Book 16: Don't Say That Word

Lexa

I duck under his punch and twirl around him, sending my fist into his side. My knuckles meet rock-hard flesh and bounce back. He doesn’t so much as grunt in pain. He whirls, catching me by the arm in a grip like iron and yanks me toward him before I can find my bearings.

It takes an instant. My life flashes before my eyes as he flips me into the air and slams me down on my back so hard the air rushes from my lungs, my body tingling with shock.

He straddles me, pressing his forearm against my chest like a dead weight. I break past the pain and darkening vision and snatch his shirt with my free hand, my other twisted painfully behind my back. I catch the fabric. It tears over his shoulder, but his other hand grips my wrist and flattens my arm to the ground above my head, my muscles strained to their tearing point.

Mere seconds have passed. That’s all it took. Seconds for a man to finally beat me in a fight.

I gasp for breath but smil