Unleashed (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance) (73 page)

The audience laughs.

The bald man, refereeing, starts the fight, and in an instant Kaminski is on the kid. He feints left, throws the kid’s center of gravity off, then kicks out the kid’s legs.

Mack goes down hard, and is winded. He holds onto his chest while Kaminski clambers on top of him, rolls him over, and gets him into a rear naked choke hold.

Fuck
. It’s lights out for that kid within twenty seconds if he can’t worm out. Kaminski doesn’t relent. He’s beneath Mack, got his legs wrapped around the boy’s waist, and his forearm and elbow crushed against his neck. He holds onto his own fist with the other hand, and pulls.

The rear naked choke is not the most painful choke, but it is effective as fuck. With no leverage against the mat, Mack can’t get out of the vice-like legs squeezing at his waist. With no purchase, he can’t land a punch anywhere on Kaminski’s body.

I watch, wincing, as the kid grows weaker and weaker. In under half a minute, he’s unconscious, body limp.

That’s it. Fight’s over. Like I called it… over before it started.

Kaminski lets him go, rolls him over. He gets up, and as is customary to him when he used to be a winning fighter, storms out of the cage and into the back room to get back onto a bike and stay warm.

The audience, at first silenced by the brutality and quickness of the fight, erupts into chatter.

Half look pleased, half look pissed.

This was a double-cross. Kaminski was never going to throw the fight!

I dart my eyes to the bookie table, and they’re all looking mighty pleased with themselves.

I look toward Kyle, and see that he’s gone white as flour. His hands are limp at his sides, his fingers are trembling, and he’s looking at Mack, still unconscious in the cage, eyes wide with disbelief.

They played him for a fucking chump. Him, and about a dozen others.

Kyle’s face begins to grow red. He turns to the bookie and bellows, “You tricked me, you piece of shit!”

All heads swivel to him.

Fuck.

Time to pull his ass out of the fire.