Page 3 of After the Knockout
“Nah.” I pulled her into me and placed a couple of kisses on her neck. “I can never get enough.”
“Stop, Dakota.” She laughed softly, like she knew exactly what her calling me by my government name did to me. Nobody but Lyrius had clearance to call me that. Not in the ring. Not inthe streets. Not even my own brother used it unless something was wrong. I’d buried Dakota back in middle school the first time I’d knocked a nigga out and realized what my hands could do.
From then on, it was KO, and it stayed that way until six months ago, when I’d approached her at one of those afterparties they threw after the underground fights, and she refused to take anything but my real name. She wouldn’t call me Champ, wouldn’t call me KO, wouldn’t call me anything but Dakota. Shit, somewhere between late-night training sessions, her wrapping my wounds, and falling asleep on my chest, she’d become the most important person in my life.
“Careful. You know what my name on your lips does to me.”
She smiled, letting out that cute little giggle that I loved as I unlocked the door and pulled her inside. I was already planning how I was gonna celebrate this win for the rest of the night.
“No!” Lyrius screamed as two hands grabbed me from behind. I twisted my body, instinct taking over immediately.
“Lyrius!” I pulled her in front of me as I elbowed one of the men while my fist connected to the other one before my brain even caught up. One of the masked men went down, and the other one stumbled back a little, giving me the chance to pull my gun from my waist. I fired two shots, one into both of their heads.
“Upstairs!” I shouted, shoving Lyrius toward the steps. I didn’t know if we were out of the woods yet, and I wanted to make sure she was out of harm’s way. She froze, staring at me, visibly shaken up. “Now! Bad. Lock the door.”
“KO . . . I need to?—”
“Go!”
She hesitated just as the front door flew open, and I felt a bullet pierce my right arm and then my hand, making me fall to the floor as the gun flew from my hands.Fuck!I usually stayedstrapped with two pistols, but tonight was fight night, so I only had one. My eyes shot to the door. Another masked man and two women walked in with their guns pointed at me.
“Go on upstairs, Lyrius”—the man laughed—“unless you finally ready to stop wasting our time.”
My stomach dropped, and I turned to her. This nigga had just said her name like he knew her or some shit.
“The fuck is he talking about?” I looked at Lyrius and she dropped to her knees, sobbing, her hands shaking as she reached for me.
“I’m so sorry, Dakota,” she cried. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t—I didn’t know they . . . I told y’all I needed more time. I told y’all I was handling it.”
The man laughed on some villain shit. “Six months, and you ain’t give us shit but excuses.”
My eyes cut between them. The way he said it. The way she wouldn’t look at me. None of this made sense. Nobody knew where I stayed, and anybody who would want to find out wasn’t bold enough to try me like this. The man stepped closer with his gun raised as I stared at Lyrius with pain pulsing through my body.
“Lyrius!” I called out to her, trying to signal her to run upstairs to the safe room. She’d be safe up there.
“She’s with us,” he said. “Or she was. Until she caught feelings.”
Everything in me went cold. So cold, I didn’t even feel the third shot to my chest at first. Just heat and pressure. Then the pain hit all at once.
“No!” Lyrius screamed my name like it could bring me back to my feet. The man loomed over me, gun aimed at my head.
“We told you to lose,” he said. “Could’ve been easy.” He cocked the gun, and Lyrius threw herself over me.
“No!” she screamed. “Please,” she cried. “This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. You said y’all just wanted the information.”
“You’re compromised,” he snapped. “I told you that.” He pointed the gun at Lyrius.
“Don’t,” one woman grabbed his arm. “She’s not the mission. Leave her. She doesn’t know much.”
The other woman was crying and screaming Lyrius’s name, shaking her head violently.
“This wasn’t supposed to go this far,” she whispered.
He looked down at Lyrius and then back at the woman holding his arm before cursing under his breath.
“You lucky she likes you,” he said, lowering his gun. “You breathing because she said so. You understand?”
Lyrius nodded.
