by Amity Cross
“There’s a lot of shit waiting for you at Beat,” I said slowly. We hadn’t discussed Monica once and I wasn’t keen to start either. Then there was Dean and Lincoln who’d always had a rivalry with Ash and now that I was in the mix, they’d try and beat the crap out of him to avenge my honor.
“I know and we’ll deal with it. You’re strong enough and I’m finally strong enough, too. Together—”
“We’re invincible?” I asked with a grin.
“Something like that.”
Laughing, I rose to my feet, grabbed his hand and led him downstairs, my stomach beginning to rumble, and he followed me without complaint. The house was quiet, but it was still early and Violet hadn’t seemed to have woken up yet.
Gesturing for Ash to sit down at the dining table while I fixed us both some breakfast, I couldn’t help feeling my body tingle as he watched my every move. The kitchen had become familiar territory over the past few weeks, considering I’d spent every day here. Bowls in the left cupboard, spoons in the draw by the sink and cereal in the top cupboard on the far wall.
I sat the milk and cereal on the table and Ash pounced on them, filling his bowl to the brim. Where all that food went when he inhaled, I never knew. Men.
“What’s the plan after your release?” I asked, sitting beside him and making up my own cereal.
He dumped the bottle of milk onto the table with a thump. “I want to finish what I started.”
My heart twisted in my chest and I smacked him in the arm. “No. Fuck, Ash. Not after everything…”
“I’m not going to…” He grimaced, fisting his hand around his spoon.
After such an intense and fucking amazing night together, the mention of Hammer and the rage Ash still felt towards him, threatened to overshadow it all. “Some things you can’t fight, no matter how hard you try. Some things you’ve just got to accept.”
“I can’t accept the fact that he’s walking around out there, free, while I’ve rotted inside for five years.”
“I know, Ash…”
“Then what am I meant to do? Let him get away with it?”
“No!”
“Then what?”
“Beat him at his own game.”
Ash’s eyes began to widen as understanding began to hit him. “He’s back at The Underground.”
“Trying to win the Championship from Hamish.”
“Hamish won?”
“The last two times.”
“Fuckin’ good. If anyone should have it, it’s him.”
I cocked my head to the side. “I didn’t know you guys were all buddy-buddy.”
“We weren’t,” he said, placing a hand on my thigh. “But he wasn’t a fuckin’ dog like the rest of them. He fought fair and square.”
“As fair as The Underground would allow,” I said wryly.
“A new Championship will be starting soon,” Ash mused.
“Six weeks.”
He shifted in his chair and I knew he was getting himself worked up. “I want to go pound Hammer’s face right now.”
“I know you do,” I said, placing my hand on his thigh, mirroring his on mine. “But we need to bide our time. Get you out of this house, train, and survey the competition. It all depends on who wins this round and who signs up for the next.”
“Fuck you’re smart,” Ash breathed, leaning into me.
Laughing I said, “The women’s league will be watered down some with the AUFC in full swing…”
“Ren, you’re not—”
I glared at him, digging my fingers into the thick muscles of his thigh. “I am.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I know you don’t, but I’ve proved myself time and time again Maverick.”
His lips thinned as he bit back whatever he was going to say and for once I was glad he didn’t want to talk about it. Maybe finally he realized the reason they’d called me Reign of Terror in the first place.
“How many weeks until they take off that thing on your ankle?”
“Five weeks. Not that I’m counting.” He winked and the small gesture lifted the mood entirely.
“So it’s settled,” I declared. “We train like mad, get your ass to Beat and go back to The Underground and dish out some payback medicine.”
Violet chose that moment to walk into the kitchen and I glanced at Ash.
“She knows,” he said absently.
“That he got himself all bloody in an underground fighting racket? That he bought this house with money he won illegally?” Violet said dramatically, opening the fridge. “I know all about that.” She said it with mock disapproval, but I gathered that she wasn’t too happy with it.
“Don’t complain,” Ash said. “You like the house.”
“You’re going back?” she asked, ignoring her brother’s jibe, fixing herself a bowl of cereal. “I thought you said they wouldn’t take you back.”
“There’s a chance they won’t,” he said slowly, glancing at me.
“We’ll just have to convince them,” I declared. “You were the major draw card only a few seasons ago. If you can prove you won’t fly off the handle again, then I reckon they’ll be foaming at the mouth to make some serious cash.”
“You gunna write me a speech?” Ash grinned and hooked his foot around my ankle. The touch sent shivers up and down my spine and I couldn’t help grinning back. I wouldn’t mind going back upstairs and going at it again.
“I see you two had a good time last night,” Violet declared, sitting at the other end of the table.
“Violet,” Ash grumbled.
I started laughing, throwing my head back.
“So you guys are like, back together?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
I laughed, finally feeling alive for the first time in months. We finally had a plan, one that was only for the immediate future, but it was still something to work toward. There were more tough times coming, but at least this time we would face them together.
It was time to plot revenge and fucking hell…if we could pull it off and snatch back the Championship before Hammer could get his ugly hands on it, then it would be the sweetest revenge ever.
22
Ash
“Are you ready?”
I stood outside of Beat hand in hand with Ren as she smiled up at me. The weather was warming up, the approach to summer in full swing, and the sun made her hair look like it had flecks of red. I smiled back.
It was strange being outside again. After a year stuck in my own house, interacting with society had my head in a spin. I felt fucking dizzy. People, things, movement, buzz…they were all around and threatening to overwhelm me.
Everything had all happened so fast. The cops and my lawyer had come to the house, gone through all the rules and regulations regarding my release, I signed some papers and some dude had taken the alarm from around my ankle and that was it. Congratulations Mr. Fuller, the lawyer had said. You are now a free man. And just like that, my house arrest was over.
First order of business according to Ren was to get me out and into familiar territory. Meaning Beat, but it was far from friendly familiar territory, not after the way I’d left things.
Taking a deep breath, I gathered my balls and my courage and told myself that this was for her. I had a feeling that everything I’d do from now on would be for my Spitfire. That was love, I guess. We were a team. One hundred percent.
Ren tugged on my hand.
“I’m ready,” I said.
She led me through the front door and the familiar smell hit me instantly. Sweat and leather. This place would hold all kinds of memories for me, but none was sweeter than that night I’d almost been hit in the head by a cricket bat. A bat that Spitfire was on the other end of.
The Twins stopped what they were doing and glanced up. Dean smiled as he saw Ren, but when his gaze fixed on mine he came alive. I swear the guy’s eyes turned red the moment he realized who’d walked through the door. He turned an
d strode across the mats, Lincoln hot on his heels.
Dean shoved me hard, dislodging my hand from Ren’s and I stumbled back a step. “You’re not welcome Fuller,” he spat. “Get the fuck out before I rearrange your face.”
“Dean,” Ren almost shrieked at him.
“Let him get it out,” I murmured.
“No!”
“What are you doing here Fuller? Didn’t you get the message the last time?”
I snorted at his empty bravado. “What message was that? I remember beating your ass and being welcomed by everyone else with open arms.”
“Ren, seriously?” Dean asked my Spitfire, disbelief in his eyes.
“Seriously,” she hissed at him.
“Everything was fine until he turned up and now he’s back?” the Twin said. “He got you caught up in illegal fighting and then he left you Ren. He put you in danger time and time again and you don’t see anything wrong with that?”
“You’re trying to turn her against me,” I hissed, stepping forward, but Ren placed a hand on my chest. It had an instant calming effect, like she was a fucking beast whisperer, and I stopped mid-stride.
“You didn’t see her after you abandoned her, Fuller.”
“You broke her heart,” Lincoln added.
I glanced between the Twins and wondered how messy it would get if I had to teach them both a lesson. They didn’t know the things I had to sacrifice in order to protect her. They didn’t know what that fucking word even meant. Sacrifice.
“Stop it,” Ren hissed, stepping in between me and the Twins. She pressed her back against my chest like she was trying to shield me. Turned me the fuck on.
“Leave off Ren,” Dean said. “This is between us.”
“I don’t need a man to protect my honor,” she cried.
“No you fucking don’t,” I murmured into her ear, which only seemed to piss Dean off even further.
It was clear that the Twins thought they had a claim over Ren in some twisted way. I hoped they’d never fucking touched her, ‘cos if they did they had a huge problem on their hands. I hoped for their sake it was brotherly love, nothing more. Ren was mine.
“If you knew,” she said, shaking her head, her gazed locked onto the Twins. “If you knew the things he’s done for me…”
“I can’t believe this,” Dean said, throwing his hands into the air.
“I love him, Dean,” Ren cried. “We’ve worked it out. I don’t need your permission. I don’t need anyone’s. I’m a grown ass fucking woman.”
“Step aside Ren.”
Clearly there was nothing Ren could say to sway Dean’s opinion. I was the bad guy, I’d always been enemy number one, ever since the day he walked into Beat and fell in love with Monica Miller. He could say he was trying to protect Ren all he wanted, he could say whatever he wanted and I wouldn’t believe a fucking thing that came out his mouth. He looked at me and all he saw was an enemy no matter what I said or did to sway him. There was only one way this could play out and I’d rather it happen now than later.
We had to beat it out with our fists.
I wrapped an arm around Ren’s middle and heaved her to the side. Before she could sandwich herself between us again, I stepped up into Dean’s face.
“We fought once before,” I said through gritted teeth. “We fought with rules. This time—”
“Ash,” Ren yelled at me, trying to claw at my arm.
“It would be my pleasure,” Dean said, understanding that once we started, there was no stopping until there was blood.
“Are you serious?” Ren shoved at Dean, but he didn’t budge. “He’ll fucking kill you!”
“Ren.” Lincoln reached for her, but she twisted away.
“In the ring,” I hissed. “Let’s sort this out once and for all. I’m sick and fucking tired of your ugly fucking face.”
“Stop it!” Out of nowhere Monica pushed between us, her hands shoving at Dean.
“No,” she cried. “It’s not his fault.”
“Stay the fuck out of this Monica,” Dean hissed, his eyes still fixed on me. “It’s none of your business.”
“It’s all of my business,” she said, slipping between us.
“You’ve got no claim on any of us,” I spat, stepping back from her aura of bullshit.
“It was my fault,” she said, her gaze flickering to Ren’s. “All of it was my fault.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Dean asked, turning on the younger Miller sister.
She heaved in a lungful of air, her eyes becoming glassy. I knew Monica Miller was a snake, but my gut was telling me that she’d done something to Ren…something big. They’d never gotten along, but this...
“Start talking,” I hissed, balling my fists at my side.
Monica glanced at Ren again, but she didn’t move, her gaze stony.
“I let him in,” she whispered, tears beginning to fall.
I felt the blood drain from my face. She let him in… That night… That night was scarred into my memory and I had to live with it for the rest of my life. The horrifying image of Hammer over Ren was seared into my brain. The image of her fighting, but not being able to get him off sliced my heart into a trillion jagged pieces. She let him in...
“He was going to rape her Monica,” I spat. “If I wasn’t… He was going to cripple her.”
The abrupt silence was deafening. I felt the vein in my forehead begin to throb as I ground my teeth together.
“I thought I was in love with you,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I—”
Everyone just stared at her in shock, but when I glanced at Ren, she was standing stony-faced, her entire body rigid. She didn’t have to say it. She’d known all this time.
“Monica?”
Everyone turned as Coach stood at the far side of the studio, a confused look on his face. I’d thought the shit had already hit the fan, but it turned out it hadn’t splattered yet.
“Someone better start explaining,” Coach said, striding across the mats, “because when a father hears the words rape and cripple…”
Monica started breathing hard, swatting tears away with the back of her hand.
“Monica.”
“It wasn’t kids who trashed Beat,” she said, her eyes downcast. “He attacked Ren… I…”
“Who?” Coach said thinly, his gaze flickering to mine.
“Hammer…” she said through a hiccup.
“I was there to stop him,” I hissed. “We trashed the place. I trashed it trying to—” I clamped my mouth shut.
Monica glanced at me, but her gaze didn’t quite meet mine. “I gave him a key and the alarm code.”
“Monica,” Coach whispered. “You’re not serious…”
“I’m completely serious Dad. It was my fault. I helped them and I ruined everything.” She shook her head, glancing away, the shame clear in her features. “I wanted her gone. I didn’t know that he was going to do those things. I didn’t know it was going to turn out the way it did.”
“What did you fucking expect?” I roared. “Hammer is evil. He’s fucking evil and after what he did to my sister you let him in here?”
“Ash.” Ren wrapped her hands around my arm and tugged, but I was too far gone to let her pull me back.
Lincoln stepped forward then, his skin turning white. “What did he do to Violet?”
Well, that fucking crush went more than one way. I snorted and narrowed my eyes at Monica. “I was never in Thailand.”
“This just keeps getting better and better,” Dean exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air yet again.
“Then where were you?” Coach asked.
“I was in prison.”
I swear there was a collective gasp as the truth finally came out. There was no use trying to hide it anymore. Ren knew and had accepted me and my shortcomings, she fucking loved me, so who the hell cared what anyone else thought.
“Hammer attacked Violet,” I went on, not wanting to elaborate the detail
s. That was her part to tell. “I retaliated, which was what they wanted, and I got kicked out of pro and sent straight to the slammer.”
“Hammer fights at The Underground now,” Ren said. “He came after me to get to Ash.”
“He saw you as a threat.” Everyone glanced at Coach, whose expression was unreadable.
That was the thing about Coach Miller. I remembered the day I first found Beat and the moment I thought I knew what he was going to do, but didn’t. I was just a messed up kid with hardly any idea how the world worked, and here was this man with the most unbelievable poker face giving me a hard time and tough love… Little did I know it was for my own good. He wore that same expression now.
“Monica.” Coach gestured for her to follow him and she hesitated, wrapping her arms around her stomach.
That was our cue to get moving so I grasped for Ren’s hand and a moment later she laced her fingers through mine. No doubt there would be more choice words between the Twins and me, not to mention Coach, but for now I wanted Ren. I tugged on her hand, leading her toward the kitchen. The truth was out now and everyone would do with it what they wanted, it was no use trying to convince them that my intentions for being back at Beat and with Ren were honorable. At least, not right now.
“Ren,” Monica whispered as I passed.
I hesitated, glancing over my shoulder, my hand still firmly wedged in my Spitfire’s.
Ren nodded at her sister once before saying, “That’s the moment I was waiting for.”
Frowning, I glanced at Monica as Ren tugged on my hand. She shrugged, looking totally defeated, and made her way across the studio to the stairs. I didn’t have to wonder about the things Coach was going to say to her. Nothing good was going to come out of that conversation.
Ren dropped my hand as we entered the kitchen and I stood in the middle of the room noticing that there had been more storage built in. It was smaller in here now, where as before it had been cavernous. I rubbed my eyes and wondered when all the secrets would stop. A year wasn’t the longest amount of time in the grand scheme of things, but so much had changed since I’d been gone. I felt like I’d missed the most important time in Ren’s life when she made pro. I wasn’t sure how I was meant to feel about that.
