but I didn’t care. Gabe O’Connell needed to have his mouth shut, and I was just the man to do it for him.
Pushing away from the mesh, I turned back to face my opponent.
Round three began, and Gabe and I danced again, this time, testing the waters a little more forcibly. I threw a few punch combinations, trying to break through his guard, and he shot some back at me.
“Here pussy, pussy, pussy,” he cooed at me.
“Clean fight, gentlemen,” Harrington bellowed, reminding O’Connell to keep it in check, but he didn’t stop the fight and let us maintain.
“You had her yet?” Gabe asked, ignoring the warning from the referee.
I felt my already shredded focus disintegrate, and I attacked, throwing myself onto Gabe for the mother of all takedowns, but he saw it coming a mile off. He’d been counting on it. Uncontrollable forward momentum, his fist…it was a perfect combination.
Gabe threw a punch with his right fist, and it smacked into my temple with a precision that surprised me. Coach warned me O’Connell fought dirty. I knew he’d try something underhanded, and I let the cocksucker throw me off.
My head snapped backward, the lights above the octagon burning into my retinas as I fell. Like the world was in slow motion, I slammed into the mat, my jaw jarring from the impact, and I was powerless.
With the last of my strength, I rolled over onto my stomach, attempting to get back up and stay in the fight, but my palms slipped, and I was down again.
The world fell from view, the mat and the drops of blood from my own face the only things I could see…and they were becoming blurrier by the minute.
Harrington was on his knees beside me, his face practically shoved up in mine waiting to call it. I tried to hold on so I could teach O’Connell some fucking manners, but my body had other ideas.
The referee’s hand slapped onto the mat beside me, and he shouted. I didn’t hear what he said as I slipped into unconsciousness, but I didn’t have to.
Third round KO.
I’d lost.
Pushing away the hands of an overzealous paramedic, I reached for the bag of ice beside me and pushed it against my aching temple. If only I could ice my pride, then maybe I’d feel a little better. What was above a pile of shit? The pitter-patter of Gabe O’Connell’s piss?
“Leave me alone,” I snapped at the paramedic. “I’m fine.”
“You might have a concussion,” he argued. “I need to check—”
“I said fuck off!”
Coach appeared beside us and gestured for the paramedic to leave me be. “I’ll see to it he gets checked out,” he told the guy. “He’s angry, so you won’t get a proper look-in for a while yet. Don’t take it to heart.”
The guy snorted, picking up his bag. “I’ve dealt with worse dented egos.” He glanced at me, and I narrowed my eyes in return. “Make sure someone is with him for the next twenty-four hours. Symptoms can appear hours after the fact. That blow was hard.”
With Coach and the paramedic gone, it was just me in the locker room. Glad for the privacy, I stood and began pacing, feeling dizzy but too amped up to sit still.
My mind went over and over the fight as I tried to pinpoint the moment I’d slipped. I replayed it so many times, trying to convince myself it was something other than what it was, but I was coming up empty. I’d let O’Connell split my focus and go for someone I cared about. I’d let his nasty mouth get to me.
The door creaked. I glanced up and found Josie slipping through the crack into the lion’s den. After the things O’Connell said about her, I wasn’t sure seeing her right now was a good idea. I was in a mood. A real nasty one.
“How are you?” she asked, closing the door behind her.
“Fucking shit. How do you think I am?”
“It’s just one fight,” she said, leaning back against the wall. “You’ll bounce back.”
“It’s not just one fight! I lost to the guy who tried to take you from me!” I didn’t realize what I said until I turned away. I didn’t even realize I wanted to say it until it was out there like projectile word vomit. It had to be the punch to the head.
“Dean…”
I cursed aloud, smashing my fist against the locker. Damn, my head was pounding.
“Josie,” I heard Lincoln say behind me. “You won’t get much sense