Ruined: Loving An Alpha Male(81)

“Do you like it? I had it engraved, so I hope you do.”

He turned the face over and studied it some more before he stood, placed his butt on the table, and swiveled until he was facing me. He stood and pulled me into him, placing his lips on mine. His hand went to my hair, and he pulled me closer as he devoured my mouth. When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine.

“I love it. And I love you.”

“Yeah, you really like it?” I asked, trying to gather myself from the whopper of a kiss he just put on me.

“No, I love it. It’s the greatest gift anyone has ever given to me.”

He put the watch down on the table and pulled me to his lips again, this time with both hands in my hair. Kissing him has never ceased to blow my mind and, just as it’s doing now, I’m losing the strength in my legs.

“I love you so much, baby,” he said while still kissing me.

I let Mason rest for the rest of the day. He has to be on his A-game tonight, and I don’t want to be the cause of him not performing. I also knew he was worried about Alex. Alex called him last night and assured him he would be there for at least the second fight, if he would do what he’s supposed to do and knock out his first opponent.

I know hearing his voice gave him some peace of mind, but I know he won’t relax until he sees his face.

When we arrived at the building for his last list of fights, I could see he was looking around the faces in the crowd. He was watching the door of our waiting room, hoping Alex would walk through.

“Are you ready for this?” Lou asked him.

“I’m straight,” Mason told him and started warming up.

Lou looked over at me skeptically, but I tried to give him a reassuring smile. I was worried about Mason’s focus, too. But if Mason said he was okay, then I trusted him.

Once the fights started, we sat next to the cage waiting for Mason’s turn to fight. Mason and Lou exchanged notes about the two fighters in the ring, just in case one of them would become his opponent if he moves to the next round. When it was finally his turn, he looked over at me, and I smiled.

“Go kick his ass.”

He nodded and kissed me before entering the cage. The announcer did his thing and announced both fighters. Mason was up against Viper, one of the fighters Tim mentioned would be a threatening opponent for him.

Once the bell rang, Mason watched Viper. But he but didn’t have to wait very long for Viper to attack. He was true to his name, because he attacked swiftly by throwing a barrage of punches and kicks toward Mason. Mason blocked all, but one kick that landed on his side. He grunted but stayed upright.

Mason managed to get a few hits in but still wasn’t able to land the hit he wanted. They went back and forth until the bell rang for the end of the first round.

As Lou was talked to Mason, Mason looked past his shoulder toward the crowd. I followed his gaze and found Roland standing there. I went over to him to hand him a back-stage pass.

I asked him, “Where’s Alex?”

Roland looked at me and smiled, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“He had to take a leak.”

He then walked past me and headed up to the cage. I watched Mason look at Roland, but they never exchanged words. I knew something was terribly wrong when I saw Mason’s demeanor change. It was the same thing I saw when he fought Trip. Oh God.

The bell rang before I got to the cage. Just as I sat down, Mason let Viper get a few hits on him without protecting himself. I started screaming for him to block, but he wasn’t listening. I looked over at Roland, who just looked straight ahead with a blank face. I heard a loud crunch and a thud, and I closed my eyes. Please, God, I said to myself. But as the crowd went crazy, I opened my eyes and turned to the cage to see Mason standing back while the ref counted and ended the fight.

I looked wide-eyed at Mason who simply stared off into nothing. When he climbed out of the cage, he went right up to Roland. He threw the gloves off his hands and grabbed Roland by the shirt.

“What the fuck happened?”

Roland put his hands up in surrender.

“Reap, man, I…” he started, but Mason let him go and walked off.

Roland followed him, and so did I. When Mason got away from the crowd, he turned to Roland.

“How?” was all he asked.

“Sniper,” Roland replied.

Mason leaned against the wall behind him and closed his eyes. I looked between Roland and Mason and finally understood what happened.

“Oh my God!”

Mason eyes shot open, and he looked at me. I put my hands to my mouth to stop myself from screaming as tears started falling. Mason walked toward me and wrapped me in his arms. I hugged him back, as I heard footsteps coming up behind me. I stood silently as Mason told Lou that Alex was killed. Lou looked stunned but just nodded his head. Mason wiped my tears, and I looked in his eyes that no longer showed the light and liveliness I was used to. Instead, his eyes were dark and seemed full of anger and rage.