21. Nyah
NYAH
Dear Diary,
Everyone ran away. Except him.
In the back seat of a limo, Carlos kissed my neck, and I tried to act like I liked it.
In the seats facing us, Lynx determinedly stared out the window, refusing to pay attention to the spectacle Carlos was making by dragging me onto his lap and pawing at me.
But Luca, sitting beside Lynx, had no such concerns about giving us any privacy. He sat back, legs spread wide, arms crossed over his chest, his gaze trained on me.
There was a challenge in his eyes, in his posture.
In the way he stared unashamedly while his father skirted the line of indecent public displays of affection.
At least this time, he couldn’t put his finger straight inside me like he had the other morning at breakfast. The jeans I’d picked out put a stop to that, though it didn’t stop him from grabbing my boobs.
I tilted my head back against his shoulder, giving him better access to my neck and hoping he didn’t notice the way my skin crawled at his touch.
This was what I needed. To give Carlos a taste so, later tonight, once he’d had a few drinks and was all hopped up on the excitement of the fights, he’d have sex with me.
His fingers tweaking my nipples didn’t feel anything like when I’d done it to myself earlier.
And it didn’t feel anything like the way I’d imagined his son’s touch.
If I was getting hot right now, it definitely wasn’t because of Carlos, but because Luca was watching, refusing to turn away even for a second.
It was a sweet relief when the car finally stopped and Carlos pushed me off his lap like I was a cheap stripper, whose name he hadn’t even bothered to learn, rather than his fiancée. He looked out the window. “What is this?”
Luca sat and waited for the driver to get out and open the door, like the stuck-up asshole he was.
“This is where the street fights have been moved to. I told you; the cops raided them the last time they were held in the gym parking lot. This is the new location they found.” He checked something on his phone.
“It’s all happening in the basement, and I’m told it’s the ‘new and improved’ Saint View fights. ”
Lynx frowned, surveying the building as we all got out. “What does that mean? New and improved?”
Luca shrugged. “No idea, but I guess we’re about to find out. Come on.”
Enzo, Bruno, and Viktor pulled up in a car behind us, and all seven of us walked across the parking lot. Luca led, Carlos dropped back to talk to Enzo and the Goon twins, and Lynx, as my bodyguard, fell into step with me in the middle.
He awkwardly didn’t look in my direction. He stared straight ahead, thumping base drifting around us from the warehouse.
I peered up at him. “Are you okay?”
He nodded sharply. “Sure. Fine.”
He clearly wasn’t. But it wasn’t my place to pry. And if I was going to take an educated guess, it would be he hadn’t really wanted to see the free almost sex show Carlos and I had given him in the car.
Couldn’t blame him. I wish I hadn’t had to see it either.
But when he spoke, that actually wasn’t what he wanted to complain about. “Did you know your bathroom and Luca’s share a wall?”
I glanced at him and then shrugged. “I hadn’t really thought about it but I guess they do. They’re kind of mirror opposites of each other, aren’t they? Makes sense, design wise. Then you only need to put the plumbing in one space—”
“The wall is thin, Nyah. Very fucking thin.”
I frowned. “Okay? And you’re telling me this because…”
He finally glanced down at me. “Because if you’re going to get yourself off somewhere, maybe don’t do it next to the wall that you share with him. I could hear everything, right down to the buzz of your vibrator.”
I widened my eyes in embarrassment. Then narrowed them as a thought occurred to me. ‘Wait, what were you doing in Luca’s bathroom?”
It was dark, but I was sure that was pink flushing up his neck.
What the hell was that about?
We caught up to Luca at the door before I could question Lynx any further.
He talked with a burly security guard who stepped aside, and we followed Luca down two flights of rickety metal stairs, the music getting louder and louder as we descended.
I glanced back over my shoulder and stifled a laugh at Carlos trying to act casual, but his face screwed up and his hand hovered an inch over the handrail, like he knew it was full of germs and he couldn’t stomach the thought of touching it.
Not wanting to be anything like him, I grabbed it, using it to steady myself so I didn’t trip and fall headfirst into Luca in front of me.
Though something told me that would be impossible with Lynx at my side.
Even still, I didn’t know how quick his reflexes were.
And after his little comment about Luca’s bathroom, I was now wondering if Lynx was just as preoccupied by Luca as I was.
I didn’t want to land flat on my face because he was too busy thinking about whatever the two of them had done in that bathroom.
I’d definitely be thinking about that later though. That would be a lovely little goodnight treat.
We got to the bottom of the stairs, and I sucked in a sharp breath. “Holy shit.”
Lynx instantly moved closer to me, his hand coming instinctively to the small of my back.
And I was glad for the safety of how big and tall he was.
Because the room was packed full of bodies, the majority of them men, drinks or cigarettes clutched in their hands, all of them focused on the cage in the middle of the room and the fighters inside it.
One fighter, in nothing but black shorts, his hands strapped with white tape, circled his opponent. They eyed each other, both of them moving lightly on their feet, and the other man’s face came into view.
My heart stopped.
It took too long for my brain to put together his face and the fact I knew it so well it felt etched into my soul.
Because he shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be in this crowd, let alone in that ring.
A cry slipped from my lips, and without even thinking about what I was doing, I pushed through the crowd, slipping through the tightly packed men easier because I was so much smaller.
I lost Lynx quickly, and him shouting my name disintegrated into the roar of the crowd as Dax’s opponent threw the first punch.
He missed, but the second one connected.
The sound of flesh hitting flesh rolled my stomach, the way morning sickness had for the first few weeks of my pregnancy.
Urgency lit up inside me, and I fought my way to the front of the swarm of men around me, giving myself a front-row view of Dax taking three fast punches, two to his midsection, and one straight across the face.
I gripped the metal cage so hard my knuckles turned white.
I wanted to call out to him. Wanted to shout his name, but no sound would come out.
Despite the blows he’d taken, Dax was the next to strike, kicking out hard and fast, a viperlike kick that caught the other man in the ribs.
The next two punches were Dax’s, connecting with the man’s stomach and cheek.
Then more, each punch landing so solidly it sent his opponent’s sweat flying through the air.
Black Shorts gave back just as good as he got, and soon the two of them were trading blow for blow.
But it was clear to me, and to the crowd, who the better fighter was.
Dax moved faster. Hit harder. Around me, the crowd began chanting his name, excitement building because they knew a knockout was coming. The crowd surged behind me, forcing me into the metal of the makeshift cage so hard I was sure it would be imprinted on my cheek.
More and more people swarmed, the pressure around me building.
The groan of metal under strain came from somewhere above my head.
A bolt snapped.
“It’s collapsing!” someone shouted.
I could barely breathe from the crush of the men around me.
In the ring, the two men stopped fighting, both spinning around to take in the straining metal they were enclosed by.
Dax’s gaze met mine. Slid past. Then came straight back. “Nyah?”
Another bolt snapped, and someone screamed.
The cage came down, the huge, heavy metal falling forward, taking me with it.
I hit the floor, my knees and wrists taking all the impact.
Men fell around me, onto me, and chaos erupted in the dim light of the room as people rushed about, trying to get away from the metal bars crashing down around us.
I screamed, trying to cover my head and my stomach all at once, the shouts around me sharp in my ears and fueling my panic.
I needed to get up. Get on my feet, or I was going to be crushed in a stampede of men who didn’t care about anything in that moment, other than getting away from the heavy metal cage falling apart.
Except I couldn’t get up. There were too many people, too much noise. I tried but I was pushed back down over and over.
And through it all, I just kept looking for him. For Dax. My sweet-hearted artist, who should have never been in that cage to begin with.
Someone’s boot caught the side of my head, and my vision swam. Everything was blurry, and I choked on dirt and dust stirred up in the air.
And all I could think about was how just a few weeks ago, this never would have happened. I would have spent my Friday night wrapped up in Dax’s arms, safe in his bed in the shitty house he kept, but the happiest girl in the world.
And now I was here, tears streaming down my face, screaming for him amongst a crowd of men who cared so little for me that they would mow me down to save themselves.
“Nyah!”
I was almost sure I was imagining his voice. I’d caught a kick to the head that had me so foggy I thought he’d managed to get to me.
“Nyah!”
But then his arms were around me, and I was up off the floor, arms around his neck, holding on to him with everything I had and breathing him in because everything inside me had craved him for so long.
“I’ve got you, baby. It’s okay. I’m going to get you out.”
I had no idea where we were going. Where Luca or Lynx or Carlos were, but I couldn’t care.