Fighter Daddy: A Bad Boy Secret Baby MMA Sports Romance (6 page)

Good thing I don't let myself be seen then. I watch them for a while before calling the cops on them, reporting the stolen car. It would be a miracle if they were still around to answer the cop’s questions, but it can't hurt.

Then I start making my way back. Like a bad omen, I have a bad feeling. Maybe I shouldn't have let Raina go alone. If Ricky gets to her, there will be blood.

L
ee's apartment
is exactly what I expected.

A true bachelor pad, a place where a man lives. I can't help feeling good about the fact that I can't find a single trace of a female presence. Oh, sure, posters and Playboy magazines, but not an actual, real woman. I don't doubt a guy like Lee can pick up a chick by snapping his fingers—I'm a standing testament to this—but it's obvious that none of them stays for very long.

I walk around, my interest overshadowing even the terror that I feel right now. This is kind of incredible. I spent my teenage years
dreaming
of getting invited to spend the night with Lee Mason, and here I am. The circumstances could be better, but checking out his apartment is like taking a tour in his head.

I've never seen a more male-oriented place. The bed in unmade, clothes discarded where it suits him. The TV is large and the gadgets are new. There's a shameless stack of condoms lying in an open drawer, hinting at recent use. Now a surge of jealousy washes over me, but I push it down. I promised myself I'd be strong. Lee was a teenage dream and teenage girls are dumb. I'll let Ed pay him for dealing with Ricky, which I'm still not sure he can do, and then we'll see each other at family dinners, I suppose.

I don't know why I told him about the baby. Pregnant women are known to be weird from time to time and I guess that was my moment. Nothing irrational about that.

I just needed Lee to know. He was driving off to pull killers away from my trail. There was a completely real possibility he'd die. Still is, but I don't want to think about that.

I just needed him to know. I expect nothing from him, really, but in that moment it seemed like honesty was the least I could do for him. I couldn't bear to have him think it was Ricky's baby. So it slipped out and I can't get the look on Lee's face out of my head. The expression was indescribable and now I need a distraction from imagining his corpse in an alley somewhere.

Trying to convince myself that it's better for me to cut him from my life after this mess is solved isn't easy to do, mostly because I wish it didn't have to be this way. Lee still acts like the douche he was to me in high school, but the guy I fell in love with is in there too.

When he didn't show up for the prom, I sort of demonized him in my head. It was easier that way, convincing myself all the good memories were fake, because he only wanted my body.

But I'm smarter now, aren't I? And the glimpses I've seen make me think there was something else going on. The way he really listened to me, the way he's risking his life for me... it isn't just an act. It can't be. And if it isn't... I've gone wrong twice now, trying to make a bad boy good. It could go terribly wrong and I might end up hurt again.

I can't stop thinking that Lee might be worth it.

Until I figure that out, I need to shut off my sexuality around him. Easier said than done when he's literally testosterone on two legs, the most gorgeous man I've ever met.

As I lazily browse his stuff, treading that fine line between looking and snooping, I think about it. I don't know how Ed found him or what the deal is with that, but he's clearly a fighter like he said. I don't think I've ever seen a guy knocked out like that. I thought it happened in action movies. But Lee has fists like steel, I remember his hands around me when he—

When he was a dick to me, again.

I have the worst taste in men. If this nightmare has a positive ending, I might be able to laugh about it someday. My choice in men is truly magnificent.

I didn't feel like eating all day, so I'm hungry now. The fridge yields the same unsurprising results as the rest of the apartment. Most of the stuff is meant to be microwaved, half the shelves are taken up by beer, and I don't see a single veggie. Sighing, I pick a slice of pizza. At least it will fill my stomach. Somehow I don't feel as though this is a day to complain about healthy eating options.

I eat in silence, growing more anxious by the minute. Lee should be back. I don't dare call him out of fear that I might give up his position or something. He's not helpless, he proved that, but how long does it take to shake a car?

Listen to me here, stuffing my face with pizza and judging my bodyguard for not being quick enough with my rescue.

When the phone rings, I nearly jump out of my skin. I hope it's Lee, fear it's Ricky, but it's Ed.

Oh yeah, right. He must have seen us drive away in his car. Boy, he's going to be so pissed. I wonder if I still have a job after all this. Ed really is the best boss, the shit he's putting up with...

"Hey Ed, I'm sorry, we really didn't mean to take your car. I told him—"

"
Raina
."

Ricky's voice freezes the blood in my veins, banishing any sense of safety from my mind. I try to speak, but my throat is closed up. I want to ask him how he has Ed's phone, but the answer is pretty clear. I don't want to think about it, but my treacherous mind provides me with a horrifying range of images.

"
Where are you
?"

He asks calmly, but I hear the change as compared to last night. I'm pushing his buttons. I'm pissing Ricky Gerrard off and I can't do anything about it.

I can't answer him, no way, but Ed...

"What have you done to Ed?" I manage to ask, my voice so broken and terrified I can't bear to listen to it.

"
I've asked him to join me in the club
."

The club,
fuck
. Ricky owns many businesses, with various degrees of legality. The place where he usually hangs out is a nightclub imaginatively named Ricky's. That's his cover that no one in Boston buys, other than me of course. Officially he's Ricky Gerrard, owner of his own nightclub and a businessman. Ricky's
is his base, the central point from where he controls his entire empire. When we went out, I got to visit the place often, always at his VIP table.

The moment I realized I had to leave was when I discovered what certain rooms on the floor underneath the club were for. They're soundproof, masked even more by the club upstairs. They're Ricky's interrogating rooms and other things I don't even want to know about.

Now he has Ed. I can't even guess what he'll do to him. I only know that when it comes to torture, Ricky has a much better imagination than I do.

"Don't hurt him," I plead, knowing it's futile.

There is no reasoning with Ricky. I should have known better. He laughs into the phone, but what used to sound deep and sensual to me now merely sounds hollow.

"
You've left me with no other choice
," he says. "
This is your doing, Raina. I tried to be reasonable and let you make up your behavior to me, but it seems you insist on being stubborn.
"

His words make me sick, but I can't say a single thing in my defense that wouldn't get Ed killed for it. I wonder if he's even still alive.

"What do you want?" I ask, trying to sound braver than I am.

"
You, of course
."

You know, there used to be a time when I believed that. God, I'm such an idiot.

"I don't believe you. You don't need me. You don't really even want me. Let him go."

It's amazing how Ricky's voice doesn't change even when he loses his patience. As calmly and as coldly as before, he says:

"
This is how it's going to be. You get here from whatever hole you've crawled into, knowing that for every five minutes you take, I'm going to make a cut on him. A human being is a wonderfully tough object to break, but we both know I'm not working with the finest specimen. He has a limit and I suggest you not break it. And when you get here, you will tell me everything you know about Lee Mason and your connection to him
."

I'm speechless. I can't utter a single word, neither in protest nor agreement. My head is simply empty of options.

There is no way out of this and all the choices I could make are terrible. If I go, I'm back in captivity, and as good a fighter Lee is, he can't take on all of Ricky's men at once. Our only hope was to go on the run until we found a way to bring him down without an actual confrontation. I believe that Lee could deal with a couple of guys at a time, but expecting him to take on all of them is ridiculous. And if I don't go, I condemn an innocent man, a friend, to die for me. And he
will
die. I have no doubt about that.

I have to ask, even if I am afraid of the answer. Ricky is still waiting for me to speak. He has the patience of a martyr and I can only wish he had the mind of one.

"There is no guarantee that you'd let him go even if I came," I say.

Ricky chuckles again, as merciless and uncaring as before. I've never heard such a joyless laughter.

"
No
," he agrees. "
I suppose not. All you have to hope for is that if you behave well and show your regret, this might not happen to someone else close to you. I have a few ideas. Do you?
"

I can't believe
that
either, but I force myself to rationalize that even Ricky wouldn't want to draw attention to himself by suddenly kidnapping all the people close to me. I think of my friends, my other co-workers. Aunt Susan. And what about Lee?

"I'll come," I say. "
Don't
hurt Ed."

"
Good girl
," Ricky says. "
The clock is ticking.
"

He hangs up. I look at the phone, showing the call was almost three minutes long. That means Ed is going to get a cut soon, whatever that means, though I guess that threat wasn't symbolic.

I dress, willing my hands not to shake so hard, but they do. That man keeps making a fool out of me. Every time I think I've got the upper hand on him, every time I even dream of getting away, he demonstrates exactly how powerless I am. I was despairing before, but Lee's appearance gave me hope. Now I feel the same heavy hopelessness again. I'm starting to think it's not meant for me to ever escape Ricky's clutches.

I don't know what I should tell Lee. A part of me wants to tell him where I went and what happened, but that would only get him killed. If he showed up, that is.

In the end, I write, "
I'm sorry. He got me. – Raina
"

This is not what I wanted. All I ever hoped for was to be free of Ricky and to make my own destiny. Maybe see if I can make Lee less of a jerk, though the chances of changing a guy like that are miniscule. But I would have liked a chance to try. Try anything.

I leave his keys under the doormat outside. It's a silly place, but I don't really feel like thinking up a better way to deliver them to him. I hope this way he understands that I went voluntarily.

R
icky's
is going
wild at this hour on a Friday. The line outside the door stretches on and on, but I don't need to bother with that. A painful memory rises up from the past: how glad I was when I started dating Ricky, feeling all special and pampered when he led me right past the ticket line. I felt like a VIP, felt gorgeous. Maybe Lee was right. Maybe I knew who Ricky was and just didn't want to admit it, because I liked the life he offered me until it got bad.

Right now, I would give anything to be one of the girls there in the line. All dressed up, smiling freely, ready to dance their asses off with friends and make a competition out of who gets the most free drinks.

Instead, the bouncer at the door takes a single glance at me and waves me past him. No one stops me, no one challenges me as I walk and push through the crowds to the VIP area. I make myself hurry, but it's difficult with every inch of me protesting against the idea of going back to Ricky.

Too late now. I'm in his lair.

Ricky is waiting for me downstairs. A guy named Victor, Ricky's right-hand man, leads me to him, keeping grim silence as we walk. I remember that he used to like me. It seems that's all forgotten and done with. I don't say anything either. I really don't believe I could make the situation worse for myself, but I won't test that theory.

The smell of blood hits me like a shock wave the second I step in. I gag, stumbling back, only to find Victor blocking my way, essentially pushing me back into the room with his bulk.

Ed is the one bleeding.

I see him at once, sitting behind a table with his hands tied in front of him. His right hand is bleeding heavily, the crimson trickling down to the floor with no one bothering to clean it up. Four of his fingers are missing, the stump of his hand carelessly tied up with an improvised tourniquet, a belt. He looks barely conscious. I don't think he'll live much longer without medical aid.

Ricky is sitting at the other side of the table, one of his better suits covered with blood splatter. It seems that when it comes to me, he doesn't mind dirtying his own hands.

I hate him, hate everything about him, from the passionless expression on his face to the fake sneer on his lips. I hate that being the prick he is, he chose Ed's right hand. No one would pick their stronger hand to be hacked to pieces, but Ed's a designer. That's his life, his livelihood. Even if he lives through this night somehow, it will take excruciating work to learn how to draw with his left.

"I'm glad you could join us," Ricky says.

His voice seems to wake Ed up. He lifts his head to look at me. It moves weirdly, as if it isn't entirely attached to his head. God, look at all the red, he's lost so much blood...

I want to say I'm sorry, but the words refuse to leave my lips.
Sorry
won't make anything up to him. I brought this monster down upon him, but I'll try to save everyone else if I can.

"I'm here," I tell Ricky, doing my best to appear assertive. "Let him go. He needs to get to a hospital. You can see he's bleeding out."

The next few seconds are the worst in my life. I don't know what Ricky will do. Ed is a witness to his crimes now, but I need this miracle to happen. I need something to go right for a change, need to at least save Ed's life if not his career. Then, maybe then, it might be worth selling myself back to slavery.

Ricky gives me a look and turns to Ed.

"Mr. Riley," he drawls. "I'll have someone take you to the nearest hospital. I trust you know what you should tell them."