Page 29 of Bratva Menace

Arturo was a bigger dude. Didn’t pain me to admit it. He might have been bigger, but I was taller, which meant I had longer limbs.

Most likely in every scenario.

Boomshakalaka.

Arturo landed on top. The bastard. He spun quickly, wrapped his legs around my neck, and squeezed. My air constricted, and I choked, gasping for breath.

Bastard.

Bastard.

Bastard.

I fought against him, struggling to find some way out of it. I didn’t have to see his face to know he had the biggest fucking smirk on his lips.

“I’ve got you now,” he taunted, squeezing even tighter. “Maybe this will finally shut you up.”

If I was able to talk, I would have said, nothing could make me do that, but I was barely able to draw breath, let alone speak.

A wave of dizziness washed over me. I was losing. My pride couldn’t let him win. No fucking way. So, I did something completely unorthodox. The hold he had me in put his bare feet within reaching distance. In a last-ditch effort, I quickly stretched forward and tickled the bottom of his foot.

“What the fuck?!” he yelled, his entire body bucking. It was all I needed. His hold had loosened just enough for me to throw his legs apart and make my escape.

We rolled apart, both of us springing to our feet at opposite ends of the ring, Arturo in front of Aleksandr and Drea, and me in front of Autumn.

“What the fuck was that?!” he blasted. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or kinda impressed by the move.

Nah, he was pissed.

I gave him a sly smile. “There’s no rule saying we can’t tickle.”

“It’s a fight! Who the fuck tickles in a fight?!”

I pointed to my chest. “Moi.” Then I smirked, spun, and tapped Autumn in.

Arturo snarled, turned, and tapped in Drea.

My smirk widened.

Arturo was raised to always treat women with respect and never hurt them. Protect them as if they were precious little gems, capable of shattering into a million pieces over the first upsetting thing to happen to them.

And while, yes, I agreed in some retrospect—women should always be treated with respect—you could bet your bottom dollar that if a chick came at me with a knife, I would do whatever I needed to do to protect myself and the people I loved.

Autumn and Drea took our places in the ring and immediately locked into a grapple, throwing punches here and there.

Hands on my hips, I blew out a breath, my heart beating fast. Christian approached the ring, offering me a bottle of water. I bent down to grab it, taking a big gulp. The adrenaline from the fight pumped through my veins, making my body shake.

“He got you good,” Christian commented.

“Huh?”

He tapped his eyebrow. I lightly touched the spot he indicated, a flare of pain cutting through me. Blood coated my fingertips.

What I had thought was sweat dripping down the side of my face was actually blood.

“That quick fucker.” I grunted.

Illayana laughed, then winced. She was sitting on a chair beside the ring, her leg up with an ice pack on her ankle.