by Hope Stone
“But the odds are four to one against you.”
“I know,” I smirked. “So, you’re going to go put five hundred dollars on me to win.”
“What?” Alex looked at me like I was crazy.
I sighed. He’d always been like this, a voice of reason, as he liked to call it. Personally, I thought he needed to let loose a little, but it just wasn’t in his nature. Sometimes it drove me nuts, but he was family, so I put up with it. And I’d never tell him, but there were times when he was the voice in my head, talking me down from being too reckless.
“Here.” I pulled out the bills that had been rolled up in my pocket, held together by a rubber band. “Put that down now, before my fight starts. We’ll combine the winnings with my payment from the boss and walk out of here twenty-five hundred dollars richer.”
“You sound pretty damn sure of yourself.”
“I am.” I had to be. If I walked into that circle, facing a monster of a man with at least thirty pounds on me, with anything less than full confidence, then I would be doomed before we even began.
Besides, I had no interest in walking away from here a loser.
“Fine, but don’t expect me to push your wheelchair around when The Beast is done with you.”
“Thanks for your pep talk,” I called out after him as he stalked away to place the bet. “Your faith in me helps me to have faith in myself.”
The only response I got was the middle finger thrown over his shoulder, which made me break out into loud laughter. It was perfect, just what I needed to cut through the tension before the fight.
I was new to street fighting, and this was only my third time here. My friend, Rick, had told me about the gig. He had been coming here for months, making decent money and, more importantly, working out some aggression. That was the main reason I kept coming. Sure, the money was nice, but I was more interested in working out my issues with my fists. I thought of it as nontraditional therapy. It was a hell of a lot better than nothing.
Rick had to work tonight, so I asked my cousin to tag along instead. The one thing I knew for sure was it was best not to come alone. Each win paid out a thousand bucks, and it wouldn’t be out of the question for someone alone to be jumped by some of the men around here to get the cash.
The current fight ended, so I got to my feet. I did a few quick stretches, ending with cracking my neck. Despite my lack of street fighting experience, I was no stranger to a fight. As the only son of an army general, I was pushed to join up my entire life. My father even went so far as to insist that I attend military school and receive hand-to-hand combat training as a teenager.
I didn’t know if he thought that would somehow motivate me to follow in his footsteps, but it didn’t work. I hated the strict structure and emphasis on discipline. My father wasn’t happy, and I didn’t think our relationship ever recovered, but I decided quickly that I wasn’t soldier material. It didn’t take long to get kicked out of the place, but I had picked up some fighting skills by then. Over the years, I’d honed those skills in bar fights and a general knack for finding trouble.
“You ready?” Alex asked as he returned.
I just nodded before turning and starting to make my way through the crowd. They parted for me, many of them shouting taunting insults until I reached the edge of the circle, the boundary of which was marked with white spray paint on the concrete floor.
This warehouse was one of many old and abandoned ones on this side of town. The windows were boarded up, and the only entrance was a sliding metal door at the back of the building that had previously been a loading area for large trucks. It helped the guys running this place to keep track of who came and went, but it also meant there wasn’t an easy getaway if we were ever busted. So, I hoped it never came to that.
On the other side of the crudely drawn barrier, I saw my opponent, a man that had earned the nickname The Beast with both his size and manner, stepping through the crowd on the other side. I could feel the buzz of anticipation in the air as the crowd got worked up for the fight. I knew that we were the main event of the evening. The new guy who was making a name for himself around here versus a man that was known for being big and mean. He wasn’t undefeated, but he didn’t lose often, either. I took his measure from twenty feet away.
The Beast wasn’t much taller than me, but I had to admit that he was bigger. It wasn’t all muscle, either. The two of us were both shirtless, and I could see that he was carrying extra weight around his middle. That could work to his advantage if he got me pinned beneath him.
Despite his extra weight, his shoulders were broad, and it was clear he didn’t skip arm day at the gym. There was no doubt that he was strong. I was sure to get pummeled if he got his hands on me.
So, I had to make sure that didn’t happen.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice rang out from my left. Turning, I saw the man in charge, Luca Bianchi, shouting to be heard above the crowd. “We’ve come to our last fight of the evening. Place your bets now. Will it be the up and coming biker, Blade?”
There was a smattering of hoots and cheers, but not much. It was a good thing I didn’t care about that. It worked to my advantage to be underestimated.
“Or will it be the meanest son of a bitch I know, The Beast?”
This response from the crowd was much more impressive, and the idiot loved it. Throwing his hands into the air, he stepped into the middle of the ring, gesturing for them to cheer louder for him as if their support mattered at all.
It didn’t. All that mattered was who was better in the ring. Tonight that would be me.
I was strong, with six-pack abs and my own sculpted biceps, but what would give me the edge in this fight was my speed. While The Beast was busy working the crowd, I stepped into the ring and circled around him. I stayed on the balls of my feet, making sure that I was at his back as he moved, just waiting for the signal to begin.
Finally, a shrill whistle cut through the air, and I ran forward, reaching my opponent before he even had a chance to figure out where I’d gone. A quick jab to the kidney made him let out a whoosh of air, but I was gone before he could react, facing him on the other side of our circle.
Most of the crowd around us booed, and I couldn’t keep the smirk off my face. A lot of assholes were about to lose the money they bet against me.
The Beast let out a noise that I could only describe as a growl, his face turning red as he moved toward me. Anger was going to be his weakness. I moved out of his path quickly, landing a kick to the side of his knee as I went. His leg buckled, but he managed to straighten it out and stay on his feet.
A small part of me was glad that he didn’t go down easy. I wanted a challenging fight.
I could sense the moment that The Beast started taking me seriously. When his eyes met mine again, the anger was still there, but I could also see a calculating look. He didn’t move without thinking again.
Good. Now we could really begin.
The sounds of the crowd around us faded into the background as I became laser-focused on the huge man in front of me. Time dragged on as the fight got more intense. The only rule here was no weapons, so there was nothing that was off-limits.
I stuck to my strategy of quick jabs while staying out of reach, but The Beast had a long reach and was able to land a few blows. I had a couple of bruised ribs and a busted lip, but it wasn’t going to slow me down.
The longer the fight went on, the more I tapped into my inner darkness, the anger and guilt that I had carried with me for ten years. It fueled me, making me more vicious. I barely felt the pain of the hits I had taken, and I got more daring, able to land several blows to the man’s face. I even broke his nose.
Then, he got a hold of me. I knew that it might happen, and all I could do was hope that I’d inflicted enough damage to take him down. I took blows to my sides, trying to block them as well as I could with my arms, but it was the right hook to the temple that sent me reeling. I saw stars.
Stumbl
ing back two steps, I couldn’t get away from him, so I tapped into every ounce of aggression that I had. Bringing my arms up, I blocked his next blow. It brought him even further into my space, and, reacting on instinct, I brought my elbow across his face with all my strength. He was dazed, so I swiped his legs. It hurt my own shin, but he went down. Hard.
The sound of him hitting the concrete was a dull thud, and he didn’t get back up. I stood over him, my chest heaving as I wiped blood away from my chin.
I barely registered the surprised reaction of the people around me as I walked out of the ring. Alex was at my side, and he wordlessly handed me a bottle of beer. I took a swig, savoring the cold liquid as it slid down my throat.
“Are you okay?” Alex was eyeing my lip, and I wondered just how bad it looked.
“I’ll live.”
“And you’re lucky for that. That guy was a monster.”
“I think he prefers to be called a beast.”
“How can you make jokes after such a brutal fight?”
I shrugged. The truth was, I felt great. My adrenaline was still pumping, and I had let out some of my ever-present anger. Street fighting was a hell of an outlet.
“Let’s pick up my money and head to the Blue Dog,” I said. “I could use about five more of these.”
I held up the beer bottle, then took another big swallow.
Alex didn’t say anything else about the fight, but I knew that he had something on his mind. Everyone was starting to leave, with the few winners making their way to Luca’s man, Gino, who handled the betting. I went to Luca first, collecting my winnings.
“I gotta say, you surprised me out there,” he said while chewing on a toothpick and counting out my payment in twenty-dollar bills. “I can count on one hand the number of times someone has taken down The Beast.”
“Yeah, well, don’t be afraid to take a chance on the underdog next time,” I advised.
I only got a grunt in response. Alex and I collected the money we won, and I pulled my black t-shirt back on, as well as my black leather jacket. Then, I tossed my empty beer bottle in a trash barrel on my way out the door.
The night air was crisp, as it had gotten colder when the sun went down. It was springtime, and the trees were just starting to get their leaves back.
“You wanna tell me what’s on your mind?” I asked as we got into Alex’s pickup truck. It was one of the nicest vehicles in the parking lot.
Alex worked as the foreman for a commercial construction company in nearby Trotter Beach, so he made good money, and it showed in his choice of vehicle. He was lucky no one broke into the thing in this neighborhood.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked, looking at me with tired eyes.
“The fighting?”
I leaned back against the leather seat and felt my aching ribs. They hurt, but I was pretty sure none of them were cracked.
“Yes, the fighting,” Alex responded impatiently. “Don’t you see how dangerous this shit is? What if the big bastard had knocked you down, fracturing your skull on the concrete? Do you think your friends in there would have called an ambulance for you?”
No.
“I don’t have friends in there.” I shot him a smile. “That’s why I brought you.”
He didn’t look amused. “Yeah, well, it’s a one and done for me. I know you’re really fighting your own demons, but there’s got to be a healthier way to do that.”
I shook my head and looked out the window. There was a long moment of silence between us, but I eventually broke it.
“What the hell would you have me do? Go to some headshrinker?”
The idea was laughable. I wasn’t the sharing type, especially with some stranger. The fighting worked for me. I didn’t need to talk about my damn feelings.
“I think they prefer the term therapist.”
Alex pulled into the parking lot of the Blue Dog, and I was eager to get inside the bar. Even this conversation with Alex hadn’t brought me down from the high of winning, and I wanted to enjoy it. The Outlaw Souls were inside, and as a prospective member of the motorcycle club, I belonged among them. I stepped out of the truck, but when I turned to close the door, I saw that Alex hadn’t moved.
“You’re not coming?”
He shook his head. “I’m not in the mood tonight. Get one of your biker friends to give you a ride home.”
I shut the door of his truck, and Alex left before I even made it across the parking lot. I knew he wasn’t happy with me, but he’d get over it. I was sure he’d come again if I needed him to have my back. So, I brushed off his concerns and walked into the bar, where I could start spending my winnings.
Three
Kat
I woke up to the sound of seagulls squawking. Despite this, my location didn’t register in my brain right away. The pounding ache in my head stole all my attention, and I groaned before I even opened my eyes. My arm was thrown across my face, covering my eyes, and I knew the meaning of regret as I moved it away.
The newly risen sun was already shining too brightly, hurting my eyes even through my closed lids. I realized I was outside, and the events of last night came back to me.
Piper and I had gone to the Copper Bar, where I was quick to dump money into the jukebox and pick enough music to last for two hours. We drank, gladly accepting free drinks from men in the bar without offering anything in return other than polite conversation, and danced the night away.
None of the men in the place caught my eye, but Piper was a different story. Around midnight, she told me that she was leaving, and the guy on her arm looked startlingly like Nicholas Cage.
Good for her, I guess.
Not long after that, I left the bar, finding that it wasn’t nearly as fun without someone I knew to talk to. The sensible thing would have been to go home, even if I had to order an Uber because of the drinking, but I didn’t want to do that. Instead, I crossed the street, heading for the beach.
In the light of day, even with a throbbing hangover headache, I could see that wandering off by myself in the middle of the night after drinking heavily wasn’t the best idea. I carried mace on my keyring, but that didn’t mean I was invincible.
Once I reached the sand, I had pulled off my shoes and socks so that I could walk along the edge of the water barefoot. The gentle waves ran over my feet, wetting the bottom of the legs of my skinny jeans, and my toes sank into the wet sand with each step.
I wasn’t sure how long I had walked the beach before deciding to stop and rest. I had just intended to sit for a moment before heading back toward my car, hoping that I would be sober enough to drive home by the time I got there. But I made the mistake of lying back on the white sand, gazing at the sky above, trying to find shapes in the stars.
The next thing I knew, a damn seagull woke me up.
Sitting up, I used my hand to block the sun from my eyes as I looked around. I could tell that it was early by the positioning of the sun, which was good because I didn’t need to be late for work two days in a row.
I craned my neck and saw that I hadn’t walked nearly as far as I thought I had last night. My car was still sitting in the bar’s parking lot. I got to my feet, seeing that every inch of my clothing was covered in sand. I brushed it off as well as I could, going as far as to shake out my long hair before pulling it up with a hair tie that was around my wrist. Grabbing my shoes, I made my way toward the bar, cutting across the sand to save time.
There weren’t many vehicles on the road at this early hour, so it was easy to scurry across the street once I pulled my shoes back on. My throat was dry, and there was a nasty taste in my mouth, so I hurried home to brush my teeth and take a shower before work.
When I turned onto the street my house was on, I saw that I wouldn’t be able to park in my driveway. There was already a motorcycle there. It looked like Jason was at my house. Considering the early hour, I was willing to bet he spent the night. I parked at the curb and entered the house. The first thing I saw was
my brother sleeping on my couch, snoring loudly. I didn’t bother to be quiet as I closed the door behind me, and he jolted awake.
“Where the hell have you been?” he asked through a yawn as he blinked at me sleepily. His thick black hair was a mess, and there was a red mark on the side of his face from where it had been pressed against the arm of the couch.
“You’re not my keeper,” I said, tossing my purse onto the small table by the door. “The question is, why are you in my house?”
I walked past him into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker. Within seconds, the heavenly smell of caffeinated brew filled the small kitchen.
“Me and Lexie had a fight, so I crashed here,” he explained, following me and plopping down at the kitchen table.
“You didn’t think to ask?”
He shrugged carelessly. “I know where you keep the spare key. Besides, you weren’t even home.”
I would’ve come home if I’d known he was here, but I didn’t tell him that.
“You know, if you’re hungover, coffee’s not a good idea. It’ll just dehydrate you.”
“What makes you think I’m hungover?” I asked, leaning against the sink while the coffee finished brewing.
“You smell like a bar.”
I childishly stuck my tongue out at him. “You don’t exactly smell like a daisy,” I teased. “What’s your excuse?”
“Just pour me a cup of coffee,” he said with an eye roll.
I did, giving it to him black while I dumped a load of sugar into my own mug. I glanced at the clock on my stove. I still had over an hour before I had to be at work, so plenty of time.
“So, what was the fight about?” I asked curiously.
Jason had been living with his girlfriend for almost two years, and I thought they’d be engaged by now. They were a great fit, but I had a feeling that my brother’s priorities weren’t quite lined up for that ultimate commitment. Not that I had any room to talk. Thinking about and planning for the future wasn’t really my thing.
“She’s pissed because I have to cancel our date on Saturday.”
