Tyler's Undoing (Gloves Off Book 3)

by Dover, L. P.

  We started down the hall, pretending everything was okay, but as soon as we got outside of the arena, we both ran as fast as we could. I hadn’t seen my father run like that in years.

  “Let’s take my truck. If anyone sees yours, it’ll blow our cover. Are Kyle’s goons with her?” he asked.

  “I think his agent is. You know who Liam is, right?”

  My father snarled, “How could I forget?”

  “And I think the guy I beat up at the club is with her too. He’s one of Kyle’s friends.”

  “Well, doesn’t this just keep getting better? Whatever happens, I want you to concentrate on getting Kacey. Let me handle the dirty work. You need to conserve your energy for the fight.”

  Speeding down the road, I didn’t care if I got pulled over or not, I wasn’t going to stop until I got to Kacey’s. As far as conserving my energy, if anyone hurt her in any way, I wasn’t going to hold back. I wouldn’t be able to stop, even if I tried.

  There was indeed another car in front of her house. The light was on in her bedroom, as well as in the living room and kitchen, but I couldn’t see in her windows because the blinds were closed.

  “I’m going to park down the street and we can walk up.”

  My father nodded and pulled out a small black bag from his glove compartment.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  Smiling, he opened it up and inside were various lock picks of different sizes. “Do you know how many times I’ve left the keys to the gym at home? Your mother bought me these so I’d always have a way in.”

  Quickly, we both got out of the truck and ran down the sidewalk, crouching behind a set of bushes at the edge of her yard.

  “It’ll only take me a couple of seconds to unlock the door,” he whispered over to me. “As soon as I do, we don’t need to barge in. Let’s do it quietly and catch whoever’s inside of there off guard.”

  My father started toward the front door, but I went straight to Kacey’s window. Her curtains were pulled down, but they were sheer enough to where I could vaguely see inside. She was on her bed with tears streaming down her cheeks. But that wasn’t all . . . she was fucking tied down to her bed. Motherfucker!

  I tried to lift her window, but it was locked. My father hissed my name, and I was about to go to him when I saw Kacey’s bedroom door open and Liam enter. By the look in his hungered stare, and the way he locked the door, I knew what his intentions were.

  Kacey trembled on the bed and fought against her restraints, her wrists blistered and red from the ties. The second Liam crawled on the bed and started touching her, I lost all self-control.

  He was a fucking dead man.

  WHEN LIAM ENTERED and locked the door behind him, I knew I was in trouble. I pulled on my restraints and hissed with pain. “What are you doing?”

  He crawled up the bed and put his hands on my calves, slowly sliding them up my thighs, lifting my dress along the way. He didn’t stop until the bottom of my dress laid on my stomach.

  I felt ill. “Get off of me, Liam. Kyle will kill you when he finds out.”

  “No, he won’t, because he knows he’s nothing without me,” he murmured, kissing his way up my thighs.

  My legs were tied too tightly and I couldn’t close them or push him off. I was trapped and the combination of wanting to vomit and having my adrenalin pumping was almost bad enough to make me pass out.

  “Fuck, you’re so hot. I’m going to enjoy this.”

  When he started unbuttoning his pants, I lost it. “Liam, no,” I shouted. “Please, don’t do this to me.”

  Getting to his feet, he lifted his shirt over his head and let his pants fall to the floor. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a condom, opening it up slowly, tormenting me. “Just relax, sunshine. It hurts more when you’re tense. Although, tense makes you tight, and I guess that’s better for me.” He shrugged.

  Tears poured down my cheeks and all I could think about was Tyler. He would kill both Liam and my brother after this; he would go to jail and things would never be the same.

  “Jordan!” I screamed. “Help me, please! Don’t let Liam do this to me!”

  Liam snarled and jumped on top of me, slamming his hand over my mouth. “The only name you’re going to be screaming is mine, you bitch. Jordan’s not going to help you.” He pushed his arousal into my hip and I gagged.

  In the next second, the door burst open and Liam was yanked off of my body and thrown across the room. I heard fists pounding into flesh and the gurgling sound of someone struggling to breathe.

  I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Jordan saved me. I felt my dress pulled back into place and then the cold bite of metal slid against my skin. My wrist was free, the tie cut away. However, it wasn’t Jordan who released me from my restraints.

  “Kacey.” Tyler’s strangled voice was full of heartache and rage. “I’m getting you out of here.” He wiped away my tears.

  When I could finally see him, I burst into more tears and held onto him as he lifted me up and carried me to the door. “Oh my God, I was so scared,” I wailed. I looked down at the floor and Liam was knocked unconscious, his face a bloody mess.

  Tyler’s dad already had Jordan apprehended and rushed over, peering down at Liam on the floor. “I thought I told you to leave the roughing up to me, son.”

  Tyler growled and held me tighter. “That wasn’t exactly easy considering what he was about to do to Kacey.”

  “Then I’m surprised you didn’t kill the fucker,” his father grumbled angrily. He squeezed my shoulder and turned my chin to face him. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded, tears falling down my cheeks.

  “Then you two get back to the arena. I’ll handle everything here. I think it’s time Liam pays for all of his crimes.”

  “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Tyler asked.

  Steven cracked his knuckles and grinned. “You have nothing to worry about, son. Now go.”

  Tyler rushed us out the door and down the street, where Steven’s truck sat cloaked in darkness. He opened the door and set me down gently.

  “How did you know?” I asked.

  He buckled me up and ran to the other side and got in. “Your brother told Paxton you were sick. When Paxton noticed Liam and Jordan weren’t in his entourage, he knew something was wrong.

  “I wanted to kill Liam, Kacey. I saw him through your window and I lost it. As soon as my dad unlocked the front door I came straight for you. I don’t want to imagine what would’ve happened if I’d been a few minutes late.”

  Neither did I.

  My hands were shaking uncontrollably and my wrists looked like raw hamburger. I focused on trying to breathe and calming myself down. It hurt to know that my brother was the cause of it all.

  “You don’t have to go with me, Kacey,” Tyler murmured, reaching for my hands. He placed his on top of mine and squeezed gently, making sure to avoid my wrists. “If you don’t want to see your brother, you can wait for me in my room.”

  Shaking my head, I took a deep breath and sat up taller. The thought of seeing my brother cleared my head and gave me new focus. “No, I’m going to watch you fight and I’m going to sit in your corner, with my head held high. My brother likes to break people and we’re going to show him he can’t break us. This all ends tonight.”

  By the time we got back to the arena, Tyler had ten minutes before the fight. My dress was part way ripped and my makeup was smeared down my face, but Tyler held my hand firmly in his as I raced along beside him to his room. When he opened the door, I gasped at the amount of people in there.

  Paxton and Bree were the first ones up, rushing to my side. Reluctantly, Tyler let me go and Pax took me up in his arms—his skin warm and sweaty from his fight. “Your brother is so fucking dead, Kace. Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” I whispered. “If Tyler didn’t show up I wouldn’t have been. Did you win?”

  “You know it.”

  I smiled and held him tigh
ter.

  “All right, let me have her. You boys can’t always keep her to yourself,” Bree scolded.

  Pax set me down and Bree immediately brought the tissues to my face and wiped under my eyes. She even had to use them on herself when she looked at me. “We were so worried. When Paxton told us you weren’t here . . .”

  “Shh. I’m okay now,” I consoled her. “I’m safe.”

  Over her shoulder, I saw Matt and Gabriella, along with one of the Jameson twins. Gabriella smiled at me, her dark hair pulled into a low ponytail and dressed in a royal blue tank top and jeans. Hesitantly, I smiled back.

  Matt, looking exactly like Gabriella with the same dark hair and green eyes, shook Tyler’s hand and slapped him on the shoulder. “It’s time, Rushing. Are you ready to go out there? I’m in your corner tonight.”

  Tyler smiled, but then looked back at me, his expression uncertain.

  “Go,” I said, nodding my head. “I’ll be out there as quick as I can.” I held up my wrists. “As soon as I get these bandaged up.”

  “I’ll do it,” Gabriella cut in, coming to my side. “You boys need to get out there, now. Us girls can handle it from here.”

  Tyler tensed, but Matt grabbed his tape and gloves and started for the door. “Come on, boys. It’s time to kick some ass.”

  All the guys left the room, except Tyler, who took me in his arms and kissed me long and hard. Gabriella and Bree both turned their heads, giving us privacy. “I love you, Kacey. Wish me luck.”

  “You don’t need luck. I have faith in you.”

  He kissed me again and disappeared out the door, closing it behind him. Now I was left alone with Bree and Gabriella. The awkward silence was thick enough to choke on.

  “Okay, I’m just going to break the ice,” Gabriella began. She took my hands and pulled me over to the couch and gently pressed down on my shoulders. I sat down and watched her rummage through Tyler’s bag until she pulled out the triple antibiotic ointment and gauze.

  Kneeling down in front of me, she turned my hands over and hissed when she saw all of the damage. Bree sat beside me and put her arm around my shoulders.

  “I’m going to do this as gently as I can, okay?” Gabriella murmured soothingly.

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  Closing my eyes, I gritted my teeth together as she rubbed the ointment onto my sores and slowly wrapped them in gauze. When both were done, she smiled and got to her feet.

  “There, that should take care of it. Tyler can put more medicine on them and rewrap them for you tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, Gabriella. I appreciate it.”

  Bree took my hands and helped me up, clenching her teeth at my ripped dress. “I hope Tyler beat the shit out of the guys who did that to you.”

  “He did,” I informed her. “If I wasn’t tied up, I would’ve tried to do it myself.”

  “Do you happen to have something else to wear?” Gabriella asked.

  I shook my head and ran my hands through my hair. “No. After everything that happened, Tyler rushed me out of my house and away from there as fast as he could.”

  Reaching for her pink duffle bag on the floor, Gabriella picked it up and set it down in front of me. “I know you have no reason to like me and you can say no if you want, but I have something in here you could wear.” She pulled out a pair of jeans and held them up. “We’re basically the same size, so these should fit. I think my ass might be a little bit bigger, though.”

  Bree chuckled when I took the jeans and I rolled my eyes at her. Gabriella was actually nice, considering everything between us. It wasn’t what I was expecting. Rummaging through her bag some more, she pulled out a couple of tank tops and passed one to Bree and to me. “I know this is kind of silly, but I used to do this a lot with my brother.” She pointed to the tank tops. “Hold them out.”

  When I lifted the black tank top there were words written in the center in bright neon green letters . . . Team Tyler. I looked down at the royal blue one she was wearing and noticed that it said Team Ryley on it in big, white letters. The tank tops were the same colors of the guys’ fighting shorts.

  “I would wear the ones for my brother at his fights. Eventually, I had some made for all of my friends, including Tyler. You don’t have to wear them, but I figured it would be a good smack in the face to your brother.”

  Smiling, I held the tank top up to my chest and traced Tyler’s name with my finger. “Let’s do it.”

  MATT TAPED UP my hands and Ryley shoved a pair of ear buds in my ears, playing nothing but Breaking Benjamin songs, to keep my mind off of Kyle when it was his turn to walk past. Needless to say, I would have to go through three MMA fighters to get to him. I could do it, but Matt, Ryley, and Cole didn’t deserve to feel my wrath. Nope, that was all for Kyle.

  Ryley fumbled with the volume on the iPod and smiled, mouthing the words to the song playing. His right eye was bruised from his fight and he was still in his blue and white fighting shorts, along with a black T-shirt that had Team Gabriella on it—he must have lost a bet. His fight tonight wasn’t for a title, but in just a few short weeks, he was probably going to be fighting his own twin brother for it.

  “All right, the cocksucker’s gone,” Ryley assured me, taking out the ear buds.

  “Thank fucking God, I’m surprised I can still hear,” I grumbled, shaking my head.

  “Well, it’s a good thing I did, or you would’ve heard him taunting you when he walked by. It took all I had not to go after him.”

  “Same here,” Matt and Cole agreed simultaneously.

  Matt handed me my black gloves and I slid them on my hands, fastening them tight. Taking me by the shoulders, he looked into my eyes and nodded his head. “You’ve got this. I wish your dad could be here to see it, but we all have faith in you. This is your time and you’ve proved that you earned it.”

  He slapped me on the back and nodded again before waltzing up to the black curtain waiting for the announcer to call my name. Cole joined him.

  “I can’t believe everything that’s happened,” Ryley stated incredulously. “It literally blows my mind how so many people can just be fucked up beyond repair.”

  Thoughts of Kacey lying tied up on her bed while Liam touched her, flashed in my mind. “You have no idea how enraged I was when I barged in on Liam trying to force himself onto Kacey. The only thing that stopped me from killing him was her. I had to think of what it would do to her.”

  “Yeah, I can’t imagine it either,” Ryley replied. “If someone were to do that to—” Abruptly, he stopped and clenched his jaw. I caught his hesitation, but he laughed it off. “All I know is, that someone would be on the brink of death,” he finished.

  “Uh huh. Why don’t you finish what you were going to say, Ryley? If someone were to do that to who? Ashleigh? You can be honest with me, you know.”

  Ryley huffed and dropped his gaze to the iPod in his hands. “Ashleigh’s long gone by now. I’ve moved on and so has she.”

  Gabriella was going to be furious with me, but I didn’t care. He needed to know the truth. “What would you say if things weren’t what they seemed? It appears that women have a knack for hiding the truth to protect us. Why the fuck they do that, I don’t know.”

  Ryley furrowed his brows. “Dude, I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

  Sighing, I placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “I’m talking about Ashleigh. She’s not with Colin anymore, man. After the whole baby scare, she left him as soon as they got back to California. From what I understand, she called it quits because she still had feelings for you.”

  Ryley’s face paled, but I could see the anger flash in his eyes. “How do you know all of this? Did Gabriella tell you?”

  I nodded. “She told me about a week after it happened. For some reason, Ashleigh doesn’t want you to know. Gabriella was just honoring her friend’s decision. I guess Ashleigh knew it wouldn’t work out since you went right back to your usual self.”

  F
uriously, Ryley ran his hands through his dark hair. “That happened a month ago, Tyler. I can’t believe she left him and no one told me! What the fuck am I going to do now?”

  “Would it have mattered?” I asked. “Would you have taken her back after what she did?” When he didn’t answer, I knew it was because he was afraid to admit he fell for a girl who broke his heart. “Ryley, whatever’s going on with her, you might want to take the time to find out. Yes, it’s been a month, but there’s a reason she’s staying away from you. Take a lesson from my book if you need . . . Kacey kept me in the dark because of her brother. Ashleigh’s probably doing the same thing, but has her own reasons. I would find them out before it really is too late.”

  “Since when did you become all philosophical?” he teased, except the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

  The music blared overhead and the announcer’s voice boomed through the microphone. It was time—my time. I slapped Ryley on the shoulder and smiled. “Since Kacey. I can’t help it, she brings it out in me.”

  Ryley rolled his eyes and we both laughed as we walked up to Matt and Cole. Matt held out my robe and I slipped my arms inside, pulling the hood over my head. Kyle was being announced first and if Kacey was already out there in her seat, I wish I could see the look on his face.

  “Remember, Tyler,” Matt began, “Kyle will go for the legs. He’ll try to take you down to the mat.”

  “And that’ll be his downfall. Too bad for him, I’ve been trained by the best floor gamer in the UFC,” I replied with a wink.

  “You got that right. Now let’s tear this shit up.”

  Over the speakers, Had Enough by Breaking Benjamin exploded into the crowd and they went wild, cheering and screaming my name. It was my turn.

  “And the next fighter competing for the Heavyweight title is none other than your local bad boy, Tyler ‘The Terror’ Russhhiiinngg! This is sure to be one hell of a fight tonight.”

  The sounds surrounding me felt like thunder booming overhead, the whole arena vibrating in anticipation. It spiked my adrenaline, pushing it through my veins. Cole and Ryley separated the black curtain and I marched out, keeping my head down as I walked toward the ring. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the seats where the girls should be sitting were vacant.