by London Casey
Wes turned and reached down for Phantom. He grabbed his hair and pulled back a fist.
Finally… he’s going to fucking finish this.
I hated myself for thinking like that. To actually be excited at the physical pain of someone I knew nothing about.
I actually moved up on my toes. I was ready to watch this.
What was wrong with me?
The truth was that it turned me on. To see Wes fighting. To see Wes winning.
A hand touched my shoulder.
I jumped and screamed.
I slowly turned, fearing the worst. Fearing that I would be facing Luke.
It wasn’t Luke though…
“Rose, you need to come with me,” he said.
I didn’t know his name. But in his other hand was a badge.
The police were here… they got me.
26.
(Wes)
I knew the punch would knock him into next week. He’d wake up and not know what day it was. He’d probably struggle to remember his name for a few seconds. He definitely wouldn’t remember the last time he fucked a woman. All those memories would be gone for a long time.
But what choice did I really have here?
I needed to knock him out.
I needed to end the fight, get Rose, and get the hell out of here. I had played the game long enough. To keep Danny happy. To keep Tommy happy. To keep the truth about Aton hidden. Now it was my time to protect Rose and get to the bottom of everything.
As my fist came forward, Phantom looked at me with big eyes.
Then he mouthed one thing:
Please…don’t… I know…
27.
(Rose)
I thought about running, but what good would that do? I was in a crowd of strangers and if this cop yelled for help, they’d all help. I couldn’t get to Wes. I couldn’t yell for Wes. I just stared at the detective’s stone like face. He had a steel-like jaw with a little scar on it. He looked mean and nasty.
Then it hit me…
A fucking detective was here. At an illegal underground fight.
This entire thing could blow up really fast.
“Look, Rose,” he said. “I’m not here to bust up this little thing. But I will if I have to. And I’ll tell everyone it was you who called me. Imagine that… I know how these fucking things work.”
I swallowed hard.
My back was to the fight.
The crowd was cheering, yelling for more punches.
I guess Wes hadn’t ended the fight yet.
Fuck.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“You already know what I want.”
“Then say it. I have rights.”
The detective grinned. “You have no fucking rights. Tell me about your best friend… Macie…”
And there it was. Maybe not the worst thing that could happen to me, but it was up there on the list.
I was wanted in the murder of Macie.
28.
(Wes)
Goddammit, I believed him. I let Phantom slide a little. I let him go and let him get up to his feet.
“Hit me,” he said. “Then come at me so we can tangle.”
This was either something serious or the greatest fake out of all time. And I was playing right into it.
It was the eyes though. Always the eyes.
You could tell a lot about a fighter’s eyes. Whether they were afraid or not. Whether they were drunk, high, or just stoned with adrenaline. The truth always hid in the eyes. That’s why people were often taken out. Dead eyes can’t spit the truth, can they? Dead eyes, glossy and lost.
Phantom was scared to death, but not of my fists. There was something he needed to tell me and tell me right now.
I threw a soft punch and smacked him in the jaw. He threw his head back harder than my punch warranted. His arms opened and he jumped at me, hugging me. I wiggled as he hit me, but not hard.
“Listen to me, Wes,” he whispered. “He’s here…”
Phantom broke away when the crowd boo’ed him. He shook his right fist and then swung. I had plenty of time to dodge the shot. I cracked him in the ribs and he jumped, screaming. He put a hand to my shoulder and pulled himself close to me.
“Don’t knock me out yet. I have to tell you…”
Phantom pushed away and fell to one knee.
I stood there, surprised.
The crowd cheered me again to just finish him.
Phantom looked up at me.
His eyes… his eyes… they were real.
“He’s here,” Phantom said. “He’s coming for you next, Wes.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I asked.
I realized we weren’t fighting now. The people were getting pissed. The scene was getting a little obvious.
My hands were balled tight into fists, just in case this was some kind of scheme to throw me off my game.
My answer came a second later and it wasn’t from the mouth of Phantom. It was in the form of a bullet that tore through Phantom’s skull. I heard a pfff sound and then there was a spray of blood and brain before Phantom went down.
The crowd burst into screams.
I stood for a second… I shouldn’t have stood for a second.
I needed to move.
He’s here. He’s coming for you next, Wes.
~
I kept my shoulders wide and ran like hell. I knocked people out of my way. Nobody dared to question me. I was the fighter. I was the caged lion let loose now. The people who sat there betting on me were now close enough to touch me. I could touch them. They had seen what my fists could do. And they had no idea what my true anger was capable of. Hell, I didn’t know what my true anger contained.
My mind had one focus and that was to get to Rose.
She was nowhere to be found. The place was breaking up pretty fast. Someone in a hoodie came and grabbed Phantom’s arm and started to drag him away, leaving a smear of blood on the floor.
I ran to a corridor and stopped there for a second. I had to keep my eyes open and keep my ass alive. This fight was a terrible idea. Part of me wanted to find Danny and punch him in the mouth again.
Was it Luke here? The Assassin? Was he the one who dragged away Phantom’s body? Was he the one who shot Phantom?
I gritted my teeth and made a run for it.
I stayed close to the wall, running in the opposite direction of everyone else. Typical Wes, right? As people were fleeing from the flames I was diving into the fire. Maybe that’s what kept me so invincible for so long. I wasn’t afraid to get a little burned.
This time it was far different. I was diving into the fire for a woman. For a goddamn woman. Of all things. Somewhere inside my head I tried to justify leaving Rose there. Let Luke get her. Let him…
I couldn’t imagine what he’d do to her.
I turned for another door to a hallway when a hand grabbed my shoulder. I threw an elbow and spun around to find Danny hunched over.
“Wes! Goddammit. Come with me.”
“No.”
“The cops… there’s a detective here…”
“Fuck. Is that where Rose is?”
“Forget her!” Danny yelled. “She’s going to give you up. I know it.”
“I need to save her,” I said.
Danny reached for me again and I grabbed his wrist, twisting it.
“Wes,” Danny said with wide eyes. “Don’t do anything crazy.”
“Stay the fuck away from me. I shouldn’t have come here. I’ll break your fucking wrist and then your neck.”
I tugged at Danny’s wrist and that brought him to his knees. Sweat poured from his forehead as he nodded. “Fine, Wes. Fine. You go get made. I don’t give a shit. I was trying to help you.”
Danny never helped me. He would never help me. He was up to something…
I didn’t have time to think about it. I had to get to Rose and save her.
This didn’t make sense to me. Why would the police come
and not break up the fight? They came just for Rose? Hell, how did they know Rose was even here?
I charged down the hallway knowing there would be more questions and answers.
I didn’t care - just as long as Rose wasn’t hurt.
I thought I was running as fast as I possibly could - until I heard a gunshot.
29.
(Rose)
I sat behind a desk. It wasn’t my desk, obviously. It wasn’t the detective’s desk either. It was some random old desk in the random old building. He shut the door and locked it. The room was a little dark. He took out a cigarette and started to smoke. He grabbed a chair and put it on the opposite side of the desk but didn’t sit in it. Instead, he put his leg up. The tip of his cigarette glowed with each deep breath he took.
“Rose, Rose, Rose,” he said. “What were you looking for doing that? Huh? Did you think she had money? Or was it just pure jealousy?”
“I didn’t hurt her,” I said. “Why… why are we here? Are you taking me in?”
“Do you want to go to jail? Are you confessing something?”
“No. I just don’t understand why we’re here,” I said. “If you want to question me…”
The detective stood up, the cigarette in his mouth. He opened his suit jacket and showed me his gun. “Do you want to question my actions?” he asked with the cigarette bouncing between his lips.
“No,” I said. “Sorry.”
“Good. Now let’s get back to my questions.” He took the cigarette out of his mouth. “I’m your only chance. You’re only hope, sweetheart.” He dropped the cigarette and stepped on it, twisting his foot like he was killing a bug. “Got that?”
“Yes. Detective…?”
“You don’t need my name. Tell me about Wes. Where have you two been staying?”
“Wes? What does he have to do with this?”
“So you killed Macie?”
“No!”
“Then who did?”
I opened my mouth but held back. Could I just give up Luke that fast? That easily?
“I wasn’t there,” I said, which was the truth. “I was out for a walk.”
“A walk? Interesting. So you have no idea who was in the hotel room when she was killed?”
“No.”
“And when you found her you fled?”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yes.”
“Why? Why would someone innocent do that?”
“You don’t understand,” I said. “Someone is after me. I thought they were going to kill me next.”
“And you didn’t think to ask for help?”
“You can’t help me,” I said. “If he wants…”
I lowered my head for a second. Nobody would ever understand what it was like. The only person close to understanding would be Wes. But I couldn’t drag him into this, not with the police here questioning me. He had nothing to do with Macie or her murder. He was just trying to help me.
“Look at me, Rose,” the detective said.
I lifted my head and he had his gun in his hand. He came forward and pressed the barrel to my forehead.
I let out a whimper. “What are you doing?”
“Ending this problem,” he said.
“What…”
“You did it. We all know. This is better. Just like this.”
I tried to move, kicking back in the chair. I fell back and hit the ground hard. The gun went off with a thundering boom.
The detective was then up on the desk, aiming down at me. Like a fool, I put my hands up, like that was going to somehow save my life.
A second later there was a thud against the door. The detective turned his head and shot at the door. I slipped back and got behind the tipped over chair. One of the wheels had snapped off when I fell. I grabbed it and threw it at the detective. It hit him in the stomach and did nothing.
He laughed and aimed at me again.
That’s when the window to the office exploded. I looked and saw a body rolling on the floor. A shirtless torso with long black hair. He got to his feet and wasted no time going for the detective’s legs.
Holy shit… it was Wes.
~
Wes pulled the detective’s legs and the guy crashed down with force. The gun went off again. Then again. I sat, huddled in the corner, unsure what to do. I didn’t want to get in the way and get shot or be the reason why Wes got shot.
Wes wound up and punched the detective in the face. Once, twice, the third shot so hard and sickening it made my stomach flip.
The detective was hurt but not out yet. Plus, he had the weapon. He had the only way it seemed possible to take down Wes. A bullet.
The two ended up on the floor on the other side of the desk. They scuffled and groaned. I heard grunting and then the sounds of punches being thrown again. All I could do was hug my knees and hope for the best. The story of my life.
Hugging my knees and hoping for the best.
Then the gun went off again.
What followed next was the worst silence I ever heard in my life. My ears rang from the gunshots being so close range. My heart pounded throughout my entire body like a rhythmic tremor. I was too afraid to move.
I tried to look under the desk, but I couldn’t see anything.
Then I heard something - someone - move. A scraping sound on the floor. A hand smacked the desk. Then another hand.
He’s pulling himself up. He’s got the gun. He’s going to shoot me. Fuck it, right? If Wes is dead… then I’ll go too. I have no reason to keep fighting without Wes. Without him I was truthfully nothing.
I stared at the desk, ready to face my fate, no matter what it was.
The first thing I saw was the hair.
The sweaty hair in his face. He threw his head back in the sexiest fashion I’d ever seen it done before. Sweat hit the other side of the room like rain drops to the ground. He was bleeding. He looked tired. But his eyes were on fire.
I jumped up and reached across the desk for him. “Wes… oh, Wes…”
“Sweetie,” he whispered. “He’s dead.”
“You killed him?”
“I don’t know. The gun went off. I don’t know if he did it by accident, on purpose, or if I hit the trigger. But he’s dead.”
“Holy shit. You killed a detective…”
My mind raced at what was going to happen next. This wasn’t just some illegal fighting thing. Not even the murder of Marcie, which both Wes and I had nothing to do with. This was real. This was in our laps. He had killed…
“No, sweetie, that guy wasn’t a detective,” Wes said.
“What?”
Wes bent and grabbed the badge from the guy’s jacket pocket. He held it up and to me it looked pretty damn real. But then Wes turned it sideways and snapped it in half like a pencil.
I gasped. “What the…”
“It’s plastic. It’s fake. He’s not a detective. He’s not a cop. He was here to kill you. To get you. That’s what Phantom warned me about.”
“Phantom warned…”
“Hey Johnny!” a voice boomed. “Is that cunt dead yet?”
“Fuck,” Wes growled. “Come on. We have to hurry.”
I ran to the end of the desk. All I wanted to do was jump into Wes’s arms. But I couldn’t. We had to escape first.
“One second,” Wes said.
He got the gun from the guy’s hand. He tore open the door and we were out in the hallway. Not too far away was another man. Wes quickly opened fire, shooting over and over as we ran down the hall toward a door.
“Stop! Police!” the other guy yelled.
“Don’t listen,” Wes said as we ran.
We burst through the door out into the back lot of the building. Wes held the gun in one hand and held my hand in the other. There were a few cars in the lot.
“Wes! There!” I yelled when I saw his car.
“No,” he said. “I bet you it’s wired. We’ll blow up the second I try to start it.”
Like you did to my car,
Wes?
Christ, sometimes it was hard to believe what brought me and Wes together. His attempt at murdering me set off this wild and lust filled romance between us. Put that in a romance movie, right?
Wes picked a car and opened the driver’s door. He told me to go around. By the time I got into the car, he had the steering column ripped open and was messing with wires.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Shane taught me,” Wes said. “A long time ago. He learned it from some guy. We were into action movies and shit. We always wanted to know how to do it. Shane used to steal cars for the hell of it. Don’t ask. Let me just…”
I watched a few sparks fly and then the car started.
It was like magic.
I smiled. “Holy shit. I can’t…”
A ping hit the car.
I turned and saw the guy from the hallway running after the car.
“Drive!” I yelled.
Next thing I knew, Wes was going backward. Pedal to the floor, the car throwing me forward.
“Don’t watch this,” Wes said.
I looked forward and braced myself.
I felt the impact as we hit the car. The entire car jumped and then stopped. Wes put it into drive and the car bumped as we ran the guy over a second time. Wes had gone from fighting to attempted murderer in about two minutes flat.
All because of me.
The tires screamed as he turned out of the lot and sped away. Then he reached for my hand and grabbed it tight.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I reached across and wiped a line of blood from the corner of his right eye.
“No,” I said. “Are you?”
“No,” he said.
We looked at each other for a second.
I suddenly wondered what was more serious - the feelings burning between me and Wes or the danger that waited and wanted us dead?
30.
(Wes)
Going back to the cabin probably wasn’t the smartest idea in the world, but I felt like we had no other choice. It was the only place we could go for food and shelter. And it was close enough in case something happened with Aton. My mind spun on what to do next. Call Tommy? Call Danny? Stay hidden and quiet?
