Library
English
Chapters
Settings

Chapter 4

Thinking of Noah sitting in that prison cell upstate, what he’d say if he learned Reed had been fighting and fucking men like Kovit, made Curtis’s blood run hot with shame. He’d promised the man this kind of thing wouldn’t happen on his watch. In the past weeks he’d already seen Lawson get shot and Matt’s kid brother nearly bleed out in this very bar. No fucking way would he fail that spectacularly with Reed.

Lawson passed a hand over his eyes, sighing. “You can’t make the man accept what he doesn’t want from you, Curtis.”

“I’ll accept the second challenge.” Pushing away from the bar, Kovit stood. He faced Curtis, his expression inscrutable in the shadow of his hood. “Tell the kid I’ll take an apology.”

Curtis blinked, parsing the sentence, and looked to Lawson who shrugged. It was up to Curtis.

“You’re not touching him.” It wasn’t a question.

Kovit nodded. “But I will be…touching you.”

Curtis sneered. ‘Asshole’ hadn’t been a strong enough word. “Your lucky night.”

Judging by the clock, his and Kovit’s match would be the last of the night, precisely ten minutes from now. He pushed through the crowd into the gymnasium locker room, found the shorts he’d left in his locker, and stripped down. Brain buzzing out, he got his guard and put it in his pocket. Noah had gotten him the thing years ago, making him wear it, saying there was no reason to ruin such pretty teeth just because so many of his challengers couldn’t resist punching him in the mouth.

Outside, the bell ring and the lights fluttered. His cue.

Hands on cold porcelain, he leaned on the sink and brought up his head to look in the mirror. The face staring back at him was one he hadn’t seen in several months. Anger darkened his eyes, its tendrils reaching into his heart and shoving out any last shred of mercy he might have felt. Reed had crossed a line, putting him firmly in Curtis’s sights, but first, Curtis had to go have his ass handed to him by a guy who probably ate puppies like Reed for breakfast.

“Fuck.” Shoving away from the sink, he went into the gym as Reed pushed through the double doors.

Hair pulled back in a messy man bun, he wore a black ensemble that, for all its modesty, was at least two sizes too small. If Curtis spun him around to deliver the smack to his ass the sub had been so clearly crying out for, he’d probably see the seam defining each cheek.

Gaze narrowed, he met Reed halfway. “Was there a fire sale at the ninja factory?”

Color springing to his cheeks, Reed aimed the heel of his hand for Curtis’s throat. Blocking the blow, he caught the pushy sub’s wrist. Spun him around to frog march him into the bar.

Blustering, Reed rounded on him in the cleared out space, empty save for Doc, who pegged Curtis with his hard stare over the rim of his glasses.

“What the hell were you thinking, Reed?” Pointing to the gym doors, Curtis got in Reed’s face. “Do you have any idea who that man is?”

This close, the heat coming off Reed’s skin hit him along with a waft of cherry candy and talcum powder.

“You aren’t fucking Noah and you’re definitely not fucking me. So get out of my face and stop acting like you’re the boss of anyone here but your own dick.”

Curtis’s fists clenched, the skin of his palms squeaking. “Get your ass upstairs and wait for me. Kneel by the spanking bench and don’t fucking move.”

Reed’s eyes went wide, his lips parting.

The boy wanted a whipping? Curtis would give him one he’d never forget. “If he doesn’t go up there in sixty seconds, Doc, let me know.”

With a last warning glare, Curtis went back to his own ass kicking. Sighing, he punched through the doors and waded through the crowd. Their restlessness after a night of fighting and fucking was evident in the raised voices and the hands that clapped him with a little too much familiarity.

While he wasn’t a masochist, not by a longshot, he wasn’t exactly worried about what Kovit planned to do to him. He’d heard enough about the man to know his tastes ran toward the exotic. Sounding and needles, and the kind of knife play that wasn’t permitted at The Asylum. Curtis had no doubt the man would make him suffer a little, but nothing he couldn’t handle. Reed on the other hand, was too...Reed to be used that way.

Not over Curtis’s dead body.

He ducked between the ropes, Lawson meeting him in the middle. The man’s hard glance said he’d get exactly what he deserved.

Thanks a fucking lot.

At the center of the ring, Kovit waited to face off. The man had taken off his hoodie, revealing a form that might have been carved from golden-hued sandstone. Handsome in a brutal way, cheekbones slashed a line across his face, emphasizing a full mouth that seemed better suited to sneering than smiling. Though he did neither as Curtis stepped up to him

They bumped fists and the dance began. Keeping his fists by his face, elbows in, Curtis figured he had one shot. As soon as he took it, Kovit would be all over him.

Some fights in the ring were over with a punch or two, if the loser was inexperienced. Not his and not Law’s because they had hard heads and the ability to absorb a punch. He was fast, but if what they said about Kovit was true, the man was faster.

Meeting Kovit’s dark eyes, Curtis schooled the impulse that would telegraph his movements. Let the man see only what he wanted him to see. Considering the rest of his life was a well-rehearsed one-man show, it wasn’t hard. Tapping his right foot, he kicked with his left, high. So Kovit had nothing to hit. Needed to flinch.

Following through with a quick punch to the man’s ribs, Curtis satisfied himself he at least wasn’t going to go down without a hit.

His momentary victory soured as Kovit brought up his knee. Punched Curtis in the face and hit his sternum at the same time. Flying back, he stumbled sideways and smacked into a post.

Shook his head to clear the haze.

Shit, that’s going to leave a—

Kovit’s kick impacted Curtis’s chest. The world spun as he sailed upward, tumbling over the ropes into the scattering crowd. His back impacted the glossy wood floor. He bounced, head cracking against the polished surface. Black stole across his vision. Not for long, but long enough.

When he came to, Lawson held Kovit’s hand high in victory at the center of the ring.

Download the app now to receive the reward
Scan the QR code to download Hinovel App.