Fight It Out Series Box Set

by T M Kelly

  “Yeah, if she’s in deep with Dad, then nothing changes,” Jackson said and leaned against the wall next to the door. “If this is going to happen tonight, we need to leave soon.”

  The moment he said we needed to leave soon, my insides turned. It was like the full reality of the situation came crashing into me. Six fighters trying to take down a man who acted like a mob boss and ran a shady company; that scenario was insane. Who else would do it, though? Dad had been dirty for so long people just overlooked the illegal business ventures. I mean how else was he able to get to the top of the food chain?

  I closed my eyes and counted to ten. When I felt ready, I clapped my hands. “All right, let’s try not to get killed.”

  “Way to stay positive, C.” Lily shoved me to the side. “I think we need to say, ‘let’s kick some ass and take names.’”

  “Fine, but how is this situation even remotely positive?”

  Lily placed her hand over my mouth. “Hush, woman, and just get your cute ass out the door.”

  The bar was in a ritzy area of town, which surprised me. I would have thought Dad would choose a location less obvious. We were all sitting in a van that Julian rented earlier. “Anyone feel underdressed?” I teased and looked down at the holes exposing my knees. “Maybe jeans were a bad option?”

  “Do you think they will deny us business because of our clothing choice?” Lily said and grabbed a pair of binoculars. “Okay, maybe they will. Everyone in that place is wearing a tie, polo shirts, or dresses. Shit.”

  I held my hand up.

  “You know you don’t have to raise your hand to talk.”

  “What? Right. Okay.” I clasped my fingers together and placed them in my lap. “What about skipping the sitting in the bar part and jumping to the end of the plan?”

  “And just go through the back door when I say go?” Jackson turned toward me.

  “Yeah, let’s use your fancy equipment and these binoculars to scope out the place. Then pull around back and park in a spot that hides the van. There has to be a dark spot back there for us.”

  “I’ll go check,” Tyler said and hopped out.

  “He just does his own thing doesn’t he?” I was looking at Julian and Brooks.

  “Usually. It works in our favor because then we don’t have to draw straws.” Brooks shrugged his shoulders.

  It was funny how different all three brothers were, and yet they all had the same passion. When I first met Brooks, he seemed to be all about himself. He liked to talk about how good he was at Muay Thai. He even took the time to discuss every win he had ever had, and that included his fights in high school. Then something shifted, and our conversations were less about him and more about my goals. That may have been around the time I realized we needed to connect outside of the gym.

  I inched over toward Brooks and rested my head on his shoulder.

  “You okay, sunshine?”

  “Yeah, I am.”

  He wrapped his arm around my waist and brought me even closer.

  I watched Julian help Lily with the binoculars. He was not all about his wins and didn’t like to talk about himself or even his career. Lily had found a man like her dad who cared about family and wanted to give the person they loved the world. I smiled at the thought that Lily would probably marry Julian someday.

  “What are you smiling at?” Lily turned my way and winked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Right. When you say nothing, I know it’s a whole lot of something.”

  “Whatever.” She reached for my hand and kissed the top. I was so lucky to have met her all those years ago. Thank goodness she was okay with sharing her crayons in kindergarten. We did fight over the purple color, though. I won.

  The passenger door opened, and Tyler hopped in and turned to face us. “There are limited places to park behind the bar that could go unnoticed.”

  “Let’s keep the van parked here, and we all get out at different times? We could meet at a designated spot. Everyone needs to have a phone on them?” I looked around, waiting to see the overall thought of that idea. “Well don’t all speak up at once.”

  “What other choice do we have?” Lily said and patted my leg. “It’s the best option we have.”

  “There was a woman outside,” Tyler said and leaned his head back. “She was barking orders at two young guys unloading a truck.

  “What did she look like?” I sat up.

  “Like you.”

  Tyler knew how to knock all the breath out of my lungs. He was a no-bullshit kind of guy. His words made me go ridged, but I managed to lean back against Brooks for that extra support.

  If my sister came back, when did she make that appearance? The first thought that popped in my mind—my dad had something on my sister that caused her to come back. My siblings would never choose to work daily for my father, well, all except my one brother. Mason was crazy like my dad.

  “Charlie.” Brooks lightly shook my leg.

  “Huh, yeah.” I sat up and turned to the Brooks. “What’s wrong?”

  “Well, I was wondering the same thing about you. Tyler asked you two questions.”

  “I’m sorry, Ty. What’s up?”

  “What does your brother Mason look like?”

  I was scared to answer. Why was I so freaked out? If I wanted to take down my father once and for all, I needed to grow a pair. “Remember the photo of my dad I showed you earlier?”

  “Yeah, where he had his arm around a young guy?”

  “That’s the one. Mason was beside Dad.” I knew I looked curious by the scowl on my face. “Why?”

  “He may be there, too.”

  Well, tonight was already going as planned. “Did you see what they were unloading?”

  “No, the boxes were unmarked.”

  I loved the fact that Tyler made the trip with us. He was very observant. I thought about how Zoe would complain because he never really talked while training her. Tonight I noticed how he paid attention to every detail. I wondered if that was the same situation when training someone back at Fight It Out, where he was less talk and more focus. I knew he was a good man. He always helped with my fighting moves and made sure I had good form. I also knew he had a passion for MMA. What I didn’t have a clue on was his personal life. You never saw him with a woman. Which made me wonder. Was there someone he cared about currently? Or maybe he had a special someone that had recently left, and he was struggling to get over the loss.

  “We need to find a way to regroup once you get through the back door,” Brooks said and took me out of my thoughts. “We all are stronger together. Alone, it’s easier for someone to drop us with just one shot.”

  I patted him on the chest. “Now you’re the uplifting one in the bunch, Hollywood.”

  “Tonight isn’t about lifting each other up. It’s about survival of the fittest.”

  He was right; we needed to prepare for the worst…but as a team.

  28

  “I’ll be right back,” Tyler said and opened the passenger door.

  “So this team thing not for you?” I knew my voice sounded clipped.

  He stopped before hopping out of the van. “What? No, that’s not it.”

  “So maybe instead of doing your own thing, you could share with the rest of us.” I turned away and looked out the side window. “I know that’s not your MO, but this situation is different.”

  I watched as Tyler slowly closed the door and turned in his seat to face me. “When did you figure out my MO?” Now he was pissed. I could tell by the way his eyebrows were positioned.

  “Why are we fighting?” Brooks interjected.

  “Zoe is my friend,” I whispered and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Charlie.” Brooks placed his hand on my forearm. “Not helping.”

  The van was silent for several minutes. I think everyone was afraid to speak. With the air in the small space a little too thick, Tyler opened the van door and hopped out. Before he left, I could feel his eyes burrowi
ng into me. “Find out facts before you start spouting off shit you have no clue about.” Then he slammed the door.

  “What was that shit?” Brooks looked at me with this pissed-off expression.

  “He was leaving without sharing where he was going. Communication is nice once in a while.”

  “So is being sensitive.”

  I dropped my head. Brooks was right; I was an asshat. This situation was causing my emotions to run in several different directions and yell at someone who just wanted to help.

  “Um…” Lily tapped my shoulder. “Tyler’s talking to your sister, I think.”

  I leaned over Jackson’s shoulder and stared at the monitor. “Fuck me.” Before saying anything else, I sat back down. “What the hell?”

  Tyler was sitting at the bar. The woman behind the counter was Grace. It wasn’t hard to figure out my sister was at the bar full of lies. She had the same long hair and that long skinny face. Plus, she did this flip of her head that made me question everything I knew about her. She fooled us into believing she ran away from the bullshit long ago. I was trying to wrap my head around the fact that she could be working for my dad. The moment she leaned on the counter to probably ask what drink he wanted, I wanted to run into the building and pull Tyler away.

  “We can’t read too much into this situation.” Brooks turned my face toward him. “Let’s stay focused.”

  “Fine. For now.” I reached down to grab a pair of gloves. “My phone is charged and ready to take pictures.” Everyone else responded by holding up their phones. “Record secret video. Take pictures. Do whatever so we have proof my dad is fucking crazy.” My phone pinged, and the moment I looked at my screen, my body went cold. “Um—”

  “What is it, Charlie?” Jackson said and knelt down in front of me.

  I handed him my phone. “Dad asked why we were in the van and not inside enjoying dinner.”

  The van went quiet again, to the point where you could probably hear a pin drop. Jackson started pressing buttons on a tablet. Julian was scrolling through something on his phone. I’m sure they were just as confused as I felt. We all thought we stayed under the radar. How could he know?

  I hit to reply. There was no reason to ignore him at this point. What are you talking about?

  Dad: Our cameras were able to see you all in the van.

  Me: You have some serious cameras to see through the van.

  Dad: Safety first.

  Me: I’m glad that’s important to you. Much different than how you treated family.

  Dad: I worry about my family’s safety, too.

  Me: I find that hard to believe, but whatever you say, Dad.

  I sat there, waiting for his shitty reply, but after about five minutes, I lost interest. Before I had a chance to place my phone in my pocket, there was a knock on the side door. We all looked at each other and knew we were screwed. I moved over and slid the door back. My dad was standing in front and four men were behind him. I laughed when I realized Mason was one of the four guys acting like a bodyguard for Dad.

  “Why don’t you all come inside. Let’s talk.” My dad held out his hand to help me out of the beast of a vehicle.

  Instead, I placed my hands on the metal surface and hopped down. “I don’t know if we’re in the mood to talk.”

  “You must be hungry,” he insisted. “You’ve been out here for a while.

  “Fine, we’ll eat something.” Under my breath I mumbled, “Try to refrain from poisoning us.”

  “No one is getting poisoned tonight,” Dad said and stepped to the side to let everyone pile out.

  “Here that?” I threw my hand up in the air. “He said ‘tonight.’ There’s still time.” Brooks stepped up beside me, and I tipped my head closer to him. “Nothing changes.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “Make sure to relay that to everyone.”

  “Are you sure, sunshine?”

  “I’ve never been more sure about anything.”

  Tyler was still at the bar, sucking down a beer when we shuffled through the front door. The look on his face as he turned our way was priceless. I was in the lead and didn’t know what to say, so I shrugged my shoulders. I thought Dad was leading us to a large table, but instead he took us back to the kitchen. The moment the five of us were through the door, my heart rate increased.

  “Charlotte, sweetie.” Dad held out his hand. “Let me introduce you to everyone.

  A little part of me found it odd that Dad was here. If this was a drop off point for something illegal, having the head of the supposed crime family present seemed off. Any of his employees would take care of the dirty work. Well, at least that was my understanding. Maybe the movies had it all wrong.

  Then it hit me: Dad had bugged the gym, too. We took care of my rental but never thought to check the gym. What if he had Brooks’s house also wired? If that was the case, we all were fucked. I looked around, trying to find my sister, but she was nowhere.

  “Charlotte,” Dad said again. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

  I shook my head, trying to remove the negative thoughts. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Before I accepted his outstretched hand, I noticed in my peripheral vision Lily was holding her phone in her hands. Thank fuck. She had the phone in a way where it looked like she was just holding it with both hands by her body. I knew my best friend, though. She was recording this shit show about to go down.

  “Maybe you’re hungry.” He touched the side of my face. I flinched the moment his hand made contact with my skin. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

  “I’m not hungry,” I mumbled.

  “If you still play in the ring with other women, you have to be starving. Then in a stern voice, he said, “Sit.” I didn’t protest; there were too many people surrounding us that I felt unsure about. “Do you still enjoy chicken Alfredo?” I nodded. “Good, let’s get a plate of that stat.” He barked the orders and actually clapped his hands for them to move quickly. “You four, don’t just stand there.” I have never seen Lily move so quickly to sit down. “You’ll get the same meal.” Dad seemed disinterested by my friends but obligated to serve them. Then his eyes locked onto Jackson. “Correction, he hates Alfredo sauce. Get him the special.” He didn’t say my brother’s name, which felt odd.

  “Is this a new family restaurant?” I realized now was a good time to dig for details.

  “Not a family place, although it is starting to feel that way lately.”

  “Did I see Grace?”

  “My my, you were spying on us, eh?”

  “Like father like daughter.”

  He burst out laughing and bent to kiss my cheek. “It’s good to see you, Charlotte.”

  Dad left the room, but every one of his men stayed in position. I lifted my eyes to Brooks and Lily who were sitting in front of me. We started this silent conversation with our expressions and slight nods of our heads. I felt a foot hit mine and knew it was Jackson who was sitting next to me.

  “Jacks, thoughts?”

  “Something is very wrong, C.”

  Two more men pushed through the kitchen doors. They were holding Tyler in a death grip. It was obvious they knew the power he had, and they were trying to stop him from fighting back.

  “What now?” I whispered to Jackson.

  “Dad left.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Think about it. He just happened to be here tonight at this time.”

  My brother had a point. Our plan was foiled from the get-go because they knew we were coming. This also meant the gym office was being bugged. Fuck me.

  Instead of plates being carried to the table, we noticed each one of the employees carrying a gun. The fear I was holding inside wanted to show its ugly face. I didn’t have time to be afraid. Instead, we needed to get out of this place alive.

  I stood up and looked at everyone sitting at the table. “You know what to do.”

  29

  As Julian rose from his seat, all the men surrounding our table stepped their feet
back a few inches and raised their guns. Julian was a beast these days and could intimidate just about anyone. Since he stopped fighting several years ago, he became more yoked. His bulk was in our favor, or so I thought. A door opened to the right of us, and a man larger than Julian stepped through the space. The mystery man’s shoulders touched the door frame.

  “Looks like they brought back up,” I said and kicked my chair away.

  “Fine by me,” Brooks said and stood up.

  My eyes locked onto Mason. “Seems unfair when you bring guns to the party. Are you too weak to fight on your own?”

  My older brother burst out laughing. “We can give you a fight if that’s really what you want. You won’t win, though. Just remember, you’re out numbered, Charlotte.” Mason really was becoming my dad with how he enjoyed calling me Charlotte. I knew he said it to piss me off, and I had no plans to show it worked.”

  The five of us pushed the table away and stood with our backs touching. “Treat this like a championship fight,” I said and squeezed Brooks’s hand. “We all want the belt tonight. Hell, I’ll make you each a belt if that’ll help.”

  “I’ve never fought for a title before, but I will tonight.” Jackson entwined his hand with mine.

  The two men holding Tyler finally released their grip. He stumbled forward and stopped just inches from my body. “Your sister is a bitch.”

  “Yeah? I look forward to kicking her ass now, too.” I smiled and stepped closer to him. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about that now,” he said and nudged my shoulder. “You have every right to be pissed off. Just channel it in the right place.”

  His words took me by surprise. All this time I had Tyler pegged as an outsider with an attitude problem. It was obvious there was more than meets the eye. Which made me curious.