Beyond Control(4)

Concern filled Noelle's eyes as she settled cross-legged on the end of the bed. "I don't like it, either. Jasper said everything's breaking down over there now that there isn't a sector leader."

"Not you, too." She nudged Noelle with her foot. "I was in and out before the lights went off. No big thing."

Noelle returned the nudge. "I'm a worrier. I know you need to do it, but promise you'll be careful, okay? I'm not ready to see you hurt again."

Hurt. Shot. Bleeding out from a sniper's bullet. Lex didn't like to think about it, and luckily she didn't really have to. All she remembered was a fleeting moment of pain followed by darkness, and then waking up to solicitous concern from damn near everybody.

Noelle and Dallas had both had a hard time dealing with it. Noelle had grown clingy in her worry, something Lex only managed to indulge out of affection--and with Jasper's help in distracting his lover from the worst of her fretting.

And Dallas... Lex brushed aside the memories of him holding her, stroking her hair, breaking the silence only to assure her that she'd be all right.

Noelle nudged her again. "Lex? Did you guys have another fight? Is he being awful?"

Lex shook herself and laughed wryly. "He's being Dallas. He's being..." She let the words trail off. He thought she didn't know what he was doing. That he'd been spending time and resources looking for a way to get to Gareth Woods, the councilman who'd sent a sniper into their sector.

Part of her wanted to encourage the hunt--the man had, after all, hurt Noelle--but she knew Dallas too well. He didn't want to stop Woods because the man had proven himself a danger to the gang.

He just wanted the f*cker dead.

Lex rubbed at the goose bumps that rose on her arms. "Are you ready for tomorrow night? Ace is going to cry if you and Jasper don't get it on and let him watch."

Noelle still blushed as pink as any innocent city girl, but the low laugh belonged to the woman Lex had watched bloom in the freedom of the sectors. "Ace doesn't want to watch, he wants to help. That's where he likes to be, isn't it? Right in the middle."

"Mmm, he's very jealous of me and my standing invitation into Jas's bed."

"Only because he loves having Jas boss him around."

Lex would be willing to bet Ace found corrupting Noelle an equal or greater thrill. "You like him?"

"Sure." Noelle shrugged and toyed with the hem of her jeans, folding and unfolding the denim. "I like Ace. I like messing around with him. I like that it can be about joy and pleasure." Noelle smiled self-consciously. "But he's not Jasper."

Not just someone special--the one. Lex funneled her tiny spark of jealousy into a groan. "It's a good thing you went and got marked, baby girl, because you're hopeless."

"Uh-huh." Noelle traced one of the small rosebuds on Lex's hipbone. "Talk to me after you've rubbed Dallas's nose in this." Her smile widened. "At least that'll put his face right where you want it."

"Dirty, but effective. He likes eating * almost as much as you do."

Oddly, the tease sobered Noelle. She caught Lex's hand, her blue eyes deadly serious. "No, I like you. You know that, right? I don't care if Dallas is the boss or the king or a god. You always have a place with me and Jas, and Dallas can go--" Her lips pressed together and her brow furrowed, as if the effort to find words to encompass her anger actually hurt.

Lex had to swallow around the tight lump in her throat. "Oh, honey, I know. And you and Jas are great--I love you both--but you have your thing. I'm glad you let me in for a little while now and then, but you're not less when I'm not there. And that's okay. It's good."

"All right." Noelle released her and flopped back on the bed. "You need to teach me some new words. Not dirty ones--angry ones. I could use a few for my shifts at the Broken Circle."

Lex curled up beside her. "Believe it or not, foul language that's not about sex? Not my best area."

"So who can teach us? Amira? Nessa?" Noelle laughed. "I bet Rachel knows how to outswear all the men. Just like she can outdrink them."

"She's kind of busy these days. That new guy--Bren's friend from the city."

"Cruz?" Noelle propped her head up on her hand. "You know, I'm not surprised. Not even a little."

"She wanted a prince," Lex agreed softly. And who better than a man who'd given up his life in Eden to bring a sniper to justice, to avenge attempted murder? "All the more reason to be a bit gentle with Ace right now, yes?"

Sympathy narrowed Noelle's eyes. "I thought he was into Rachel, but I can never tell with him. Sometimes I think he's just half in love with everyone."

Lex knew better. She and Ace were more alike than either of them let on, and maybe that was ninety percent of the problem--that they never let on.

She sat up with a sigh and rubbed her hands on her jeans. "I've got to get going if I'm going to find someone to cover my shift tonight. If I go on stage and flash this goddamn tattoo, there'll be fireworks. The wrong kind."

Noelle leaned up and kissed Lex's cheek. "We'll have a girl's day soon, okay? Next week, after Jasper comes down from the high of seeing his ink on me."

"You know it." If things went south with Dallas, Lex would need them more than ever.





Cruz



It wasn't the first time he'd had to fight for his place, but it had to be the most honest.

Cruz easily avoided a telegraphed punch and used his opponent's momentum to swing him toward the edge of the cage, face first. Dominic slammed into the steel bars with a grunt of pain before staggering back.

Out of respect to the O'Kane logo wrapped around the other mans' wrists, Cruz didn't press the advantage. There was a delicate balance to this sort of battle, a line to walk between scorn-worthy weakness and too-dangerous strength. If he wanted to find a place among the O'Kanes, he had to prove he could hold his own, but he couldn't humiliate them.

Not even this one, who whirled around with eyes brimming with cruelty and rage. He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, streaking blood across his cheek. "Cheap shot, city boy."

The jab didn't sting like it had at the start, if only because Cruz had heard it so many times. Sometimes fond, sometimes suspicious, and sometimes--like now--practically an expletive, but always the same. City boy.

Cruz didn't let his irritation show. Bland would piss the man off worse, but it might bring the fight to a close. "I thought there were no rules in the sectors."

"Not a rule. Just shows what a * you are."

"No rules means no such thing as a cheap shot."

Dom grinned blood. "So you're stupid and ugly."

It was so sad an attempt, Cruz almost felt bad for him. Stock insults, spit out in fear and desperation, but it was the hot anticipation in Dom's eyes that wiped away any pity. He wasn't like the other O'Kanes, fighting for fun or glory or competition or even just for the hell of it. Dom wanted to hurt someone. Physically, mentally, it didn't matter.

And with that realization, Cruz had had enough of playing and verbal banter. He struck, lashing out so quickly his opponent didn't have a hope of blocking. A fist to the solar plexus, a blow to the face, and a swift kick to the side of Dom's knee, and the bastard crumpled into a heap.

The warehouse went silent, except for Dom's pained groan.

Cruz had moved too fast. Usually there were cheers when one of the fighters went down, but the onlookers hadn't caught up with what had happened yet. The people in the sectors were used to street brawlers and cage fighters, hard, hungry men who'd grown up malnourished and scraping to get by. Not men who had been taken from their cradles, handed over to soldiers and given perfectly calibrated nutrition, carefully planned training...

Eden had spent twenty years turning him into a lethal weapon and another ten honing his edges. Now he was fighting in cages. It didn't seem fair. To anyone.

The silence broke on a female cheer, swiftly joined by two more. The O'Kane women, making their appreciation known from the couches where they held court. As if they'd popped a bubble, sound rose all around him, shouts and cries and dozens of people fighting over bets placed and lost.

The cage door rattled, and Cruz turned in time to see Rachel pull it open. She carried two bottles between the fingers of one hand with an ease that spoke of practice, and a pleased smile curved her lips. "I came to rescue you."

Beyond her stood a tight knot of women, each one eyeing him with greedy assessment. Nothing personal there, merely the desire for a hard body and expensive presents. He knew the type because they'd made up the bulk of his bed partners over the years. Faced with the choice between using a woman and letting one use him, he'd always opted for the latter. In the end, they cost as much as the hookers, but at least they had a choice.