Fighting Fate

by Scarlett Finn

  ‘I’ll drag you through to that bedroom and spend the afternoon whipping your ass until you can’t sit for a week.’

  ‘And if I told you to stop?’ she said, but she already knew the answer and that was what made this anger flickering back and forth between them all the more upsetting. Their love was still there but he couldn’t handle that, he couldn’t make the choice to turn his back on people he thought he owed a debt to. ‘If I told you to stop, you would. If I told you that I was in pain, you would cure me. You would never see me hurt, Dax.’ She softened slightly. ‘And that’s why you’re going to let me walk out of this place now. Because if you don’t then you have to take me to them and you know they’ll never let me walk out again. Let me leave now, or spend the rest of your life knowing that I’ll never forgive you.

  ‘You love me, and you hate yourself for that because you know it means disappointing the only person you’ve ever really respected or admired. I wanted to fight for this. I married you because I wanted to make it work. But you have to be stronger. I thought you were stronger. I can’t make the decision to commit for you, only you can do that and if your commitment lies with them then this will never work.’

  ‘You’re staying.’

  ‘Then you have to turn me over to them, are you prepared for what that means?’

  It was easier for him to believe the lie because it gave him an out and getting rid of her would make all the problems in his family go away, at least as far as she was concerned.

  Their locked gazes didn’t flinch and cool frost cracked around his irises. She wanted to see them soften and hear him whisper to her that he was going to take care of it, for real this time, and how nothing would make him give her up and he’d never let them hurt her. But he wasn’t going to say that, it was in his eyes. The Starks gave him his identity, they made him who he was and everything in his life was tied to them.

  Sure, he had his own place, and his own life. He even said that he’d worked for other people. But the Starks had been there for him, loved and sheltered him, when no one else had and as far as she knew they’d never made him apologise for being who he was. Asking him to turn his back on them, for her, was too much.

  ‘You let me go now and make up some excuse about me sneaking out while you were asleep, I promise you that I won’t make a fuss. It’s that or you take me to them and watch Trystan, and maybe some of his men, torture me. I don’t care how much you say you resent me or how much you imply that I lied to you. If you have to watch me swallow his spunk…’ His eyes closed slowly and so she didn’t finish the thought.

  His hands slid down the wood in a grating slide and he took a single step back giving her enough space to fumble behind her back for the door handle. It clicked out of place and she began to sidle around it when he opened his eyes and spoke.

  ‘Keep your head down, Minx.’

  ‘I plan to,’ she said and before he had the chance to change his mind, she slipped out of his apartment.

  As soon as she was out of there she wanted to go back in and pretend like nothing had happened. But it had and she knew that she had done the right thing. Yes, she loved Dax and they were still married. But until he realised what it was to be without her and to look at the Starks in a new light, he would never be ready for them to be together.

  Certain that Dax would change his tune given some time she went down the stairs and out of the front door onto the sidewalk. She knew where to find him and she wouldn’t forget this place in a hurry. For now she would leave the state, and maintain a low profile, because she didn’t want to be drawn back into the Starks’ world unexpectedly.

  Not chancing a glance upward, she slunk into the first alleyway she came to in order to get out of sight of the apartment, and its balcony, as quickly as possible. When she was safe and out of view, Ivy stopped and glanced down at the twenty dollar bill still in her hand. Sliding it into her other palm she looked at what had been nestled under it, the key to Dax’s storage unit, and possibly the key to understanding how to unlock the man.

  For now she needed money, transportation, and a change of clothes. The twenty would get her most of the way to the storage unit, if she remembered where it was correctly, and she could walk the rest of the way. In that garage was water and transport, and maybe even a change of clothes.

  She didn’t feel guilty about taking the key, or taking advantage of Dax’s belongings in it, not only because he was her husband but because she knew he wanted her to be alright. The worst thing that could happen was that he came looking for the key, to challenge her for it back. This gave Dax the excuse he needed to come and find her, and while she held this, she still carried a piece of him with her.

  Midnight came and went and Dax still wasn’t at the mansion. He was on his way, sort of, it wasn’t like he was hiding out. Waiting for the meeting had made him edgy, so he had decided to go the bar and hang out with the crew. Only a few minutes after his arrival Dax acknowledged that being social wasn’t what brought him here, booze did.

  When it came time to leave for the meeting, Dax realised that his plan had one major flaw, now he was too wasted to drive. Good sense told him that he shouldn’t dare go near his bike, but he still made himself rise from the couch in the corner of the back room where he’d been observing his men enjoy their evening, with every intention of going to Mauri’s.

  Staggering towards the door, he tried to blink away his double vision and hoped it wasn’t evident to the others just how intoxicated he was. It had been years since he’d got himself drunk enough to know it affected his performance, and now he regretted making the decision to pick up the Scotch bottle. But that wasn’t the only thing he regretted tonight.

  Reminding himself of what had gone on at his apartment made the angry urge to drink resurface. Pausing to gather himself, Dax rested a hand on the doorframe and let it slide upward as his head dropped. He’d been an idiot, a complete and utter idiot. Mauri had told him that Ivy played him and he’d just jumped on it, unable to believe that such a dynamic woman could want anything to do with him beyond sex.

  Dax had only ever been worth what someone was willing to pay for him, and that was the sad truth; he was the whore he accused her of being, he was the one prostituting himself. He sold his skills to the highest bidder and panted like an eager dog for Mauri’s praise and acceptance along the way. And maybe that was the true reason for his drinking.

  He was a coward, it was nothing more complicated than that; he hadn’t wanted to stand up to Mauri. Ivy gave him ample opportunity to make this right, she was patient, and now he had lost her.

  Mauri didn’t want things to change. Well, he wanted Trystan to change, and Ivy was the golden ticket, the miracle cure who was supposed to make that happen. Except she wasn’t Trystan’s miracle cure, she was his.

  Bringing his fingers into a curl against his palm, he drew back his fist, ready to take out his frustration on the wall. But someone stepped in and got hold of his arm. Dax’s impulse was to fight the guy, but he didn’t have his wits about him so when the guy pulled him out of the room and into the corridor Dax just fumbled along, losing the will to fight. If someone wanted to kick the shit out of him, he should probably let them, it would be karmic retribution.

  Instead of a punch, he was just thrown back against the outer wall, and again he found himself blinking, except this time it was the pulse of pain in his skull that he was trying to get rid of.

  ‘You’re not getting on the bike.’

  ‘No choice,’ Dax said, lying his head on the concrete behind it to hold it up and bring this interfering person into focus. It was Serg.

  ‘You got a choice,’ Serg said. ‘The cops pull you over when you’re in this state and they’ll keep you.’

  ‘Who gives a fuck?’

  ‘You got product on you?’

  Dax could barely remember getting to the bar let alone if he’d been working before or after getting here. ‘Maybe.’ He wasn’t going to expend the energy checking his pocket
s.

  ‘Then a lot of people care. You gonna tell them where you got it?’

  Once again Mauri was being prioritised over everything else. ‘Get off me, man,’ Dax said, giving his colleague a full body shove. Catching his footing, he carried on toward where he thought he remembered leaving the bike.

  ‘You shouldn’t have let her go.’

  Serg’s statement made Dax stop. ‘Didn’t,’ he called back over his shoulder. ‘She bailed on me after I fucked her. Bitch snuck out while I was taking a nap.’

  Talking about Ivy in such terms made his jaw ache. She wasn’t a bitch and she didn’t sneak. If there was one thing he knew about Ivy for sure it was that she didn’t skulk. She walked into a room with her head held high and exited it in the same way. She wasn’t a chicken-shit, no-good—

  ‘Rita thinks something different.’

  ‘What the fuck does that tramp know? And when the fuck were you talking about it?’

  ‘She thinks you got yourself in over your head. Says Trystan’s girl might have got something on you.’

  ‘If a bitch won’t keep her mouth shut, fill it with something,’ Dax snarled, grabbing the chain link fence at his side for support. ‘You’re fucking Rita, right?’

  ‘Everyone’s fucking Rita,’ Serg said. ‘I’ll take you to the mansion.’ Dax heard the jangle of keys; he still hadn’t turned to look at his associate. ‘I heard that Trystan was back.’

  Dax’s tongue curled in his mouth and suddenly it wasn’t so difficult to stand up straight, his posture grew and the self-pitying effects of the alcohol began to subside. ‘He is?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Serg said, moving past Dax who stayed at his operative’s side until they got to the car. Then they both got in.

  Dax wasn’t going to take the chance of killing himself on the bike when there was still so much to say to his surrogate little brother. Maybe the alcohol had been a good idea after all, his inhibitions were lowered and so he was more likely to speak what was actually in his mind – the truth.

  Serg said that he was going to get coffee, but Dax didn’t care, he was on a mission. The house should be awake and waiting for him and Ivy to arrive, though Dax had no idea what time it was. None of that mattered to him anymore, there was only one thing that he wanted to do. Taking the steps two at a time, he flew up them and along the hallway to Trystan’s doorway. The adrenaline counteracted the alcohol as had been his experience every time.

  It wouldn’t have mattered whether or not the door was locked, Dax was going through it either way. But it was unlocked, so he stormed straight in and saw Trystan in one of the arm chairs by his window, Brad was in the one opposite. Rita was here too, on her knees in front Trystan who was slouched enough to make it clear to Dax what the woman was doing for him.

  Brad had a glass in his hand, but Dax knew he wasn’t drunk. Anyone else might find this scenario shocking, but Dax had actually been in Brad’s shoes himself; carrying on a normal conversation with Trystan while the bastard got his cock sucked by some pretty little thing.

  ‘Rita, bail,’ Dax said and the woman sat back on her haunches and wiped the moisture from her swollen mouth with the back of her hand.

  ‘I’m nearly done,’ she said.

  ‘Now!’

  His fury got her to her feet and while tucking her exposed breasts into her dress, she scurried out of the room. ‘Have you got a thing for fucking my bitches?’ Trystan asked and Dax was actually pleased to hear that the prick had anger of his own.

  Trystan sorted his slacks and shirt as he got up. Dax braced for a fight when Trystan twisted to come for him, but Brad got hold of his brother and held him only a few feet from his seat.

  ‘You two going to tear strips off each other now?’ Brad asked, thrusting Trystan back into his chair. ‘If you hit Dax he’s entitled to hit you back and you know that he could kill you.’

  ‘The bastard’s drunk,’ Trystan complained.

  Either his intoxication was obvious or someone had phoned ahead to tell the brothers that Dax had been drinking all night. ‘He’d still pummel your ass.’

  Dax wasn’t sure if Brad was protecting Trystan, or sticking up for him, it didn’t matter because he came here looking for a fight. ‘Let him hit me,’ Dax said, ‘please.’

  ‘Where’s the girl?’ Brad asked.

  This whole damn thing was a ridiculous show, it was obvious that she wasn’t here. ‘Gone.’

  ‘You let her go?’ Trystan yelled and tried to rise again, but Brad pushed him back down with one hand, keeping his attention on Dax.

  ‘That’s a shame,’ Brad said.

  ‘For who? Not for her,’ Dax said. ‘I wouldn’t have watched him put a finger on her! She’s long gone and she won’t be back here, never again.’

  ‘So what the fuck are you doing here, hmm?’ Trystan asked and this time Brad let him get to his feet. ‘Why not ride off into the sunset with my fucking woman?’

  ‘Your fucking woman?’ Dax said, striding toward Trystan. ‘You don’t deserve her. She would never have been yours, you can’t break a woman like Ivy, it’s just not possible.’

  ‘Because you couldn’t do it?’ Trystan spat. ‘You’re a piece of shit.’

  Lurching forth, Dax got hold of Trystan’s shirt in one fist and he drew back the other one. ‘No,’ came Mauri’s voice from behind him and he released Trystan enough to turn. ‘We’re gonna be civilised about this.’

  ‘Civilised?’ Dax asked, knowing how Mauri hated to get blood on the family carpet. He was happy for it to get on anyone else’s carpet if it increased his means or served his purpose, but he was a firm believer in not shitting on your own doorstep.

  ‘Let him,’ Trystan said, shoving out at Dax who whipped around to growl at the squirt. ‘Let him hit me, I’ll get the cops on his ass so fast—‘

  ‘You’re gonna call the cops to this house?’ Dax said then actually laughed. ‘Jesus you’re a fucking idiot. You call the cops on me now and you don’t think I’ll start singing the minute they get the cuffs on?’

  ‘You’d go down, they’d never believe anything you said.’

  ‘They’d believe it alright, I’ve got more goodwill with the crew than any of rest of you. If I start singing, I guarantee it won’t be long before the choir joins in.’

  ‘Dax,’ Mauri said with a scolding tone. ‘You won’t ruin the family for the sake of a woman, will you?’

  ‘I know enough about all the guys to know just where to squeeze, most would snitch just ‘cause I asked them or because one of you treated them like shit. Those who wouldn’t do it for those reasons would be easily blackmailed or bribed.’

  ‘You’re a bastard,’ Brad said.

  Dax didn’t like the positioning of everyone in the room, he was sort of in the centre of their triangle, so he began to move toward the wall. ‘No, I’m just done. I’m done being the lackey who fixes everyone else’s mess and never makes any of my own.’

  ‘I’m disappointed,’ Mauri said.

  ‘I don’t give a fuck!’ Pinning Mauri under a glare was liberating for Dax. He’d burst the dam; now he could do and say everything that he needed to. ‘I wondered how Bruno was so smart at that brainwashing shit, and now I know why, ‘cause you’ve all been doing it, all of you, since the minute I got here. I don’t know why I didn’t see it.’

  ‘Why the fuck would my father care about brainwashing you? You’re a piece of shit nobody! Bruno warned you,’ Trystan said, appealing to his father. ‘He’s been saying forever that we shouldn’t trust Dax, and he was fucking right! He knew this day would come! You listen to Bruno about everything, everything but this, why the fuck would you—‘

  ‘He’s his father,’ Mauri said and the room paused. Mauri took a step toward Dax, but Dax matched it in retreat. ‘It’s true, Dax. Bruno is your father. He and your mother were together for years. The man you thought of as your father was actually just the man your mother was in a relationship with, they didn’t meet until you were two, but you were too you
ng to… It doesn’t matter now. Bruno is your father.’

  ‘No,’ Dax said, his back hit the wall though he hadn’t been aware that he was still moving until he reached it. Glancing at Brad and Trystan offered no further answers, even Trystan had shut up and appeared just as shocked as Dax felt. ‘No, my father—‘

  ‘Your mother abandoned you with her boyfriend, we didn’t know that had happened until years later, by then he’d already palmed you off on the fighting circuit. It took us a long while to track you down.’

  ‘No,’ Dax said. ‘Bruno fucking hates me, he’s always fucking hated me.’

  ‘He wasn’t keen on my plan to track you down and bring you into the fold. He resented your mother for leaving him, he still does. He didn’t want anything to do with you then and I was always convinced that would change… unfortunately I was wrong.’

  Bruno still hated him, and it was because Bruno hated his mother. But no, that didn’t make any sense to him, yet at the same time, it made perfect sense. Why else would someone like Mauri be in a shitty back-alley club watching people beat each other. Dax hadn’t been fighting that night, he’d gone there looking for a fight, but he travelled in those circles and if Mauri had wanted to find him then going to fights would’ve been the way to do it. But it was all so long ago, and he had been so young that his memory was blurry.

  ‘Why are you telling me this now?’ Dax asked, realising that while it was a shock it didn’t really change things.

  ‘If you want the girl, you can have her,’ Mauri said with an impersonal air. ‘But you have to make things right first, she has to make things right.’

  ‘No fucking way,’ Trystan said. ‘She’s my fucking—‘

  ‘We’ll find you another girl,’ Mauri snapped, it was unlike him to publicly lose his temper. ‘There are plenty of them out there who have disrespected you.’

  ‘It won’t work,’ Brad said to his father. ‘You want Dax to have the girl then let him, but you know that Trystan will never let it be that easy. The animosity will build to resentment and—‘