The Beat and The Pulse Box Set 1

by Amity Cross

  It was genius really, and all Rogue had to say was that this time was going to be different. I made a mental note to tell Ash once I was done in the cage.

  “Thanks,” I said, my expression softening. It was advice that should be taken with a grain of salt coming from a woman like Rogue, but it was good advice nonetheless.

  “You don’t hate me?” Rogue asked, frowning at my reaction. She seemed to be genuinely surprised.

  “I don’t hate you,” I replied, flexing my fingers. “I’m indifferent to you. There’s a difference.”

  She snorted and shoved her things into a locker. Slamming the door she strode over, a sneer curling her upper lip. “Don’t think this means I’m gunna go soft on you in the cage.”

  “The thought never crossed my mind.”

  I could never find a way to understand how someone could claim to love a person like Hammer. Evil, twisted…a man who got off on other’s pain. A rapist.

  There was always the chance that Rogue didn’t know what he’d done to Violet and me, but as if she’d divulge it either way. She was more than capable of looking after herself and it was obvious she didn’t want my help. Whatever had gone down between them, she was much better off without Hammer sucking her soul dry.

  Without acknowledging her again, I strode out into the arena where the crowd started to stir as people began to notice my approach. Without glancing sideways, I stepped into the cage. A few people cheered my name as the lights hit my skin and I turned a full three-sixty searching the edges for Ash.

  When I caught sight of him right at the edge, still sweaty and bloody from his fight, waiting for me, I walked over smiling like a fool. I curled my fingers through the chain-link as the referee announced the fight, but I could hardly hear it.

  “The name says it all folks. She’s back, she’s bad and she’ll knock you out in one shot… It’s Reign of Terror!”

  Ash wound his fingers through the cage, covering mine and smiled.

  “Gimme one more kiss,” I said.

  He leaned forward and we kissed through the chain-link much to the amusement of the people around us.

  “Knock the shit outta her,” Maverick said.

  The blood began to pump through my veins at the thought of fighting again. No rules, no regulations save for one. Fight until your opponent taps out, or can’t continue. The AUFC always gave me a rush, but it could never give me the burst of adrenalin that now flowed through my veins. The pro ring had been brutal, but this? This was a massacre. Dangerous, exhilarating...

  Sucking in a deep breath, I ran my fingertips over Ash’s lips. I was vaguely aware of Hamish standing next to him saying something along the lines of ‘fuckin’ puke’ before I turned and strode to the center of the cage.

  Rogue made a kissy face at me and raised her fists into the guard position.

  “Don’t hold back,” she said with a sneer. “When I beat your ass, I want it to be because I’m better than you.”

  I raised an eyebrow, but didn’t give her the satisfaction of a reply.

  The referee stood beside us and gave us the rules as we eyed one another and with a swipe of his hand, the game was on.

  Rogue didn’t waste any time. The moment his hand dropped, she lunged, fists flying. I didn’t have any time to react, but my instincts kicked in and I ducked, the whoosh of air as her fist sailed over my head, ruffling my hair. Her body twisted to the side as she followed through and I stepped forward. We were twisted around one another for a split second until I brought down my elbow into her ribs.

  The force of the blow jarred through my arm as I twisted away, bringing my guard back up as Rogue stumbled with an angry cry. The crowd cheered and hands rattled the cage like they were trying to enrage wild beasts. Once the fight was on, that was pretty much the gist of it. That and I swore most of the male punters had hard-ons watching two-toned women beating each other into a pulp. Whatever floated their boats.

  Rogue and I circled for a while, her movements becoming more subdued as she reined in her anger. She’d learned a lot since the first time I’d fought her. Back then it was her frustration that I’d used to get the upper hand. This time it wouldn’t be so straightforward. We knew each other, we knew how we both fought and we compensated our strategies.

  She soon became irritated in waiting for me to strike and lunged again, this time locking her forearms with mine. We grappled; trying to keep our footing while felling the other, but neither one of us could get a purchase. Rogue let out a scream and pushed with all her strength and I stumbled backwards, my back hitting the edge of the cage with so much force, the entire structure rattled.

  There were people right up against the chain-link yelling and screaming as Rogue pinned me against the fence and punched, her fist connecting with the side of my face. My head snapped to the side and my eyes widened in surprise.

  Suddenly Ash was there, his fingers winding through the fence, his green eyes fixed on mine. “Use your knees,” he bellowed over the din of the crowd.

  I pulled my gaze away and fixed onto Rogue and brought my knee up with a cry of rage. I connected with her vagina, her eyes widened with shock and her hold slackened. That kind of move was extremely painful for a guy and enough of an annoyance to stun Rogue enough to be able to break away.

  Sense told me to distance myself and regain some strength, but unfortunately I didn’t have a lot of that. If it was pro, then that’s what I would’ve done. This was all or nothing, so naturally I gave it my all and then some.

  I kicked out, using my weight as an anchor, and slammed my heel into the side of Rogue’s knee. She crumbled, landing awkwardly on the mat and crying out as her elbow cracked against the hard floor.

  Using her break in concentration to my full advantage, I shoved her shoulder, forcing her down onto the flat of her back. One perfectly aimed punch and all this could be over. I had the upper hand; there was no way I could lose this.

  I straddled her and raised my fist with a cry as my muscles coiled into a tight spring, ready to let loose.

  Before I could strike, Rogue slammed her palm on the mat and the beast inside me kinda felt disappointed. She’d tapped way too early, but it was still only the first round. She was smart and points could be made up. The crowd cheered and I rose to my feet, letting the tension ease from my arm.

  My first fight back, against Rogue no less, and I’d won. Holy shit. That had to be some kind of fluke.

  Rogue sat up as the referee called it, wiping her brow on the back of her arm. She looked pissed, but that was Rogue. She was a sore loser and the kind of fighter who wanted to be a winner at everything. Those kinds of people were few and far between. You know, the ones who are just good at everything they pick up. That wasn’t her and it wasn’t me.

  I held out my hand and she scowled. But to my absolute surprise, she lifted her hand and grasped mine.

  I helped her to her feet and she tore her hand from mine the moment she was upright.

  “I still hate your fucking guts,” she said.

  I smiled and shook my head. It was as close as anything we would ever have to an understanding.

  Stepping away, I held out my hands, palms out and laughed. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

  29

  Ash

  Things kind of went back to normal after a couple of rounds.

  Well, the normal for me when I was fighting before. The only difference was that Hammer was keeping his distance. I wasn’t sure what his game was, but I kept my eye on him at all times. And Hamish kept his word and watched the fuck when I was in the cage.

  I was winning, Ren was winning and things were going as well as we could’ve hoped. Hammer and me were neck and neck on the leaderboard and the course was set for one hell of a Championship smack down.

  It was six weeks until the fight and hopefully I would be able to put an end to this once and for all.

  Beat was quiet without Coach, the Twins and Josie around. They’d gone to Sydney for the AUFC season
and wouldn’t be back for a few weeks, so Ren and I pretty much had the place to ourselves. As she put it, it was all eat, sleep, train, repeat.

  Once this chapter was over, we could start thinking about what came next. I still didn’t know.

  I was standing near the bar waiting for Ren to get her stuff, when I spied a guy staring at me. Narrowing my eyes, I wondered if he had something to do with Hammer and was about to go give him a piece of my mind when he approached me.

  “Ashley Fuller?”

  I glanced at the man and looked him up and down. His clothes were too nice to for this scum sucking hole and he held a pretty expensive looking smartphone in his hand. There was no way this dude was associated with Hammer. No fuckin’ way.

  He grimaced when I didn’t reply and held out his free hand. “I’m Scott Grayson. I’m a scout with the AUFC.”

  My eyebrows rose. I wasn’t expecting that. “Things that dire you need to come poking around underground cages?”

  He dropped his hand and shrugged. “The league’s only six years in. We come where there’s talent and if we need to come to shit stinking holes like this one, we will.”

  I grunted. At least the dude had the decency to tell it like it was. The league was still young and the money wasn’t quite there compared with the cash that was flung about underground rackets. Short story, they needed draw cards to bring in the fans and sponsors.

  “Look, I’ll cut to the chase.”

  “Good,” I retorted, already gearing up to hear the spiel.

  “We want you back in the league.”

  I snorted. “After you cunts kicked me out for protecting my sister?” I shook my head, anger beginning to rise in my guts. “Why the fuck would I want to go back after I was treated like a fuckin’ animal?”

  “Because you were one, Fuller.”

  I couldn’t help wincing as his words hit home. I’d been trying to do the right thing in my mind, but he was right. I’d been an animal and ruined everything.

  “Why now?” I asked, curling my fingers into tight fists.

  “You’re lucky they sent me,” Grayson replied. “I convinced them that you’d changed.”

  I snorted at the irony.

  “I’ve seen you with Ren Miller,” he went on and my gaze snapped to his.

  “What’s that meant to mean?”

  “I’ll never understand why such a promising fighter quit, but seeing her with you? Shit, I get it. I don’t know what it is, but something’s changed you and it looks like it was her.” He fished in his coat pocket, pulled out a card and held it out. “Here, take my card. Have a think about it. We’ve got an offer lined up that is…let’s just say it’s non-standard. Come in to the office and let’s talk about it, hey?”

  I snatched the card from his fingers and glanced at the AUFC emblem on the front before shoving it in my pocket.

  Grayson backed away. “Think about it Fuller. It’s a good deal.”

  I spied Ren weaving her way through the crowd and began to panic. Something inside my stupid fuckin’ head told me to keep my trap shut.

  Why the hell I didn’t want her to know about this was beyond me. We had a goal to bring down Hammer the right way and I owed it to her and to Violet to see it through. This whole scout shit would stick a spanner in the wheel big time. Besides, I didn’t know if I was even going to see the guy, let alone accept his offer. Why the fuck would I want to go back to pro?

  A little voice inside my stupid head said, because it’s a future. I could give Ren things, provide for her, and make sure she didn’t have to want for anything ever again.

  But Ren gave up pro to be with me and if I went back… She said she didn’t want that life, but if I took it... Was she telling the truth?

  What was I meant to do?

  Ren stopped in front of me, all smiling and sexy and I couldn’t say it.

  “Who was that?” she asked, peering over my shoulder.

  “Some guy,” I replied as absently as I could.

  She raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t say anything. “You wanna split?”

  I nodded. Yeah, I needed to get out of here. I needed to get away from the noise and think about the ticking time bomb that had just been hurled at my head.

  Ren grasped my hand and knocked her shoulder against mine. “Then let’s go, ape.”

  I promised I wouldn’t keep secrets from Ren anymore. I promised and what the fuck was I doing? I hoped she wouldn’t find out until I’d had a chance to think about it first.

  Tightening my grip on her hand, I put a lid on my dangerous thoughts and took my Spitfire back to Beat.

  Rattled wasn’t the right word to describe how I was feeling. It probably was, but times it by ten and you had me. I couldn’t sleep, even with Ren in my arms. Even after fucking her senseless. I couldn’t sleep.

  I got up before she woke and went for a run, trying to work out some of the stress. I ran all the way from Brunswick to Royal Park and it wasn’t until I hit the train station across the street from the Zoo, and the morning sun broke through the trees, that I stopped.

  I thought I’d had some big decisions in my life, but this felt like the biggest one of all. All those other times it’d just been my life that was changed by them. I had to shoulder those burdens…but this time it was about more than that. I had to think about Ren…fuck, my Spitfire who’d given up so much already, and Violet. She was getting better, but it was a slow road and I didn’t want to leave her and go to Sydney. She was on her own with so much as it was.

  I was almost exclusively living with Ren these days. I kinda felt bad about Violet being on her own at the house, but every time I brought it up, she said it was fine. She liked the peace and quiet and the alone time. She said she didn’t like to mix with other people, but that was the problem. She needed to get out into the world again.

  Hopping from foot to foot as the day brightened and parrots squawked overhead in the trees, I pulled my phone from my pocket and brought up Violet’s number and hit call.

  After a few rings, she picked up. “Ash? What the hell?” She sounded groggy. “It’s six thirty in the morning.”

  “I just wanted to call you and see how you were doing,” I said. It was a half-truth, but I kinda wanted to talk to her.

  “Liar,” Violet declared.

  “How do you do that?” I groaned, switching my phone to the other ear.

  “Female intuition.”

  “Great.”

  “What happened?” Violet changed her tone, prodding me to spill the beans. It didn’t matter that I knew all her moves; she got me with them every time.

  “I was approached by an AUFC scout.”

  “What?” she shrieked down the phone, and I had to hold it away from my ear or suffer permanent hearing loss. “When did that happen?”

  “Last night.”

  “At that fighting racket? Really?”

  “I was weirded out by it, but the guy’s legit. Checked him out and it’s all aboveboard.”

  “What are you going to do? You said yes, right?”

  Once upon a time, my little sister had been there for just about everything. She’d come to bouts, visit me at Beat and make sure I was following my nutritional plan. I guess she didn’t have any idea what she wanted to do with herself, so making sure I was on the right path was important to her. I didn’t know who was more devastated that I wasn’t fighting pro. Old habits must die hard.

  “I said I’d think about it.”

  “You don’t sound thrilled.”

  “It’s not an easy choice,” I said, watching the parrots flying through the gum trees overhead. Green and blue flashes paired with a whole lotta screeching.

  “Did you want to fight pro back then?” Violet asked.

  It was a simple bloody question, but suddenly I didn’t know the answer to it. So much had happened, so much shit, and that life was something that was no longer in my grasp. I guess I sort of forgot about it, but now things had changed.

  “But Ren
gave it up. We could’ve—”

  “Forget about Ren for a moment,” she argued.

  “I can’t forget her Violet. Ren’s everything.”

  “I was gunna say, forget her and think about yourself, but somehow I reckon you’ve already got your answer.”

  “I promised I wouldn’t keep things from her…”

  Violet sighed and I felt bad about dumping yet another pile of crap on her. “Tell her, Ash. If she’s everything to you, then tell her.”

  “If we’re talking about our futures, then you should be a shrink,” I declared.

  “Oh, ha ha.”

  “How is everything going with that?”

  “Good. Better. I’m trying.”

  “Good.”

  “Have… How’s everything with…” She hesitated and I could sense the uncertainty in her voice. There was a hint of fear in there too and I curled my free hand into a tight fist.

  “So far it’s just been words,” I said, trying to keep my anger in check. “But we’ll get him Violet. I promise.”

  There was silence on the other end and it went on for so long, I thought she’d hung up.

  “Good,” she whispered. “Good…”

  30

  Ren

  I was back in the game.

  My head was on straight. I was on top of my focus. I had this.

  I was in the cage, my fifth fight of the season and I was up against a tough fighter by the name of Claw. I’d gotten over the silly names ages ago, but hers always made me laugh. We stood eye to eye, her five eight to mine, her blonde hair to my almost black. Light and dark. Short way of putting it, she was my match in height, weight and skill. She wasn’t glad I was back and I wasn’t pleased she was still here.