by J. L. Drake
“You free me.”
Her lips parted as her fingers slowly drew over my arm.
“I can’t believe I never made the connection.”
I held her head in my hands. “Give me tonight, and I’ll give you the rest.”
I didn’t wait for her answer before I peeled away and out the door. If she had said no, I didn’t think I could fight.
“Ready?” Langley mouthed through the sea of people shouting behind the main doors.
I nodded but looked back to see Tess standing next to Gus. Both looked very unhappy. Gus leaned over and whispered something to her, and she nodded with her eyes on the ground.
When she looked over, I gave her a wink. Her eyes lit up, but I knew the trouble that still stormed inside her, and it wouldn’t take a lot for it to brew to the surface.
I reached out to grab her hand and tugged her to my side once more.
“No,” Langley shouted. “Your fans don’t want to see her. They want you. Bad marketing move, Trigger.”
“Don’t care,” I grunted and pushed the steel doors open. Cameras flashed from all directions, and fluorescent lights beat down on my shoulders. I felt my shoes squish on the rubber mat, and my hearing tuned in and out of the insane crowd ahead of me. Tess flexed her grip and stepped closer as I urged her forward down the ramp to the ring.
Eighty percent of the crowd were my old fans, and the rest were new. I recognized the black t-shirts my father had made up many years ago when I was at the top.
“Flip your switch” ran across the front in red letters, and “Trigger” was underneath.
The buildup started in the pit of my stomach. The warmth invaded my veins and sent a steroid shot to my system.
I was back.
I pointed to a chair and leaned in next to her ear. “Stay here.”
She nodded and took the chair next to Brick, and he wrapped his arm around her for comfort.
She mouthed, “Good luck.”
I locked eyes with her once more then broke away. I could feel the fear radiating off her. I was aware of my habit after a fight, that I’d disappear into another dimension, but now I knew I had a reason to come back.
I needed to get my head in this now, one hundred percent, before I stepped up the stairs.
Langley lifted the ropes, and I ducked under and did a turn for the crowd. I was never an attention seeker, nor was I now, but I felt they deserved a little attention considering it had been nearly two decades since I stepped foot in the ring.
The vibrations of the crowd traveled up the length of my body, powering everything to the max. It was like when you started a carnival ride. The lights flickered on, and you could hear the beast of the engine start with a roar.
I have been awakened.
The announcer spoke, but only his mouth moved. I whirled around, waiting for the devil to show its ugly head.
It was time.
I saw Jace and Rail lean over and say something to Tess. She looked unsure but stood. I didn’t have time to think as the crowd went crazy. The energy in the room swirled around like a wild dirt devil, and there he was. The man I feared as a boy, killed as a teenager, and hunted as an adult.
He stood just shy of a foot away from me. He wasn’t as built, but he was lean. I never underestimated Allen and what he brought to the table, and I wasn’t about to now.
“Son,” he greeted me, and I felt the same rush of hate I got when I was younger. Instead of letting it fester into fear, I channeled it into fuel.
He made sure to glance over at the ropes like he always did, when he’d lean over them and wait like the reaper. He was referring to my tattoo. Death is never far.
The announcer, dressed in a flashy suit, stepped into the center of the ring, lifted his hand, and waited for the mic to lower from the ceiling.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome!” I was momentarily deafened by the roar of the thirsty crowd.
His mouth started to move again, but I had my eyes on my father, who wore an evil smirk. If I concentrated, I could snap back to twenty years ago when he loomed over me with the same expression.
Suddenly, my father raised his hand and stepped over to the announcer. The man bowed and got out of the way.
“Damn, it’s good to be back!” He egged on the crowd, and they went wild for this sideshow act. “Now, let’s be honest, here.” He did a spin, making sure to show his respect. “This,” he waved between us, “isn’t a fair fight. I’m sixty-three, and he’s thirty-six. That’s a twenty-seven-year difference.” The crowd booed, but he held his hand up, and a cold feeling washed over me. “So, I thought to myself, who would be wild enough to go up against my son? The boy who killed his own father? Well,” he patted himself down, “almost.”
I looked around to connect the dots, but I didn’t see anyone come in from his door, and no one was waiting around the ring.
“Son?” My father’s voice snapped my attention back to him. His arms were stretched out, his hands raised like some kind of prophet.
Just when I thought I couldn’t be any more betrayed, I saw my childhood anchor whip off his t-shirt and pants and his raise his fists to start.
“Why?” was all that came out.
“Money can make you do a lot of things, son.” Langley shrugged and nodded at my father, who slipped between the ropes and whispered something to the announcer.
“Place your new bets now!” screamed over the mic.
I gave in to the dark hole that opened at my feet. I had been betrayed before, but this cut to the core. Langley was the only one I thought ever cared. He had tried to protect me from my father. What the fuck had changed?
“You gonna fight me or stand there?”
I vaguely noticed the bell ringing, and my arms shot up to block my face.
Langley moved in to throw a punch, but I leaned back, and it fell short. I counterpunched with my right. I moved toward him, but he expected that and threw a kick to my ribcage and followed through with a left. Fuck, he knew all my moves. He was the one who trained me.
I threw a left, a right, an uppercut, and Langley moved back out of the way to the corner. I grabbed him around the chest and held him, throwing my knee toward his stomach. Langley blocked my knee with his arms.
I had to come up with a move he wouldn’t expect. I had to slow the fight down to think. I pushed off him and threw my elbow desperately into his face, cutting him above the right eye, then stepped back and turned with a three-hundred-sixty-degree roundhouse swing. Langley anticipated me by ducking and countered with another kick to my ribs, then threw a left, right, left, opening a cut above my eye. He followed that with a kick to my thigh, buckling my knee, and as I fell forward, he kneed me in the face, busting my nose. Blood streamed down my face. Shit, he was all over me. I fell into the ropes, and Langley stepped back, knowing if he grabbed me, I would be able to overpower him. So, he switched up and threw another kick to my thigh. I knew I had to get into the game fast. My head was ringing.
Langley threw a couple of left jabs, followed with a right that rocked me backward, and sent a kick to my ribs, but this time I grabbed his leg and knocked him off balance to the canvas. I jumped on him and threw a couple of punches. He grabbed me and pulled himself up close to my chest, so I couldn’t get a swing at him. I dropped an elbow hard into his already bloody face.
Suddenly, I heard hands slamming against the canvas and Brick roaring, “Trigger, end this shit. They got Tess!”
“What the fuck?” Langley escaped from the hold when I lost my concentration to scan the crowd for Tess. Her seat was empty. Langley threw a kick at my face, spraying blood over the spectators.
Punch, punch, punch. I turned into a robot. Kick, kick, kick.
One of my punches hit air, and I shook my head, confused. The darkness faded into grays, and I saw Langley on the ground, unconscious.
The announcer raced over and checked his neck while I searched the ring’s perimeter for my father.
He was gone, but what ca
ught my eye was Zay. He was climbing the steps to go outside. What the fuck was he doing here?
I felt a stab to the gut and whirled as Brick’s words hit me like a wall. Tess was gone. I vaguely heard the results. “Our victor! Trigger!”
Chapter
Twenty-One
Tess
Fifteen minutes earlier…
“Okay, okay!” Jace wiggled his way through the seats and repeated our order to himself.
“Don’t fuck it up, prospect, or the next round is on you.”
“Hysterical.” He flipped Rail the finger, and I shifted at the nerves eating away at my core. Trigger was on the bench in a zone, while Langley yelled a bunch of things that couldn’t be heard over the roaring crowd.
“Oh.” Jace’s hand landed on the back of my seat. His eyes closed, and he looked almost sick by the way he swayed on his feet.
“You good, Jace?”
“Yeah.” He took a deep breath through his nose then started up the ramp we came down. The doorman glanced at his ID badge and let him out. The door swung wider as someone came in with a cart, and I saw Jace double over on the floor.
“Oh, my God!” I leaped from my seat and raced out the door before it closed. My knees hit the floor hard as I pushed someone out of the way.
“Jace!” I shook his shoulders. “You okay?”
His eyes fluttered open, and he looked at me strangely. “Oh,” his hand landed on his head, “I feel like shit.”
“Well, you look like it, so that would make sense,” I joked, but I looked around for a place to prop him up. I scrambled to my feet and tried to help him up. I wasn’t strong enough, and he fell back down.
“Shit, let me grab Brick.”
“No.” He grabbed my hand again and tried to rise, and just as his legs began to give out, someone caught him under the arms.
“Damn, dude, what’d you drink?”
“Nothing yet,” I replied for Jace. “I think he may have eaten something.”
Jace shook the man’s hands off him and glanced around. “I just need the noise to stop.” He grabbed my shoulders and sagged into me. “Help to the manager’s office. He knows me. He’ll let me crash for a second.”
“Okay.” I tried to smile at the man. “Thank you.”
“Yup.” He stepped away and shook his head like he was annoyed.
He’s not drunk, dude.
I pushed the door open and found a room littered with trophies and medals, a rusty desk, no windows, a small door in the far wall with pictures framing it, and a leather couch. I nearly dropped Jace onto it and rolled my shoulder to relieve the muscle strain from his weight.
“Fuck, that’s better.” He rolled to his side and pulled his knees up to his chest. “What the hell was in that burrito?”
“If you insist on eating street meat, you get what you deserve.”
“Stop parenting me.”
I chuckled. “Stop acting like a child, and I wouldn’t have to.”
He rolled his head to look at me but didn’t move his body. “This won’t count for much later, but thank you.”
“Why won’t it count later?” That was a strange comment, but I couldn’t focus on Jace anymore. The noise of the crowd told me the fight had started, and I needed to get back to the arena.
“I’m sorry, Tess.”
“You’re losing it, Jace.” I stood and gave a little wave. “I’m going to grab Brick, okay?”
“Tess…”
Just as he said my name, I turned to find Zay standing in the doorway.
Huh? No!
I mentally kicked myself for believing the piece of shit in front of me knew my family. He was that prickle up my spine sometimes when I was out in public. He was the one who watched me from across the street or at the pier. How did I not remember his face? Stay calm, Tess.
“Jace, go get Trigger.”
“I can’t. I’m sorry.” His tone made my heart drop into my stomach as it all clicked together.
“No, not you, Jace?” I wanted to cry. Not my friend, not the mole. Please, no.
“Now,” Zay pulled on a pair of leather gloves, and I almost laughed out of pure fear, “we need to leave before they arrive.”
“Who?” I jumped when Jace grabbed my arm, looking much better than before, and pulled me toward the door. I couldn’t look at him, I was so hurt. I had been there for Jace after Ty was killed. We had formed a bond, and this was where it got me. “Don’t fucking touch me!”
“She runs,” Zay checked his gun clip, “shoot her.”
“Shut up, Tess,” Jace warned as I tried to wiggle out of his hold, but he latched on tighter and pushed me out the exit door to the outside. “Just do as they say.”
Fucking cliché line, Jace.
“Help!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Someone help me!” Zay flipped around and slammed the butt of his gun into my stomach and knocked the wind right out of me. Before I could think, I was shoved into a limo, and as the door shut, I heard Gus’s voice. I scrambled to my knees and tried the doors and windows.
“Take me too.” He waved his arms. “Two for one. We are all he cares about, Zay. You know that. Why not hit him where it hurts the most? Family.”
Holy shit, what was he doing?
“Gus! No!” I hardly recognized my tone, it was laced with such terror. He wouldn’t be able to handle this.
A thick dose of panic rippled through me like an earthquake. What were they going to do?
“Just fucking grab him, man!” Jace screamed. He seemed amped up, unlike the Jace I knew and became friends with.
Zay put a radio up to his ear and looked all around. I went for the handle of the door when it clicked open, but Jace beat me to it. He shoved me back hard as he sat next to me.
“Don’t make me hurt you, Tess, please.” He covered his face and whispered, “Shit, this is so fucked up.”
“Jace,” I reached over, but he jumped at my touch, “please, please don’t do this.”
“You think I want this? You think I had a choice?” he nearly screamed. “I’m a goddamn prospect. I do as I’m fucking told.”
“Wait.” I tried to understand. “Trigger asked you to take me?”
“No!” He shook his head. “Him.” He nodded, and for the third time in my life, I had the devil in my sights. Trigger’s father.
Zay pointed his gun at Gus, and I snapped back to what was happening. I screamed and clawed at the window for him to stop. Not Gus, not someone as sweet and harmless as Gus. The boys popped into my head, and I wanted to cry and take his place. No kid should go through life without parents. They needed him. Shit, I needed him. He filled a void I hadn’t even known I had.
“If that’s her reaction, imagine Trigger’s.” Zay snickered. “Get in, old man.” He grabbed Gus by the shirt and tossed him inside.
“Jesus Christ, be careful,” I snapped at Zay. He tried to elbow me in the throat, but I ducked out of the way. He slammed the door, and I helped Gus to the seat and held his hand.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” He squinted and held his knee. “You?”
“Why would you make them take you? What about the boys?”
He rolled his head to face me. “I’m your only hope of getting through this.” He lowered his voice. “And that ain’t saying much.”
He snapped his gaze over to Jace, who looked to have lost three shades of color. They exchanged some kind of look, almost an understanding that we were royally fucked.
My phone vibrated against my leg, and I shifted to pull it free.
Oh, my God!
Gus bumped my knee to get my attention and mouthed, “One, two, three.”
“Savi!” I screamed in a desperate plea, and Jace’s head whipped around in confusion. “Savi! Allen took us. Gus and I are in—”
Jace lunged for the phone, but Gus tossed his body weight at him.
“Tess! Where are you right now?”
“Vegas! Outside the fight. Trigger is still inside!�
�
“You stupid bitch!” Jace grabbed my leg and tried to pull himself upright. “Give me that!”
“Savi, you need to tell Trigger that Jace is the mole and—”
“Listen to me,” she said to stop my mad chatter. “Where are they taking you? Did they say?”
Just as I was about to answer, Jace knocked the phone from my hands and scooped it up.
Gus huffed with his arm wrapped around his stomach and struggled to get back into the seat.
“You’re fucking insane, Tess!” Jace quickly turned it off, but I noticed he didn’t toss it away. He just tucked it in his pocket. “You’re going to get me into trouble.”
“Yes, and we wouldn’t want that.” My voice dripped with sarcasm as my heart dropped into my stomach again. Did I fuck everything up by showing I had my phone? Did I just lose our one lifeline? Gus was still holding his side. One eye opened, and I saw him peel back his fingers to show me he had his phone on, and it was on a map.
Sneaky old man.
Jace was staring out the window, and when he suddenly sat up straight, I knew things were about to get a whole lot worse.
He rolled down the window. “They’re here.”
Blue and red flashing lights filled the inside of the limo and flooded the main parking lot.
Zay waited as a blue car rolled up, and out stepped an officer I hadn’t seen before. I squinted to read his patches. Why wasn’t I surprised to find a Santa Monica cop here? A flashlight skimmed his name tag, and I caught the first few letters. DOY.
“Who’s that?” I whispered to Gus, who looked like he’d seen a ghost. The engine started, and we peeled out of the driveway and onto the street. I turned to see the lights of the building slowly trickle away like so many fireflies.
Gus shook his head at Jace. “What the fuck did you guys do?”
***
Trigger
“Where is she?” I screamed over the crowd as people tried to grab at me from every direction.
I was wild and drunk for his kill. I needed to smell his blood, to watch as it drained from his body and circled my feet. I wanted to remove his eyes, teeth, and burn off his fingerprints so he didn’t exist anymore. I wanted so much more, but he was gone, like so much fucking smoke and mirrors.