White Lies

by Autumn Jones Lake

  I hate any other man even looking at Heidi. Guys like this will only see one thing—sex. Ample breasts, wide hips, long dark hair that stops right above her curvy little ass. They don’t give a fuck about how smart, protective, or loyal she is. Or that she’s mine.

  I’ve never brought anyone but a club brother or Jake with me to a fight. Few people here even know I had a girl until I started trying to recruit Remy and Griff for the support club.

  This was a mistake. I promised Remy I’d be here as security, but I’m only concerned about Heidi’s location and safety. One of many reasons I didn’t want her to come with me.

  At least now she knows what it’s all about—noise, sweaty bodies stuffed into a crowded old building, loud betting, screaming girls, and flying fists. She can see I’m not here to bang ring-bunnies or pick a fight for no reason. The crowd is full of kids with more money than criminal intent.

  Even though I’ll keep my promise to her and not take any future fights, if we help Remy and Griff form a support club, I’ll have to come out here with some frequency.

  “Miss this, bro?” Jake’s hand lands on my shoulder, pulling me to the right.

  “Miss what?”

  “Your choice of prime pussy?” He gestures to the bunnies circling the ring, and I snort.

  “No, I’m good.” I jerk my chin to a spot across the room, and Jake follows my line of sight. “What’s Remy doing out here tonight?”

  “Don’t know but he seemed antsy earlier.”

  Maybe Remy knows my mind’s elsewhere tonight. He keeps pacing the floor, surveying the crowd. Usually, he stays behind the scenes and lets Griff deal with the spectators.

  “Girls are certainly worked up about him being out here,” Jake says.

  “Jealous?” I grunt.

  I swear to fuck with Remy’s almost black hair, ice-blue eyes, and severe expression tonight, he gives Dracula a run for his money in the scary-fuckers-you-don’t-want-to-meet-in-a-dark-alley department. But Jake’s right. It does fuck-all to keep girls from circling him like a bunch of does in heat.

  “Nah, they all seem a little on the young side tonight,” Jake says.

  I raise an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you had a cutoff.”

  He runs his knuckles over his chest. “I’m maturing.”

  “Got that right.”

  Like there’s a spotlight on her, my eyes go right back to Heidi. Her long, dark hair shines under the Castle’s institutional lighting.

  “I can’t decide if those love-sick puppy eyes of yours are charming or pathetic.” Jake must be nervous about the fight. His mouth keeps firing off more stupid shit than usual.

  “Good thing I don’t give a fuck what you think.”

  “Don’t be grumpy.”

  Heidi smiles at me from across the room. The smile that’s owned my fucking heart for as long as I can remember.

  Jake’s “maturity” must be contagious. I’d rather be home curled up on the couch watching a movie with Heidi than here.

  Several guys walk by Heidi, checking her out as she stands by the side of the ring talking to Aubrey.

  “Easy, bro.” Jake clamps his hand on my shoulder.

  This is why I’ve never wanted her here. I’m liable to kill a motherfucker just for looking at my girl. And hell help any bastard stupid enough to touch her. I’ll cut off his hand and wear it around my neck as a fucking trophy.

  As if she senses I’m about to snap and go on a rampage that would make King Kong shiver, she leans down and says something to Aubrey before working her way through the crowd to my side.

  Every move my girl makes is carefree, full of life, and sexy as fuck.

  “What are you thinking about?” she asks, once she’s standing in front of me.

  “You.”

  “Me? I’m right here.”

  “I’m always thinking of you.” My hand slips around her waist, and I pull her closer.

  Compared to me, she’s tiny, but damn is she fierce. Still can’t get over the way she snuck up on the shooter and whacked him with her hammer.

  She throws her arms around my neck, and I lean down to whisper in her ear, “You’re the prettiest girl here.”

  She flicks her gaze toward one of the ring bunnies working the crowd, but doesn’t question my statement.

  I kiss her neck and then her earlobe. “I’m thinking that if those two jackasses in the corner don’t stop looking at your ass, I’m going to feed them their eyeballs.”

  Instead of turning her head in the direction I’m looking, she jiggles with laughter. “That might be the grossest and sweetest thing you’ve ever said.”

  With her in my arms, my violent instincts twist and transform into the desire to have my girl under me. I flick my gaze toward the locker room. I’ve only ever used it to get ready for a fight, but plenty of guys sneak into one of the back rooms with their girls to unleash some frustration after a fight.

  “Hey, don’t get him all worked up until after I go.” Jake bumps his elbow against me. “Got my back?”

  Busted. I shift, uncomfortable now that my dick’s hard enough to pound nails. “Sully’s here. Dex is prowling around somewhere. We’ve got you covered.”

  Jake searches the crowd, his gaze finally landing on Dex. “Anything happens and Murphy’s not there.” He glances down at Heidi. “Sully will grab Aubrey, stick with them.”

  “It’s not my first rodeo, Jake.” Heidi grins at him, full of herself since the guys started calling her Little Hammer. “You can’t possibly piss off as many people as Uncle Wrath says you do with your mouth.”

  Jake throws his head back and roars with laughter. “Don’t be so sure about that.”

  Lights flash through the crowd. The volume increases on the music pumping through the speakers, giving me a headache. I lean closer to Jake, so he can hear me over the noise. “Remy and Griff have tricked this place out since the last time I was here.”

  “Makes me feel old. Fucking shitty music they play doesn’t even make sense.” Jake has a point. The place is starting to look like an imitation of the set of every worthless on-demand-movie about underground fighting ever made. Maybe that’s why it seems busier than ever.

  I run my hand over my beard a few times and look Jake up and down. “You are getting a little old for this.”

  Heidi lightly punches my arm. “Hypocrite,” she teases.

  “I’m retired now,” I remind her.

  The smile fades from her lips. “Good.”

  “And you couldn’t pay me to listen to this shit in my off time,” I add, which puts that smile back on her face.

  “Don’t blame my age bracket.” She scrunches her nose. “I don’t listen to this crap either.”

  “Aw, you’re like a boring, old married couple already,” Jake says. “Speaking of, did my invitation include a plus one?”

  “Invite whoever you want to come with you, Jake,” Heidi says.

  I scratch the side of my head. “Who gave you an invite to our wedding?”

  Jake grins. “Heidi did.”

  “Snake charmer, you’re up!” Remy shouts.

  Jake salutes him and sheds his shirt, throwing it over my shoulder.

  “Seriously, bro?”

  “Get ‘em, Jake!” Heidi slaps his back a few times.

  She jumps up and down, cheering while he struts into the ring. “Wooo!”

  “If I knew you were going to get this excited, I would’ve put my name on the roster tonight.”

  The smile slides from her face, and she curls her finger motioning me closer. “I don’t want to have Jake’s babies.”

  “That your way of saying you don’t want to see me get hurt?”

  “Do you really need me to answer that?”

  She turns to watch the fight, and I wrap my arms around her, pulling her body flush with mine.

  Jake’s a skilled fighter. Smarter than he leads people to believe. Quicker too.

  Every shot Jake takes makes Heidi wince or close her eyes. Every p
unch he lands has her cheering. He blocks more punches and takes his opponent to the mat.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I catch two guys outside of the ring shoving each other.

  I release Heidi so fast she stumbles forward. “Stay with Aubrey.” I point to the other side of the ring.

  “Be careful.” She runs off as I asked.

  I watch the guys as I make my way over. Remy’s always had a zero-tolerance policy about fighting outside the ring. This whole operation would turn into a mess if everyone decided to brawl wherever they wanted.

  One kid shoves the other. I whistle for Griff as punches start flying. He grabs one by the neck, I grab the other by the shirt, and we haul them outside.

  My capture must be high or feeling lucky tonight. He rams an elbow into my side. I barely feel the jab, but it pisses me the fuck off.

  “Out!” Griff yells at both of them.

  The guy comes at me again, and I give him a hard shove in the chest. He flies through the air a few feet before landing on his ass. “Don’t test me, motherfucker.”

  It’s Griff’s show, so I let him deliver the lecture about how they’re now banned from the Castle. I won’t leave him alone outside, but I’m not thrilled about Heidi being inside.

  I move to the open door where I can catch a glimpse of her while still watching Griff’s back.

  Since I’m already riled up, seeing some punk get way too close to her sends fire shooting through my blood. The rigid line of her body signals her discomfort. There’s something familiar about him, but I can’t place his face from this far away.

  My feet are already moving back inside the building when he leans down and gets in her face.

  Guess someone wants to die tonight.

  Heidi

  This is a side of Jake I hadn’t expected. In the self-defense classes I’ve taken from him, he’s all stern but gentle guidance. Inside the ring, he’s a vicious machine.

  What were Blake’s fights like?

  My gaze strays from the ring to the door. Blake’s not out there alone. Griff went with him. He’ll be okay.

  “Heidi, I forgot my sign. Are you all right out here?” Aubrey asks. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Sure,” I answer, without taking my eyes off the door.

  Someone bumps my shoulder. No big deal. The place is crowded. I’ve been getting jostled all night.

  “What are you doing here?” a gruff voice demands.

  Slowly, I turn and find Bryce, red-faced and sweaty, glaring at me. “None of your business.” I scan him from head to toe. “Why are you here?”

  He steps closer, his angry eyes practically shooting off sparks. “You’re the reason I failed.”

  “No, you’re the reason you failed.” I take a step back but square my shoulders and lift my chin. “I did my work.”

  He glances around us, but everyone’s attention is on the fight in the ring.

  “My parents won’t pay my rent or car payments now. And I can’t come up with the money I owe—”

  “And I care about this, why?”

  He lifts his hand in the air, curling his fingers.

  “I wouldn’t if I were you.” I stare him down. “My man’s working security here. He’s friends with the owners. You lay a finger on me, and you’re in for the ass-kicking of your life.”

  That seems to stop him. Maybe he’s not the moron he pretends to be.

  “Do you understand what you did to me?” I swear he sounds more like a whiny kid who had his toys taken away than a man in college. “I have to move home. I have to take another semester—”

  I hold up my hand, cutting him off. “I’m not interested in the problems of half-grown boys. Grow up and do the work, Bryce. You’ll graduate next year. It’s not a big deal.”

  Lord knows it took me long enough to finally graduate. I’ll be damned if this lazy jerk is going to make me feel bad about his predicament.

  He leans down, and I instinctively jerk my body away. “I’ll send those photos out. The hospital will take back that job offer.”

  I try not to show any emotion. How did he even hear about my job? “Go ahead. I really don’t give a fuck.”

  His lips curve into a sinister smile. “Does your husband know about the photos?”

  I freeze.

  His eyes widen, sparkling with evil glee. “He doesn’t, does he?”

  I fake a casual pose. “I already told you, I want to give him one of the photos as a surprise wedding present.”

  The muscle in his jaw twitches.

  “You should thank me for not telling my husband.” I glance at the door. “He’ll chew you up and shit you on the floor without blinking.” Maybe that was a vulgar, unladylike thing to say, but I’ve never claimed to be ladylike and I don’t care about Bryce’s opinion.

  “I hate you, bitch.”

  “Hate me all you want. But if you’re smart, you should fear me, too.”

  “Back the fuck away.” Murphy’s deep, rumbling warning tone has me breathing a sigh of relief.

  Bryce blinks a few times and backs up a step or ten at the sight of the glowering biker now invading his space.

  I try not to take too much joy in Bryce’s obvious fear. “Bryce was just congratulating me on graduating.”

  Bryce continues to glare at me while Murphy wraps an arm around my shoulders.

  “Do I know you?” Murphy asks.

  Bryce shakes his head.

  “This doesn’t seem like your scene.” Any smart person would take Murphy’s statement as a cue to get the fuck out.

  “I have business here.” Bryce puffs out his chest, but his squeaky voice betrays him.

  “Then take your business away from my wife.” Murphy glares at him until Bryce slinks off into the crowd.

  “Who was that?” Murphy demands.

  “A guy from school.”

  He tugs me into the back room where a few fighters, waiting to go in the cage, are busy talking.

  “A guy from school?” Murphy repeats slowly. “Then why did you look so scared when he was talking to you?”

  “Me? Scared?” The phony laugh that comes out of my mouth makes me cringe.

  “I know you, Heidi. Even from outside, I could see how uncomfortable he made you. Why? What’d he say to you?”

  Nothing but some threats and blackmail.

  I blow out a breath. This so isn’t the time or place to have this conversation. “He’s the one Dawn and I were working with on our group project.”

  “Yeah, and?”

  “It’s nothing.” I glance around. “We can talk about this at home. You’re supposed to be working.”

  “Talk about what at home?” He arches a brow. “He ask you out? Say shit to you like that other kid?”

  If only that’s what Bryce did.

  When I don’t answer, Murphy tugs me deeper into the room, closing a door behind us and flipping on the light switch.

  “Did he touch you?”

  “Blake,” I plead. “You have enough going on right now.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “You’re up for VP. Trying to put together the support club. Building our house. Trying to get out of wearing a tux for our wedding.”

  He doesn’t laugh at my attempted joke. Just stands there waiting for an answer.

  “No, he never touched me.” I figure I better answer that question before Blake goes completely nuclear. “I didn’t want to bug you with silly stuff.”

  “I’ll decide what’s silly.” His face hardens. “Tell me. Now.”

  I shake my head. “I handled it.”

  “Handled what?”

  I blow out a breath and consider how to tell him in a way that won’t sign Bryce’s death warrant. I may hate the kid, but I don’t want Blake to go to prison for Murder. And he’s already pissed-off enough to kill.

  “Dawn had to go to our professor and tell her Bryce wasn’t doing his share of the project.”

  “What does that have to do with you?”

 
; “He thought I could convince Dawn to take it back? I don’t know.”

  “And?”

  “He wanted me to do his part of the project and tell the professor he did it.”

  “Heidi, I’m getting tired of pulling this out of you bit by bit,” Blake places his hands on his hips and stares me down. “Spit it all out. Now.”

  “When I said no, he tried paying me to do his work, and I still said no.”

  “And?”

  I’m tempted to say ‘that’s it,’ but I’ve already lied and hid this from him long enough. Besides, I know my man. He’s stubborn. Relentless. Now that he’s on this path, he won’t back off until he’s uncovered every last slight against me.

  “He tried blackmailing me. I told him to get stuffed. Now he’s pissed because he didn’t graduate on time.” I shrug. “See, I told you. Stupid.”

  His eyes narrow. “Blackmail you? With what?”

  Fuck.

  I bite my lip and can’t meet his eyes. “Some stupid photos he took.”

  “Of what?”

  “You and me.”

  He reels back. “You and me? When? Where?”

  This is so much worse than I thought. “One must’ve been a night I came to visit you at Furious,” I answer slowly. “The others were the night we went to Zips.”

  He stands there and absorbs the information. “This fucker’s been stalking you, and you didn’t think I should know?”

  “I didn’t want to—”

  “Don’t you fucking dare spew any bullshit at me, Heidi.” He jabs his finger toward the door. “You flipped the fuck out about me fighting. But you lied to me about someone trying to blackmail you?”

  “I didn’t lie—”

  “Bullshit!” He explodes. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  I blink. “It’s not the same. This is dangerous. I wasn’t scared of him.”

  “No one threatens my girl.” I swear the windows rattle from the power of his voice alone.

  “It was school stuff. My school life. Not club business.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” He grabs the edges of his cut and jerks the leather. “You think this is some magical cloak? That I stop protecting you if I’m not wearing it?”