Fighter Daddy: A Bad Boy Secret Baby MMA Sports Romance Page 7

  The smell of blood hits me like a shock wave the second I step in. I gag, stumbling back, only to find Victor blocking my way, essentially pushing me back into the room with his bulk.

  Ed is the one bleeding.

  I see him at once, sitting behind a table with his hands tied in front of him. His right hand is bleeding heavily, the crimson trickling down to the floor with no one bothering to clean it up. Four of his fingers are missing, the stump of his hand carelessly tied up with an improvised tourniquet, a belt. He looks barely conscious. I don't think he'll live much longer without medical aid.

  Ricky is sitting at the other side of the table, one of his better suits covered with blood splatter. It seems that when it comes to me, he doesn't mind dirtying his own hands.

  I hate him, hate everything about him, from the passionless expression on his face to the fake sneer on his lips. I hate that being the prick he is, he chose Ed's right hand. No one would pick their stronger hand to be hacked to pieces, but Ed's a designer. That's his life, his livelihood. Even if he lives through this night somehow, it will take excruciating work to learn how to draw with his left.

  "I'm glad you could join us," Ricky says.

  His voice seems to wake Ed up. He lifts his head to look at me. It moves weirdly, as if it isn't entirely attached to his head. God, look at all the red, he's lost so much blood...

  I want to say I'm sorry, but the words refuse to leave my lips. Sorry won't make anything up to him. I brought this monster down upon him, but I'll try to save everyone else if I can.

  "I'm here," I tell Ricky, doing my best to appear assertive. "Let him go. He needs to get to a hospital. You can see he's bleeding out."

  The next few seconds are the worst in my life. I don't know what Ricky will do. Ed is a witness to his crimes now, but I need this miracle to happen. I need something to go right for a change, need to at least save Ed's life if not his career. Then, maybe then, it might be worth selling myself back to slavery.

  Ricky gives me a look and turns to Ed.

  "Mr. Riley," he drawls. "I'll have someone take you to the nearest hospital. I trust you know what you should tell them."

  I stand, horrified as Ed nods, not even looking up.

  "An accident," he repeats, the words sounding rehearsed, as if someone dictated them to him. "Renovations. Wanted to do it all myself. Cut wood. My hand slipped."

  Ricky nods slowly.

  "Good," he says. "But you understand, the way it looks now, no doctor will believe that. The wounds are too irregular, no single clean cut. We're going to have to fix that. Bring the saw, Victor."

  I think I scream, but someone is holding me back. The stench of blood is terrible, but not nearly as bad as the sight of the saw. Ed doesn't even look up, doesn't move.

  When it cuts, we both black out.

  * * *

  I wake up in the club. I'm in the bathroom and one of Ricky's regular girls is splashing water in my face. For one blissful moment, I don't know where I am, who I am, or why I'm in a club. Then it all comes back and I throw up in the sink. The sight of Ed slumping over, blood pouring from his hand, the whining of the saw...

  "Ed..." I gasp to the girl. "Did... is Ed okay?"

  "I don't know any Ed," she says, shrugging.

  "There was a guy. Did an ambulance come? Did a car take him?"

  "I don't know, honey," she says, a bit impatient. "No one has come up from downstairs but you, Mr. Gerrard, and Victor. They said you haven't eaten much today and you fainted."

  Of course they did, I think. I can't believe I walked into this cage of my own will. I can't believe I was stupid enough to believe they'd let Ed go.

  I send the girl away and do my best to fix myself up. Ricky doesn't like it when I look messy, unless he's the one messing me up. I shake like a leaf. I look like a fucking train wreck.

  I better be a good girl now, I think to myself. I better be a good girl and not imagine all my friends cut up on Ricky's table.

  I stumble out of the bathroom, moving to the bar. After a night like this, I need a drink. More than one drink. Like the bouncer, the bartender takes a single look at me and gives me his undivided attention. I order the strongest cocktail they have. The moment it’s in my hand, I know I won’t take a sip of it. Victor almost makes me drop the drink, standing so close to me I bump into him when I turn.

  "Mr. Gerrard will see you now," he booms.

  A hand slides over my shoulders, pulling me closer to a strong, powerful body. I lean into it without thinking, knowing the scent, knowing the voice too.

  "Is this guy bothering you?" Lee asks.

  Two of us are in the lion's den now.

  Lee

  Fuck.

  That's the only word that comes to my mind when I find Raina's note. I knew dropping her off was a mistake, but she was in danger there. They opened fire on me when we got to less populated parts of town. I couldn't risk that they wouldn't have done it anyway at some point. I had to make sure Raina wasn't in the car. She's too much of an easy target, even if the thugs were under orders not to hurt her.

  But even getting her out of there wasn’t enough.

  No use crying over it now. If she's gone, I will have to find her. Even if it means I'm taking on the mob. It would feel like a hassle for a girl, but I've stopped thinking about Raina that way. Not simply because of the baby, but because of her.

  Fate's been pushing us together for years and I've been too stupid to take the hint. So it needed Ricky to make me see that I can't go on without that girl.

  I let her go out of my own stupidity when we were young. Now there is a bigger obstacle in the way, but I don't care. Seeing her has brought it all back. If I have to fight an army for her to be finally mine, so be it. Ricky doesn't scare me. I've fought worse than his kind during my service.

  He doesn't even know what kind of a grave he's dug for himself. That bastard has my woman and my child. He better hope I kill him quickly.

  I know what I have to do, which means the hard part is done. Now all I have to do is figure out where she is.

  The note says he got her. How did he get her?

  There doesn't seem to be any signs of forced entry. I found the keys under the doormat after feeling a bump under my shoes. She wasn't taken from my apartment at gunpoint, that much is clear. So why the fuck did she go, when I told her to lie low and wait for me?

  It’s not important. I know Ricky. If he wanted to, he could get Raina out of hiding. The how isn't the question right now. Where is, and I know where.

  * * *

  The guy who tries to stop me when I get to Ricky's thinks twice when he gets a good look at me. I stare him down and the bouncer tries to figure out if I'm allowed in or not. I guess he's not a fan or he'd know. Finally I help his little brain along and say:

  "Mr. Gerrard is waiting for me. It's about a fight."

  He looks me over and figures I'm telling the truth. Behind me is a long line and he wants to get back to checking out the double D's. So with a grunt, he steps aside and lets me pass. I wonder if he still has a job before the night is over.

  I see Raina at once. She's standing by the bar. If anything, she looks even more scared and lost than she did before. My fists ache to bash someone's skull in for this. Raina was sad, now she appears to be completely broken.

  And the guy behind her isn't good news. Victor is a fucking brute, an ex-con, but not a regular crook. He didn't go in for robbing a liquor store or getting caught in a bar fight. He did fucked-up things before prison and found friends with similar interests behind bars.

  Rumor has it he ran a prison gang, some say the Aryan Brotherhood. Ricky found him when he got out and bought him off. Now the asshole does most of his dirty work. He did time for murders once. I never heard of him minding doing it again if he's paid well enough. And Ricky pays well.

  He's a thick guy, with cruel eyes and nose that's been broken at least a dozen times. It looks like someone mashed up his face like clay.

 
That guy's a fucking piece of work, but I don't take shit from scum like him.

  I pull Raina away from him. Victor recognizes me at once, but we're in the middle of a club on a Friday night. He can't exactly shoot me in the head, can he?

  "Is this guy bothering you?" I ask Raina.

  She stares at me, shocked. There's a drink in her hand and I can see how much it is shaking. I don't know what she saw here or what Ricky said, but something's going on. She doesn't strike me as a chick that still goes to bars when she's knocked up. Someone really unsettled her and I will make that someone pay.

  "Um," Raina begins. "No, he was just telling me that I'm expected."

  "Oh?" I ask, grinning. "How nice. We can both meet him."

  Raina stares at me, incredulous. Victor gives me a shark smile and waves us along.

  "Come, then. Mr. Gerrard will be pleased to discuss this matter with the both of you."

  I laugh.

  "Yeah," I tell him. "I don't walk into fire because someone says it doesn't burn. If Ricky wants to say something, he can say it out here, not hiding behind bulletproof glass like a bitch. And if he's a man, he'll talk to me face-to-face instead of sending his lackeys."

  With every word I say, I feel Raina wince more strongly. Victor grits his teeth, but I know what he is. He's a dog and the other end of his leash is in Ricky's hands. He won't do anything to us until he gets a go from his master. Then, of course, he'll do everything in his power to fuck us up.

  Let him come. I've waited a long time for a match with him.

  He throws some meaningless curses at me, but stomps away. Talk is cheap and words don't hurt me. Victor will be a problem only after Ricky is.

  Raina turns to me as soon as Victor is gone.

  "Lee..." she sobs, and suddenly her eyes are filled with tears. "They... he... he killed Ed."

  I frown. That doesn't sound like Ricky. He won't back down from killing a guy in broad daylight in his front yard if he has to, but those are his enemies. Guys who stepped to him, guys he has to take down to maintain his reputation. Not some lousy designer that happens to be Raina's boss.

  I think of the guy I met that day. That's a shitty way to go, if it's true. I still can't believe it. Not like Ricky to get so emotional. Is he really into this girl?

  "Are you sure?" I ask. "If you didn't see it..."

  Raina hesitates. There.

  "Start talking," I order her. "Anything you can remember before our friend comes back. And start with why the fuck would you willingly come back here?"

  Those are not the questions I want to ask, but they have answers that I need. We can talk about everything else when there aren't hidden guns trained on us.

  Raina looks like she's about to cry again. I don't remember a girl's tears having an effect on me before. She's wrapping me around her finger without even trying.

  "I'm trying to help," I go on. "I can't protect you if you let Ricky drive you crazy like this. What did he do?"

  She calms down a bit, downs half her drink and gives me the ghost of the smile that makes me half-hard in a second. It might be the danger we're in, but I want her now more than ever. I'm not telling her that, but I bet we have more than a few guns aimed at us right now. Basically we're sitting on a pile of dynamite, hoping no one lights a match. The situation is explosive.

  The fact that we could both die any minute makes me want to make everything I can of the last few. Slam her against the bar, pull her dress up and give it to her deep and hard until she screams my name. The mental image is hot enough to make me groan in my throat. I'm going to have this girl as soon as we get out of this mess she got us into.

  Raina tells me, clearly leaving out the parts that disgusted her, but I can fill in blanks. My time in the Raider regiment gave me a fine imagination when it comes to torture. What she describes is a classic gangster trick. Honestly I'm disappointed Ricky wasn't more creative, but I guess he's saving the good stuff for us.

  I see why she'd think Ed was gone. Losing that much blood is easily fatal and who'd believe that bullshit accident story? If I were Ricky, I wouldn't let him go. But I'm not. I don't pick fights with guys who can't defend themselves. He disgusts me even more than before.

  Speak of the devil.

  I see Ricky Gerrard for the first time after my no doubt legendary victory over Carson the Bull. He looks the same as I remember, except for the fire burning in his eyes. I have to give Raina credit. To piss off Ricky is quite a feat.

  "Don't provoke him, please," Raina begs when she sees him. "He'll kill us. If I ask, he might let you go."

  She can't possibly believe that. There is no way Ricky would ever let me go if he didn't have to.

  I slide my hand around Raina again. She struggles harder than ever in my embrace, but I don't let her go.

  "What are you doing?" she hisses. "He'll kill us. He'll shoot us right here. Lee, I told you he thinks I'm his property, you're making this—"

  "I don't give a fuck what he thinks," I say. "You're mine."

  Hearing that, she stills. I look down to see the endless depths of her green eyes, staring up at me like she's seeing me for the first time.

  "What?" she asks, but we have no more time for that discussion.

  If looks could kill, I'd be dead ten times over.

  From everything she's said, I am absolutely sure Raina doesn't really get the monster that Ricky is. If he was my opponent in the ring, that would be a real fight. There is no emotion to him, no sense of pain or pleasure. This fucker cares only about one thing, and that is his reputation. He thinks in cause and consequence. Pretty little Raina thinks it's all about her, but it isn't. Her pussy might be the best that ever was, but Ricky Gerrard wouldn't give a shit about losing it if he didn't see possible damage.

  Raina's shaming him. She thinks her world should belong to her, but Ricky has already laid claim. She can't go, she can't ever leave until he says so.

  There is just this one problem now. I have laid a claim too and no man is going to make me back down. I've never run from a fight and I won't run from this one either. She's mine and the baby too. They're both mine now, mine to hold and to protect.

  "You two insist on cheating me out of what's mine," Ricky says.

  I have to admire the fact he's still keeping his calm. I can see death reflecting in his eyes. I've seen it in the cage a couple of times when my opponent truly hates me. No one has ever looked at me like Ricky is now and I am fine with it. He can glare all he wants. This is not the way men settle things, but he knows I'd beat the crap out of him.

  "We owe you nothing," I say.

  Raina says something very quietly and I remember her debt.

  "Nothing that can't be repaid," I growl, glaring at her.

  "I'm afraid I disagree," Ricky says. "I don't deal in money alone, but if that's the way you wish to play this, I'll have you know that Miss Feston owes me a considerable debt."

  "How much can she possibly owe?" I grin.

  Ricky answers with a smirk of his own, so empty it hurts to watch.

  "Oh, the initial amount was modest enough, but Miss Feston didn't read the terms of interest through very carefully. Fine print, Raina, fine print. You should always pay attention."

  I can imagine her desperation and this shark's hunger for helpless, defenseless prey.

  "What does she owe?" I repeat, stressing every word.

  "Half a million," Ricky says dismissively. "Not something a beginner designer would have lying around, I imagine."

  I glare, but Raina looks as surprised as I am.

  "How much?" she chokes. "It can't be. That's insane!"

  "It's all in the contract," Ricky says.

  People are dancing around us, buying drinks, having fun, flirting with strangers. I still feel a gun at the back of my head, even if I can't see it.

  "In fine print?" I growl at him.

  He nods, flashing the empty smile.

  "Exactly so," he says. "I was willing to let the debt go for the sake of my aff
ection for Miss Feston, but she insists on being unreasonable. All she has to do is come to her senses."

  I tighten my hold around her shoulders and I feel Raina move closer to me. It's strange how good it feels.

  "You can have your money," I tell Ricky bluntly. "But you won't have her."

  He looks at us, gesturing to the club.

  "You think this will protect you?" he asks. "Every night ends, Lee. I am patient. I can wait."

  He and Victor leave us alone after that, but I see his guys move through the crowd all around us. The exits seem to be blocked too.

  Raina is looking at me and I'm surprised to see a shy smile play on her lips. It's the hottest fucking thing I've ever seen, the longing in her eyes, all for me.

  "Yours?" she asks, trying to confirm my promise.

  I kiss her roughly, pulling her toward me. She comes willingly, opening her mouth to me. And she'll open her body too. I taste her, drink in the sweetness of her and the bitterness of her drink. Raina moans into my mouth and it takes everything I've got not to fuck her right then. When we break for air, she looks worried again.

  "How will we get out of here?" she asks.

  "Leave that to me," I say. "Right now we need to dance. Keep ourselves right in the middle of a crowd. Come."

  Raina comes, her hand in mine. All mine.

  Raina

  This is so surreal.

  More than that, actually. Everything around me is too absurd to be really happening.

  I'm dancing with Lee Mason. In Ricky's club. As soon as morning comes, we're dead. Unless Lee pulls off a con-artist worthy performance and gets us out of here right from under the noses of Ricky's guys. I count at least twenty of them, but to be fair my eyes are more focused on Lee.

  If this is going to be my last day alive, I suppose slow-dancing isn't the worst way to go.

  I feel like the Schrödinger's cat in a box. Until someone checks, I'm simultaneously both alive and dead. On one hand, I'm very much still breathing, happy even, wrapped in Lee's strong arms. On the other, I'm pretty surely dead, because as far as I can tell, we are trapped. And like in the thought experiment, at some point the metaphorical box is opened and one or the other becomes true. For me and Lee, it's when this party ends.