Reese

ChapterNineteen

Iwatch Diamond strut toward the ring, playing to the crowd as she approaches, before turning to look up at Graves. He must feel my eyes on him because he looks over at me, our gazes locking each other in place. The crowd is going insane, the noise so deafening I have to fight the urge to cover my ears. I can see in his eyes all the words he wants to say as if he were whispering them in my ear.

He can’t do it. He feels like he’s letting me down. He—

I suck in a sharp breath as Graves freezes for a moment. No, that’s not right. Freezing implies something has surprised him, but that’s not it. Graves is standing right there. I can see him with my own eyes, but he’s completely checked out as if his body is nothing more than a suit he’s slipped free of.

I take a step forward and find myself pushed aside as Diamond glares at me and enters the cage, waving her hands in the air as the door is locked behind her.

I slam my hands against the cage, my fingers gripping the bars as I scream Graves’s name. When he looks up at me, I almost pass out in relief. But the expression in his eyes has me going stock-still.

There is hunger there and anger. So much anger.

He straightens up. His posture is different, and his whole persona is just…other. I can’t put my finger on it, but sometimes I swear it’s like looking at two different—

“Holy fuck.” I gasp. He smirks at me and turns to face Diamond, who is mouthing off to him. As soon as the announcer calls for the fight to start, Graves rushes Diamond and has her in a headlock before she can even throw a punch.

Dropping to his knees, he drags her down with him and locks her in a rear naked choke hold, cutting off her air until her face turns red. The panic and fear are clear in her eyes, so much so that it’s as if everything she learned goes out the window. Instead of tapping out, she claws and flails around like a fish out of water until she passes out cold.

Once she’s unconscious, Graves lays her head gently on the floor before standing up and walking toward me, ignoring the crowd as they boo and jeer. They came for a show, and what he did lasted just minutes.

“Holy fuck. I didn’t think Graves could do it,” Vega comments from behind me.

“That’s not Graves,” I whisper as the ring girl opens the cage door.

The man in question walks up to me and picks me up without a word. I wrap my legs around his waist, holding back the thousand and one questions I have as he carries me back to the basement area.

It’s virtually deserted now. Most of the fighters are watching the other fighters and taking notes for when they face them later in the tournament. Graves walks me to the bathroom and sits me on the counter near the sink, but he doesn’t step back. He stays in the cradle of my thighs.

His hands move to my sports bra. He yanks the fabric up, revealing my breasts before he dips his head and sucks one of my hard nipples into his mouth.

I whimper, reaching up to grab a handful of his hair, which has started to come free from its confines.

He tugs the nipple between his teeth before releasing it. He then lifts me with one hand, high enough that he can peel my shorts and thong over my ass. Once I’m seated again, he slides the shorts and underwear down my legs, tossing them into the sink beside us.

His fingers move to my pussy, and when he finds it wet and needy, he growls, shoving his hand down the front of his shorts and pulling his hard cock free.

Using his hand, he guides his dick through my folds, nudging my clit as he slides backward and forward, all without a word spoken between us.

“Who are you?”

He looks at me with a grin so arrogant it makes me want to mount him and punch him in equal measures.

“Figured it out, did you? I wondered if you would. Most people don’t look closely enough.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

He bumps my clit again, making me moan.

“You can call me whatever you want as long as you hold your pretty little pussy open for me.”

I reach up and slide my hand over his jaw. “Tell me what to call you,” I whisper.

His cocky grin disappears, and a look of something much darker crosses his face before he answers. “Glitch. My name is Glitch.” And he slams home, making me groan at the intrusion.

“So now you know. Are you going to leave us too?” he shouts, his anger fueling his movements. My body struggles to accommodate him, but he doesn’t give me a second to adjust as he thrusts brutally into me, punishing me before I walk away.

Thing is, he doesn’t fucking know me, not even close.