Chapter 33 #2
He winks, then adds, “I should go get ready. We’ll be in touch about the fall, I’ve already got your number. Try not to get too distracted by all this.” He motions vaguely to himself, then turns and disappears into the back.
The DJ’s voice booms through the speakers. “How about those Revenants, huh? Give it up for Northvale’s finest!”
Cade leans in, warm breath against my ear. “Hey, sweetheart. You okay?”
I force a smile. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.”
“What fighters are you thinking, Bells?” Knox leans over and whispers.
“Not now Knox, but you’ll—”
My phone buzzes.
@LucaWasHere
Izzy, Izzy, still so blind.
Did you think that beast was mine?
The frostbit brute with vacant eyes,
He growls, but never satisfies.
You taste the wrong names in your mouth,
Choke on guesses, looking south.
You flinch at ghosts you can’t define,
While I trace patterns down your spine.
My stomach drops. I jerk up instinctively, eyes scanning the crowd.
Cade frowns. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Knox leans over and snatches the phone from my hand. He reads it and mutters under his breath, “Seriously? The poet, again.”
Cade’s alarm bells go off immediately. “Bella, talk to me.”
I glance at him, unsure how to even begin. “Okay, well, it’s kind of a long story. Or… actually, not really—”
Ellie cuts in sharply, “She has a creepy Instagram stalker.”
“What?” Cade says, louder than he probably meant to.
“Thanks, El.”
Before I can say more, the DJ’s voice blares again. “And now… stepping into the ring Northvale’s own, leader of The Hollow Kings, the one and only, Damien ‘Rez’ Reznikov!”
Cade leans in, voice low but deadly serious. “Sweetheart, just show me. Please.”
I hesitate, fingers tightening around my phone but I hand it over. The second it leaves my hand, I regret it.
He reads it once. Then again, and scrolls up through the thread. His body goes rigid. Right leg bouncing like a warning shot. His jaw locks so tight I can hear the grind of his teeth. He lets out a slow exhale through his nose.
“Bella,” he says, eyes still glued to the screen. “Who the fuck is this?”
I don’t answer.
He finally looks at me and it’s not anger I see.
It’s something worse. It’s hurt. Fear. That raw, protective panic I’ve only seen a few times before.
Once when I twisted my ankle at the lake.
Once when I didn’t come home from a party.
Once when I cried on the Whitmore patio and he handed me a blanket and a strawberry milkshake like it was enough to fix the world.
“Tell me right now,” he says, voice sharp, “Who the hell is this, Bella?”
“I don’t know,” I admit quietly. “We’ve tried to find out.”
“Bella, you need to take this to the police.”
“No.” I shake my head. “It’s fine. He’s just a creep. I’ll be fine.” I press a kiss to his cheek. “I promise.”
“Bella, this is not fine. The stuff he said to you, what does it mean Damn, Izzy. That shot was slick. Nice work wrecking Carlos’s dick. Who the hell is Carlos?”
He leans in closer, eyes searching mine. “Bella, talk to me. What is going on?”
I take a shaky breath and squeeze his hand. “It’s almost time for our performance.”
“Bella—”
“I promise,” I whisper, cutting him off gently. “I will tell you everything. Just… not here. Not yet. Please trust me when I say we’ve got this under control.”
His jaw works like he wants to argue, but he doesn’t. He just nods once, tightly, eyes still burning with worry as the lights begin to dim again.
“And your winner… Rez!”
The crowd roars as Rez lifts both fists and basks in the frenzy.
“Alright, Northvale. We’ve come to the main event of the night. And it’s going to be one hell of a show! First up, repping Wexley University, give it up for Callum Whitmore!”
The entire Row section erupts.
“WHITMORE!” Haley screams. Ellie’s whistling like a damn banshee. Knox throws both fists in the air.
Cade cups his hands and shouts, “Let’s go, Cal!”
“And his opponent… from Northvale University… Leader of The Hollow Kings and the undisputed King of The Pit… Aleksandr “Lex” Barinov!”
As us girls get into our places, Lex walks out from the shadows like pure fucking sex wrapped in black silk.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him.
I remember the first. Ellie’s eighteenth birthday.
He showed up late with Cade, all quiet confidence and brutal beauty, leaning against the wall like he was bored as fuck.
I remember thinking he looked like a storm in a damn leather jacket.
Dangerous. Untouchable. And I hated how jealous I was of the way he looked at Cade.
But this? This is a whole different breed of feral.
He’s shirtless, just fight shorts slung low on his hips, clinging to every hard-cut line of muscle. Black gloves. Black boots. And those tattoos. God, why is it always the damn tattoos?
Both arms are sleeved in ink. Same Hollow Kings crest as Rez. Same Orthodox architecture mixed with deeper, darker lines, and geometric shapes. There’s a bird on his chest that looks like a phoenix forged from smoke and fire.
But it’s the ink on his right bicep that stops my breath cold. Hidden in the geometry, bold and defiant, are two initials in Gothic black: CW.
Cade Whitmore.
My heart slams. There’s a pulse between my legs that doesn’t care about timelines or the fact that he still hasn’t even looked at me.
His black hair is damp, pushed back from his forehead.
And his eyes? Ice-blue and cutting. Like they see through skin and soul.
Like they’ve already undressed me, mapped me, and completely ruined me.
He looks like wrath carved out of stone. A myth made of violence and want. And worst of all? I already know I’m completely, devastatingly fucked.