Page 17 of Uppercut Princess

She’s not so talkative anymore. Now that she’s getting her head beat in.

I trip her and throw her to the ground. She lands on her back and stares up at me, wide-eyed. Her skimpy bra has inched lower, showing the top half of her areola, but she’s not giving a shit about flashing the crowd right now. She runs her hands over her face, wincing when it meets the cut I’ve given her over her eye.

I glance up again, staring at the most important person in the room. He glares at me with dark eyes, and I shed my oversized shirt, throwing it to the ground as he eyes me.

Brawler may make the fights happen, but Rocket is the true leader here. Everyone takes their orders from above, and short of Big Daddy K himself being here, Rocket’s number one.

The crowd nearly trips over itself. Comments start flying, and the decibels double from the roaring and clapping. I’ve kept my toned physique under wraps from the wannabes at school. I needed to play this my way. None of this would’ve happened if they knew I could fight. Nevaeh wouldn’t have challenged me and Rocket certainly wouldn’t have pushed his number one contender to be the one to welcome me to the Heights.

I don’t mind being the underdog as long as I come out on top, and I’ll always come out on top.

Cherry tries to scramble to her feet. Real fear blazes in her eyes. They bulged out of her sockets when she saw me take my shirt off. Now, she’s running scared. I kick her as she tries to move away from me, and she sprawls out again. She flips to her back, and when I move in, she tries to kick me in the face, but I throw her feet to the side and pounce on her, elbowing her in the nose, feeling the sharp bone of my own body connect with hers. At this point, I don’t even care that Brawler’s in the room or Rocket or any of the other fuckers I have to go to school with every day. This is just about me. This is just about my plan. About my vengeance.

Next thing I know, I’m being pulled off her. The tangy, copper taste of blood taints my mouth. I reach up with my fingers to touch my lips and realize it’s not mine. It’s Cherry’s. I spit the shit out and glance up to lock gazes with Johnny Rocket who’s finally moved to stand on the outskirts of the circle.

“Fucking shit,” Brawler mumbles behind me, his fingers tightening around my upper arm, letting me know he was the one to put a stop to the fight.

I blink, moving to stare down at an unmoving Cherry. She’s not dead. I don’t think, anyway. If she was, it wouldn’t matter to me. I have only one job here at Rawley Heights, and she was in my way.

Rocket doesn’t even spare her a glance. He moves toward me, stepping over her feet like she’s just an inconvenience to him. Brawler tries to tow me backward, but Rocket holds his hand up to stop him. Mirth dances in Johnny’s eyes. He reaches down to take my hand, squeezing my fingers in his. “It’s nice to formally meet you, Kyla. I enjoy surprises.”

Behind him, Cherry groans. He’s forgotten all about her though. I straighten my spine when his gaze doesn’t leave mine. “Sorry about your girl.”

Though he’s not acting like he cares now, that was his girl who’s currently trying to get to her feet without anyone’s help. Her face is bloodied, and her nose is definitely broken. She’s just fallen so far no one dare tries to step in. She let the “Princess” beat her. She didn’t stick up for Rawley Heights.

Then again, they’re all wondering about me now. If I can fight like that, I must be one of them. How quick the tide changes.

“I only have one girl,” Johnny says, his smooth voice like aged bourbon. “And she’s standing right in front of me.”

Brawler’s grip around me tightens for a split second before letting me go. His absence leaves a cold shiver running up my arms. Johnny’sgirl? That’s not the plan.

I stutter for a moment, not sure how to react. The plan was to get into the gang through fighting. Work my way into their trust by winning them lots of money. If Johnny does this, that’s not fucking happening anymore.

My stomach clenches. The enemy’s DNA runs through him. If I have to gain their trust by sleeping with the enemy…

“Brawler,” Johnny finally says after he waits for a response I never give. “Get someone to clean Kyla up, will you? Then bring her to me.”

Brawler only grunts in response. Not that Johnny waits for any at all. He turns on his heel and steps around Cherry, still avoiding her like she’s invisible to him. She gazes up, hopeful, like he’s coming to help her, but he doesn’t even give her a second glance.

I blink at her, expecting her to turn her rage on me after being cast aside so quickly, but she doesn’t. Instead, she looks broken. Her head drops between her shoulder blades, and my heart grows heavy.

Brawler gives me a gentle tug as he wraps his fingers around me once again. He scoops down to pick up my shirt as we go, and before I know it, I’m in a back room that’s much nicer than the industrial look of the warehouse proper in the center. It takes me a moment to realize it’s a locker room. Fighters stretch and warm up. A row of lockers fill one wall.

“Get out,” Brawler orders as soon as we walk in.

The fighters stop to look at him, but they don’t move.

“I said, get the fuck out!” he roars.

They all jump. The few guys and women in the room pick up their towels and water bottles as they make their way to the exit.

When the door closes and I’m stuck here with him, he turns toward me. “What the fuck was that?”

“What the fuck was what?”

“You can fight,” he accuses, as if he’s just confronted me about something terribly illegal.

“Yeah,” I tell him.

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