“So, tell me more about these women you mentioned…” Darrell said jokingly, and the two men fell back into banter.
It was good to touch base with his old life again, and Wyatt knew he had to push harder on McCready, no matter the cost to himself. He needed to get out of this world, and to do that he had to know what happened to his brother.
Whatever it took.
“Anyone watch any good movies lately?” Tori asked, flicking through the cable stations with her remote.
Kat ignored the question, focusing on her book, but a few of the other women called out some titles. They were in the lounge in McCready’s mansion. It was a rare downtime for all of them, when McCready wasn’t there, and neither were any of his goons. So, Kat and the other women weren’t required to wait hand and foot on anyone.
She didn’t know what McCready was doing, and she didn’t care, as long as it gave her a few hours of peace.
It wasn’t that she disliked the other women, she just didn’t know them. And it was deliberate on her part that she kept herself separate. She never knew when she’d have to betray one of the women, or when one would suddenly disappear from the mansion, never to be seen again.
It didn’t pay to get close.
So, Kat kept to herself as best she could. Still, it was hard to focus on her book. Between the chattering women and thoughts of Wyatt, Kat couldn’t maintain her concentration.
He’d been occupying her thoughts a lot, lately. She’d spent some time speculating on what he was doing here, certainly. Undercover cop, maybe? Or was it for personal reasons?
But mostly her thoughts were filled to distraction with his broad shoulders, his muscles, his intense gaze, and the way he made her skin tingle. It had been a long time since she’d felt that way about a man, and she didn’t know what to make of it now. Why was he so different?
It was probably because he had the potential to be semi-decent. A low bar to get over, but given who she spent most of her time with, a refreshing change nonetheless.
Question was, what did she intend to do about it?
Nothing, that’s what.
She had to stay focused on herself. If she got caught up with Wyatt, and whatever he may or may not be planning, then she could be stuck in this mansion for far longer than she’d anticipated. With mere months on her sentence left, she couldn’t risk that now.
And, more to the point, there was no guarantee Wyatt was as good or honourable as Kat wanted to believe. If she placed her faith in him, there was every chance she could get burned. She’d learned that lesson before. Men rarely turned out to be who she wanted them to be.
Yet no matter how many times she told herself this, Kat was still distracted by thoughts of what it might be like to sleep with Wyatt. For his hard body to slide against hers, those intense eyes boring into her own. She had no doubt the focus with which he often regarded her would translate to the bedroom. That he would pay attention to her every move, every gasp, every moan in order to give her maximum pleasure. That he would see her, and not accept the blank mask she wore for McCready’s friends.
The thought both frightened and thrilled her. What would it be like to let go? To be herself? Focus on her own pleasure instead of that of the man pumping away on top of her?
What would it be like to be with a man who refused to let her retreat behind a mask? Who knew how to play her body like a master musician and revelled in her pleasure?
She couldn’t remember.
And no matter how many times she berated herself for jumping to conclusions about Wyatt, and found herself putting him on a pedestal like that, she couldn’t seem to help herself.
Maybe she needed the hope, the fantasy, to get her through these last months. To believe there was something better out there for her when all this would be over. A good man, even a family. With children and a husband and normalcy. And excellent sex, too, of course. If she could have all that in her future, then she’d know she hadn’t been too broken by what had happened to her the last five years.
It was certainly a nicer thing to think about than McCready and his friends, so Kat didn’t hate herself too much for indulging in the dreams and possibilities.
She hadn’t had those in a long, long time.
The door opened, interrupting her musings. She automatically closed her book and sat up straighter, anticipating McCready’s return. All the other women had done the same, Tori shutting off the TV before they turned with bracing expressions on their faces.
McCready stepped through the door, Spider and Weston flanking either side of him and slightly behind.
He stopped a few paces into the room and Kat held her breath. She couldn’t get a read on his face. Would this be a good thing or a bad thing, whatever he was here to announce?
“Hello, girls,” he greeted them with a smile.
They nodded and murmured in return, all eyeing their boss with varying amounts of wariness.
“I have a new friend for you,” he said, and then stepped aside, his arm out in the classic gesture of reveal.
Only then did Kat see Spider and Weston hadn’t been flanking McCready, but a young girl. She was squeezed between them, a meaty hand gripping each of her upper arms. Her head hung forward, and she peered at the room through her lashes. Blonde hair hung low, obscuring her face further. Her limbs were shaking, and Kat was willing to bet that if Spider and Weston hadn’t been holding her up, she would have collapsed.
She looked shy, horrified, and scared out of her mind at the surroundings she now found herself in.
Kat’s heart immediately went out to her. She tried to shut down the empathy, to remember that she was only a few months away from her escape, but it was no use. She remembered being in that position, new and naïve and terrified at what would come next.
But even worse, the new girl reminded Kat of her sister, Larissa. The person she was here to protect.
She blinked, pulling herself away from the memories of her old life before they consumed her. She focused on McCready, realising he was saying something.
“This is Ruthie. I’m aware all you girls know the drill, so I won’t reiterate the rules. I’ve let her know what’s expected of her, but please remind her if you feel it’s needed.” His eyes found each and every one of them in the room, and Kat shivered at the message in them. Keep her in line.
“Now, which of you wants to take her to her room?”
Kat didn’t want to. She told herself again and again not to say yes, knowing it would open a floodgate. But the instant Spider opened his mouth as he stared lasciviously at Ruthie, Kat leapt to her feet.
“I will,” she declared.
McCready raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You?”
Kat swallowed, but she didn’t retract the offer. She knew taking Ruthie under her wing would mean increased scrutiny for her. McCready was already suspicious because the move was so out of character.
But Kat couldn’t let Spider go with her alone. He’d take the opportunity to ‘break her in’. And given how terrified Ruthie already looked, it might be the end of her.
Kat knew there wasn’t much she could do. She certainly wouldn’t act openly against McCready. But she also couldn’t let Spider rape a terrified young girl without at least putting up some kind of fight, or even preparing her for the inevitable with some tips. All the women in the room had experienced the same thing, herself included. She could help Ruthie endure it, with enough time.
At least, that’s what she told herself. But the fierce, protective urge welling within her told a different story. One that involved a scared eighteen-year-old girl called Larissa, caught up in something much too big for her.
Kat had paid the consequences for protecting her sister. She didn’t regret it, but she would always suffer for taking her sister’s place in McCready’s crew.
And if she could stop that happening to another scared young girl? Well, apparently that was something Kat did, a hidden, almost maternal, side of herself she hadn’t expected.
She didn’t even know this girl. Would she really risk everything for her?
Kat hoped not, for her own sake.
And yet still she didn’t back down. “Yes. Me.” She held out her hand to Ruthie, who stood frozen, staring at her with wide eyes. Spider scowled at Kat, clearly pissed she’d delayed his fun, but Kat ignored him.
McCready, however, was looking at her with a cold fascination. She’d done something he hadn’t expected, and now he was looking at her with new eyes. The back of Kat’s neck prickled in reaction.
Kat moved closer to Ruthie, and no one stopped her. So, she tugged the young girl out of the men’s grip. Both resisted for a moment, their displeasure obvious, but then let go at the same moment, making Ruthie stumble.
Kat marched Ruthie out of the room without looking back, along the hall, up a level, and finally into a room towards the back of the mansion.
She set the girl on the bed and then turned back to shut the door. Ruthie’s ragged breathing filled the silence of the room, and Kat crouched in front of her.
“Are you okay?”
Ruthie shook her head, pressing her lips together like she was holding back tears.
Kat’s heart ached. She sat next to the girl on the bed and put her arm around her. Ruthie lay her head on Kat’s shoulder, and damp tears soaked through her t-shirt, though Ruthie didn’t make a sound.
“What brought you here?” Kat whispered.
“My father,” Ruthie choked out.
A chill passed over Kat. “What happened?”
“He got into debt with that McCready guy. I don’t know the details, I didn’t even know dad was into that stuff. All I know is McCready offered dad a choice. Either McCready could take me for three years, or he’d kill dad. And dad chose to give me away.” The last words ended on a wail as the dam finally broke. Tears poured from Ruthie’s eyes as she sobbed, the sound tearing Kat in two.
She rocked the younger woman until the tears finally subsided. Then, she put her hands on Ruthie’s shoulders and pushed the girl upright. Once she’d made sure she had Ruthie’s attention, she took a bracing breath.
“You have to harden yourself. That was all the time you’ll get to grieve. They won’t give you any quarter after this, so you have to steel yourself against these emotions.”
Ruthie frowned, then pulled herself out of Kat’s grasp. “What?” she asked, clearly confused.
Pity nearly swamped Kat, but she forced herself to press on. It would be better for Ruthie in the long run. “If you allow yourself these feelings of regret and pain and fear, it’ll eat you up inside. It’s better to lock it up, become hard against it all.”
“Is that what you did?” Ruthie sneered, anger and fear flashing in her gaze.
“Yes,” Kat said simply. “It’s how I survived.”
“Well I won’t,” the younger woman declared, her voice shaking and renewed tears streaming down her face. She wasn’t as tough as she wanted to appear.
“Please, trust me, it’s better this way.”
Ruthie leapt to her feet. “Trust? You want me to trust you after you bring me here and pretend to be my friend, and then try to convince me to lie back and let this happen to me? I won’t. I won’t do it.”
She was breathing heavily. Kat forced herself to stay calm. As much as she wanted to yell at the girl that she was helping her survive, that this was the only way she knew to get through, she knew it wouldn’t help.
“And what will you do instead?” she asked. It hurt her to do this, to drill the hope out of this girl. But what else could she do? Watch her destroy herself?
“I’ll escape,” Ruthie declared.
“And what will happen to your father if you do?” Kat asked, assuming Ruthie’s deal was similar to her own.
Ruthie’s face fell. “He’ll be killed.”
Kat nodded. “Is that something you’re willing to live with?”
“Maybe,” Ruthie choked out. She was clearly mad at her father, as anyone would be in her place. It was a father’s job to protect his child, not sell her to a man little better than a pimp in order to save himself. But Ruthie was too innocent to condemn her own father to death, no matter what he’d done to her. Kat could tell from the doubt in her eyes that she’d never go through with it.
“Well, if you choose to stay,” she said carefully. “Know that we all have to follow McCready’s rules. If you don’t, he’ll punish you, or even kill you. And then he’ll go after your father, and it’ll all be for nothing.”
Ruthie slowly sank back onto the bed. “I can’t accept it. Not like you can.”
Kat laughed bitterly. “Oh, I was like you at first. I couldn’t accept it, either. But I got punished enough—months and months added to my sentence, or the worst jobs imaginable—that I soon learned what I had to do. I’m trying to save you the pain of learning those same lessons the hard way.”
Ruthie took Kat’s hand. “Please, you have to help me. Those men, in the car, they…I don’t think I can do this.”
Kat’s heart shattered, but she forced her wall back up around it. She couldn’t let this girl get to her. She took Ruthie’s hand from hers and returned it to the younger girl’s lap. “You might not realise it now, but I am helping you. This is the only way. You’ll see.”
Kat stood, and Ruthie gave her one last horrified glance before she threw herself back on the bed and started sobbing as she slowly contracted into a ball.
Tears pricked Kat’s eyes in response, and she blinked them away as she headed to the door. She was doing this for the best, she really was.
She hoped.
Chapter 5
Wyatt slammed his fists into the punching bag, enjoying the stretch and burn of his muscles. Sweat dripped down his back, testament to the long session he’d put in at the gym tonight. Though it wasn’t all for his fitness.
He was waiting.
Spider and Weston had stepped into the gym about twenty minutes ago, and Wyatt was waiting for the time when he wouldn’t look like he was ambushing them if he approached. He was grateful they’d come in at all, given that it was after 10pm and Wyatt had been working out for an hour in the hope they’d show up.
Finally, he figured he’d held off long enough and he stepped back from the bag. He ran a towel over his face and then stretched, keeping an eye on the other two men who were sparring in the tattered boxing ring to his right.
Golan’s Gym, where all of McCready’s fighters trained, had once been a thriving gym from where some of the best boxers in the world had emerged. Golan himself had been one of them. But times had changed since then, and now to keep the place open and his dreams alive, Golan took money from McCready to let the fighters train after hours in his space.
Spider and Weston stepped apart for a drinks break, and Wyatt saw his chance.
“Hey guys,” he greeted them casually as he stepped up to the ring and leaned against the ropes. They raised their chins in reply.
“Will there be another party this week?” Wyatt didn’t really want to know, but supposed he should prepare himself if he got invited again.
Spider and Weston glanced at each other. Spider was the one who answered. “There’s one every week.”
“Awesome,” Wyatt replied, plastering a smile on his face.
“We saw you getting cosy with Kat,” Weston said, a gleam in his eye.
A sudden, shockingly protective urge welled up in Wyatt as Weston said her name. He didn’t like the look on his face, as if he knew something Wyatt didn’t. His jaw clenched involuntarily over the desire to say something—or punch the smug look off Weston’s face.
But Wyatt was a smart man. He knew if he showed any emotion towards Kat, if he reacted to the implication in Weston’s words, both he and Kat would pay for it.
So, instead, he shrugged. “She’s hot.”
The guys laughed, and the needling look in their eyes faded. That was clearly the right answer to allay their suspicions.
“A troublemaker, though,” said S
pider. His lips curled.
“Yeah?” Wyatt asked lightly.
“Always fucking interfering,” Spider growled. “Can’t mind her business.”
Wyatt was desperately curious to know what Spider was referring to, but didn’t dare ask.
Weston chuckled. “You’ll get a piece of the new girl eventually,” he said to Spider.
Spider slammed his water bottle against the floor of the ring. “She should already be mine, damn it.”
Wyatt fought to keep anything from showing on his face. There was a new girl? One Kat was protecting? This wouldn’t bode well for Kat, he could already sense it. What had possessed her to get between Spider and what he wanted? Especially after everything she’d said to him about not getting involved. A whisper of fear travelled through him at the thought that she was putting herself in harm’s way.
Hopefully she knew what she was doing. Ironically, her refusal to hear his plans involving McCready had made him trust her more. For all her talk about playing both sides, she hadn’t wanted to be told anything she could betray him with.
If, instead, she’d listened to every word of his plan, he would always wonder if she’d betray him. No, even if she claimed to be working only for herself, it was clear deep down she was on his side. However, it didn’t mean he could fully trust her.
He had to stay focused on his plan to find out what happened to his brother, and hopefully destroy McCready once he knew. But it wasn’t his main mission, and he had to remember that. No matter how much the other man creeped him out, Wyatt could not prioritise ruining McCready over discovering what happened to his brother.
Yet.
“So, does McCready let a lot of new faces through?” he asked casually, watching Spider and Weston for their reactions.
Weston shrugged. “Enough. Some fighters, some girls. A few others here and there. You play your cards right, and you’ll be with us soon enough.” He grinned and puffed out his chest as if that was something to be proud of.
Underground Fighters Trilogy Boxed Set Page 33