Fight(49)

I sat on the bed and outstretched my hands. The sheets, the pillows, they all lingered of his smell. My body tingled thinking about him. The way he grabbed me. The way he came at me, opening my legs, thrusting forward. Thrusting inside. Thrusting deep.

My toes curled and I put my head back. My body ached all over.

There was something I could do to kill some time.

My fingers touched the bottom of my shirt, then the top of my jeans. My fingertips slipped down, feeling the laced edges of my panties.

And my cell phone rang.

I exhaled, feeling warm and flushed.

I grabbed my phone and saw it was Stoney.

Stoney?

“Stoney,” I said as I answered it.

“Ah, f*ck, Winter!” he groaned into the phone.

“Stoney! What is it? Are you okay?”

“No,” he said. “I’m… f*ck, it’s so bad…”

I jumped up. “What?”

“Tripp lost his mind,” Stoney said.

“What?”

“He came here. He wanted to know how to get to Skull X. I sat him down in the clubhouse, Winter. I tried to explain what he was getting into. We all did. We tried to explain what Skull X was. We tried to help him get a better plan together than just going after them… ah, f*ck, it hurts…”

“Hurts? What hurts? What did Tripp do? Is he still there?”

“Yeah, he’s right here,” Stoney said. “He got mad and started swinging. We tried to stop him. He stabbed three of us, including me.”

“Tripp stabbed you?” I asked.

“Right in the f*cking arm and stomach. I think I’ll be good. Winter, you have to get here. He’s lucky he’s not dead yet.”

“Holy shit…”

“Can you get here?” Stoney asked.

“I have no car. I have no ride. Can you put him on the phone?”

“No,” Stoney said. “We have him in a room. I have two guys with guns on him. I gave orders not to kill him. For your sake. Christ, Winter, what the f*ck is going on?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Something happened with Tripp’s boss. They all want Autumn. They think I’m involved. I’m… Stoney, what do I do?”

“Okay, just take a breath,” Stoney said. “Here’s what you do. I need you to tell me where you’re staying. I’ll come get you. I’ll bring you back here and we can figure this out. Okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

“Winter. You can trust me… I promise…”

I nodded as my body shook.

Then I rambled off the address to the motel and my room number.

In the process, I was making one of the biggest mistakes of my life.





31.


(Tripp)



The warehouse had started to fill up.

There was going to be a fight tonight. I had f*cked up their plans, and that was fine. The set up was nothing like Aldo’s system, but it worked. A guy at a table took bets on the fights. People filtered in, but they weren’t the same clientele that Aldo would attract. These were just regular people. Throwing down five, ten bucks to see something they thought was going to be cool.

Of course, I stole the attention for a few minutes as I was escorted along a back wall, a gun to the back of my head. I moved peacefully and had no intention of doing anything stupid. I was here on business and here to find out why Skull X had Autumn, then find a way to get her to Aldo.

Then this would all end.

I could prove Winter wasn’t a liar and I could escape with her.

“Here,” the guy behind me said.

He stopped and opened a door.

We went up a set of old metal steps that rang out with echoes with each step we took. At the top of those steps, we went through another door. There was a walkway that overlooked the floor. A nice place to stand and admire the fights when they started. Along that walkway was a door where we stopped again. The guy knocked and opened it.

There was a black desk and a black chair. The chair slowly turned and a man sat with his hands folded, covering his mouth. His eyes were dark and beady, his shoulders wide. He wore a black button down shirt. He put his hands to the table and pushed up.

“Leave him,” the man ordered.

“Okay. Hey, Dmitry, should we guard the other doors? In case this * came with a crew?”

“No. I can smell him. He’s alone. He’s got big balls between his legs and wants to show them off.”

The guy left the office.

I stood there, waiting.

Dmitry eyed me up and down a few times. “You’re a fighter, aren’t you?”

“I’m not here to talk about me,” I said. “If you know who I am, then you know why I’m here.”

“Let’s pretend I know nothing. And you know nothing.”

“You’re hosting a fight out there,” I said. “You run Skull X. I’ve heard that name floating around for a while now. A lot of people are afraid of you.”

“Should be. We don’t f*ck around, Tripp.”

Yeah, that one took me back a couple steps. The logical question would have been how did you know my name? but I let that slide. It didn’t matter that he knew my name.

“Where’s the kid?” I asked. “That’s why I’m here. I’m taking her where she belongs. No more bullshit. I want Autumn and Andrea.”