by Dawn Doyle
“What for?” I stared out of the window as he sped down the highway, keeping to the top end of the limit.
“For doing this again. I thought you were done when I fucked up with Luca’s car.”
I turned my head toward him. “Yeah, you did.” I went back to staring at the lights as they zoomed past. “But I need you to keep doing this. Not just for you, to make sure you don’t fuck up again, but I had a close call, Blaine.”
“What happened?”
“Darcy.”
“What did she do?”
“It was a few weeks ago. I took my car to Luca’s after my fight, and on my way home, she drove past me.”
He ran his hand over his face. “Fuck, did she see you?”
I shrugged one shoulder. “Probably, but I doubt she knew where I was coming from. I could’ve been driving from my place for all she knew, but if it had been a few minutes earlier, it would’ve been fucking obvious where I’d been.”
“After what happened the first time?”
I nodded. “She saw everything at the party, and I wouldn’t put it past that weaselly bitch to use it to her advantage.”
“You need to hide, I get it, and I’m glad I can help out.”
I shook my head and laughed dryly. “Oh, I bet you are, Blaine.”
He drove us to a darkened mall parking lot a few miles out of town, did what he had to do, stuffed the seat cover in his bag, and then slung it over his shoulder. “It’s a great morning to be going for a stroll, wouldn’t you say?” he asked, putting on a terrible British accent.
“My ass. It’s already seventy degrees, and it’s almost four o’clock. I want to get home asap—I’m fucking tired.”
Blaine chuckled. “Luca wearing you out?” I deadpanned, and he stepped away from me. “Kidding!”
“Let’s just get the fuck home, okay?”
We hailed a cab to take us near to home. Blaine lived in Lynnfield too, so getting dropped in the middle was the best option. He would go one way, I would go the other, taking an easy jog back.
We gave the cab driver a hundred, tipping way more than necessary, and stayed put until he drove away.
“See you tonight?” Blaine asked.
I shook my head. “Yeah. No more boosts until after the fight, got it?”
He nodded quickly. “Yeah. I’ve got a car at home I can use for a few days. If you want, I could pick up Luca so you’re not seen near her place.”
I thought about for a minute, and it made perfect sense. “It’d keep Luca off the radar. Her car wouldn’t be seen around here.”
He grinned wide. “See? I can be useful in other ways. I’m not just a pretty face with magic fingers.”
“You’re ugly as fuck,” I said, snorting. “And I don’t want to know about your fingers.”
“Hey, that was mean,” he said, acting like he’d been wounded. “But I meant my car skills, not my ability to please the ladies.”
“Bye, Blaine. See you tomorrow.”
“See ya.”
We slapped palms, then fist bumped before turning our backs on each other and walking away.
I’d been training so damn hard the past couple of days I could barely lift my arms. My shoulders, wrists, hands, and even my ankles were fucking pounding so much I’d had to take an ice bath. The fight tonight was with a guy around the same size as Hammer, the guy that had killed Murphy. I still couldn’t get my head around how he beat him so badly. He wasn’t an easy opponent, not at all, but I knew Murphy, and it should not have ended like it did. Either he’d fucked up and Hammer had taken full advantage of it, or there was something else going on. There was no way Murphy would’ve thrown that fight either, there was too much money to be made. Unless, he was offered more to lose, but why? Nothing made any fucking sense, but I guess that’s why Larry kept those shady deals on the quiet, so any suspicion would be thrown out because nobody knew what really went on.
Four guys had died this year in similar circumstances—one was Murphy. They all had the same signs. Beaten badly that they died before getting to hospital, or shortly after. No-one was talking, and nobody outside of Larry’s deal knew a damn thing.
“He’s the same height, got an easy forty pounds on you, and he’s six years older,” Charlie said, going through the information again. He’d dug up everything he could find on Marcus Krell, and the only thing that stood out was that he’d spent two years in prison for assault. “But with his record, he’s gonna have way more experience fighting, Loosh. He went to a prison upstate with mean mother fuckers. Probably had to defend himself on the daily.”
My attention was taken by my pacing brother. “Brady?”
“Fuck, Lucian, these fights are getting tougher each time,” he said, quickly shaking his head and chewing on his lower lip. His jaw tensed and relaxed as his eyes darted back and forth at nothing.
“Of course they are,” I countered. “As I get stronger, the fights will get tougher. People won’t bet against me if they didn’t, will they? Remember the first one?” He stared at me, and I saw the recollection on his face of the day I realized what I’d gotten involved with. “Do you honestly think I would find that difficult now?”
“I know, I know, you’d take two seconds to put that guy out, but Larry’s starting to pit you against the worst fucking animals who outweigh you by at least thirty pounds. It’s not fucking fair.”
I stood up from the bench in our gym and halted his movements, gripping his shoulder tight. “When has it ever been fair? Fair doesn’t make money, fair doesn’t get the crowd digging deeper in their pockets when they realize they bet on the wrong guy.”
“But I don’t like,” Brady argued. He was making far more sense than I let on, but there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
“I don’t have a fucking say in it. I don’t get to say, ‘oh, I’m not doing this today, Larry. I’m sorry, but not this time.’” I swiped my hand over my hair. “That’s the whole point of his business, you know that. You get a date to fight, you show up, earn your cash, then you leave. You try to get out of it, you know how it goes.” They did—they all fucking did. “I’m not giving that bastard any excuse to look any closer than he already does.”
Murphy had told me exactly what Larry had said when he’d tried to say no to a fight.
“Listen, you made a deal to fight when I tell you, and if you break that deal, it reflects badly on me. I don’t like things to reflect badly on me—it makes me upset, and when I’m upset, people around me get upset and bad things start to happen. Do you see where this is going?” Larry grinned when Murphy nodded.
“Fine, I’ll fight.”
“Yeah, you will, and you’ll keep on fighting until I say otherwise.” He tapped his chin, then added. “Your girlfriend looked pretty yesterday.”
“Leave her out of this.”
“Well, I think she’s the one who’s making you change your mind, Murphy.” He sat up straight, his eyes cold and his face twisted into a snarl. “No distractions—they cost me money. Anything, and I mean anything that causes problems for me, will be taken care of.”
I’d never felt the need to question whatever Larry had set up for me, I never cared before, but when it came to threatening the people I loved, I wasn’t taking any fucking chances.
“What do we do now?” Charlie asked, opening up his laptop and tapping away on the keys. “We’ve got two hours until you gotta leave, so what do you need?”
“Sleep,” I said, grabbing the towel and walking toward the door. I was exhausted, and needed to get enough rest so I could do what I had to, to get back to Luca.
Chapter 13
Luca
“Honey, Aunt Cora’s coming over tonight, and so is Grace,” my mom called from the kitchen.
I paused from looking down at my phone. I was waiting on a call or a text to tell me Lucian was home so I could go and see him. “Okay, Mom,” I replied, tapping against my leg.
This was the fourth day I’d been without him, and
apart from the texts, I hadn’t spoken to him at all. I needed to hear his voice, but calling him was out of the question. He trained while I was at school, then rested after, only to start the cycle again coming up to a fight. I didn’t know what time it was on, and that just made waiting so much worse.
I placed my hand on my stomach, my insides rolling around like they were about to exit out of my mouth. “Please be okay,” I whispered.
My phone beeped and I almost dropped it as I hurried to see who it was. I slumped back and huffed a breath when I saw Grace’s name across the screen.
‘We need to talk.’
No, we didn’t. What she did to me was horrifying, spreading lies that I’d hooked up with Lucian, knowing too well that those rumors would grow around school. It didn’t even matter that I was now with him and doing those same things she’d lied about. The point was, at the time, I hadn’t done anything with anybody. It was no-one’s business except for mine and Lucian’s, so she could go to hell.
My phone beeped again.
‘I know you’re still mad, but I really need to speak to you about something. It’s important, Lu.’
I ignored her message as usual, but I knew I couldn’t ignore her for long when she showed her back stabbing face for dinner. I was just glad that I had my parents and Aunt Cora to stop me from doing something I could possibly regret later. I didn’t know what that was, because getting back at my cousin sounded so damn sweet.
“Hi!”
I snapped my eyes toward the doorway when I heard Aunt Cora’s voice. “Hey,” I greeted her when she entered the room.
“How’s my favorite niece?” she asked, holding her arms out toward me.
I stood and let her squeeze me until I couldn’t breathe. “I’m your only niece,” I replied, taking a deep breath when she let go.
“Exactly,” she said, beaming. “I can single you out without hurting anybody’s feelings.”
“You look tan,” I said, noting her bronzed skin.
She held up her bare arm, the bright pink of her 1950’s style dress seeming to glow against her tone. “Thank you, honey. I got back from the Bahamas just last night. The bars are doing great over there, and the tourists love the new beach huts.”
“That’s so great!” I tried to share her enthusiasm, but while the clock was ticking inside my head, it was just more time that I spent worried about Lucian. “What are they like?” I glanced over her shoulder and saw Grace coming in with her head bowed slightly, her apologetic eyes coming back to me every other second.
“Well,” Aunt Cora began, linking my arm and taking me with her to the kitchen. “We set up six at the resort, right along the front. They’re still a safe distance when the tide’s in, but not too far when it’s out.” She flicked her sun-highlighted curls back. “They’re made to look like small log cabins with green and white leaves decorating the outer edge of the bar. Oh, Luca, when you’re old enough, I’ll take you. You can sit on the high bamboo stool and sip cocktails in the sun while being hit on by a half-naked bar tender.”
I heard a faint snort come from behind us, and turned to see Grace shaking her head. “Sounds great,” I said cheerfully.
“No, it doesn’t,” my mom countered. “Don’t be encouraging her, Luca, she’ll have you half way around the world to taste test everything she hears about.”
“Like you?”
My mom blushed. “Yes, and your father and I were quite ill from some of the things they served.”
Aunt Cora shuddered. “Oh, yeah, those purple concoctions were not good.”
“John should be home soon,” my mom said, changing the subject. “I’ll make coffee and you can tell me all about your trip.”
“I need to speak to you,” Grace said next to me, her voice low. “Let’s go upstairs so we can have some privacy.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” I snapped under my breath.
“I know you’re with him, Luca, I’m not fucking stupid.”
I spun around to face her. “You don’t know anything.”
“Where is he now?” she asked, folding her arms.
“None of your business,” I fired back, mirroring her movement.
“I know exactly where he is, Luca.”
My whirling insides plummeted, along with all of the warmth. A cold shiver ran down my spine at her knowing sneer. “Upstairs.”
I slammed my door shut. “What the fuck do you want, Grace? To dig the knife deeper, or do you want to make up something else?”
“Uncalled for!” she barked. “I tried to get you away from him, Luca, and I did what I had to do.” I opened my mouth but she cut me off. “I would’ve come clean eventually—told them I was mistaken, that it was somebody else and that I lashed out because I was pissed off. I didn’t know they would make up the rest of the crap.”
“But they did!” I yelled, then glanced to the door, chastising myself for raising my voice. “But it’s all gone away now, and it wasn’t you who did that. It was Lucian. He did that for me! Because of what you did to me.”
Grace gritted her teeth and glared. “You don’t know half of the shit you’ve gotten yourself into,” she said quietly. “Don’t tell me… There are secrets, lies and days apart you know nothing about?”
“It’s none of your business!” I spat.
“Isn’t it? Did you know he and Murphy were friends?” Tears filled her eyes, and when one escaped down her cheek, I knew she was still hurting over him.
“What’s Murphy got to do with Lucian?”
“Murphy was a fighter, too. You already know Lucian is, Luca, you’ve seen the bruises by now, haven’t you? We broke up—”
“Lucian has got nothing to do with Murphy breaking up with you.” I was getting sick and tired of her sticking her nose into my business. First, she lied, and now she was trying to use her ex? “Grace, just stop!”
“Murphy’s dead!”
I gasped, then held that breath for so long my throat began to burn. I barely whispered, “What?” My mouth hung open while Grace’s eyes streamed. “He’s dead?”
She nodded slowly. “The night of the party. While we were all having fun and getting wasted, Murphy was dying in the hospital… Alone.”
“Oh my god.” My stomach rolled harder than before, images of blood, broken bones and everything else I’d seen in gory movies filling my head. I dropped down on my bed, staring into thin air. “I didn’t know.”
That meant it could happen to Lucian. He could go out one night and not come back. He could be the one dumped outside of a hospital, battered, broken, with nobody around him. No, that wasn’t going to happen; it couldn’t.
“You didn’t give me a chance to tell you,” she explained. “I started, but you hung up. I understand, Lu, I really do, but what Lucian’s into, it’s not good.” Grace stood in front of me and took my hands. “It’s illegal fighting.” Her voice was stern, right to the point, and I could tell she thought she was telling me the last piece of information that would make me change my mind. I slowly raised my head to look up at her, and she exhaled quickly like I’d punched her in the gut. “Oh, no. You already know, don’t you?”
I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but all of the signs were there. It didn’t matter though, it was out of my control. “Grace, I can’t change anything,” I whispered as a sob escaped.
“But you can get yourself out of this before you get your heart broken like I did!” she snapped. “Nothing good can come of it. There’ll come a day when the fight means more to him than you do, and when that time comes, you’re going to feel like your heart was torn right out of your chest.”
“I love him,” I blurted out and quickly stood. “I can’t just walk away from him, Grace, because I love him.”
“Like I loved Murphy,” she countered, a watery smile appearing and disappearing just as fast. “God, I loved him fiercely. He was my everything, I thought I’d found the one, the person I was going to be with for the rest of my life. But, do you k
now the last thing he said to me?” I shook my head, and small drops fell from my chin. “He said, ‘you’re just not worth my time, Gracie. I could be training to be better, stronger, but instead of doing that, I’ve been with you. I don’t want to be held back by you anymore, you’re just no good for me.’” Grace wiped her face, and swallowed hard. “The last time I saw him up close, I was watching his casket being lowered into the ground.”
I wiped my cheeks but my eyes kept spilling over. I couldn’t imagine what she went through, but Lucian wasn’t Murphy. “I’m sorry he hurt you like that, Grace. What he did was awful, but Lucian isn’t like that.” He wasn’t, I just knew it, and I would keep telling myself that over and over. The things he did to be with me proved that much, and he promised me he wouldn’t go into anything he couldn’t walk away from. I had to trust him, didn’t I?
“The reason I kept inviting them to my parties was because even though Murphy broke my heart, they were my last connection to him,” she said as though I hadn’t opened my mouth. “I sound pathetic, I know, but even though he never came, I held onto the tiny shred of hope inside of me that he would tell me he was wrong, that he was sorry and he wanted me back. I just couldn’t get over the change in him. It was like I was his world one day, and the next… I was the bad smell he couldn’t wait to get rid of. I wanted to save you the pain of what I went through, Lu, before Lucian ended up the same way.”
“No, he won’t.” I hissed. I wouldn’t let him, and I was going to do what I could to make sure of it.
We both turned at the sound of our names being called to dinner. We headed downstairs in silence toward the dining room.
Before we went in, Grace gripped my forearm. “Murphy’s last name was Rand.”
“What?”
“Your dad knows all about it.”
“How?” I asked, then my eyes bulged. Oh fuck, it was the case he was working on.
Grace nodded and wiped under her eyes once more. “What we know could possibly get us into deep shit, Lu, so if you want to know more, be fucking careful what you say.”
My dad sat next to my mom, and Aunt Cora sat by her, and the three of them looked at us as we walked in.