Page 40 of Fall

I watch in shock as she pulls her hoodie off, revealing the tattoos lining her arms and the small tank top she’s wearing that shows off her flat stomach. She pulls her hair down and runs her fingers through it.

“I can’t go in there looking like I want to. Not worth the hassle Arthur or my family would give me if a client saw me. They expect me to be their wet dream and to pay thousands for a dance,” she says, and her words are bitter.

“Do you ever sleep with them?” I ask her gently, and she shakes her head.

“Arthur sells the fact I’m a virgin to them, and I’m not to be touched. I know he will eventually sell me off to someone, but I plan to escape this hellhole of a town before that happens.”

“Virgin?”

“That’s what he thinks. There was this one night, with a guy who was amazing. But this is who I am. My family needs me, and whatever I feel can’t get in the way of that,” she tells me and then gets out of the car.

I follow her out and lock the car before walking up the path in the middle leading to the doors of the warehouse.

"Sis," one of the massive bouncers at the door says when he sees Emilia. The bouncer has a bald head, tanned skin similar to Emilia’s, and dark hair. The other bouncer doesn’t say a word as he continues to stare at me in the carpark.

"Hey, bro, I came to see the fight. Finally, there’s a chance one of the famous King brothers is going to die, huh?" Emilia says, and I glare at her. What the hell?

"Damn straight. I’ve seen the people the boss chose for Harley. Wants him dead, all right," her brother says, and I hold the urge to hit one of them as they both laugh.

"Anyway, my friend here hasn’t seen a fight before, and if she is going to see any, it’s got to be tonight," Emilia says, hooking her arm through mine as the guy looks me up and down.

"Best show her what it’s like then, and maybe bring her downstairs after if she needs some work." Her brother laughs and opens the door. I don’t want to know what kind of work her brother just offered me, and I have no intention of ever finding out. I just need to find Harley. Emilia leads me in, and we walk down the steps to the entrance.

Once the door shuts, she whispers to me. "You have to act a certain way here or you don’t make it. My brothers aren’t like that behind closed doors, but here, it’s different. If people aren’t scared of you, then you shouldn’t be here or you will be dead."

I don’t get a chance to respond to her as she pushes the doors open to a massive room. The room is loud, the music blasting my ears, and the heat of the place makes me feel like I’m being swallowed whole. There’s a massive cage in the middle, with bright lights shining on it. There are bars around the side and doors, leading off to god knows what on the sides.

I’m shocked at the number of people here. I didn’t expect to see so many. Most of the women are wearing clothes that do little to hide their bodies, and the men are in tight suits. I don’t know why I stop in my tracks as I take everything in, the smells of sweat and sweet perfumes fill my nose, and they make me want to run out the door.

"Come on!" Emilia shouts at me, just as I spot Harley.

Every part of me freezes when I see him, my mouth goes dry and fear fills me. He is in the cage, blood pouring down his face. Two men are unconscious at his feet, and he is facing three other guys. Two of them are massive, and the other looks like he shouldn’t be in the fight at all.

There are hundreds of people around the cage, most shouting ‘King,’ but some are shouting other words I don’t recognise. The noise is just that loud in here, but I can’t move as I stare at Harley. I don’t think I will ever forget seeing him this way, the way he looks dangerous, but I know straight away that this is not who he is.

Harley is the man who feeds my daughter when she wakes up at night, who brings me coffee in the morning. The man who cuts roses from plants in his garden and puts them in my bedroom window. The man I find asleep in his study with a new book in his hands. That’s my Harley, and this is the man he has been forced to be for too long.

"I see Sebastian at the bar,” she shouts at me, trying to pull my arm just as Harley rushes at two of the guys.

"Go, then," I say, unhooking my arm from hers and ignoring her when she tells me to come back. I push through the people and duck under others that are jumping up and down. It doesn’t take me long to get to the front of the crowd, with my body pushed against the cage wall.

Harley is struggling to fight the guys as two of the huge ones hold him down and the other hits his side. I feel sick as I see the almost defeated look he is wearing; this fight isn’t fair. He can’t die like this, not after everything this hellhole has taken from him.

"HARLEY, FIGHT FOR ME!" I scream, just as his bright-green eyes find mine.

Chapter Twenty-One

Harley

“What happened this time?” I ask Elliot as I wait for the nurse to stitch up the cut on his back.

Our father called to tell me Elliot was here, but I don’t know why he bothered to tell me as he doesn’t usually give a fuck about the marks he has made. The cut on his back is thicker than the other one next to it, and the wad of cash sticking out from the nurse’s pocket makes me realize my father has already paid her off. The more I look at her, the more I realise that she is one of the girls who hang around my father and Arthur a lot.

“I wouldn’t fuck Hazel,” he says quietly, and I tighten my fists. The nurse gives me a worried look, and I force myself to calm down.

“I’m going to deal with her,” I tell Elliot, waiting for the nurse to finish up before leaving the hospital with Elliot.

“Don’t bother. The girl is a fucking idiot,” Elliot comments, and I shake my head as I open the car door for him.

---