Page 48 of G.O.D.S Omnibus

Team Sparrow stares at us from their podium. Those fuckers got us good; they wanted to start a war with us. They have always tried to take us down and never succeeded. Now they are strategising if Jolie is our weakness.

I stalk off to talk to Mr Z without an audience. He’s at a podium talking to a low-rank team that really has no business being here. He should have cut them a long time ago, but he says not all teams need to be physically strong—some are strong in other areas.

“We need to talk.”

He turns to me, and a tight smile covers his face. He isn’t pleased I cut him off while he was talking.

“What can I do for you, Marlow?” he says calmly as we walk away. I don’t miss the bite in his grip on my arm.

“Why is Jolie here? This could blow our cover.”

“That is somewhat the point. We need to see what she knows, and what better place than in a room full of trained body language experts?”

“And what if she doesn’t remember and gets hurt?” I question, because her getting hurt will do nothing except piss everyone off.

“I will throw her in with one of the weaker girls,” he says, like it will make any difference to the outcome of Jolie’s fight.

“You can’t. That will make our entire team appear weak and you know it. Besides which, Laughn is about to blow.”

“He will fall in line,” Mr Z confidently states, but he’s fooling himself if he really believes that.

“Are you sure about that? I think you’re underestimating his feelings for her or what she represents. Losing her hit him the worst, you know that,” I retort, trying to get my point across.

“And if she is still in there, everything she was taught should come back to her. Your group was genetically modified, andyouknow it.”

“I do, but she doesn’t,” I snap.

Pissed off, I turn around and stalk back to my team. I will pay for that tonight. He will match me with someone who targets my weaknesses.

The night crawls on until it’s our team’s turn. Laughn is the first up against Colt from Team Hijack. The guy could steal the clothes off your body without you even knowing and then convince you that you took them off yourself. Mr Z knows no one can really match Laughn, so Colt is a good option because the sick freak gets off on pain and blood, which really isn’t that different to Laughn.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Laughn complains. “How is this a fair fight? If he’s in a mood, he won’t even fight back.”

“You know he’s only doing this to tire you out. Colt likes to play around in the ring, so when Jolie is up...” Davis adds, stringing together more than two words for the first time tonight.

“Jolie is up, what?” She narrows her eyes in our direction. “I can’t get up there.”

“Why not?” Case questions, like we don’t know the answer already.

“I can’t fight like these girls. I mean, yeah, I can defend myself if need be, but this”—she points at the ring—“is next level.”

“At least they have her up against Summer from Team Rampage.” Can she fight? Yeah, but she prefers not to unless her guys are in trouble.

Davis walks away from the group as Laughn gets in the ring. Jolie’s eyes lock onto him, and I note her slight intake of breath when his back flexes, the scars from being electrocuted and burned on display. You name it, they’ve tried it on Laughn. She looks confused and sad. Colt tries to circle Laughn before he attacks. Hard and fast is Laughn’s style, along with strikes that have the messiest impact.

Boom!Strike one to the nose and blood sprays everywhere. Both Laughn and Colt laugh as Colt rubs a hand over his face, his blood becoming war paint.

I turn my attention to Davis, who is talking to Summer and one of her guys, Leland. They nod at what he is saying.

It’s not long before Colt is dragged from the ring—his torso all shades of red—for the medic to check over.

Jolie launches herself at Laughn, wrapping her legs around his waist. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little jealous. Their lips smash together like they have been starved of each other, his blood smearing down her bare arms and across her face. Oncethey pull apart, Laughn stands back and admires her, his hand cupping her jaw as I move closer.

“You will be fine, Jolie. You’re tough. Get angry.”

Jolie nods. Her fight is up next. She strips down, just like Summer is doing, to a small pair of Nike Pro shorts and a training bra.

Boston is watching, jaw tense, beside Case, who also looks ready to explode. Both guys scan the crowd to make sure eyes don’t linger for too long. Davis is pretending not to look at her but doing an awful job.

---