I smile at the thought of all the things I find attractive about him and at the same time, he stops turning and his eyes find mine. Then he gives me that smile of his that turns me to mush.
I mouth, more than words and he grins, giving me a nod before he takes his place in the cage to my right.
At the old speedway, we stand on what was the racetrack, the cage set up on the grass at the side. All around it, spectators push against each other, jostling for a better view as the announcer stands in the centre and holds up his hand, signalling that the fight is about to start.
“As always, gentlemen, this is a no holds barred match. Winner moves on. Loser fights for third place overall. Ready…fight!”
He quickly moves back and out of the cage as the fighters begin to circle each other. I can see their lips moving. But I can’t hear anything above the ruckus around me as the crowd continues their din. I can see Zac smiling and faking a move towards Sparks. And I can see Sparks scowling, flinching to defend, saying something back. They’re taunting each other. Trying to get the other to lose their cool and lash out emotionally – without control.
“Oh God, I don’t know if I can watch this,” Sisley says, sensing how dangerous this situation could become.
“Zac’s got this,” Lucas insists, his eyes glued to the fighting duo before us.
Twisting from the waist, Zac fakes a punch, narrowly missing the tightly coiled Sparks who responds with an actual hit that lands on Zac’s shoulder. It twists his body slightly and before he has the chance to recover, Sparks quickly follows with a kick to Zac’s thigh that causes him to take a step back. Then, showing why he’s currently number two, Sparks dives at Zac’s waist and tackles him down to the ground.
“Holy fuck!” Lucas yells, riveted, his eyes wide as we observe Sparks quickly position himself across Zac’s middle and begin to pummel him with a rapid succession of punches that Zac attempts to block.
I cover my mouth, shocked that Zac went down so quickly as I watch in horror as Zac’s face goes from tan to red. He’s losing.
“Get up!” I scream.
Thirty-Three
Zac
I’m not losing.
I’m letting him think he can win.
I’m letting him think that he has a chance.
He doesn’t.
I am not losing to a man whose morals are so messed up that he’s fighting me for the chance to be with my sister.
I have no respect for this man.
As he lands a push on the side of my jaw, it hurts, but I start laughing. I can taste blood. I can feel it, wet on my skin, causing his blows to slide off without much force. I can see it on his hand wraps as he pulls his arm back and growls at me.
“What’s so damn funny?”
I look up at him and grin. “You are.”
He roars and punches down, playing right into my hands. I deflect his punch to the side then take the opportunity to push him off my body and onto the ground next to me.
Normally, I’d end it right here. I have the perfect shot of the back of his head. I could king hit him, knock him out, and we’d be done. But I want him to understand that he can’t mess with my family and get away with it. Not while I’m around to stop him.
I spring to my feet, and he does the same, and we’re back to circling each other again.
“You think I’d actually let you beat me?” I roar, my hands up, ready to deflect anything he throws at me.
He tries to land a kick and I dodge, thumping my fist into his thigh, three times rapidly.
He groans in pain, struggling to stay standing on a corked thigh as he limps backward, his face sour as he shakes his head at me.
“It doesn’t matter if you beat me. We’ve both lost her, Zac.”
He tracks my movement with his eyes, the hits to the thigh causing him to limp and sway.
“What’s the supposed to mean? A deal is a fucking deal.”
“And I’m a man of my word. But Meg didn’t agree to this. She won’t be forced.”
“Where is she?” I demand. “Why isn’t she here watching you?”
He shakes his head. “Why would I bring the woman I love to a place as dangerous as this?” His eyes move to where Evie is standing and an anger at his insinuation rises in my belly.
“No, no. Don’t you fucking dare try to turn this around on me. I’m not the one sleeping with a seventeen year old girl.”
“Neither am I. I’m not the monster you think I am, Zac.”
“Yes. You are. You’re a predator, and I won’t let you keep my sister away from her family any longer. She needs to come home.”
“That’s what you’re not understanding, Zac. She’s angry. She’s angry at you and she’s angry at me and she won’t stay with either of us.”
I stop circling him, as I feel a horror begin to rise up inside me.
“Where is she?”
He shakes his head and the crowd roars at us to do something.
“I told her they’ll take her too. But she wouldn’t listen.”
Suddenly, the sound leaves my ears, and all I can hear is my heart, as my stomach twists in horror. “What has she done?”
“It’s already too late, Zac.”
I pull my fist back and smash it in the side of his face. He goes down, but I don’t wait to be declared the winner. Instead, I take off. I need to get home. Something terrible has happened. I just know it.
Thirty-Four
Evie
“Hurry!” I yell over my shoulder, pushing through the thick crowd, chasing after Zac. I don’t know what’s happened. But it can’t be good. Not if he took off out of the cage like that.
“Zac!” I call out, knowing that my voice is just going to get lost to him in all of the noise as I dodge those who continue to get in my way.
“Whoa, sweetheart. Where’s the fire?” A man with a long scraggly beard asks. He’s wearing sunglasses at night and has a bandana tied around his head, smelling of stale cigarettes and body odour.
“Get out of my way,” I demand, moving to the left and then to the right when he blocks me.
“Not until you tell me what a pretty girl like you is running from.”
“I don’t have time for this. Move!” I yell, grabbing his shoulder and bringing my knee up to hit him in the groin.
He doubles over in pain, but all I’ve managed to do is piss of his friends.
“What’d you do that for, bitch,” an equally filthy looking guy demands, reaching out with a view to grab me by the hair.
I dodge, wrapping my arm around his then twisting it back, holding my other arm against his elbow as I yell, “I will break your fucking arm!”
A group of about ten of them surround me, and I use this guy as a sort of body shield as I back away from them. I scan the crowd for Lucas and Sisley, but I must have gotten separated from them in my haste to get to Zac.
“Get the fuck away from her!” I hear from behind me.
One of them holds up their hands. “Hammer. We don’t mean any disrespect. She hurt one of our guys.”
Zac steps forward and grabs the guy’s shirt, pulling him close so he’s sneering into his face. “She’s with me, arsehole. Back the fuck up.”
Then he releases his shirt dramatically, pushing the guy in the chest before turning back to me and grabbing my arm. For good measure, I put my foot in the guy’s side as I release him then turn to Zac and sprint with him towards where we parked the van.
“What’s going on?” I ask as we run, hand in hand.
“It’s Meg. She’s done something stupid. I have to get home.”
“Why? What did she do?”
We make it to the van, where Jason, Sisley and Lucas are already waiting with curious looks on their faces.
Zac looks at me, his eyes grave as he shakes his head slowly. “She’s called DHS. They’re coming to take the kids.”
***
The moment we pull into Zac’s street, it’s too late. There’s a white van at the top
of the driveway and there’s two police cars with their lights flashing. The scene is horrifying and looks more like a murder has been committed instead of the love of a brother, protecting his siblings from being separated.
“No. No. No. No. No!” Zac yells, jumping out of the car while it’s still moving and sprinting down the driveway to the house.
Jason stops immediately, and I jump out too, following closely behind, my heart in my mouth as I try not to fall down the steep decent.
This can’t be happening.
Nikki is outside with the police, crying and shaking her head. “I told them no. But they had a warrant. I couldn’t stop them.” She sobs as Zac runs past her.
“It’s ok, Nikki. This isn’t your fault,” I tell her as I make it to the front door and try to enter. But a police officer catches me and stops me in my tracks. I shake off their hands, my instincts telling me to fight back but I restrain myself when I hear Zac yelling.
“I’m taking care of them! They are my brothers and my sisters. I am taking CARE OF THEM!” he shrieks, yelling at a man who appears to be a social worker while two male police officers stand either side of him and tell him to calm down.
“I will not calm down! Get out! Leave us ALONE!”
He begins to push away the arms that reach out to restrain him, and I make a move to go and be with him, knowing that if I’m there I can calm him. We can’t stop this. It’s too late. But I’m restrained the moment I step forward.
“Stay out of there, miss,” the officer says.
“But he needs me,” I argue, pulling my arm away. The officer catches me again.
“Stay out, miss. I won’t ask you again.”
“Zac!” Tash, Rob and Will, all seem to cry out in unison. They try to run to him but they’re stopped by a female social worker and Meg, whose eyes are downcast and red rimmed from crying.
“Don’t let them take us!” Will cries, his eyes streaming with tears as he makes a run for Zac again, this time breaking through and slamming against him, hanging on for dear life.
“Don’t let them. Please! I want to stay with you.”
My heart breaks as I see Zac’s face crumple as he drops to his knees and wraps his arms around Will as Rob and Tash follow suit and run at him again, all of them colliding with their big brother as he wraps them in his arms and cries with them.
“How could you?” I whisper hoarsely at Meg, my throat tight as tears roll from my eyes as well. “How could you do this to your family?”
“Because I’m not their mother. And Zac’s not their father. This is what’s…what’s best.” She struggles to get out the last of her words, tears also streaming down her face. “It doesn’t feel like it now. But this is best. I can’t keep secrets anymore.”
“But you’d already left. Why couldn’t you just leave Zac to take care of the kids?”
“Like I said, he’s not their dad. He wants to live his own life too. He’s just too stubborn to admit it. I’ve done him a favour. Actually, I did you both a favour. There’s nothing to hide anymore, and nothing to force Zac to fight.”
“But this isn’t want he wanted. Look at what you’ve done to them. You just took everyone’s happiness and crushed it.”
Her gaze moves from me to the huddle of small bodies pressed up against Zac’s. I can see the pained expression on her face as she surveys the consequence of what she thinks is best.
“It’s time to go,” the female social worker says, moving over to try and pry the kids away from Zac’s arms.
“No!” they all scream, clinging to him desperately and he refuses to let go until one of the police officers leans down and whispers something in his ear.
Reluctantly, he releases them, the kids screaming and crying, “No, Zac! Don’t let them take us away! Please.” He stays on his knees, his shoulders shaking as tears flow from his eyes and he closes them, turning his head away, unable to bear having them taken from him.
“I’m sorry, Zac,” Meg says as she steps out the door. “But this is the right thing for our family.”
Taking a steadying breath, he looks at her, a storminess clouding his features as he growls, “You. Aren’t. My. Family. Not anymore.”
Looking as though she was just slapped in the face, Meg’s breath catches and she quickly turns and walks with the officers and social workers up to the van in the street. The officer at the door releases me and I race into the house, dropping on the floor next to Zac and wrapping him in my arms. And for the longest time, we stay like that, crying for the loss of his family. For the loss of his purpose. For the loss of children that just got taken from the only home they’ve ever known. There is nothing about this moment that feels as though it’s for the best. Meg’s actions have caused nothing but heartache and I can’t see any of us coming back from this. With one phone call, she has destroyed everything Zac was living for. Everything he was fighting for.
How will he go on?
Thirty-Five
Zac
“Pending further investigation, you’ve been declared unfit to raise these children on your own. They’ll be remanded into the state’s custody temporarily until an official custody hearing will determine their care. You’re over eighteen, so you’re welcome to apply, but Mr Rivers, I’m not going to lie. I’ve never seen custody awarded to an eighteen year old boy without any legitimate employment.”
I drop the phone on the bed beside me, my entire body a swirl of angry emotion. I know I’m the best choice for those kids. I know I can take care of them. Suddenly, I regret giving up my delivery job at the florist, at least then, on paper, I would have solid employment and then maybe I would have a chance…
This is my worst nightmare. Betrayed by my own sister. All because of some teacher who couldn’t keep it professional.
For almost a year we struggled. We fought everyday to survive, hoping that our mother would come back to take care of things, barely making it through because of that belief. Then finally, finally I accepted the truth. I accepted that we were on our own and I found a way to make it work. I found a way to take care of all of us. Maybe I took too much pride in that. Maybe thinking I had it all under control is where I went wrong.
Because now, when I’m on the cusp of making it to the amateur league, on the road to going legit, everything I fought for is taken from me.
They’re gone. And I’ve failed.
“I called home and told dad we won’t be at the gym today. I had to tell them what was going on so they’d understand,” Evie says and she walks into my room and sits beside me.
I don’t respond, I just lean forward with my head in my hands and try to breathe without losing my mind.
I’ve failed.
Her hand slides up and down my back, into my hair and back down again in her attempt to soothe me. I turn to her and wrap my arms around her, clinging to her for dear life because she’s all I have left.
Out of all of this, she’s all I have left.
“They won’t give them back,” I murmur against her neck as I bury my face in her hair.
“I know,” she whispers.
“I was trying to protect her. I just wanted her home so I could take care of her.”
“I know.”
Lifting my head, I meet her eyes. They’re swollen, because she’s been crying all night with me, sharing in my grief because she is a part of me and feels what I do. “How could she do this to them? To me?”
“I don’t know.” She slides her cool hands, gently down my face, exploring its shape with her fingertips. “I don’t know,” she whispers again. Then she holds either side of me and leans forward, pressing a kiss to each of my eyes. “I don’t know.” A kiss to my forehead, “I don’t know.” to my cheeks, “I don’t know.” And finally to my lips.
At first, I don’t respond, feeling too numb and defeated to be capable of anything. Then she whispers again.
“All I know, is that I love you, more than words, more than life. I love you and I’m here for you.”
My head swims and my body takes over, my cock growing hard as I drag her to sit on my lap. My hands move beneath the oversized shirt she took from my drawer after she showered this morning, and I grip her arse, pulling her against me so she can feel what she does to me.
She lets out a light moan and her hips move against my rod, causing me to groan and ache to be inside her. Reaching between us, I free my cock from my shorts and pull her panties to the slide, slipping myself into her tight wet core, letting my breath out slowly as she takes me into her depths.
Her whimpers, as I fill her, drive me insane and my hands move under the shirt, raking over her skin until I cup her breasts, kneading and squeezing, kissing and breathing her in. She smells of soap and Evie, beautiful and soft as she rides me, her hips rocking at my base bringing us both to a slow and steady climax and as she shudders around me, she whispers about how much she loves me and how I’m her world. I wrap my arms around her, holding her close and strong in my arms.
Being with her calms me, and brings me back from the edge where I just want to set the world on fire and watch it burn. I haven’t felt that way in so long. Not since she came into my life. And proving how perfect she is for me, she kept me from going back there, staying with me when I needed her most.
The moment is destroyed when the front door crashes open, and heavy footsteps thump on the wooden floor. “Zac!”
My head snaps up as I react to the intrusion, knowing immediately who it is.
“Where the fuck is everyone?” comes a muttering as cupboards are opened and we hear the sound of glass tapping against glass.
“Who is here?” Evie whispers, her heart beating so hard I can feel it against my chest as the anger rises back to the surface at the sound of the voice that once instilled fear in the depths of my soul.
“It’s my stepfather,” I growl.
Drawn to Fight: Zac & Evie Page 19
