Punching and Kissing (26 page)

I took a quick shower and practically bounced out onto the street. There was a pretty good grocery store almost next door and I bought bell peppers and ground beef, onions and spices. I figured I’d make a chili. When I came out, I was so preoccupied that I didn’t even see the car pull up behind me, or the window wind down.

“Sylvie,” said a voice I recognized.

I span around. Rick was in the back seat of an aging but still impressive Rolls Royce. One of his bodyguards was driving and the other was riding shotgun.

“Get in,” said Rick. “We’re going for a little ride.”

I glanced back at the gym. “I should get Aedan.”

He shook his head. “We don’t need Aedan. It’s time to meet your opponent.”

My stomach turned over. “I’ve already met her.”

He grinned. “Change of plan.” He pushed open the door and brandished his cane. “Get in.”

I looked around. There was no one else on the street. If I resisted, I’d have to fight with a broken leg.

Heart thumping, I got in the car.

Aedan

I wasn’t good at this shit.

“I really—” I sighed and broke off. “I really like her. When I’m with her, I feel—“

I broke off again and shook my head. Maybe this had been a bad idea. I’d been hitting the bag at the gym, not long after Sylvie left, when it’d suddenly hit me that he and I needed to have this conversation. And once I thought of it, I couldn’t get it out of my head.

“Sylvie is...she really cares about other people. Even me. Christ knows why. And she makes me feel—she
makes me
a better person.”
Jesus, that sounded stupid.
I kicked the bed, which made more noise than I’d expected. “Shit. Sorry.”

Alec didn’t respond.

I stared at his motionless body. “Why am I talking to you? You can’t even hear this.”

I sat there in silence for a few seconds, listening to the hiss and bleep of the machines.
This is stupid!
But at the same time, it felt right. And God knows, it was about time I did something right.

“What I wanted to say was...I want to be with her. All the time. Like, long-term, into the future. I haven’t told her that part yet. I’m crazy about her. I’ll take care of her. I promise.”

Alec lay there impassively. But I still felt better.

I stood up. “I gotta go,” I told him. “Sylvie’s going to cook.” I checked my watch and realized I’d better hurry. She’d be home by now, waiting for me.

Sylvie

With every mile we traveled, my confidence drained. What the hell was going on? What
change of plan?
Had he found some other woman for me to fight—someone I couldn’t beat? But Rick remained tight-lipped the whole journey, only telling me to wait and see. By the time we arrived, I wanted to be sick.

This time, The Pit was deserted. I didn’t get it, at first. The whole point of me meeting Jacki had been so that the crowd could see us together and get fired up about the forthcoming fight. If there was no audience to see me and this new woman, what was the point?

As Rick led me out into the pit, he saw me looking up at the empty balcony. “I didn’t want a whole crowd here,” he told me. “I’ve decided to make your fight invitation-only. We’ll move it to a different venue, too. Somewhere more private.”

I wanted to run—sprint back up the stairs and out onto the street and not stop until I saw a cop car. But, even if I got away from Rick and his guards, Alec was alone and vulnerable in the hospital. They’d take it out on him. “Why?” I asked, my voice shaking. “Why more private?”

Rick planted the end of his cane on the floor and leaned on it, glancing around at his guards. “I had a think about your little catfight with Jacki. The crowd really liked it when she ripped your top. So I thought: how do we maximize that? How do we turn that up all the way?”

He nodded over my shoulder and I turned.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. My opponent walked out from one of the side rooms. Taller than me. Wider than me.

And male.

Sylvie

He was nearly as big as Aedan. I took in his wide, muscular shoulders and the heavy chest that pushed out the front of his gray tank top. He was at least twice my weight. Under his ripped jeans, his thighs seemed as big around as my waist. A bear of a man. His hair seemed unnaturally light blond, as if he’d dyed it, and his eyes were a cold, cold blue. A good-looking guy, but there was something deeply unsettling about the way he was looking at me. He was the sort of guy who sets your alarm bells ringing, when you see him in a bar. The sort where you’re suddenly glad you haven’t had one more drink, because then you might go home with him...and you sense something awful would happen.

“Meet Lowell,” said Rick in my ear. “He just got out of jail a few weeks ago. He was in for assault...and something else.”

Lowell smiled a smile that held no warmth at all.

“...see if you can guess what that was.” said Rick.

I felt the vomit rise in my throat. No. Jesus, no. He couldn’t mean—

“Go ahead,” said Rick, stepping away. “I’ll tell you when to stop.”

Lowell started towards me. He didn’t even bother to raise his fists.

I backed away, looking around me for an escape route. Rick and one guard blocked one of the exits while the other guard blocked the other. There was nowhere to run.

“I can’t—I can’t fight a guy!” I yelled desperately.

“No,” said Rick in a conversational tone. “No, I don’t suppose you can.”

Lowell was almost on me, now. I swung wildly, trying to remember everything Aedan had taught me.
Keep her at a distance. That’s where your advantage is.
But it wasn’t a
her,
it was a
him,
and that changed everything. His fists were massive and scarred from years of fighting. One good hit from one of those and I knew I’d go down. And once he had me on the floor—Jesus, Rick couldn’t really mean for him to...
did he?

His fist caught me on the arm and it went instantly numb. I was completely on the defensive, backing away and letting him push me around the whole circumference of the pit. All of the intimidation I’d learned had evaporated as soon as Lowell had stepped into the pit. That primal fear a man instills in a woman had swept it away.
This isn’t fair.

Of course it wasn’t fair.
Fair
wasn’t the way Rick did things. This wasn’t going to even be a fight, not really. It was just a prelude to the main event, when he’d get me down on the floor and—

I heard a clicking sound. Rick was taking photos on his phone—to send to the people he’d invite, I realized. The
really
rich ones, the ones who’d pay thousands just to see a man fight a woman. Fight her and—

Lowell hunkered low and came at me with his arms widespread, growling like an animal. I got in a couple of good hits to the face, but he barely seemed to notice. He just stormed on towards me and I couldn’t back up fast enough and—

I went down heavily on my back, Lowell on top of me. His legs immediately pinned mine to the concrete so that I couldn’t kick him. His hands grabbed mine and slammed them to the floor, the concrete scraping my knuckles. I cried out in pain.

Lowell bent his head so that he could whisper in my ear. “I haven’t had a really good fuck since I’ve been out. I’m going to wait another couple of days so I can bang the hell out of you.”

I heard Rick’s phone going
click click click.
Lowell’s chest was mashing against my breasts, the heat of him horribly intimate against my flesh. I wanted to be sick. He leaned down and tried to kiss me, but I kept my lips tight closed and strained my head to the side. Jesus, he was so heavy! I writhed, but I couldn’t move even an inch. Tears welled up in my eyes, horror at what was about to happen and frustration at my own weakness.

His tongue toyed with the line between my lips, pushing against it. Forcing them apart.

“Enough,” said Rick.

Lowell ignored him. He used his elbow to grind one of my hands into the floor, freeing up a hand to grab at the hem of my top, hauling it up, baring my stomach—

Rick’s guards pulled him off me. He stumbled away, grinning and panting and staring right into my eyes.

“Good,” said Rick. He looked at me dispassionately. “Try to make it last a little longer on the day, though. It’d be good if you can hold him off for at least a round or two before you...have your fun.”

“You can’t do this!” I yelled, my voice breaking. “This isn’t fighting! It’s—someone will call the cops!”

“Not the ones I’m inviting. Some of these guys might act like gentlemen when they’re buying companies and drinking at their private clubs, but guys—
all
guys—are just fucking cavemen, really. You heard them cheering, when Jacki tore your top off. You and I both know what they
really
want to see.”

I pushed past him and ran for the bathroom. I heard them leave as I bent over the bowl and threw up.

Aedan

I was going crazy when she walked in the door. I’d gotten home a little while before, expecting her to be there, only to find the apartment empty. As soon as I saw her ashen face, I didn’t have to ask if something was wrong. I only needed to know what.

She slumped down on the couch. I could see the concrete dust on her face and knew she’d been to The Pit. I could see the lines her tears had cut through it and my insides tightened down into a cold, hard knot.