Rayna was smiling up at Prettyboy like he’d just told her the world’s funniest joke and Fury’s heart stalled.
Slayer was right.
If he wanted her, he couldn’t keep leading her on. He had to commit to her, because she wasn’t the type of woman to settle for less.
She deserved the best.
Like Lizzie.
Lizzie…
Fury tried not to let her memory suffocate him, but her expressive eyes and crooked smile filled his head. The pain leeched all common sense from his him, sucked him dry of all logical reasoning; whenever he thought of Lizzie, thought of how he’d failed her, he wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
Rayna reminded him of her in a few small ways.
Her mannerisms, her attitude, the way she tried to be nice to anyone who was kind to her.
Lizzie had been like that, kind to a fault, sweet as sugar. She didn’t deserve the ending she got, and Fury fucking knew it.
He’d give everything to take it back, to bring her home, to unbury her.
Being with Rayna made it better and worse, because what if he failed her too?
Fuck, what if he lost her?
She couldn’t afford to be let down again.
But, could he risk losing her before he even took the chance to have her?
Her tinkling laughter filtered into the night air and Fury watched, bewitched, as she sipped on her mug and listened intently to Green tell a story.
She looked so happy.
Healthy, even.
Rayna had obviously gained weight in the last week.
Not a lot, but it settled well on her tiny frame.
Fury thought she was so beautiful, a warrior princess there to slay him only to bring him back to life ,and do it all over again.
“Fury, the Lone Rangers are here. Axel’s lookin’ for you,” Rider said behind him.
Fury looked up at the same time Rayna did, and her gaze struck him like lightning.
Hot.
Painful.
So. Fucking. Lonely.
Rayna was a phoenix rising from the ash, and Fury knew he was the fire that would incinerate her.
He was the torment that would pluck the feathers from her newfound wings and suck the life out of her.
Rayna followed him with her eyes as he turned to face Rider.
“Tell him I’ll be right there.”
Rider nodded solemnly as Fury headed towards the back end of the lot.
The cage looked foreboding in the moonlight, but right then, it also looked like the only thing in the world that could contain Fury and all of his grief.
Tonight, he wouldn’t just be battling Axel for tenth time, he’d be battling himself for the hundredth.
Chapter Ten
Rayna held her hands down at her sides as she struggled to move through the throngs of people who were crowding around the lot. She was so busy trying to find anyone she knew that she kept bumping into people she didn’t know.
“Sorry! Excuse me,” She muttered yet again as a busty blonde moved to make room for her.
In all reality, Rayna was looking for Fury.
Like that was a secret.
She wanted to tell him she was sorry for being so stubborn and wanted to ask if they could just bury the hatchet and move on.
Be friends, maybe, because she’d be a fucking liar if she said she didn’t want that.
Need, is more like it.
If Fury couldn’t handle being her man, which she wasn’t even sure she was ready for, then she could settle for being friends.
Rayna would rather have him in her life as a friend than whatever the hell they’d been doing.
“Who’s ready for a fighttt?,” Rayna heard.
She saw Slayer hanging from the top of a metal cage, and she headed for it.
The people around her went bat-shit crazy then, screaming and catcalling.
She covered her ears in an effort to drown out the sound, but as if Moses were leading her towards Fury, the crowd suddenly parted and she felt him behind her.
Strong, immovable, hot- Fury’s hands landed on her waist from behind and she had to hold her breath to keep from moaning.
“I hope you’ll stay for the show, baby.”
Holy fuck-
His words soaked into her skin like warm butter on toast and Rayna watched as he headed for the metal cage Slayer was still hanging from.
Correction, he was now swinging from it like King Kong.
Fury was shirtless, wearing nothing but a tight pair of black Underarmour shorts.
His skin glistened in the bright lights aimed directly at the small octagon, every tanned inch covered in tattoos.
Rayna couldn’t help herself; she had to get a closer look at the man who’d touched her body like he was meant to.
The man that her heart pounding like he had control over her pulse…
Every inch of bulging muscle was on display, maybe not for her, but it felt that way as she stepped closer to the cage.
She was so close she could see the man Fury was fighting, and he was a monster.
Scarred, angry, practically snarling as he watched Fury from the opposite side of the cage.
He had long brown hair that fell into his eyes as he glared at Fury, his mouth agape and his muscles flexing.
He was shorter than Fury by a few inches, but that didn’t seem to matter; the man was built like a fucking tank, and if his scars were any indication, he’d seen war like one, too.
“Are you guys ready?,” Slayer yelled over the roar of the crowd.
Fury’s lip twisted in a leer as he watched his opponent.
Rayna didn’t think Fury looked worried, so she tried to take to mean that she shouldn’t worry...but she did.
“GO!”
Slayer only had to say one word to make them lunge at one another like two lions fighting over a piece of meat.
“Go, Axel!”
Some little tramp from behind Rayna yelled that.
Axel.
That’s who Rider was talking about earlier.
Rayna felt a presence next to her and looked up to see Laura standing beside her.
“Crazy, huh?”
Rayna could only nod as she watched Fury lift Axel into the air and slam him into the ground.
The entire cage rattled from the impact, but it didn’t slow Axel down.
He had Fury in his tight grip as he landed a solid jab to his jaw.
“How long will they do this?”
“Until Fury wins,” Laura said.
Rayna glanced at her as she tried to hide her own fear.
“He’ll win?”
Laura smirked, as if she knew, as if Rayna too should know the answer.
“Honey, Fury always wins.”
Her words should have made Rayna feel better, but the blood oozing from Fury’s gorgeous mouth made her tense.
“He’s hurt!,” She cried.
Not Fury.
He can’t be hurt.
Laura laughed and looked at Rayna.
“He’s gotten a lot worse than that, Rayna. Just treated a stab wound on him not too long ago,” Laura admitted.
Rayna looked at her with wide eyes.
“It happened during the Steel Ponies business,” Laura clarified.
“Did you see Lizzie?”
The words were out of Rayna’s mouth before she could stop them.
Laura’s gaze shot to hers, her arms crossing over her chest.
“Who told you about Lizzie?”
“Ox told me.”
Laura dipped her head and tucked blonde hair back behind her ears.
“I tried everything I could, but she was already gone by the time they brought her to me.”
Rayna didn’t take her eyes off of Fury as he pummeled Axel when she asked, “How’d she die?”
“Gunshot wound. Among other things.”
“Things like...what happened to me?,” Rayna asked softly as she glanced at her.
Laura
nodded.
“Yeah, Rayna. Like what happened to you.”
Shit.
Fuck, fuck, fuck-
The truth made her cringe, made her want to curl in on herself.
It made her want to hide, and cry, and scream because those demons were back and they were watching over her like an underworld reaper crew.
“I should leave here, shouldn’t I?,” Rayna wondered as she watched Fury.
I should put him out of his misery.
Laura’s hand landed on her shoulder, but still Rayna didn’t look at her.
“If you leave now, he’ll never recover. Fury needs someone like you, Rayna. You won’t take his shit, and he knows you’ll have his back. He’s just scared that if he loves you too, he’ll lose you like he lost his sister.”
Rayna didn’t say anything, because she didn’t have anything to say.
She had no idea what was going on, what she was doing, but the one thing that did make sense...was the fact that she wanted Fury.
Screw what the Blazin’ Eagles did to her, fuck how they hurt her- if she had him by her side, she could face it.
She knew it.
Rayna gasped as Fury took a hit, a hard hit, and dropped to the mat.
Axel took that opportunity to rain down hits anywhere he could land them, and the sight of Fury down on the ground like that made Rayna lose it.
Rayna waited for him to get up, to rip Axel to pieces, but he wasn’t moving.
“Laura, what the fuck is he doing?!”
The panicked look on Laura’s face said she was just as scared as Rayna.
“I don’t know-”
“He’s hurting him!,” Rayna cried as she watched, terrified, as Fury remained on the ground while Axel’s fists worked him over.
“He’s throwing the fight! My god, why would he do that?”
Rayna didn’t wait for Laura to finish as she saddled up to the cage and slammed her palms against it.
When that didn’t catch his attention, she tried something else.
She gripped the cage with both hands and shook the metal links.
“Fury! Get up, baby! You got this!”
At first he didn’t move, but she yelled it again, louder.
She demanded.
“Fury! Get your ass up and end this!”
Fury’s whole body seized as he rolled to his feet and knocked Axel backwards with a kick so powerful it had Rayna wincing.
She clapped her hands and shook the cage again, her blue eyes never leaving Fury.
His body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, his dark hair slicked back against his skull.
He advanced on Axel slowly, his hands clenched into bloody fists at his sides.
Axel seemed to realize that his time was up, but he didn’t back down.
Instead, he ran right for Fury, his fists raised.
Then it all happened so fast-
Somehow Fury got Axel on his back and his fists were slamming into his face over and over and over- and it didn’t look like he planned on stopping.
Ox stormed into the cage at the last second and pried Fury off of Axel, his raised voice getting swallowed the by the sound of the crowd.
Fury was pushing against Ox’s hold, and he was breathing hard. Like a bull after that damn red cape.
“Shit, looks like he lost it,” Laura said beside Rayna.
Rayna was bewildered as she searched the crowd for a glimpse of Ox or Fury.
“I better go see if I can help. You should probably stay away from Fury for the rest of the night, Rayna. Looks like something’s up with him.”
But, Rayna knew that she couldn’t stay away.
He was like a fucking magnet, pulling her to him from across the packed parking lot.
She followed some of the crowd inside, looking around wildly for Fury.
Rayna didn’t care if their connection made sense to anyone else, she didn’t care what people thought about them together...
She didn’t even care what Ox wanted.
All that mattered was finding Fury, because she had to see what was going on with them, and where they stood.
Rayna had to see if he was okay.
“Rayna, where ya headed?”
Rayna stopped to see Arrow smiling at her from behind the bar, Torch to his left.
Torch was frowning at her like he always did, but she just ignored him.
“Fury. Where’d he go?’
Arrow’s smile fell and Torch spoke up.
“Leave him be. He doesn’t need you buggin’ him.”
Arrow’s mouth fell open and Rayna’s eyes narrowed as she neared the bar.
“You got some shit you wanna say to me, Torch? ‘Cause the last man who had somethin’ to say to me got his fuckin’ head blown off.”
Torch’s eyes widened but before he could answer, Arrow spoke.
“Jesus, Torch, watch your mouth! If she doesn’t hurt you for disrespecting her, Fury will. He went to his room, sweetheart.”
Rayna nodded and sent Torch a glare before she headed down the hallway that led to Fury’s room.
Little shit.
Fury’s room was on the opposite side of the clubhouse from her room, and she rarely went down the hallway that housed most of the men’s rooms.
She never had a reason before.
Finding his room was a little tricker than she thought, but thankfully his bedroom door was open just slightly.
Rayna saw Fury sitting on a small stool near his bedroom window, his back to her.
He was staring at his hands silently.
He looked so imposing, so big and rigid...
She thought about changing her mind, but decided against it and stepped inside quietly before she closed the door behind her.
Rayna leaned against the door for support as she waited for Fury to acknowledge her.
She could see his dark eyes watching her in the reflection on the window.
“What do you want?,” He finally asked.
You, you, you-
“I just wanted to check on you.”
“I’m fine,” He spat.
Rayna flinched at the tone of his voice.
“I wanted to tell you I’m sorry for pushing you the other night. I shouldn’t have gotten so upset. I kn-I understand that all we can be is friends. I understand why you don’t want me in that way. I was hoping we could call a truce,” Rayna managed to mutter without crying.
Friends, what a fucking joke.
When she finally gathered the courage to look up at Fury he was standing while he unwrapped his hands.
The bloody tape fell into the garbage can near his feet, and Rayna watched as he finally turned around.
She hissed at the sight of his face.
His left eye was almost swollen shut, his mouth was torn and bloody, his nose was still running red.
Without even thinking, she headed right for him and cupped his bruised cheeks in her hands.
“Does it hurt? I’ll get you some ice-”
He didn't deny her, so she made to grab the ice.
Rayna moved to leave and Fury stopped her by tugging her back into his arms.
“Wait! Just wait a second. What happened the other night wasn’t your fault, it was mine. I’m sorry I said what I said, I didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” Fury said.
Rayna felt her heart skip a beat when he pinned her with those dusky eyes she loved.
“Okay.”
“I just didn’t know how to handle the fact that you knew about Lizzie, and I wanted you so badly I was willing to fuck everything up just so I could taste you. I shouldn’t have even touched you while you were drunk.”
Rayna hung her head and sighed.
“You don’t have to spare my feelings. I know I threw myself at you and I’ve been drinking to erase the memory all week.”
Fury nudged her chin up and shook his head.
“No. That was all me. I wanna forget about it. I want to move on from it.”
“Okay.”
Rayna looked up into his bloody face, trying not to let her heart leap into her throat and spill all of the things she was trying to keep to herself.
“Why did you let Axel hurt you?”
Fury tried to pull away from her but she stopped him.
“Come on, just talk to me! Stop pushing me away for one fucking night, Fury. I care about you. I want to help you,” Rayna demanded.
Fury’s gaze was so intense she lost her breath.
“I should be helping you. You just survived hell, and I’ve been a selfish bastard, Rayna-
“Baby, stop. Tell me what’s going through your head,” Rayna urged.
She ran her thumb over Fury’s bottom lip.
“I didn’t save Lizzie. I wasn’t there when she needed me, Rayna. I deserve what Axel gave me a million times over,” Fury whispered.
Rayna’s eyes welled with tears and she bit her bottom lip to keep from crying.
“No, you don’t. That’s not how it works, Fury. What happened to her was awful, but it wasn’t your fault. Do you really think she’d want you getting yourself bloodied in her name?”
Fury didn’t say a word as he lifted one of Rayna’s hands into his and ran his thumb along her scarred knuckles.
“No, she’d be pissed. But ,I can't help the way I feel.”
“When my dad died, I felt so guilty I couldn’t function. They let him rot right outside the clubhouse for days before they buried him. Like you, I didn’t get to say goodbye. It hurt so bad,” Rayna admitted.
Fury stared down at her.
“I’m so sorry.”
“I don’t want you to be sorry, I just want you to know I understand. They killed him because neither of us would give them what they wanted, and I felt sick over the hand I played in that. So, I kind of view what those men did to me as my punishment...I guess, kind of like you with your fighting.”
“I’ve been fighting for years, and what those men did you is sick, not a worthy punishment.”
Rayna ignored his logic.
“Yeah, but Laura told me you never lose. You were gonna let Axel beat you on purpose.”
His hand traveled the length of her arm until his calloused palm wrapped around the back of her neck.
“You're right. I was. Until I heard you cheering me on.”
Her head snapped up as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Yeah, I heard you. And I didn't want to let you down. Then, once I started, I couldn't stop.”
Wrath (Seven Deadlies MC) Page 9