Reese

“And what the fuck was that?” she asks as she kicks high, aiming for my head.

“Thinking I’m the weakest link,” I reply with a shrug before I bend, drop into a squat, and punch her in the stomach.

She loses her balance and drops to the floor. While she’s down, I kick her as hard as I can in the pussy.

“Ouch, Mal.” Vega steps up beside me, blood on his lip as he looks at Angel writhing on the dirt floor.

“What? They said no dick shots, which is unusual. They don’t usually give a shit. But they didn’t say anything about pussy punching. Let me tell you, we might not have balls, but that shit hurts like a motherfucker.”

The commentator announces our team as the winner to the sound of cheering. I look around in surprise and find all the other men on Angel’s team out cold.

“Well, that was quick.” I frown as Graves and Blink walk over to me. Graves’s eyes rove my body for injury, his tense body relaxing when he finds none.

“Anyone else think that was too easy?”

Blink shrugs. “They were all distracted by Angel getting her ass kicked. I suspect, like us, they might all be in a relationship.”

I blink, look down at Angel and sigh, feeling bad now. Not only did we mess her guys up, but now she won’t even be able to get a good dicking either.

I walk over to her and offer her my hand. She looks at it as if I have rabies, but when I don’t back away, she grabs it, and I help her to her feet.

“A team is only as strong as its weakest link. You’ve figured that out already, but that’s not just true of other teams. It’s true of yours too. Their protectiveness marked you as weak before you even threw your first punch. If you all care about each other like I think you do, then work together and avoid doing that shit in the future. Instead of helping you, they are painting a target on your back.”

She looks at me for a beat before her eyes drift to my men just behind me. A lightbulb goes off above her head.

“My guys care if I get hurt,” she jabs, implying mine don’t.

I roll my eyes. Lord, save me from stupid people.

“So do mine. But they trust me to be able to handle myself. If you don’t figure your shit out, you’ll be their downfall as well as your own. They are on that dirt now because they were watching your back. Perhaps it’s time you watched theirs. Make yourself a force to be reckoned with. Then you’ll truly be able to fight beside them instead of hiding behind them.”

I turn into Blink’s chest when he hooks his arm around my neck and let him lead me out of the pit.

“That was underwhelming.” Graves grunts, making me laugh.

“Must have been. Glitch never made an appearance.”

He grins as Vega nudges him, pointing out a sign that says Kill me already. I want to lay with Graves.

Graves looks so horrified that we all crack up at his expense as we move back to the holding area to change into our street clothes once more.

“I agree, though if that’s what the last fight will be like, we’ll be a shoo-in to win. I almost feel bad for them.”

Vega grunts and I can’t say I’m not feeling the same way myself.

“I say we take your victories and count your blessings. The next one might be a whole lot tougher. Then we’ll be wishing for fights like this,” Vega states in his commanding tone.

“Sorry, Dad,” Blink teases, ducking when Vega moves to smack him upside the head.

“Now, now children, play nicely.” I scold, slipping my feet back into my sneakers after pulling my jeans up my legs. I tug on the hoodie I stole from Graves and pull my ponytail free as the door opens and Law comes through.

“Hey, man, I thought we were meeting you back at home.” Graves frowns.

“I thought you’d still be fighting. I was going to walk the crowd. But if you’re done, I’ll head back with you. People might think it’s weird if I’m here without the rest of my team.”

“Sorry to throw a monkey wrench in the works. We all agree that the fight was underwhelming, but we all walked away with barely a scratch, so no complaints. What about you? How did it go?” I take Law’s hand when he offers it to me and walk beside him out to the car, the others following behind us.

“Yeah, is anyone else missing or unaccounted for?” Blink asks, listening intently as Law stops, turning to face me.

His expression lets me know what he’s going to say before he even opens his mouth.

I close my eyes and bite back my curse as he confirms my thoughts.

“Bill is the only one unaccounted for. Nobody has seen him for a few weeks.”

“So he went missing right after he helped us?”

“Yeah. It looks that way,” he admits.