738 Kick Your Ass
Sweat trickled down his face while his wrist hurt from continuously blocking Elvisâ hits. Elijah couldnât give up now, not when he knew the time was almost up. For the past minutes, he had been dodging, diving, and spinning out of the way of his brotherâs heavy punches.
Although he did get hit a few times, it was nothing compared to how the state of his face would have been had he dared go on the offensive.
And Elvis was getting pretty frustrated with his blocking ability which was a blessing to Elijah since his brotherâs moves were getting sloppier and more predictable. Although the punches were getting heavier because he was putting in all of his strength.
Sadly, Elijah got too comfortable with his moves so when Elvis spun and kicked him all of a sudden, he could not dodge in time.
The force of the kick forced Elijah to stagger backward till he was leaning on the ring rope and cleared the dizziness out of his eyes only to see Elvis diving at him and his eyes widened in shock. Elijah moved out of the way but by mere inches and Elvis still managed to box him in, throwing punch after punch.
His teeth were gritted hard as he blocked each hit until Elvis found an opening in his defense, punching him in the guts and he exhaled deeply as the breath was knocked out of his lungs. Elvis pushed harder and harder until he couldnât block his moves anymore and Elijah was left defenseless.
Quick to take advantage of that opportunity, Elvis drew his hand back and was about to hit him in the face only for the alarm to sound.
His time was over.
At once, a small victorious smile curled Elijahâs face to the side, he did it! He survived. He passed the first hell and was left with one trail. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest as he tried to catch his breath.
.....
However, even with time over, Elvis still did not release Elijah and his fist was dangerously close to his face. Elijah eyed him, having no clue what to do until Ephraimâs voice cut through the air,
âGive up honorably, Elvis. Donât be such a bully,â
Elvis stared back at Elijah before he released him with a disgruntled grunt. âYou are one lucky bastard, brother,â He patted Elijah on the face before letting go and leaving him alone on the ring.
Elijah slid to the ground, throwing his head back with a deep breath of relief. He needed water, he needed rest. Tonight was hard on him already and yet he still had to fight Ephraim. It was a nightmare.
The next Elijah knew, a water bottle was flying in his direction and he caught it before it could hit him in the face.
âDrink up,â Ephraim told him, âYou have two minutes of rest and youâre up on your feet again.â
âThanks,â He was grateful at least for the water, but when he tried to open the cap, he winced in pain. His hands had taken the brunt force of Elvisâ punches and he must have sprained them in the process. Elijah sighed inwardly, he could already see himself losing the next punch before it even began.
While he rested, Ephraim was putting on his hand gears and when he was done, did a bit of stretching here and there. He then bent and looked down at his phone at the corner of the ring before he stood straight to announce,
âRest time is over, letâs get this over with.â he bumped his gears together.
As soon as the alarm went off, both of them began to circle each other until Elijah jabbed at him first and his brother dodged it.
âNice,â Ephraim said, going back to circling and studying his footwork.
Unfortunately, his talking was the problem and unlike Elvis, Elijah was not going on the defensive but offensive. He had to shut Ephraim before he struck his weak spot. But then, it was too late because he said,
âItâs quite sad that you canât run away from trouble as quickly as your blows.â
However, Elijah refused to be affected by his words and strengthened his mental shield. He threw a good left jab followed by an uppercut that threw him off balance. He then swept out his legs, intending to use it to dislodge his feet from behind him but Ephraim found his balance and avoided it.
âNice job.â He complimented him again, only to say, âI heard that you and Arianna were a thing in the past. So tell me, did you two go all the way or did your ancestors whisper enough wisdom into your world to you to stop halfway considering the both of you are family now?â
Elijah was not going to listen to Ephraimâs words knowing that it was intended to throw him off balance, yet his mind did drift off and that was a mistake. Pivoting his toes, hips, and hand, Ephraim surprised him with a hook in the jaw, catching Elijah unaware as it came from out of his vision.
His head snapped to the side and his mouth filled with a metallic taste. Elijah licked away the blood from his bottom lip and tried to shake off the throbbing pain. He tried to counter with an uppercut since they were at close quarters but Ephraim had a good balance and wasnât moved.
It failed miserably and his brotherâs fist connected with his temple instead. Elijah found himself falling until his back hit the ground and Ephraim bent over him, saying,
âItâs time you learned that your actions reflect on this family and decide our fate in this city,â He punched him.
âMessing with the Luciano family was crossing the line!â
Punch!
âI heard about the other woman you played with from Arianna and that is quite low for a Draven heir, brother!â
He punched him again.
âItâs time to grow up!â
Punch!
âEric specially told me to kick your ass. No bad blood, brother!â
He landed the final blow that knocked him out.