by E B Brooks
Shit, she’d done exactly what the guys warned her not to. Dammit, she was in trouble again.
Maddy tried to keep her voice nice and calm. “Listen, I’m very sorry. This is my first fight, and I didn’t know there was an area I shouldn’t go. I saw someone I knew; I was trying to get his attention. That’s all.”
He let go of her but kept one hand tightly on her arm, turning her so she could see him better.
Yep, he still scared that shit out of her.
His hazel eye scanned her over, and she knew from experience not to appear scared. She went back to what Ryan taught her and stared at the man right in the eyes, jutting her chin out.
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “You’re not an average bitch, are you?”
She couldn’t help it, her face scrunched up. “I’m not sure what you mean?”
“I can tell just by looking at you that you had a hard life. You’re a street girl. Not one of those prissy sissy girls who cry when they break a nail.”
Another guy ambled up behind her and ran a hand up and down her arm.
She yanked her arm away from his touch. This new guy creeped her out.
He touched her arm again, pawing her. “You’re wrong, Viper, she might dress that way, but she doesn’t have any scars. Her skin is smooth as silk. She still hot, though. I’ll take her.”
Maddy turned and face the new guy. She looked him over, and he was average height with short brown hair. She’d dealt with guys like him all her life.
She yanked her arm away, glided closer to the guy, and put her hand on his chest. “You think I’m hot? You’re kind of sexy, too. Maybe we can find a nice little corner and find out how hot I can be?”
She ran her hand down and up his chest while she reached for the knife in her pocket. When she flicked it open right by his balls, he had no idea.
“Told ya, Viper. She’s a hoe, just like the rest of them.” He smiled, thinking he was right.
Viper let out a laugh. “I would look down, Jude, before you say anything more.” Viper pointed at him.
Jude glanced down and saw her knife at his balls. Maddy pushed the knife up a little, and his face turned white. His wide eyes jumped back to hers, and she smiled at him. He slowly lowered her hand, and once the knife was far enough away, he jumped back.
“While she was enticing you, she got her weapon, and you didn’t realize a damn thing. She played you, J.” Viper chuckled.
As Viper ripped into Jude for not paying attention, J got more and more pissed that a girl had gotten one over him in front of his guys. His face turning redder by the second, and he took a step forward.
Maddy stood tall, not taking her eyes from him. “Don’t be stupid, Jude. I’m sorry I bested you in front of the guys, but this isn’t a toy, and I know how to use it.”
She didn’t notice before that there was a doorway in the wall, and had to force herself not to flinch when a guy came out of nowhere, staying in the shadow. He said something she recognized as Italian.
All eyes moved to her, then back to the guy who spoke.
She swallowed nervously. She didn’t want to take her eyes off Jude in case he attacked, but she found herself glancing over to the shadow guy.
The shadow guy beckoned. “Let’s go get a drink, Jude, before she serves you your balls. She’s off-limits now.”
Jude gave her a look that said this was far from over, but he left.
With one eye still on the doorway, Maddy put her knife away.
“Don’t worry about him. He can’t touch you,” Viper said.
“Why’s that?” Noticing that the shadow still stood there, she tried to get a better look. Something about him felt familiar.
When Viper glanced over at the shadow guy, too, he shook his head no.
“Don’t worry about it, bambina, you are safe in the Moretti group.” He taped her arm.
“Maddy?” a concerned voice called.
She glanced over her shoulder. Ryder stood at the entrance, his eyes wide, and his mouth hanging open.
Viper pointed to him. “Friend of yours?”
Maddy frowned, not sure if Ryder really was hers, but nodded. “Yeah, I better get back. They don’t think I can handle myself. Nice meeting you, Viper.”
“Thanks for the entertainment. If you ever need me, come to the garage on 5th and tell them my name. They’ll get ahold of me. If anyone bothers you, say this, protetto dai Moretti.”
“Protetto dai Moretti. Thanks.” She slaughtered saying that. She’d have to look up what it meant when she got home.
Maddy headed over to Ryder, grabbed his hand, and walked away, but he only made it a couple steps before he stopped.
“I told you not to go anywhere, then I find you in the only place you shouldn’t be? What the hell was that?” He pointed to where they came from.
She crossed her arm. “That was me taking care of myself.”
Ryder rubbed his hand over his face. “That was Viper. He’s got a reputation for being nasty, and you got him purring like a kitten. And why the hell did you walk off? Cody and Skylar are going to kill me.”
“You need to worry about me killing you. I don’t enjoy being lied to, Ryder, and the minute we get home, we’re going to discuss Jackie. As for why I ran off, I saw Mike and followed him. I’d have asked you to come, but you ditched me.” She glared at him. “A long time ago, I learned that all you have to do with guys like Viper is be respectful and show no fear. He could tell I was from the streets.” She shrugged. “No big deal.”
Ryder sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “We’ll talk about Jackie after the fight, I promise, and I didn’t lie to you.”
Feeling guilty, Maddy glanced toward the cage, but she couldn’t see anything. “I heard them announce Cody’s fight.”
“He’s still fighting.” Ryder looked back at the ring, too. "But the last time I went by, he was losing.”
“Shit, he’s losing? That’s not good.”
They both shoved their way to the octagon, where Cody’s opponent had him on the ground in some kind of hold.
Maddy pointed to the ring. “What the hell is this? I thought he was boxing?”
“No, Silk, it’s MMA. They can use arms, legs, anything. That guy has him in a good hold; I’m not sure Cody can get out of it. He might submit,” Ryder said with concern.
“What does that mean? What happens if he can’t get out and submits?”
“He loses.”
Maddy shoved and pushed her way closer to the octagon. People swore at her, but she didn’t care. She got as close as she could before a rope blocked her from getting right up next to the cage.
She stood right near where Cody was trying to wrestle his way free. Blood covered his face from a cut right above his eyebrow and another one on his lip. The other guy didn’t look much better; Cody had worked him over good.
Through the blood, Cody had a look on his face she’d never thought she’d see on his face. He looked defeated.
“Cody, get your fucking head in the fight and kick this son a bitch’s ass!” she yelled.
His eyes opened and shot right to her.
She gripped the rope hard. “You can do this, Cody!”
He closed his eyes, took several deep breaths, and let out a loud growl. Cody made moves that she’d never seen before and escaped the hold.
Now, they both stood, and they each took a couple of breaths before they hammered at each other, again. Right hooks, left hooks, knees, feet, then they were grappling with each other.
Maddy had no idea what was going on, but she screamed for Cody. The guy had him in the corner, and he was saying something to him.
Cody’s eyes glanced over at her, and he sighed heavily, then nodded to the guy.
Something wasn’t right. Cody pushed the guy away and got two good hits in with his legs before he stopped blocking the punches. What the hell was he doing?
“Something’s wrong," Ryder said in her ear. “He can block those punches, but he’s
not even trying. He’s throwing the fight.”
Throwing the fight? He was losing on purpose?
That wasn’t like Cody at all. He worked so hard she barely saw him for weeks, only for him to throw the fight?
On the other side of the cage, Skylar was yelling at his brother to block.
Maddy’s eyes went back to Cody. He was watching her before he closed his eyes. His opponent punched him right in the jaw, and Cody stumbled back, looking dazed.
A reader board overhead showed there were only a few minutes left in the round.
Pushing the rope with her body, Maddy smacked the cage. “Come on, Cody! Fight, dammit!”
His opponent did a left-right combo that knocked Cody to the ground.
People were yelling; most were booing.
Maddy jumped up and down, screaming for Cody to get up, but in her heart, she knew he’d given up.
When Cody didn’t get back up, the referee called him out.
The referee grabbed the opponent’s arm and raised it, declaring him the winner.
Cody was still out cold, and Skylar entered the ring and tried to get his brother to wake up.
“Go help him, Ryder. I can take care of myself.” She nodded toward the ring. “Go help Cody.”
As Ryder nodded and took off, she looked up at the second level where Ryder had told her the Pavlenko gang was. The guy with the suit looked thrilled, like he’d just made a lot of money, and a sinking feeling came over her that Pavlenko had something to do with Cody throwing the fight. Maddy remembered Cody telling her that he and Ryder were mixed up in some nasty shit they were trying to get out of. Was this part of that?
The guy in the suit scanned the crowd, and his eyes locked onto her. He rubbed his chin as if trying to remember something, and Maddy got a terrible feeling.
Turning away, she hurried to go check on Cody.
35
Maddy
Maddy gave Cal a nod as he pushed back the plastic for her.
She could hear Skylar yelling from here. “What the hell, Cody? Are you going to tell me why you threw that fight?”
“What makes you think I threw it? He got two good shots in that knocked me out. It wasn’t my day,” Cody said in a monotone voice.
“Bullshit, Cody! I’ve spent hours training with you, and you blocked those shots every time.”
With Skylar so upset that his brother lost, he must have seen the same thing Maddy did. Cody gave up at the end.
Anger entered Cody’s voice. "What right do you have to stand there and yell at me when you left?”
"That’s something I need to sit down and talk about, but I can’t do that here.”
She let out a sigh of relief to hear Skylar planned to sit down and tell them what was going on.
“It’s all your fault.”
Maddy jumped as the blond who’d attached herself to Ryder came out of the stall across from her. She squinted at her. “Jackie, right?”
Jackie tilted her head and let out a lengthy breath.
“Well, Jackie, go to hell. You don’t know shit,” Maddy seethed.
“I know a lot more than you think, orphan girl. If you don’t believe me, just listen.” Jackie pointed to where the guys were still yelling at each other, then leaned against the pole and studied her nails.
Maddy didn’t like to eavesdrop, but Jackie had made her curious.
“When have we ever fought like this?” Skylar beseeched his brother. “Trust me when I say she planned all of this. Look at what she’s doing to us. Since we met her, everything’s gone to hell. She’s ruining our lives. You just can’t see it, but we need to get away from her, Cody.”
Maddy drew in a stuttered gasp and grabbed her breaking heart. No...
“We’ve both been trying—”
Maddy couldn’t hear what else Cody said because her heart was beating too loudly in her ears.
“See? They don’t want you,” Jackie spat. “You’re destroying their lives. I mean, who would want someone like you, anyway? Even your own parents didn’t want you.”
Maddy’s breath hitched, her lip trembling as tears formed in her eyes. How did Jackie even know about that? Had Ryder told her? Had they had a good laugh at Maddy’s expense?
Amber came around the corner, and her eyes fixed on Maddy. “Why are you still here? Skylar dropped you like bad news. He’s been in my bed since the party, and it’s only a matter of time before the others drop you like the bad penny you are.”
Jackie leaned in with a smirk. “Who did Ryder pick today when he had a choice between you or me, hmm? Who did he walk away with?”
Maddy couldn’t hold her heartbreak back anymore, and a flood of tears poured down her cheeks. Ryder had done the same thing Skylar did, the same thing her family did. They all walked away. She’d heard it from Skylar’s mouth. She’d destroyed the guys’ friendship just like she was afraid she’d do.
“Go back to Hicksville where you belong.” Jackie waved in dismissal. “Nobody wants you here.”
“Maddy?” Jace came around the corner, the keys to the Jeep dangling from his fingers.
He’d come back to pick them up, and his eyes bounced between the three of them, not knowing what had happened since he left.
Knowing how the guys felt, she couldn’t look at him. She’d never cared about someone so much, and they crushed her.
Shoving everyone out of her way, Maddy ran.
When she reached the outside, it was just her luck it was pouring down. Remembering from the drive in, she turned in the general direction of her apartment.
Taking off in that direction, the pavement ended, and she ran through the woods. Branches stung her face. It must have started raining the second they stepped inside the warehouse, because the ground was a muddy mess, and there were spots where she sank up to her calf, and it took most of her strength to haul her way out. When her damn boot stayed stuck, she left it there. If she wasn’t pulling herself out of mud, she was tripping, and her ribs ached.
Between the rain and her tears, she couldn’t see, and when she fell again, she laid there crying, letting the cold, wet ground seep into her very soul. She was too exhausted to go on.
After a while, she stopped crying, and a bit of her strength returned. She sat up, not sure how long she’d lain in the mud.
She was lost, cold, and tired.
Hauling herself out of the freezing mud, Maddy wrapped her shivering arms around herself. Her skin was icy, and she couldn’t stop shaking.
They’d broken her heart, and everything hurt. She wanted to go home and called the only person she had left.
“Crusher, I need you,” she sniffled into the phone when he picked up.
He directed her on how to find the road. When she got lost, he came in search of her, finding her huddled next to a large tree for shelter.
He scrambled to her side, his arm going around her. “I got you. I’m here.”
“Thank you for coming,” she mumbled, all the energy draining out of her.
When they got back to his car, he pulled an old blanket from the back and wrapped it around Maddy before tucking her inside his warm car. “Are you going to tell me why you were in those damn woods?”
“No.”
He scowled at her, but his worry was clear. “You owe me at least that for driving out here.”
She turned to glare at him. “I don’t owe you a damn thing. I already thanked you out in the woods.”
“Where are the guys?” he demanded, gripping the steering wheel harder.
She shrugged and stared out the window, pulling the blanket tighter around her shivering body.
“Maddy…”
“No, Crusher. I had a terrible day, and I don’t want to relive it right now.” Tears ran down her face as she stared out the window. She didn’t want to be around anyone, right now. She was too raw from what had happened. “I want to go home, take a hot shower, and get clean clothes. I’m begging you, now’s not the time to bug me, and if you can’t do tha
t, then pull over. I’ll walk.”
“Just answer me one question, and I’ll do what you ask.” He glanced at her, then back to the road. “Did Skylar say anything to you?”
She snapped her head toward him. Why would he care if Skylar said anything to her? He said plenty about her, but not to her.
She stared at him blankly. “No.”
He mumbled something under his breath, and she didn’t ask him to repeat it. She went back to watching the scenery pass by.
The rest of the drive was silent, and when they reached her place, he stopped her before she got out of the car. “I’ll give you two days, but then I expect a call.”
Nodding in agreement, she stepped out of the car and headed to her apartment.
Once inside, she locked her door and walked straight to the bathroom, stripping off her muddy clothes, she left them in a heap on the floor.
Maddy barely felt the hot water running down her body. It did nothing to touch her frozen heart.
36
Skylar
Pressing his lips tightly together, Skylar rubbed the back of his neck.
Cody had sworn he’d never throw a fight, no matter how much money they offered him. It had to be because of Maddy. That was the only logical reason he could come up with.
Tired of listening to his brother’s lame excuses, he started to turn away when he heard Jace yell Maddy’s name.
Confused, Skylar scanned the room. He thought Maddy had come in with Ryder.
“What the hell did you two say to her?” Jace’s voice yelled from right outside the room.
Skylar stared at Ryder, then his brother, before they all bolted into the hallway.
Shit, two of the problems stood right there.
“What happened?” Ryder demanded.
“Not sure,” Jace stated. “I came around the corner, and these two were talking to Maddy. I called her name, and she took off crying.”
Skylar stalked up to Amber and gripped her hard by her arms. “What did you say to her?”
