Chapter 6
E mmeline
“I heard a rumour there was meant to be a celebrity here,” said a lawyer. She stood in front of the mirror in the dressing room, twisting a curl of her black hair just right over her cheek.
She was stunning and clearly prided herself on her appearance. I admired her for it, but I was intimidated, too.
Between the two of us, no sane man would fight for me.
“Who?” another asked, peering out of the door. She had a pert face and blonde curls that had to be extensions from the impressive length.
“A boxer? I don’t watch sports but I’ve heard of him. Malachi Hunan. He was spotted coming in for an interview. But apparently, he didn’t show.”
My heart sank. Malachi wasn’t a boxer. His sport was MMA. But there was no point correcting them. Not that I had the will now I knew he hadn’t come.
“I know his face. What woman doesn’t? I would definitely have seen him arrive. I was watching all the men come in,” the woman at the door replied.
“You watched them? I thought we weren’t allowed.” This came from a shy woman with a pixie cut and warm tawny skin. She’d mostly hidden at the back. Her hands shook with a fear I shared.
Our fifth member, with glossy brown hair hiding an undercut, had discarded her strappy heels on the dressing room floor, checked her reflection, then sprinted off barefoot to hide.
I’d slipped my own shoes off, too. I’d come tonight in the only sexy item of clothing I owned—a little black dress with a flirty high hem—and had daringly left off underwear. My boobs were big enough to hold shape, and Shade had warned me not to bring anything I didn’t want torn or broken. He also reiterated that I’d probably end up naked, so I’d booked myself in for a full-body sculpt, hair removal, and mani-pedi.
I felt like a stranger but in a good way. Fresh and free. Ready to take on a new chapter in my life with a purely physical start to it. I could barely remember the last time I’d had sex, but I was going to daily for the next month.
Except not with Malachi.
I couldn’t get over that.
My obsession with him had reached towering proportions. I’d read all there was to know about the man and watched countless interviews. He had two daughters from a previous relationship and spent a lot of time with them. He was often pictured with his parents at his matches. I had to confess to myself that I’d built a fantasy world around him catching me.
If he wasn’t here, it couldn’t happen.
For God’s sake, even if he was, would he ever have picked me? I was delusional.
Yet I wouldn’t walk out of here unclaimed. The rules made that perfectly clear.
The lawyer rolled her eyes. “Being here tonight is the very definition of doing things we’re not meant to do. Yes, I watched them. I picked out the top two I wanted. Stay the fuck away from me once we’re moving, and see you on the other side.”
The rest of us stared at her.
A buzzer sounded, and everyone jumped.
The lady at the door exhaled excitement. “That’s our signal. The cameras are on and the siren will go off in a minute. I feel like I’m going to puke.”
She sprinted away, the others going, too. I held back.
Never in my life had I felt this out of control. All this over a fantasy of a man I’d never see again because he wasn’t here .
Panic tasted sour on my tongue. I needed to get out.
At the exit, I turned left and ran to the basement door. Smacked on it with a balled fist.
“Let me out! I don’t want to do this anymore. I changed my mind.”
No one answered, but the camera blinked down at me, capturing every moment.
“Help me,” I yelled.
I swore I heard a dark laugh through the thick metal door.
A siren pierced the space.
I jumped a foot in the air and ran, back the way I’d come and down a corridor that led past the open space where the cages clanked open. Men poured out. Most only in jeans and a skeleton mask, some with black paint across their eyes, others already bloodied. All big and clearly enraged.
Terror filled me.
Angry shouts followed and, on the rough concrete, footsteps pounded that matched the out-of-control thump of my pulse. For a petrified heartbeat, I scanned them, searching for him. It was no good. As the lawyer had stated, he hadn’t come.
Disappointment marked my hasty retreat.
The basement was a huge, open space bisected by a thick wall with metal steps that ran up to a suspended walkway. There was a kind of overseer’s office above the action, but I didn’t attempt to reach that. I didn’t have time. Two men already stalked up the steps.
Instead, all I could do was put distance between myself and the mass of bodies.
A scream rang out. I chanced a peek over my shoulder to see the shy pixie-cut woman caught between two men. She was a foot shorter than both. One threw a punch that connected with the second man’s jaw, and he spun away and howled, clutching his face.
Another took the first man by surprise, hooking him by the throat and grappling him to the floor which was already speckled with shiny blood. The majority of the men seemed concentrated in that one spot, another of the women at the far back, fending one off with a startling and accurate kick to the gut.
I winced at the violence.
This was awful. Not the thrilling event I’d anticipated, where I’d overlaid the action with Malachi. With him here, I’d have felt safe.
The opposite was my reality.
I didn’t stick around to witness any more.
Bolting down the right-hand side of the wall, I ducked into a deep doorway, breathing hard in the shadowy space that temporarily concealed me. I wouldn’t be safe here for long, but my legs wouldn’t take me further.
Banding my arms around my knees, I tucked my head down and shook. I couldn’t avoid hearing the fights. The chasing. The shouts.
I was a fool to think I was out of it.
Opening my eyes, I peered out.
My view of the basement arena reduced to a narrow slice. In it, the contestant who hadn’t hung out with us in the changing room jumped down from somewhere high then stopped dead. She had her focus on a person out of sight round the curve of the wall, she paced backwards, toe to heel, never taking her eyes off whoever she could see.
A man came into sight. He shoved a shock of dark hair from his eyes then extended his hand. “Stop,” he crooned.
She kept moving, her nostrils flaring.
“I’ve got you now. I’m claiming you as mine,” the guy bit out.
“Prove yourself,” she snarled back.
Despite her tone, despite the circumstances, I somehow knew she was interested. She straightened to bring her shoulders back and her chest out. Her eyes gleamed.
Her suitor, for want of a better word, tugged down his mask to reveal a warm, appreciative smile. He was handsome, in a boy-next-door kind of way. They fitted each other’s vibe.
A heavy thudding preceded another man running in. With a gasp, he threw himself at the suitor. “I’m going to have her. Get the fuck away.”
The two tumbled to the concrete in a whir of fists flying. It was obvious which the woman wanted. She pressed her fingertips to her mouth, gaze glued to the dark-haired man. When he took a hit, she jerked. When they rolled her way, she threw a punch of her own to a growl of approval from her man.
In a flash of understanding, I got it. They didn’t know each other. They didn’t know anything about each other. All they had was a millisecond of attraction, and it was enough for them to draw blood in want of the other.
It didn’t make me want to try, though. Just for this to be over. Except it couldn’t be. Not until every one of us was caught.
An abrupt cry of ecstasy rent the air, followed by the distinctive sound of sex, coming from back the way I’d run. A man grunted, and a woman moaned in a long undulation. They were… fucking . I made myself voice the word. One of the women had been claimed. Oh God. Someone else whimpered in pleasure as if enjoying their show, and another howled in unmistakable defeat.
Something cracking brought my attention back to the trio closer to me. The dark-haired man rolled off his opponent and jumped to his feet. The man didn’t move. The crack had been a bone breaking, I was almost certain.
Frantically, I skimmed my gaze over the fallen man, cataloguing him as only a medic could. He was breathing, that was one thing. His limbs were straight. Probably his ribs I’d heard break then.
“Mine,” the dark-haired man yelled.
He backed the woman to the wall. I jumped my attention to them. With a bloodied hand, he grasped the front of her shirt and tore it straight down the middle, displaying her bare breasts.
Her chest heaved. She put her palms flat on the painted breeze blocks at her back, peering up at him with such emotion in her eyes it caught me in shock.
He didn’t waste time or further words. He opened his jeans and freed his erection. Then he tugged up her miniskirt to an indecent level, cupped her backside, and lifted her into his arms, guiding her legs around his waist. His body concealed hers now. Only her arms and legs around him and a glimpse of her rapt expression were visible when he adjusted his position to fit himself to her entrance and jerked his hips to seal the deal.
Claimed.
Another couple matched up, and happily so.
Seconds later, a thunder of steps brought two other men bearing down on them. One skinny with a scraggly beard peeking out from under his skeleton bandanna, the other a huge beast of a man who threatened Malachi for size. They shouted in anger when they realised the deal was done.
In my hiding space, I shivered and shrank in on myself, a tear overspilling and rolling down my cheek. Not only for the fear of the night, but also because of a surprising degree of envy as well. Oh, to be that woman. To be so sure of the man who’d caught her. To want this.
He drove in and out of her, both tucking their heads against the other. Unlike the other couple, they didn’t howl and scream. I was close enough to hear the act but also their quiet words.
“I already love you,” the man said. “Tell me your name. I’m Jacob.”
“Peonie. I love you, too.”
How could they say that? I found it hard to understand, yet at the same time believed them. Or I believed they would make it so by saying that every day for a month while exploring the other’s body.
My reveries were short-lived.
I’d lost track of the rest of the fight. Two women had been claimed, but besides me, two hadn’t, at least that I knew of.
And judging by the men who’d given up on the happy couple and were prowling my way, I was in grave danger of being next.