Falcon's Prey: A Dark Romance

by C. Lymari

  I looked away. He was right, and I didn’t tell him otherwise. I didn’t care about giving away my jewelry so those families could pawn them. They had sick kids, and they loved them, wanted to be with them. The least I could do was make it a little easier for them to make that happen. The board would have never approved of me spending my money like that. What I donated to the hospital was more than enough. It would never be enough. So I let the board think I lost merchandise, that I didn’t give a fuck about my legacy, because I somehow always knew they would never let me have it.

  “You’re strong, Ember. And I’m so fucking proud of you.”

  It was at that moment that I knew I loved him.

  I might have suspected it sooner, but right then and there, I knew it, and it completely terrified me. I swallowed back words I wanted to say, trying to forget that I ever thought them.

  “Thank you,” was all I managed to say.

  Ren was by my side as I handed out blankets that weren’t as thick as Mrs. Rosales’s, but it was better than nothing, and he had bought pizzas.

  Actions didn’t just speak louder than words; they also destroyed your soul.

  “Everything will be fine, right?” I asked for reassurance.

  “Nothing is going to happen,” Ren said, and I believed him. “When we’re there, you don’t leave Gideon’s side.”

  I nodded.

  “At all, Ember. No matter what.”

  His words brought dread deep in the pit of my stomach, making me feel queasy.

  I changed into the clothes Ren got me yesterday. I still found it weird that the doctor gave me booties to wear, but I missed my heels, part of my armor, so I didn’t think much of it until I felt something digging into my feet. I turned the shoe upside down, and a Visa card came out. No name, one of those reusable ones.

  The doctor was giving me help in case I wanted to run. I left it in the bag. I wouldn’t need that tonight. I put on a pair of jeans and the crop top from yesterday. Around my neck was my mother’s choker. When Ren gave it back to me, it was like getting back a piece of my strength. I never knew my mother, yet I loved her. Kinda pathetic, right? I was not going to cower with fear because of Silas. He’d made me afraid for far too long, and I was done. I was a diamond, and I didn’t break.

  Ren walked back into the room. He was wearing sweatpants and a white T-shirt.

  “You can still see my marks,” he mused.

  “Aren’t you so proud?”

  “Oh, I am.”

  I glared at him.

  “You’re always carrying weapons. Why not today?”

  “Can’t go packing to the event.”

  What did I know? I would have felt better if he brought some weapons.

  As if he read my mind, Ren said, “I don’t need a gun or a knife to kill.”

  Right. He could snap a guy’s neck.

  “Okay, let’s go.” I took a deep breath and walked out the room. Ren put his hand behind my back as we made our way downstairs. Gideon was waiting for us already. He was wearing dark jeans with combat boots and a black long-sleeved shirt. As for Pam, she was in a hoochie peach dress that looked striking against her tanned skin.

  For a second, I wished I had one of my candles. If I needed a little extra protection, today was the day. We all walked outside, where two black BMW motorcycles were parked.

  “What happened to taking the car?”

  “It’s going to get packed. If shit hits the fan, getting out in the car is going to be a bitch.”

  “How do you even get these things?” I asked as Ren handed me a helmet.

  “Cashing markers,” Gideon answered as he straddled his bike. He waited for Pamela to get her slutty ass on the back, and he took off.

  It was just me and Ren left. He was still not on his bike, staring at me as I put on the helmet.

  “When this is over, I’m going to teach you to fly.” He straddled his bike and then helped me get on. “Hold on tight, princess.”

  The motor of the bike purred smoothly, sending a wave of excitement despite the nerves I was feeling. We took off in the night, weaving in and out of traffic until we made it to a popular nightclub. Ren parked next to Gideon in a handicapped spot.

  “Um…you do know you’ll get towed, right?” I told both of them as they put the helmets away.

  “Cops won’t be coming this way tonight,” Ren told me as he held my hand and led me toward the club.

  We didn’t go to the line, not even the front. Instead, we went to the side of the club to one of the emergency entrances. Ren knocked three times, then once and three again.

  “The first three knocks represent the three brothers. The lone one is for their one kingdom, and the last one is for the brother that is here and his twin sons.” Gideon explained the meaning behind the knock. Maybe because we all had been too quiet, and he wanted to break the tension.

  The door opened, and there was a beefy tan man in a suit ushering us in. Gideon and Pam went in first with Ren and me behind them. Once in, the security patted us all down, making sure we hadn’t brought weapons. After he was content that we weren’t sneaking anything, he told us to keep going straight. We were in a dark hallway. The thumping of the music could be heard but not as loud as I would have thought.

  “Good luck in there.” The guard nodded to Ren, and Ren gave a tense nod.

  Gideon walked deeper into the dark hallway, where he made a slight turn. It was so dark that if you didn’t know it was a stairwell, you would have missed it.

  “I take it you’ve been here before?” I asked.

  “A few times.” He didn’t joke or tease.

  The stairs curved down in a spiral motion. With every step we took, I felt like I was leaving the real world behind. Two red glowing lights could be faintly seen. They illuminated a black metal door. When we reached the last step, I had a sick feeling. I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to go back to the house, in the room with Ren. Back to our pretend world.

  “You ready?” Gideon turned back to look at Ren.

  I got the feeling he was talking about so much more than a simple fight.

  Ren didn’t answer him. He spun my body around so I could face him. I could barely make him out with the red light, but what I could see scared me. He was all harsh at the moment. Nothing human about his appearance. He looked like he’d crawled out of the underworld, ready to wreak havoc.

  His lips descended on mine in an instant. His hand came to the back of my head to keep me in place as he devoured my mouth. He pulled back, breathing heavily, and so was I.

  “I’m going to make everything better, Ember.”

  “I know you will…” I whispered.

  In the back of my mind, those words that came to me yesterday wanted to crawl up again, but I swallowed them back.

  Ren tilted my chin hard, forcing me to keep eye contact with him.

  “Say it,” he rasped.

  “W-what?” My lips trembled, hoping he couldn’t read me, and he didn’t want to say those words.

  “Tell me.” His voice was strained. Dare I say, pained.

  I opened my mouth, and I felt like crying. I closed it again, but I couldn’t do it. To say those words, it would give him the ultimate weapon against me.

  “G…” Ren started to say.

  “I got you” was all the tatted bad boy said. Then he turned around and opened the door.

  Ren still held me close, even though I didn’t say the words he confessed he didn’t believe in. I didn’t know what I expected to find once we made our way down here, but this was not it. The place was dimly lit with walls covered in red paint, making the whole place look hellish, yet elegant.

  It was spacious, the same as the nightclub, except this was happening right underneath the unsuspecting partygoers. People were standing around talking, some on couches, other on chaises that were placed around the room. Guards lined the walls, looking much like the one upstairs, in suits, with bored expressions on their faces. My eyes scanned the room and th
e people. That was when I noticed what was in the middle of the room: a big wired cage. It came down from the ceiling, creating a perfect octagon.

  It fucking terrified me.

  Was Ren going to fight in there? A guard made his way to us. Ren squeezed my hand, and when I looked at him, he brought my hand to his lips and kissed it.

  “Falcon,” the man drawled. “Come with me.”

  Ren moved to leave when I reached for his hand and pulled him back. Being in here, seeing it all, made it all too real. Slowly, I looked up at him. He regarded me with cautious eyes. I didn’t know what the night would bring, but when he was out there fighting, I didn’t want the words I’d left unsaid to haunt him. Slowly I rose on my tiptoes, my lips finding his, and spoke against his mouth the words I’d never told a man.

  “I love you.”

  The words were something foreign to me; they came out hesitant and unsure, but Ren didn’t care. He wrapped an arm around my waist and lifted me and gave me another bruising kiss.

  When he set me down, Ren left with the guy without another word to me. My heart was pounding to the beat of his steps. Each step he took farther away from me was one I could breathe and freak out about what had happened. As soon as he was gone, Gideon threw a hand over my shoulder and led me to the bar as Pam trailed behind us.

  “Stay close. I don’t need your man to be distracted.”

  “Yeah, protect her and let me die,” Pam murmured.

  “This is neutral grounds. If there’s any place you’re safe, it’s here. If they come to get you here, it would start a war with the Estacados, and that would be plain stupid.”

  “How long until the fight?” I asked.

  It was close to nine, so it wasn’t that early, and there were people but not enough for it to be considered packed.

  “His fight is at eleven. Other ones are starter fights to satiate the hunger.”

  There were a few stools in the bar. Gideon sat me in one as he put his arms on either side of me, protecting me.

  “Barkeep.” He signaled for the bartender and got himself an old-fashioned and me some water. “Sorry, sweet cheeks. Lover boy said no drugs and no alcohol for you.”

  That was when I noticed the men who were walking around carrying trays. And when G raised his hand, one came over. He had a plethora of drugs—dime bags of coke, Cubans, cigarettes, blunts, pills. Old me would have loved the shit out of this place.

  Gideon paid for a blunt and then pulled a stack of money from inside his jacket. “Four grand.”

  With hungry eyes, I watched the bookie-dealer take down Gideon’s information. Drugs were right there, and I was not going to lie and say my mouth didn’t water. It would be easy to take one, but then in the back of my mind, I heard Ren say he was proud of me, and that…that gave me the strength to look away.

  “You need a new addiction,” Gideon said. “Something else that gives you the same high.”

  There was no judgment in his voice, which made me grateful. I wondered if I was that obvious or if Ren had told him.

  “What’s yours?”

  “Adrenaline, blood, and petals,” he answered in a heartbeat.

  Before I could ask what the hell that meant, there was a voice that spoke our way. I recognized the husky tone with a hint of an accent. It was a voice I hadn’t heard since the night I’d given myself to him to fuck with Silas.

  “What is the lone wolf doing so far away from home?” He came to the left side of Gideon.

  Pam craned her neck with interest. Oh boy, was the world tiny sometimes.

  “I’m hunting.”

  “You’re not going to introduce me to your girl?”

  Gideon’s arm had blocked me from view, and if Gideon was nervous, it didn’t show. I took a deep breath and peeked my head behind G’s arm.

  “Enzo,” I said leisurely. He was still handsome, dark, and alluring. Sharp nose, neatly trimmed beard, and wearing a suit. “Long time, no see.”

  A slow grin took place, showing me those white teeth. “La Principessa dei Diamanti.”

  “Where’s your boyfriend?” I asked him, referring to his best friend, Ashton Hill, whose family owned the building I lived in—or had lived in.

  “Not his scene. I didn’t think it was yours either,” he drawled. Then he turned to look at Gideon and Pam.

  Gideon was taking a sip of his drink while Pam looked as she always did—pissed off at me.

  “You two know each other?” Pam bit out.

  Enzo smirked at Gideon when he answered. “Last time I saw her, she was squirming under me.”

  Pam let out a snort, whispering, “Whore.”

  “Gideon is not my boyfriend,” I replied, not having time to measure dicks. “My guy is fighting tonight.”

  I spoke the words proudly: my guy. Holy shit, I had a guy. Like, I fucking professed he was mine to someone else.

  “So it is Falcon who’s stepping in the ring tonight?” Enzo’s dark eyes went to Pam’s, and that was when I noticed there was a familiarity between them.

  Pam lashed out on me from annoyance, because I knew someone she thought only she knew.

  “I was on a business trip when I heard the lineup, and I thought to myself, what are the odds?”

  “You know Ren?” I asked with disbelief.

  “Enough that I lent him my pad for him to stay.”

  If there was ever a time to need a drink, now was it. Sometime between talking to Enzo and now, Gideon lit up his smoke. I removed it from his mouth and took a hit.

  “It’s a small world,” I mumbled after I exhaled.

  “You don’t even know the half of it,” Gideon said.

  More people started to enter the floor, all of them making their way to the front where the cage was now lit up brightly.

  “Showtime,” Enzo said, finishing his drink. “Sit with me, and while we wait for the main event, you can tell me how the hell you ended up with Ren.”

  Enzo started to walk to the front, and Pam used the opportunity to talk to him, putting her arm through his.

  Gideon leaned into me. He wasn’t mad, just cautious. Him being serious scared me.

  “Stay close and don’t trust anyone. I know you may know him, but some people show the world one face and another when they are alone.”

  I felt a chill run down my spine at his words.

  “You don’t seem as confident as you did when we got here,” I dared to say.

  “The only thing I trust in this business is my gut feeling, and since we walked through the door, it’s been screaming at me that something isn’t right. I just can’t put my finger on it.”

  It was safe to say I was scared.

  The table Enzo referred to was a small round table for no more than six people with high stools. To get to this section, we had to pass a small black velvet rope. This was the VIP area. All around the cage were similar tables like this.

  Once I sat down, Pam smiled at me and leaned into my ear. “Do you think Ren will finally dump your ass when he finds out you’ve slept with one of his business associates?”

  “Oh, Pam,” I smiled at her and patted her head. “Ren turned his life upside down for me. I don’t know what he’ll say, but I bet it will be a good time.”

  She was seething, and I smiled at her, despite feeling a little insecure myself.

  “So how did you end up with Falcon?” Enzo asked.

  “He’s trying to keep me alive,” was all the answer I gave him.

  Less than twenty minutes later, the lights in the room went off, leaving the cage lit up brightly like a beacon. The MC came out, greeting everyone and announcing the fights that would take place. People cheered as names were mentioned. I was holding on to the edge of my seat, waiting to hear Ren’s name being called, and when it did, I wished it hadn’t.

  “Bets are still being taken for the ring of death. Falcon came to challenge four-time resident winner, Claw.”

  The crowd went wild.

  “Ring of death?” I asked between g
ritted teeth to the table.

  Gideon and Pam stayed quiet. It was Enzo who answered.

  “Two opponents go in; only one comes out.”

  “What happens to the other one?” I asked, looking at him straight in the eye.

  He looked at me, unwavering. No pity. No sympathy, either.

  “He leaves in a body bag.”

  And just like that, it felt like my heart had stopped.

  For underground ring fighting, the Estacados kept it classy. Maybe it was just a ruse to prove to the three-piece suits who would be watching that it was okay to enjoy the show. All for entertainment, right?

  Make it look pretty, but still, let it kill.

  The fights before were clean, or as clean as the players made it. If there was a casualty, well, it was a stroke of bad luck on the player. As for my fight, that was a bloodbath. Two fighters went in, and only one came out.

  Now I was feeling guilty that Ember would find out about it this way when it should have been me who told her. Not after I forced her to tell me she loved me. I saw it in her eyes—at least I hoped it was, and I needed to hear her tell me. To let me know that once and for all I owned her. I wanted to, I almost did, but if she asked me not to do it, I would have disappointed her when I refused. This was the only way. The winner not only got an insane amount of cash, they also got a marker. The Estacados granted you one wish per se, and I needed for that favor to come to me.

  Now that we were all weighed and read the rules, they brought us to the gym so we could warm up. My ribs were nowhere near healed, but they didn’t hurt as much as they had. I didn’t chitchat with any of the other players. I wrapped my hands and warmed up while I thought of all the things I was going to do to Ember tonight in celebration. Maybe I’d finally take her ass.

  At the thought, I punched a little harder. I needed inside her like a blind man wished to see the sun for the first time. Near desperate. The moment my opponent walked into the room, I knew it. Everyone was quiet for a second until murmurs started to go around. I didn’t turn around to look. I’d already done my homework; making him think I didn’t give two fucks about him was just part of the mental game.