Chapter 29
I’m watching the fucking timer as I hit the bag. I’m so fucking tired, I just want to go home, shower and pass out. If I had it my way, I’d go straight to Ty’s house, climb into his bed, and have him eat me out until I passed out from orgasmic bliss.
That sounds fucking perfect.
My babysitter yawns, and his phone dings. My interest is piqued as his bored expression turns sinister. The soft glow of the phone light almost makes his features curl like the Cheshire Cat as his eyes dart to me.
“Show time.”
Apprehension fills my chest, and my body floods with adrenaline.
“What?” I ask, putting my hands on my hips.
“Mickey says you’re on tonight. There’s a 10k fight in an hour and you’re the title weight. This is what you’ve been training for Roxanne.” He rolls his eyes. “You’re expected to win.”
“I thought he’d at least give me some notice so I’d be able to function,” I snarl, throwing my hands out. “Is he fucking crazy? I’ve had shit sleep for weeks, I haven’t eaten today, I’m exhausted from these long-ass training sessions, and he’s expecting me to fight?”
The babysitter pushes off the side, his eyes narrowing and I can see the anger start to build. He has power over me right now and he knows it.
It takes everything in me not to shrink as he stalks closer to me, but I do it.
I promised I wouldn’t let a man intimidate me again. Least of all this buffoon.
He leans over me as his lip curls in anger.
“You’ll do what you’re fucking told. This was the deal, wasn’t it? You fight for him, make money to pay off your debt and keep your little boy-toy safe?”
“I’m not a dog for him to command,” I bite back. “Nice to know that Mickey’s just as gossipy as fucking ever.” His beady little eyes narrow at my dig and I stand up straighter.
“That’s exactly what you are. A bitch he owns. Now get your shit, we’ve got a drive ahead.” My fists clench at my sides and my eyes blaze with the intense need I have to kick the shit out of him.
But this little boy playing a man pats my head like a dog and walks past me knowing full well that my hands are tied.
My nostrils flare as I try to keep myself together and do what he says. I can’t beat the shit out of him right now, not now that I know I have a bare-knuckle fight to win.
I crouch down by my bag, unwrapping my hands and stretching them.
Ten thousand dollars… That kind of money for a fight… I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive this fight let alone win. The higher the cash, the more beastly the fighters, the more money in the pot.
Dropping my wraps in the bag, I run a hand through my damp hair. What am I going to do?
“Hurry up!” The guy yells at me from the door and I grab my phone out of my half-opened bag before storming after him.
“I’m coming.”
The drive out to The Underground was awkward, tense and I just fucking hated every moment of it. Like I usually do. My mind wouldn’t stop questioning everything and trying to come up with a plan.
Do I need to tell Ty? What if I don’t make it? What if Mickey fixes the fight so I don’t make it? What if I tell Asher? No, he’ll immediately tell Ty… Fuck, what do I do?
The babysitter is gracious enough to throw me a smushed up protein bar that I inhale on the drive. I’m thankful for anything, I’m famished and about to burn all the calories I have stored.
It hits me as he throws it over his shoulder too fast and without looking at me or even saying a word about it, that he probably wasn’t supposed to. Mickey wants me weak. He wants me fighting for my life. Literally.
All at once, the darkness starts to feel like it’s suffocating me.
“Who am I fighting?” I ask into the darkness, the only light is the glow of the dashboard. He doesn’t say anything right away and I sigh.
“I don’t know. Some older fighter. He’s fairly good from what I’ve heard, been out of the game for a little while though.
Mickey just recruited him tonight. He told me he was free and signed on to win.
” His voice is soft and low as if he’s not supposed to be telling me anything.
I wonder why he is so chatty all of a sudden.
The car falls quiet again as I think through the fighters that Mickey could’ve possibly recruited, but keep coming up short.
I didn’t exactly have time to study the other fighters before.
The past couple weeks I’ve been given times to get to The Underground and thrown directly into fight after fight, so…
I doubt he would’ve pulled one of the fighters I’ve already fought.
“What I do know, and I’m sure you figured this out as well, is that Mickey doesn’t do anything half-assed. So whoever this is, probably has just as much to lose as you do. This fight isn’t going to be clean. And it isn’t just going to be a fight. It’s going to need to be a show.”
I knew something like this was coming. I just figured Mickey would tell me with some notice so I could be in tip-top shape to try to win big for him, but I should’ve known better.
Mickey’s a fucking snake. And all he wants is for me to be in pain.
Babysitter pulls onto the desert road, and the bumps in the road make the adrenaline already flowing through my system spike. The anxiety makes my heart beat faster and my whole body breaks out into a sweat.
I can see the rock configuration in the darkness and pull my phone out. If I’m going to die fighting, I’m going to make damn fucking sure Ty knows how much I love him.
My fingers fly over the keyboard and the green message turns blue when it’s been delivered.
For Ty. For Ty. For Ty. I chant in my head right before I see Mickey hiding in the pitch black darkness by the entrance with a mocking smirk on his face.
“Get out.”