Fierce (24 page)

Brawl
or Die

I stare in complete and utter abhorrence at
the cage in the center of the warehouse. Hunter is going all out in a fight
with a guy twice his size.

They’re punching, jabbing, thrusting their
whole bodies at each other as much as possible. Every second a quick jab is
thrown out. I can’t even follow their movements, they’re so fast. They’re like
two raging bulls storming at each other, continuously beating each other up.

So this is what Hunter has been doing all
this time. Each time he came to my room all busted up, he’d been in a fight
just like this. In a cage, beating up his opponents until they passed out.

I’m trembling in my seat, trying to make
sense of it all.

Evie’s equally as terrified as I am; she
hasn’t spoken since we both saw Hunter fighting.

Is this what they make him do? Fight people
for money?

And how long has he been doing this? Hours?
Days? Has he been locked up in here ever since he left after Scarlet’s death?

I can’t believe he would let them do this
to him. That he’d agree to something this horrible.

It’s hard to watch.

Hunter’s nose is bleeding, his jaw is purple,
and his eye is swollen. It looks like he’s already taken quite a beating.

He wipes his nose with the back of his
hand, which from a distance looks covered in bruises. The look in his eyes is
bloodthirsty, murderous. Clenching his jaw, he runs toward his opponent and
rams him down with brute force.

The guy flops down on the hard concrete
ground, and I think I hear something crack. The audience goes ‘ooh,’ and I
wince when the guy places his hands on his ribs, his face contorting with pain.

Hunter prowls toward him with a smug smile
on his face. Grabbing the hem of the guy’s shirt, he lifts part of his torso up
into the air, and raises his fist. He mouths something, but nobody can hear it.
Then he punches the guy straight in the face.

Multiple times.

My eyes widen. I’m shocked.

Hunter beats the guy’s face to a pulp and
doesn’t let go until he’s fainted, his body limp in Hunter’s hands.

I’m disgusted.

The crowd bursts out into cheers, while I
want to throw up in a bucket. I can barely hold down my dinner.

“It’s a win for the Hunter!” A big tattooed
guy dangles a key between his fingers and opens a barred door right behind the
fainted guy. Hunter backs away, spitting out some blood, and goes back to his
side of the cage. Clinging onto the bars, he gazes at the crowd, peering at
each and every one of them.

When his tongue dips out of his mouth, and
he licks his lips, I can’t help but feel hot.

And then he roars. The crowd goes mad.

“Who’s the motherfucking Hunter?” he yells.

“You are!” the crowd chants.

Apparently they’ve found a new favorite.

I can’t blame them. He’s my favorite too.

Although I don’t want to admit it, because
this is so fucking bad I can’t even describe it, he looks goddamn sexy as hell
in that cage. His red sweatpants hang low on his hips, his V-line clearly
showing. He’s half-naked. His abs are bulging as he flexes his taut shoulders,
and drops of sweat roll down his chest.

A smug smile appears on his face as one of
his fans, a girl with a pink blouse and boobs the size of melons, hands him a
bottle of water. She squeals when he snatches it from her hand and throws the
contents over his head and body.

I could enjoy seeing that, if I were to
forget for even one second that he’s actually fighting people for money. Damn.

The big guy whistles, alerting two other
guys to come pick up the body and drag him out, while the guy with the keys
stares Hunter down. He blocks the exit, his hands hovering over his hips. In
his pocket there’s a glinting object. A knife.

I gasp.

And then Hunter looks my way.

I freeze, my breath faltering. His eyes
narrow as he looks at my face, and then they widen as he realizes it’s me.

I bite my lip; his jaw drops.

No. I don’t want him to know that I’m here.
That I’m watching him do this fucked-up shit.

But now it’s too late.

Another guy enters the cage, this one much
bulkier than the previous. He bellows, slapping his own chest like a gorilla.
The guy with the keys locks the door again, trapping Hunter inside.

Hunter barely takes his eyes off me.

But I can’t take my eyes off the guy who
just came into the cage.

My heart is beating in my throat. I don’t
think I’m breathing.

It’s the same guy that once tried to rape
me on the street.

Those tattoos, I’d recognize them anywhere.
It’s him. It’s really him.

Now I understand what he meant when he said
that he’d meet Hunter in the arena. This is the arena. This is his rematch. A
fight for revenge.

Fuck.

The guy approaches Hunter from behind, and
I watch in horror as he drags a distracted Hunter away from the bars and pounds
him right in the back. Hunter arches his back, the blow too much for him to
take, and blood shoots from his mouth.

Hunter immediately hits the guy in the
balls with a backward kick, and releases himself from his grip. He pants,
turning to his opponent, and barely manages to stand up straight. He winces,
the pain clearly showing on his face.

“I’m going to kill you!” the guy yells in
his face.

Cracking his knuckles, Hunter waits until
the guy comes at him, while I bite my nails in frustration and fear. Suddenly I
notice the guy has a knife in his back pocket.

I panic.

“Hunter!” I scream. “Knife!”

Hunter turns his head toward me, his eyes
filled with primal despair as he responds to my cry. Temporarily distracted, he
doesn’t see the jab coming straight for his face. It’s my fault.

His body can’t absorb the blow, and he’s
hit so hard that he flies across the cage. I hold my breath as I see him crash
into the bars of the cage. His eyes show an expression of pure agony.

Tears well up in my eyes. I can’t watch
this. I can’t be here. I’m only hurting him. I can’t watch him do this to
himself. To be the victim of someone else’s frenzy.

I stand up and run all the way to the end
of the bleachers.

“Hey!” Evie screams, coming after me. “Wait
up!”

I run through the crowd toward the door as
Evie catches up to me.

“Where are you going?” she says.

“This is horrible, I can’t watch him
getting beaten to a pulp.”

She grabs my hand before I walk away. “I’m
going with you.”

We pass the guard near the door, who
flashes us a look, and then we go out through the door. The noises behind us
are still too much to take, so we go all the way up the stairs until we’re
outside on the streets again. I can finally breathe again.

“Damn, that was scary,” Evie says. “What
the fuck is going on? Why did you get tickets for this? Is Hunter in some kind
of underground fight club or something? Those guys all wore the same shirt,
something with Alpha Psi on it. What the fuck does it mean?”

I stare at her, panting. She squints.

“You’ve not been telling me the entire
story, have you?”

“I didn’t know it was this bad,” I say.
“Yes, he’s in a frat club. An illegal one. And they deal drugs and fight with
people.”

“What?” she snaps. “Deal drugs? Are you
fucking kidding me?”

“I wish I was, but it’s the truth. Hunter’s
involved in something way beyond normal.”

“No shit. And you knew about this?”

“Partially …” I say.

She taps her foot on the floor. “Well, I
don’t expect you to share everything, but the least you could’ve told me was
that your boyfriend is a freaking criminal!”

“He’s not. He’s doing this for his brother,
Jessie.”

“His brother? What does that have to do
with any of this?”

I sigh. “It’s hard to explain right now.
There’s a lot more to it. Can you just trust me? I promise I’ll tell you when
this is all over.”

She sighs, frowning. “Fine. As long as we
go home right now.”

I bite my lip. There’s nothing more that I
want right now than to go home and forget all about this, but something inside
me wants to go back to Hunter, too. I want to talk to him. No, I need to. I need
to know why he’s doing this, and why he never told me about the arena. This is
about more than just the money, it has to be. There’s no way he’d be looking
for the boss of Alpha Psi, putting his own life at risk, just for money. There
must be something I’m missing.

“I want to talk to him,” I say.

“Oh fuck no, you’re not being serious, are
you?” Evie says.

“I am. Look, you just go on ahead.”

“What? I can’t let you go in there by
yourself. Nu uh, no way.”

“Please. I need to talk to him. I don’t
want to drag you any more into this than I already have.”

“It’s dangerous down there.”

“That’s why I’m saying you have to go. Go
to the dorm. Let me handle this.”

“No.”

“Evie! Please,” I beg.

She rubs her face with her hand, groaning.
“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes, I need to do this.”

It’s quiet for a few seconds before she
says, “Okay. But you have to promise me you’ll come back.”

“I will.”

“No, you’ll be in perfect health, no
scratch on you. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I promise, Evie, I’ll look out for
myself,” I smile.

She hesitantly smiles back. “Okay. See you
back at campus.”

She turns around, still looking back at me
over her shoulder, while I open the door and go back inside. Back down the
stairs of hell.

Truth
Unfolds

I take one huge breath before I storm into
the building again. I hold up my ticket for the guard to see, in case he
doesn’t remember me storming out two minutes ago. He doesn’t even groan this
time, and I pass him without an effort. I guess they’re used to fiery types
here.

I walk through the crowd again, but instead
of going toward the bleachers, I go straight for the cage.

I easily reach the center, and cling onto
the bars as I peer inside. No one stops me. Apparently, nobody cares.

I look inside and see the man who tried to
rape me lying lifelessly on the floor, his body limp. I swallow away the fear I
had of Hunter going down this time. I look up and see him standing there,
buckled over, holding his own head. Blood drips from his mouth. He’s still
breathing, but barely.

“Hunter,” I yell.

In an instant he turns around and gazes at
me with furor. Fear settles in his eyes the moment he realizes it’s me.

He immediately steps toward me and grabs my
hand. “Fuck,” is the first thing he says. “I can’t believe you came here.”

“I can’t either. What the hell are you
doing? Is this just for the money?”

I jerk my hand loose.

“No, wait, let me explain,” he says. He
reaches for my hand, but I step back. I can’t handle his touch right now.

“Why are you doing this? How could you …” I
say.

“They found out Jaret and I were looking
for the boss. They put me in here as a punishment, so I could regain his
trust.”

“Why would you agree to that?” I yell,
tears welling up in my eyes. “You just beat people up in here, and you think
that’s okay?”

“I need to do this. There’s no other way.
Besides, I can’t get out, they locked me in here.”

“Why in the hell would you let them do this
to you?”

His face grows dark, full of regret, but
also like he just made a pledge or something.

“There’s no other way to save my brother. I
need their trust, so I can finish this.” He leans forward, putting his head
through the bars. “Listen to me. I never wanted you to see this, but you have
to go, right now.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s fucking dangerous in here.
And now I finally understand why they got you in here. They’re testing me by
using you.”

I gasp.

“Where did you get the tickets?” he asks.

I frown. “What does that have to do with
any of this?”

“It’s important. I wouldn’t ask if it
wasn’t. C’mon!”

“Jaret gave them to me. He said he got them
from Brody.”

“Fuck!” Hunter slams his hand against the
bars. “This is really bad.”

“Brody just helped me understand what the
hell it is you’re doing here.”

“No! Don’t you see? He gave you those
tickets so he could use you against me.”

“What? But he―”

“He’s not who you think he is!” Hunter
yells. “He wants to have power over me, and he’s using you to do it. You have
to get away from here as fast as you can. You’re in danger. I’m the one they’re
after. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Jaret and I found out who the courier
was.”

Sighing, I close my eyes and cross my arms.
All I want is to leave here as fast as I can. I wanted to give him a chance to
explain himself, but all he’s done is made it worse. He’s still talking about
‘finding the boss.’

“Listen!” he yells, because I’ve turned my
head away from him. “The courier was Scarlet.”

My jaw drops. “What? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. She was diverting our
attention every time. Her buying drugs from us was just a diversion to make us
think nobody knew who the courier was.”

“But she’s dead!” I scream, unable to hold
back the tears now.

“Time for the next round, bud. Stop
chatting up your girlfriend,” the guy with the keys says, chewing some gum.

It’s all just a fucking show to them.
Hunter is bleeding so they can have some fun. All for the money.

This is sick.

“Yes, she’s dead. That’s exactly why I’m
telling you you’re in danger. You have to go. Now,” Hunter whispers, his eyes
flicking back and forth between me and the guy with the keys.

“Time’s up,” the guy says, and he opens the
cage doors and lets another fighter in.

I gulp.

“Go. Home. Now!” Hunter says, clinging to
the bars for as long as he can before he’s dragged back into a fight.

Shaking my head, I back away from the cage
slowly. I can’t believe this. This isn’t happening. Scarlet was the courier?
She was the one delivering the drugs to the distributors? She was the one in
direct contact with the boss?

She died.

“And whatever you do, do not go to Brody. Do
you hear me? Don’t go to him!” Hunter yells. “Promise me! Do
not
go to
him. I don’t want you to get hurt. I can’t get out of here. Please, don’t put
yourself in danger.”

I’m not listening anymore. My brain feels
like it’s going to explode.

Brody. He was a distributor. He said he
was. Jaret said Brody gave him the tickets.

No, this can’t be.

Maybe Brody knew she was going to die.
Maybe Brody is something more than he claims to be.

He
will
explain this.

♥♥♥

I bolt through the dorm, racing up the
flight of stairs until I reach Brody’s room. I don’t even bother to knock on
his door.

“Brody, we need to talk.”

He’s sitting at his desk, and the moment I
storm inside, he casually turns around. On his face is a relaxed smile, and he
sways a pen back and forth between his fingers like everything’s normal. Well,
this is anything but normal.

“Well, hi to you too. Did you enjoy the
show?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

He chuckles. “Wow, you seem happy.”

“Time to talk,” I snap.

“About what?”

I slam the door shut behind me. “I know
you’re in the frat house. You told me you’re a distributor.”

“So? That’s nothing new.”

“You knew Scarlet took an overdose. She was
the courier.”

His eyes narrow. “How do you know about
this?”

“It doesn’t matter.” I pace up and down his
room. “The point is, I need to know what the deal is with you and this entire
Alpha Psi club. You guys are bad. You forced Hunter to fight.”

“And your point is?”

“What the fuck is wrong with you for
thinking this is okay?”

He stands up from his chair, his demeanor
suddenly changing into something much, much darker. Something creepily scary.

“He had to be punished,” he says with a
strong voice.

“Just like Scarlet? Did she have to be
punished, too?”

He prowls forward, the pen dropping to the
floor.

I inch back, swallowing. “She was poisoned.
Murdered. And you know it.”

Brody stops in his tracks, carefully
assessing me from a distance. “Yes.”

I find it hard not to breathe. I was right
all along.

He was the one behind it all.

“She was a threat. She wanted to expose me
for who I am. Of course I don’t want that to happen. There’s a lot at stake
here.” He leans forward and picks up the pen. “Do you know what I’ve been
through? Do you know how much I’ve sacrificed to get this business off the
ground? How much I’ve suffered to finally be able to afford things?”

“Was it worth it?” I snap.

Brody squints and sighs. “Damn right it
was. After our fight, Scarlet probably realized how advanced this whole
operation was. She wanted out. I didn’t let her, yada, yada, I killed her. You
know the drill.” He flicks his fingers like he just told a simple story.

I’m frozen in place, mortified.

“You killed her … You … You’re the―”

“The boss. Yes.” He balls his fists.
“Unfortunately, your fucking boyfriend had to go ruin it all by pursuing me. I
still have no idea how he managed to find out she was the courier, but it
doesn’t matter. He’s locked up now, and he’ll be dead before the end of the
night.”

“No …” I gasp.

“Yes,” he says, chuckling. “I was hoping
he’d keep you out of this, but now he’s left me with no choice but to do the
same to you.”

He clenches the pen in his fist, pointing
it toward me. “You see, I’d do anything to keep my business going. It’s my
life. There is nothing more important.”

Oh no. Oh God no. This can’t be happening. I
don’t want to die.

I step back as far as I can, but Brody’s
right in front of me, blocking the only exit out of this goddamn room. My
fingers curl around the edge of a cabinet, trying to get as far away from him
as possible.

I should’ve known. Dammit, I should’ve seen
this coming!

Hunter was right. He was always right.

“Don’t do this, Brody,” I stammer.

“What? Kill you? Autumn, you’ve left me no
choice. You should’ve just stayed out of this. Now it’s too late.”

He lurches forward.

I scream. My body twists in a way I didn’t
expect to be possible. The pen barely shoots past my waist. Brody has me by the
shoulder, his fingernails digging into my skin. I can feel the blood flowing.

I scream as loud as I can, grabbing a hold
of his arm to keep him from stabbing me. It’s my strength against his. His
deadly eyes are gazing into mine, almost searing their way into my soul.

He moves his hand toward my neck and starts
squeezing, hard.

I’m coughing, choking on my own breath.
Burning pain follows. My esophagus is being crushed by his hands. I fight to
untangle his fingers from my throat, but he keeps strangling me. I’m trying to
gasp for air, but nothing comes in. Life is slipping away from me. I can’t
breathe, I can’t breathe. I don’t want to die.

The door slams open.

Brody shifts his hand, holding the pen like
a knife. He tries to strike me with it, but I avoid it by arching my back. My
eyes can only focus on avoiding the pen. I don’t know what’s happening.

Someone comes in and grabs Brody by the
shoulders, dragging him away.

Panting, I buckle over and suck in the air
that was pulled from my lungs. I’m gasping for air, trying to get as much in as
possible.

And then I see who it is that saved me.

“Don’t you fucking lay a hand on her, you
motherfucker!” Hunter yells.

He grabs Brody by the shirt and wraps his
other hand around Brody’s wrist. He turns Brody’s arm until he squeals, forcing
him to drop the pen he tried to stab Hunter with, too.

“I fucking knew it,” Hunter says. “You were
behind it all along.”

“Damn right I was.” Brody spits in his
face.

Hunter balls his fist, pulls it back, and
then punches Brody in the face so hard he flies through the room. Landing on
the floor, he groans, spitting up blood and a couple of teeth.

Hunter picks him up and puts him on his
chair.

“Hand me those ties,” he growls, glancing
at me.

I clamber up to the bed, open the cabinet,
and grasp a few ties. I struggle to get to Hunter.

“Tie them together,” he says, still holding
down Brody so he doesn’t move from the chair.

My breath is still faltering, but I somehow
manage to tie some knots, and hand the long line over to Hunter. He starts
wrapping it around Brody, strapping him to the chair.

When the final knot is tightened, Brody is
incapable of moving.

“Are you okay?” Hunter asks me, briefly
placing his hand on my upper arm.

I sigh. “Yeah.” And then I smile. He
visibly relaxes.

My gaze drifts back to the murderous old
friend sitting on the chair. “Why …” I stammer, still catching my breath.

Brody only groans.

“Why did you do all of this?” I say,
looking up at him.

He chuckles, coughing up blood. “Growing up
in poverty isn’t easy. You should know that. I grabbed a chance at fortune.”

“Money? Is that it?”

Brody shrugs, averting his eyes.

I can’t believe it’s true. Did he do all of
this just for the money? Start up a drug gang, a frat club, just for the money?
He killed Scarlet just so he could keep his money?

This is so messed up, I can’t even begin to
describe it.

Suddenly I hear loud sirens screeching
outside.

I look up at Hunter, who immediately walks
toward the window and peers outside. “Finally.”