Pain explodes across my knuckles when my fist meets its target, wet droplets of ruby red hitting my face as my opponent’s lip splits. A heady sense of euphoria rushes over me when he goes down, lightness suffusing my limbs at the sight of his crumpled, defeated form. It’s followed by a sharp, edgy feeling, my nostrils flaring at the fact that he stays on the ground, forcing me to leash the demon inside that’s desperate to break free. That needs to wreak havoc and cause bloodshed.
The sounds of the crowd filter back into my ears, a mixture of hollers and jeers as some win the bets they placed earlier in the night while others lose.
“The Black Knight remains undefeated tonight!” the ref shouts, my still clenched fist pulled into the air, blood dripping down my arm, much to the crowd’s screaming delight. They don’t call it bare knuckle fighting for nothing, and I relish the sting that throbs along the limb almost as much as the agony I forced upon the guy lying prone on the dirt floor. “Is anyone else brave enough to face this Goliath?”
Silence greets his call, the clear night’s sky surrounding us, stars twinkling in the inky depths above. My lip curls at the thought of taking a second’s enjoyment when my Baby Girl is trapped in a hell not of her making. My jaw tightens like it does every time I think about her, and how fucking useless we are at the moment, leaving her there. It feels too close to abandonment for my liking.
“I’ll fight him,” a familiar, deep voice states into the quiet, and the crowd parts like the red motherfucking sea to let Asher Vanderbilt saunter through, his signature smirk plastered on his lips.
“Think you can win, rich boy?” I snarl, baiting him, letting my gaze travel up and down his body. He’s fit, and pretty stacked, but not a match for me and my bulk.
“Pot and kettle, Black Knight,” he teases back, stripping off his white tee and exposing all that inked-up flesh. He’s been wearing suits less since Lilly went missing, opting for sweats and T-shirts like the rest of us. My lip tilts at the thought of calling him out on it. That’ll rile him up for sure.
“Well, don’t complain when that pretty face of yours gets all bloodied up, Vanderbilt,” I volley back, rolling my neck as he steps right up to me, his bare chest brushing my own sweat and blood-covered torso.
A fissure of guilt runs through me at the knowledge that either Lilly would hate this—us fighting—or really fucking love it. Kai and Loki told us all about how much she enjoyed their company. Fuck, I can’t wait for her to be back with us. I’d even touch this asshole’s dick if she asked me to, just to see that fire in her eyes again.
“You think I’m pretty, Griffiths? I’m afraid you’re not my type, too much between your legs for me,” Ash retorts, and I can’t help the dark chuckle that falls from my lips at the comment.
“We both know that your wife certainly enjoys what’s between my legs,” I reply, grinning smugly when a dark flush creeps up his neck. “What does she call it again…oh yes, my monster cock. But I’m sure that you’re…adequate, pretty boy.”
It’s a testament to our years of training that the only reaction he gives me is a clenching of his fists and flared nostrils. He’s as unflappable as a statue, which is just one of the reasons that he’s our leader.
“You two done flirting, or do you need a moment alone to jerk each other off?” the ref interrupts loudly, the crowd laughing and whooping in the background.
I spit blood at Ash’s feet, a wave of probably unwarranted anger washing over me. He’s part of the reason why I’m not holding my girl right the fuck now. Well, his cunt of a sperm donor is, and it’s far easier than I like to admit to transfer that purple-tinged rage to the son instead of the father.
I can see his face shift, eyes burning molten with wrath as he gears himself up for the fight, and I know he’s just as pissed at himself as I am at my own inadequacies with this situation. I have a moment of hesitation, knowing that I surpassed him a few years back in terms of sheer strength.
“Don’t you dare fucking hold back on me, Griffiths,” he grits out, still issuing orders.
“Don’t worry,” I assure him, a rare smile tugging my lips up. It must not be a nice one as I see him flinch ever so slightly. “I won’t.”
Wasting no more time, I throw a punch that lands a solid hit to his jaw, snapping his head to the side as the sound of his teeth clacking together fills my ears like the finest symphony. He recovers quickly, not like the other shitbags I’ve fought tonight, whipping his head around and landing a closed-fisted strike to my gut that almost has me doubling over. Almost, but not quite, as my own training kicks in.
“You’ve gotten better,” I rasp out, and he gives me a feral grin, his teeth covered in blood.
The next several moments blur into a violent dance, both of us exchanging blows, landing an almost equal number of hits. Blood paints our skin, streaking it with red until we look like demons that have stepped out of hell, covered in our sins. Panting hard, Ash has put up more of a fight than I expected, I’m a little tired from my previous three fights and pause for a millisecond to take a breather. But, unfortunately for him, it looks like I’m still stronger than he is as in the next second I land a solid punch to the side of his temple and he goes down like a sack of shit.
“The Black Knight wins again!” the ref calls, but I sidestep him, going to my fallen leader, kneeling down in the dirt, and giving him a shake. He groans as his long, black eyelashes flutter—no wonder Baby Girl fell for him so hard, fucking pretty boy indeed—and he rolls onto his back.
“Fuck you, Jax,” he rasps, coughing and spitting blood next to my knee.
“Yeah, fuck you too, Ash,” I reply, grabbing his hand and hauling him to his feet.
“Urgh, careful, you fucking neanderthal,” he complains as I settle his arm across my shoulders, wrapping my own around his torso a little more tightly than necessary, eliciting a hiss of pain from his swollen lips. “You were the one that beat the shit out of me, what do you have to be salty about?” I look down into his grey eyes, one almost swollen shut, and just give him a look. “You’re still sore about me marrying Lilly, aren’t you?” he questions, a stupid fucking smile on his face. “I just did what I had to do.”
Another sharp grunt of pain leaves his throat as I poke what I suspect is a very bruised rib.
“Sure you did,” I reply, huffing as his smile remains fixed. People give us a wide berth as we exit, probably on account of the grinning idiot next to me who can barely walk but seems ecstatic about it. Luckily we rode together, as I doubt he’d be able to drive himself, stupid fuck.
Goosebumps pebble my skin as the high of my fights leaves my system, and Ash sighs next to me when we get to my truck. I open the door for him, and before he gets in, he turns to me, his bruised face weary.
“There’s been a development,” he tells me, eyes shrewd once more. My heart gives a painful thud in my chest
“What kind of development?” I question, knowing that it relates back to Baby Girl.
“I’ll tell you when we get back to the dorm,” he replies, and the metal of the car creaks when my fingers tighten on the edge of the door.
“I should have fucking hit you harder,” I grumble, stepping away and making my way around the front to the driver’s side.
“Yeah, you should have,” I hear him mumble, before he steps in and closes the door behind him.
Hand clenching the door handle hard enough that my bloody knuckles turn white, I look to the star-freckled sky and send up a prayer to whatever motherfucker might be out there.
Keep her safe for me.
KAI
I flinch as Jax throws the coffee table across the room, the tinkle of shattering glass at odds with the violence swirling in the room. Loki isn’t faring much better, his fists clenched, breathing hard as he tries to remain in control of himself and his wrath. But I see it, clear as day, swirling in the depths of his emerald eyes. A fire that rages and burns, threatening to consume us all.
I can feel my own pulse spiking, Ash’s revelation about his phone call with Lilly in the early hours calling to my own inner demon. Her situation is so similar to my own, her uncle is as much of a pervert as mine. More so if he is actually her father. Sick fuck. The blackness of my own rage threatens to consume me, eating at the corners of my vision, but I keep my head. Pushing it back until it simmers in the corner, waiting for its target; Adrian Anderson.
“We have to get her now, Ash,” Loki bites out through clenched teeth. “We can’t leave her there, you must know that?” My heart thuds at his pleading tone, my spirit breaking that much more at the knowledge of what she’s up against.
“We don’t have any other fucking choice!” Ash shouts, throwing his hands out wide, an ice pack clutched in one. I wince at the bruises already marking his face, the purples and blues of them already visible. “If Julian even catches the slightest whiff of what we’re planning…”
He doesn’t need to finish his sentence, we all know what Julian Vanderbilt is capable of. The depths he will go to in order to gain more control over the company. Although…
“Are we sure that he’d order her death?” I question, Ash’s head snapping to look at me. “I mean, he knows that we care for her and that if any lasting harm came to her, we’d rebel big time.”
“But as far as he’s aware, we believe that she’s missing,” Ash answers, rubbing his face then hissing when he hits a sore spot. “She could stay missing, he could move her or just cut his losses. Unless we confront him about it, which just feels too risky with her still there, I can’t see any other way forward but to wait until it’s too late for him to do anything about it.”
I nod, hating his words but knowing them to be the truth. We can’t give Julian any reason to hurt her, to kill her. And I’ve no doubt that he would if he felt so inclined. He may find her…appealing, but if she were to die, all her assets go to Ash and thus stay under Julian’s control. For now anyway.
“So we just fucking wait?” Jax snarls, and at least he’s calmed down enough to speak. “And leave her with that pervert?”
“I know, I fucking hate it as much as you do,” Ash confesses, voice fractured and pain-filled. “But I’d rather that than not have her at all. We can help her get over this. We can’t bring her back from the dead.”
We all flinch at his last words, feeling them to the pit of our very tortured souls.
“Fuck!” Loki exhales, though with a sad resignation and not the anger of a few moments before. “How will she ever forgive us for this? We’re leaving her in the hands of a monster.”
“She’ll have the Shadow twins,” Ash assures us, as much as himself I think. “One of them will be with her twenty-four seven. Plus she’s got Mai now, to make sure she’s no longer drugged.”
I clear my throat. “I’ve been able to hack into his security system,” I tell them, narrowed eyes swinging my way. “We can watch her using the CCTV cameras and see for ourselves that she’s okay.” It’s the only reason that I’m able to keep my beast in check right now.
“And you didn’t think to tell us this before?” Ash questions, one brow arched, his voice cold.
“Not my fault you don’t check your phones. The app has been on there all evening.” I shrug, a small tilt lifting my lips when they all rush to take their cells out of their pockets, Ash cursing as his sore fingers fumble with the screen of his brand new iPhone. I walk over and snatch the device out of his grip, earning a feral growl. “Let me.”
A couple of swipes later, the image of our beautiful girl pops up on the screen. She’s sitting at a small table, eating a bowl of something with the sun filtering through the window, while who I assume is Mai talks to her from another seat across from her. My heart swells when Lilly laughs, the musical, joyous sound fills the room even though there’s no sound on the feed. I can hear it clearly in my mind.
We watch, enraptured, as she finishes her meal, breakfast most likely given that it’s early morning in England, and with Mai’s help stands, her rounded stomach obvious in her thin nightgown.
“She’s gotten so big,” Loki whispers, and I look up to see his eyes glued to the screen, tracing every line, every curve of our girl. I look back down to see her go through what I assume is her bathroom door, which closes behind her. Mai waits outside, giving Lilly her privacy which I am grateful for knowing just how much her life has been monitored by that fucking scumbag these past few weeks.
“I’ve sent the twins a burner phone, so soon we will be able to communicate with her too,” I tell them all, my voice soft as I watch the closed bathroom door on the screen, desperate for another glimpse.
No one replies, though I feel the tension leak out of Ash next to me as we continue watching, waiting for our next fix.
We stay that way for a long time, drinking in the sight of the girl who stole our hearts, our souls, before we’d even realised what she was doing.
