Death Blow

by Ashley Harma

  They spent the rest of the night talking. Lila shared memories of her mom, her disappointment over dropping out of high school, the pointlessness of her life to date. Barrett didn’t know who his father was, didn’t know if his mother was alive, and didn’t know what he’d do if he ever saw her again. He’d gotten into fighting around 15 in his hometown in Missouri, but had moved out to Belle Chasse a couple years later when he’d heard about Club Malevolence. It was the only thing he ever felt good about, fighting, and he liked being the villain because then no one ever expected anything from him. For someone who’d been so closed off to her before, Barrett really opened up to her that night, and she felt so grateful for it. They’d fallen asleep as the sun rose, both still naked, still on the couch, and it was the soundest few hours of sleep Lila’d gotten in a very long time.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “It’ll be a sudden death match, so Barrett won’t be able to do his usual bullshit chokehold.”

  Jackson shook his head, seated on the couch, as Lyle paced in front of him and Cassandra sat at the island in the kitchen.

  “I told you, I’m not going to fight him.” He looked up at Lyle, resolved.

  “You’re gonna do what the fuck I tell you to do, son, and that’s that.” For such confident words, Lyle still looked worried that Jackson might defy him, still paced anxiously like maybe he didn’t have the upper hand here. Jackson’s face broke into a smile, and a small laugh started to form at the corners of his mouth. “What the hell are you laughin’ at, if I may ask?” Lyle warned.

  “Oh god, I can’t take it. You think you scare me?” Jackson really asked the question, wanted to know the answer. “Because you fucking don’t.”

  “We’ve got plenty that’ll scare you, boy,” Cassandra chimed in coolly from the kitchen. “We’re tellin’ you, you’re gonna fight, and that’s the end of it.”

  “No discussion to be had,” Lyle tried to close the conversation.

  Jackson stood up. “You two, you’re too much. I’m out of here, I’m going to Tiffany’s, you’ll be lucky if I ever come back.” He stormed off and grabbed a jacket from the coat rack in the hall.

  “Don’t test me, boy,” Lyle called out, trying to stop him.

  “Fuck you,” he shouted back.

  “Jackson.” Cassandra had gotten off the stool and clicked her way into the hall. “Why don’t you sit back down? I think I got somethin’ that’ll change your mind.” Her tone had gone icy, and the smile plastered on her face made it all the eerier.

  “What, are you going to threaten me? Threaten Tiffany? You gonna sic your mob lackeys on me, Dad?” Jackson’s eyes blazed.

  “Not gonna threaten you or your stupid little girlfriend, Jackson,” Cassandra said. “Tell you what. If you don’t fight tomorrow night, someone’s gonna get the shit beat out of ‘em, and you’re gonna feel every single punch in a place you don’t want to.” She was being very enigmatic, and Jackson, despite himself, was intrigued and, if he was honest, a little frightened.

  “What the fuck are you talking about, Mom?”

  “If you don’t fight Barrett—lemme rephrase that, if you don’t beat Barrett, then Kurt over there’s gonna tie your sister to a chair and beat her ‘til her face turns blue.”

  Jackson blanched at the word. His mouth ran dry, and he had to swallow a few times before he could talk again. “Sister?” he rasped. He’d broken into a cold sweat. “I don’t have a sister. You’re crazy.” His voice echoed around the enormous foyer.

  “Oh, but you do, honey.” Her voice had taken on a sickly sweet tone now. “You got a twin sister, in fact.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Lila and Barrett woke up the next morning to his cell phone going off loudly.

  “Fuck,” Barrett muttered, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand. Lila stretched out, arms above her head. Barrett looked at her, still naked, basking in the morning sun. He slid a hand up her sternum, grazing both her nipples as he passed them, and then up to her neck, pulling her face towards him and kissing her.

  “Good morning,” he whispered. Then he grabbed his phone and answered. “Yeah? What? When?” He rubbed his face. “Are you kidding me?” He bolted upright, got off the couch, pulled his underwear on, and walked out the front door. Lila was a little startled by the abruptness of Barrett’s exit, but she was still waking up. She rolled around, looking for her clothes, but the first thing she put her hand to was Barrett’s t-shirt. It felt cheesy to put it on, but when she picked it up, it emitted a puff of his scent, and she couldn’t resist sliding it over her head. She got up and padded into his small kitchen. She hadn’t really gotten to take a good look around his place. Everything was surprisingly neat and simple—Barrett seemed to have only what he knew he needed, and only things he knew he’d take care of. She spotted the coffee maker and tentatively opened the cabinets until she found grounds. She started brewing a pot.

  She heard the door shut.

  “In the kitchen,” she called. She heard his footsteps.

  “Well, that’s sexy,” he purred from behind her.

  “What?” she looked coyly over her shoulder.

  He was still in just his underwear, walking towards her, devouring her with his eyes.

  “You, in my shirt, making coffee.” He snaked his arms around her waist from behind, nuzzling into her neck.

  “You’re easy to please,” she laughed. “What was the call about?”

  “Ugh, scheduling bullshit. I wasn’t supposed to fight tonight but they’ve scheduled one for me, a fucking sudden death match.” He groaned, kissing Lila’s neck.

  “What’s a sudden death match?” she asked.

  “No submissions, knockout or nothing.”

  “Why would they schedule that?”

  Barrett shrugged. “Guess people weren’t happy about last night’s default, so the syndicate is trying to make up for it.”

  “The syndicate?” Lila turned to face him. Jackson had always been very closed off about all the fighting protocol and—oh my god, thought Lila. Jackson. She kissed Barrett. “I’ve got to get my phone, just a second.” She moved past him and went back into the living room, searching the couch for her phone. Had she brought it in here with her? No, it was probably still in her car. “Be right back, think it’s in my car!” she called, grabbing her keys and heading outside.

  The day was sunny with a nice breeze that wafted Barrett’s t-shirt around her thighs. Lila felt happy, blissful even, right now. Last night with Barrett had really opened him up to her, and vice versa, and this morning, for the first time ever, she thought she sort of knew what people in love felt like. Maybe love was just this feeling all the time.

  She got to her car, opened the door, and popped her head in. Sure enough, there on the driver’s seat was her phone. But there was no missed call from Jackson, not even a text message. “That’s weird,” she said to herself. Something didn’t seem right about that. She brought the phone back inside with her. In the kitchen, Barrett had poured two cups of coffee and was—Lila couldn’t believe it—scrambling eggs in a frying pan. She stopped in the doorway, and he looked up at her, smiling.

  “Oh my god,” she breathed. He cocked his eyebrow at her. “I think I’m going to pass out, oh god, someone catch me.” She faked fainting against the doorframe. “Is that Barrett Warde, the Barrett Warde, ladies’ man extraordinaire, premier dirty fighter, cooking breakfast like a domestic?” She broke into laughter and walked over to him, kissing up his bicep. He scoffed at her.

  “I’m a lone wolf. No one’s going to make me breakfast except for me, baby,” he joked, putting on a low, scratchy voice.

  “I’ll make you breakfast next time,” Lila said quietly, grinning at him.

  “I’ll remember you said that. Get some plates, they’re up there.” She reached for the cabinet he’d nudged towards and got two of them out. “Butter on your toast?” he asked, heading to the fridge.

  “Yeah,” Lila said, still gaping a bit. She had never dr
eamed it would break up this quickly, that things with Barrett would go so well so fast. He was like a whole new person with her now.

  They ate breakfast at his tiny wooden kitchen table, joking and laughing about stuff, talking about things they liked. They shared a deep love of bad 70s disco music, it turned out, and Barrett could bust some pretty hilarious moves to Lila’s horribly off-key singing of “Ladies’ Night.” They both liked scary movies and sushi, and neither of them watched any sports. Barrett loved a good, cheap mystery novel. Lila had a weird penchant for home decoration magazines. At one point, Lila had her bare legs up in Barrett’s lap, his hand placed casually on her calf, and she thought maybe none of it was real. Maybe she was going to wake up in her childhood bed, alone, maybe to the sounds of her dad stumbling in, piss drunk and angry.

  She didn’t. She was awake.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  After a day of lounging, making love, and exploring each other, Barrett and Lila headed to the Club. Thankfully Lila’d taken to throwing a spare work outfit in her backseat, since she’d been staying at the Morans’ a couple nights, whenever she and Jackson talked for so long she couldn’t make it home.

  And Jackson—she hadn’t heard from him all day, had texted and called several times over and gotten no response. She’d even sent Cassandra a text, checking to make sure he was okay.

  -He’s fine, sug, just preparing 2 fight 2nite ;)

  For some reason, Lila didn’t find this response reassuring. When she dipped under the high level of satisfaction she was feeling from spending time with Barrett, a big ball of discord sat at Lila’s core. Something wasn’t right, but hopefully, she’d get it figured out at work tonight, when she could see Jackson again.

  She and Barrett pulled up in her car and parked in the garage. Stepping out, she double-checked the code for the night and headed for the elevators.

  “You go ahead,” Barrett said, heading her off to get a kiss. “I’m going to do a few laps around the garage, get in the zone. I’ll see you after the fight.”

  “Hopefully. If not, I’ll see you when you wake up.” She winked at him and slapped his ass, and he did the same, but several times over, all the way to the elevator. He kissed her again, something like a goodbye kiss, and jogged off as the doors opened up and Lila stepped inside. At the underground level, she said hello to the guards working tonight and headed for the bar. She was tending tonight, and Raechelle was running, so Lila was the first one there. She took her time setting things up.

  “Hey sexy.” Raechelle had arrived, bouncing over with her red hair.

  “Hey girl, what’s up?”

  “Nothing. What’s up with you?”

  Lila smiled slyly. “Nothing.” Raechelle narrowed her eyes.

  “What’s up with you, Lila? What’re you smilin’ like that for, hm?” She walked to the end of the bar and dropped her clutch into the cubby.

  “Oh…it’s nothing.” Again Lila smiled mischievously. Raechelle jumped up to wack her across the bar.

  “You better tell me right now! Does it have something to do with, dun dun DUN, Barrett?!” Her green eyes flashed at Lila, anxiously awaiting the news.

  At that moment, the elevator doors slid open again and out walked Lyle, Cassandra, and two big, scary looking men behind them, well dressed but cruel-looking. Lila’s stomach churned a little at the sight. Lyle and the men went off and sat in a corner of the seats, and Cassandra slinked her way over to Raechelle and Lila.

  “Hey girlies,” she said, smiling, “how y’all doin’ tonight?” Lila and Raechelle both responded, though Cassandra didn’t seem too interested in what they said. “Mmhm, well,” she took out a compact and checked her lipstick, a dark plum shade tonight to match her dark grey lurex mini-dress, “we’re having somethin’ of a business meeting over there before the fight tonight, so do us a favor and bring over 4 Grey Goose rocks, would you?”

  “The fight tonight?” Raechelle asked. “There’s only one?”

  “Yep,” Cassandra smacked her lips together. “Sudden death match tonight.”

  “Ah,” Raechelle’s eyes widened a bit. She’d clearly seen one before.

  “We’ll bring those right over to you, Cassandra,” Lila said, watching the woman closely, trying to get a read on what was happening here.

  “Thanks, sug.” She placed the compact back in her clutch. “Oh, and thanks for checkin’ on Jackson today,” Cassandra winked at her. “He really appreciated it.”

  If Lila thought her stomach had done funny things when this quartet walked in, it was nothing compared to the gymnastics her guts were pulling now. She hadn’t even thought about it until this very moment—if there was only one fight tonight, one sudden death match, and both Barrett and Jackson were scheduled to fight…then they must be fighting each other.

  Lila felt like passing out.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The stands were packed now, smartly dressed patrons sitting in an eerie calm as everyone waited for the sudden death match to start. Lila was a wreck, biting her nails, messing up drinks, jumping at every sound. She’d confessed a little to Raechelle why she was in such a state, but how could she put into words what she was feeling? The last place she wanted to be was here, for this fight; the last thing she wanted to happen was this fight, but she was about to witness the whole thing. It didn’t matter now. Nothing she could do would convince either of them not to fight it. She thought about asking Raechelle if she could just leave, but it was a big crowd tonight, and although they were relatively calm thus far, she was sure one person couldn’t run the bar tonight, not on her own.

  A lot of money had changed hands tonight. Lila usually ignored the betting—she didn’t much care what the odds were or how much was placed on who—but tonight, she couldn’t help overhearing. It sounded like the odds were heavily stacked on Jackson to win. She was sure this meant that Cassandra and Lyle, and maybe their frightening friends, had personally put a lot of money down on him. It made her sick to her stomach.

  When they made their way out of the locker room, Lila couldn’t watch, but she also couldn’t help but watch, stuck in the middle of the train wreck cliché. Barrett found her and smiled at her—but Jackson wouldn’t look at her. She knew he could feel her boring into him, begging him to turn her way, but he wouldn’t do it. Lila didn’t know what had happened, but she knew it couldn’t be good. She knocked over a whole shaker of cocktail when someone’s phone went off, because she thought the bell had rung. Finally, of course, it did, it had to, and the worst fight of Lila’s life began.

  The crowd was shockingly, horribly quiet. No one was cheering, no one was yelling. Lila could hear ever footstep from the mat as Barrett and Jackson—her lover and her newfound best friend—danced around each other. What was worse was that no one needed any drinks, so Lila didn’t even have tasks to occupy herself. All she could do was stand at the bar and watch. Barrett took the first swipe, a right hook to Jackson’s jaw, but Jackson was too fast and dodged it, going in for Barrett’s ribs but hitting his guard instead. Jackson surprisingly towered over Barrett a little bit, definitely the bigger of the two, by a long shot. Lila had never noticed this before. A swing and a miss, a swing and a miss—they were fairly well matched, it seemed. But Lila knew neither of them had really tapped in yet, and she didn’t know who would win out when that happened.

  Jackson was the first one to land something, a punch to Barrett’s gut that rang out in the silent den. His oof echoed, but he kept his guard up and moved away. Jackson was on the attack though, and there was a bloodlust in his eyes that shook Lila. Something about this fight was different. He landed another one, a hard left hook to Barrett’s face, that cracked loudly on his jaw. Lila winced. Jackson thought he was on a roll, and went for an uppercut, but Barrett caught Jackson’s attempt with his hands, spun around quickly, and flipped Jackson over onto the mat. The heavy thud of his body hitting the surface was sickening in the quiet atmosphere. Jackson scrambled up, angry now, and Lila caught some
thing like fear in his eyes, which flitted over to where his parents and their business partners sat and then flashed back to Barrett.

  Jackson let out a scream and rushed him, pinning him to the ropes and showering Barrett’s ribs with punches. Thankfully, Barrett kept his guard up around his face and was spared any serious damage, and at the split second that Jackson broke his stride, Barrett swept his left leg and sent Jackson toppling backwards. Immediately, Barrett was on top of Jackson on the mat, punching him once, twice, three times in the face, blood starting to flow again from Jackson’s nose. Jackson shoved Barrett off him to the side, and lashed out with his knee, which caught Barrett in the back. They both hurried to their feet, but Barrett was faster, and by the time Jackson was upright, Barrett was right there. He spun an impressive kick across Jackson’s face, who was starting to seriously falter. Lila had never felt so many things in her life, reeling with every blow on both of them, rooting so fervently for them both, hating one of them when he was attacking the other.

  Jackson was dazed, and Barrett saw his window. He drove several punches home, to the gut, to the ribs, to the face. Jackson was trying desperately to keep his guard up and failing. Barrett kneed him in the stomach, sending Jackson doubling over, which gave him the opportunity to hammer punch Jackson in the back. He sprawled out face-first on the mat. The crowd was so silent it was like they were melting in to themselves, like no one was actually there. They all hung, breathlessly, on the action. Lila didn’t dare look over at Cassandra and Lyle. Jackson tried to crawl to standing, but Barrett grabbed him by the shoulders and hoisted him upright. His wolfish side had set in, and he was ready to win this fight. He let Jackson go, who stumbled backwards into the ropes, catching them to hold himself up. Then, like a lightening bolt, he socked Jackson once in the nose, a sickening crack ringing out. Twice in the nose, again Barrett hit him with a crunch. Jackson was barely standing now, barely present or conscious at all. If the ropes hadn’t been there, he assuredly would’ve fallen backwards. Lila stared at Jackson and, to her surprise, his glazed-over eyes finally traveled the Club and found her. They held each other’s gaze, and something inside of Lila swelled. Jackson was trying to tell her something.