Chapter Fifteen
I wasn’t aware I’d been holding my breath, not until I knocked on Reuben’s door and it swung open.
He stood inside, dressed in his fighting robe, and blinking at me as though he couldn’t quite believe his eyes.
His rumpled blond hair was spiked, like he’d been running his hands through it, shadows darkening the skin under his eyes. “Bella.”
I plucked at the sleeve of Adam’s shirt, self-conscious and nervous. “Reuben.”
He smiled, his eyes softening. “What are you doing here? I mean, what happened? I know you didn’t sweet talk yourself away from Adam. Not so soon after he took you away.” He grimaced. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
A part of me was rattled by his confession. While Adam would tear the world apart to find me, it sounded as though Reuben had already given up on me.
Reuben’s tone gentled. “Not that I would have stopped trying to get you back. Despite how I live, I have plenty of my own resources, people I trust in places no one would expect to find them.”
I crossed my arms. “I don’t doubt that.”
I’d seen the men under his command. Had ridden in his reinforced SUV. His network was powerful, his connections real enough.
Reuben stared at me for a beat. “If you had any idea of the shit Adam’s involved in, you’d run a mile.” He sucked in a breath. “Wait. Is that why you’re running from him?”
I arched a brow even as my stomach clenched. But I didn’t say a word, didn’t commit to anything. Not until I trusted him completely.
At my silence, he added softly, forcefully, “I’m a man of the streets, Bella. I hear things that others don’t.” He shook his head and sighed heavily. “I guess none of that matters, not right now. We’ve got to get you someplace Adam won’t expect to find you.”
A dark SUV pulled up behind me and Reuben smirked as he threw out a hand. “I was about to leave for the biggest underground fight of the year. Looks like you’ll be coming with me.”
I shook my head. A fight was possibly the last thing I wanted to witness, but if Adam wasn’t already looking for me, he would be soon. The sooner I left the better. I brushed a hand down Adam’s oversized shirt. I was almost swimming in it. “I’m not exactly dressed—“
“You’re perfect,” Reuben said huskily. “You’d look gorgeous in a sack.” He laughed. “If cameras were allowed at this event, I’d bet you would have started a new women’s trend.”
Relief filled me. No cameras meant no exposure. I’d be safe.
I followed Reuben to the SUV. It was different from his usual reinforced vehicle, sleeker, more ordinary-looking from the outside, designed to blend in rather than intimidate. But the interior was still all black leather and tinted windows.
I slid across the smooth seat, Adam’s shirt riding up my jeans-clad thighs as Reuben settled beside me. The driver, a mountain of a man with scarred knuckles, didn’t even glance back at us through the partition.
Exhaustion hit me now that I wasn’t running anymore. The adrenaline that had carried me through my escape was finally draining away, leaving me hollow and shaky. I pulled Adam’s shirt tighter around me and leaned my head against the cool window.
“How far?” I asked, my voice coming out smaller than I intended.
“About an hour,” Reuben said. His hand found mine, warm and reassuring. “You can rest. You’re safe now.”
The city lights blurred past as we drove deeper into areas I didn’t recognize.
The buildings grew more industrial, more abandoned.
Warehouses with broken windows gave way to empty lots scattered with rusted machinery.
Even in the gathering darkness, I could see we were heading somewhere the city had forgotten about.
I must have dozed, because the next thing I knew, the SUV was slowing down.
Through my drowsy haze, I caught glimpses of other vehicles, expensive cars that looked out of place in this desolate area.
They didn’t hang around though, screaming for passersby to notice.
The passengers no sooner disembarked before the cars were driven back into the shadows between buildings.
“Where are we?” I mumbled, straightening up.
Reuben squeezed my hand. “Old subway tunnels that have been abandoned for decades.” His voice carried an excitement that made me more alert. “Perfect for what we need. No interference, no unwanted attention.”
The SUV came to a stop beside what looked like a maintenance entrance, nothing more than a rusted door set into concrete, barely visible in the now velvet darkness. Our driver killed the engine, and suddenly the night felt very quiet and very dark.
The driver murmured something into his earpiece, his voice too low for even my heightened hearing to catch.
Almost immediately, two men emerged from the shadows near the door. They moved with the kind of silent efficiency that spoke of serious training, flanking our vehicle.
“Ready?” Reuben asked, his voice rough and low, and filled with anticipation.
I nodded, and the men opened our doors without a word.
As soon as I stepped out, the scent hit me, decay and dampness, the smell of a place that had been forgotten by sunlight for decades.
From somewhere deep in the tunnels came the echo of voices, of jeering and shouting, the sounds bouncing off concrete walls and growing distorted in the darkness.
I shivered, but I knew it wasn’t from the cool air. Something about this place felt different from the last fight. More secretive. More dangerous.
I followed Reuben toward the rusted door, but as we approached the entrance, my steps faltered. The narrow opening yawned before me like a mouth, ready to swallow me whole. My chest tightened. It was too much like a cell. Too much like being caged.
“Bella?” Reuben's voice seemed to come from very far away.
I forced myself to breathe, but more scents assaulted me, assaulted my heightened senses.
Sweat. Fear. Blood. And something else. Something wild and desperate that made my skin crawl.
The sounds from below grew louder, more jarring to my sensitive hearing, with voices shouting over each other, the thudding impact of a body against concrete, of metal scraping against stone.
“I...” I shook my head. How could I explain that every instinct I had screamed at me to run?
Reuben’s hand found the small of my back, warm and reassuring. “It’s okay. You’re with me now. You’re safe.”
Safe. The word felt hollow as we stepped through the doorway and into the tunnels, where harsh, fluorescent lights cast everything in a sickly yellow. I let him guide me deeper toward whatever waited.
The tunnel sloped downward. As we descended, the voices grew louder, more distinct. I could make out individual words now, crude betting odds, vulgar commentary, the kind of foul language that made me wince—language I’d heard all too often from the scientists who’d mocked me and my kind.
Then I saw the crowed of well-dressed men in their tailored suits, and women in their designer clothes with glittering jewelry, champagne glasses in their manicured hands.
They didn’t behave like how I’d imagined affluent people would.
They were worse than animals as they shoved each other, shouting obscenities and throwing money around like confetti.
These people no longer mixed with so-called lowlifes, they were elite, the tickets to this fight obviously hard to get and unaffordable to anyone but the most wealthy.
I pulled Adam's shirt tighter around me, all too conscious of how underdressed I was among all this wealth. But as I watched a woman in a ten thousand-dollar plus dress shriek profanities at a man in an Armani suit, I realized something. I might be wearing nothing but ankle boots, jeans and a borrowed man’s shirt, but I was first-class compared to these people.
Reuben guided me past the crowd to a roped-off section with plush leather chairs arranged in tiers overlooking the fighting area below. A man in a tux with silver hair appeared beside us as I took a seat. He carried a silver tray with crystal glasses filled with something I suspected was alcoholic.
“This is Seymour,” Reuben said. He hadn’t bothered taking a seat, not with his barely leashed, potent energy. “He’ll be looking after you tonight. He’ll get you whatever you need.”
Seymour nodded politely, offering me a glass from the tray. “Miss.”
Reuben’s smile was tight as he looked at Seymour. “Don’t let anything happen to her.”
Seymour flinched, a little of the color draining from his face. He obviously understood the implied threat. “Of course, sir. She’ll be perfectly safe.”
I winced. There was that word again. Safe. So why did I feel anything but that right then? I clawed back my composure. No doubt I felt that way because I knew I wouldn’t be going anywhere. I’d learned that lesson at the last fight when I’d tried to escape and Reuben’s men had brought me back.
Reuben turned to me, his expression softening as though he perceived my inner battle. Before I could react, he bent down and kissed me, his rough fingers encircling my wrists on the arms of the chair, his lips soft but possessive as he claimed me in front of everyone.
For a moment, I thought of Adam, of how his touch had made me burn, how every kiss had felt like fire and need and desperation.
But this was different. Gentler. Safer. This was what I wanted, wasn't it?
Someone who chose to protect me instead of imprisoning me.
Someone who showed me tenderness instead of ownership.
Even as the thoughts formed, I knew I was lying to myself. Different captor, same cage. At least Adam had been honest about what I was to him.
A collective gasp rippled through the nearby crowd. Conversations stopped mid-sentence. I could feel dozens of eyes turning toward us, whispers starting to spread like wildfire.
“Did you see that?” someone hissed nearby. “Reuben has never shown a romantic interest in...anyone. Not before a fight.”
“Didn’t you hear? He kissed her before the last fight too.”