by KT Fisher
GUNNER
The Underground Romance series
By
KT Fisher
GUNNER (The Underground Romance Series)
Copyright @2020 KT Fisher
Cover art @2020 Kellie Fisher
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any actual persons living or dead, businesses and events or locales are entirely coincidental. This book also has some strong scenes that may cause offence. This isn’t your typical romance.
Chapter One
Kayla
The smell of bacon and eggs travels to my room, stirring from my sleep. My stomach grumbles in response and a smile creeps on my face. I’ve woken up like this all week and I never want it to change.
I moved in with my sister, Charlotte to her glamourous apartment last week. Our mother died a year ago and I just wanted to be closer to family again. Well, the family that I like anyway. The timing never worked out, because we lived an hour drive apart from one another. Charlotte moved out of our family home around three years ago when she got her own place next to her new job. When I found a job interview right next to her, I decided to take the jump and move in with her.
My sister has always been an early riser, so I’ve woken to gorgeous smells coming from the kitchen since I moved in. Charlotte’s a freak for a good breakfast to start the day, not that I’m complaining because I’ve eaten the benefits of her obsession. From cooked breakfasts, pancakes and just plain old toast. I bet it’s because growing up as children, our nanny would do the same.
As I stumble from my room, struggling to put my arms through my dressing gown sleeves, I hear Charlotte singing in the kitchen to the morning radio and the smell of bacon getting stronger. My mouth waters, craving the food.
“Good morning.” Charlotte laughs from the sink, placing the frying pan into it with the soapy water already waiting. “Did you sleep well?”
“Great.” I take my seat around the small square table, pouring myself some fresh orange juice.
Charlotte sits opposite me, dressed and ready for work as she settles into her own breakfast. We eat together, something our mother would have loved. She always enjoyed seeing her two girls together. The three of us were really close and her death was really hard on us. I think Charlotte still feels bad that she moved out and wasn’t around when she was ill.
Charlotte looks perfect this morning, fresh faced and ready for the day. Meanwhile, my hair sticks out messily from all directions. I’m wearing an old, baggy shirt that has seen better days for bed and with some baggy pyjama bottoms to finish the look. Basically, I look like a mess.
Charlotte continues to laugh at me quietly as she chews her food. “What are you planning to do today?”
I have my interview next week, so until then I fill my time with either reading, binging on TV shows, running Charlotte’s errands or training at the gym. “Shopping, then gym.” I answer.
“Cool, could you pick these up for me?” She asks, handing me a slip of paper with a neatly scribbled list. I didn’t actually need to go shopping, but I knew Charlotte wouldn’t ask me to go, so I made out I was so she would feel less guilty.
“No problem.” I smile, tucking the list away in my pocket.
Charlotte then looks concerned. “Do you want to take my car?”
“No, I’ll be fine.” I assure her.
“I can leave you mine?”
“Then how will you get to work?” I ask. “Don’t worry about me.”
We eat in silence for a little, Charlotte looks as though she’s thinking hard as we eat. I can see her perfect shaped eyebrows furrow and I just know what she’s running over in her head.
“You know,” She begins and I stop her right there.
“Stop.” I interrupt her. “Don’t go there, I’m not using their money.”
Charlotte shakes her head. “It’s your money.”
“I didn’t do anything to get it, and it’s from his family. I don’t use his name so I won’t have their money.” Charlotte looks down at her plate and I feel guilty. “I don’t think bad of you for doing it though.”
She gives me a little smile and after a little small talk, Charlotte leaves for work. I decide to get ready for the day. There’s no point having a shower this morning, seeing as I’m heading to the gym later, so I pull my hair into a neater messy bun and put on some basic make- up. You know, so I don’t look like a zombie.
I get the bus into town, I can drive but I don’t have a car just yet. I only passed my test a couple of months ago so I’m saving and doing poorly at it because I don’t have a job at the minute. Hence the job interview next week because I will not use my father’s family money. Charlotte thinks I should dig into our ‘family money’ and get the best car I can get. I don’t want to do that. I can’t. I want to make my own money and not use money that’s left to us. I want to be proud of myself for what I have. I don’t want to be that typical fucking socialite.
Charlotte isn’t afraid to dig into Papa and GiGi’s bank when she needs to. She bought the luxury apartment we’re living in with the help from daddy and our loving grandparents. I suppose the money I’m handling right now could be too, but there’s always a price to pay. Our dickhead of a father always comes knocking when she has a little spend. Him or our clingy grandparents. Papa and fucking GiGi. I always hated calling my Grandma that but if it’s not daddy dearest, then his parents were always there to collect. Charlotte has to go to monthly dinners with my grandparents and that’s all because she used the family money, and I do not want to be tagging along. No fucking way!
I want to make my own success, and when I was in college I fell in love with marketing and media. I want to make a living doing what I love and a job with Murphy Enterprise is what I’m asking for and I’ve landed an interview. Once I’ve finished getting mine and Charlotte’s necessity’s, I go to browse the shops for something to wear. I know who the Murphy brothers are who run Murphy Enterprise, their grandparents run in the same circles as mine, but I’ve made sure nobody from that life recognises me. They won’t know who I am and that I’m working under their roof. It helps that I use my mother’s maiden name and not my father’s so they won’t recognise my surname either. The Franklin surname is a very popular family name, just like the Murphy’s. No doubt if I was to walk in there as Kayla Franklin and not Kayla Henderson they would turn me away and tell me to go to my daddy for money.
It is a great job and I really hope that I get it. I graduated university last year but I’m yet to get that job that deserves my hard work and I think working for Murphy Enterprise’s is worth it. Even if it does mean hiding my true self from everyone.
I plug in my headphones as I travel on the bus home, psyching myself up for the gym. I love training and I did feel shit having to move gyms but since attending this new one, I actually prefer it. I’ve even made a few friends in my short week going there! We push each other to do more and I’m becoming a better fighter because of it. It always shocks people when they discover I fight martial arts. They see me as a petit fragile woman who couldn’t fight as hard as I do and I’m a pretty fucking good fighter. Looks are deceiving.
I let myself in to the apartment I now share with my sister, and put away the shopping I bought and lay my interview outfit on my bed. Looking at it from above to see how well
it goes together. Just a simple black tubed skirt and a black blouse with a white peter pan collar. I have the perfect shoes to match too, at least if I don’t get the job I will look good doing it.
I send a quick message to Charlotte to let her know I got everything she needed on the list and then grab my gym bag with my workout gear already inside. I make my way back out the apartment to catch the next bus to the gym. Yes, it would be so much easier with a car but I won’t give in.
Two hours later, the sweat is pouring from me and my heart is beating fast. I lay down on the mats, my chest rapidly rising and falling.
“You aren’t tired yet are you?” Laughs Billy. One of the girls I’ve met here. She sits on the mat next to me, her own sweat dropping onto the mat under her.
“Course not.” I grin, looking up at her. Emma and Sophie coming to join us.
“I’m up for it.” Emma nods to Sophie and then looks to me and Billy. “You two coming?”
“Where?” I eagerly ask.
“My guess is they’re talking about the Underground.” Billy guesses and I slowly sit up.
“The Underground?” I ask and all three girls smirk.
Billy looks at me looking confused, her pretty face scrunched up. “You haven’t heard of The Underground?”
“Never.”
“Well, it is supposed to be a secret.” Sophie points out.
Billy turns to me in excitement. “It’s a secret fighting night club.”
“A secret fighting night club?” I repeat.
“It sounds silly.” Emma giggles. “But it’s a great night out! Organised by the Murphy brothers.”
“Emma!” Sophie gasps, looking to Emma with wide eyes. “It’s supposed to be a secret.”
“The Murphy brothers?” I ask.
Sophie looks to me. “You know them?”
“I know of them.” I have an interview at their business next week.
“Everyone knows the Murphy brothers.” Billy rolls her eyes. “So, we going?”
“Of course.” Emma claps. She’s a pretty girl, doesn’t look like a fighter at all. She’s petit like me and slim, you wouldn’t guess looking at her but then again, that’s just like the majority of us. “You’re coming Kayla?”
I think about it, not knowing if I should or not. It sounds a little dodgy. An underground, secret fighting night club!
“Yes she is.” Billy answers for me, sending me a grin. “Kayla needs a good night out.”
It turns out, this secret party tours different locations and sometimes cities. It’s that secret, you need a password to learn the place of the party and a password to get in. The three of them assured me I can come with them, as long as I keep the secret. Agreeing that I wouldn’t speak of it, they tell me to be ready Friday night and one of them will pick me up.
“What do I wear?” I ask, I’ve never been to a fighting night club before so I don’t know how to dress for it.
“Dress to impress.” Sophie winks.
I ask if I can bring my sister along and they say yes, and deciding that I’m done for the day I hit the showers and get ready to head home.
Chapter Two
Kayla
It’s Friday.
The day of the secret party.
My sister agreed to come when I asked her and the girls will be here in around two hours to pick us up. Charlotte is home from work and ready to go out. Even if it is a fighting event, something that’s not usually her ‘scene’, she’s excited for the drinking and the dancing. I was feeling a little nervous, but the loud, dance music is pumping my blood. Plus the few glasses of wine she’s given to me as I’ve been pondering on what to wear, has probably helped loosen me up too.
“What are you wearing?” Charlotte asks as she dances into my bedroom, her own glass of wine in her hand.
“I’m thinking a classic black dress?” I point to the dress that’s laid out on my bed. “But I don’t know.”
“Black dress definitely.” Charlotte nods. “What shall I wear?”
Shrugging, I put away the other outfits I had picked out and follow Charlotte to her room. “Let me see what you’ve got.”
Just like me, Charlotte has a few outfits laid out neatly on her bed, comparing them. There’s a few dresses and she even has a black jean and bra let combo. Cute. I might have to steal that one time.
My eyes land on the high wasted skirt and cropped top, that looks cute and hot. Especially seeing as the cropped top has a slashed rip across the bra. Very sexy. Possibly a tad slutty, but for tonight? Who cares!
With our outfits chosen, we continue with our own little party and dance around the apartment. We slowly apply our make-up, and perfect our hair right up until the time I get a text from Billy to let me know they’re waiting outside in a taxi. Charlotte and I go down to meet them, the girls have a mini bus taxi because of the number of us, and at the sight of me and my sister, the door slides open revealing three excited and glamourous girls.
“Come on! Get in!” Emma yells with a huge grin.
Laughing, we join them in the taxi and eventually, it drops us off on a dark corner. Charlotte and I jump out with the other three girls, both confused as to why we’re here. The taxi driver is paid and once it’s out of site, Emma, Billy and Sophie lead us around the corner to where I can hear a faint beat. The familiar sound to the baseline of a song.
“It’s a good job I wore my comfiest heels.” Charlotte grumbles as we get closer to the secret location.
“Stop moaning, we’re here.” Billy chuckles, turning to a hole in the fence.
“What?” Charlotte looks around as if this is a joke.
“Ready to party?” Emma wiggles her eyebrows before stepping through the hole in the fence, disappearing from sight because of the bushes.
We all follow, Charlotte coming last as she watches us all with wary eyes. A warehouse comes to sight in the distance, cars surrounding and people hanging around, drinking and laughing. We come to another fence, this one not as big but two huge men dressed in black block the entrance.
“Password.” One orders as we approach them and slight panic fills me. Do we have the password?
Billy answers, but her voice is so quiet that I don’t hear what the password is.
We’re let inside, the two men watching us carefully through intense eyes. Billy blows them a kiss cheekily and the men look away. I giggle as Billy skips to my side. We walk across the carpark, closer to the entrance and shivers start to cover my body. I can feel the electricity. The music is loud, people walk around with bottles of beer in their hands, chatting merrily outside. I’m not a car person, but I can tell that there’s a lot of expensive cars parked around. Which means there’s money inside. I bet gambling has a huge part if this night. I know enough of my father’s world, to know that rich and privileged boys like to spend money and rebel against their families. I have no doubt that’s what’s going on here.
As we enter the wide doors, the music captures me and the atmosphere is euphoric. The whole place is a make shift dance floor, people dance where they are stood, mingling together. Emma spots the bar, tucked away to the left of the entrance, so we make our way over in that direction. I order my drink, needing some alcohol to get over the shock of this place. It’s complete madness. As I wait for the others to order their own, I turn around and see the fighting ring in the middle of the warehouse and the other half of the warehouse is sectioned off with barriers and men, probably for the fighters.
“Ok, so the barman just said the next fight is in ten minutes so we have time to bet on the winner if you want?” Sophie asks, turning to the rest of us.
“I’ve never heard of anything like this.” Charlotte marvels at the place, sipping on her beer.
“Well, it’s a secret, only shared in the fighting scene so unless you know any fighters, then you won’t discover this.” Emma explains.
Charlotte looks to me in confusement and as Billy, Emma and Sophie talk about the next fight in excitement, my sister ste
ps closer to me. “Have you never heard of this place?”
“No.” I shrug. “Never.”
“This place looks insane.” Charlotte looks around with wide eyes.
Laughing, I nod in agreement. I watch the girls place their bets behind the bar and we enjoy a few minutes dancing before the fight is announced. The MC stands in the middle of the fighting ring with his microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the fight of Michaela the Machine and Trash Talk Tori!” The crowd cheers and the two women walk out, celebrating with the audience and that familiar buzz runs down my spine. That fighter feeling I’ve become addicted to. I faintly recognise the fighter called Trash Talk Tori, but I have no idea how.
Charlotte then gasps. “Oh my god! That’s Tori!” I look to her in question. “The heiress? Her father is a millionaire and so is she in her own right. She’s often on the cover of magazines and linked with some of the richest men in the country!”
I look back to the ring, watching Tori warm up and it clicks. I know who she is now. Yes her father is rich, and one day it will pass to herself because she doesn’t have any siblings, and like Charlotte and I, she’s motherless. However, Tori is acting wealthier than her father. She’s used her huge online profile to launch her own businesses in fashion and make up, earning her own fortune.
The women then fight, we’re wrapped in the excitement of the crowd and I find myself cheering along.
“You’re so much better.” Charlotte comments, leaning into me and I laugh.
“You’ve never seen me fight.” I shake my head.
“She’s right though!” Emma adds. “And I have seen you fight.”
Charlotte looks pleased with herself. “See!” She then gasps. “Oh my god Kayla you should fight here!”
I’m not too sure about that.
“We could sign up together.” Billy suggests. “I’ve been wanting to for a while now.”