Destroyed(9)

“Leave kid. Go get another role model.” My voice didn’t rise, but it didn’t need to. It reverberated with reprimand. I hated being fawned over. Fawning led to affection which led to attachment which led to death.

He frowned, brushing back long blond hair from his forehead. “Umm, sorry. I’m just a huge fan. Your reputation is what brought me here.”

I bared my teeth forcing him back a step. This was why I stayed on the mezzanine level in the dark. No one understood. Fighters wanted to be me; losers wanted to run from me. But no one wanted to know my past. If they knew, they’d hand me over to every law enforcer around the world for my crimes.

Everest smirked at the kid. “Take a good look, boy. ‘Cause after tonight he’s a dead man walking.” Everest leaned toward me. “Get that motherf*cker? Me and my crew are gonna take this joint and leave you in the dirt.”

And there it was. Freedom. He’d f*cking done it.

Tonight had just got interesting. I’d planned on taming myself. One fight that ended with no broken bones. But Everest’s stupid power-trip had earned him a first-class trip to the ER.

The kid ceased to exist. A shot of energy filled me more thrilling and intoxicating than any illegal substance. “I was going to promise you’d walk out of here on your own two legs, but that offer just expired. You obviously haven’t listened to the rumours.” I tutted under my breath, shaking my head. “Big mistake. Big, big mistake.” My voice didn’t rise past a threatening purr.

Looking Everest up and down, I dragged my fingers through my shaggy hair. The warm wax sent a whiff of chocolate into the air. “You’re going to be handed your own ass, and then you’ll go back to the morons in your MC and tell them if they so much as come near my club, they’ll end up being fertiliser in my f*cking garden.”

Everest roared and lunged. I sidestepped before his hands connected with any part of my body and pummelled his kidney with a fist. One hard, fierce wallop. I relished in the slight twinge of pain in my knuckles. Give pain to receive pain. Receive pain to give pain. A lesson I would never be free of.

Gasping, he held his side. “You’ll pay for that! No one f*cking touches me!” Everest snarled, revealing gold-capped teeth. “You better walk away, Fox, or I’ll deliver the ass-whooping of your f*cking life.”

I let him rant and rage, basking in his anger, feeding on it, drinking it in.

“I’m done arguing.” My temper vanished; replaced with the coldness I lived with, the vacancy that I’d never been able to lose. “Get in the cage.”

The rows upon rows of high wattage spotlights boiled us from above. A trickle of sweat rolled down my lower back beneath my black shirt. The only embellishment was the silver fox on the breast pocket.

I pushed forward until we were almost nose to nose. Inhaling his cheap cologne, I wanted nothing more than to bite off his nose and go rogue on his ass.

My reflection gleamed in his black eyes: a vague outline of a man with no soul left and a raw scar disfiguring his cheek.

The scar terrified most people, but my eyes unsettled them more—so grey, they were almost colourless.

“I’m growing bored of your disobedience, Tony. Make me ask again and I can’t promise you’ll remain alive. You had your boy use a duster. I have proof. You can squeal and deny all you want. Evidence doesn’t lie.”

Leaning down, Everest entered my personal space. “Your little threats don’t work on me, Scarface. Everybody cheats.”

“Not in my club, they don’t.” I cracked my knuckles. “This is my club. And you obey my rules. If you disobey those rules, consequences must be paid.” Lowering my head, I glowered from under my brows. “I won’t tell you again. Get. In. The. Cage.”

For a large man who spoke like a killer, he took a * step back. Finally a thread of apprehension filled his cocky gaze. “Fuck off. I’m not fighting a piss-ant like you.” His anger siphoned away, leaving a blathering idiot. “I’ll give you ten grand for the loss of winnings for whoever bet wrong on the fight.”

Oscar stepped forward, cracking his neck. The tension in his muscles sent more eagerness through me. “You can’t bribe your way out of this. Saying no to the boss of Obsidian is not an option. It’s in the rules. He wants you in the cage. You get in the f*cking cage.”

I shuddered in pleasure.

Obsidian. That was mine. My creation. The one thing that gave me something to live for and focus all my inhumane cruel tendencies into. It was ironic that the one place I’d been running from all my life had become my future.

Thoughts raced in Everest’s eyes. Finally, he glared. “This isn’t the end of this, Fox. You may’ve won tonight, but I’ll pay you back with a whole lot of interest. Just remember me when someone pops a bullet in your brain.” Everest shrugged off his large shirt, uncovering a torso full of muscle blanketed in a layer of pudge. He used to be cut, but now he was soft around the edges. “I’ll make you pay, *.”

I didn’t say a word. I didn’t need to. He’d dug his own grave.

“Boy, pass me those f*cking gloves.” Everest held out his hand for the rookie to place a pair of blue boxing gloves in his grip.

I snapped my fingers. “No gloves. No boxing. Get in the cage.”