Unleashed (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance) (75 page)

I storm over to Cassie’s father, pushing people out of my way. Already I can see bouncers going to him, so I rush to get there first.

I get him into a headlock, and knee him in the stomach, winding him, silencing him so his big mouth doesn’t get him into trouble he can’t get out of.

“Shut the fuck up!” I bark at him, and begin pulling him toward the stairwell. I glare at the bouncers. “I got this. Going to teach this prick a lesson!”

They stop their advance, let me through, and I take the heaving man up the steps, and then kick him out of the doorway of the pub. He goes tumbling into the street.

“He’s mine!” I shout at the two bouncers at the door, obviously getting ready for action. They put their hands up as if to say, ‘
have at it’
, and so I charge out after Kyle.

He gets to his feet, shaky, and sees my face. He’s about to call my name when I slam my cupped fist against his mouth, wrap an arm around his neck, and drag him off down the road, and into an alley.

“Stay quiet you dumb fuck,” I growl into his ear. “Or we’re both done for.”

When we get far enough down the rancid-smelling alley, I let him go, and he tries to push me impotently.

“Fuck you!” he shouts, voice cracking.

Angry now, I press my forehead against his, then head-butt him. He sprawls backward, hands clamped to his forehead.

“You want to fight
me
?” I snarl, spreading my arms. “Are you sure?”

“They tricked me!” Kyle cries, still rubbing his forehead. His whole body is shaking. He’s a nervous wreck.

“And they would have fucking broken your legs for calling them out like that in front of everybody else,” I say, jabbing a finger into his chest. “You fucking idiot, did you really think Kaminski was going to throw the fight?”

“That fucking bookie promised me he would. Last week, he promised me.”

“How do you even know them?”

“They’re business associates.”

“What do you do?”

“I work in finance, okay?”

It’s all coming together in my head now. “You crooked fucker. What, you help them launder money? You idiot, they played you for the dumb chump you are. How much did you bet?”

He shakes his head, and his lips are trembling. His eyes are unfocused now. He’s whispering to himself, but I can’t make it out.

There’s a bruise forming on his neck from where I held him. That’s going to be tough to explain to Cassie.

“How much did you bet?” I shout, slapping him across the face. He comes back to the present.

“Um, one-point-three,” he says.

“Thousand?” I ask, scoffing. “Jesus, it ain’t the end of the world, man.”

Kyle shakes his head and waves frantic hands at me. “No, not thousand.
Million
!”

My jaw drops. The sound of cars passing by drowns out into nothingness. It’s just me and Kyle alone in this world, and I’m at a loss for words.

“You bet one million on that fucking kid?” I hiss. “Are you fucking insane?”

“They said Kaminski would lose the fight. The odds were so bad, I’d make out huge, and split some of it with them. There was a whole group of us! It was organized! It would be larger than the cut they’d take off everyone betting on Kaminski. It was a win-win! Why did they back out?”

I sigh, pinch the bridge of my nose.

“There’s more,” Kyle says. He gestures at my pocket. “Do you have those awful things?”