by Dawn Doyle
I dropped my hands. “I know.”
“Dude, it’s reasons like this why we panda.”
“What the… Panda?” I swear he’d finally lost his mind.
Brady cut in. “Panda. Eats, shoots and leaves.” He pumped his eyebrows. “I did ask you if you knew what you were doing.”
“I still don’t.” I held up my fists again, but Brady let go of the bag. “What are you doing?” I asked, my arms out and wondering why he chose now to have a deep discussion with me. I was so done, and the others did not need to know the details.
“You know how it’s always been for us. Girls want to be noticed by the guys that their parents would lose their shit over. They think it makes them look so cool.”
“This isn’t like that and you know it,” I grumbled. I was getting sick of this shit, and having Brady pointing out the damn obvious in front of them was only making it worse.
Nate opened a can of my Energy Plus and held it up. “It’s what they want, it’s what we want. If Luca doesn’t want you like that, then leave the fuck alone. Hooking up at parties is one thing, Loosh—it’s kinda expected most of the time, but chasing the same girl out in the fucking open where word travels faster than diarrhea, it gets noticed.” He tipped his head back and drank. “We cleared her name, and you cleared up her locker, but if you carry on with this shit, you know what can happen.”
The school didn’t get locked down until a few hours after the kids left. That had given me enough time to find her locker and sort out the disgusting graffiti on the front. Leaving the picture behind was my only calling card. I didn’t know why, but I wanted her to know I’d been there.
“I know.” I set my target—a tiny dot I’d drawn on the red canvas, and steadied myself. I threw my hips into the punch, landing it dead center of the bag, knocking Brady back. “And when she finds out the real reason Grace tore her back from her, she’s going to hate me—she’ll hate all of us.”
“True.” Charlie said. “But isn’t it better to be hated than to get her caught up in this? Murphy—”
“Is dead.” I turned back to the bag. “Don’t give me that shit. You know how he was after. Grace hated him because of who he was, not just because of what he did.”
Brady held the bag, his dark eyes looking right into my soul as though reading every fucking word I couldn’t say. “Then move on.”
*****
“Fuck.” The word came out of my mouth, but it didn’t sound like me at all.
He stood on the other side of the pit, the guy that had destroyed my friend. Murph was the only one who understood what it was like to be us, to get off on the high when we squared up against an opponent.
My brother couldn’t know, neither could the other three. They listened, they watched, they prepared. But, ultimately, they just had my back when I needed them. They were good, and even though I never said it out loud, they knew I appreciated them for it.
Blood seeped from the corner of his eye at the same time I held my arm across my waist. I’d caught his left side with a one-two-jab, sending him back with a decent slice across his brow. He’d come right back at me, and that fucker could punch, his fist like lead as he blocked my next jab and triple slammed me in the ribs.
“How’s your friend, huh?” he asked, his gravelly voice sounding like he smoked three packs a day. His gut jiggled as he laughed, and he circled the pit, mirroring my movement.
I growled, my snarl twisting my face so much the pain from my jaw intensified. “Just peachy.”
Don’t rise to the bait. He wants you to slip, he wants to take you down.
I wasn’t going to let him take me anywhere. He might have gotten me on the ground a couple of times, but that murdering piece of shit was not walking out of here without a serious limp and a speech impairment.
He laughed again as the crowd chanted Hammer and Luscious, the two names mingling until they were incomprehensible.
The name I’d been given for this fight, Daryl Cane, didn’t bring up anything else on Charlie’s previous searches. The only pictures he’d found didn’t look anything like this guy that I was fighting.
He surged toward me to catch me off guard, but from what I expected of him, I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of surprising me.
I turned quickly as he widened his hairy arms to envelope me in his thick trunks, raised my leg and bent my knee, and it took less than a second for him to realize he was too close. I snapped my leg out, extending to its full length, tipping myself over for balance and leverage, and satisfaction rolled over me as his face collided with my heel. I took that opportunity to sweep his leg. His knee bent inward, causing him to dip to the side.
He howled, holding his face and limping back. Where any sane person would check the damage, he let the blood flow down his face to cover his mouth and chin. He stomped the ground, slowed down only a little from his injured knee, with his large fists balled and a killer stare, and I wasn’t talking blue steel. His mouth opened wide, the sounds of a hunter calling out when its prey was alone and dying, warning off the other predators from its prize.
I was far from done. I checked my stance, holding up my guard, and keeping my eyes on him as he aimed right for me, his body open to attack. I threw a cross, he slapped my hand away, grabbing my throat and lifting me in the air.
“This is what I did to your buddy before I caved his skull against the wall,” he sneered, his pungent breath of stale cigarettes hitting me in the face, making my breathing harder than it already was with his fingers squeezing tighter, cutting off my air.
My muscles tensed. Every fiber in my entire being fired up, digging deep to get that fucker off me and teach him a lesson in fair fighting.
I pounded on the top of his solid head with one fist while the other gripped his wrist. His eyes scrunched closed on their own, the automatic reaction of danger close by, and it was coming for him. My sore feet dangled in the air, bruised from kicking the crap out of his blubber while he barely flinched, and the stamps he’d gotten in instead of playing nice.
The crowd was wild, screaming for the end; for the win. I let go of his wrist, pressing my thumbs into his eyes, applying more and more pressure until I dropped to the ground, landing unsteadily on my feet. Hammer held his hands to his eyes, but I wanted to wait, to see the look on his face when he saw me coming. The second his hands dropped, I ran, launching myself up and tucking my knees to my chest, leading with my heels as I kicked out, slamming my feet against his torso. I fell down onto the hard, rough ground while he crashed against the old wall, his head cracking back, taking a chunk of the brick with him. He landed face down, dragging himself onto his hands and knees. I stood over him, pulling my foot back and then driving it into his ribs, lifting him as I connected, each one faster and faster as I kicked the fuck out of this guy. He collapsed to the floor and I jumped to straddle his back, wrapping one arm around his neck, and slowly squeezing while pressing the back of his head with my other hand. He clawed at my arms and tried to grab at my face, but I was out of his reach.
I glanced to the gate where I saw my brother and friends, a mixture of relief and terror in their eyes. ‘Goodnight,’ Brady mouthed and I nodded once, creating more and more pressure until Hammer’s hands hit the floor, his body limp and finished.
I glared up at the crowd, and heard the sickening honeyed words of the devil’s offspring.
“Well, I guess Luscious hammered many dreams here tonight, but I think he’ll be smashing something else later.” She grinned, licking her pumped up lips. “Somebody needs a sponge bath.” She howled like an animal, the spectators copying her in their crazed bloodthirsty state.
I looked at her with so much disgust, the lascivious grin of her face slipped. It was just a little, but I fucking saw it.
I squared my shoulders, turning around and scanning the crowd. I saw them. The two men who thought Hammer would put me down. Their wide eyes and hanging jaw proved their disbelief. I dipped my chin, a venomous sneer on my mou
th and posture that showed them how much they were fucking wrong. Their fighter was the one on the ground, still sleeping, beat, damaged, and I wanted to raise my foot and stomp on the back of his head, sending his face into the back of his skull. I was no murderer, though. A defeat was enough this time. He had his ass handed to him by a guy at least ten years younger, and probably half his weight. His ego would be shattered for a while, and even though it might take some time for him to come back after that, I would only get better.
I kept my eyes on them, but spoke to the guards. “Open the damn gate.” Metal clanged behind me and I turned my back on them, leaving a rousing Hammer behind.
“That was some fight, kid,” Larry said, leaning back in his chair. “I admit, I thought it was going to be a close call for you this time, but you came through for me.”
There was no doubt in my mind he was double betting on me. Ten grand to win, ten grand to lose. Either way, it was worth losing that amount to get a payout of more than fifty grand, not including the initial money he’d made. Totally fucking illegal, but so was everything about that place. If I wasn’t so mixed up with him, I would use every source I could to take that evil smug bastard down. I wasn’t going to take that chance, not because it would mean me going down with him, it would drag Brady and the others down too.
“Murphy knew was he was getting in to,” he added. I took my time in lifting my gaze from the cash on the table to his eyes. “He wanted the deal—he asked for it. No rules, remember? Just no teeth, and no jewel shots, and anything else goes.” I caught the envelope when he hurled it toward me, and then he leaned on his elbows. “You got your time with him, now fuck off.” He brushed his fingers through the air.
My head tilted to the side. “Why did you set me up with him?”
Larry sat back again, steepling his fingers and rocking back. “Did you not hear me, Lucian? Fuck. Off.” When I didn’t move, he sighed. “You’re welcome,” he snarled. “A little revenge, even if it means losing, goes a long fucking way. I have to keep my boys happy, right?”
I turned around and walked my aching body out of there, my ribs hurting with each step. He didn’t do that for me. Larry Sykes didn’t do anything for anyone but himself or his daughter. He hadn’t mentioned her again, but I knew it was there, a bitterness that I didn’t want his fucking princess hanging over my damn head.
“Here.” Brady cracked two ice bags and handed them to me after helping me into the back of the car. “Put them on your face.” I held them on together with one hand while I cradled my battered torso.
Charlie turned around from the passenger seat while Blaine drove. “Blaine took Nate back earlier to get the ice bath ready.”
“Mom and Dad won’t be home until tomorrow, so we need to get you pretty again before they see you,” Brady added.
“Like that’s gonna happen.” Our parents were coming back after a three-day conference weekend, and they’d want to spend time with us. Getting rid of the evidence of tonight’s bout would be a fucking miracle. There just so happened to be a huge business deal coming up for them, and for the next fights happening around the time they would be the busiest, I’d probably be spending it knocking back Ibuprofen and covering myself in ice-packs. “Take this.” I pressed the envelope against Brady’s chest.
“What do you want me to do with it?”
“Count it,” I replied, closing my eyes and letting the freezing pack soothe my swollen cheek and jaw. “I didn’t check it.”
“Why?” he asked before opening the envelope. I heard him shuffling through the bills. “Lucian, there’s four grand here. That’s double.”
My eyes flew open. “What?”
He nodded and held them out to show me. “Why did he give you double? What did you agree to?”
“Nothing.” I removed the packs to check the envelope, and saw a small note tucked into the corner. I read it out loud. “Everything has a price, kid.”
“What he hell does that mean?” Blaine asked as Brady and I stared at each other. “What price?”
“The price of getting into the pit.” The extra money was a pay off, and it had Murphy’s blood all over it.
Luca
Still no sign of him, and I’d started to wonder if my stupid confession had put him off me. He’d kissed me like I’d never been kissed before, and the way he said those things to me, his voice so sexy and deep… God, my blood fired through my veins just thinking about it.
I’d taken my time walking out through the parking lot, searching the area for any sign of him and the car he’d driven, but there was nothing.
Dropping my head, I looked down to the fob in my hand, then unlocked my door. I got in my car and checked over my shoulder. Still nothing.
“Sorry I took so long,” Paige said, opening the passenger door. “Leon asked me out, can you believe it? That idiot thought he could come over with his sweet talk and I would just say yes.” She huffed and ran her hand through her hair. “The nerve of him. You wanna know what he said?” I didn’t answer because it wouldn’t matter. “I’ll tell you. He said, hey, Paige, I think we should get back together. Wanna come over tonight and talk about it?”
“He said what?” I chuckled. “He thinks that’s all it would take to get you back?”
Paige threw her hands up. “I know! Like, hey, show me you mean it. Bring me flowers, poems, anything but a lame excuse to get me over there to make a move on me.”
“You think that’s what he’d do?” I asked. I pulled out of the parking lot, and turned in the direction of Paige’s house.
“Yeah, he’s done it before. Two weeks after we broke up, he asked me to go over to talk about it—to say how much he missed me,” she explained. “Well, when I got there, he assumed we were gonna make up, make out, and get naked.”
I deadpanned. “Seriously?”
Paige laughed as though she couldn’t believe it herself. “Yes! Okay, we did end up getting naked, but we were not getting back together.” Her mouth dropped open when I raised my brows. “Hey, I have needs too, and sex was the only good thing we had, so when he showed up at Grace’s…” She trailed off then looked out of the window at the silver car that zoomed past us in the opposite direction. The driver’s hair caught my attention, but Paige spoke up again before I could dwell on it, or the fact we’d gotten on the subject of the party. “Anyway, I made it clear it’s not happening again, even though I want to. I can’t have him think that he can just click his fingers and I’ll come running.” She looked to be in thought for a moment, then stilled.
“What are you doing?” I asked when she took her phone out of her purse. “No, Paige.”
“Once more wouldn’t hurt,” she said. I didn’t know if she was trying to convince me or herself. “I’m going over tonight and then that’s it. Unless he’s prepared to mature enough to handle a relationship, I’m not going back again.”
I smirked while holding back my smile. “Did you say that at Grace’s, too?” I didn’t know her very well then, but from the way she fidgeted in the seat and played with her phone, I could take a pretty good guess.
“Agh, yes I did,” she groaned. “Help me, Paige, he’s my weakness. My Kryptonite—my achilles heel.”
I burst out laughing, almost forgetting that the person I couldn’t stop thinking about had disappeared again. Paige was great at lifting my mood, and her mini breakdown next to me, I was sure was for my benefit. “I’m sorry, Paige, I shouldn’t laugh.”
She grinned with a glint in her eyes that took me right back to the party at Grace’s. “Don’t be sorry, Lu. I intend to take full advantage of him.”
After dropping an antsy Paige outside her house, I turned around and headed home. My parents were back and they wanted to have a family dinner tonight. My dad had been working so hard, and with no developments in the case, he hadn’t been home as much. Tonight was his first free night since it was opened.
I drove into the garage next to my dad’s black Mercedes, and cut the engine. The shutte
rs rolled down behind me and I got out, grabbing my school bag. “I’m home!” I yelled when I walked through the adjoining door.
“In here, honey!” my mom called out, and I followed the direction of her voice.
The pair stood there, gathering ingredients from the fridge and the cupboards. It looked like they were making enough to feed ten people.
“Hey, princess,” my dad said, turning and taking the few steps toward me to kiss the top of my head. “How was school?”
“It was good,” I replied, snatching a small carrot and taking a bite. The loud crunch took over my busy thoughts for a few seconds. “I just dropped Paige home. She’ll pick me up tomorrow.”
“I like that you girls take turns,” my mom said. “Very responsible of you.”
I shrugged and took another bite of my veggie. “Saves gas.”
My dad gestured toward the hall. “Go do your homework while we get dinner ready.”
“Roger that,” I replied in my best military style voice, making him grin. “I’ll get on it, stat.”
I opened my bedroom door and gasped, freezing to the spot with my hand gripping the doorknob for support.
“Hi.” The deep voice caught me off guard. Lucian was lying on my bed, his feet crossed and his hands resting behind his head.
I glanced back, then to him, darting in my room and closing the door before pressing the lock. “What are you doing here?” I whispered, dropping my bag. “My parents are downstairs… Hang on, how the hell did you get in here?” I asked. He pointed to my open window. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”
He sat up and swung his legs over the bed to face me. “I think so.”
As I contemplated having him thrown in a psych ward, my insides dropped. “What happened to your face?” I asked, standing in front of him and looking down at the bruises along the left side of his jaw and over his right eye. The previous injuries had healed, but these were definitely fresh.
“That’s a topic for another day,” he said, his smile dropping. “How are you doing?”