Fighting Hard

by Marysol James

  Mia found her voice. “But – why would he? Tom cares about getting kids out…”

  “He also cares about large amounts of cash. He provides information that keeps me ahead of the cops; I provide him with a nice lifestyle. It’s win-win, really.”

  Mia remembered now how upset and frustrated Tom had been when she had refused to give him the source’s name. So that’s why. That asshole.

  “Then Tom misunderstood… there is no source on the inside. Just a bunch of sources outside with small bits of information that they don’t even know the meaning of. I gathered enough to make sense of the puzzle… that’s how I got to you.”

  Danny straightened and gazed down at her. “So. You want to do things the hard way.” He smiled. “I like the hard way.”

  The last thing Mia saw was his fist coming at her face. She closed her eyes and screamed. Screamed again. Then she fell in to darkness.

  **

  Nick got out of the car and looked around the parking lot. Empty.

  “I’m going in there.”

  “Nick – wait!”

  Not many people could physically stop Nick from doing what he wanted to do, but Adam was one of them. His massive arms clamped down around Nick’s chest and he held him from behind.

  “Fuck, Adam… let me go!”

  “No.”

  Nick struggled, but it was no use: even with Nick’s strength, trying to break Adam’s grip was like trying to break a steel bar with a feather. He calmed down and slumped, tears in his eyes.

  “It’s going to happen again, Adam.”

  “What is?”

  “Somebody that I love is going to be killed right in front of me, and I won’t be able to stop it. We can’t wait for the cops… we need to go and get her.”

  Shelley. Slowly, Adam relaxed his hold. “Nick. Listen to me.”

  “OK.”

  “Are you listening?”

  “Yeah.”

  Adam let him go and the two men faced each other. Adam saw Nick’s tears and his hard blue eyes softened.

  “Nick, this is not going to be anything like Shelley, I promise you. We’re going in there to get Mia, we’re not waiting for anyone. OK? That isn’t even up for debate. But before we go charging in, we need to know how many there are.”

  “God, Adam. We can each take five easily.”

  “If they have guns?”

  Nick fell silent.

  “Right. Exactly.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “You stay here. I’m going to take a look.”

  Nick nodded even though every cell in his body was telling him to run through that door to Mia. He watched as Adam crept around the side of the building, peering through windows; it looked like an abandoned storage space. Nick looked behind him, in to the poorly-lit street, squinting to see if anyone was hanging around.

  Adam came back and Nick almost jumped at him.

  “So?”

  Adam didn’t want Nick to know that he had seen some giant guy punching Mia. If he did, he’d bust through that door for sure.

  “OK. I saw one guy and one woman. No guns, at least none at hand.”

  “Mia?”

  “Yeah, I saw her. Listen, we need to go down what looks like a long hallway, so there may be other people. Let’s take it slow, OK? If we get caught, we’re no good to her, Nick.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you hearing me?”

  Nick stared at Adam and took a breath. “Yeah. Yeah, I hear you.”

  “OK. Let’s go.”

  The men snuck through the door and down the hall, stopping every few steps to listen. Nick counted eight closed doors and when Adam tried them, they were all locked. Adam pressed his ear up against one and his face blanched.

  “What?” Nick whispered. “What is it?”

  “Kids.” Adam could barely get the word out. “Kids crying.”

  They stared at each other, horrified.

  “The cops are on their way,” Nick said, trying to think straight. “They’ll help the kids.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, let’s get Mia.”

  They heard shouting and scuffling at the end of the hall and they picked up the pace a bit, trying to keep quiet.

  Nick poked his head around the open door in to the room where he heard yelling. He saw a dark-haired man shouting at a small blonde woman. She was cowering in a corner, terrified. Her nose was bleeding.

  “Get me some more water, bitch!” he shouted. “Now!”

  “Danny…” The woman was begging. “Danny, please. You’re going to kill her.”

  “I’m going to kill her anyway,” the man said. “She knows about Tom.”

  At those words, Nick burst in to the room. He ran at the startled man and without one word or second of hesitation, Nick punched him in the face, as hard as possible. The man grunted and went down on his knees, dazed and shaking his head. Nick hit him again, and again, crazed and out of control, his blood pounding in his ears. He saw nothing but red.

  Adam grabbed his fist. “Nick, stop! Nick, he’s out!”

  Nick blinked and his vision cleared. He looked down at the guy unconscious on the floor, battered and beaten. Nick looked around and sucked in his breath.

  Mia was tied to a chair, her face bloody, her clothing and hair soaking wet. She wasn’t moving and her eyes were closed.

  “Oh, God…Mia.”

  He ran to her and then stopped, suddenly scared to touch her. He knelt down beside her.

  “Mia? Can you hear me?”

  Mia thought she heard Nick talking to her. But that’s not possible. Nick is in the club flirting with that woman. Maybe he’s even having sex with her right now. She turned her head and moaned.

  “Mia?” Nick reached out and stroked her face. “Babe?”

  She opened her eyes.

  “Hey,” he said. “I’m right here. You’re OK now. I’ve got you.”

  “Nick?” Her voice was weak and full of pain and it terrified him.

  “It’s me. Hold on, OK? I’m going to untie you.”

  His fingers fumbled with the knots and she groaned as he lifted her out of the chair and carried her to a dry place. He sat down, his back against the wall, and wrapped her in his arms. Vividly, he recalled that first night they met and how he held her like this in the back seat as she lay helpless on his body, totally dependent on him to keep her safe.

  Mia tried to speak again, to ask Nick what he was doing there, but the pain in her head overwhelmed her and she whimpered. She fell in to a black pit and passed out cold.

  Nick felt her go totally still. “Mia? Mia!” His split knuckles trailed blood on her face and hair as he touched her. “You promised me you wouldn’t leave me, babe. You promised… I need you to keep that promise, OK? Mia?”

  The blonde woman was kneeling next to him. “Oh, my God... is she going to be alright?”

  Nick looked over at Adam. He was pale and furious but he was calm, calling for an ambulance. Their eyes met.

  “Adam, please.”

  Adam nodded. “She’s in bad shape,” he said to the 911 operator. “You need to hurry.”

  “Three minutes, sir.”

  He came over to Nick. “Is she awake?”

  “No. She’s out again.”

  Adam sat next to Nick and put his arm around his friend. Nick was shaking wildly, rocking back and forth, tears coursing down his face, begging for Mia to keep her promise. And Adam hoped with every fibre of his being that she would.

  **

  Dr. Sam Inglis stared in astonishment at the young woman lying unconscious and beaten on the stretcher, and then at the young man shaking and pale and teary in the waiting room.

  These two look very familiar.

  “Is she going to be OK? How badly is she hurt?”

  “I can’t say right now. I need to examine her carefully.” Sam glanced down at the man’s swollen and bloody hands. “And it looks like you need some medical attention, too.”

  “Huh?” The man’s gra
y eyes stared down. “No. No, I’m fine. My hands have been worse, believe me. Just take care of Mia.”

  “Mia?” Sam blinked. “Oh, yes. You two were in here – what? Two months ago? You’re Nick, right?”

  “Yeah.” The man was shaking worse than before. “Please help her.”

  “Sit down, man, before you fall down.” The huge man next to Nick pushed him in to a chair. Nick subsided without a word of protest and Sam looked down the hall to where Mia had been taken.

  “I’m Adam.” The giant extended a massive hand to Sam. He shook it, astounded at the man’s strength.

  “It’s good to meet you, Adam. OK, I’ll go check her out right now. I’ll be back soon and tell you how she is. Alright?”

  Both men nodded.

  Adam looked at Nick, worried as hell about him. Nick was the color of paper and was still shaking. Adam took off his coat and put it around Nick’s shoulders.

  “I’m OK, Adam.”

  “You are not. You definitely are not. Now, if you want me to drag you down the hall and have them look you over for shock, I can do that. But if you want to stay here and wait for news, then you need to warm up and calm down. You hear me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Nick?”

  “I said, yes.”

  Adam sat down next to him. “She’s going to be OK, man. We got there in time.”

  Nick shook his head. “This is all my fault.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  Nick was quiet, thinking about Mia’s face when he made love to her: so hot and sexy and full of joy. Her face when she smiled at him in the sunrise, her eyes golden and sweet. The he thought about her face when he took off and left her in bed, naked and alone and confused, without any explanation. Her face when she saw him kissing that woman, her face when she turned at his panicked shout, her face when that asshole hit her and knocked her out.

  “Yes, Adam. Yes, it is. All of it.”

  **

  Mia opened her eyes and blinked hard. Everything was white and steel and glass. She heard beeping and smelled some kind of chemicals or bleach.

  “Mia?”

  She turned her head towards the man’s voice.

  “Mia, can you hear me?”

  She nodded slowly, grimacing at the pain.

  The man who stood over her had dark hair and glasses and looked familiar. She struggled to recall how she knew him.

  “I’m Doctor Inglis, Mia. I took care of you two months ago. Do you remember?”

  “Oh. Oh, yes.”

  “OK, good. How are you doing?”

  “Hurts. My head, it hurts.”

  “You were very lucky, I can promise you. Nothing broken. Lots of bruising and some stitches, but you’re going to be OK.”

  “Thank you.”

  He smiled at her. “So, there are two very worried men sitting in the waiting room, dying to come and see how you are…”

  “Nick? Nick is here?”

  “Yes. Nick and Adam.”

  Mia was silent.

  “Mia? Do you want to see them?”

  She was remembering Nick running out of her apartment after making sweet and intense love to her, running straight to The Cave and picking up another woman. Nick who had cared for her and held her, and in the end, it was all just a fuck to him. Nick who had made her feel so safe and secure and special, but who was cheating on her the whole time.

  “Mia?”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “No. I don’t want to see Nick.” She took a shuddering breath. “I don’t want to see Nick ever again.”

  **

  When Nick and Adam saw Dr. Inglis walk in to the waiting room, they leapt to their feet.

  “How is she?” Nick asked. “Is she awake?”

  “Sit down, OK?” Sam said. “We’ll talk.”

  They sat, their faces strained and pale.

  “What you need to know is she’s fine, and that’s the most important thing. No real damage, believe it or not. Bad bruising, some lacerations, but nothing broken.”

  “Thank God.” Nick brushed his eyes. “Can we see her?”

  “Well, ummm. I asked her that and she… she said –”

  Nick leaned back. “She said no.”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “She doesn’t want to see me.”

  “No. She said she doesn’t.” He looked down at his notes. “She asked you to please call Katie to come and be with her.”

  Nick was quiet, staring at his wrecked hands, covered in blood.

  Some of it is Mia’s.

  “I’m sorry, Nick,” Sam said. “Maybe she’ll feel differently about it after a few hours.”

  “She doesn’t know what she’s saying, man,” Adam said gently. “She’s in shock…”

  “No, she does. She does know.” Nick looked at them in despair. “And she’s right. I fucked it all up… everything. It’s all my fault. I’ll leave her alone.”

  Chapter Nine

  Two weeks later, Adam sat in a café close to Mia’s apartment, his powerful hands around an untouched cup of coffee. He was staring out the window and waiting.

  When he saw her dark hair and black coat, he grimaced.

  OK, look. She’s a bitch, that’s clear. But she begged to meet you. Be nice, now.

  Katie walked in, shaking the snow off her coat, dreading this. She spotted Adam and nodded.

  Good Christ. I love you, Mia, or I wouldn’t be doing this.

  Adam stood up to greet her. “Hi.”

  “Hi.”

  “Can I get you something?”

  “Um. Sure.” She blinked in surprise. “A black coffee, please.”

  Adam almost laughed out loud. Black. Of course. Jesus. Does the woman even own a white shirt?

  “OK. Be right back.”

  She settled in to her chair and watched Adam at the counter. He was every bit as massive as she remembered as he stood there in jeans and a blue t-shirt. It annoyed her that she had noticed how well the blue picked up his eyes. It also annoyed her that every woman in the place was staring at him, taking in those broad shoulders and defined muscles.

  No wonder he’s an arrogant prick, with women practically flinging themselves at his feet everywhere he goes.

  Adam came back carrying her coffee. In his hand, the cup looked like a piece in a kids’ play set.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Sure.”

  They sat and looked at each other for a few seconds.

  Adam was surprised to see how drawn Katie’s face was. She looked tired and upset, and she was wearing about half the makeup she had been the first time he’d met her at the gym. It was an improvement, he noticed. Her eyes were softer, somehow, wider and more vulnerable.

  “How’s Mia?” he said.

  She shook her head. “Not good. I’ve been staying with her for the past two weeks. She – she has nightmares. I have to force her to eat and she barely speaks.”

  The thought of Mia in that much pain pierced him. “Has she talked to someone about what happened?”

  “Like a therapist? No.” Katie looked down. “I keep begging her to, but she refuses.”

  He was shocked when a tear rolled down Katie’s cheek. “Katie? Hey, are you OK?”

  “I just – I don’t know what to do any more, Adam. I’m scared for her.” She glanced up at him and he was taken aback at the deep pain and worry in her eyes. “That’s why I called you.”

  “What can I do?” he said. “Tell me. I’ll do anything.”

  She wiped her eyes. “It kills me to ask you this. It really does…”

  “Ask.”

  “I think she needs to see Nick.”

  Adam sighed. “Nick.”

  “Do you think he’d be willing to talk to her? If you told him that she needs him?”

  “He would. He’s been a mess about her these past couple of weeks.”

  Her anger flared. “I don’t give a shit about how Nick’s doing. After what he did to her, wi
th that other woman? The things he said? I mean, I don’t believe that any of what he said about cheating on her was true, but still… it devastated her. And she believes it.”

  “Well, here’s the difference between us, Katie. I care very much how your friend is doing, and I’m not about to make excuses for mine, but I love the guy, OK? And he’s hurting and feeling guilty and worried as hell so yeah, I’m scared for my friend, too.”

  They glared at each other.

  Adam shook his head. “OK, look. This isn’t about us. This is about Mia and what she needs. If you think seeing Nick will help, I’ll tell him.”

  “And you think he’ll come?”

  “Yeah. He will.” Adam thought about Nick’s face recently, broken and hard and tight. “I know you don’t believe it, but he loves her, Katie. He’ll do whatever he can to make sure she’s OK.”

  She nodded as relief washed over her. “Can he come tonight around seven?”

  “I’ll make sure of it.”

  **

  Katie answered Mia’s door and her eyes widened when she saw Nick standing there. In an instant, she knew that Adam was right to be worried about him. In just a few weeks, Nick had shrunk somehow. He looked physically smaller and emotionally defeated, his confidence and control were gone. He looked exhausted and shattered.

  “Hi,” he said.

  “Come in.”

  Nick stepped in to Mia’s apartment and immediately, floods of memories washed over him. Coffee on the sofa with her on Sunday morning and cooking pasta in the kitchen. Making love to her until they both shuddered and cried out, kissing and clutching each other. Holding her while she slept. Just holding her close, feeling her heartbeat.

  God, I miss her.

  “Is she here?”

  “Yeah. I practically shoved her in to the shower a few minutes ago. I wanted to talk to you alone.”

  “OK,” he said.

  “She’s a wreck, Nick. I need to know that you aren’t going to say or do anything to make her worse.”

  “I won’t.” He swallowed. “I won’t hurt her.”

  “But you did hurt her. You know that, right?”

  “Yeah. I know. I blame myself for what happened every minute of every day.”

  Katie looked at him. “Oh, Nick. I thought I’d be thrilled to hear that, but I’m not, surprisingly.”

  “I know you’re furious at me. Thank you for asking me to come. Why did you?”