by Lane Hart
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
COPYRIGHT
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue were created from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental.
The author acknowledges the copyrighted and trademarked status of various products within this work of fiction.
© 2017 Editor's Choice Publishing
All Rights Reserved.
Only Amazon has permission from the publisher to sell and distribute this title.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Editor’s Choice Publishing
P.O. Box 10024
Greensboro, NC 27404
Edited by Angela Snyder
Cover by Addendum Designs
http://addendumdesigns.com/
WARNING: THIS BOOK CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE AND EXPLICIT SEX SCENES.
Table of Contents
Note to Readers
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Note to Readers
CAIN is the first book in a new underground fighter series, so you do not need to read the Cocky Cage Fighter series first.
If you were a fan of my Cocky Cage Fighters then you’ve already met Cain when he fought Luke Campbell. Cain’s story begins a few years earlier than that fight before it catches up to the present.
Eventually, Cain will get to the fight with Luke in this book and you’ll see it through Cain’s prospective. Cain will hopefully redeem himself as you come to understand where he’s coming from and why he fights dirty.
I hope you enjoy the first story of three about these bad boys who are fighting for their lives!
Chapter One
Gabrielle Kelly
Three years ago…
“It’s freezing out, Robbie! Where are we going?” I ask my older brother as I wrap my arms around myself to try and keep warm. The bitter winds here in Raleigh are almost strong enough to knock us off the cracked sidewalk in the rundown neighborhood, so my thin jacket isn’t doing me much good.
“We should be there soon,” Robbie says, back hunched over with his hands buried in his tattered brown leather jacket.
I don’t tell him, but I’m not sure how much further I can walk with my backpack weighing me down. My arms and legs are so weak I can barely lift them which I know is from not getting enough calories lately. How many calories are in a twin pack of saltine crackers? Not enough, that’s for sure, and the crackers are all I’ve had to eat in two days, washed down with dingy water from the faucet of the roach motel that tasted like rust.
“Where are your things?” I ask Robbie, noticing he didn’t bring his duffle bag.
Coming to a stop on the sidewalk, my brother faces me and says, “Listen, Gabby, I’m not gonna be able to stay at this new place with you.”
“What do you mean? If you’re not staying, then I’m not either. You said that wherever you go, I go, remember?”
Looking down the row of houses on the street and then back at me, he says, “You have to, Gabby. I can’t find any work, so I need to try and do this fighting thing. But they don’t allow girls in the dorms…”
“Have you even asked?” I snap at him.
“Yes,” he says, his blue eyes just a little lighter than mine looking just as weary, if not more so. And I can tell that no matter what I say, he’s not gonna budge on this.
“So that’s it? You’re just gonna…gonna drop me off with some stranger and leave?” I shout at him as tears prickle my eyes.
“It’s the best I can do for you,” Robbie says. “And it’s only for a few days at most. As soon as I can save enough for an apartment, you can move in with me. So, will you please just do this favor for me? Please?”
“Maybe we should just go home…” I start, but Robbie immediately shakes his head in disagreement.
“No! We’re not going home!” he yells. “Even if I wanted to, we don’t have enough money to get back down to Columbia, and there’s nothing at home for us but our cracked-out mother, who will steal the clothes off of our backs to feed her drug habit!”
“There’s her sister, the one in Florida,” I remind him.
“Aunt Betty doesn’t give a shit about us either, okay? She’s too busy hustling rich men to take in two teenagers,” he tells me. Then, lowering his voice he says, “I’ve already called and asked her.”
“Oh.”
“This is it, Gabby, our last resort. All I have left of our savings is a handful of pennies,” he says, pulling his palm out of his coat pocket to show me the copper coins in the center. “There are no other options for us unless we want to live in a homeless shelter.”
“You promise that this is just for a few days?” I ask with my eyes burning from the wind and tears.
Robbie glances over my shoulder. “Just for a few days,” he repeats, then nods behind me. “And we’re here. See, it’s one of the nicer houses on the block.”
Turning around, I take in the white
, two-story colonial with black shutters. The place looks gigantic compared to our tiny apartment back in South Carolina. What I like best about it are the flower boxes all around the porch that I bet will look pretty in the spring. Not that I’ll be here that long…
“Go on inside, and I’ll come check on you soon,” my brother says while gripping my shoulders to nudge me toward the walkway that leads to the front door.
“You’re not coming in with me?” I ask him in disbelief.
“Nah, you’ll be fine,” he says.
“How do you know? Have you ever met these people? At least come in to make sure –”
“Don’t worry. It’s just a little old lady and a few kids that are probably your age,” Robbie says.
“Are you even sure this is the right house?” I ask him.
“It is. Now go on in and get warm,” he urges me. When I don’t move, he barks out, “Just go, Gabby!”
“Fine,” I grumble in defeat, biting down on my chapped bottom lip so hard I can taste blood.
I trust my brother, and he’s never let me down before. If he says I’ll be okay at this place, then I believe him. Besides, I’m too cold and hungry to argue about it anymore.
Chapter Two
Cain Knight
Snap.
The tip of my pencil pressed into my notebook so hard while I was shading the feathers of the angel’s wings that the lead broke again.
I reach for the pencil sharpener on the coffee table to scrape away the jagged pieces left behind just as there’s a knock on the front door.
“It’s open,” I call out from the sofa across from it without getting up or caring who’s on the other side. Everyone in town knows who this house belongs to. Someone would have to be suicidal to come in here with guns blazing trying to rob us, and I seriously doubt they would knock first.
First of all, none of us here have anything of value, especially not money. And secondly, they would die trying. Mrs. Engle might look defenseless and frail, but the old lady always shuffles around in her bedroom slippers with a Ruger cocked and loaded in the pocket of her housecoat.
Eventually, the front door cracks open until it’s spilling so much winter sun into the living room that it’s nearly blinding. When it shuts again, my eyes land on her…a new girl. She’s tall and so lean in her thin pink hoodie and frayed jeans that she must be half-starved and freezing to death. Her chin trembles as she peeks around the room from beneath long blonde locks so pale that with the sunlight streaming in from the windows she practically glows like an angel.
Great, she may be gorgeous but I bet she’s gonna be a crier.
“Are you gonna say something or just stand there all day?” I snap at her.
“He’s…he’s coming back for me. My brother said he’ll be back in a couple of days,” she declares, her narrow shoulders squaring up a little more, as much as she can with her backpack weighing them down.
“Sure, he is,” I remark with a roll of my eyes while I keep sharpening my pencil. “Until then, why don’t you put your shit down and take a load off?”
She shrugs out of her backpack and lets it fall to the floor before she hesitantly comes over and takes a seat on the couch beside me.
“What is this place?” she asks, rubbing her small, delicate hands together to try and warm them.
The asshole in me starts to tell her the harsh truth about this house; but then I look over, and her sad, watery, blue eyes hit mine so hard the breath is knocked right out of me. Never in my life have I seen such a stunning sapphire color. What’s more potent than the beauty of them is the worry swirling around with a pleading hope that things aren’t as bad as she thinks they are.
So I lie, or at least I leave out the painful truth for now.
Clearing my throat, I say, “This is sort of a community center. Food and shelter for us, even clothes when we need them. It’s not so bad. The other boys here are pretty cool and won’t give you too much shit. I’m Cain, by the way.”
“I’m Gabrielle, and I won’t be here long.”
“What school were you going to?” I ask, rather than argue with her about the length of her stay.
“Northeast High,” she answers while twirling on a lock of light golden hair that’s hanging next to her face.
“Not anymore,” I tell her when I go back to shadowing my drawing. “You’ll be going to Southern High now.”
“But I just got used to Northeast. I don’t want to transfer and start all over!” she exclaims.
“You’re pretty; you’ll make new friends fast,” I reply, and then cringe when I realize what I just said. Fuck, if Ivan or Knox heard that, they would never let me live it down.
“Um, thanks,” Gabrielle says rather than teasing me for letting my opinion on her looks slip. “Do you go to Southern too?” she asks.
“No. I don’t go to school.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to!” I snap at her. Dammit, I don’t want to be an asshole to the girl, but I sure as fuck can’t just come out and tell her the truth — that I’m wanted for questioning in a murder.
“Then I don’t want to go either,” she replies, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yeah, you don’t get a choice. You’ll have to go with Ivan and Knox or you’ll get in trouble.”
“But you –”
“Just drop it, okay?” I grumble.
“Fine,” she huffs. Then, “What are you drawing?”
When she leans over for a closer look at the notebook on my lap, a strand of her long, flowery-scented hair tickles my forearm, causing some sort of chain reaction that ripples through me, all the way down…into my pants.
“Oh, an angel,” the girl gasps in recognition as her face lights up. “She’s beautiful.”
“A dark angel of death,” I correct to protect my teenage masculinity. There’s no beauty in my past, only suffering, and death.
“You’re really good,” she says. “How did you learn to draw like that if you don’t go to school?”
“Not much else to do around here except workout, play video games or draw, so I draw. A lot,” I reply, downplaying how much her compliment warms me. Fuck, how much just her presence on the sofa cushion next to me warms my frigid soul.
“Workout?” Gabrielle repeats. “Aren’t you too young for that?”
“The earlier we start the better fighters they say we’ll be,” I explain.
“Fighters? Like my brother is going to fight?”
“Yeah, probably so,” I agree, already hating the bastard. He’s man enough to take hits to his face but too much of a pussy to take care of his sister? Worse than that, he obviously sold her to Scarfone and she has no idea. What a fucking asshole.
When I hear the girl’s stomach rumbling with hunger, I close my notebook and get to my feet, tucking it underneath my arm. “Come on. I’ll show you around and introduce you to everyone, then fix you something to eat.”
…
Gabby
I’m still angry at my brother for just dropping me off and leaving me at this random house in a shitty part of town. The jerk wouldn’t even walk inside with me.
“Ivan, Knox, meet Gabrielle,” Cain, the first guy I met here with dark eyes and messy, chestnut-colored hair falling into his eyes, says to the two boys who look my age or a little older. They’re sitting on the floor in front of a television with video game controllers in their hands.
The one with jet-black hair keeps his eyes on the screen, refusing to even look up at me while the other one with hair spiked down the middle streaked red, turns to look at me with a wide grin on his face and says, “Fresh meat! Good, I’m starving.”
“Knox,” Cain grumbles what sounds like a warning.
“I’m just fucking with her,” he replies with a chuckle before his eyes go back to the game where tanks are exploding.
“Come on, I’ll let you meet Mrs. Engle, if she’s awake, and then we can make some sandwiches,” Cain starts.
&nb
sp; “Make me one too, bro!” the guy with red hair pipes up.
“Go fix your own shit,” Cain mutters before he leads me out of the room.
At one of the bedrooms, he peeks inside and then shakes his head before we walk past.
“She’s asleep. The old bird isn’t able to do much lately so we’re pretty much on our own,” he whispers.
As we pass by, I glance over and see a white-haired woman curled up in bed. She looks like she’s in her eighties or nineties.
“There are no other adults here?” I ask him in concern when we enter the kitchen.
“Nope. Just her,” Cain says when he goes over to open the fridge and start pulling food out. In his arms is more to eat than I’ve seen in two weeks, making my mouth water and my stomach grumble even louder.
He obviously hears it because his dark eyes lower to my belly before he says, “Grab a plate and fix whatever you want.”
After he pulls some chips down from a cabinet, I’m unable to resist any longer. I grab a handful of them and start cramming the salty chips into my mouth before I even start working on a sandwich.
Once my turkey and ham is devoured along with the rest of the bag of chips, I ask Cain, who is finishing up eating on the other side of the counter on a barstool, “So are there any other girls here?”
He shakes his head and chews up his bite of food before answering. “Not anymore.”
Those two words sound ominous, making the food in my stomach turn sour.
“What…what happened to them?” I ask.
“We’re only allowed to stay here until our eighteenth birthdays, then we have to go to work.”
“Oh,” I mutter in relief since that doesn’t sound so bad.
“How old are you?” Cain asks.
“Fourteen. I’ll be fifteen in August,” I answer. “How old are you?”
“Just turned fifteen in December,” he says.
“Happy belated birthday,” I tell him.
“Thanks,” he grumbles. “But birthdays aren’t anything to celebrate here. It means I’m even closer to having to leave. Knox and Ivan can’t wait to get out of this place because they have no idea what’s coming.”
