’ll give you an extra minute,” Henderson stated, his voice full of concern. “Are you sure you want to continue?”
I nodded wincing at the pain that followed the motion. “Yeah.”
“Open those green eyes, beautiful,” Noah whispered as he laid a hand against my temple.
I felt the instant relief as I opened my eyes and saw Drake and Noah had walked me off the mats. “Thanks,” I smiled.
“Stupid bitch,” Jemmy muttered. She was so protective of us, and I loved her for it.
All my connections and the rest of my friends crowded around me. I gave them an appreciative smile. We had grown even closer since arriving here.
“She’s tired and pissed,” Troy said anger still in his eyes. “She knows you’re beating her.”
I turned and looked at the score boards and saw I was leading by one point. I could see Henderson and Bradford in a heated debate as three more points were taken off the board. Adams exclaimed in outrage, but her friends didn’t seem to be terribly sympathetic, especially the guys in her group. They knew she had intentionally thrown that cheap shot. Even if she hadn’t heard the whistle, I had dropped my hands and was walking off the mats.
“You’re leading by four now,” Jace said in a satisfied tone. “Play defense. You’re quicker and have more endurance. Let her wear herself out and keep the lead.”
“She’s going to play even dirtier,” Marcel grunted. “She was Queen Bee on the mats, she never expected our girl to beat her. Her pride and reputation are at stake. Blake had nothing to lose.”
I liked how we had become more like family since coming here. Once Marcel got over his fear of me, he became outgoing and flirtatious, but he didn’t mean anything by it, so the guys weren’t threatened by his sense of possession and his overtures.
“You should have let her disqualify herself,” Remy muttered. I could tell he hated the fact that he couldn’t protect me. It went against everything he stood for.
“So, she can complain that I didn’t actually beat her? No thank you,” I scoffed although I reached for his hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
The whistle blew again, and I could almost see smoke coming out of Adams’ ears as she entered the ring. I had every intention on playing all defense and no offense. I was slightly winded, but I still had a lot of steam still left in me. I danced around the ring and allowed her to continue kicking and punching the air. I proceeded to antagonize her. I let her believe I was within reach, and then I danced back out of reach.
She continued doing her theatrics. I made sure to watch the line so I didn’t step out on accident. I could hear my corner yell at me, but I didn’t hear what they were saying. I didn’t see the steel water container until it was too late. I fell and landed on my back. The wind was knocked out of me, and I saw the malicious smile from one of her friends.
I looked over at Henderson who was talking to another group of guys. Then I looked over at Bradford. Bradford looked at me with a deadpan expression. He wasn’t going to call the penalty or the match.
I rolled out of the way and stood quickly before Adams could foot stomp me. She would have lost more points, but at this point I didn’t think she cared. I stood up, feeling my own anger rise. It was one thing to get angry at the situation but attempting to cheat to win was a reflection of their characters. There was no way I would ever want to be on a team with her or any of her friends that helped her or looked the other way.
I narrowed my eyes at her. If she wanted to play to dirty so could I. I glared at her.
Wanna play a game? Why don’t you show off some of those fancy forms you know? I compelled her.
Her eyes widened, and she stopped advancing towards me. She started doing some martial arts form. Troy had explained to me, that as you advanced through most martial arts, you were obligated to learn forms and other requirements to advance to the next belt. They were fascinating to watch, especially the higher through the ranks you climbed.
I walked over towards my side of the ring while some of Adams’ friends started yelling at her to go after me. My corner was laughing at me as I neared them. I made sure to stay in the ring.