by Nova Drake
Those same friends that she’d roughed up for information told her he’d racked up some dangerous gambling debts. And while she was sure that there was gambling within the various gangs and drug operations, the Underground was the only unaffiliated operation she knew of.
Jett had his connections to the Disciples, and that was likely enough to keep him out of any gambling options within other gangs or operations. If he was smart, he wouldn’t be mixing up his gambling debt with his income source, but she had a feeling that was exactly what he’d done. That would explain why Lars hadn’t seen him dealing for a while. It would also mean he owed the Disciples money and would be hiding from them as much as her. The Underground was her best bet.
***
Justice checked four different gambling rooms and was seriously starting to doubt her own logic before she finally struck gold. She casually slipped in the door to a fifth room and took in the quiet game at the table.
Jett spotted her before her eyes landed on him. His dark eyes widened as he jumped up from the table, knocking his chair backward and reeling back several steps. Jess grinned, closing and locking the door behind her.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” He practically screeched.
Jett had never been all that impressive, but he wasn’t looking his best. Permanent dark circles now marred his ashen face, his dark hair was stringy and his tall, lanky frame was even skinnier than he used to be.
The card players paused in their game to watch the interaction. Justice stalked forward slowly. No doubt he would try to make it a chase around the table, but she would catch him when he stopped to unlock the door. She paused on the opposite side of the table, ready to dive either way when he ran.
“Jett! You fucking ass blister, I’ve been looking for you. Don’t run. We’re just going to have a little chat.”
“Fuck you! This is a private game.”
Jess blinked innocently. “These guys can continue without you. Just step out into the hall so we can talk.”
Jett refused to move, standing firm. Jess sighed and started around the table at a steady pace. Jett immediately moved the other way putting space between them again. Jess reversed direction and came at him from the other side. He waited until she was a few steps away before he took off over the top of the table, knocking cards and bets everywhere, and finally getting a rise out of the players.
Shouts of anger rang out in the room, and one of the men caught Jett’s ankle, tripping him up as he jumped off. Jess was on him by the time he stood again. The two of them grappled for a moment before she was pulled up short by his strong grip on her hair.
Ah, now she remembered. Jett fought dirty. Jess bared her teeth at him in a snarling grin and swung her fist down hard on the arm holding her hair. The sharp tug on her scalp wasn’t pleasant, and she was sure he came away with a chunk of her hair, but he was forced to let go to avoid getting his arm broken.
There was only the briefest of pauses before they were at each other again, scrapping and taking cheap shots. His nails raked down her face in a move that had almost caught one of her eyes, if not for her fast reflexes.
Jess responded by getting a grip on a single finger, twisting it back till it snapped and then twisting some more. His screech was drowned out by the ringing in her head when his headbutt smacked into her face. Her eye socket throbbed and swelled instantly. The blow threw her head back, but she recovered quickly, swinging her knee up to connect with his groin. Jett dropped, and Jess followed, straddling his waist and forcing him to his back.
The card players had surrounded them, highly entertained by the drama. Ignoring the audience, her fist raised to take another shot while Jett was momentarily incapacitated. Firm fingers wrapped around her wrist and she was yanked off of Jett and sent sprawling to the floor.
Snarling, she jumped up, still ready to swing until she came face to face with the doorman. If it had been the big guy at the top of the stairs, she might have tried her luck, but instead, she locked eyes with the over-dressed man from the tunnel.
The instant their eyes met her instincts warned her to back down. That was a fight she would not win. She’d fought much bigger men and won, but much like strength, not all danger was obvious. Sometimes it lingered below the surface just waiting for a reason to be unleashed. Jess trusted her instincts enough to know she did not want to be the one to unleash this man’s fury.
“If you take that swing you will be out for good.” His voice was completely toneless. Flat. He had no need to raise his voice, even with the men moaning over the loss of drama.
Jess swallowed hard and quickly dropped her fist, still panting from the fight. “I didn’t realize it was you.”
Jett was just starting to crawl to his knees. She inched closer, hoping she could catch him if he tried to slip away. The door was now obscured by the crowd. The neighboring rooms must have crowded in, wanting in on the gawking if someone was about to die.
“You’re disrupting business,” the man informed her. Again his voice held no emotion but she got the distinct impression it was supposed to convey disappointment.
Again, Jess eyed the men who were no longer gambling, then Jett who was just climbing to his feet.
“Put us in the ring,” she said, thinking quickly. “I’ll make you money.” If it allowed her to beat some answers out of Jett, she could put on a show while doing it.
Jess moved closer to Jett to exaggerate the height difference, even while he was still slightly hunched over and holding his nuts. She knew how it would look to these men. A small girl with a busted and scratched face, next to a tall guy who’d been unlucky enough to get kneed in the balls. They would underestimate her. They always did, and the bets would be flying.
“You guys want to see us finish this, right? Anyone care to put some money on it?” The men’s eyes bounced back and forth, practically salivating at the easy money they were imagining. The few that had seen Jess’s fights kept their mouths shut, as she’d expected.
The doorman eyed her as though he could mentally extract what she was up to. She couldn’t help but give him a pleading look. She needed to get to Jett now. If they let him go and detained her, the slippery little shit would vanish before she got answers. She knew he would.
Finally, after several long moments that Jett had used to start inching toward the door only to be blocked by the dealer, the doorman gave a dispassionate nod.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Jess elbowed her way through the crowd and grabbed onto Jett’s shirt, dragging him along.
“Let's go get ourselves a ring.”
Chapter 31
A crowd followed as Justice and Jett found their way to the rings. The giant guy that manned the board ended up escorting Jett while Justice unloaded weapons into a locker under the watchful eye of the doorman. She cracked her neck and stretched as she addressed the man.
“Place your bet on me. I’ll win, I promise.”
The man’s expression didn’t change. She wondered absently if he was related to Ezra. “The house takes its percentage of all bets placed. Who wins makes no difference, only that the bets are placed.”
Jess cocked her head. The house profited from the fights, everyone knew that. If the man profited off the house, he was much more than a doorman. “And you personally?” She pressed.
“You have five minutes. They are running this as the only fight. We’re waiting on ring one,” he replied, ignoring her question completely.
A crowd much larger than Jess was used to was gathered around her ring. That should have been a good thing. They would know who she was once the fight was over. But a fight with Jett was probably not the best way to build her reputation. This one was not going to show her skill. Jett was scrappy, and she would have to fight just as dirty as he did to win.
Justice stepped into the circle, a little surprised at the uneasiness she felt being the center of attention for so many sets of eyes. Shaking off the nerves, she focused her attention on Jett and let her anger r
ise back up to the surface. The eyes on her didn’t matter, this was her element. The ring, the smell, the adrenaline, this was as familiar as anything in her life.
The start of the fight was drawn out longer than usual, giving the larger audience time to place their final bets. Jess stretched her tired limbs again, attempting to stay warmed up during the delay. Far from the top of her game, Jess was regretting the way this had played out. Her body was worn down by the time she’d caught up to Jett. Already banged up from days of fights, not to mention their earlier scuffle. If she’d been rested, she could have easily taken him down with enough energy left to toy with him before she put him down for good. If she wasn’t stuck in the Underground, she could have used her knives. Taken piece after piece of him until he cracked. Not the important pieces, but that still left plenty to choose from.
Jett’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion as he noticed the wistful look her imaginings had put on her face. He cracked his knuckles, more of a nervous gesture than any kind of pre-fight ritual, but the crowd wouldn’t know any different. Justice stepped closer, her words would be drowned out by the crowd, but she knew it would look like she was taunting him.
“I’ve heard some interesting things, Jett. I need to know how much of it is true. Heard you were wrapped up with Death’s Disciples. That turned out to be true. Were you involved with them back then?”
Jett frowned. “You knew about the drugs.”
Jess rolled her eyes. “I’m not your mom, I don’t give a fuck about that shit. I want to know why you pursued me. Why you suddenly became part of my life and then disappeared when everything went to hell.”
Jett smirked. “Still upset over a breakup? It was never more than sex. You were a pain in the ass then, and you’re worse now.”
Jess ground her teeth, resisting the urge to throw a punch before the fight started. “Yeah, Jett, I was devastated over the loss of your tiny dick, and I’m still pining all these years later. No, you fucking dumbass. Did you have something to do with what happened to my father? Were you told to keep me away?” Jett’s eyes widened as the ref stepped up, interrupting their conversation.
“Justice and Jett. The fight goes until one of you is out. There will be no tap out option for this fight.” Justice nodded but they didn’t wait on a response from Jett before exiting the circle.
Jett and Justice circled each other. “Was it all bullshit. Were you planted in my life?”
Jess swung a fist into his side and the air whooshed out of him with a pained huff. He sucked in a hard breath, twisting a hand in her shirt and whipping her around to slam into the floor. Jess tumbled and popped back to her feet. She ripped her shirt off, leaving nothing but her tight pants and workout bra, one less thing for him to grab on to. Jett saw the logic and tossed his shirt aside as well.
The crowd roared as she moved in closer again. Jett went on the offensive. Instead of making any kind of strategic move, he flung himself at her. It was reckless and entirely unexpected. And it worked.
He took Jess down to the floor, wrapping his legs around her and squeezing. She grunted as her midsection was crushed and threw a panicked punch straight down into his groin again. He was wearing a cup this time, but her fist connected hard and caused enough pain to loosen his legs so she could wiggle free.
Jett stood slowly and Jess wasn’t much faster. She was more cautious when she approached again, braced and ready. Both of Jett’s hands reached for her head and she dropped to a crouch, swinging her heel directly into his thigh. His leg didn’t break but that bruise would go deep and he tried to roll away to nurse his injury. Jess didn’t give him the chance.
Once again she jumped on him, straddling his waist. One of his legs was injured but he kneed her in the back with the other and again grabbed hold of her hair. She drove a fist into his collarbone and then grabbed his ear, twisting hard. Jett’s free hand came up aiming for her eyes, but she saw the move coming a mile away. Dropping his ear, she grabbed his arm with both hands and twisted, then shoved one hand into the back of his elbow joint. One strong strike and his arm would be broken.
“Tell me, Jett. Did you know they would kill him?”
Jett risked breaking his own arm to roll them so he was on top of Jess. She lost her grip on his arm but wrapped a hand around his neck, squeezing until he let out a gurgle. She didn’t let go when his fist split her lip. She dug her nails in deeper when his knee slammed into her ribs. His moves got more frantic, and in her desperation, she used her free hand to grip his nipple and twist as hard as she could. Finally, with a garbled howl, he stopped attacking and wrenched her arm with both of his until she left long, deep scratches down his throat.
While he was still gasping in air, she brought her legs up and wrapped them around his head, jerking them down to pull him off of her. She felt his teeth sink into her calf before she could roll away and she indiscriminately stomped her free foot down, landing on his side. His teeth quickly released her leg, and they separated again to recover. Fuck, that had hurt. The only thing that had kept him from tearing into her flesh was the sturdy fabric of her pants.
They faced off again as soon as she was back on her feet. Jett was limping, covered in bruises and red marks, and she was sure she didn’t look much better. Jett retreated step after step, blocking her swings as much as possible and occasionally sneaking in a jab of his own, strategically hitting her already injured areas.
“I didn’t know what would happen to your family. I was just told to distract you.” His words came out in breathless grunts as they continued to trade cheap shots. “I was new to the Disciples. They gave an order, obeying wasn’t optional. It was nothing personal. It was you or me.”
While she wasn’t exactly living in denial since Cash threw the connection her way, hearing it verified caused waves of pain much worse than anything else Jett had hit her with. She’d clearly been desperately clinging to the sliver of hope that it wasn’t true more than she’d even realized because the confession came with a crushing weight on her soul.
There was an odd ringing in her ears, and her body felt both hot and cold, causing a strange numbness even as an explosion of misery ripped through her gut. While they were the answers she’d been seeking for so long, finally knowing who was behind it didn’t exactly bring feelings of triumph. It was like they said, the only difference between friend and foe was whether you saw the knife coming before they stabbed you in the back.
Justice now knew what she needed to do, and Jett was no longer required.
“Nothing personal,” she repeated. Despite the raging hurricane of volatile emotion desperately trying to consume her, her voice remained even and calm. “You helped them kill my family. That’s as personal as it gets.” Tired of the games, Jess maneuvered behind him, kicked in the back of his knee, and wrapped a loose chokehold around his neck once he dropped. “Tell me why, and I might let you live.”
Jett swallowed hard. “I don’t know. It came from the top. I didn’t ask questions.” He threw his weight forward, pulling her with him. Jess was forced to brace her fall with her hands to avoid going headfirst into the ground. She managed a clumsy somersault to get back to her feet and then turned to face him again.
Justice stalked forward, and Jett’s eyes widened. In a desperate move, he lunged, hands aimed for her throat. She turned to the side, using her arms to deflect his, and spun behind him to drive her elbow into his spine. Jett flew forward for several stumbling steps, moving more stiffly when he turned to face her again.
“I’m not hearing anything that gives me the smallest urge to spare you.”
“I didn’t know!” he ducked her swing and drove his knee into her side.
Jess grunted and twisted, swinging her elbow into the side of his head with as much force as she could put behind it. He stumbled, trying to shake off the hit, but not getting the chance to recover. Jess was done putting on a show. She was done with everything.
Getting both of her hands in his hair, she yanked his head down
and drove her knee up, colliding in a painful strike. Something crunched and Jett went down. Jess moved in, following up with a kick to the ribs. Fully intending to keep going, she shifted her weight, but a giant hand on her arm yanked her away before she could strike again. She struggled to pull away until the hand tightened painfully in warning.
Half in a daze, she blinked up at the giant gripping her arm. He gave her a stern look before raising her arm to signal her win to the crowd. The movement sent pain shooting down her injured side, and the noise of the crowd slowly filtered back in.
Remembering the rules, she looked down at Jett, and sure enough, he was not moving. Blood ran from his nose and mouth. Long seconds passed before his chest raised slightly, then dropped again. He was alive. She couldn’t decide if that was a good thing. Though, she could always hunt him down later and start over.
