Page 48 of Scarlett and the Kiss Thief

Chapter 13 – Why Snakes?!

Friday

Sophie’s eyes grew even rounder as a few other students gasped.

I reluctantly turned. Liam had Pavel in a headlock. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was worried that when I finally looked Liam would already be knocked out.

O’Reilly jumped into the ring and pushed the two of them apart. Not that he could be upset by an illegal move. O’Reilly had fought way dirtier than that.

“See, Liam’s holding his own,” Sophie said. “But look at how much Pavel is packing.”

“I don’t care about his package,” I said as I stared in horror as Pavel landed his first punch across Liam’s jaw.

“God, I can’t watch this.” I pushed past Sophie.

“Scar, wait!” she called after me.

“How would you feel if you were watching RJ in a knockout fight?”

“I’d cheer for him. Like I’m doing for Liam. Go Hunter!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Screw this.I ran past the other students in our row. Apparently I cared more about her little brother than she did. And I certainly cared a ton about my brother. I didn’t want any of my friends to get hurt. I didn’t want to see this. Jacob would stop it. But that didn’t mean I needed to watch the fight until he was able to intervene.

I ran down the stands and toward the back hallway.

The crowd was yelling a mixture of Hunter and Semenov.

I pictured blood dripping down Liam’s face like Jacob’s.

Why was the football team doing this? Boxing for fun? It was literally the stupidest idea I’d ever heard. If one of them got really hurt they’d be out for the season. And I knew a few of them wanted to play in college.

I could still hear the Hunter and Semenov chants in the back hallway. There was a line to the bathroom and I didn’t want to just stand there and listen. So I opened the closest door and ran into a dark room.

I pressed my back against the closed door and took a deep breath.

The chanting was quieter back here.

But every time I closed my eyes I saw blood on Liam. And on Jacob. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. Watching them play football was bad enough. I always worried about them getting injured. But boxing for fun? I shook my head. Boys were idiots.

I knew Liam was going to be mad at me for stopping the fight. But he didn’t understand what it was like when he was a baby. I thought I was going to lose him then. And I didn’t realize how much that fear had stuck with me.

I closed my eyes again and pictured the red stain on the carpet in the family room. My mom had lost so much blood when Liam had come early. My tears started falling faster. I wasn’t supposed to see the blood. Ellen had been scrubbing it nonstop. She was the best housekeeper in the world and even she couldn’t get the stain out. Eventually they had to pull out the carpet and get another.

I’d thought Liam was going to die.

I’d thought my mom was going to die.

I tried to shake away the memories. I used to have nightmares about them. But it had been a while. Seeing the blood on Jacob’s face though… Why would anyone purposely fight till knockout when something so terrible could happen?

I took a deep breath to try to make my heart stop racing. It was fine. Jacob was going to stop the fight. I wasn’t sure I could even hear the Hunter and Semenov chanting anymore. It was going to be okay.

I almost believed it too.

But then I heard a hiss.

I jumped.What the…

I heard a louder hiss and something clanged against the side of a cage I couldn’t see in the dark. There was another really drawn out hissssss and I swear I actually heard a slither.

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