Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (14 page)

Holy crap, I just won! I looked up to Ray who was grinning at me proudly, I breathed a sigh of relief because I now had $225 to pay my rent with. Jensen came over and grabbed my arm holding it in the air. “Let’s hear it for, Jamie!” he shouted enthusiastically. Some people clapped or cheered, but most of them were looking angrily at Kurt’s unconscious body on the floor. They had obviously bet against me. “Good job,” Jensen said, slapping me on the back.

“Thanks,” I muttered. Ouch, shit my jaw hurt. I went over to Ray and sat down on the chair next to him, my stomach was hurting a little, but not too bad.

“Kid, that was too funny, I couldn’t stop laughing when you apologised to him for hitting him in the balls,” he said, laughing his ass off again, making me laugh too.

Jensen came over a couple of minutes later, “Right then Jamie, you’re fighting the winner of the next round.” He nodded his head towards the two huge looking guys walked into the middle.

“Oh great, well I hope the smallest one wins,” I joked. Jensen handed me my $125 winnings. “So, what are my odds for the next fight?” I asked curiously.

He grinned, “After that little spectacle with Kurt, I’d say the odds are definitely in your favour now, so 2 – 1,” he said shrugging.

“Put that on me then,” I said, as I handed him back the money.

He grinned and nodded, “I better go start the next fight. Good luck,” he said, nodding at me. I didn’t need good luck, even if I lost the next fight I had already earned $100 for getting to the next round which would pay my rent, if I won then I’d have $200 for getting to the final plus $375 from betting on myself too.

Ray winced as we watched the two guys fighting, they were both pretty badass and well built. “Kid, how much money do you actually need? Why don’t you call it a night on what you’ve got?” he suggested, looking at me pleadingly.

“Ray, I need as much as I can get.” I didn’t want to have to do anything like this again. This wasn’t exactly my idea of going straight, I mean hell it was ten times better than working for Brett though.

The more I earned tonight the more pressure it took away and the less chance there was of me being caught in this situation again.

My cell phone beeped and I pulled it open to see a text from Ellie:

‘Thanx 4 marking me stud, u just got me in trouble! x’

Marking her? Oh I guess her parents saw the love bite I did on her neck. I laughed, I didn’t feel guilty though I loved that mark on her skin. My next fight was due to start any minute so I text her back quickly:

‘Oops sorry, I’ll make it up 2 u I promise x’

“Who’s that?” Ray asked, as I slipped my phone back into my pocket.

“A friend,” I said smiling.

“Yeah? The redhead from the club?” he asked, with wide eyes.

“Yep,” I stated, popping the p, smirking at his jealous face.

………………………

By the end of the three fights I was exhausted. My whole body hurt and was sore and tender, but I’d won. I sat down in the chair cautiously trying not to move too fast, I had definitely broken a couple of ribs.

Jensen came over almost immediately. “That was awesome! Want a regular slot here, Jamie? We could use someone like you to draw in the crowds, people are going to be talking about you now,”

he said grinning. “Thanks for bringing him to be, Ray.” He gripped Ray’s shoulder, looking at him gratefully.

I shook my head, ignoring the pain shooting through my shoulder, “No thanks, Jensen. Tonight was a one off.”

He looked at me and sighed, “Yeah ok. If you ever want to come back, you let me know, there’s no waiting list for you, ok.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, “Right then, you bet $375 at 2 - 1 on the final, so that’s $1,125, and $500 for winning. So I owe you….. $1625,” he said, counting it out onto the side before handing it to me.

Wow, $1625 was more than I had when I came out of juvie, that’s freaking awesome! I shoved the money into my pocket and hissed through my teeth as my fingers brushed against the material, making them burn. Damn it, maybe I’d broken a finger or two as well.

“Right then, hospital kid?” Ray asked, looking me over slowly.

“Nah, it’s not too bad, I’ve had worse, there’s nothing serious.” I shrugged and pushed myself up out of the chair. I followed Ray to his car and rested my head back against the seat until we got back to my building.

“Please don’t do this again, Kid. I don’t want to see you hurt.” Ray said quietly.

“I won’t. Thanks for setting this up for me tonight Ray, and driving me and stuff.” I gave him a man-hug, clenching my jaw tight as he patted my back, hurting my ribs.

I climbed out of the truck and walked to my place, as soon as I was inside I leant against the door and squeezed my eyes shut. My ribs were killing me, every time I took a breath it hurt. My hands were burning, I looked down at my swollen, red knuckles and clenched them into fists, hissing as the pain got worse. I headed into the bathroom and ran the cold water, putting both of my hands under there, trying to cool them down.

There was nothing seriously wrong with me, just plenty of bruising and a couple of broken ribs, but they’d heal on their own. I swallowed a couple of painkillers and washed my face with the cold water. I headed back to my bedroom and stripped out of my t-shirt and jeans, trying to look in the broken mirror but I couldn’t see much. I could see I had a split lip and would probably have a wicked bruise on the side of my jaw and probably a black eye. I’d have to stay away from Ellie for a few days, I don’t want her thinking I was a thug or something.

I smiled as I climbed in my bed, I did it, and without going to Brett. I needed to find a better hiding place for my money, or maybe get one of those safes from downstairs.

I reached out my hand to grab the photo of Sophie from the side, but it wasn’t there, it must have fallen on the floor and I was just too exhausted to move to find it. By the time the pain killers kicked in enough to let me fall asleep, it was almost two in the morning.

When I woke in the morning, I groaned, my whole body hurt and I didn’t want to move. My fingers were stiff, my chest and sides were throbbing, I felt like I’d been hit by a freight train. I pushed myself up, hissing through my teeth as a white hot pain shot up my back from where someone kneed me in the kidneys last night. I’d have to keep an eye on it and make sure I didn’t start pissing blood or anything.

I grabbed my cell phone to check the time, it was just past eight. I had nothing to do today, I wasn’t due at the scrap yard again until Thursday. The car was going through the auction tomorrow night so they will be able to make the decision on whether they wanted me to fix up their others.

Hopefully the state of my face wouldn’t put them off, that’s if I could still even fix a car with my fingers in the first place. I decided to call Ellie and see if she was still talking to me after getting her in trouble with that love bite, maybe her parents saw it or something.

It rang for a while and when she answered she was laughing her ass off. “Hey Stud,” she choked out around her giggles.

I smiled, “What’s so funny?” I asked, licking my split lip gently.

“Stacy put a ring on my phone for you, I didn’t realise, it made me laugh that’s all,” she admitted, still chuckling.

“Yeah? What is it?” I asked, laying back on my bed, loving the sound of her sexy voice.

“It’s nothing, I’ll take it off, it’s embarrassing,” she said quickly, I could just imagine the shade of pink her face was right now.

“Ok well, I just wanted to check make sure I wasn’t in the dog house for getting you in trouble with your parents.” She didn’t sound like she was too mad at me thankfully.

“It wasn’t my parents, Mark saw it and went off on one,” she grumbled, sounding annoyed about it.

“Went off on one? What does that mean? He didn’t hurt you or anything did he?” I asked, getting angry. If he’s hurt her I swear I’ll kill him.

“No, nothing like that. He just got angry about it, demanded I tell him who did it. Whatever, it’s ok, it’s none of his business anymore,” she said dismissively.

I smiled slightly, “Ok, well I said I’d make it up to you, so how about I take you out at the weekend?” I asked, mentally crossing my fingers that she’d say yes.

“Actually I was wondering if you wanted to meet me today, maybe? I have something for you,” she asked, hopefully.

Shit, I can’t see her today! I needed to at least give my face a few days, I would imagine I looked like death warmed up right now. I didn’t want her to take one look at me and think I was always fighting or anything. “Err…. actually Ellie, I’m not feeling too well today. It’s probably best that we don’t see each other for a few days, just in case I pass you my germs or anything,” I lied, praying she’d believe me.

“Yeah? What’s wrong?” she asked, sounding a little concerned.

I smiled, she is so damn adorable! “I think I might have flu or something coming, and my head is pounding,” I lied. Well actually, that wasn’t a
total
lie, my head was killing me.

“Oh ok, well yeah the weekend then. Listen, I’d better go, stud, I need to get ready for school,” she said, sounding a little hurt. Great, maybe she didn’t believe me or something and just thought I didn’t want to see her. Damn it Jamie, you are such a prick!

“Ok, I’ll call you later in the week then. Have a good day.” I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that I would have to wait all week to see her again, it definitely felt like a long time.

“Yeah, hope you feel better.”

I pushed myself up out of the bed and went for a long, and fairly painful shower, even the water hurt when it touched my skin. I proudly paid my rent, ignoring the sneer from the guy as he looked at me. I couldn’t blame him really, I mean, I was a crappy ex-con with a banged up face, I didn‘t deserve much respect for that.

I rented a safe to keep my valuables in so I wouldn’t get caught in this situation again. Ray called to make sure I was ok, trying again to convince me to go to hospital, but I didn’t want to spend all of my hard earned cash on hospital bills for stuff that would heal itself anyway.

I didn’t have the energy to go out all day, so I just stayed around my room, reading yesterdays newspaper, maybe I should buy myself a book or something to pass the time. I had nothing else to do, tomorrow would be the same and hopefully Thursday I would be working.

At just after three o’clock there was a knock on my door. I pushed myself up and answered it. Ellie stood there looking towards the stairs, her whole body tense.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, as I grabbed her and pulled her into the room quickly.

Damn it, she could have gotten hurt or something coming here on her own! Jeez, does this girl have no sense of self-preservation at all? If any of those assholes out the front laid a finger on her, I swear I’ll rip their heads off.

She turned to look at me and gasped. “Holy shit, Jamie! What happened? Are you ok?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears.

What the hell is she crying for? “I’m fine. Why are you crying?” I asked, moving her away from the door so I could go out after whoever had upset her.

“Your face! Christ, Jamie,” she whispered, reaching out a hand to touch my lip.

I caught her hand, moving it away, interlacing our fingers. “I’m fine honestly, it probably looks worse than it is,” I reassured her, shrugging and ignoring the blast of pain that shot through my shoulder.

“What happened?” she asked, her lip trembling slightly. I stepped forward and wiped her tears with my free hand.

“Ellie, seriously, you don’t come here again, you understand me? You shouldn’t be here. That was just crazy, don’t do that again, you hear me?” I asked fiercely. Damn, I was so stupid being in this girls life, she shouldn’t be here. I tried desperately not to think of all of the things the scumbags in this building would do to a girl like her.

“I just wanted to come and see if you were ok. I brought you some medicine and food, in case you couldn’t go out to get it.” She held out a brown bag in evidence.

Wow, she is so freaking incredible. “You did? That’s really nice of you, Ellie. Thank you, but you shouldn’t ever come here on your own, hell I don’t even want you here when I’m with you, this isn’t a nice place,” I said softening my voice.

“What happened?” she asked again. She turned her hand over that I was holding, and looked at my sore and swollen knuckles.

“I was fighting,” I admitted, not wanting to lie to her. Maybe I needed to scare this girl away from me, maybe I needed to show her who I was, so that she wouldn’t want to hang out with me again.

She looked at me with wide eyes, “Well, are you ok? What did the doctor say? And why did you tell me you were sick?” she asked, frowning and stroking my fingers softly.

I sighed, damn it she’s still not scared. “I didn’t want you to see me like this, and yes I’m fine, the doctor said I was fine. Just bruises and a couple of tiny fractures,” I said dismissively.

She winced, “Fractures? Like broken bones? Where? What the hell?” she asked, shaking her head in disapproval.

“A couple of fingers and ribs that’s all. They’ll heal on their own, it’s no big deal, Ellie.”

She stepped forward and went up on her tiptoes to kiss me, but she still wasn’t tall enough, I smiled and pressed my lips to hers lightly. Why did she have to taste so good? It was like torture and I wished with every bone in my body that I was different, that I deserved her attention and sympathy, but I didn’t.

She pulled back after a second or two, “You’re really ok?” she whispered. I nodded and kissed her again, ignoring the pain from my lips and jaw. “Is there anything I can do?” she asked, trailing her fingers over my cheek and jaw, looking concerned.

“No, it’s ok I promise,” I replied, closing my eyes, enjoying her touch.

“Oh, well never mind then, Stud. I was going to offer to kiss it better, but if you’re ok then I wont….” she teased.

Oh shit, I would love that. “Well, it hurts a little,” I admitted, playing along.

She smiled and pulled me gently over to the bed, making me sit on the edge. Her hands went to the bottom of my t-shirt, she lifted it over my head, carefully. I clenched my jaw tight when I lifted my arms, so that I didn’t wince or anything. She gasped as she looked at me, her eyes filling with tears again.