Part 37 (2/2)

I sat back in my chair and contemplated my options for the future. Taking Victor Dallas down would do Kellan a world of good, in the long run, but what about the immediate effects? He'd be out of a job. Obviously I would help him, if he'd accept it, until he found something sustainable, but wouldn't he resent me? Wouldn't he always see me as the girl who shot first and asked questions later without thinking about the consequences?

I couldn't let this go on, though. I couldn't let Kellan keep living a lie. He deserved so much more than that. I just hoped he saw things my way and that I wasn't about to destroy the one good thing I had going for me right now.

~ Eleven ~

Kellan

My next fight came way sooner than I'd expected. Vic kept his word and I didn't have to hit the mat until Monday night, several days after our phone call, but man, time flew by when all I could think about was seeing Parker.

She hadn't been able to come over during the week-she was working hard on a new story, she said, though she wouldn't tell me what, which just made me absolutely certain it was erotica-and over the weekend, I'd taken a little road trip to see my stepbrother and sister. Slade was a d.a.m.n good doctor who'd fixed me more than once, and it was always good to see Iris. We'd been close ever since we were kids.

Okay, so it was a little odd that they were married and f.u.c.king like rabbits, but it wasn't like they were actually related. And now I understood, more than ever, that sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants.

It had taken me years to get to this point of acceptance. My stepdad had really poisoned the well of my opinion of Slade by insisting that my stepbrother had taken advantage of Iris. I knew now things were way more complicated than that, and thankfully, with that realization came a lot of healing. It was still a little weird, though. Not gonna lie. But it's not like they grew up together, or anything.

Plus, Slade understood that I didn't want heavy-duty pain killers, even if that made my recovery that much harder. He got me some extra-strength OTC stuff that would take the edge off, but he respected my decision to stay clean, save for the occasional beer. He'd watched me go through rehab and recovery a few years ago, so he knew what was at risk for me. Vic's guy never would have got it-just would've shoved some pills in my hand and told me to ”man up.”

Seeing them had done me a lot of good, anyway. It was nice to hang out with my family. And when I'd told my sister about Parker, her eyes had lit up like the Fourth of July. I think it took a lot off her mind to know that her baby brother was starting to find his way in life.

”Took you long enough,” was all Slade had said about it. d.i.c.k. Still loved him, though.

Now I was back here in the prep room, listening to the distant roar of the crowd as Vic draped my robe over my shoulders. I cracked my neck on each side, hyping myself up. Parker was gonna be out there tonight. She'd promised. And that made all the aches and pains worth it: knowing she'd be there to cheer me on.

It was nice not to feel alone and ashamed. No, f.u.c.k that-it was d.a.m.n amazing. A bona fide miracle.

”Hey, Killer,” Vic said, ”before you go out there, there's somethin' we should talk about.”

I frowned. ”What's that?” This wasn't about the payout, was it? Or was Vic about to 'fess up to pitting me against a way bigger and heavier fighter?

”It's about your girl and her friend. You know who he is, right? The guy she brought the other night?”

”Some guy named Thom,” I answered. ”Look, Vic, if you're about to tell me they're getting cozy, you should know Thom's not exactly batting for her team-”

”He's a reporter, Killer,” Vic said soberly. I'd never seen him look so serious in all my life. ”Some sports guy from The Spill. Your girl is bringin' a f.u.c.kin' reporter to our very illegal fights. Did you know about this?”

I hesitated. No, I hadn't known. Parker had never mentioned it. Maybe it wasn't worth mentioning. Maybe they had some kind of deal where Thom wasn't allowed to use anything he saw here for work purposes.

Do you really believe that? I asked myself. My stomach clenched. I sure as h.e.l.l wanted to.

”I caught him snoopin' around last time he was here,” Vic said. ”Talkin' to the fighters. I think he was tryin' to get a beat on this place, on our operation. I think he's tryin' to shut us down.”

”Parker wouldn't let that happen,” I said quickly, but d.a.m.n if it didn't sound like I was trying to convince myself. The truth was, I didn't know her well enough to say. I was taking this all at face value, taking Parker at her word. And I had no way of knowing if that was even a good decision.

”She wouldn't, huh?” Vic asked, narrowing his beady eyes at me. He shook his head. ”Guess that means you don't know that she's a reporter, too.”

I snorted. ”What? You're crazy. She's not...”

Oh, f.u.c.k. It all made sense now. She'd said she was a writer. She'd even joked about getting to know me better so she could put me in one of her stories. This whole time, I'd just a.s.sumed she was a novelist. But Parker Jones was a f.u.c.king journalist, and I was her inside scoop.

”Holy s.h.i.+t,” I muttered. ”She is, isn't she?”

Vic nodded, looking a little more sympathetic now. ”I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, Killer. It should've been her. But I thought you needed to know, especially 'cause if they keep diggin', you'll be out of a job.”

”Are you f.u.c.king threatening me, Vic?” I hissed, balling my taped-up hands into fists. ”Really? Now?”

”Hey, hey, hey!” Vic said, holding up his hands and taking a step back. ”That's no threat, Killer. Them's just the facts. If we get shut down, I'm probably goin' to jail, or at least crossin' state lines to avoid that mess. I won't be able to help you anymore. And h.e.l.l, you could get arrested, too.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. It was all coming together now. They were going to ruin me. Parker and her f.u.c.king douche-faced friend were going to G.o.dd.a.m.n ruin me. And I'd opened the door and let them waltz right in, let them plant the ticking time bomb that would soon explode and take me, and everything I'd worked for, down in flames with it.

You're such a f.u.c.king moron. You knew this was too good to be true.

Parker was just using me. Using me like the Marines had. Like my druggie friends before them. Good old Kellan, the guy we can depend on to shoulder the burden. The guy we call to get things done. The guy we leave behind once he's no longer of any use to us.

To her, I was just a story. A paycheck. A rung on the ladder of her career aspirations. She was willing to step on me to get what she wanted, and she didn't even have any qualms about sleeping with me to soften the blow. I didn't need any pity-f.u.c.ks from some chick who'd sold her soul, and I sure as h.e.l.l didn't need her hanging around so she could ruin my life.

”f.u.c.k this,” I growled, flinging open the door and storming the ring.

I didn't even wait for Vic to come get my robe. I tossed it at Jasmine, letting her make herself useful for a f.u.c.king change. She beamed at me as I stalked by, but I didn't return her hopeful smile. When her face fell, I almost felt good about it. She needed a reality check. Parker or no, I was off the menu.

Vlad was on the other side of the mat, some big Russian dude who looked like he could've been a Bond villain. He had a deep scar over his left eye, extending all the way from above his blond brow to below his cheekbone. Just like The Herminator before him, I could tell Vlad wasn't in my weight cla.s.s. I had no idea what the h.e.l.l Vic was trying to pull with this s.h.i.+t-maybe he was trying to drum up some interest from the crowd?-but in my experience, the bigger they were, the harder they'd fall.

I didn't give a rat's a.s.s how big or mean he was. He was going down.

I didn't have f.u.c.king time for this.

We went through the pre-fight ritual all civil and silent, but as soon as that bell rang, I was on him. Dude was slow and a powerhouse just like Herman Gomez had been, only Vlad was kind of clunky, too. He didn't recover from a blow with the same kind of speed The Herminator had.

All these f.u.c.king stupid names. All these a.s.sholes.

Vlad was still recovering from a blow to his solar-plexus when I swept his feet out from under him and got him on the ground. I didn't waste any time bas.h.i.+ng his stupid f.u.c.king face in. I was out for blood today, and knowing that Parker was here didn't exactly make me feel merciful.

He struggled at first, put up a good fight, but he was too slow and bulky to stop me, and I was too determined to make this end. I hit him and hit him and hit him again until the ref came over and tried to pull me away. And then I kept hitting him, until suddenly Vic was on one side of me and the ref was on the other, and security was behind me pulling me off The Impaler, whose face had become unrecognizable.

”Twenty-three seconds,” Vic breathed in my ear. ”Twenty-three f.u.c.king seconds. Are you kiddin' me, Killer? Holy s.h.i.+t! Do you know how much money we just won?”

<script>