Fury (New Adult Romance) - #1.5 Fierce Series (24 page)

She slaps my hand away and storms off, leaving me with a heavy
heart.

I’m pacing around in the alley while Jaret looks around the premises,
checking to see if the client might come back.

“Fuck!” I scream, slamming my hands against the wall. “Why did she
have to do that?”

“I don’t know, man,” Jaret chimes in. “But our client’s not coming
back.”

“I don’t care about that! She knows what I do now. She’s seen the
drugs.”

“She’s just a girl. What are you getting so worked up for?”

“She’s not just a girl!” I yell.

“All right, all right,” Jaret says, waving his hand like he wants me
to shut up. “Oh, fuck.”

“What?” I snap.

“It’s Wes.”

My eyes widen, and I get my ass over to the entrance quickly. When I
see him, my heart drops to my feet.

“Oh, fuck no,” I say.

“Shit, this can’t be good.”

Stuffing his phone back into his pocket, Wes squints when he sees
me. He raises his finger at me while he walks toward me. “You’re in deep shit.”

Of course I am.

“I just got a call from my client saying you got a visitor during a
trade. It scared him off. No deal.”

“Yeah, about that …” Jaret says.

Wes places his finger on Jaret’s chest, pushing him back. “I don’t
fucking need you to explain.”

Then he turns around toward me and grabs my shirt. “You cost me a
client. That’s money I won’t be getting.” He takes a deep breath through his
nose. “You’ll have to make up for that. I think I know the perfect way.”

Something tells me shit just hit the fan.

♥♥♥

Wes drives Jaret’s car and brings us to the club, probably to keep a
close eye on us. As we walk inside the other distributors glare at us with
annoyance. They follow us down the stairs and into the building. More and more
flock to us, and I think they all know what happened. I know why they’re here.
They’re here to keep us from escaping.

Wes pushes us toward the arena, and the moment the cage comes into
vision it feels like my heart will explode. They’re going to make us fight.

“Get in,” Wes says, opening the cage doors and pushing us both in.
He locks the door behind us. “You think you can defy our rules?”

“No,” Jaret says.

“Shut up,” Wes says, his eyes narrowing. “You failed. Both of you.
So now you’re gonna be free entertainment for the guests.”

“What?” I say.

“Fight.” Wes sits down on a nearby bleacher. “You can either fight
until one of you is knocked out, or you can stay in here until you rot for all
I care.” He encourages the other guests to sit down and watch as well.

Jaret turns around toward me, panic showing on his face. We both
know Wes isn’t going to let us out, but I don’t want to fight him, and I don’t
think Jaret wants to either. I can’t beat up a friend.

A crowd starts to form around the cage, and people yell at us.
They’re getting rowdy, and I know they want something to happen soon. Otherwise
Wes will make it happen.

Jaret walks toward me in slow, careful steps, his body slumped and
his mind unwilling, just like mine. I lower my head and close my eyes. I won’t
do this. I won’t hurt a friend.

“Do it,” I say.

“You can’t be serious,” Jaret says.

“They won’t let us out unless one of us is beaten to a pulp. You
have to.”

“Why not you?”

“Because it wasn’t your fault this happened,” I say, looking him
straight in the eye.

He swallows. “I don’t want to hit you, Hunter. I promised your
brother I’d look out for you.”

The music is so loud I can barely hear him.

“I don’t care. Just promise me you’ll help me take these
motherfuckers down,” I say.

Jaret swallows and nods. He raises his fists, shuffling back and
forth on his feet.

“Just do it!” I yell.

Jaret punches me in the gut, and I wince, but stay put. Jaret’s eyes
get watery, but he remains strong as he punches me against the shoulder.
“C’mon. Fight back.”

I refuse. He hits me in the face, and it feels like I just got a
brick in my eye. I groan and close my eyes, hearing the crowd boo loudly. I
don’t fucking care if they like it or not. I’m not going to entertain them. I’m
not going to give them what they want.

He hits me again and again. My hands are firmly clenched around the
bars of the cage as I look down at the floor, taking one fist after another. I
spit out blood and watch the red drops fall on the ground. The same ground my
brother once stood on, getting beaten just like me. I wonder if he was ever
forced to fight someone he didn’t want to hurt.

“Hunter …” Jaret groans, hitting me in the cheek. “I can’t keep doing
this.”

“You have to …” I whisper, my face feeling brittle and broken.

I raise my head and look outside, trying to find Wes, trying to look
into his eyes and make him see the monster inside him. But then I notice the
crowd that formed around the cage has already dispersed. Nobody seems
interested anymore. Not now they realize I won’t fight a friend. It’s probably
not really all that fun looking at someone who refuses to fight.

“Stop!” I zoom in on Wes’ voice and see him getting up from the
bleachers. He looks pissed as he opens the cage door again.

“Get your fucking ass out of here,” he says, pointing at Jaret.

Briefly placing his hand on my shoulder, Jaret whispers, “Hang in
there, bud. I’ll help you, I promise … Thanks.” And then he walks out of the
cage, grabbing the bottle of water handed to him by one of the hookers from the
club.

Wes stalks toward me, aggressively grabbing my chin. “I’ll make you
fight, one way or another. You’re in Alpha Psi now, and you’re going to make me
money, whether you like it or not. You think you’re safe? Think again. Our
leader won’t hesitate to put you out of your misery. I’m the only one keeping
him from doing it.”

He hits me against the head, and my skull is pounded back into the
cage bars. With my teeth clenched together, I breathe out through my nose,
holding back my fury. I could kill him. I swear, one day I’ll fuck him up for
life. Once this is all over, and the cat’s out of the bag, I’ll tear him to
pieces. But not now. If I hit him now, it’ll be over too soon. I can’t let this
fucking asshole stop me from getting my brother out.

“You’re lucky I’m letting you live,” he says, spitting on the floor.
“Now clean yourself up and get the fuck back to work.” He lets go of me and
flicks his finger, alerting one of the girls to come inside. “Get him out of
here,” he says, and then he walks away.

I let go of the bars and wipe the blood from my face. My head is
spinning, but I manage to walk out of the cage on my own. The girl tries to
offer me her assistance, but I don’t need anyone’s help. I don’t want to spend
another minute in this abominable place.

♥♥♥

Jaret brings us to the dorm. We’re both silent the entire drive. My
head hurts and I’m holding a few pieces of wet toilet paper against my black
eye. One glance in the mirror tells me I look fucked up again.

“Hey … sorry, man,” Jaret says. “If I’d known they’d make us bust
each other up, I wouldn’t have gone with them.”

“You think we had a choice? Nah.”

He sighs.

“Let’s just not talk about it, okay?” I say, looking his way.

He frowns. “I think you need to go to a hospital. You look like
shit.”

“Forget it. I’m not going there.”

“But you really look like shit, I
’m not kidding.
”

“Yeah, well that’s your fault.”

He parks the car near the dorm. “Sorry, dude.”

“I don’t want that,” I say as we get out. “You just help me with
finding out who the leader is, all right?”

He looks troubled, but after a while he nods. “Fine. You sure about that
hospital thing?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, okay. Listen, I have to do another trade, so I’ll see you
later, all right?” Jaret turns around in the opposite direction.

“See ya,” I say, walking toward the dorm.

My muscles are sore, but I manage to get up to my room and sit down
on my bed to grab a drink from the fridge. Damn, I’m thirsty, but the water
tastes like blood. I run my fingers through my hair and look around my room,
feeling disconnected from this world. Leaning backwards, I suddenly feel
something rectangular with my fingers and pick it up. It’s a book, but it’s not
mine. Leafy must have left it.

Looking at it, I realize she might be needing this, even if that
should be the last thing on my mind right now. I’m also thinking she might be
able to help me out here. I might look fucked up as shit, but I’m still not
going to the hospital. Maybe she can fix me up. She’s done it before. Then
again, I really messed it up with her. I wonder if she’ll still let me in. I
hope so; I could use her help.

Whatever the case, I’m going to her, and I won’t leave until she
agrees. She shouldn’t be so quick to judge. I’m not the bad guy here, even
though she might think I am.

I knock on her door, but don’t even wait for her to say something before
stomping inside. She’s sitting at her desk, pretending I’m not here, but with
each step I take she shivers in her seat. Nice little lie.

I throw the book down in front of her, and she almost jumps up from
her seat. “You left this on my bed.” I lean sideways, placing my hand on her desk,
trying to get a glimpse of her face. I want to know if she’s mad, afraid, or
crying, just so I know what I’m in for, but she’s not giving me even a hint of
emotion. Tough luck.

I hate it when I don’t know what she’s thinking, and I hate it when
I don’t know how she feels about me.

“Thanks,” she says with an icy-cold face as I scrunch up her papers
in frustration.

She briefly glances sideways, and her eyes widen when she sees my
hands. They’re covered in cuts, probably from the punches I gave the wall after
she left. She turns her head and gazes at me, her jaw inching open more and
more. Well, shit. I look that bad, huh?

“You’re hurt!” she exclaims, and she immediately snatches my hand
and checks the wounds.

I groan as she plucks the painful parts, inspecting whether it’s a
five or a ten on the awful scale. Her eyes quickly dart to mine and she throws
me a look that could kill. “You got in a fight again,” she says, grabbing a few
tissues.

She firmly holds my hand, cleaning the cuts with gentleness and a care
that I haven’t felt in ages. Something I only feel when I’m around her. Even
so, her lips are slammed together, and it looks to me as though she’s keeping
back all her screams. I guess she’s really pissed about finding out. Well, she
doesn’t even know half of it yet.

“Was this the other thing they asked you to do?” she asks, putting
pressure on my wounds each time a word slips past her lips. I don’t answer,
since it won’t make anything better, and I’m not going to lie to her.

She takes in a deep breath, gets up from her seat, and walks to the
fridge. I watch her perky ass sway from one side to the other, and as she
bends, my eyebrows rise. No matter how roughed up I am, I still like to enjoy
her fine ass.

She takes out a pack of ice and fetches a stool, which she puts down
in front of me. “Sit.”

Oh … feisty. She thinks she can tell me what to do. I got news for
her … I don’t listen to girls; she’ll find that out once I take her to my bed.
But for now I’ll tolerate it, since I want her help.

Sitting down on that little stool makes me feel emasculated, but
it’ll have to do. She puts the pack of ice against my eye and blocks one part
of my vision. I place my hand on top the moment she’s about to let go.

“So, you want me to fix you up, but you don’t want to tell me why
you’re busted up?” she says.

“It’s not going to change anything,” I say, staring straight ahead.

“Yeah, well getting into fights isn’t going to change anything,
either. I don’t understand why you always have to do what they say.”

She opens her drawer and takes out some bandages, and then I spot
something lying on the bottom. My eyes widen as I notice the bag of drugs. What
the fuck is she doing with this crap in her room? She isn’t on drugs, is she?
Oh, God.

She tries to shut it, but I hold it open, snatching the bag containing
the pill. “Who gave you this?” I’m going to kill the motherfucker.

“Does it matter?”

I slam my hand on the table, and she jolts up from her seat. “It
matters if I say it does!”

I need to fucking know who did this so I can snap his neck. Dealing
drugs myself is one thing, but she
will
stay out of this. I won’t let
this crap hurt her.

“And you think that by yelling I will just go ahead and tell you?
Just like you told me why you’re dealing drugs and fighting people?” she snaps,
raising one eyebrow.