Chapter 8 #2
He didn’t need to ask anyway, because the moment Loveless got close to the arguing men, he pulled out his famous garrote from his pocket and wrapped the line around one of the men’s necks.
He yanked the line hard, and despite the large number of people in the room, a silence fell over the crowd and their attention turned to Loveless choking the man.
The man struggled, scratching at Loveless’s hands with desperation as his face turned red, then blushed purple before it started to fade out to a worrying blue. The other man he was arguing with backed away, fear so blatantly obvious on his face that I could see it from a distance.
Finally, the man Loveless was choking went limp.
Loveless let the lifeless body crash to the floor. The eerie quietness thickened as Loveless pointed at the other man. “Fight outside the cage again and I’ll put you in the cage with the most dangerous men I own until you’ve taken your final breath. Got it?”
The man nodded furiously, one apology after another spilling from his lips before Loveless flicked his hand in disinterest, giving the man permission to leave. The man turned and rushed away as two large guards came to lift the dead body from the floor.
Vail’s wide eyes watched with interest.
“Well, we should take our seats,” Fionn said.
We said our goodbyes to the Ukrainians and found the reserved seats for us over on the other side.
The moment we sat down, Lor entered, his long legs moving quickly as he headed straight toward us.
He had on a hoodie, which was unusual for him, and he ducked his head as Vail stood and waved his hand enthusiastically.
When Lor reached us, he mumbled “hello.” Vail had invited Lor to the event, and while I wasn’t sure if it was his thing, I’d agreed he could come.
It was unusual for him to wear a hoodie because usually he loved showing off his black hair with a white streak, but I didn’t question his attire decisions.
“Where have you been?” Vail demanded, waving Lor toward a seat at his side. “I said you could ride with us. We would’ve taken an SUV. You missed the action. Someone actually died. Died, Lor.”
Lor mumbled again.
“What?” Vail asked.
“Sorry.” Lor didn’t sound right, and the hair on my arms rose. I watched him carefully, but he kept his head down.
“Lor?” Vail grabbed the hoodie and tugged it off, revealing Lor’s face.
Shock slammed into me, stealing my breath for a moment.
His usual wavy black hair with a white stripe was gone, leaving behind a buzz cut.
Fionn made a sound beside me, but I wasn’t sure if it was in amusement or surprise.
Fionn didn’t like Lor, even though they were technically cousins, but it was easier to list the people Fionn did get along with.
Vail gasped. “What happened to your hair?”
Lor shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “Wanted a change.”
“Change?” Cillian grunted out, shifting forward in his seat to get a better look around Vail. “That’s more than a wee change. Ye cut it all off, kid.”
Something passed across Vail’s face and he smiled in sympathy. “Are you sad about Sloan going to jail?”
Lor blinked owlishly. “No, I—”
“I’m sad, too. So is Conall and Fionn and everyone else.” Vail stroked Lor’s shoulder in comfort before he gripped Lor’s forearm and dragged him toward the spare seat. “Don’t worry. We understand, and we support you.”
Lor sighed and sent Vail a small smile, one that said Vail was wrong but he was agreeing because it was easier than arguing.
“We should all shave our heads!” Vail said, sitting down, then bouncing in his seat. I’d been around him long enough to realize that once he got an idea in his head, it became an obsession. “In solidarity!”
“No,” Cillian said, not missing a beat. “Love ye, firebug, but no.”
My heart gave a sharp, hard tug and I pressed my lips together tightly until I was sure they were white.
This should have been me and Sloan, laughing and joking and telling the other we loved them, even though we hadn’t said the words yet.
But instead, he was in jail and I was here, listening to other people be in love.
I didn’t resent them for their relationship, they deserved it, but why couldn’t Sloan be beside me, too?
I ignored their conversation and focused on the cage in front of me. The spotlights gleamed on the fighters and the music booming around the small stadium lowered until the sound disappeared. The show was about to begin.
I closed my eyes and thought about Sloan.
We’d been to a couple of fights together and it was nice.
Peaceful. I’d joked that it was a date night, and Sloan hadn’t argued.
Not many people thought a date to a brutal underground cage match was fun or romantic, but I did.
The raw masculinity and strength that came from these men was powerful to watch, but more than that, it was hot.
After the fight, Sloan took me home to fuck me roughly. Tonight, I didn’t have that.
I rubbed my chest as a streak of pain fired across it and I let out a sharp breath.
“Conall?” Fionn’s concerned voice broke through the haze of memories. “Are you okay?”
I snapped my eyes open and smirked at him. “You worried about your papa, son?”
Fionn groaned. “Forget I asked.”
I laughed and nudged his shoulder with mine. “I’m fine. Stop stressing. I’m not going to keel over any time soon.”
He frowned. “That’s not funny. If anything happened to you, Sloan would follow.” He pursed his lips. “And I like having you both in my life.”
“Aww. You love me.” I laid a hand on my chest, ignoring how fast my heart was under my palm, and it wasn’t because of Fionn’s words.
My heart had been racing like this for short periods over the last couple of days for no reason.
I suspected what had started out as stress was snowballing into full-blown anxiety.
“You love your papa. I’m so happy. You’re my favorite son. ”
Fionn rolled his eyes and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “that’s because I’m your only son,” shocking another laugh from me. Daire glanced at us from Fionn’s other side, amusement glittering in his eyes.
The lights around the arena dimmed until it was pitch black, and I focused on the cage.
Mishura and the Polish man walked into the middle of the ring, where a referee stood.
While the referee was there to interfere if it went too far, there were basically no limits.
I’d seen men die in that cage—bloodied and broken and dragged out of the ring as a corpse.
“Gentlemen, you know the rules.” The referee grinned meanly. “There are no rules. The match will go until one person is unconscious or concedes. Understood?”
The two fighters nodded and tapped their wrapped hands to each other’s.
“Good luck.”
I took a deep, shuddery breath as a whistle blew, and focused all my attention on the fight.
I closed my eyes, the sounds of the match narrowing as a high-pitched ringing echoed in my ears.
My vision swam, an array of blurriness around the edges with golden dots flashing in front of me.
Every one of my limbs grew heavy, and when I squeezed my fingers into a fist, nails digging into my palm, it felt like my hand belonged to someone else.
This wasn’t right.
Damn it.
Before I knew it, before I could comprehend what was happening in front of me, the fight was over—the Ukrainian won, so we went over to give our congratulations.
Getting to the car was more of a sprint than a leisurely walk, and I led the pack. Ready to get out of here and sleep off whatever was happening to me.
If I could sleep it off, I would have already. I ignored the thought.
I groaned when Ronan, Fionn, and Daire were in the car and ran my palms over my face.
My head throbbed. The lights of the match had finally taken their toll, and my body ached as though I’d been the one in the ring.
My neck was stiff and moving my head produced excruciating spasms that had me whimpering.
Fionn glanced at me from where he sat beside me in the back seat of the car. Daire and Ronan were in the front, with Ronan at the wheel. “I don’t think you’re as fine as you tell me you are. Conall . . . are you depressed?”
I didn’t have the energy to argue. Everything fucking hurt and my vision was growing blurrier. I shivered through a flash of heat. The world around me went from cold to hot and back again.
“Sure,” I replied easily. “I miss him, but so do you.”
“Sir?” Ronan peered at me through the rearview mirror. “Do you need to go to the EK?”
He was referring to the Eoin Killough Memorial Hospital, a place Sloan had built for both the legitimate and illegitimate side of our business.
“No. Take me home.” I leaned against the door and exhaled, another tremble sliding through me. “I want to go to bed.”
“Sir.” Daire turned in his seat, focused on me. “It’s best if we have a doctor look at you.”
“For what? Being sad? I said no,” I snapped, harsher than I’d meant to. “I’m a fucking adult. I can take care of myself.”
Daire and Fionn looked at each other, and I hated that they were talking without saying a word. Sloan and I did that, but now he was in jail. Away from me. Too fucking far.
“I talked with the boss,” Daire said, earning my attention.
I forced myself to sit up. “Why? What did he say? I haven’t heard from him in days. Is something wrong?”
“He’s fine, sir. He’s worried about you.”
I groaned and lay back against the headrest. “Well, you can tell him his pet is perfectly healthy and ready for his dick. So he needs to get out of that jail quick.”