Paradise Fought: Abel (6 page)

“And in this corner, Bayyyyy – ttttta.” The name wasn’t as strong as Spider, but it had meaning. Bettas were warriors, and so was I.

The fight began. With a crushing blow to the midsection, I was stunned into action. While I stumbled back with the first contact, it ignited my passion to crush him. His fist connected with my eye and the pain shot through my cheek like a lightning bolt. Spots of silver danced before me as a fist connected with my ribs. Spider had earned his reputation well. While I had practiced and reviewed a tape, my mind lost focus and his body parts whirled over mine. Three minutes were up and we separated.

“Don’t give in, Betta,” Shepherd coached. “Center. He’s your mirrored image. Weak. Meek. But out to beat you. Don’t let it happen.” Using my father’s words against me was encouragement.

We returned to the center. Despite the radiating pain in my midsection and the throbbing sting in my cheek, I had speed. I reminded myself to use it. I had stamina. I could dance and dodge, while he worked his ass off to get me. In his exhaustion, I struck. A left hook to the ribs, right uppercut to his nose and blood sprayed between us. The crunch of bone echoed in my ears.

I could do this
, I coached.

Spider was a courageous fighter. He caught me off guard again when I tried to predict one move and another happened. I went down.

“Get up,” Shepherd yelled. It was the only voice I allowed into my head.

I stood slowly.

“Going down again, newbie,” Spider spit. My anger surged. I could not go down. This could not end before it began. My body spun and I jabbed with my left. Spider crumbled when my fist connected with his already fragile nose. The count was called and the match was over. I stared down at my opponent in wonder. I’d won. I’d actually done it. The euphoric high of victory shot through me. The arms of Shepherd embraced me from behind, and my wrist was lifted into the air to signal a winner.

There were groans from those who lost the gamble, and a few cheers from those who bet on me. My name was mixed in the rumble, but I only wanted one person to recognize me. I searched for her in the crowd. She had to be there. For him. On the perimeter of the ring, I saw her. Her eyes met mine, but they were glazed. Once again, she wasn’t seeing me.

The past Friday night had been a disaster, so I wasn’t surprised to find Elma ignoring me on Monday morning. As I sat in my auditorium seat before class, I recalled the awkwardness as I felt it that night.

Elma stepped back and I moved in front of her when Thor entered his room.

“You,” Thor groaned.

“Me,” I replied.

Elma looked between us in confusion, but it didn’t matter. Instantly, Thor pushed past us both and entered his room. He held an almost empty bottle of Jack in his hands. I had shifted so my back was to the open entrance.

“Get your own room. And get your own girl,” Thor slurred.

“Get your own bottle,” I replied. It was a lame response and I knew it. I could sense my transformation from the confident man, pressing Elma against the door, to the dorky guy Elma wished to avoid earlier. I didn’t understand what had happened. I was suddenly clumsy.

“I’ll take the Jack,” I said, reaching out for the bottle and easily removing it from Thor’s hands. He was drunk. It was evident in the way he swayed and the slur of his words. The last thing he needed was another pull from that bottle.

“And I’ll take the queen,” he garbled, catching me unaware and shoving me backwards. His arms slipped around Elma’s waist as I fell into the hallway. The door slammed in my face, and I heard Elma giggle on the other side. My blood chilled. The door clicked to lock. Despite myself, I banged on it, calling out Elma’s name. My pleas were met by another round of laughter and a shattered ego. I threw the remainder of the bottle at the end of the hall, and it smashed against the cheap wall. Leaving the mess for the owner and his roommate, I left the party how I entered. Alone.

So Monday morning, I wasn’t shocked to find Elma enter human anatomy moments before it started and sit near Thor. He wasn’t actually paying attention to her, but he did acknowledge her presence. He wasn’t attentive, but he leaned over and copied the notes she took in class. I hadn’t written down a single thing. I was too angered by her snubbing me to concentrate.

Thor sported a black eye and yellowed skin on his neck. He didn’t seem as cocky as he had on Friday. The evidence of a fight was apparent, but his attitude remained strong. He was full of himself. I heard rumors that he took his opponent in one round. His eye roamed over me when he exited class, but he didn’t speak to me. Neither did Elma.

I followed them into the hall, where Thor casually placed his arm around Elma and escorted her out of the science building. My body cringed as I’d lost her.

Creed caught up with me in La Cantina for lunch. Campus food wasn’t the best, but it was an easy fix as our townhome was a mile or so away. My classes were too close together on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for me to return home. We sat at a table in the back, where we could talk freely. I tugged at my baseball cap as an additional shield against everyone in the cafeteria.

“You got it bad, don’t you?” Creed said looking around the open space to find Elma in a booth with Thor in the direction I stared.

“Nah. She ignores me.” I took a bite of my sandwich but hardly tasted it. Nothing had flavor the past few days.

“What’s up with her? You ditched me the other night to talk to her.”

“It’s nothing,” I replied, nonchalantly.

“She’s Elma Montgomery. It’s not nothing,” Creed admonished, looking over his shoulder in the general direction of Thor and Elma.

“She’s with Thor,” I shrugged, sitting back in my seat and pushing my food basket away from me on the table.

“You want her, right? You need to figure out something. Some way to get to her.”

I shook my head. “I’ll figure out
something
.” I had Elma’s address and I could confront her there, but I was hopeful she would come to me. We’d had a moment. I knew she felt it. Maybe what she did with Thor negated it afterward, but I was certain she was with me in the moment. I just needed another moment.

On Thursday night, my brother summoned me. I say summoned because he wasn’t calling and asking, he was demanding I meet him. Par for the course, he requested a seedy strip joint just west of campus. The neon pink sign was garish as was the gravel drive way that was packed with cars. I don’t know how he knew of this place. He lived outside Vegas.

I found him at a table for four, although his presence filled the empty spaces. He was sipping his drink as he eyed the scantily clad woman performing on stage. I wasn’t even certain if
performance
was the correct word for the gyration and thrusting she did to blistering pop music, but I wasn’t there for a show.

“Cain,” I addressed him.

“Abel,” he said into the glass that was raised to his lips. Amber liquor poured into his mouth after he spoke. In one sharp swallow, the glass emptied and he slammed it on the table.

“Drink?” he questioned. I passed. We were silent for a moment.

Cain and I weren’t close, in your typical way, for brothers only two years apart. He had been my protector and my shield, but it kept a wedge between us. He didn’t have to step in, but somehow he felt he did. He took the blame for things that weren’t his fault and took the blows that went with the punishment. He was hard. He took that negative energy and turned it on in the ring. It made him a champion.

“I need a favor,” he spoke, dryly, not taking his eyes from the girl on stage. My eyes hadn’t left him. I didn’t want to see the jiggle and jutting of tassels and thong. She was a shapely girl, too shapely. The room was somber despite the display. The music blared on.

“What do you need?”

Regardless of the distance between us, there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for Cain. I owed him, as my older brother. I felt the obligation as he felt one toward me. I never understood why. He was stronger, that I knew. But why he did it, why he took it, was always beyond me.

“I’m looking for a girl.”

I snorted. He had to be kidding. He could have any girl he wanted. In fact, I was certain the girl on display would please him if he wished. Girls were not an issue for him, like they were for me.

He turned on me and hard dark eyes paralyzed me. That was the thing about Cain, he had earned his name. Cobra. Those eyes froze me solid. Hypnotized, I didn’t move without his direction. My laughter was seized and my throat constricted as I held my breath. I shouldn’t have laughed. He was serious.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “How can I help?” It took strength to speak. Cain’s forceful glare was paralyzing.

“She’s a senior at Preston. She was abroad in the fall, but she should be back with the new semester. I need you to find her for me.”

I stared at him. Disbelief was the emotion inside me.
Why couldn’t he find her himself?
I wondered. He could have anyone he wanted. Before I could ask that obvious question, he answered me.

“I don’t want her to know I’m looking. I just want to know where she is. How she is.”

Cain slid me a piece of paper with a name. It was so mysterious, like a spy movie or something, and I wanted to laugh again. It was like we were playing a game, only he wasn’t horsing around. His serious expression proved it. I’d never heard of the girl. As he said, she was a year older. Preston was a large university.

“I know she’s studying to be a doctor and she took human anatomy last year. That’s all I have.”

There was something in Cain’s voice that let me know he was in earnest. He wanted to find this one.

“Why her?” I questioned.

“She’s…I have my reasons,” he stammered and faced the stage again. He’d raised his hand to signal another drink, but the waitress hadn’t approached yet. My eyes drifted to the stage as well. A new song filled the space. It was slightly older, sultry, and sinful. It made you want to have sex and so did the backside of the dancer on stage. She wiggled one way then dragged her ass back. She shyly peered over her shoulder with a hat shielding her eyes. When the music shifted, she spun and strutted to the pole at the edge of the stage. Tossing off the hat, blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders and I stood instantly.

“Elma,” I groaned. Her attention turned to the darkened crowd, but she didn’t miss a beat. She wore a vest, with apparently nothing underneath, and high cut panties that bared half her ass cheeks. The men around me sat up at greater attention. Sin was on display, and they were interested in her performance.

“You know this one?” I could hear the smirk in my brother’s tone. My blood flowed cold to think he knew her, too.

“Do you?” I bit, turning to look at him. A rare smile had tweaked his lips. His dark eyes sparkled with mischief as he watched the display before us. A thick finger tapped on the new glass of amber liquid while he contemplated his answer.

“I’ve heard of her.” The corners of his eyes pinched.

“What did you hear?” I growled. My brother’s expression dropped and he turned to me again.

“She’s good. Dances here a few nights a week.”

“But how do you know her?” I was still standing, but now I was leaning over the table. My hands were braced on the hard surface as I pressed forward, closing in on Cain’s space. He still sat casually back in his chair. One ankle crossed over a knee as his attention returned to the show.

“I don’t,” he sighed, in a rare moment of defeat. I exhaled in evident relief and pushed off the table exaggeratedly.

“Thank God,” I mumbled.

“Why?” Cain’s dark eyes focused on me a second time.

“I…I know her,” I lied. I didn’t really know anything about Elma. Every turn was something new. The tuition. Thor. The dancing. Everything was a shock.

“You know who she is?” Cain stared. “Does she know who you are?”

I wasn’t sure what Cain was implying, but I took my chances at honesty this time.

“She knows nothing about me.”

“Hhmmm…” Cain responded, facing Elma again. His fingers gently stroked up and down on the glass at hand. I was suddenly thirsty myself. I needed something strong.