“Oh God.” I rip my hands away. Tag is writhing on the mat, clutching his shoulder, his face contorted in pain.

Ray frowns. “Renegade was trying to put him in submission, helping him save face, but Tag twisted out of it. Was it a shoulder injury that did him in?”

“Yeah. A bad one. He fell out of a second-story window and broke his shoulder in three places. It wasn’t set properly and never really healed.”

An underground medic waves to Tag from outside the ropes, but he shakes his head and pushes himself to his feet. His left arm dangles by his side and his face is contorted in pain.

“I’m going to be sick,” Jess whispers.

“I’m going to kill him.”

Renegade speaks urgently to Tag. Clearly he wants Tag to tap out. But Tag refuses. Instead, he attacks, using his feet and his good arm. Renegade goes on the defensive, backing away.

“Fuck.” Ray swears through gritted teeth and mutters to himself. “C’mon, Fuzz, give in. He’s trying not to hurt you.”

But he doesn’t know Tag the way I do. Tag isn’t thinking anymore. He’s on autopilot and his goal is to take Renegade down. The last time I saw him like this was the night he injured his shoulder. And all because of me.

Finally Renegade has had enough. He sweeps Tag’s front leg and Tag goes down. But he can’t brace for the fall on his left side. He tries to recover and staggers back, then loses his balance. His head hits the post and he slumps to the ground.

“Tag.” I am running, pushing away the crowd, crawling through the ropes. I get to him at the same time as the medic. She gives him a quick check and whips out her phone. One of the organizers blows his whistle, calling for an emergency evac. The crowd scatters. Once the ambulance arrives, the police will follow, and no one wants to be caught at an unsanctioned fight.

Jess joins me beside Tag and then Renegade crouches down beside us. “I’m sorry. I tried to stop him. I thought he’d just go straight down. Stubborn ass just wouldn’t give up.”

“How could you?” I shove him in the shoulder, and he falls back. “You knew about his injury. You knew he hasn’t really fought in years. I thought you were his friend.” My anger comes out in a frenzy of fists, and then Ray is behind me, holding my arms, his voice a soothing rumble in my ear.

“Shhhhh. It’s not his fault. Fuzz challenged him. Renegade tried to set it up at Redemption, and Torment said no for all the reasons you spelled out.”

“Well, at least someone had sense.” I glare at Renegade, and he returns my glare with a pained expression.

“It was me or a stranger,” Renegade says. “And the reason I agreed is because I’m his friend. I knew I could control the fight. I could pull my punches. I could take him down when I saw he was going to get hurt. Any other fighter in this ring would have done him some serious damage. I tried to save him from himself.” He looks at Ray. “We tried to save him. It was Ray’s idea.”

“You knew about it beforehand?” I spin to face Ray.

“The promoters tell the fighters a day before the event, so they have time to prepare.” He strokes his hand down my hair, and I close my eyes and grit my teeth.

“You knew and you didn’t tell me?” I rip myself out of his arms and my hands clench into fists. “How could you not tell me? I could have talked him out of it.”

“We had it under control. I didn’t want you to worry.”

Turning away, I snort. “Yeah. This is having things under control. So much better than me convincing him not to come here in the first place. Thanks for that, guys.”

The ambulance arrives, and I ride with Tag while Jess follows behind in my car. Tag is whisked away once we hit the emergency room doors, and Jess and I sit together in the waiting room. My stomach churns at the familiar scent of antiseptic and I am assailed by memories of the night I sat here with Tag. The night I met Jess. I squeeze her hand when I see her bottom lip tremble. She has bad memories of this waiting room too.

A short while later, we are joined by Rampage, Blade Saw, Torment, and Ray.

“He’ll be okay,” I say to them when they settle themselves on the seats across from us, more to convince myself than anything else. “He’s knocked himself out twice before. Once when he was playing touch football, and then again when he fell out of a tree house when we were little. He has a hard head and no brains inside it to speak of.”

Jess manages a half smile. “Are you going to call your parents?”

“After they tell us he’s okay. I don’t want them to worry.”

A tear slides down her cheek. “It makes my heart hurt to think he wanted to fight so bad he’d take that risk.”

I nod, but my heart doesn’t just hurt; it feels shredded and torn. He’s here because of me. He left fighting because of me. He deserved justice too, but he gave it up because I asked him to do it.

Ray sits with the other fighters, but he doesn’t talk to them. Instead he watches me. Far from making me uncomfortable, his presence is soothing, and the fact he is here makes me confused all over again.

Tag regains consciousness after an hour. The doctor says he’ll be okay but because he has a concussion, he’ll have to stay in the hospital overnight. I call Mom and Dad and they freak, but not as badly as they would have if I’d called before he woke. I let Jess go in to see him first, and then the fighters who are chomping at the bit. Ray stays in the waiting room with me.