“Oh, you know each other?” Jace asked, frowning.
I smirked and nodded at him with no explanation.
She drank the rest of her drink quickly and stood up, without the slightest wobble in her step or slur in her voice. After how quickly she had drunk those drinks, I was utterly surprised at their lack of effect on her.
“See you later Jace, you better have a drink ready for me when I get back.” She smiled sarcastically at him and laughed when he flipped her off playfully.
I held her hand and guided her through the crowd towards Trey’s office.
“Okay, let’s do this,” I said calmly and knocked on the office door.
I knew exactly how Trey was, and before the door opened, I pulled Aubry as close to me as possible. She looked at me questioningly, but had no time to ask when Tom and Brandon flanked us on both sides.
“Figured that we could at least back you up,” Tom said with a shrug. “Besides, I want to know how Trey will handle our little spit-fire over here,” he added and pointed at Aubry.
I couldn’t answer him before the door opened to reveal Trey in his office. The man that had opened the door beckoned us all through, so we all stood there in the middle of the room, awkwardly and on edge.
“Ah, Aiden, to what do I owe this pleasure? You don’t ever come and see me,” Trey said and stood up from his desk with a smirk.
“Hello, Brandon, Tommy. Oh my, and who is this lovely creature here?” He walked towards Aubry with a menacing grin. She seemed uninterested in the whole transaction as she had a blank look on her face. He kissed the back of her hand. Thankfully, she kept the blank expression on as he smiled at her. I knew that he was either trying to scare her or seduce her, either way, it wasn’t going to work on Aubry.
I knew that he was high as soon as he got up. He was even more annoying than usual when he was high.
I started to introduce Aubry, but she started speaking first.
“Aubry,” she said shortly. “And I’m assuming you’re Trey, correct?” Her voice was strong as she spoke.
He looked from me and then to her with a smile. “Yes gorgeous, Trey is my name. Although, you may call me whatever you like, as long as you call me tonight.” He ran his pointer finger down her waist slightly, and I could feel her tense up at his touch. She wanted to hurt him, so did I.
“She’s with me,” I told him, my voice filled with warning.
“Ah, a possessive man. Understandable, but perhaps maybe we can share her?” Trey said, smirking.
I had to restrain myself from hurting him for that nasty comment. I felt Aubry try to take a step forward. I instinctively tightened my arm that was around her, while Tom grabbed her hand that already had its fist curled.
“Actually, we’re here to see if you’ll give her a tryout. I’ve been training her,” I said, not dignifying his suggestion with an answer.
His face scrunched up at my words. “You? Fight? Okay, right. You weigh what? Maybe a hundred pounds. I could push you over with one finger,” he said, putting a finger on her shoulder, although he took it away abruptly when I snarled at him. “But I suppose if my good friend Aiden is training you . . . You must be good.”
He circled around her like a vulture, and I just wanted to cover her up. His stare was penetrating her. I knew that wouldn’t be okay though. We had to show him that she wasn’t as vulnerable as she seemed; she was fierce.
She clung closer to me as he walked around her, and I let her. I wanted to be sure that he knew she was not available to him. I wasn’t sure what Trey had in mind for her, but whatever it was, wasn’t good.
“Tell you what, I’ll give you a chance . . . right now. My prime time fight is about to start and whoever wins, you can fight. If you win, you’re in.”
My eyes widened at his suggestion. “But you usually set it up for next weekend,” I said, angrily. I was pissed, he wasn’t even giving her a fair shot!
“Do you want a chance or not?”
“We’ll do it,” I accepted ruefully. It was that or nothing.
“Great, I’ll be watching,” Trey said, dismissing us all.
We all walked out and as soon as the door closed behind us, she ripped herself away from me.
“What the fuck!” she yelled, looking like she was about to have a panic attack. “I thought I had a whole extra week!”
“So did I, but we don’t!” I paused and looked her in the eye. I could see the panic and fear in them.
I looked at Brandon briefly. “Go get two shots of whiskey and a bourbon on ice, please.”
I looked back to her and tried to speak as calmly as possible, “Listen to me, the strong fighters aren’t fighting yet. It is the off-season right now, so it’s just going to be an intermediate fighter that you will be up against. That means that whoever it is, is probably not even as good as the people that you’ve been fighting at the gym.”
She took a deep breath and tried to calm down while processing my words. She still looked extremely panicked and scared though.
Brandon got back with the drinks and gave them to me with a confused look on his face. “Here, take these. Drinking obviously calms you down.”
She immediately grabbed the shots and took them one right after the other as I began sipping on the bourbon. After just a minute or two, I could see her visibly relax a little bit.
“Better?” I asked while holding my breath for her reply.
“Better, thank you.”
When the fight started, we all looked over. I almost laughed at who it was that was fighting. Crystal was up there with some new girl that I had only seen once. It was obvious after the first minute that Crystal had the advantage.
“Okay . . . So, Crystal is bigger than you, but you’re faster and smarter. She has been fighting for a couple of years, but you’ve beaten people that are better than her at the gym. She likes to get under people’s skin before the fight by talking mess, let her. The more pissed off you are, the harder you hit, so get pissed. Let her make you angry. Show her who is actually better.”
I grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look at me. “Aubry, this is going to be a piece of cake. She won’t win, you will.”
The fight ended after a few more minutes with the new girl tapping out. She looked messed up and her face was all split up due to her beating. Crystal smirked at the crowd, and they all roared up at her.
Crystal was very well liked around the Underground. She was one of the better girl fighters and she was nice to look at. The men around the place enjoyed her. I knew that it was going to be a little bit of a challenge for Aubry, but I had faith in her. After how well she was doing against the people at the gym, I knew that she could beat Crystal. She just needed to believe in herself.
“Okay, Aubry . . . It’s time.” I led her to the steps to go up onto the raised mats. “Listen to me, you got this. Don’t worry about anyone or anything else.”
She breathed in deeply as I helped her warmup for a few minutes. Before long, the announcer got up on the stage. Aubry started getting herself worked up again, so I quickly pulled her in front of me and began massaging her shoulders, so she didn’t ruin the few minutes of loosening up that she had done. She instantly relaxed.
“Okay ladies and gents,” Ron came onto the mats and spoke into the mic loudly. “We have a special round for y’all, a tryout round, between Crystal the missile.” Crystal came walking out and the crowd cheered loudly for her. “annnd the newbie . . . Aubry!”
When she walked out onto the mats, people in the crowd began laughing at her. They had no idea what she was capable of. They were blinded by her size and posture.
“You have five minutes to place your bets,” Ron said into the mic.
A few minutes later, after everyone placed their bets, Ron came back up and yelled into the mic, “Fight!”
The crowd roared loudly, cheering on Crystal and fueling Aubry’s anger quickly. They had no idea.
Chapter Seventeen
Hope on the Back
Burner
Aubry
I was panicked, that’s all there was to it. I was scared. I needed to win, and I felt like I wasn’t getting a fair chance at that. Trey wasn’t giving me the same treatment that everyone else usually got. It was the way my whole life usually went.
Aiden was trying very hard to keep me calm. He knew that me panicking was going to help nothing. I couldn’t help my overthinking though. I was terrified. If I messed this fight up, I had no idea what my next move was going to be.
Aiden was massaging my shoulders to keep me calm as the fight was being announced. I had to say, he was doing an excellent job with managing my out-of-control anxiety. He seemed to understand just how to help me. It was an amazing feat because I didn’t even know how to help myself.
When I got up onto the stage-like mats, people began laughing at me. I wanted to feel bad about myself due to the laughs, but instead, I channeled that energy into anger. I got angry at everyone for underestimating me. They had no idea what I was capable of! I had to show them!
“Aubry,” Crystal practically growled at me. “I told you specifically to stay away from Aiden,” she told me with a hard look.
I rolled my eyes at her words. I was confused as to why she thought that I’d just automatically listen to her.
“And don’t think that I didn’t see you trying to seduce my Jace earlier! He’ll never want you though . . . neither will Aiden.” She cackled like a witch. “And now, here you are, trying to steal my profession. I knew that you wanted to be just like me, but damn . . . this is a whole new level of crazy.”
I scoffed at her and let out a harsh laugh. “There are many other people that I would try to be before I choose to be like you.”
“You’re messing with the wrong person, you little bitch!” Crystal said and pushed me slightly making my anger flare.
I smiled at her widely, she had no idea what was coming to her.
When the announcer told us to fight, the whole crowd cheered for Crystal loudly. I didn’t pay any attention to them or their boos directed towards me. I was homed-in on Crystal.
Crystal glared at me. Before I could even think about attacking, she charged at me. Her slowness wasn’t something I had expected. I was used to Aiden being the one to come at me and show me how someone was going to attack me, so I was expecting fast and aggressive moves. Crystal was no doubt aggressive, but she was slow.
When she made it to me, she threw out a very sloppy, anger-fueled punch towards me. I easily dodged it, making the crowd boo. She threw her other hand out, leaving her face completely unprotected. How was she supposed to even be good?
I took my opening and full on punched her two times in her face. Once in her temple and once in her forehead. She quickly landed on her butt and shook her head to try and shake it off quickly. She stumbled back to her feet and backed away from me.
I smirked at her.
The smirk set her off again, and she came at me way too sloppily again. Aiden had taught me precision, control, and timing in our training sessions, so when she came at me so slovenly, I saw many openings to get her through.
I quickly took another chance and kicked her in the stomach followed by an elbow to the face. She quickly fell to the ground with a mouth full of blood.
She didn’t get back up; she just simply tapped out, and I let out a loud laugh at my victory. I was surprised because it wasn’t even that difficult. I was barely hurting due to my quick movements. It honestly felt easier than practice.
“Aubry, the newbie, wins!” the announcer yelled quickly after the short fight. Most of the crowd cheered loudly while some booed because they lost money.
I was so happy and on cloud nine. I had just won my first fight at the Underground! I was pumped!
Aiden high-fived me with a large and genuine smile that lit his whole face up.
“I told you, piece of cake!” he said with the smile still plastered on his face. I had decided quickly that he needed to smile more.
“She was one of my best girl fighters,” Trey commented as he came up to us. Aiden instantly hooked his arm around my shoulders and brought me into his body.
“You just made me a ton of money,” he said, looking pleased while handing me three-hundred dollar bills. “It looks like you’ll be moving to the big boys very soon. Though, I’m not too surprised since Aiden is the one training you.”
Trey moved closer to me, making Brandon stand behind me protectively. I was really grateful that all of the guys were being so protective of me; it made me feel cared for. Not to mention that Trey creeped me out beyond belief. He reminded me of Sunny, and that was certainly not a compliment.
“We’ll be in touch. I’m assuming I can reach you through Aiden?”
I nodded at his question.
Trey took my hand, kissing it again and then smirked at Aiden who had a murderous look on his face. “Bye, for now.”
Aiden had his eyes glued to Trey’s form the whole time that he walked back to his office. He obviously didn’t trust the guy, not that I blamed him, he was a sketchy character for sure. I surely never wanted to be left alone with him in any capacity.
Tom showed up with a shot for each of us in his hands with a big smile plastered on his face.
“To Aubry!” he said after passing out all of the glasses.
I shook my head. “To Aiden’s training!” I corrected.
We all took the shot with a smile, and I felt myself relaxing once again. At that moment, I had hope. At that moment, I truly thought that I possibly could pull off what I needed to.
However, that hope was put on the back burner when Aiden let go of the shot glass, making it shatter all over the ground.
My eyes shot up to him, and he had a full-on death-snarl on his face. I stumbled back in fear of him as his face pointed at mine. He quickly looked away and back to where he had been focusing on before. I followed his gaze, but nothing was there.
“Aiden?” Brandon asked hesitantly as he maneuvered me around him and put himself in-between Aiden and me. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s here,” it was all that Aiden snarled out, making Brandon stiffen.
Aiden began walking forward, but Tommy stopped him quickly. “You know what happened last time. He and all of his sick friends are trained fighters, and I hate to break it to you, bub . . . but he’s better than you.”
Aiden growled at that, making me flinch at the sound.
“Lets go,” Brandon said. He pulled me along as Tom made Aiden walk.
I was confused, completely and utterly confused.
Chapter Eighteen
Down to Earth
It was two weeks later, and I was standing outside the big building in my winter jacket. The rain was soaking me to the bone, making me shiver, but I couldn’t bring myself to open the door. This was too much like before, before my father and Sunny decided to try and get me killed; before my life was in limbo.
I remembered the first time that I ever walked into that building. I was too young to be going to a drug lord’s domain. I was too young to be begging a drug lord for the drugs that my father was addicted to. I was only twelve when I first walked through those doors.
However, that wasn’t the most significant time that I had walked through those entryways. The most significant day of my life was when I was fifteen. I was fifteen and tired—tired of hurting, tired of wanting to die, tired of life; just tired. I needed help.
It was almost a year after Kelsey left. I was missing her so much. She hadn’t missed me though obviously, since she didn’t even bother contacting me. She didn’t care what she left me behind in. She didn’t care about me.
I subconsciously rubbed the scar on the side of my neck as I thought about the past, about my sister, and about the BS that I had gone through.
I sighed and decided that it was time. It was time to quit stalling and to go inside to face those men again, head on.
I walked toward the door and reached my hand out to open it, but I stopped sh
ort. I was too nervous. The last time they had come to me, the unspoken threat of if I didn’t have enough was hanging in the air, plus, I had hurt Daniel once again. I felt like I was just delivering myself to evil at that point.
I quickly pushed away those thoughts and forced myself forward. I walked through the door quickly before I could change my mind.
The tall office building and business-like air about the place were a great cover. It seemed like a legit business when you first walked in. No one who didn’t know would ever find out if they were simply investigating the “front” business. However, it was where Demetri ran most of his drug business out of.
The receptionist called to make sure it was okay for me to go up to his office. In just a few short minutes, I was on my way to the demon’s lair. Well, demon might have been a little too harsh of a word for Demetri. For Daniel, however, demon didn’t seem harsh enough.
I couldn’t bring myself to knock on the door, but suddenly, the door swung open, revealing Daniel. He leaned on the door frame with a condescending look. It made me want to knock it off.
“We’ve been expecting you,” he said, smirking.
I was officially regretting my decision. It was a bad idea. I groaned inwardly. Was there a window that I could simply jump out of? I didn’t want to be there and deal with those people, least of all, Daniel.
He showed me to the room that I was looking for and stepped aside. “Ladies first.”
I swiftly walked past him. Although, that didn’t stop him from groping me as I walked by. I almost punched him, but I figured that would be counterproductive. I was simply there to get in and get out, not to start a fight.
“Ah Aubry, I’m glad you came to me this time instead of me having to go find you like last time,” Demetri said menacingly.
I smiled back as sweetly as possible and put the big envelope on the table. “One thousand,” I said.
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