Dare to Dance: The Maxwell Series (15 page)

“Let’s face it,” Vickie said. “You’re going down.”

I snarled as I lunged. This time, I kicked, my foot landing in her gut.

An “oof” then a groan dropped from her lips as she held her stomach.

“Again, Ruby,” Kross said.

Vickie swung her gaze to Kross. In that split second, I punched, my fist connecting with her side. She bent over, giving me easy access to her face. I jabbed hard, once, twice, three times in quick succession. Blood sprayed from her nose.
Don’t stop now. You don’t want her to recover.
I landed another blow to her mouth. She narrowed her dark-brown eyes at me as she spit out blood.

“Hit her again,” some men bellowed.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins at warp speed. My pulse pounded in my ears. If pain existed anywhere on my body, I couldn’t feel it. All I knew was I had to keep hitting her, wearing her down. Otherwise, she would probably beat me until I couldn’t open my eyes.

She groaned. I rammed my elbow into her temple. She staggered.

“Again,” Kross shouted.

“Come on, Ruby,” Norma shouted. “She’s tiring.”

Only one way to win—knock her out. I came around with my other elbow and caught the left side of her jaw. When her head swung right, I immediately followed with a swift and hard punch directly to her nose. She shook her head like a dog shaking off water. Then she brought a hand up to her face, wiped the blood, then smiled as though she was enjoying herself. I felt as if I’d just swallowed a handful of rocks. This woman wasn’t going down.

I retreated to catch my breath. As soon as I did, Vickie launched her large body at me like a diver in the Olympics. I wanted to laugh because she made the same move she had when I’d told her to fuck off that first night. I danced to my left. She stumbled before righting herself. She came at me, throwing a fist to my gut.

Air left my lungs as I shuffled backward.

“Stay upright,” Kross said.

I blew out a breath. But before I could orient myself, she landed a blow to my ear. The pain brought tears to my eyes along with a blinding anger. Screw control. I went wild, attacking her with all the energy I had left in me. She blocked her face as I delivered punch after punch to her gut and anywhere else on her body. My breathing was all over the place, but I wasn’t stopping.

Vickie shuffled two steps back, giving me the opportunity to gain control of myself. But I couldn’t lose the momentum. If the audience was hooting and hollering, I barely heard them, especially with the ringing in my left ear. Then for some reason, my ballet training came to mind. I did a pique turn. Normally, in ballet, I would step onto a full point. Instead, I lifted my right leg as high as my limber body would allow me. Then with all the power in my leg, I kicked out, my foot connecting with the side of Vickie’s head.

She listed to one side then another, her eyes going wide as gravity took control. She fell. Her head hit the hard dirt-covered floor with a resounding crack followed by a whoosh.

The room fell silent.

Vickie didn’t move. I squeezed my eyes shut as dizziness crept in. I began to sway to one side when strong hands caught me.

“I’m here,” Kross whispered in my ear as he cocooned me in his arms.

At that moment, pain began to take over my body.

Whispers hummed in the distance.

A hand touched my back. “Ruby, you did great,” Norma said.

I didn’t feel so great.

“Is Vickie dead?” someone asked.

Horror settled in my veins as I pushed off Kross. “Dead?” I sucked in all the smoky, dank air I could. When my lungs expanded, bile rose to settle in my throat. Oh, God. If I killed her, I was certainly going to jail. My life was over. I would never see my daughter again.

A crowd formed around Vickie.

“Norma, hold onto Ruby,” Kross said as he pushed the men out of the way.

The spectators moved but not far. The men I could see standing over Vickie wore concerned expressions.

Please let her be okay.
I couldn’t be charged with murder. “I’m so going to jail.”

“Shh,” Norma said. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Kross lowered to his knees near Vickie’s head. Dillon was tapping on Vickie’s face, and Tommy was on his haunches, sweat dripping down his temple.

Kross opened one of Vickie’s eyelids, then the other. He moved his fingers down to her neck. He checked her as though he was a skilled doctor or trained in CPR. “She’s got a pulse.” His shoulders slumped as he sat back on his heels.

A huge exhale zipped around the room as though a large gust of wind had blown through the dingy basement. I hung my head, celebrating with everyone.

“That creepy Trent is looking at us,” Norma whispered in my ear.

Wincing in pain, I searched the crowd. Trent was standing at the opposite end of the ring behind Vickie, leering in my direction.

“Again, yuk.” Norma shuddered. “He reminds me of my pimp.”

I broke eye contact with the man and went over to Vickie. Her chest rose softly. Mine didn’t. I took in another humungous breath. Fighting was definitely off my list of career options. Legal or not, I didn’t want to worry that I would hurt someone, or worse, kill someone. Not to mention, the pain. My entire body felt as if I’d been run over by a tractor-trailer, not once but ten times.

Kross popped to his feet then pulled me to him so fast, I grunted. I wanted to tell him not to hug me so tightly, but I would endure any amount of pain to be in his arms. He smelled like heaven and felt like home. I wanted to be home. I wanted to be with him. Suddenly, I wanted to bawl like a baby and tell him about Raven. I wanted, no,
needed
him to rescue me from a life that had gotten out of control. A life that had taken the wrong path. But I couldn’t feel sorry for myself. I’d made my choices. As my mom had always said, “Your decisions in life will make you who you are.” Those were her words as she was carted off in handcuffs.

Easing back, Kross placed his large palms on my face. Panic shone in his dark-blue eyes as he rubbed his thumbs over my cheeks.

“I’m good, Kross.” I was more than good as tingles spread through my entire body.

“You’re not fighting in this dump again.” His voice was soft but firm.

He wasn’t getting an argument out of me. I had fulfilled my obligation to Tommy, and I could keep my waitressing job.

Tommy’s voice broke through the fluffy cloud I was on. “She’s awake.”

Vickie moaned.

Kross turned his attention to Vickie. “Hey, slugger.”

Her eyelashes fluttered at Kross. “Maxwell? Am I dreaming? I can’t believe you’re here.”

“In the flesh,” he drawled in that whiskey smooth voice of his.

Her smile grew wider. The girl had a major crush on Kross.

“All right. The fight is over,” Tommy announced. “The winner is Ruby.”

The men huddled into small groups as they exchanged fistfuls of bills.

With all the fear that was spiking my adrenaline, I didn’t exactly feel elated.

“You won,” Vickie said as she sat up. “By the way, what kind of move was that? You looked like you were about to do some kind of ballet dance.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked her.

“I’m alive,” she said.

The word alive was the catalyst to replace my fear with joy.
Oh my God.
I glanced at Kross. “I won two thousand dollars.” I threw my arms around him. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything. You’re the one with that fancy ballet move.” He let out a hearty laugh. I loved that sound from him.

“I can’t believe it,” Norma said. “We have money.”

The amount wasn’t enough to live off of since rent in Boston was so high. Still, it was money to deposit into an account.

Tommy sauntered up to me. “My office in ten minutes.” His tone was even. “Norma, get your butt back to work.”

“I should go,” Norma said. “My break was over fifteen minutes ago. I’ll meet you upstairs.”

The roomed emptied out with the exception of Kross, Dillon, and Vickie.

“We should get you to a doctor,” Dillon said to Vickie.

“Vickie, I’m sorry,” I said.

“No worries. That’s what happens in fights.” Then she shifted her crush-filled eyes to Kross. “I’m such a fan.”

Kross flashed her a dimpled grin. “Would you like to come to my next match? It’s invitation only, but I have a few tickets left.”

Her whole face lit up as though she’d just walked into her favorite candy store. A small jealous pang hit me from Kross inviting her to his match. I wanted one of those tickets. I would love to see Kross in action. I almost asked him for one then decided not to. If he wanted me there, then he would invite me.

“I’ve got to go.” My money was waiting for me, and I had to find some Advil then see if Pete needed a hand.

“About Thanksgiving,” Kross said. “I’ll take you up to the Berkshires like you wanted me to.”

I didn’t want to take him away from his family. “Um, maybe another day.”

Hurt washed over him before he quickly banked it.

“Are you free Wednesday? I don’t have to work until seven.” I didn’t know if Ms. Waters would agree to let me see Raven on short notice. She might if I came clean about Kross.

“I am in the afternoon,” he said.

“Then I’ll meet you outside the gym at noon.” The faster Kross met Raven, the faster we could get the paternity paperwork started.

T
hirty minutes later
, I was walking into Tommy’s office. After I’d left Kross, I changed back into my jeans then went in search of pain medication. Pete had a bottle of Advil behind the bar.

Trent and Tommy were lounging on the couch, talking until I sat down in a chair across from them.

Tommy glanced at his watch. “I said ten minutes.”

“I’m here. I want my money.”

Trent laughed. It was a sound that grated on me. In fact, the hairs on the back of my neck rose.

“You see, Ruby”—Tommy’s voice stiffened those hairs on my neck—“you were late for the fight. Which meant I lost money. Lots of it.”

I clenched my fists in my lap. “How did you lose money? Your customers got a fight.”

“That room downstairs is always packed from corner to corner on fight night,” Tommy said. “When you didn’t show, people took their money and left.”

His first sentence was correct. I’d noticed it wasn’t as crowded tonight. “I won. Therefore, you owe me money.” I knew nothing about how he made money, and frankly, I didn’t want to know.

Trent plucked a folder from a pile of disorganized papers on the coffee table, which was cluttered with empty beer bottles and an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts.

My nails dug into my palms.

“Tommy isn’t lying to you,” Trent said. “Our entry fee is one hundred dollars per head. We had a packed house of two hundred. After thirty minutes, half of them got restless. So, we had to return their entrance fee. When it was all said and done, we lost ten grand in entry fees.”

“Bull,” I blurted out. I was savvy to the knowledge that numbers could be calculated any way to suit someone’s needs. My mom’s boss had done that a time or two.

They both let out a chuckle that made me feel degraded.

Assholes.
Stars clouded my vision. “I won fair and square. That’s my money,” I nearly shouted, pressing my hands into the arms of the chair.

“It’s no longer your money.” Tommy’s voice dropped, mean and deadly. “You lost it all when you decided to stroll in late. We run a business on our time, not yours.”

The need to kill him skipped through my mind. “Then pay me half.” A thousand dollars was still a lot of money. Besides, I deserved it.

“Ruby.” Trent’s tone was nice and calm. “You’re no longer dealing with Tommy. The ten grand that was lost tonight is mine. I’m a businessman that doesn’t like to be screwed out of all that cash. You now work for me. You
will
pay me back.”

I jumped out of my chair. “Fuck you. I owe you nothing.”

“Do you want to keep your waitressing job?” Tommy asked.

“Seriously? You’re using the waitressing position to threaten me again?” The need to kill him grew brighter than a full moon on a clear, dark night.

“A Ms. Waters called me today.” Tommy’s tone was smug.

Visions of holding a loaded gun to Tommy’s head completely vanished. If he knew that piece of information, then he also knew about Raven, although Alex could’ve told him about Raven. My mouth fell open as the office spun. I grasped the arms of the chair.

Trent pushed to his feet, holding that folder in his hand as though it held secrets, my secrets. “Do we have your attention?” He climbed over a box and reached into the fridge near Tommy’s desk. He snagged a beer and twisted the cap.

A pregnant pause filled the room, my fear rising as though I was on a sinking ship.

Tommy rested his elbows on his knees. Trent took a long pull from the bottle.

“So, talk,” I said as a dull pain throbbed in my chest from the morbid anticipation of what they had in mind.

Trent set down the beer bottle on the desk, the folder still clutched in his other hand. “I have a client I want you to entertain.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “No fucking way.” I shook my head violently as I darted for the door. “I’m out of here.” I wasn’t about to jump from illegal fighting to illegal “entertaining,” whatever he meant by that. I wasn’t stupid, though. He meant sex for hire. That type of work wasn’t in my vocabulary. Norma had prostituted herself. I understood why. But I wasn’t Norma. I stole to survive, and I would continue to do so before I entertained anyone by using my body.