Reese

“Five total,” Vega replies without looking at us.

“After this one, we have one more fight before the final one. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ll be glad when it’s over. I like fighting, but I don’t particularly like being led around by my dick,” Vega grumbles as Team Malice flashes up on the board with Team Angel underneath.

“Team Malice?”

“Each team takes the female’s name, apparently.” Vega shrugs.

“Guess you guys are lucky they don’t call me Bunny Lumpkins.”

Graves looks at me for a beat before he throws his head back and laughs. “I don’t know, Mal. It does have a certain ring to it.”

“Here we go. Eyes on the prize,” Blink murmurs, holding out his fist for us all to bump before we step into the pit.

The crowd cheers, but thankfully, they don’t seem too bloodthirsty tonight. I ignore the commentator droning on as I take in the other team that’s entering the pit. Just like us, they are a four-person team.

I take in Angel, from her long-ass legs to her pixie-cut blonde hair, and know I’ve never seen her before. Two of the guys with her are familiar. I saw them on the circuit before I left.

I take in everything I can in the three minutes that the commentator takes to go over the rules, or lack thereof, before the bell rings to signal the start.

I’m not saying these guys are unskilled because nobody who gets this far will be. But I can tell by the strategy they employ that they might have a set of morals that will be hard for them to go against. The two guys I’m familiar with flank Angel’s back, and the other one covers her front.

It’s a protective stance that’s sweet but makes Angel look weak. I try not to read into it because that could be exactly what they want us to think.

All pretty much ignore the hulking men I have around me and focus on me.

Vega looks over at me in question, but I shake my head, not needing them to intervene. At least not yet.

When none of my team makes a move, Angel’s team charges.

I feel Graves’s heat at my back, but he doesn’t jump in front of me, trusting me to know what I’m doing. That man is so getting lucky later.

Once the man in front of Angel is a foot from me, he spins to the side and reveals Angel, who was mostly hidden by her protector’s huge form. She has her fist high and a look of determination on her face.

I almost feel bad now.

I spin at the same time that I drop low, catching her behind the knee and knocking her to the ground.

That’s when my guys pounce on hers.

Angel jumps nimbly to her feet and steps back. Her eyes take in her men, who are currently occupied, before she swallows and looks at me.

Yeah, sweetheart. You are on your own.

“You know, you were onto a good strategy, but you lacked what you needed in the end,” I inform her as we circle each other.

“Oh yeah, and what would you know?”

I cock my brow in a don’t-be-dumb gesture, which is mean. For all I know, she could be as dumb as a bag of rocks. Hank always taught me not to pick on someone weaker.

I ignore her asinine comment and tell her where she went wrong, “Taking me out was smart. I assume that was the plan. You picked our weakest link and made it your target. It could have worked if it wasn’t for two things.

“Firstly, your man should have attacked me first, with you as his backup. His twisting away told me right away that he wasn’t comfortable hitting a girl. Good in real-life. In the pit, not so much. I get it. My guys don’t like it either. But if it means their girl gets to come home safe and sound, you better believe they will knock you the fuck out.”

She throws a punch, but I duck and move away, ignoring everything around us as I watch and wait to see what her next move will be.

“Your second mistake, though, was the most costly.”

She growls, sick of listening to me taunt her. I can’t say I blame her. I am kind of a bitch.