Twisted - Esme Devlin Page 0,110

shouting. Squelching and thudding.

Opening them wasn’t much better, but I found that once I did, it was hard to look away.

The smallest fair-haired man was the first to go down, quickly followed by coal-pit man. Both of them were taken out by a huge man with dark eyes and short black hair who didn’t even accept the offer of a weapon.

I watch him. It’s impossible not to. The man fights with a fury so fierce it’s palpable. I only drag my eyes away long enough to glance in Timber’s direction, because out of all of them, I really do not want it to be him.

The bodies pile up until there are three left.

Timber shares a look for a single moment with the dark eyes standing opposite him, as if they both recognize that the third man is only going to get in the way of the real fight. Timber scoots across the ring toward the third man, grabbing him from behind and holding him while Dark Eyes approaches in two massive steps.

Dark Eyes takes his head in two hands, and I watch the third man’s eyes go wide as reality hits him.

Dark Eyes twists and tilts in one fluid motion and takes a step back.

Timber grins, blood on his red-bearded face and crazy in his eyes, and then holds his hands up and lets the body slump to the ground in a heap with the rest of them.

Two left.

They begin circling each other like sharks in a tank, except this tank is full of obstacles.

Timber glances down every so often, stepping over heads and limbs.

Dark Eyes doesn’t bother with that. No, he just walks right over them.

There was a moment… a single moment when I opened my eyes and saw his face and wondered if it could be him. If it could be Baron.

The hair is different, but he could have cut it.

I’ve never seen his face. I’ve never seen him without clothes on. I couldn’t tell anyone if his nipples were pink or brown, if he has scars on his body, tattoos, birthmarks. My heart belongs to a man who I have never really met.

He could be standing in front of me right now and I wouldn’t know it.

But I realize this could be my brain playing tricks on me. Trying to create a false reality because things are easier that way. Baron said I made my bed, and it wasn’t his. That sounds like something Baron would say.

And Baron never takes his mask off. Ever. I doubt he’d take it off if it turned red hot and seared into his face.

But if this man with the dark eyes wins… would it make it easier to pretend that it’s him? To pretend it’s Baron, and that he came to rescue me?

I’m not sure. And Timber is winning so maybe there is little point in thinking about it.

With everyone else, Timber had been like a wrecking ball. Swinging with force and trampling everything in his path.

But with Dark Eyes, he’s doing the opposite. He’s ducking and diving, making little stabs with the chib all over Dark’s body and then retreating quickly to the other side of the cage.

And Dark has taken more than a few. Trickles of blood fall from various points all over his body. He doesn’t like this—the frustration shows plainly on his face. He looks at Timber like an annoying wasp that must be squished, stalking him around the cage, crushing limbs with bare feet as he goes.

The entire ring goes silent when Dark Eyes stops circling and stands in the center of the cage. Timber smirks and turns around, lifting his arms to the crowd and drumming up a cheer.

Dark Eyes, with his opponent distracted, turns around and glances at me, eyes dragging from my toes to the top of my head.

Heat creeps across my cheeks. I don’t know where to look, and he won’t stop staring. He doesn’t turn back around. In fact, the man grabs his cock through his shorts and smirks at me.

My stomach rolls.

He’s paying no attention.

That’s when I notice Timber approaching silently behind him. Dark Eyes doesn’t notice.

My mouth is on the cusp of opening—the ridiculous urge to warn him coming from nowhere—but before I can get the words out—

Dark Eyes spins around to face me and drops to his knees.

Timber tries to stop his momentum, but he’s too late.

Far too late.

He comes crashing into Dark’s shoulder.

Dark reaches back, grabbing his arm and pulling Timber down with him.

Timber lands on his