Beautiful Broken Promises(9)

But it wasn’t the screaming that pulled Barrera’s attention away from me, it was the deafening noise that came from outside. I lunged at his distraction. My torso shifted and I swung my right fist upward in a rising arc, connecting with a clean hit to his jaw. Spit flew from his mouth and I watched the drops land on the mat below our feet. His knees gave and Barrera fell directly to the ground. He wasn’t out so I kept bouncing, ready to give him another when he was fully upright.

“Reyes!” I heard Mateo shout up at me. It took a long second before I remembered that Reyes was our agreed-upon last name for me in the ring. I didn’t think anyone was actually going to believe I was Hispanic, but it was better that they didn’t discover my real last name. “Rey-es!” he enunciated, louder this time.

I snapped out of my tunnel vision and took in the scene around me. People were scattering quickly to all corners of the building. My stomach dropped and I immediately ran to the ropes to search for Flores, only to find that he was no longer in the front row.

“Mierda! This could be a raid. We gotta get out here,” Mateo shouted up to me. “I’m not spending the night en la cárcel while we wait for Charlie to bail our asses out. My car, ahora!” When Mateo was stressed, he began to speak Spanglish, switching back and forth between the two languages. He probably didn’t even know he did it.

But despite his warning and demand, I didn’t come all the way out to this nasty hellhole after not seeing or hearing anything from Flores for over a year to lose my chance again. I just couldn’t go another year. It had to end and it needed to be tonight.

I spotted Flores’ security detail huddled together at the back west corner of the wide-open space. They frowned at one another while tapping their earpieces frantically. If their frequency was catching interference, then it was highly likely that we were in the middle of a police raid.

Without a second thought, I launched my legs over the top rope of the ring and jumped to the floor.

“LANE, DON’T!” Mateo shouted in anger from behind me. So much for not using my real name.

I feverishly began ripping the wraps from my hand, knowing I would need the full use of my fingers. The first wrap was hard to get loose, but I continued to remove it while I pushed my way through the shoving bodies. Once my right hand was fully freed, I began working on the left, but the majority of my attention was focused on finding Flores. More loud pops and bangs continued to filter into the warehouse. Women were screaming and the crowd became more frenzied by the moment.

When I reached his entourage, his balding, ugly ass was nowhere to be found. I pushed right through the middle of them and jumped on my toes to peer over their heads. Nothing. My instincts told me to search the open space again, and just before he cleared the doorway, I spotted the tail end of his navy suit jacket dodging around the corner. Hell, if he wanted to separate himself from his own protection and take off solo, that only made my job easier.

With singular focus, I sprinted forward. People fell and stumbled around me, but there was no time for apologies. I wasn’t sorry anyway.

It didn’t take long for me to catch up with him. He was a smart son of a bitch and had been able to elude me for years, but now that I had the opportunity to get my hands on him, there was no denying that he was the weaker opponent. Especially since I still had the fight from earlier coursing through my veins.

I reached forward to grab the collar of his jacket. My right hand was free, but I had a long stream of the wrap from my left hand trailing down to the floor. I didn’t have time to mess with it before I dragged him backward and flung him onto the ground. He grunted, but other than that, I didn’t hear another peep from him.

“Where is she?” I growled, crouching down over his frail body and holding his throat in a tight clench.

“No hablo inglés,” he gasped. His tiny smirk lit a fire within me and I squeezed harder.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that, Flores.” I wanted him to understand that I knew exactly who he was, but there wasn’t time for this bullshit. “Where is she?” I roared.

“Who the f*ck are you talking about, *?” he bit out in a raspy voice. His English was good and only carried a hint of his accent.

It hit me then that he had no idea who I was. I couldn’t help but throw my head back and laugh in extreme frustration. I could understand that he never recognized me in the ring, but up close and personal like this? He should have f*cking known.

“Amateur! You’re a f*cking amateur,” I yelled. “Don’t you know to keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Shouldn’t you be keeping an eye out for the people whose lives you destroy?”