Page 12 of Knuckles

My heart races and my stomach tightens, the urge to walk over to him all-consuming, and fear instantly rives through me.

I don’t want to be attracted to him, I don’t want this pull that I have towards him. If anything, I want to run…

I break eye contact first and look back at Crusher, suddenly extremely self-conscious and wishing I hadn’t come tonight.

The women never mentioned who was fighting, and they certainly never mentioned the brothers would be here because if they had, I wouldn’t have dressed in my skimpiest dress that shows more cleavage than I ever have and I certainly wouldn’t have even come here to let my hair down, to have some fun, I would have gone to a club or something.

Crap.

“Hey, baby,” someone whispers in my ear as a hand glides around my hip, and I tense instantly, not liking the attention. Without looking at the person, I say, “Remove your hand before I break it!”

He chuckles, “Dressed like this? You’re crying out for attention, don’t go playing hard to get now…”

I look at the person with a hard glare, and I insinuate, “So a woman wanting to feel pretty means she’s begging to be assaulted?”

The bald man full of tattoos smirks and murmurs, “If the shoe fits,” as he looks me up and down, his eyes lingering on my exposed cleavage, making me want to punch him in the face before he says, “After I beat this fucker in the ring, you’re mine.”

I’m sorry, what?

I look towards the ring to see Knuckles whispering something in Crusher's ear, his eyes firmly on the hand on my hip, taking inmy rigid body, and I slowly smirk with realization and look at the man as Crusher jumps from the ring.

“You’re fighting Knuckles?” I confirm, and he smirks with a nod, and I chuckle, “You won’t make it out of that ring alive…”

I’ve seen what that man had done to my brother, he’s only gotten strong since high school, so this shmuck hasn’t got a chance.

The man curls his lip at me just as a hand grips his shoulder, and I look and lock eyes with Crusher's angry, dark blue eyes.

“Kodi,” he grits as he yanks the guy away from me, and I retort, “Crusher…”

This is the thing, when you not only attend the same school as the MC but also are close with the club princess, even if you speak far and in between, you know most of the brothers.

I just didn’t know Knuckles because of his aloof behavior.

My eyes slide to the ring, and I swallow, seeing Knuckles focusing all his attention on me, his eyes taking in my outfit, and he looks pissed, his whole body ridged.

Guess he doesn’t like me being in his orbit, huh?

Clearing my throat, I look away just as Crusher shoves the guy towards the ring and snaps, “Get your ass in the ring, Mags, and stay the fuck away from her!”

The guy growls before looking me up and down with a smirk that has me feeling dirty and really regretting putting this dress on, then storms towards the ring just as I hear, “Hey, Crusher,” from behind me, but Crusher doesn’t react to the woman, instead, he eyeballs me like he’s never seen me before.

“Seriously, Kodi? Does Clark know you’re here? And since when did you own a dress like that?” he snaps, and I wince when he mutters, “I have the brotherly urge to cover you up.”

“We haven’t spoken much, work has been crazy, and she’s working today, so I, well –”

I’m cut off when the announcer says, “Are you ready?!” loudly into the mic, and Crusher growls as we both look at the ring to see Knuckles still glaring at me despite Mags now eyeballing him.

“He’s going to fucking destroy him, and neither of you understands why,” Crusher mutters, and I look his way with a frown.

“Huh?” I question, but he shakes his head as he wipes his thumb over his cut lip, wiping away the blood.

“Just, stay with me, yeah?” he demands with a bite, and I nod once knowing not to go against him.

Like I said, his happy go lucky charm is no longer visible since losing Alexiana.

“Crusher?” the woman says again, and he tenses beside me, clearly not wanting her attention, and I huff before I turn towards her and trying to ignore the bra she’s basically wearing making my dress look respectable, I snap, “He’s not interested, he’s with my friend, you know, the one you were just gossiping about!”

She may have left, but she’s still his girl.