“All right. Let’s do it. You ready, Granny?” Kiyah asked as she rolled her neck. The family tauntingly oohed from the background, fueling the already smoldering fire.
I nodded and shoved my mouthguard in my mouth. Kiyah did the same.
“All right, you two. Let’s have a quick and clean fight,” Ronan declared, standing in as ref. “The fight will end when an opponent taps out or loses consciousness. Touch hands.”
Kiyah and I slapped hands and bumped fists before creating a wide berth between us. We bent over and crouched low as we circled each other—neither wanted to make the first move. She reached out, and I quickly batted her hand away as we continued to circle. This went on for a minute or so until Kiyah gave herself up.
“Go in for the takedown, Grant!” Dad shouted right as Kiyah dropped her stance. She lunged for me. I caught her by her shirt, pivoted to the right, and put her behind me. I leaned forward and nearly sent her airborne when I flipped her over my shoulder.
“Ooooo!” I heard when Kiyah’s back hit the ground, and all the oxygen evacuated her body. I didn’t hesitate to cover her body.
“Great job, son!” Dad shouted.
“No, don’t congratulate him, Jon!” Mom hissed. “He’s being entirely too rough!”
“I love you, honey, but an attacker isn’t going to take it easy on Kiyah. She could’ve easily avoided that.”
He’s not lying. She could’ve, but as usual, Kiyah was too self-assured, and like everyone else, I bet she thought I’d take it easy on her.
“Come on, baby. I know you have more fight in you than that,” I whispered in her ear as she attempted to squirm from underneath me. She grunted in response and placed her feet on the ground. She drove her hips up and tried to buck me off. I wrapped my legs around her and locked my ankles underneath her ass.
“Give it up, Kiyah!” Kieran shouted as we slid across the grass. She was dripping sweat and panting as she attempted to restrain my arms. I could rest in our current position until she tired herself from exertion. From what I remembered, our skill level was nearly equal, but I had a good eighty pounds on her. There was no hope for her.
As the seconds ticked by, her movements grew sluggish, and she sounded winded.
Now.
I loosened my grip on her, and she didn’t hesitate to roll onto her ass and try to bring herself up to a standing position. When I found my opening, I grabbed her arm, tucked it back, fanned my leg over her head, and used the momentum to flip us over. She screamed in pain, but I didn’t let her go until I felt her rapidly tapping against my leg.
The naysayers groaned in disappointment as I caught my breath with a megawatt smile on my face.
“Grant’s the winner by submission,” Ronan announced. I relished in my victory for two seconds before rolling over and checking on Kiyah.
“You okay?” I asked, noticing how she held her collarbone—the same one she broke in that drag racing accident.
“I’m fine,” she huffed. “I just need a minute.”
“Good. Let me help you up,” I said, extending a hand to her. She accepted it, and I pulled us both off the ground. I leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Now… go upstairs and take that fucking shirt off and put it in my bedroom so that I can dispose of it properly.”
I pulled away and clocked the smirk on her lips.
“The party bus has arrived! Everyone, get your asses on the bus! Not you, Mom and Dad!” Casey announced. During all the commotion, Kiyah seized the opportunity to mouth, “Yes, Daddy,” before sauntering away.
I don’t know how I’ll be able to keep my cool around Kiyah during this 24-hour bachelorette party.
Chapter Nineteen
Kiyah
“Listen up,” Dad said as he approached the seven of us, who were lined up outside the party bus as if we were a seven-person infantry receiving a pep talk before very likely dying for a rich man’s cause.
“I didn’t sign up for a lecture. I’m signing out,” Nori muttered. I rolled my eyes when she ditched her hearing aids and shoved them into her blinged-out fanny pack that said, “I stay strapped.”
And she’s not talking about guns….
Dad grasped his hands behind his back and stopped before us. Grant and I gazed at each other and held back our smiles as Dad geared up to give us the same talk he always did when we left the house as a group. It didn’t matter if we were going to the mall or on a field trip; he always had to impart some words of wisdom and caution to us. I froze when he turned to me.
“Kiyah, how is your collarbone?”