Hard Love: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance by Megan West, Kristen Flowers Read Free Book Online Page B

counting.

 
    “Four! Five!”

 
    Emma’s heart was
pounding so hard she couldn’t hear a single thing over the thundering pulse in
her ears.

 
    “Six!”

 
    Everything seemed
to be moving in slow motion. Her body was being shoved about by the chanting
angry men around her, but she didn’t even notice.

 
    “Seven! Eight!”

 
    She stood there,
as if time had stopped, waiting to see if Nathan would get up. It seemed like
the end and, as much as she hoped he would be healthy afterward, she didn’t
know if it mattered. Moretti was ready to kill Nathan himself if the fight was
lost.

 
    “Nine!”

 
    Just as the
referee was about to slam his hand down on the canvas of the ring and call
Tiger the winner, Nathan pushed his body up with trouble. The crowd went
absolutely insane and Tiger looked like a cross between completely shocked and captivated
to continue fighting someone with Nathan’s spirit. Nathan gave the referee a
reassuring nod as he wiped a bit of blood and sweat away from his eye.

 
    Moretti
immediately focused his attention on the fight and that was when Emma saw Nick
standing clear across her, on the other side of the fighting ring. He was watching
the fight calmly, but she knew he was keeping an eye out for what he wanted. Nick
glanced across the ring at her. That’s when she saw the realization in his
eyes. He was starting to piece together what was happening. If Nathan didn’t
stay down at that point in the fight, he wasn’t going to stay down at all.

 
    It was during the
third round that Nathan put his fists up and looked Tiger dead in the eye.
Despite how beat up he was he didn’t back down one bit. He made a movement as
if to throw a punch toward Tiger’s face, but switched it up last second and
caught him in the stomach with a punishing blow.

 
    Tiger stumbled back
into the ropes. Emma could hear him wheeze and pant with pain. Immediately, he lunged
forward to get to Nathan, but he dodged out of the way at the very last second,
sending the Tiger flying forward into the ropes on the other side. As soon as
he turned around, Nathan delivered a lightning fast punch square in the middle
of Tiger’s face.

 
    He looked
completely disoriented and Nathan took full advantage of it. His swollen eyes,
the blood still running out from his mouth, none of it could stop him. He swung
his arm up and caught Tiger right under the chin before finishing him off with
another punch across the jaw.

 
    Tiger crumpled
down to the floor. A wet slap echoed against the walls and over the loud
cheering of the crowd when his body hit the canvas. The referee immediately ran
over and started counting.

 
    He didn’t get back
up.

 
 
 
 
 

Chapter six

 
    After Nathan won,
Emma didn’t have much relief. She watched as Moretti cheered, but across the ring
from her, Nick was glaring at Nathan before turning his gaze toward her. She
could see the fury in his eyes. And even if nobody there knew it except those
involved, his pride had been hurt even further by it having happened publicly.

 
    That was when she
saw Nick motion for his men to grab Nathan as he was scrambling to get out of
the ring. Emma felt like she was about to be sick, not knowing what to do or
how to save him, but Nathan scrambled away from Nick’s side without noticing to
climb through the ropes and out of the ring past Moretti. Emma immediately took
off to follow him into the locker room, not noticing that two of Nick’s men
went after her.

 
    All she heard over
the cheers of the crowd was Laura creaming.   “Hey! Where the hell are you going? We have to pay out the bets!”

 
    Emma wasn’t going
to stop for the bets or for anything else. She had to escape with Nathan
immediately.

 
    Emma saw him
fighting his way through a crowd of happy men who were congratulating him with
slaps on the back. A handful even tried to take photos but Nathan was pushing
past them. He had to get out of there and he