Beat (The Beat and The Pulse #1)

by Amity Cross

  Anger was dangerous and mine was growing faster than I could control. I needed to fight now more than ever.

  Ash and I were the same.

  I started to join Ash and the Twins at meal times. It seemed like the thing to do now that all my time was taken up pursuing other things.

  Monica made it her duty not to serve me until Dad came in and told her to. I was happy to get my own, but she guarded the stove like a bloody Doberman.

  Everyone knew something suss was going on and nobody had the guts to ask me about it. They knew I was wrapped up in whatever Ash was and the Twins had been extremely vocal about me staying away from whatever it was. Because obviously it had to be bad. They didn’t know how spot on they were. My entire life I never had a leash, but the moment I turned up at Beat I had three of them. The fourth was my father, but his was still pretty loose. All bark and no bite.

  I’d had a partial burst of anger that afternoon at my Dad, but I was still a walking time bomb. I’d let out a little, but had yet to go full nuclear. As Monica pranced around the kitchen like a tart, I knew she was trying to press any button she could. Was this her game plan? Was this the moment she was waiting for or had I just given her a key to the side door?

  I glared at her as she leaned over Ash, her tits brushing against his shoulder as she made a show of serving him up a plate full of bland pasta. He was sitting opposite, so I got the entire uninterrupted view. Then she went around to the Twins and served them, not nearly as touchy feely. When she came around to me, she dumped the dregs onto my plate, splashing hot water and slimy pasta everywhere.

  Once she’d put the pot into the dishwasher, she passed Ash again and rubbed her slimy hands over his shoulders, making my eyebrows knit together. I thought I’d had it bad that first night at The Underground when those fake women tried to rub up against him, but it had nothing on seeing my bitch of a sister try it on. The only thing that stopped me from getting up out of my seat and slamming her head into the fridge, was the look on Ash’s face.

  It was tight with restrained annoyance and when he caught my gaze he shook his head slightly.

  She was just doing it to get a rise out of me.

  I glanced at Dean, whose fist was curled around his fork so tight it was a wonder the thing hadn’t bent in half. Monica was such a stupid bitch. She didn’t deserve anyone, let alone the Twin who secretly pined after her. What the fuck was that about?

  I kicked Dean under the table and his gaze snapped to mine. Yeah, I wasn’t happy about it either. When class was done and the lights snapped off that night, I was going to train until I fell flat on my ass.

  Ash caught my eye and it was like he could read my thoughts. He shook his head again.

  I beat up two guys a lot bigger than myself that night. The instructor was impressed, but the men I’d downed weren’t as enthusiastic. As they all left for the night, the piss was taken out of them ruthlessly by the others. And me? I was blind to it all, well and truly walking around in a haze of red.

  Ash locked the door to Beat that night in an attempt to cage me in.

  “No Underground?” I asked, flexing my fingers before curling them into tight fists.

  “No. I’ve fought my quota for the week,” he said darkly. “We’re staying here tonight.”

  “Is that an order?” I asked, my eyebrows rising defiantly.

  “A friendly suggestion.”

  I snorted at the irony. It sounded anything but friendly. “You love being the fucking alpha, don’t you?”

  “Love?” he asked, grinding his jaw. “I am the alpha, Spitfire. I’m done trying to play nice.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “You need to take a beat, Ren.”

  “I need to get this out,” I exclaimed, gesturing wildly. “You understand? Of course you do.”

  “If you keep using your anger like this it'll destroy you.”

  “How the fuck do you know?” I asked, seething.

  “It’s what got me kicked out of pro,” he replied, his voice tight.

  I knew that one, but he’d never found it in himself to tell me all the circumstances. His answer seemed kind of hollow. Snorting, I turned back to the bag getting ready to start about a million sets. When I finished those, I’d start again. Burn it away with my fists.

  “It could get you hurt,” Ash added. “If you go into a fight with a fucked up head you start to take stupid risks. You can’t take risks there, Ren.”

  “Every day is a risk,” I said, turning back to face him, ready to argue it out to blows if that’s what it took.

  “Yeah, it fuckin’ is, but you don’t need to take unnecessary ones.”

  “I think I-” My words were cut short as Ash slammed his body into mine, his mouth silencing my protests.

  There was nothing sweet or tender about his kiss, he plunged his tongue right in and devoured my anger, replacing it with a sudden flare of lust. My pussy tightened and shuddered as he backed me against the mirrors, pinning my arms over my head. Grinding his erection to my clit, I moaned loudly, thrusting my hips forward.

  “I thought we’d discussed this,” I gasped.

  “Discussed what?” he asked, dipping his head so he could suck and bite my neck.

  “The one about using sex as a weapon.”

  “Must’ve missed that one,” he growled, letting me go and ripping my sports bra up and over my head. He palmed my breasts as my arms fell around his shoulders.

  “Are you trying to fuck me into submission?” I asked, pressing into his hands.

  “No,” he moaned, leaning his forehead against mine. “I’m trying to fuck the anger away.”

  Shoving my hands down the back of his shorts, I pushed them over his ass cheeks. “Then put it in me.”

  Ash lowered to his knees, tugging my shorts off, exposing all of my private parts. Wrapping a hand around my thigh, he shoved my leg over his shoulder. Before I could do anything, he licked the length of my folds and sucked hard on my clit. My knees almost buckled at the sudden sensation and I fisted my hands into his hair.

  “Fuck,” I exclaimed.

  “You like that?” Ash murmured before doing it again. This time, as he sucked on my clit, he thrust a thick finger inside my pussy, hitting the spot that made me squirm.

  Heat seared in all the right places as I moaned at the welcome intrusion. Fuck the anger away. I wanted to fight it out, but this seemed like a good idea now that we were doing it. Yeah…fuck the anger away.

  Ash began pumping his finger in and out, biting at my clit and I lost it. I clawed at his hair and thrust against his face, and when he pressed a second finger in with the first, I felt an orgasm rising fast.

  “I’m close,” I muttered, palming my breasts.

  “You’re coming on my cock, Spitfire,” Ash growled, pulling his fingers away.

  Standing, he kicked off his shorts, exposing his hard cock. His big paws were on my ass, lifting me up and my back pressing firmly against the mirror. He held me up at the perfect angle, but didn’t move to take what I was offering. I wrapped my legs around his waist, trying to pull him against me and force his dick into the one place I needed it the most.

  “Fuck, you’re a greedy little thing,” he moaned, rubbing his crown against my opening.

  “You wanted to fuck it away,” I gasped, my whole body trembling with need.

  “Not fuck it away,” he replied, dipping his cock just inside. “I was wrong. I want to soothe the beast, Spitfire.”

  As he thrust his cock into me and started to pound, building another powerful orgasm, I forgot what it was I was so angry about.

  Mission accomplished.

  Chapter 30

  Ren

  A week turned into two, then into three.

  I was doing some training with the Twins, with the excuse I had nothing else to do, and was perched on the edge of the ring when the outside door opened. The Twins stopped what they were doing and stared like horny teenagers. It had to be a pretty woman, then.

 
; “Who’s the blondie?” Lincoln said with a low whistle.

  “Damn,” Dean echoed, his jaw dropping open.

  I frowned at the two knuckle heads before glancing over my shoulder to find Josie hovering in the doorway. Crap. I quit the coffee shop ages ago now and I never told her, let alone seen her in all that time. I couldn’t blame her for coming to find me at Beat. I mean, I hadn’t returned any of her calls or texts. I was such a bitch.

  “That’s Josie,” I said to the Twins. “Hands off.”

  “You know her?” Lincoln asked, his eyes lighting up.

  Rolling my eyes, I crossed the mats to go and meet my friend, if I could still call her that.

  “Renee Miller,” Josie declared, putting her hands on her hips. She was done up for work in a black tailored suit jacket and skirt, cream blouse and heels that made her legs look like they went on for days. I’d be jealous, but I had Ash.

  “Hey,” I said, but she looked pissed and waved me off with a flick of her hand.

  “You quit the coffee shop and you haven't been returning any of my calls or texts. What gives?”

  “I-” I shrugged.

  “Are you still fighting someplace?”

  I grimaced, not knowing what to say. The one thing I knew best about Josie was when she wanted to find out something, she’d get it one way or another, even if she had to beat it out of her victim.

  “You’re still fighting.” She gasped when I didn’t deny it. “Ren!”

  I grasped her arm and yanked her unceremoniously into the gym. “Shhh!” I exclaimed. “They don’t know.”

  “Why not? What’s the big secret?” As soon as the words left her mouth, her complexion started to pale. “Ren. It’s not-”

  “Leave off.”

  “It’s illegal? If Ash’s got you into something-”

  “Josie,” I groaned. “He hasn’t done anything. It was all me. I wanted to go and I wanted to fight.”

  “It can’t be safe,” she argued. “Is there any safety or doctors or stuff at these things?”

  “I’m not fighting in someone's garden shed,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “Then where?”

  “It’s a proper set up,” I went on. “Referees and some rules…”

  “Some rules?”

  I shrugged.

  “Ren, what would your Mum say?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “She’d have a pink fit, but she’s not here.”

  “Ren, I can’t believe you.” Josie crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. “Take me.”

  I grimaced. “Take you?”

  “Yeah. I’m not going to talk you out of this, so I want to go.”

  “I don’t think-”

  “You take me, Ren Miller, or I’ll go out there and tell everyone what you’re up to.”

  I decided to call her bluff. “So? They could pretty much guess anyway.”

  “Fine,” she huffed and went to walk out, but I grabbed her arm.

  Dad already knew without me telling him, but the Twins…if they knew for sure, they’d chain me to a chair to stop me from going, then kneecap Ash for allowing it.

  “I’ll take you, but it’s not a nice place, Josie.”

  “Then why do you go?”

  I didn’t know how to describe the need that simmered in my veins at the thought of fighting. It wasn’t the normal thing people said they were good at and wanted to do for a living. Be a fighter. The social norm was a nurse, a doctor, a teacher or a boring shop manager. There was no pigeon hole for me and the things I wanted to do.

  “Why don’t you fight someplace with rules and regulations,” Josie went on. “You could win a proper trophy. National Championships…fuck, the Olympics. You could try and get on the Australian team.”

  “I’m not good enough,” I said.

  “How do you know?” she complained. “Has your Dad seen you fight? I guess Ash has. What does he say?”

  “It’s not that simple, Josie. That place…” I shrugged. The lack of rules should scare me, and in some ways they did, but it was the lack of them that set me free. End of story. What would going pro get me, other than attention from my Dad? Not the things I needed. Who said I would be able to make it anyway?

  “Then take me, Ren. Help me understand.” She sighed and rubbed my arm. “I’m your friend, or at least I hope I still am…”

  “Oh, fuck, Josie…” I cried. “I didn’t mean... Shit, I’m a terrible friend.”

  “I know, sweetie,” she replied, trying to keep a straight face. “You’re in your man-cave.”

  I started to laugh, the tension lifting from my shoulders.

  “You really want to come?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

  “Yeah.” She puffed out her chest, trying to look all tough, but it only made her look cuter. “You think I can’t handle it?”

  Josie and The Underground? The two didn’t seem to mix, what with her impeccable appearance and sculptured blonde hair. She’d be led astray by the first good looking fighter to cross her path. Anyway, it wasn’t any secret that Josie had the biggest balls out there and if she stuck with me and Ash, then she’d be fine.

  “I know you can handle it,” I replied. “But I’m not sure they can handle you.”

  “Hey!” Josie slapped me lightly on the arm.

  “I don’t know if Ash will like it.”

  “Oh, fuck Ash.”

  “Only if Ren’s the one on my dick.”

  I choked on my own spit as I turned and thumped Ash on the chest. He’d appeared out of thin air, pulling out his old creeper trick.

  “Too much information,” Josie said, rolling her eyes.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked, but from the look on his face, I suspected he already knew.

  “Josie wants to go to The Underground,” I said, raising my eyebrows at her.

  “The fuck she is,” he growled.

  “Told you,” I said to Josie.

  “Who are you, my Dad?” she declared, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m a fucking grown ass woman.”

  Ash eyed her with a clear expression and then glanced at me.

  “I told her,” I said. “She still wants to go.”

  Ash grunted and walked off, clearly not into arguing about our secret night time shenanigans in the middle of Beat. Couldn’t blame him.

  “He’s a riot,” Josie said. “Is he always that difficult, or is it the overabundance of testosterone?”

  “He’s just protective,” I explained.

  “Yeah, like a caveman.”

  I snorted, covering my mouth.

  “Luckily for you, he’s smoking hot.”

  Laughing, I gave her a hug. “Come back at eight after everyone’s left and we’ll figure it out.”

  Josie waved a finger at me as she backed of the gym. “No ditching me again, Ren Miller.”

  Waving, I called out, “I won’t. I promise.”

  Ash didn’t like it, but he grudgingly gave Josie and I a ride to The Underground that night. He never liked it, so nothing was new in that department.

  As I put my name on the roster for that night, I watched Josie out of the corner of my eye. She stared wide eyed at the crowd, the cage, the bookies, and most of all, she stared at any guy with muscles that walked past.

  “I can’t believe this is here,” she breathed, totally in awe. “And this is illegal?”

  “Yep.”

  “How can it be here and nobody’s reported it?”

  “I guess they pay off the right people to look the other way.” A set up like this would certainly never go on this long without someone being in someone else’s pocket.

  “Hardcore.”

  I let out a laugh and linked my arm through hers, steering her through the crowd to the bleachers. Ash was fighting one of the first bouts and I wanted to get a good spot. Hardcore was a fucking awesome word to describe this place, but it needed an adjective like epic, mega or extreme.

  I sat Josie at the front and plopped down next to her
, taking in the crowd for the night. It didn’t actually vary much from night to night, it was always crammed and hot, music blaring between fights and full of all kinds of unsavory people.

  “There’s a lot of…fake people here,” Josie said, watching a pair of cheerleader types with fake boobs and orange tan strut by.

  I groaned. “I know. Someone should tell them there’s a fine line between bronze and orange.”

  “I’ll say.” Josie snorted. “So who’s winning? I assume there’s a league with points involved.”

  “Yeah. A woman named Blaze is leader in the women’s. Ash is on top of the men's.”

  “Ash is on top?”

  “Yep.”

  “What does he win if he, you know, wins?”

  “A million dollars.”

  “A million bucks?” Josie said, her eyes wide.

  “It’s big bucks here,” I replied. “Serious bling gets thrown around. A lot of people have a lot of cash riding on this thing.”

  “I’ll fucking say. No wonder you quit the coffee shop.”

  “I win a little,” I said with a shrug. “Nothing big like that.”

  Josie turned round, her gaze taking in every square inch of The Underground. Vetting it, no doubt.

  “Who’s that mean looking bitch that keeps giving you the stink eye?” she asked. “Over on the next bank of seats.”

  Trying to be all covert, I glanced up just as Rogue glanced away.

  “That’s Rogue,” I replied.

  “Rogue?” Josie scoffed. “Seriously? Is she one of the X-men?”

  Covering my mouth to hide a laugh, I said, “She was the darling of the cage until I showed up on my first night.”

  Josie’s mouth fell open. “You beat her? On your first try?”

  “Fair and square, but that doesn’t seem to fly in these parts.”

  “She looks like she wants to skewer you.”

  I grinned. “Hasn’t managed to do it yet.”

  “Seriously, is that her real name?”

  I shook my head, knowing exactly how silly it sounded. “No.”

  “Do you have a name?”

  “Reign of Terror.”

  Josie started laughing, holding her stomach. A few people glanced at us, but when they saw me, they busied themselves elsewhere.