“I changed my mind. I’ll take her the first night or until I grow bored, then you can have her. Then we’ll send her to the Romanovs, if she’s still alive. I’m not worried about it. Do what I told you to and get her presentable. We only have forty-eight hours.” He rose and turned toward Blaze, approaching him slowly. “No more drugging her. Do you understand?”
“I got it.” But Blaze was sulking. A sulky Blaze was a cruel Blaze. He was going to make me pay for not being a virgin when he finally got his hands on me. I probably wouldn’t be able to sit after dealing with Dominick for however long he kept me.
Forty-eight hours. I only had that long before I was expected to fight. Would I be able to survive the fight? Judging by what Dominick reported, if I didn’t, a lot of people were going to pay the price.
At The Pike. I’d be fighting in my own territory, in conditions familiar to me, in the same place as my last fight where I’d killed already.
I didn’t want to fight to the death. I didn’t want to be a tool for revenge. I just wanted to get out of there and make sure my dad was okay. He had to be worried about me, if he even knew I was missing. What if he was being held by the same people?
I swallowed, moving my tongue behind my teeth. Getting their attention would be hard, if I couldn’t speak up. My vocal cords hadn’t been used in a while. How much could I saw in my weakness? “Where’s. Dad?”
Dominick stopped moving away and turned back, his boots the only things I could really focus on. They had a shiny metal grommet on either side of the laces with the square-toe of a steel-toed boot. If he kicked me, I’d probably die.
“Your dad? Don’t worry about him. He’s being taken care of. Do what you’re told and we might all survive this.” He turned back from me, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. “Get this mess in shape, Blaze. Don’t mess around. She better be intact the next time I see her.”
“Yes, sir.” Blaze answered stiffly.
Dominick’s footsteps left the way they came in, silenced by the slamming of the door again.
There was a door. I could get to it. I just needed to get more strength and then I could get out. I just knew I could. I had to. Forty-either hours wasn’t enough to get back to normal, but it might be enough to get me out of there.
After a minute of staring in the direction Dominick had left, Blaze turned toward me, his face thunderous and dark.
I tensed my muscles as much as I could against the coming onslaught of abuse. I wasn’t stupid. Dominick wanted me ready to fight. He didn’t care what condition that left me in.
I held up my hands as Blaze approached. I wouldn’t flinch. I wouldn’t wince. I had to think my way out of that mess. “Stop. I’ll win Friday and figure out a way you can screw me first before Dominick, but you can’t keep kicking me. I need food.” That didn’t seem enough, but he was close to tipping. I wasn’t sure if the mention of winning the fight did it or the promise of having first dibs at my virginity did.
Only one way to find out.
I licked my lips with a dry tongue and added, “Yeah, I’m still a virgin. Tight, too.”
Blaze stood at an angle that allowed me to see his expression and the darkening look of desire in his eyes. He’d play as nice as he had to as long as the promises played out.
“You can’t guarantee I get you, Gray.” He bit out, but he reached down and untied my hands.
My fingers screamed with pain as blood poured back into them. A tingling started at the tips and worked its way up toward my palms. I shoved my shaking hands between my knees to keep them from flailing and shook my head. “Yeah, I can. I can tell Dominick I need your help changing after the fight. We’ll be at The Pike. There’s got to be somewhere in the locker room we can use, right?”
I had him judging on the twist of his lips and the narrowing of his eyes.
“I knew you wanted me. It was only a matter of time.” He nodded as he paused in his ministering to me. “I’ll get you some food, but if you try to run, I’ll have to beat you. You understand that, right?”
I got it. He just didn’t need to know that if I was in the condition to be running, I wouldn’t be caught. He didn’t untie my feet, but left me alone to do that as he disappeared from the cell-like room.
With my hands still missing most of their feelings, I reached down and managed to untie the rope at my ankles. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming in pain as the ropes fell from my bare skin. Blood had scabbed to the rope, ripping clear from my skin as the heavier, rough restraints fell to the cement.
My arms shook with the effort to work my hands for the few minutes I did and I sank back to lie on the ground. How was I going to fight when I could barely sit up for very long? How was I going to save anyone, least of all myself, when I fought dizziness just sitting up?
I wasn’t sure what Blaze brought me, but it better be full of calories and have staying power. I needed to get my strength back. I wasn’t going to be able to do anything like that with salads.
He appeared in the doorway again, holding a tray and bringing with him the strong aroma of pepperoni pizza.
I struggled to sit up again. I couldn’t lie there and eat, if I wanted to get better. I certainly didn’t want Blaze feeding me, either. I painfully stretched my little-used legs in front of me and let my hands fall to my sides as I leaned my head against the wall.
Watching him with suspicion mingled with hope, I blinked slowly as he got closer.
Blaze stooped, setting a metal cookie sheet on my lap with a paper plate full of four pieces of pepperoni pizza and a bottle of pop.
I really wanted water and meat, but at the point I was at, I’d take anything I could get.
With hands that weren’t sure I could do much, I reached for the first piece nearest my right hand. I couldn’t lift it with just one hand so I used both to lift the triangle to my mouth.
The first bite was slow, like I had to work up the energy to chew and swallow – which I did. As I processed that I was eating, my body finally discovered enough strength to chew and swallow on autopilot, faster and faster.
He’d microwaved the pizza, the crust hardening even as I ate it. I didn’t care. Every bite could have been fresh out of the box and I wouldn’t eat it with more fervor.
The first piece disappeared and I started working on the second, polishing it off by licking my fingers and closing my eyes. I reached for the bottle of pop, suddenly aware of a painful stitch in my right side. I’d eaten too fast and too much. After not eating more than a bite here and there since Saturday, I’d gone and gorged on food my body wasn’t prepared for.
I struggled with the lid to the pop, my fingers fumbling in their weakness as well as the panic welling inside me that I was close to throwing up.
I couldn’t lose that meal. I needed every ounce of energy it would offer. I couldn’t reject it.
“Open it.” I hit the bottle with my knuckles, knocking it from the tray in Blaze’s direction, careful to keep my mouth closed as much as possible. I refused to throw up. I couldn’t do it.
Blaze snarled his lip as he reached out, unscrewing the lid and then passing it back to me.
I ignored the pop that spilled over the side as I tilted the bottle to put to my lips. After a couple sips, I breathed easier that I might have gotten the nausea under control.
Might being the operative word. Throwing up wasn’t in any of our best interests. Mine least of all.
“You look like you’re going to puke all over.” He scooted back, holding his crouched position as he stared at me with his hands dangling between his knees.
I swallowed again, taking a deep breath and shaking my head.
“Are you going to be able to do this?” The insecurity in Blaze’s voice brought my gaze up with a snap.
Pure fury clenched my jaw and I narrowed my eyes. “I have to, don’t I?”
He nodded as if that comforted him. Comforted him!? I didn’t care about comforting the prick. As soon as I could, I had to kill hi
m. I’d never wanted to kill anyone in my life, in fact, I was still trying to recover from the last time I’d accidentally ended a girl’s life. Yet there I was, imagining all the ways I’d kill Blaze. I even wanted to revive him and kill him again.
“You’re right. You do.” He offered a charming smile at me before he stood and walked away.
I had to survive, but not only to save everyone, including myself, but so I could get a chance to kill him. That would become my new motivation for taking each new breath.
Chapter 10
Gray
It didn’t matter how much food Blaze gave me. I couldn’t get my equilibrium back. He’d hit me a few times in the head and my vision was spotty. I think we were at The Pike, but they could have taken me anywhere.
I blinked as Dominick showed up, his voice loud in the echoing room. “Is she ready to fight?” It sounded like he paced back and forth on the tiled flooring of the locker room at The Pike. That’s all I really had to go on. I was supposed to be at The Pike and I’d been transferred somewhere that sounded familiar.
I couldn’t open my eyes all the way unless I really tried to focus. There wasn’t enough energy in me for that. I could barely sit upright on the bench they’d dumped me on. I had to still be drugged. He was slipping me half a dose or maybe even a quarter to keep me controlled.
“I don’t know. She’s been eating, but not training. I’m not worried. Fighting is second nature to her. She’ll snap out of it and do fine.” Blaze’s voice had taken on a grating annoyance I couldn’t escape, not to mention I hadn’t been able to get my head clear enough to try to get out of the hell hole he’d penned me in. At least the beatings had stopped when Dominick laid it out for Blaze how important it was that I was in good condition for a fight.
“You better hope so. Sergio is aware that you’ve been in charge of her. If she fails, it falls on you.” Dominick didn’t move back into my view, but I wasn’t raising my eyes from a spot on the floor between my feet anyway.
Normally the locker room was warm, almost muggy, but I hadn’t been able to shake the chill from the floor of my cell. Sitting there in a sports bra and shorts that Blaze had almost ripped as he’d pulled them on me didn’t help.
I had to have lost muscle mass over the last few days with minimal food and then a diet of pizza and bread. I didn’t get much protein and I could feel it.
Hard footsteps approached me, the boots solidly thudding on the tiles and echoing off the metal lockers and more tiled walls.
Rough fingers gripped under my jaw, jerking my chin upwards. My head lolled to the side and I’m not sure it would have stayed up without his support.
I didn’t even bother trying to open my eyes. I honestly didn’t care what happened at that point. For whatever reason, I felt like I’d given up.
“What’d you do to her? You sonuva bitch. We’re going to get killed, if she fails.” Dominick let my head drop forward and I leaned onto my elbows, resting them on my knees to keep me upright.
Dominick stormed toward Blaze who was busy stammering. “I…uh, no way. I did what you told me to. I… wait, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
The sound of an open-handed slap reverberated through the locker room and I winced in spite of the fact that it wasn’t aimed at me. I’d endured enough hits and slaps and kicks the last week to last me a lifetime. I didn’t wish it on anyone.
The footsteps came my way again and I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I was too tired, too foggy in the brain to do much more than hold myself up.
Dominick leaned me back, resting the back of my head in his palm as he studied me. I didn’t open my eyes, but I could feel his gaze on me. “You’re so much like your mother.” He breathed the statement, like he didn’t mean for me to hear.
I worked my tongue and then croaked out, “You knew my mother?” I tried to open my eyes, but the angle he held my head had me facing the fluorescent lights full on and it was too bright for me to face.
“That’s past tense. I know her and you’re more like her than either of you realize.” He leaned in, pushing his lips close to my neck. If I hadn’t already been chilled to the bone, I would have shivered. “Are you ready to fight, little Asher? Your mother’s life lies in the balance as well. Not just mine. Not just yours or your father’s.”
The more weight he put on my shoulders the more I could feel myself buckling. He had no idea what stress I’d been under or the pain I struggled to keep controlled.
I had to fight not only to keep people alive that had chosen to stay with me but also a woman who had chosen to walk away. None of it mattered since I was going to die that night. I couldn’t fight, not only in the condition I was in, but mentally I wasn’t capable. I’d been too close to broken and killing another girl wasn’t going to be acceptable.
Dominick dropped his hand and fondled me through my sports bra. “I just wonder if you’re going to be as adventurous in bed as she is.”
That was an image I didn’t need. I turned my head toward him and heaved. The pizzas Blaze had been plying me with the last couple days came up, splashing Dominick and the bench beside me and dripping onto the floor beneath. I didn’t even wipe my face when I finished.
I leaned my head back, exhausted and spent but finally feeling like maybe I could get my head on straight. Blaze had continued drugging me, despite what Dominick had told him to do. Getting that out of my body might have been the smarter thing for me to do two days ago.
“What the hell? You stupid whore.” Dominick jumped from the bench and judging by the disgust in his tone, I must have gotten some on him.
I didn’t react to being called a whore. I honestly couldn’t care less what a man like Dominick thought.
The door opened before they could do or say anything more and Bruce’s booming voice carried through the room. “No men in here before a fight. Out you go.”
“I’m managing her tonight. She’s my ward until the fight is over.” Dominick’s oily charm left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I didn’t have the energy to even deny that one but Bruce didn’t take anything from anyone.
He lowered his tone into his threatening voice. “Maybe you didn’t hear me. I said no men in the locker room before a fight. You can manage her from ringside like the other coaches and managers have to. Now, get out, or I’ll remove you myself.” The whisper of flesh on material suggested he crossed his massive arms over his chest and stared down at Dominick and Blaze.
Dominick’s feet moved from my view and Blaze’s boots beat a hasty retreat as they both moved out into the hallway. I had no doubt they’d stay as close as possible so I couldn’t escape.
Gentle arms scooped me from the now filthy bench and moved with me across the locker room, leaving the acrid scent of bile and vomit on the other side of the room.
Bruce’s arms were warm and I sagged against him. He was the closest thing I had to a friend there. Most likely, if I lost the fight, he’d be one to die as well. How did I let down a friend like Bruce? How did I let down anyone I cared about?
Bruce gently set me on a different bench, this one closer to the office with more space for my rear end. I didn’t feel like I was going to slip off any second. He sat beside me and let me rest my head on his shoulder.
“You’re supposed to fight like this? I can call the fight off. Should I do that?” Sympathy and concern in his tone made me crack my eyelids a slit as I leaned my head back to look up at him.
I couldn’t shake my head, so I murmured, “No.”
“You don’t look good, girl. What happened to the fiery fighter from last week? You were unstoppable, a force to be reckoned with.” His words slowed as my eyes opened more.
That’s what held me back. My eyes were closed because I was going to cry. Large tears rolled from the corners like someone had hooked me up to a hose and the water had no other way to escape.
I stared up at Bruce with his kind eyes in a hardened face and let the tears roll. He studied me and then reached into his
pocket, careful not to jostle me from my position. He cracked open something small and white and then waved it under my nose.
The sharp smell of ammonia zinged through me, accomplishing two tasks at once – sharpening my mental awareness and reminding me of what I’d left behind when I’d walked away from Stryker and Tiny’s ranch.
I inhaled deeply; the fog eradicated from my brain. I was still weak, but at least I could think.
“He’s been drugging me.” I reached up with a limp hand and wiped at the damp skin under my eyes and nose. I felt like I’d been given a shot of caffeine or sugar or something with renewed… something. Okay, I wasn’t completely back, but I was back enough to talk to Bruce. “Did you know Sergio beat his sister before the fight?”
Bruce furrowed his brow and tilted his head. “No, I had no idea. Are you sure?”
I nodded, blinking long and slow. “Yeah, he also drugged her to thin her blood. Something about her getting the family business or something.” I lifted a shoulder, letting it fall without fanfare. “I know it doesn’t matter because ultimately I killed her and I know that, I accept that. I just…” I looked at my hands and then back at him. “I can’t help but think she might not have died, if she hadn’t been compromised, you know?” More tears cascaded down my cheeks and I didn’t even acknowledge them. I couldn’t.
I had no pride at that point, nothing to feel shame. Sniffing, I wiped more at my face, confused at the orangey spittle I wiped off the side of my mouth. I had forgotten I’d thrown up. Wrinkling my nose, I wiped it from my hand on a nearby towel which I pulled into my lap and wiped the rest of my face off.
“Where did you get those bruises?” Bruce pointed at purplish spots above the neckline of my sports bra as well as the fingerprint sized bruises and scrapes on my waist and upper thighs displayed by the shorts riding up my legs from sitting.
I shrugged and sighed. “There are a lot of consequences when you kill someone.”
Her Brawlers: A high school bully romance (Bad Boys of Jameson High Book 2) Page 9