Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
EZRA
The roar of the crowd is nearly enough to drown out the alarm bells in my head telling me that this is a bad idea. That I should leave the fight now before it gets me killed. That I should’ve listened to Jade when she told me she was worried.
I could go to her apartment right now and get her back for that little show she put on the other night.
It’d be too easy to walk out of here and not look back, but Noah would be pissed.
There’d be no coming back from that. I’d lose the only family I’ve known since the others have already turned their backs on him to join the Lyndes. Even if they seemed friendly enough and willing to take me in. But that had to be just for show.
Tyson appears beside me, throwing an elbow into my ribs. “I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but you better rein it in. You look like you’re going to be sick.”
“There you are.” Noah steps in front of me, men flanking him on either side.
He looks at Tyson and gives a dismissive nod.
With a shrug, Tyson turns and hurries away before he can get dragged into whatever this is.
Noah looks at the other people near us, and they leave the locker room, the sounds of the screams outside getting louder before fading again when the doors shut.
I drink some water before grabbing the wrap for my hands. “Something I can do for you?”
Noah leans against a bank of lockers, nodding to his men who leave the room. “You could tell me what the fuck you think you were doing meeting with the entire Lynde family.”
“Humoring Jade.”
“Don’t give me that shit. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not an idiot.” Noah looks at me, his arms crossed. “You’re thinking about turning like the others have. I’m not surprised. You’ve never been able to have a mind of your own.”
“And you’re a sick fuck who uses everyone around you, but you don’t hear me complaining.” I wrap my hands, my gaze not breaking his.
It’s a silent challenge that could get me killed right here and now.
I don’t know what I’m doing.
I don’t think I’ve ever known what I was truly doing. I just go along with what he tells me to do, and I don’t take a single moment to think about what’s right or wrong. What’s going to benefit me or fuck up my life more.
Maybe it’s time I start spending a little more time thinking about that.
Noah chuckles. “Smart mouth.”
“Thanks.” I finish wrapping one hand, moving onto the other. “Is there something I can help you with, or did you just come here to try and intimidate me?”
He pushes off the lockers, stalking toward me. “We’re going to deal with the matter of your loyalty after this fight. But right now, your job is to go out there and kill the man standing across from you. And make it a good show. I have a lot of money riding on this fight.”
“I’m going to win the fight, and then after that we’re going to talk about me walking away from this shit.”
His eyes light up with malice as he stands in front of me like I’m a petulant child who needs a talking to. “You’re not walking away from shit. I’m owed something for all the hell you’ve put me through, lately.”
I finish wrapping the other hand. “You ruined my life a long time ago. And I’m done with it. Kill me, don’t kill me, I don’t care.”
Noah laughs. “Oh, poor boy, you sound like an angsty little shit again. Did your little girlfriend finally leave you? I’m not surprised. She was too good for you, even if she is a filthy fucking Lynde.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
He moves, but I’m quicker.
I shove him back into the lockers, the metal denting under the force of his body hitting them.
While he should be pissed, he’s laughing instead, smirking like this was exactly what he wanted.
The bastard is trying to get in my head before a fight.
He wants me to make a mistake.
He wants someone else to kill me so he doesn’t have to.
And I’m not na?ve enough to think that has anything to do with the way he cares for me. I think he just doesn’t want to incite unrest around the rest of the Rinaldos.
If someone else kills me, he has another person to blame. People won’t turn to him and expect answers.
Noah’s smug when I let him go. “You know there’s only one way this is going to end, and it better be the way I want it to. I’m not fucking around with you anymore.”
“Fuck you.”
His hand hovers near the gun at his hip. “Cute. You’re the one who’s pushed me this far, Ezra. I never would’ve had to intervene if you had just done the job I told you to do. Instead, you had to let your obsession get the better of you.”
I don’t answer him.
He’s right, in a way, as fucked up as that is. None of this would be happening right now if I had just done what he wanted me to and kept my head down. I wouldn’t be about to march into the ring and to my death.
He wouldn’t be about to make a fuck ton of money and gain territory before he has me killed.
I’m going to throw the fucking fight, and then I’m going to find Jade.
If I can survive the fight, at least. They might still try to kill me even if I don’t fight back.
Noah takes one last look at me. “I hope your death is more peaceful than your life.”
He leaves me standing there in the locker room with nothing but the confirmation that tonight is going to be the night I die. Not that I’m surprised.
Jade was right. I knew she would be, and I still came here.
Even if I survive tonight, she’s not going to want anything to do with me.
Tyson pokes his head into the room. “Your turn.”
“Great.”
He steps into the room, looking around, catching sight of the dent in the lockers. “Everything okay in here?”
“Don’t think it’s ever been okay, but it’s not like there’s really any other option, is there?”
Tyson shrugs. “Think we do the best we can with the shit life we’ve been given.”
“I can’t keep doing this.”
Tyson opens the door again. “Good. Nothing left to do but get out there, I guess.”
“I’m not coming back once this is over. He’s either going to kill me, or I’m going to have to switch to the other side.”
“Probably for the best. I don’t think Noah’s going to last much longer in his position. People are getting restless, and he’s not doing much beyond fucking his own people over.”
“You should get out while he’s pissed about me. It’ll be safer.”
Tyson leads the way out of the locker room. “Planning on it. I’m not sticking around, though. Getting the hell out of here. Changing my name. Cutting all ties to New York.”
“Only thing you should be doing. It was nice knowing you.” I clap him on the shoulder as we get to the edge of the ring.
“Keep yourself alive after this.”
“I’ll try.”
Taking a deep breath, I shake out the tension.
I need to get my head in this long enough to survive the night. And then somehow, I need to swallow my pride long enough to beg Aiden to give me protection.
Dying might be the better option.
I can barely breathe. My nose is broken again. Pain is searing beneath my ribs.
I think I might have a punctured lung, but it’s hard to tell when fists keep raining down and knocking the air out of my lungs all over again.
Red stains my vision, but I think it’s from blood.
I don’t remember the last time I took a beating like this.
Noah can’t have me killed if the deal is riding on my winning the fight. He’ll have to wait until later, and knowing him, he’ll want to make sure I’m fully healed so he can take his time killing me. A quick death would be a mercy, and I’ve never known him to hand out one of those.
“Fight back,” the man grunts before punching me again.
I curl up, protecting the back of my neck with my hands.
A foot slams into my back.
More pain.
Kick to the shins.
Pain.
Punch to my torso.
Pain.
Then, the fight is called to an end.
The man above me throws in a couple more punches for good measure.
The crowd is on their feet and screaming. People press close to the ring, the scent of sweat, blood, and beer in the air.
Though it feels impossible, I stagger to my feet.
I have to get out of here while there are people blocking me from sight. Putting one foot in front of the other hurts. Drawing in a breath hurts more.
I keep pushing, weaving through the bodies, elbows up, shoving my way to the emergency exit.
My car is there, hidden behind old stacks of crates and beneath a tattered tarp.
I knew this would be my one shot at escape well before I got here, and now I’m taking it.
People shove into me. Hands grab for me. At one point, I think I hear my name being called.
I keep moving, though. Head down. One foot in front of the other.
The moment I’m in the car, I lock the doors and drive.
My head is spinning and blood seeps through all the cuts on my body. It’s getting harder to breathe, and as I suck in another sharp breath, I know I need to see a doctor.
That can wait, though. First, I need to get to Jade. I need to be with her and see that she’s fine. I need to tell her she was right about everything. That I don’t know how the hell I’m going to fit into her life, but I’m going to try.
I pull my phone out of the glovebox while I’m driving, pulling up the camera feeds. She still thinks she’s found them all, and I don’t think I’m ever going to tell her any different. I like being able to watch her when I want to. To know that she’s safe, and I’m the only one who can get to her.
And right now, it’s coming in handy.
There she is, in the kitchen of her new restaurant. It’s gutted.
She’s walking on plywood floors, pacing back and forth, muttering to herself and eyeing a pile of crumbling brick like it’s done something to offend her.
Noah won’t go after her tonight. It’ll be too risky when he doesn’t know where I am.
And as long as I get to her first, he’s never going to be able to put a hand on her.
I put the phone on the seat beside me, looking at the feed every now and then as I weave through traffic, getting closer and closer to the restaurant.
I park the car out front, heart pounding in my chest, head light. Thankfully, I think most of the wounds have at least scabbed over, so I don’t track blood into her building.
She’d probably kill me herself.
As I haul open the door, she turns around, her eyes wide, the color draining from her face. “Ezra?”
“Hi, love.”
She puts her hands on her hips, taking me in. “I see you went to the fight.”
“And took one hell of a beating so I could make sure I could leave it.” I close the door behind me, twisting the lock in place.
“You need to go to a fucking hospital.”
“You’re not going to do that, though, are you?” She sighs and pulls her phone out of her pocket.
I start to say something, but that light feeling in my head gets worse.
I could be floating, for all I know. She’s certainly moving in front of me, the edges of her body becoming blurry and starting to dance.
“Love, I don’t feel so good.”