You asked me to let you know about Asher. There’s an Asher on the fight card at The Pike Friday night. She’s fighting a Romanov. Book her here, if you’re looking for a venue.
My blood chilled. Gray was fighting at The Pike on Friday? That couldn’t be willingly. Not after she’d killed that girl. The fact that she was fighting a Romanov meant she was doing it for the Ivanovs. Both families were known for their rivalry and often sent the fingers of their family members to the patriarch and matriarch of the opposing family for the holidays.
They were going to use Gray to fight against the Romanovs. The fight would get them the upper hand over their enemies as well as enact revenge on Gray for what she’d done.
They had no idea what role Sergio played. They couldn’t, or they’d go after him.
If Tiny had heard on the wind that Sergio was upset, then Sergio was downright volcanic with his emotions. His jealousy over the situation with his sister had created hard feelings that Gray was being used to fix.
What did I have to do to save Gray? She didn’t deserve what they were doing to her and they certainly didn’t have all the information.
I had one last shot, I had to use it. Even if it was going to cost me every last ounce of my pride.
I moved my phone into place and opened the text thread with Dominick.
It sounds like Gray is on the fight card at The Pike Friday night. Use your weight and get her off. Please.
Everything in me fought asking him for anything. Everything inside me balked. I could do it. I could save her. I just needed more time. That’s all I needed.
He could do that for me. For once, he could do something to help me instead of constantly trying to make my life harder.
Who is she fighting?
My thumbs flew across the screen on the QWERTY style keyboard. Was it possible he would help me?
A Romanov.
His answer came fast, the screen lighting up with the message arrival.
LMAO, good, there you go. She’s going to be taken care of and it’s off my plate. Leave it alone. Let the cards play out.
I blinked at the screen; unsure I was really seeing what he’d sent me. I texted back slowly. I had no idea if I was showing my hand or not. I didn’t really care as I tried to figure a way to get her out of danger and back into safety.
Why won’t you help her?
The minutes dragged on as I waited for his reply. My hands clenched and unclenched, tightening with tension I wasn’t sure I would know how to release, even if I was able to scream and run. Nothing that I was able to do at the moment. The air in the closet closed around me as if creating a vacuum and sucking the walls in. What if I couldn’t figure this out?
My phone lit up again. This time my hand lifted so I could see the screen almost before I thought of it.
She killed the princess. That’s on her. I want her dead. That’s another one on her. She has to pay the price and I don’t want that kind of attention at Jameson. Plus, if I don’t interfere, I know Sergio will give me more territories when I go to ask him about it later. Leave the girl and work on a different project. You’ve been missing school.
My chest deflated as I exhaled on a whoosh. A sudden wave of fatigue crashed over me. I wished I had Gray safe beside me and the bastard that had taken her cut into shreds. I had no doubt she was taken. She’d missed three practices and according to Sara, Gray was determined to hit her last set of fights that season. If she didn’t, she’d run out of options.
I’m not going to live under the Ivanovs’ thumbs. Do what you need to do to get her out. And do it now. My dad would never have put up with this shit.
I hit send before reading it over and I didn’t care. I was through. If he couldn’t do what I wanted, then he didn’t need to be a part of what we were running in Jameson any longer.
I wasn’t old enough to lead my own ring and yet there I was, doing everything myself. According to the law, I was still just a kid. According to the things I’d done, I was older than most of the men at my factory.
His answering text left me bitter but stalwart in my decision.
You’re on your own. Watch her die. I’m coming for you.
I set my jaw. Let him come. I could dodge Dominick, the cops, the Russians, and anyone else on a bad day. I didn’t need anyone to succeed. But since I had my cousins, we couldn’t fail.
I pulled up the maps app and found my location. I copied and pasted the address from three houses down on the rich-elite street and pasted it into a text message which I sent off to the 911 dispatcher in the area.
Fire at W. 33387 Garwood. Five inside. Fire spreading.
My next text went to Sara, Brock, Gunner, and Gray’s numbers.
Phone compromised. Switch to my backup number as default.
I turned off my phone and tucked it between the towels stacked on a shelf inches from my face. I couldn’t keep the thing now. The cops would trace it after the bogus warning and Dominick would trace it to find me.
I wasn’t naïve and I wasn’t going down without a fight.
In minutes footsteps pounded on the floor upstairs as the people rushed to the front door.
The home I had reported was in an area where anything called attention of all the homeowners. A suspicious car, a group of people, a dog peeing on a fire hydrant would all bring the neighbors out in droves. The residents would move to the front lawn to watch the spectacle of the fire fighters fighting a nonexistent fire and breaking into a home to save people.
I slid the door open to the closet I hid in and gave three distinct taps on the wood before closing the door. A second passed and suddenly there was Gunner standing beside the large television, followed by Brock who scooted out from under the futon-style couch set up beside the micro suede davenport creating an L-shape.
Leading the way, I crept up the steps to the door at the top of the stairs. Pressing my ear to the panel, I held my breath. Not a sound to indicate they were still in the house. Nothing to indicate they weren’t.
Turning the knob slowly, I pushed the door open inch by inch. No one screamed or came to check. We’d originally come in through the back. That’s how we’d go out.
The sound of voices exclaiming came from the front hall. I moved into position as I stood sentry over the route to the back slider and motioned Gunner and Brock to head that way. As soon as they passed me, I shut the door and followed, moving backwards as I kept an eye on where the owners of the house had gone.
We slipped out the slider, crouching as we ran across the backyard. Scaling a six foot white vinyl fence, we dropped into the railway yard and gathered together in a tight huddle.
“We need to check Danielle’s before Dominick gets to her.” The Jeep I borrowed from Tiny hadn’t moved from its parking spot under a low hanging branched willow. We climbed in, careful to remove our gloves and tuck them into the center console. We might need them for another job.
I started the jeep and glanced at Gunner and Brock. “Heads up, Dominick is coming for me. Maybe all of us.”
They nodded, resolute in the information. I knew what they were thinking. It had only been a matter of time before he’d turned on us. Unfortunately, it was sooner than we’d planned.
“He wanted me to kill Gray. I’m not doing that. When I asked him to get her off the fighting card Friday at The Pike and he laughed, said she deserved it, I said some things I probably shouldn’t have.” I ground my teeth together, my jaw tight with emotion.
Brock slammed his open palm into the back of the seat from where he sat in the bench seat behind me. “That dickhead. He thinks he can get his way with everything.”
“Yeah, and he has. Until now. I’ve got something in mind, but we need to get to Danielle’s. If she has Alex there, we might be able to eliminate one of the triggers controlling Gray.” Gray wasn’t ready to fight so soon after the last one. She had to get over the accident of that – her fault or not – and she wouldn’t willingly fight at The Pike unless she was being coerced.
>
I didn’t have to talk to her to know that much.
“We need to get her back. She won’t survive a fight like that.” Gunner spoke softly and I understood where his concern came from. When I’d claimed her, I’d assigned her care to the whole of the group. That’s the way things went with a family.
And she would most definitely survive the fight, she just might not survive the realization that she was going to have to go to the death. The Romanovs and Ivanovs didn’t play well with others and they didn’t care who or what was lost in the process.
Gray was only going to be fighting to save a loved one. Since Coach was all she had, we had to make sure and take the threat off him and free Gray to make her own decisions.
Unless they had more on her than I knew.
One way or the other, I had to get to Gray before Friday. She wasn’t going to make it on her own, no matter how independent she was.
I could fight for her. I would fight for her. Screw whoever I had to get through.
Chapter 9
Gray
My eyelids were heavy but not as heavy as the rest of my body. I felt like I was trying to move through a really thick gel.
Everything hurt, even the tips of my long hair. I swear I’d been kicked more times in the stomach than I’d ever been punched collectively in my life.
Blaze stood in front of me, his boots the only things in my line of sight. I couldn’t even curl into the fetal position I was so weak.
I couldn’t remember the last thing I’d eaten but he kept shoving bites in my mouth and ordering me to chew and swallow. Then I’d get a drink of something and in minutes I’d pass out again.
I think I must have taken on the traits of a reptile or whatever a cold-blooded animal was called. I would never be warm again, the chill from the cement soaked into me, trying to make me one with the floor.
It must have been a while since my last bite of drugged food. I was slowly starting to come around, but not easily. I had enough mental capacity to keep my eyes closed with just the smallest slit to peek through. If I didn’t open my eyes, Blaze seemed to leave me alone. The second I seemed awake, he shoved something in my mouth and groped me maliciously.
As hungry as I was, I couldn’t continue being drugged. I supposedly had a card Friday and I was supposed to fight. Who knew when Friday was or who I was going up against?
He didn’t move, just stood above me, staring. I continued breathing softly like I slept. I needed to conserve my strength and eating drugged food wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
Blaze had taken to leaving the door open. From where I lay, I could make out a portion of a trashed kitchen with cabinet doors hanging off their hinges, cracked paint on the walls, yellow ceiling paint, and what looked like green counters. I was only able to see the edge of the counter, but it looked green. Maybe.
When Blaze walked out of my cell, he never stayed in my line of sight.
More than once, I’d heard the voice or voices of girls as if from a great distance and Blaze telling them what to do. I couldn’t make out the directions but judging by his moaning and groaning, he was getting more from them then I’d ever done.
Or would ever do.
His promises of rape hadn’t left me. In fact, every time he came near me, he fondled some part of me, chuckling as he did so and making some kind of weak reminder about it being soon or whatever.
He only fueled my hate fire and I wasn’t going to turn away from that emotion.
Still standing above me, Blaze reached down, gripping my breast in his hand and tweaking the nipple with a painful pinch.
I refused to change my breathing or react in anyway. If I was drugged, I wouldn’t react. I’d be out.
Unless I wanted more drugs pumped in me, I had to let him do whatever he wanted. While that reality made me want to gag and kick him in the face, I was still bound hand and foot and in no position to get revenge.
He grunted when I didn’t react, turning after a moment and disappearing in the doorway. “Yeah, she’s still out. You need to get out before he gets here. I don’t think she’s part of the job.”
A voice that rubbed familiarly along my memories answered. “I’m heading out, but listen, you can’t let him know I was here. He ordered a job and I’m delivering, but I also need to make sure my investments are protected.”
“The grass is green, don’t worry about it.” Blaze laughed and the sound of a door shutting let me relax just a bit. What if that guy had been one Blaze had lined up to come in and gang rape me?
I took a deep breath through my nose and exhaled on a soft whoosh, keeping my eyes only barely slit open. I could do this over and over and over until I was strong enough to gain my freedom back. How I was supposed to do that without food or water was outside my scope of mental processes at the moment. I just had to get my wits about me. I could do that. I had to do that.
A door slammed again and my muscles relaxed. Had Blaze left behind the other guy? Could I just be me for a little bit without worrying about when he was coming back in?
“Where is she?” A different new man’s voice sent a tremor through me. I squeezed my eyes shut. Blaze hadn’t left and now there was a new one. Judging by the authority in his voice, he was the one in charge and the guy the other two spoke about.
I didn’t want to see him or be seen. I silently willed myself invisible, but it wasn’t working and I knew it. Even drugged and starving, I knew I wasn’t getting out of there unscathed more than I already was.
“She’s in the back. I told you I’ve got this covered.” Blaze’s voice wasn’t as cocky as his words tried to pull off. He spoke in a softer, more respectful tone which left me wondering just what this new guy was capable of to get Blaze’s respect.
“I didn’t hire you to rape her or play with her, Divers. You’re to feed her and get her worked out. That’s it. Where is she?” The man’s voice grew louder. His footsteps became more pronounced as he got closer.
A shadow crossed the light that glowed through my eyelids. I refused to open my eyes and see him. I didn’t want to. What if it was one of those things where since I hadn’t seen him, I could still live? What if there was some way I could make it out of there? I didn’t want that hanging over me as well. I couldn’t even figure out if I was being logical or not. Fear held me in check and I didn’t even attempt to figure anything out.
“What is this? She can’t work out or be in fighting mode if she’s tied up and starved.” The sound of flesh striking flesh crashed around the room I was held in and for once, it wasn’t me getting the brunt of the attack.
Blaze groaned, but cut it short. When he spoke, it sounded like he had his hand partially covering his mouth. “You don’t know this girl. She’s dangerous. I can’t just give her food and let her workout. She’s stronger than you think.”
Boots moving over stray rocks, grinding them into the cement floor, filled the sudden silence.
I peeked through my lashes, only able to discern dark silhouettes in the well-lit opening of my cell.
“Do you have any idea what the Ivanovs will do to us, if we deliver them a fighter who can’t do what they want? She’s to go against a Romanov. If she doesn’t win, we all die. Do you understand that?”
“I thought you wanted her dead. I don’t understand.” Blaze folded his arms and I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see what he was doing. I’d listen, but seeing was outside my scope of abilities at the moment. I found it hard to focus on much more than one or two things.
“Hey, when she survives the fight after winning, you can do whatever you want with her. I think it’d be profitable to whore her out for a few weeks and then we could sell her to the Romanovs. They’d probably like a chance to enact vengeance. Point is, I don’t care what happens to her after the fight. Before the fight, I need her eating and strong, do you understand?” The man’s voice changed as he drew closer to me, turning silky and sweet as if he were trying to speak to a dim-witted child.
Blaze cou
ld be dim-witted, but he was also sly which made him very dangerous. “Dominick, I heard Sergio drugged and beat his sister and that’s how Gray killed her. What if Gray can’t kill this Romanov?” Was that trepidation in Blaze’s voice? The little bitch needed to get slapped and I wanted desperately be the one to do it.
If only I could do more than control my breathing.
Dominick was closer than I’d known as his soft chuckle covered the air near my arms and a hand used to working indoors reached out to slide up my bicep. “Oh, Blaze, if she doesn’t kill the Romanov fighter, we die, the Jameson boys die, her family members die, her friends at your school die, even her mother dies.”
The mention of my mother jerked me from my goal of laying still. I snapped my eyelids open, training my gaze on him but unable to see anything since he blocked the light and anything that did get through blinded me.
“Ah, Gray Asher. We finally meet.” Dominick would remain faceless as long as he blocked the light from the doorway in such a way.
I didn’t need to see his features. His voice was enough. I gathered what little spit I had in my mouth and collected the small strength I had left. I arched my back and spit in his general direction. Honestly, I think I missed, but he got the point, judging by the way his hand no longer caressed my arm but instead dug into the flesh at the back.
“Get her up, fed, cleaned up, and worked out. We need her spirit to save us and she’s going to need it to survive a night with me.” Dominick slapped me, his palm coming down more like a punch to the face.
I welcomed it. The sharp burst of pain cut like a knife through my disorientation. I needed another one to fully wake me up.
“Wait, you just said I could have her first.” Blaze’s whine shocked me. I hadn’t known him to be a particularly weaselly guy and yet there he was, begging for scraps.
Her Brawlers: A high school bully romance (Bad Boys of Jameson High Book 2) Page 8