Invincible(54)

“No,” Aton said as he labored a breath. “But I have to be here. I have to witness this. I have to…”

“Bets are being taken?”

“Of course,” Aton said with a sly grin. “This is business.”

“How’s the money looking?”

“You want to know who’s betting you or him?”

I didn’t respond. I fixed the tape on my wrists and stood up. I ran both hands through my hair and then walked to a wall. I started to throw punches, warming up.

“Wes, I have the faith…”

“Aton,” I said and stopped. “I can’t hear anything else right now.”

“Okay. Good luck.”

Good luck.

This wasn’t about luck. Or faith. Or even skill. This was about will. This was about aggression. This was about anger.

I looked down at my hands. I thought about the night I looked down at my hands and saw my brother’s blood dripping from them.

Will, aggression, anger.

That wasn’t a problem for me.

“Hey,” a voice said, and then there was a knock on the wall. “It’s time to go, fighter.”





39.


(Rose)



My hands were at least untied. I was able to get changed and look presentable. The notion was pretty simple though - Luke was going to fight and kill Wes. Then Luke was going to take out Aton. That’s when the control would happen. If by some chance Wes had a chance to kill Luke, then all hell would break loose.

This wasn’t a fight.

This was a death mission.

There was nothing I could do, I was being escorted by two of Luke’s guys. Mark my f*cking words, if I had a chance to escape, I was going to take it.

But for now, I was on the second floor of the abandoned building. Leaning against a metal railing, I looked down at the empty circle. There was a little bit of a warm up fight to get the crowd rowdy. Two guys took cheap shots at each other. They weren’t real fighters but probably dealers that needed to settle debts.

Like Phantom.

He was sent to fight Wes with no knowledge of fighting, and that was an attempt at Luke to get me. To mess with me. Probably to track me and Wes down to make his final attack.

I had to keep composure. I had to see Wes alive and well.

A man stepped into the circle and waved his hands and whistled.

“Are you ready for this?” the man yelled.

The crowd cheered.

“This is the greatest fight… ever. A fight of revenge. A fight of passion. A fight… with no rules. No rounds. No stopping until the fighters decide to stop. If your stomach can’t handle this, leave. Leave right now. This is going to be bloody!”

The people loved it. They went wild.

The guy had to whistle again to calm everyone down.

“Let’s make this happen now,” he said. “First up… from a world of pain… from a world of regret… a man who watched his own brother die in a circle just like this one… here comes Wes.”

My heart pounded as I leaned forward. I had to see him. I wanted to be the first person to see him. It was wild.

And there he was.

Wes came walking to the circle like a beautiful nightmare. He stood in the circle, hands tight into fists. His hair in his face. I wanted to see his face. I wanted to scream his name and tell him I was there. I was watching.

But I didn’t want to distract him. I had no idea how this all would turn out.

Luke made it clear that Danny was waiting to end it. Danny, the guy who had been with Aton. He was with Luke now. Luke had paid him off to turn on Aton. That’s how Aton got shot. That’s how everything got mixed together.

“Now, for his opponent,” the guy in the circle yelled. “A man who went into retirement after murdering someone! After murdering… Wes’s brother!”

The crowd let out a collective oooohhhh sound.

They loved a good story behind a fight. Yet they didn’t realize this wasn’t fake.

“He fought under the name the Assasin… but tonight… he fights as his true self. He fights as Luke.”

That’s when Luke came forward.

Well, he came running forward.

Wes had his head down, maybe trying to get into fight mode. But Luke being Luke - he was always ready for a fight. He ran up behind Wes and pounded both fists to Wes’s back, sending him to the ground.

That’s when I finally found the courage to scream.





40.


(Wes)



I should have f*cking known better.

There I was, head down, trying to talk to Shane. Me, talking to Shane. Talking to a dead guy. I thought maybe I could try something cool. I could tell Shane this was for him. I could come up victorious and all that shit. Just like in those action movies we used to watch.

I heard the crowd yell a second before Luke attacked me.

His fists felt like a sledgehammer to my back. I was then on the ground. I had enough sense to at least put my hands out and try to break the fall.

That didn’t matter.

Luke was ready to fight.

Ready to kill.

I heard a scream through the cheers and noise and knew it was Rose.

Fucking Rose was here and she was alive. For now.

He unleashed kick after kick to my side, trying to crush my ribs. It was a smart move to make because if he could crack my ribs the right way, they’d puncture my lungs. And then I wouldn’t be able to stand, breathe, fight, and Luke would kill me in a minute.