by Dawn Doyle
“Blaine,” I said through thick tears. “I need to know.”
“Murphy’s last fight,” he said, his eyes firmly on the growing building. “We didn’t know, we thought he’d just lost badly, agreed to a fight out of his skill set for more pay, but it was only after you and Lucian broke up that we figured out the real reason.”
“What was that?”
“Murphy had agreed to a fight, ten grand, super fucking secret like the others, and he died. Now Lucian’s in the same boat, and all because he wanted out.”
I couldn’t breathe. The air was stuck in my lungs, unable to get past the lump in my throat. My tears spilled out over my eyes and down my face, dripping off my chin like rainfall.
“Breathe Luca!” Blaine snapped, and the shock made me suck in a huge lungful. “Murphy hated what he did to Grace, but he had to make her believe he didn’t want her around—just like Lucian did to you.” Blaine drove down the dirt path, stones and gravel hitting the underside of the car as he sped along. “He’s a fucking mess, Luca. Whatever he said to you, you have to know it was only to make you hate him. He would do anything to keep you safe.”
I sobbed in the seat as Blaine told me that Lucian had agreed to a fight. One last bout and he could walk away…for me. He hadn’t meant anything, and the way he held me before he turned on me, was the last time he thought I would be in his arms.
“Murphy wanted out for Grace,” I stated, slowly nodding as I understood.
“Lucian wanted out for you too. He agreed to anything so he could be with you, and when Larry said one fight and he would be free, the pieces of what happened to Murphy fell together. Free doesn’t mean you’d make it out alive, Luca. Lucian’s been set up to die.”
Chapter 16
Luca
The car skidded to a halt, and I opened the door as fast as I could, not bothering to shut it.
I followed Blaine as he ran toward a large black door at the rear of the building. “Where are we going?”
Blaine didn’t answer me, instead, he swung the door open and grabbed my hand, dragging me along with him through dimly lit corridors that smelled of gym lockers and something else that churned my insides.
“This way.” He turned down a thin hallway.
The light got brighter as we neared the increasing sound of a deafening crowd, all yelling and screaming, and the sounds of stamping feet reverberated through the walls. There was a gate at the end, closed over, and when I saw the familiar dark hair, I ran as fast as I could, adrenaline pushing me harder and faster. Three bodies moved out of my way as I reached them.
“Lucian!” I gasped, falling to my knees against the sharp gravel, the small stones cutting into my skin. I gripped the thick, ancient iron bars of the gate and watched as the man I loved was thrown about like a child’s toy. “Oh no, Lucian!” My throat burned as I screamed out in agony.
The enormous man in the middle picked him up by his waist, threw him against the wall with a thud, and he fell to the ground, his eyes swollen and his face smeared in blood. The man bounded over to him, his huge gut quivering with every step. His bald head was cut in places, his back scratched, but those injuries were nothing to what Lucian had.
“He’s given up,” Brady said next to me. His face was blotchy and soaked, his eyes red and puffy. “Luca, he has to know you’re here—that he’s got something to fight for.”
“He can’t give up,” Charlie said.
“He’d not. No fucking way. Not like this,” Nate said from behind me.
I clawed at my hair and face while wailing his name when a massive fist rammed into Lucian’s stomach. I curled over, taking every blow with him, the excruciating sight before me making me sob louder.
“Lucian!” I yelled again, pulling at the bars.
The huge giant drew back his foot, hurling it at Lucian’s side. The force lifted him off the floor and sent him skidding over toward me, fresh cuts on his back oozing with crimson. His legs collapsed flat to the ground, his arms by his sides in defeat.
In sheer desperation, I reached through the locked gate. “Lucian, get up!”
“Luca?” His beaten face turned toward me, his beautiful silver eyes barely noticeable under the swelling. “Baby?”
“It’s me,” I cried. “Please, get up.”
“I can’t,” he replied, his voice barely audible over the wild, bloodthirsty spectators. “I’m sorry, Luca.”
“Please get up,” I begged again. “Lucian, you have to.” I yanked on the gate, trying to get it open, but it wouldn’t budge.
“They won’t open,” Brady said, kneeling down, his eyes fixed on his brother.
“They fucking will!” I screamed. “Open the fucking gates!” I rattled them as hard as I could while Lucian’s opponent laughed.
“Luca.” The sound of Lucian’s voice had me pausing.
I dropped to the ground and reached through the bars again, stretching as far as I could until I felt the ends of his hair. The strands were wet and sticky. “Lucian.”
A ghost of a smile graced his split lips, red from spitting out blood. “Luca, I love you.”
“I love you, Lucian,” I replied, his image blurring before me.
“Are you still with me?” he asked.
“I never left.” I never had because even though I wanted to hate him, I couldn’t. Lucian Moretz was mine, and I was his, and that big ugly bastard wasn’t going to change that. “Now, get up,” I demanded. “Lucian, you have to get up or he’ll take you away from me.”
“So, this is your piece of ass,” the big guy said, standing over him. His eyes roamed over me, assessing, undressing, and licking his cut lips as he did. “I’m looking forward to meeting her again after this is over.”
“You. Won’t. Touch. Her,” Lucian ground out. He slowly rolled to his side, his face twisted into a snarl.
“Fight back,” Brady urged. “Bring Titan down.”
Titan. It fitted the beast that laughed loudly at us.
Titan kissed the air in my direction and grossly snaked out his tongue. “I’ll be seeing you later, princess. Get ready to take my cock up your tight little ass.”
“No, you fucking won’t,” Lucian growled at him. He glanced at me, then at Titan.
Titan turned around and gripped Lucian’s calf before he could stand up, dragging him toward the center of the pit.
“Get off him!” I demanded. “I’ll fucking kill you!”
Titan began lifting Lucian’s leg while looking at me. Lucian’s torso was flat against the floor while his lower half was being raised. He looked over his shoulder, then twisted himself so his free leg was on top. He drew his knee close to his chest, then struck out faster than I thought possible. His heel struck Titan’s shoulder, and he roared, dropping Lucian’s leg instantly.
He slapped his hand against it, his eyes blazing as he glared at Lucian, burning into him as though shocked he would dare strike back.
“That’s it!” I praised when he rose to his feet. He staggered side-to-side with his hands up in front, unsteady on his injured bare feet.
“You don’t walk away from the pit!” Titan bellowed and surged toward him.
I felt like I was being stabbed repeatedly in my chest as I could do nothing but watch while Lucian defended himself from the killer before him. Everything I’d felt over the past month fell away, and what replaced it was all of my emotions I’d suppressed for him. They bubbled to the surface and exploded out of me, the love I felt for him radiating from inside.
Lucian dodged a punch, moving to the side while Titan darted forward, his own weight carrying him further. Lucian raised his arm high and brought his elbow down on the back of the shoulder he’d kicked from the front.
The spectators banged against the railings above us, shouting and hollering curse words and directions, and I knew who they favored.
“Lucian!”
He backed up toward me, keeping his front to Titan, his fists high and his head dipped behind them. “He won’t
get anywhere near you, baby,” he panted. I reached through the gate and touched his fiery hot skin with my cold fingertips. He paused for a split second.
“I know,” I replied. “You won’t let anybody hurt me.”
Titan ran at Lucian, and the way he did it, with his arms high and his fists ready, Lucian was going to get seriously hurt. “I won’t,” he agreed at the same time he dropped the ground in a crouch. He kicked out to the side, and a sickening crunch turned my stomach.
As Titan threw his head back and howled, his face contorted with pain, I watched as Lucian brought his fists together, and swung his arms as though hitting a baseball, striking against the side of Titan’s face with so much force, the massive man’s head snapped to the left. Lucian brought the movement back the other way, swinging back and forth, knocking Titan side-to-side. His arms flew about as Lucian struck him over and over, the last one hitting with so much force, Titan crashed to the floor, his left leg bent at an odd angle. Lucian stood above him, his knee raised before he brought it down over and over on his face, blood spattering out from Titan’s crushed nose.
“No!” I begged. I sagged against Brady in relief and he sighed when Lucian dropped his foot.
He looked at the both of us as he leaned down and gripped Titan’s wrist, raising it up, extending his arm. “You won’t fucking touch her,” he ground out. He wrapped both hands around Titan’s straight arm and twisted sharply, the nauseating snap heard around the pit. “You won’t even think about touching her. He raised his foot again, and just when I thought he was going to stamp down on Titan’s face, he brought his heel down against his other shoulder, driving it out of the socket.
Titan, unable to move, howled through the red liquid as it spilled like a river from his face and pooling onto the ground behind his bald head.
“Open the fucking gate!” I yelled when Lucian staggered toward me. I shook the metal as hard as I could, my hands burning with the friction. “Open it right fucking now!”
A loud clunk sounded and the gate opened just as an exhausted and bloody Lucian fell into our arms, his legs giving way beneath him. Nate and Brady held him either side while Charlie and Blaine led the way down the barely lit corridor and to a small room off to the side.
A long bench sat in the center of the stone-walled room, and the guys helped Lucian to lie down on it.
I rushed to his side, kneeling down on the solid surface near his beaten head.
“Hi there,” Lucian said, his eyes almost shut, the purple bruises growing darker by the second. He lifted his hand and I turned into his wrapped palm when he cupped my face.
I leaned forward and pressed my quivering lips to his, my tears dripping from my closed eyes and over our mouths. “Don’t you ever do that to me again,” I said against him.
“I’m done, Luca,” he whispered breathlessly, running his fingers into my hair. He pulled the strands to his nose and breathed in. “You’re what I want—all I ever want. Without you, I’m nothing.” I pressed my face against his neck and broke down, my shoulders jerking as I sobbed. “I’m so fucking sorry about what I said to you. I never meant any of it.”
I lifted my head and stroked my fingers down his blood-stained cheek. “I know. Blaine told me you had to do that, just like Murphy did with Grace.”
“You don’t know how much I hated myself for doing that to you. That last thing I wanted to do was hurt you, but I had no choice.”
I gently rested my forehead against his. “You did what you had to do, I know that now.”
“I love you, Luca,” he whispered, then placed a featherlight kiss against my lips.
“I love you too, Lucian.”
“What the hell is all this?” a snappy female voice yelled. I lifted my head to see Darcy standing in the doorway with her arms folded across her chest, showing almost everything in her plunging neckline. She lifted her arm and threw a thick roll of dollar bills at Brady, then glared at Lucian. “Do you realize what you’ve just done? My father is coming for you, asshole. You’ve cost him big, so take your cash and get the fuck out of here.”
I glared at her, rage building inside of me. Her father was Larry? She was just as to blame as he was for everything that had happened to my boyfriend.
She did a double take toward the side of the room, her eyes narrowing then widening. I followed where she’d looked. A plastic bottle of water lay in the corner.
I slowly pulled away from Lucian, and bent down to pick it up. Many thoughts ran through my head, but all of them pointed to one thing… she was surprised to see it there.
“Is this yours?” I asked, stepping toward her. She shook her head quickly, her salon styled hair swishing around her face. I inspected the bottle. Sealed, but almost a quarter of the water missing from inside and tiny droplets coming from the bottom. I held it up, the base facing her. “Are you sure?” I squeezed hard, spraying her with whatever the hell was inside.
“This is silk!” she screeched, gesturing to her silver dress, now spattered with dark spots.
“And this is spiked,” I countered. “Murphy didn’t fight back because he couldn’t, could he? He was given something to make sure he would lose. Just like you wanted with Lucian.”
Her eyes grew like saucers, and she stepped back, right into Nate and Charlie.
“You tried to drug my brother?” Brady roared.
“I didn’t do anything, I swear!” she cried, holding her hands up. “I was just asked to bring him some water before the fight, that’s all.”
I dropped the bottle and launched myself at her, grabbing handfuls of hair and dragging them to the ground, my fists wailing down on her over and over, ignoring her screams for me to stop.
“Luca.”
I heard Lucian’s voice, but my rage had taken over. I gripped her throat and slammed my fist into her face, my knuckles throbbing from the impact.
Large arms surrounded me from behind, dragging me off of her. “Let me go!” I demanded. “She tried to drug him—she fucking drugged him!”
“Luca, stop,” Brady said into my ear. “Somebody’s called the cops, we have to go.”
“Luca, babe.”
I stopped fighting against Brady’s grip when I heard Lucian’s plea again. I panted hard while I glared at Darcy through the knotted hair around my face. “If I see you again, you fucking bitch, I will murder you myself.” Darcy picked herself up off the floor and scurried her ragged self out of there.
Sirens blared in the distance, the sounds of multiple vehicles getting closer. “I’m good,” I said, and Brady let me go. I turned to see Lucian being helped up by Nate and Charlie. I swept my hair back and wrapped my arms around his bruised waist.
He winced with pain and drew a sharp breath between his teeth. “I think I’ve broken some ribs,” he grunted.
“Oh, my god, I’m so sorry,” I said, looking over his battered torso. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”
A flash caught my eye and I saw Blaine taking photo’s of the bottle.
“Just for the records,” he said. “You never know when I might need to use this.”
We got to the car Blaine had driven and helped Lucian get in the back.
“Here’s his bag,” Brady said, throwing it in the trunk. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Blaine dipped his chin and got into the car while I sat in that back with Lucian. He sped in the other direction of the flashing red and blue lights, and away from the place that had trapped Lucian for the past three years.
I held Lucian’s head on my lap all the way to the hospital, stroking over his clotted hair.
“They’re gonna get what’s coming to them,” I said as I looked down at his face. There was so much swelling across his cheekbones and eyes, and scrapes across his jawline. I smiled when I saw the tiniest hint of his dimples, the one thing still there underneath the unrecognizable features.
“They will,” he replied. “And I’m guessing it’ll start when whoever Larry owes money to, catches up with him
.” Lucian held me tighter and kissed my hand. “It’s over baby. No more hiding, no more secrets.”
“You promise?”
He looked through the slits in his eyelids and managed a small smile. “Have I broken a promise yet ?” I shook my head. “Then I promise this one more thing, Luca.” Lucian lifted our entwined hands and stroked down my still wet face. “I promise to make up for every shitty day you had because of me, for every tear I caused to fall from your eyes, and every moment you spent feeling like I didn’t want you. Because I fucking do, baby. From the day we met, I’ve wanted you, and I’m gonna keep wanting you for as long as my fucked up heart beats in my chest.”
I pressed my finger against his lips. “I know you will,” I replied. “And you can start by getting better, okay, dimples?”
“Dimples?” Blaine piped up from the front seat. “Oh my fucking god, I was all about to start crying my fucking eyes out, but that…” He laughed hard. “That’s fucking golden.”
“Oh my fucking god,” Lucian groaned, and I leaned over and kissed his forehead.
I caught Blaine looking at me in the rearview mirror, his glassy eyes reflecting the passing streetlights.
“Thank you,” I mouthed.
He shook his head and mouthed his reply. “Thank you.”
We pulled up in front of the hospital with the others right behind us, taking the first fighter from the pit through the doors, knowing he was going to walk right out of there to his freedom.
And I couldn’t wait for that to happen, because even though Lucian made all of those promises to me, I had my own to make. They were to make up for all of the shitty things that had happened to him because of other people, to make up for every day he hated himself for what he had to do to protect me, and to make up for the fact that he had to risk his life just so he could live it.
Lucian
“That’s everything.” I finished telling Luca every last detail I’d kept from her. From the first boost, to the last fight. She lay silently next to me in my hospital bed, just listening. “I never had a reason to fight for myself, until you came along.”
