Fighting Fate (Fighting #7)(107)

“Unless you want us to.” Rex smiles wickedly.

“You guys come here to jump me? Is that it?” Cliff’s fake bravery is so pathetic I almost feel sorry for him. Almost. “That’s how you *s fight, huh? Six against one.”

Jonah pops out his bottom lip. “Aww, don’t hurt him, guys. He can’t count.” His face turns damn near homicidal. “There are nine of us, and if you so much as raise your voice, we will f*ck you up.”

“Oh, nine against one. Freakin’ cowards.”

“Says the cocksucker who bullied a girl half his size.” I close in. “Tripped her when she was…” I bite my tongue and growl. I don’t have to finish the sentence. I can see that Clifford gets me.

“You can’t do this; you can’t break into my house—”

“I remember being invited over.” Wade holds up Clifford’s cellphone with an outgoing text that reads, Come on over for a circle jerk. Let yourselves in. “Kinky, but no thanks.”

Clifford’s eyes bounce between Blake and me. “I can’t believe all this is about her. I was just f*ckin’ around, man.”

I step into his space. “I’ll give you credit for not saying her name, because you know if you did, I’d destroy you.”

His eyes narrow, but I don’t miss the way his dilated pupils dart back and forth in fear. “What do you want?”

“I want you to promise, right here and now in front of these witnesses, that you will never come near my woman again.”

He laughs awkwardly. “Dude, she has a restraining order against me. Pretty sure that’s already been settled. You’d have known that if you weren’t busy banging bitches in Europe.”

My arm flinches, but a firm hand steadies me. “I don’t mean stay away from her because of the restraining order. I mean for the rest of your sad pathetic life. I mean if you ever run into her, five, ten, fifteen years from now, you turn and walk the other way. I mean if she comes home and says, ‘You’ll never believe who I saw at the grocery store…’ we come back to pay you a visit.”

“That’s impossible! We live in the same city.”

“Move.” The single word comes from behind me, and I realize it must be Blake who steadied my arm.

“Don’t care what you have to do or where you have to go, but know that if I find out you so much as pass her car in a parking lot, I will come back for you.”

“Fine.” His hand shakes as he pulls a smoke from the pack in his pocket. “You done here?”

“Not yet.” Ryder steps up along with Caleb and Cam. “We delivered the message, but we need some insurance.”

I stare at the boys, having no idea what they have in store but enjoying the idea anyway.

Cam pushes up to Clifford, intimidating him with his size, and the guy shifts on his feet like a little kid who needs to hit the bathroom and fast. “Seems you took some questionable photos of our girl without her permission.”

“That’s bullshit! She begged—”

I slap him in the face, not hard enough to leave a mark, but enough to get his attention. “Don’t f*cking talk about her.”

Cam pulls out his phone. “I think you deserve to know what it’s like to have your picture taken and posted for all your friends and family to see.”

I swing my gaze to Blake, who’s grinning in satisfaction.

“Come on, Clitford.” Wade’s voice coos. “It’ll be fun. We’ll strip you naked, tie you up, and play whack-a-mole with—oh, shit.” He throws his hands up in the air. “He pissed himself. Real nice.”

“I’m not touching that.” Caleb steps back.

“Damn, that’s a lot of piss for one man.” Jonah pulls out his phone and snaps a few photos. “We can post these from a dummy account.”

“Alright, okay?” Cliff’s bottom lip trembles. “I’ll stay away. I’ll move. Whatever, just…” He sniffs and clears his throat. “I’ll leave her alone, I swear.”

“Do you believe him?” Blake’s next to me, arms crossed over his chest.

“I do. Because he knows if he so much as thinks about her and we find out we’re coming back for him.”

Cliff exhales hard.

“Alright, boys.” Cameron turns toward the door. “Let’s blow.”

“Aw, man, I was hoping we could get in at least one good hit.” Rex pouts as Cameron ushers him and the others out while they grumble their complaints.

Once they all leave, I address Clifford for what I hope will be the last time in Axelle’s long beautiful life. “I know what you did, and I know you saw my leaving as a chance to do it.” I slam my fist into his gut, and he doubles over, gasping. “This is over. Do not make me come back.”

I whirl around to leave and find Blake standing in the doorway. He nods in approval then turns, and I follow behind him, slamming Clifford’s door so hard the wood snaps.

“I think that went well,” Blake says with a smile in his voice.

“I’d say the message we came to deliver was received.”

He nods. “It was a wet reception.”

“Yeah, it was.”

We chuckle, and once we’re at the cars, everyone pats me on the back. Blake squeezes my shoulder. “Good job, Killer. You did the right thing to call us rather than go in there alone. You needed the back up.”