Holy shit. It’s ‘Pit Bull’ and the fact that he’s here before me could only be bad news.
I throw Gina’s coffee right at his face and I start to run. I hardly make it two steps before he’s on me. I try to scream, but a hand slaps down over my mouth as another circles my waist and quickly lifts me off the ground.
He rushes back to the van and climbs in the side door before tossing me to the ground and slamming the door.
I try to get myself up, but he’s on me once again. “Nice to see you again,” he says with a wicked grin as the driver takes off, making me slide to the back of the van. My arms fling out, trying to save myself, but it’s no use, my balance is completely thrown and I slam my back into the metal backdoors.
‘Pit Bull’ is on his feet, crouching in the small space and making his way to me. I start screaming and kicking my legs out, trying to keep the bastard away. What the hell does he want from me? The answer comes hurtling into my mind. How can I be so stupid? It’s clear as day. The fucker wants to use me as leverage against Xander in the fight. Wants him to throw the fight or forfeit. The pathetic bastard.
He continues making his way towards me which really doesn’t take long in this cramped space and reaches out for my bag.
I hold onto it with everything I’ve got but his strength against mine has me pulled up off the floor dangling from the straps of my bag. He kicks me in the ribs and I scream out as I drop back to the van’s floor and latch onto my aching ribs. He smirks at my display, but quickly disregards me as he pours the contents of my bag out on the floor and finds my phone. He smirks at me once again, like this is some kind of game to him while he stomps down on my phone, smashing it to pieces before handing it to the driver who tosses it out the window.
What the fuck?
I manage to get myself into a sitting position, but still have to hold onto the side of my ribs. “He’s going to kill you for this,” I say, not needing to clarify who ‘he’ is.
“Let the fucker come,” he scoffs.
It becomes pretty damn obvious that he’s scared of Xander. I mean, if he thought he could win, he wouldn’t have gone to these lengths. He would have just shown up to the fight and taken him out. But no, here I am, being held as leverage so he can get what he wants.
I don’t know what possesses me to do it but the rage and fury circling my body has my tongue loosening up. “You’re fucking chicken shit,” I practically laugh at the loser.
He storms forward and grabs me around the scuff of my shirt, hoisting me up before slamming the back of my head against the blacked out windows. “What the fuck did you say?” he roars.
“You heard me,” I spit. “You’re nothing but chicken shit. You’re a loser. You’re scared he’s going to kick your ass and you’d be right. He will, especially now.”
He lets out a terrifying growl and slams me against the window once again, this time making my head spin. If there ever was a time to thank my step mom, it’d be now. If not for her regular beatings, I probably would have passed out on the first hit, I probably would have already pissed my pants as well. But not now. Not with this bastard.
“I ain’t scared of shit,” he says, lowering his tone, trying to invoke a little more fear in me, but I’m too angry, too riled up.
“Bullshit,” I yell back at him. “If you weren’t scared, you would have faced him like a man, instead you’re pulling this shit.”
His hand moves from the scuff of my shift and slides up to my neck before giving it a squeeze. Holy shit. I can’t breathe.
I try desperately to gasp for breath, but his hold is too tight. He grins at me for long, painful seconds before clenching harder around my neck and using his hold to throw me across the van. I gasp for air the moment my body slams into the opposite side of the van. Pain shoots through my body, but at least this time I have the sense to stay still and quiet.
“Still think I’m scared?” he taunts as he presses his heavy boot against my wrist and crushes the bones with ease. Yes.
I scream out in pain with tears instantly springing from my eyes. How the hell am I going to get out of here?
He waits until most of my screams have been swallowed by my sobs. “That fucker is going to be annihilated in that ring and I’m going to make sure of it,” he says with a promise in his eyes before his hand turns into a fist and comes hurtling towards my face.
The last thing I see is a twisted grin before my world disappears.
Chapter 20
Xander
“Faster,” Cole demands as I punch the boxing pads he holds in front of his chest. I push myself harder. I only have two more days before I face ‘Pit Bull’ and not a damn thing is going to stop me from taking that fucker down.
Cole moves the pads and my eyes follow each of his movements, not missing a beat.
My phone ringing in the background cuts into my concentration, but I ignore it. I’ve got shit to do. I continue with the punches, kicking and evading while I hear Jace in the background, answering the call. “Road kill grill. You kill em, we grill em.”
I roll my eyes, but can’t help the grin that comes across my face. “Shit, yeah. I’ll grab him,” Jace says, as he jogs over to me.
Cole instantly puts his pads down and I turn to Jace who has a strange look on his face. “Sorry, dude,” he says handing the phone over. “It’s some guy, Micky. He says there’s a problem.”
I take the phone instantly. If it’s Micky that means it’s got something to do with Charli. My heart rate increases, despite the workout Cole’s been putting me through. “Micky,” I say, “What’s the matter?”
“Have you heard from Charli?” he demands immediately.
“No,” I tell him. “She ok?”
“Don’t know, kid,” he says, the concern clear in his voice. “Just had a call from Gina, Charli never returned from her lunch break.”
“What?” I question. Charli has never ditched work before. It’s just not something she’s capable of, even if she was on her deathbed, she’d still try and head in. Something must have happened. My first thought is that she’s laying somewhere in a gutter hurt or lost, my second is for her step mom.
“I gotta go,” I rush out, hanging up the phone and instantly dialling her number. The phone goes straight to voicemail and I give it a second try then a third. “Shit,” I roar.
“What’s wrong?” Cole asks, alarmed.
“It’s Charli. Something wrong.” I tell him as I rush to the back and grab my shit. Cole throws me the keys to his truck and I’ve never been so grateful. It’s times likes this I wish I had my own fucking truck.
I don’t even say goodbye before I’m out the door and rushing home, hoping she just wasn’t feeling well and I’m going to walk through the door to find her curled up in bed, pleased to see me.
I make it home in no time and push my way through the door, narrowly escaping having to replace it. “Charli?” I call, as I make my way through the house, but I know in my gut, she isn’t here.
I double check every room of the house before I head over to Micky’s and bolt straight up the stairs to check the apartment, but of course, she isn’t here.
I head back down to the bar and find Micky standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me. “Anything?” he asks.
“No,” I groan in frustration. Where the hell could she be?
Micky tells me he’s going to do a drive around the city and leaves me to check the more serious places. I’m halfway to her step mother’s place when a text comes through on my phone. I pull it out of my pocket and open the text. I come to a screeching halt in the middle of the road when I see the picture before me.
Charli lays on a wet concrete floor in what looks like some kind of basement. She’s bloodied and bruised with her hands and feet bound, her clothes torn and duct tape across her mouth. She seems to be passed out and my blood runs cold.
My eyes instantly snap down to the message below.
Unknown – Throw the match or you’ll never
see this little bitch again.
“Fuck,” I roar.
I should have known. Fucking ‘Pitt Bull’ has my woman. How stupid could I have been to assume this was about Charli, that it was her step mother? But of course, it’s about me. The moment I’m finally in control, someone has to come along and fuck it up. But this dickhead is finally going to learn his lesson. You don’t fuck with what’s mine.
The thought crosses me that I should do as he says and I’ll safely get my girl back, but the fight is still two days away and who knows what could happen to her in that time. He’s an unpredictable bastard and probably wouldn’t stand by his word.
I pull Cole’s truck around in a screeching U-turn and hit the gas. I make it back to Rebels Advocate in no time and I burst through the door. Cole and Jace are already standing there waiting. I pull out my phone and toss it over to Cole who looks it over with wide eyes before they come narrowed and full of fury.
“How the hell am I going to find her?” I ask.
I see the answer laying beneath his eyes. “Let’s go,” he says. We all pile back into the truck while Jace gets on his phone and gives Luke a call, asking if he can get his friend to track the number the message came through on before telling him to meet us at Mario’s ASAP, he then calls Caden and says the same. I recognize the name instantly, he’s the guy that does all the paperwork for the Underground. He’s dodgy as fuck, but he’ll know where I can find ‘Pitt Bull’.
We come to a stop in front of some old restaurant and find Luke and Caden already waiting. We catch up with them and before I know it, the five of us are storming into the place. I follow Cole’s lead and it’s damn obvious they’ve been in a similar situation before.
We walk straight past the gawking diners and through the kitchen before Cole busts down a door. We come into an office which has Mario sitting behind a desk. He doesn’t startle and I realize it’s because he knew we were coming. The whole side wall of his office is covered in monitors and surveillance equipment, making me wonder just how dodgy this mother fucker is.
He stands from his expensive chair, placing his hands down on his desk and fixing us all with an intimidating look, though, this guy must have something special up his sleeve because he stands before five guys who are all twice his size, as confident as ever. “Gentlemen,” he says. “I’d love to say what a pleasure it is to see you again, but that would be a lie.”
Cole lets out a grunt. “We need information on ‘Pit Bull’,” he demands.
Mario lets out a scoff. “No can do, you know the rules of the game,” he says.
“Mario,” Cole says, using a reasoning voice. “You know how this is going to end. You can either give us what we need or we’ll find it ourselves.” His eyes narrow dangerously on Cole before flicking to the rest of us. He lets out a sigh and sits back down in his chair before going through some paperwork in his desk drawer. “Good choice,” Cole says with sarcasm lacing his tone.
“Well the last time you idiots ransacked this joint it cost me nearly ten grand in damages,” he informs us.
“Lesson well learned then,” Jace murmurs, earning himself a nasty stare from Mario.
Mario finds what he’s looking for and silently hands it over to Luke. “This is all I’ve got,” he says. “Now, can you please leave? It’s bad for business.”
Luke looks over the papers and he clearly doesn’t seem happy about it, but he grunts anyway. “It’s going to have to do.”
He hands the paper to me and all I see is the name and address of a gym. “Let’s go.”
Moments later, we’re back in the truck, tearing down the street towards the address on the piece of paper. We pull up and park up on the walkway, in front of the gym. I’m out the door before the truck comes to a full stop.
I push the door but it’s locked, then I give it a good shake just to be sure. “Fuck.” I groan.
Luke and Jace appear behind me and see the dilemma. “We’ll check around back,” Luke says before they swiftly disappear. They return moments later. “No luck.”
I shrug my shoulder’s. If we can’t get in the right way, then we’re doing it my way. I take the few steps back to Cole’s truck and search the back. I come back with a crowbar in my hand and without a second thought, I smash through the thick glass doors.
The alarm instantly goes off and the five of us make our way inside. “We don’t have long before the cops are here,” Caden says, making us all move a little faster.
I head straight for the office with Cole on my heels. I kick in the door and start rifling through the filing cabinets for any type of clue who this fucker is and where he would have my girl.
Cole hacks into the computer and we spend the next few minutes searching. Each minute searching is another minute that Charli is in the hands of that bastard, doing who knows what to her. The thought has another spurt of anger coming on. I finish searching through the cabinets and come up with nothing.
I’m two seconds away from ripping the cabinet off the wall and trashing the joint when Jace comes darting in with a picture frame. He slams it down on the table, sending a big crack right through the centre of the frame, but that’s not what’s caught my eye. ‘Pit Bull’ stares straight back at me with text below stating he was last year’s most promising fighter and his name right next to it.
Jackson Fucking Delaney.
Cole instantly gets searching through the gym's records and pulls up the fuckers file, finding every bit of information on the guy we could possibly need and more.
We’re out the door with moments to spare and turning onto the main road when we see the cops heading in the opposite direction.
“Where are we heading?” Cole asks.
I look over the paper once again and find two addresses. One is a residential address while the other seems to be a warehouse. I give Cole the details of the warehouse and he hits it with Luke and Caden following behind.
It’s just past nightfall when we finally get to the place we’ve been looking for. The warehouse is old and abandoned with dim lights coming from inside. The place reminds me of the locations where the underground fights have been and I don’t doubt that this place would probably be used in the future.
We all get out of the trucks and make our way towards the doors.
Hang in there, Charli. I’m coming for you.
Chapter 21
Charli
A loud noise has me startling awake and it takes me a moment to realize what the hell is going on.
I’m in some cold, concrete room with my hands and feet bound together. My head throbs and my wrist screams for medical attention.
Holy shit. How the hell did I get myself in this situation?
I want to scream out for help, but with the duct tape covering my mouth, it’s useless. Besides, who’s going to come? I’m sure the dickhead who put me here isn’t going to come down and help me out. My only saving grace is Xander, but how the hell would he know where to find me? I have no doubt he will come, but how long is it going to take? I mean, no one even knows ‘Pit Bulls’ real name.
I look around the room and… Holy Shit. Is that a fucking guard dog sitting by the door? And a big mother fucker at that.
The bastard growls at me as I make eye contact. My heart rate rises and fear settles in for the long haul. Of course, the dickhead put a fucking guard dog by the door. There isn’t even a window for me to escape through. Only a door which, no doubt, leads me straight to my captor, though it’s not like I’d be getting past this big fucker of a dog anytime soon. He looks just as lethal as ‘Pit Bull’ with sharp teeth that I’m sure could tear through my skin in seconds.
Fuck, I’m scared. The tears begin streaming down my face. Why did I have to go and tell the guy he was chicken shit? Maybe he would have been kinder had I not provoked him. Maybe I’d sitting in a warm room with my hands and feet free. Maybe he would have let me go.
As the tears flow, so do the sobs which only pinpoint just how sore my ribs are. I notice the do
g tilting his head curiously in my direction and I glance up at him, nervous as shit that I could be making a bad move, but I see sympathy in his eyes. What the hell?
I awkwardly try to get myself up into a sitting position, keeping my eyes locked on the dog to make sure he stays on his side of the room. I bite down as hard as possible on my bottom lip, trying my hardest not to scream out at the pain the movement causes. It takes a while, but I finally make it.
With my hands tied tightly behind my back and a shattered wrist, it makes it nearly impossible to lean back against the wall, so I turn to the side and try to make myself somewhat comfortable. After all, when Xander comes for me, which I know he will. I need to be ready.
I take a look down at my body and try to take note of the injuries. My wrist and the bump on my head are the most obvious, but my whole body is covered in scratches, bruises, and cuts making me wonder exactly how I got into this room. I doubt I was carried and by the grazes along my arms, I’d assume I was dragged.
I close my eyes, trying to block out the pain and think of Xander. The way he holds me in the night or the way I catch him looking at me when he thinks I’m busy. The sexy way he smirks when he’s teasing me and the way the words ‘I love you’ sound coming from those lips.
I repeat the thoughts over and over again, just waiting for it to be over.
Please, Xander. Hurry
The dog’s ears suddenly prick and he turns his head in the direction of the door with a growl. Clearly sensing that someone is coming. I just don’t know who.
The door flies open and suddenly some guy is standing right before me with a sick, twisted grin on his face. Fuck. What is with the guys in this city all being perverted sick fucks? He takes one step towards me and suddenly the dog turns on him.
I stare, wide eyed as the dog lowers himself down with his ass up in the air, ready to attack. What the hell? Is the dog protecting me? That couldn’t be right, I mean, he’s their guard dog, not mine.
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