“But you only have a partial shoe print. It could just as easily have been Phillip,” Talia reminds him. “Both men have proved they’re willing to commit murder.”
“We’ll present both of them as suspects for the shootings against Calder and Cass. Hopefully forensics will be able to determine which one is responsible.” Sebastian glances at both folders. “As for the other, it makes sense why Phillip would remain in the shadows as a silent partner with Brent in the EUC. With his strong political affiliations, he couldn’t be directly tied to an illegal business like the EUC, so he used layers of shell corporations to hide the money he’s gained from financing that business.”
I gesture to Brent’s folder. “When I tried to talk to Beth about Brent’s questionable business, she defended him saying that Brent is just getting his business ready so he could quickly pivot to a legitimate business once MMA was legalized. He would already have a high-end clientele base and the reputation EUC has established for delivering great bouts. So yes, that ties in with what you’re saying.”
Calder narrows his gaze. “From Phillip’s self-serving perspective, who better to align himself with than the people who have the political power to decide MMA’s fate in New York. He made sure he was poised to benefit the moment the vote finally passed making MMA legal.”
I shake my head at the intricate web of deceit Phillip had pulled people into. “I know Talia couldn’t find any ties, but it’s hard for me to believe that Jake isn’t one of the partners.”
Talia shrugs. “Unless all his money is in his father’s accounts and everything is in Phillip’s name, it’s just not there. He lives off his law firm earnings.”
Setting his duffle back down, Calder snorts and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me close. “Jake doesn’t have his father’s business savvy or cunning. The guy wouldn’t have a clue what to do with that kind of money, let alone know how to hide it.”
“At least we have a lot more to give the police to help with the charges,” Talia says as she glances at her watch. “Oh…it’s getting late. We’d better go get ready.”
Sebastian clasps her elbow. “About that. I was only able to get two tickets via a third party. I need Theo with me as backup, since Calder said the metal detectors would go off if we carried.”
Talia stares at her husband. “I feel like I should go, Sebastian.”
He shakes his head. “You’re safer here.”
She frowns. “I thought it was because you only have two tickets?”
The tension swelling between them is palpable and I totally understand her frustration. I want to go, but I won’t push it. Calder will be distracted if I’m there and he needs to focus on the fight. While Talia and Sebastian face off in a silent contest of wills, Calder lifts his bag and tugs me toward the guest bedroom, saying, “I’m going to get ready.”
As soon as he shuts the door, I sit on the bed and silently watch him change from a button down shirt and jeans to black shorts and running shoes. I study his technique as he winds black tape around his left wrist and palm, then he puts strips of tape between each finger before running the tape around his palm several times.
Once he cuts the end of the tape off, I stand and take the roll, then tape up his right hand for him using the same technique. When he moves his fighting gloves and mouth guard to an outside zip-up pocket in his duffle bag, then puts a towel and change of clothes in the main pouch, I hand him extra gauze and medical tape to keep his stitches covered and clean. As he tucks them away, I watch the raven wing and skull tattoo on his back flex and move with his muscles. The tattoo has faded a bit, looking more worn into his skin. Calder told me that’s the reason he gets it done a few days early so it’ll look like he’s had it for a while. The tough street fighter, Steel, is transforming to life right before my eyes. As magnificent as his body is like this, I don’t want to think about the fact he’ll be in a ring fighting another guy who’s determined to beat the shit out of him.
When he turns to face me, I take his dog tags off and slip them around his neck. My heart aches a little without them, since they’ve been on me the past couple of days, but they’re part of his Steel persona and belong with him tonight. “For luck.”
Calder winks at me, then hands me the tape to wrap up his tags. Once I’m done, I tap the tags and give a wry smile. “I like wearing them. They make me think of you.”
Calder touches my neck and frowns. “I don’t like seeing a bruise on you.”
“Then stop biting me,” I say, snickering.
He lifts his gaze to mine, regret flickering. “Is that what you want, Cass?”
I lift up on my tiptoes and whisper against his jaw. “Never.”
He instantly cups my face and presses his mouth against mine in a tender, lingering kiss. Breaking our kiss, he pulls something out of his shorts pocket and moves close to hook it around my neck. When the material tightens and I realize it’s a choker, my stomach does somersaults. All the doubts I felt earlier about us floats away. To Calder…I’m his.
I inhale his wonderful scent and when he lifts his head to meet my gaze, my fingers instantly move to my throat. I smile at the feel of the leather under my fingers. “I really missed this,” I say, excited to have it back.
Calder’s eyes shift to a deeper green as he slides his thumb along the leather band to touch the silver raven in front. “It looks perfect on you. I expect you to be wearing this and nothing else when I get back tonight.”
I admire his confidence and freaking adore his swagger. Wrapping my arms around his hard waist, I lay my head on his muscular chest and listen to his heart’s steady thump. After a full minute of basking in his hold, I look up at him. “You’d better come back to me, able to make good on that implied promise.”
“Tell me you love me,” he says, folding his arms around my body.
I slide my hands up his muscular back and grin. “I do.”
His gaze narrows. “When I get back I’m going to make you pay for teasing me.” Crushing me to him, he drops a kiss on my nose. “Be prepared to be ruthlessly provoked, then well-fucked, angel. I can’t wait to watch you come apart with my necklace on.” As a shiver of anticipation rushes across my skin, he moves his lips to my ear, his voice husky with heat. “This time around I will fill you up until you’re overflowing.”
After I snicker at the contrast of Sebastian wearing a tux as he stands beside Calder in a sweatshirt, shorts and sneakers, I walk up to Calder and kiss his jaw, then whisper in his ear, “I love you. Now go kick ass.”
Talia presses her lips together and doesn’t say anything when Sebastian kisses her on the temple.
Once the men leave, I sit down on the couch beside her and tuck her auburn hair behind her ear. “Why are you so upset with Sebastian? It’s not like you can take out a two-hundred-pound bad guy like your man can. And with two Navy SEALs there watching over him, Calder will be much safer.”
Talia lifts her shoulders. “It’s not that, Cass. Of course I want Calder to be as protected as possible. It’s just…” She looks away and sighs.
“What?” I poke her ribs to make her look at me.
Taking a deep breath, she exhales quickly. “I just have this feeling I should be there. I can’t explain it.”
I eye her, my chest tightening. “How strong is this feeling?”
She curls her fist against her stomach. “Deep in my gut.” Her green eyes flick to mine. “I almost feel sick, Cass.”
I exhale slowly and reach for my purse leaning against the couch. “Sebastian is going to kill me,” I mumble and lay the ticket that Beth gave me on her thigh.
Talia’s eyes widen and she looks up at me. “Where’d you get this?”
“Beth gave it to me.” I point to the envelope. “This event’s secret location is at an old abandoned ice rink. The address is inside with your ticket.”
When Talia jumps up and runs into her room to find a dress, I call out, “Please be careful!”
I wait a half hour after
Talia leaves to pick up Calder’s phone he’d left on the island. Flipping through his address book, I find Sebastian’s number. I figure that thirty minutes is long enough that Sebastian won’t send her home, but there’s no way I’m letting my best friend head over to that abandoned ice rink alone, no matter how strong her gut instinct is.
Me: This is Cass. Talia is about ten minutes behind you. Wait for her!
Sebastian: Be glad you caught me before I went inside or I’d have your hide.
Me: Women’s intuition. She needs to be there.
Fifteen minutes later, I finally get a text back.
Sebastian: Got her. Thanks for having her back.
Me: Crack open that EUC!
Setting my phone down, I smile, admiring Talia for sticking to her guns about her instincts. I should trust mine more. I stare at Brent and Phillip’s folders, shaking my head. I just can’t believe that Phillip would have a business relationship with Brent that didn’t include Jake, considering that’s most likely how Brent knows Phillip in the first place.
Frowning, I pull Brent’s folder toward me and open it, turning to the page on financial holdings. I skim until I find the corporation Talia talked about, the one with the sum of money she couldn’t identify. My gaze freezes on the company name.
ScrapE.
I jerk my head up, my heart racing. “Holy shit!”
“Steeeeeel and Haaaaaammmer…round four!” the announcer calls out, his deep voice echoing over the indoor arena that has been everything from an ice rink to an indoor football stadium. From the skybox in the corner where the executive contributors are watching us fight behind the safety of privacy glass, to the graduated stadium seating, the crowd of well-dressed fans have been wild with excitement, screaming and yelling their bloodlust for the last hour.
Hammer and I have definitely given them a good fight.
When it comes to typical MMA moves, my opponent and I are evenly matched, but I also pull my interactions from other disciplines. Every time I’ve adapted a move, Hammer hasn’t been able to get past me, not without taking several powerful hits to his ribs, chest and a few really good ones to his face.
While the ring girl waltzes around the outside of the chain link cage, I use this short time to mentally access my damage. My jaw aches and my right side hurts like a motherfucker. I’m pretty sure my wound is bleeding into my waistband, but at least my black shorts hide it.
Despite a swelling left eye behind his white full-head cover mask and several bruised ribs, Hammer is pacing on the other side of the arena like a rabid beast. His eyes are wild, as if he’s hyped up on drugs, not just fight adrenaline.
The bell rings and the ref indicates we can commence fighting. I grit my teeth against my mouthpiece, and ignore the salty sweat rolling from inside my mask and down into my eyes. I blink past the stinging, determined that this is the round Hammer will lose the fight.
Hammer runs straight at me and slams me into the cage. As he pounds his fist into my aching side, I grab him around the neck and squeeze with my bicep. He growls around his mouthpiece, “’ake a ive.”
I blink as his mumbling takes form in my head. Take a dive.
“Fuck no,” I reply, but just in case he didn’t understand me, I knee him hard in the chest and take him down to the floor.
We each have the other locked in place on the mat, and while his face is close to mine, he spits out his mouthpiece and grates, “If you want to win, to see up into that glass box…then you have to take a dive, asshole.”
I jerk my gaze to his and give him a “what the fuck kind of fight is this?” scowl. Then I flip him over and cinch my thighs around his chest. With cheers swarming all around us, I lean close and spit my own mouthpiece out so he hears my words clearly. “I will finish you,” I say through clenched teeth right before I pound three hard punches to his face.
Hammer acts like he’s going to tap out, but at the last second, the bastard forces me over and tries to lock me in an arm bar. The crowd goes wild all over again.
I manage to get my legs free, then curl my whole body toward my head. Flipping right out of his hold, I steam roll over his head in the process. He looks a bit dazed and twists away just as the bell pings.
I glare at Hammer from my side of the mat, wondering if I’m being played.
To win, I have to take a dive? How the fuck does that work?
This time the ring girl waltzing around the cage with the number five card held high is wearing Hammer’s white mask. I skipped the tradition of putting my black carnival-style mask on one of the ring girls on my way into the fight. I wanted to stay focused and didn’t need the added distraction.
When the masked blonde ring girl stops and steps up on the ladder on the platform to hand Hammer a rolled-up towel over the top of the cage, I experience a flash of regret that I didn’t think to ask one of the girls to hold a towel for me. Wiping the sweat out of my eyes would be appreciated right now.
The last thing I expect is for Hammer to unroll a handgun from the towel and immediately fire it at the metal plate on the cage door. The crowd screams their surprise as the gunfire echoes in the huge building and a wave of shocked gasps follow before suddenly everyone goes quiet.
I realize Hammer has purposefully jammed the door closed and while he’s distracted, I zoom across the mat, intending to take him out, but he quickly turns the weapon on me, his gaze slitted in fury. “Back the fuck off, Steel!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sebastian shouldering his way past the frozen crowd toward the arena, while several EUC security men also move forward. A couple of the security guards are already at the cage door, trying to open it. I know none of them are carrying anything stronger than a Taser. It has always been a EUC rule for their security.
“All of you, back off!” Hammer barks, shooting a warning shot toward the ceiling.
A hush settles in the room and the men rushing forward outside the cage suddenly freeze. I stop moving, my hands up. He doesn’t have to know I’m assessing the best way to take him down.
Holding up his other hand, he lifts a remote device. “This is rigged to two explosives, one is underneath this stage and the other up there inside the box with our illustrious guests. If anyone fucking moves toward this cage, I’ll hit this button…and trust me, there’s enough explosives under here to make sure none of you make it out alive.”
“What do you want?” I grit out.
“Isn’t it what you want, Steel?” he taunts, then turns to face the crowd. As they all gasp at the sight of his thumb on the remote device, Hammer’s wrath booms, reverberating off the walls. “You want to see behind that glass?”
Turning, he fires five shots straight into the skybox’s smoky panes and as the glass shatters and the crowd screams, six business men wearing carnival style masks are all revealed at once, ducking for cover from the bullet spray.
When the men’s security guards standing outside the skybox’s door renew their efforts to bust it open, Hammer chuckles, raising his voice above the din of the screaming audience. “If you open that door, the bomb up there will go off, so I suggest you don’t.”
The men immediately back off, their hands raised. Theo stands there with the guards, adopting the same backing off stance, but I see him nod to Bash, letting him know he’s going to take care of that area.
My heart pounds with a different kind of adrenaline; survival. And my gaze becomes laser focused.
“You have to have a plan beyond this,” I say in an even tone, trying to distract his attention back to me. Bash has managed to inch his way closer and that’s when I catch a glimpse of Talia’s red hair shielded behind him. Fuck, how did she get here? That better not mean Cass is anywhere near this place, or I’m going to go ape-shit on this crazy prick.
If Hammer had just brought a gun to the fight, I would’ve jumped him already and taken my chances that I’d be faster, but a fucking bomb? I can’t stop that from going off too, especially not with his finger resting on the deto
nator.
He turns cold eyes to me. “My plan is very clear and you’re all going to play your part…total annihilation.”
The second he says that, the frozen fans closest to us scream and surge toward the exit, creating mass hysteria.
“Don’t do this, Jake!” a woman calls as she steps toward the cage out of the rushing crowd.
Hammer is Jake Hemming?
Both Hammer and I jerk surprised gazes to the dark-haired beauty making her way up the stairs, her curled hair bouncing in soft waves against her bare shoulders and strappy black dress.
“Celeste?” Jake says, his voice softening. “Is that really you?”
“I’m here,” she says softly, her gaze staying locked on Jake.
I blink to clear the sweat from my vision, needing her to look at me so I can tell who I’m seeing. It can’t possibly be Celeste, but then they never did find the body. What about the blood? My brain flashes through the facts I know to be true, yet can’t deny the evidence of the woman standing before us.
She hooks her fingers on the cage fencing, pulling herself close. “Please, Jake. Please don’t do this. It was a mistake to leave. I’m not dead. I’m here for you.”
I edge closer to Jake as he steps toward the fencing, sadness in his tone. “Why did you try to leave? You know you always belonged to me, not Ben. If you had stayed, I would never hurt you.”
Tears shimmer in her eyes as she looks at him. “I was wrong, Jake. So very wrong.”
Jake shakes his head as if clearing it. “No,” he barks. His shoulders straightening, he takes a step back. Glancing my way, he tightens his hold on the gun and jabs it toward me. “Get back, asshole.”
“You’re dead, Celeste.” Jake glares at me, refusing to look back at her. “You’re an illusion. I mourned you.”
Steel Rush (In the Shadows#5) Page 25
