Winner Takes All

Chapter Twenty Two ✘ Knight In Shining Armour

"Suddenly the sun comes up, and I feel my love flooding back again."
Sun Comes Up — Rudimental

My feet stay rooted to the spot, my body rigid with shock as I watch Jace slam the guy against the wall, and the next thing I know, Jace's fist comes in contact with the guy's face.

Once. Twice. Thrice.

Some of the guy's friends come closer, all of them watching, looking more afraid than I am. No one tries to break it up.

"Payton!" I hear one of the girls from the guy's friend group cry out, her hands covering her mouth in shock. "Do something!" She pushes another guy's shoulder, but he stays, not daring to move.

"How fucking dare you touch her like that?" Jace seethes, his jaw clenched and eyes fixed in the most deadliest glare I have ever seen, wrapping his hand around the Payton's neck, slamming him back against the wall. "I'm going to rip your fucking hands off and make you wish you never walked into this party in the first damn place."

Payton's face is all kinds of fucked up from Jace's punches, and his nose is bleeding from my punch. He shoves Jace's chest, putting space between them and drives his fist towards Jace's face.

A sharp gasp leaves my mouth when Payton lands his punch on Jace's mouth, Jace stumbles back in impact, but instead of looking like he's in pain, I can visibly see Jace's anger heighten.

"I'm going to fucking kill you." Jace charges back towards Payton, grabbing him by the collar again.

My brain finally clicks into motion, and I'm about to step forward to break it up before Jace fucking kills Payton, when Ty surges past me and grabs Jace, trying to break the death grip he has on Payton.

Jace lands one last punch square on Payton's already broken nose before Ty drags him away. His grip on Payton releases and he slumps to the ground in a weak pile. Jace tries to push Ty away, but some of Payton's friends finally burst into motion, hurriedly dragging him away.

Jace is a ticking time bomb, and from the furious look in his eyes, I know that unless I get him out of here he's going to track Payton down and rip off his limbs.

Stepping forward, I grasp Jace's wrist, tugging him away. Ty releases Jace when he sees me grabbing him, and I don't pause to say anything or even look at Jace as I take him straight outside the suite and into the hallway.

The door slams behind us, blurring out the loud music and the crowd. I swivel around, looking up at Jace, who's still panting, tension visible in his features, from his ignited eyes, tight jaw and firm set of his mouth.

His lip is busted and bleeding where Payton got him, and I know for sure that if Coach Bradshaw sees him like this, he's going to get into trouble.

"What were you thinking!?" I snap, fixing my eyes in a glare as Jace meets my eyes, his expression softening ever so slightly.

"What?"

"If that fight escalated you could've gotten kicked off the team." I bite out. There's a tugging feeling at the pit of my stomach, realising that he jumped to my defense without thinking twice despite all the bitterness between us.

"Did you expect me to do nothing after he touched you like that, Rivers?" Jace grits back, clearly annoyed.

I don't have a response to his question, so I stare at him blankly. "You're hurt."