Uppercut Princess: A Dark High School Romance (The Heights Crew Book 1)

by E. M. Moore

  “I just don’t know when we’re ever going to have time alone.”

  “We’re not alone, Oscar. Your fans are in the stands.”

  He looks bemused. “Hardly.” He pulls his hand out of the back of my jeans and passes it over my stomach until he’s inches away from my chest. “You’re hard for me.”

  I take a quick peek, knowing full well what Oscar’s getting at. My nipples are pebbled, pushing against my shirt. Aching.

  “I want to take them in my mouth, slide my tongue over them,” he groans.

  I bite down on my lip. “Jesus, Oscar.” I drop my head back against the wall. My core is throbbing. I’m wired for electricity at this point.

  I push his knee out from in between my legs and create some distance between us. “This can’t happen right now.”

  “What if I dropped to my knees and kissed you here?” he asks, trailing a hand up my inseam to the vee of my legs.

  I brush his hand away after my panties soak through. “You want to make both of us crazy.”

  “It’s fun this way,” he says. “Now you’ll be watching me, wishing my tongue was inside you.”

  “And you’ll be getting tackled with an erection. How does that help either one of us?”

  His lips tip up. “You’re my kind of girl, Princess.”

  I don’t take the bait this time. I’m already going to be watching the rest of this game wondering what Oscar’s like in bed. I don’t need to torture myself any further. “You better take a cold shower after your game.”

  “Only if you’re in it with me.”

  A whistle pierces the air. Oscar’s face hardens. I take a step away from him. “You better get back out there.”

  His lips thin. He lifts his hand to place his fingertips on my cheek. “After the game,” he says. There’s no question in his voice. It’s more like a command. He turns, running back to the field while the voices around us start to pick up again. I don’t leave the back of the wall until several minutes pass. I’m pretty sure the team is already playing judging by the sounds of pads colliding with pads and the occasional argument on the field.

  When enough time has gone by, I push off the wall and take my place by the fence again. Watching Oscar is a different experience now, and I was right about one thing. I’m wondering if he moves in bed like he moves on the field. He’s lithe, smooth, with the right amount of power.

  “Hey,” a voice says behind me.

  I practically jump out of my skin. Turning, I find Magnum breathing down my neck. “Fuck,” I breathe.

  He takes me in, and I feel like I have sex on the brain, and he can tell. “I need you to come with me. Something’s come up.”

  I look longingly back over at the field. “What?”

  “Just come on,” he says. “I’ll explain it to you in the car.”

  I want to protest, to tell him I should let Oscar know where I’m going, but I don’t think that would go over well if it got back to Johnny. Instead of doing any of that, I fall into step behind Magnum and just hope Oscar happens to be looking my way, so he doesn’t think I deserted him.

  That’s the last thing I want to do right now.

  25

  Magnum and I get into the car. The divider is down, and it’s just the two of us.

  “So, what is it?” I ask as he pulls away. This car always looks so strange in this parking lot. It’s by far the best one compared to any other.

  “Big Daddy K and Johnny are meeting with Roza Fonz. They’re arranging the fight. She won’t agree until she meets you first.”

  My stomach pitches, but at the same time, excitement fills me. This I can do. This is what I came here to do. What I can’t do is navigate three guys. Actually, just two. There is no third. The third is a puppet on a string who thinks about his own pleasures before anyone else’s.

  Right? Right.

  “Let’s do it,” I say, leaning back casually.

  Magnum glares at me through the rearview mirror. For all the time I find him staring at me, it’s a wonder we haven’t gotten into an accident yet. “You seem so blasé about all of this. Aren’t you worried?”

  “I know fighting. It’s the one thing in my life I can control right now, so no, I’m not worried…especially.”

  Magnum shakes his head. “There’s a bulletproof vest in the back there. Johnny wants you to put it on. In case,” he says snidely.

  His words are so cocky it makes me narrow my gaze at him. He must think I’m a complete idiot. “I understand there are other factors, Mag,” I say, drawing his name out like it’s a tease instead of the badass name it really is.

  Fuck him for having such a cool name.

  I pull my shirt off and inspect the bulletproof vest. It’s not as if I’ve put one on before. I get it around my shoulders like a vest, but I can’t quite figure out how to fasten it. When the fasteners won’t go, I lean back in the seat, sighing. “I hope someone thought to bring me another shirt because that fucking thing is not going to stretch over this.”

  “There should be a hoodie to your left.”

  I look over, finding an oversized hoodie. Bringing it to me, it smells musky like Johnny. I put it back without breathing it in.

  A few short minutes later, Magnum is pulling to a stop. The windows are so tinted I can’t tell where we are. He shoves his door open, and I catch him before he gets out. “I’m going to need some help with this.”

  “I noticed,” he says.

  He shuts that door and then opens up the one to my left, sliding in next to me. As soon as he’s in, he turns toward me, his copper hair darker in the low light.

  “Only speak when spoken to when we’re in there,” he says. He looks down at the fasteners and the cleavage underneath before tightening the vest across my chest, making quick work of getting it all set up for me. “This is in Fonz’s neck of the woods, so be on high alert. Stick with us. Don’t do anything stupid. Wait for Big Daddy’s orders.”

  His list of things to do sounds like a bunch of “duh.” I roll my eyes to tell him what I think about it. His jaw tenses, the coppery stubble of his beard sticking straight out in some parts now that he’s agitated with me.

  “I won’t do anything stupid,” I promise.

  Those sound like famous last words, but I’m going with it.

  Magnum holds the hoodie out to me and then gets out of the car. I work it over my chest. Despite the fact that it’s big for me, it just barely conceals the fact that I’m wearing a bullet stopping vest. I hope I won’t need it, but the brick in my stomach tells me I’m not sure either.

  I step out, and Magnum slams the door to the car behind me. Much like where K lives, we’re in an underground parking lot. This area of the city is a lot less dingy however. We take the elevator up to the highest level and step out. Magnum steps forward first, standing there in his tactical black pants and tight-fitting black shirt. He has bodyguard written all over him.

  Unlike where K and Johnny live, though, we’ve come right out into Fonz’s … place of business? It’s definitely not homey like a house. There are glass walls everywhere that lead into different rooms with large tables like usually meetings are held behind the closed doors.

  Johnny steps out of a room down the hall, his face grim. He nods when he sees me, and for some inexplicable reason, the fact that he’s here calms me.

  A guy, dressed much like Magnum, moves forward. He has a metal detector wand in his hand accompanied by a cocky grin. “You understand?” he says to Magnum.

  Magnum shrugs, taking the usual position. The wand goes off by his belt where he keeps his gun.

  “You can just take that out and set it on the table,” Fonz’s guard says. “You can get it back after the meeting.”

  Magnum does what he’s told and then moves to stand next to Johnny. I’m next. Nerves prick, making their way to the very tips of my fingers until it’s painful. The guard just stares at me for a moment until Johnny shifts on his feet.

  “Eyes to yourself,” Magnum
finally says.

  The guard smirks. “Nothing I want. Just wondering what the big fuss is about.”

  “Appearances aren’t everything,” I say. “Your ugly ass should know.”

  The guy’s jaw ticks, but I smile up at him. What did he expect me to do? Stand quietly? Then again, Magnum did warn me to keep my mouth shut.

  He waves the wand over me, and when he bends down to start at my feet, Johnny smirks at me. He winks, and I smile back. The wand goes off on my back pocket. He reaches inside to grab my phone, but that’s not all he grabs. He takes a fistful of my ass in his palm.

  I don’t think. I react.

  Fuck this asshole.

  I wind my arm around his until I’m gripping his upper shoulder, then I pull him toward me, connecting his gut with my knee. He groans, his breath leaving him as I whisper into his ear. “You shouldn’t touch something that isn’t yours.”

  “Bitch!”

  Before he can lunge at me, Magnum puts his hand on his other shoulder, gripping him hard. “I wouldn’t if I were you. I’m sure your boss wouldn’t like the fact that you took your liberties with one of ours. You want to die on that sword? You fuck with her, you fuck with the rest of us.”

  My mouth dries. To the side of Magnum, Johnny is fucking furious, and I don’t even think he knows why I did what I did. Magnum either for that matter.

  “Just get the bitch away from me,” the guard seethes.

  Magnum pulls the guy up and looks at me, telling me to remove my hold on him. When I don’t do it right away, his expression becomes stonier, the look telling me I better fucking comply right now.

  I ease up on the pressure, and the guy pulls his hand from my back pocket and steps back. Johnny throws him to the side so he can come to me, and all the guy can do is sneer at us.

  “Is there a problem?” another guard asks, peeking his head out from the mouth of the room at the end of the hall.

  We all wait for what the guy’s going to say. I doubt he’ll say anything because if he does, he’ll have to admit I bested him with a knee to the gut, which never fucking feels good.

  “You okay?” Johnny whispers into my ear.

  I nod. “He grabbed my ass,” I say, feeling like I need to explain myself to them since I’ve completely went against everything Magnum told me not to do while we were in the car.

  Johnny growls under his breath, eyeing the fucker like he would take his head off if he could.

  I swallow, knowing I’m still playing with fire. If Johnny finds out about Brawler and Oscar, I can imagine what he’ll do since he won’t be worried about starting a gang war then. He’ll relish in taking them out for disobeying him.

  Especially Oscar. Brawler doesn’t have the ties Oscar does. Oscar would get decimated. He could kiss his football career goodbye even though he doesn’t think he has one anyway. If he’s alive to worry about it, he’ll have to go back to the life he had when he got back from Spring Hill.

  Johnny leans over to feather a kiss across my cheek as we follow Magnum and Fonz’s guard to the end of the hall. The space opens up to a room with floor to ceiling windows. The building we’re in is one of the tallest in this shitty city, and from this height, you can’t see all the disadvantage below. The dirty streets are farther away. The drug dealers on every corner are just people having friendly conversation with others. The room itself is dark though. The furniture, the adornments are all black with the walls a light gray color.

  When we walk in, I notice Big Daddy K first, sitting stiffly on a black leather couch, one of our guards behind him. I vaguely recognize him from K’s house the other day, but the major thing that sets him off as one of ours is the fact that he’s dressed exactly like Magnum. I wonder how many guards Big Daddy K has.

  Fonz’s guard stops next to her side while Johnny escorts me to stand next to his father. My stomach revolts standing this close to him, and I wonder which person in this room I should fear most. The man who killed my parents? Or the woman across from us, pulling on a cigar, embers blazing on the end?

  Roza Fonz’s hair is done up in hundreds of braids that fall well past her shoulders. She has ebony skin, contrasted by a red slash of lipstick across her lips. She has on a red pantsuit that hugs her curves while she sits cross-legged on a couch that matches Big Daddy K’s.

  “This is her?” she asks. She blows out a plume of smoke that wafts toward the ceiling in a haze. I can tell from her inspection and the telling twinkling in her eye that she has the same assumption of me as the guard who cupped my ass did. “This does not seem like a fair fight,” she says, finally turning her gaze over to Big Daddy.

  “You let her worry about that,” he says. His voice is edgy, as is the barely tethered tension stiffening his body. He looks nothing like the guy I met earlier in the comfort of his own home. He’s on high alert though he’s doing a good job of masking it. If I hadn’t met him before I wouldn’t have noticed anything was amiss.

  “It seems like any of my fighters I put her up against would throttle her. How much experience does she have?”

  Big Daddy K chuckles. “What does it matter? Now that you’ve seen her, are you taking the deal or not?”

  Roza sets her cigar down in an ashtray. “You may be willing to sacrifice young women, K, but I’m not. Women aren’t allowed to fight in my rings. I help them get off the street, not help them stay there.”

  Big Daddy K glances over at me. The whole side of my face burns. He grabs my hand, and I flinch. He places it on the arm of the sofa, covering it with his own. My face loses all emotion. It drains, and I have no doubt the pallor of a ghost stares back at Roza. He chuckles, patting my hand. “Kyla wants to fight. I hear she’s been named Uppercut Princess to my clients.”

  Uppercut Princess? I like the sound of that.

  As soon as he lets my hand go, I drop it to my side and vow I really will just set my hand on fire this time to get his vile germs off me.

  Johnny snickers into my ear. “Uppercut Princess,” he breathes.

  I don’t mind the sound of that at all. I could even get used to Princess as long as Uppercut was in front of it.

  “You don’t need to know her background to agree to the arrangements.”

  Fonz pushes back into the plush leather couch. “Her against one of my fighters.” She flicks a hand toward me. “She represents you. Mine representing me. Whichever one wins will mean the winner for one of us. When that happens, the loser agrees to back off the fighting circuit. Am I understanding correctly?”

  Big Daddy K nods once. His eyes dance. It’s clear he’s getting a thrill out of this. It makes a skitter of fear race up my spine and settle in the back of my neck like a bad seed.

  “Why would you agree to this?” she asks, gaze narrowing on him cautiously. “Why her? You could choose any one of your male fighters. Big, brute strength.”

  “Family business,” he says, lips thinning. It’s obvious he’s over this conversation and just wants an answer out of her, not the third degree.

  Since I’m also curious about this question, I’d love to hear the answer. Other than the fact that it affords me the opportunity to prove myself to him, I’m not sure what’s in it for him. As far as I can tell, there’s nothing in it for him.

  “Either accept or don’t, Roza. The way I see it, this is how we figure out where the line is drawn.”

  “I drew the line years ago. You stepped over it,” Roza snaps. She flicks her long braids over her shoulders.

  “Here’s a way to decide once and for all without widespread bloodshed,” he says, ignoring her remark.

  Roza is shaking. Not out of fear, but out of anger. I can tell she doesn’t like him at all, and not just because he’s the leader of a rival gang and a contending business owner. It’s because he looks down on her like she doesn’t mean a damn thing to him.

  Her guards keep checking on her. The one I kneed in the gut smirks at me like he can’t wait to see me get my ass kicked.

  I’ve got news for him.
I don’t intend to be the one who gets my ass kicked. I need to prove to Big Daddy K that I’m worthy to stand next to his son. I’m worthy of his trust. Winning this business exploit for him is how I’m going to do it. I don’t care how much I have to train or how many tough blows I have to take, I’ll come out the victor.

  If I lose this fight, I lose everything.

  “You,” Roza says, nodding at me. “Why do you want to fight?”

  As Magnum instructed, I wait until Big Daddy K tells me it’s okay to answer. When he nods, I gaze over the black coffee table at her, a woman who must’ve risen over these men she surrounds herself with. A woman who commands their respect. By the way they look at her, I know if one of us started something, they’d stand in front of her in a heartbeat.

  “Respect,” I tell her. “Not just for this fight, any fight.”

  I stare at her, gaze narrowing. I’m hoping she sees something inside me that’s inside her. From her point of view, I can understand why she won’t agree right away. Anyone has to admit it looks like Big Daddy K is throwing the fight.

  “I’m good,” I tell her. “Skilled. Practiced. I don’t care who you put me up against, the fight will be a good one.”

  “Just ask your guard,” Johnny says, nodding toward the piece of shit who’s probably still nursing a stomachache.

  Roza turns her head to glance at the guard to her right. He nods, and it dawns on me then that his little show of overt affection might not have been an accident at all. She would’ve wanted to test me. To see if I was just a decoy Big Daddy K was sending in.

  “If he touches me again, he’ll get worse,” I say, driving the point home.

  Roza stands, and Big Daddy K follows. She extends her hand and Big Daddy K shakes it. “I accept your terms,” Roza says. “The fight will take place next Saturday. Neutral grounds. The back parking lot of the abandoned mall should be sufficient.”

  Big Daddy K agrees. “We’ll expect to hear your choice in fighter tomorrow.”

  “No need,” Roza says. “The girl will fight Evan.”

  And like that, Evan steps forward. I hadn’t been looking around at anything other than what was in front of my face, but I don’t know how I missed this guy. He’s a little smaller than Brawler, but that doesn’t mean a thing. He’s tall with long arms that reach past his hips. His reach is going to be a bitch to handle. He’s also muscular, but the kind of muscles that come with functional training instead of lifting. In other words, the guy’s a beast, and I would’ve gladly fought anyone else in the room but him, including Magnum.