Rise (The Phoenix Series Book 1)
Page 18
I climb into the ring and get ready. Once I hear the bell go off, he charges me. I slide to the right, but he is too fast. He reaches out and clings to my throat, hard. The more I struggle to get out of his embrace, the tighter he squeezes and the higher he lifts me off the ground. Before I know it, he puts all his weight into slamming me into the ground, and my head hits hard. I’m breathless, and my vision becomes fuzzy.
I crawl away, taking short breaths, I try to get far from him as fast as I can. As I get to my feet, I run in the opposite direction. He grabs me by my braid and pulls. I end up with his right arm around my neck and his left holding tight to his wrist. I lift my leg up and drive my foot into his dick. He releases me and bends over to collect his barring’s.
He looks up and walks over to me with a slight limp. Swinging, he misses. I take the opportunity and swing at his face harder than I ever have. He stumbles back, and I lean in and grab his right leg and lift, he falls to his back. Jumping on top of him, I straddle his stomach. Pulling my arm back, I swing my fist at his face and get one punch in, before jabbing me in the ribs. I back off him and stumble to get on my feet.
Bruce jumps up from laying on his back and tackles me. Before I know it, he’s punching me square in the stomach.
“Aww!” I hunch forward, in a fetal position. I know I’m done for.
With the last of my energy, I look over to see Thane. He is struggling to get out of the ropes and is yelling something under the tape. He stops struggling when he sees me staring at him. He knows I’m giving up. With another punch, blood comes hurling out of my mouth onto the hard ground below me.
Parker pulls his gun out, places it to Thane’s head, as Jerry nods at him. I know he wants me to fight to my death and I will. I can taste the blood in my mouth as Bruce’s fist hits me over and over. To save Thane, I have to get up. I have to force my body to move and to fight.
The adrenaline kicks in and I lift my legs and buck him off. I push him with what energy I can. I scramble to my feet and know what my next move is going to be. Running at him, I act as if I’m going to jab him in the throat. Instead, I slide underneath him and grab his leg and pull. He falls face down to the ground, and I rush up to him and wrap my thighs around his neck. I squeeze as hard as I can while holding both of his arms in the air behind him. What takes several minutes seems like an eternity. With as quick as Bruce has been I wasn’t expecting this to work, let alone work so well. His body became limp, and he passes out. The crowd grows quiet, and everybody is looking around, confused as to what just happened. Just as quickly as it started, it was over and I’m declared the winner while Jerry sits there, nowhere close to being happy about that.
Looking up, smiling because I’m on my way to Thane, Jerry is pissed. Emmett is no longer on the balcony with them, and Parker is still behind Thane. Pulling out the same blade he used on me, he leans down and stabs Thane multiple times in the back.
“NO!” All the blood rushes from my face and panic sets in. I race in his direction as fast as the crowd will let me. At this moment it seems time is in slow motion and I can’t reach Thane as if time is put on a loop and I’m stuck in the same spot over and over. Finally approaching Thane, Parker and Jerry are nowhere in sight. I bend down, place my hands on his head and hold him in my lap. He’s still breathing, but I can hear him wheezing. Summer appears at the top of the steps, frozen.
Looking up to Summer, “Dial 911…NOW!” I’m panicking and don’t know how to help him. Summer looks down at her phone and starts dialing with shaky hands.
Leaning him up and placing him against my chest so that I can see his back, I apply pressure to the wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. There is so much blood, and I have no idea how to stop it. Placing my hands on the base of my shirt, I peel it off and put it on his back to cover all his wounds. Holding him tightly against my chest with just my thin piece of fabric from my sports bra, I can feel him getting colder by the minute. His face becomes pale.
“Greer” I look back down into his eyes. “I’m…sorry.” He has his right hand placed on my cheek. I can see a tear sliding out of his eye.
“Baby…you’re going to be ok! Please…stay…with…me.” I’m trying to comfort him in between sobs. I’m failing miserably.
Looking up, I can see the flashing lights in the distances, help is coming. Everybody around us is panicking and running to their vehicles. As I look back down at him, “Thane, look at me. Help is coming…they will be here any minute.” His eyes start to wonder, and I know he doesn’t have much more time.
I bend down and whisper in his ear, “I love you.” Tears are flowing out of my eyes on his face.
With enough strength, he looks back at me, whispering one last time, “Run.” He gasps one last breath, and his body goes limp.
Screaming, “NNNOOOO!” I bend over, cradling him back and forth.
Summer runs up to me, bends down and looks into my face. “Greer, we have to go. If we stay…” Her voice trails off, and I can hear a sob. “We will be to blame for this. We need to go.”
Looking at her, not really seeing her because of the tears pouring out of my eyes, yelling, “I am to blame for this.” Sniffling, now sobbing uncontrollably, “This would never have happened to him if I would have stayed away. He could have had a longer lifespan if he would never have meant me.” She pulls on my arm, and I won’t budge. Looking from Summer back to Thane’s lifeless body, “I’m staying with him. They can lock me up, maybe then nobody will ever get hurt because of me again.”
She turns around and looks off into the distance, watching as cop cars and ambulances pull into the parking lot.
Taking my chin, in her hand, and facing her, “That’s not true. He would have found you no matter what. You two were destined to be together, no matter how long or short that time was.” Sighing, “I’m staying…if you are.”
Right then and there, I knew I couldn’t stay. I wouldn’t let Summer go down for this. She shouldn’t have been here in the first place. I bend over and place one last kiss on Thane’s lips as a single tear fills the line of them. “I love you.” I hold onto his head as I move out from underneath him, placing it gently on the floor.
Looking to Summer with tear-stricken eyes and blood all over my body, “Let’s go.”
Turning, Summer and I run down the stairs and into the ring. The closest exist meant closer to the cops that are now getting out of their vehicles. Instead, we both run across the deserted ring, where Bruce Rhine is still passed out, and out the back gate and into the woods. Summer kept going once we reached the tree line, but I stopped and turned around, hiding behind a tree, watching as they found Thane. His lifeless body is wrapped in my blood-stained shirt, and his wrists are still tied together.
The paramedics cut through the rope and place him on his back and proceed to give him CPR. Sounds of canines are approaching in my direction and I know I have to leave to get a head start on them. Glancing one last time at Thane’s lifeless body, being placed on a gurney, “I’ll love you forever.”
My hand slides from the tree, that balanced my shaking body, and I proceed to catch up with Summer.
Be on the lookout for the next book in the series:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M.K. Cunningham lives in Illinois, USA with her husband and two children. When she isn’t writing she loves to spend time with her family, ride her motorcycle or enjoy a night at home reading a book.
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M.K. Cunningham, Rise (The Phoenix Series Book 1)