Page 41 of Fall

“She needs to leave. I’ve had enough of our father using her to fuck with me, and now you. We deal with enough shit from him.”

“She won’t leave, she has no family to go to. Let’s just go somewhere else, Harley. I don’t want to go back there tonight,” he tells me, and I look over at him. What little light there was in his eyes just seems to be disappearing by the day. Everything our father does drains him more, and I don’t want Elliot to lose himself. Not when he is so young.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Don’t know,” he mutters, and I rest my hand on his shoulder.

“I do, let’s get your brothers and go for a drink in the next town,” I say, knowing I need to get him away from here.

“Sounds good,” Elliot says, and some light comes back into his eyes.

"You ready for this?" Elliot asks me as I finish wrapping my knuckles with tape, and I look over at him as the memory washes away.

Elliot looks far better than he did back then when everything was forced or taken from him. He finally has his girl, the one he always wanted, and he has everything to live for. I look down at the tape as I tie it. It’s red, and it reminds me of Tilly’s red hair. It makes me want to finish this quicker. Win this last fight and then get the hell out of here and back to my girl.

"Yes. Just . . . if I don’t make it out of this, protect Tilly and her baby for me?" I ask him, knowing he is the only one out of my brothers who is being realistic.

Luke and Sebastian can’t think of anything other than me walking out of here. But Elliot isn’t like that. He knows how you have to fight for everything, and how I will be lucky to make it out of this fight in one piece. We always took the harder fights, the ones we knew would be hard to beat, but Luke and Sebastian don’t know that. And they never will.

“Always,” Elliot tells me, and that’s all I need to hear as I stand up.

I’ve spent months working out for this, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been. I can do this, I’ve done it my whole life, but I’ve never fought more than three men at a time. I remember when I fought three when I turned eighteen; I just barely made it out of that fight then, but I’m a different man now. Years of fighting have made me tough, and I’ve never been in shape like I am today. I’ve spent weeks training for this moment, to get to where I need to be.

"I wish you would let me do this," Elliot comments, and I shake my head.

"No, this is my fight. Let me protect you now," I comment, and he pulls me into a hug. Elliot never hugs me, so I pat his back.

"Fucking beat those fuckers, and we can walk out of here. Then you can get your girl," he says as he lets go, and I nod.

Elliot walks out first, and then I follow, after pausing for a moment to collect my thoughts. I have to blank my mind for this fight, focus on nothing other than winning like I do every time. The screaming is blasting my ears from the number of people here, and the heat of The Cage is the hardest thing to block out.

There are far more spectators than there usually are for a fight, and Arthur looks happy as he stands outside the door to the cage. I don’t look at him as I size up my opponents in the cage instead. There are five of them, three of them are massive, just like I expected, and I would reckon they are brothers with their similar looks and evil smirks. The next two are a little confusing as to why they are here. One looks like an almost nerdy guy, with a thin frame. I bet he moves fast. The last guy is blond with a pretty face that is not going to look good with bruises. I don’t take any of their looks for face value, they must have some hidden qualities or tricks and that’s why they are here. Arthur wouldn’t let them into the fight if there wasn’t a reason.

"Fight well," Arthur says when I get to him and stop.

"When I win this, I don’t want to see your fucking face again," I spit out at him, and he snickers.

"I have a gift for you . . . if you win this,” he says, smoothing down his suit.

“Why the fuck would you give me anything, Arthur?” I ask him, wondering what the fuck he is going on about. I don’t need him messing with me just before a fight.

“I stand to make millions if you win. The number of bets against you are through the roof, but then . . .” He leans closer. “They don’t know you like I do. They don’t know you have a pretty baby and girl at home to win for,” he whispers the end part, and I barely catch his words.

“Don’t fucking talk about them, Arthur,” I tell him, stepping closer and resisting the urge to slam him into that cage and beat the shit out of him.

“Don’t let me down, Harley, like every single one of your deadbeat family has. I don’t want anything to do with any of you anymore, and the money from this fight means I won’t have to," Arthur says, stepping away.

"What is the gift? Why the fuck would I want anything from you?" I ask him, and he laughs as he walks off into the crowd. Fucking Arthur, messing with my head before a fight.

I walk into the cage, shutting the door behind me and hearing the crowd scream my name as I stand in front of the guys, who no doubt are being paid a fortune to win this fight. Or Arthur has something on them. Either way, I have to look out for my family and myself now.

"Pretty boy, why are you here?" I ask as the overhead speakers start counting down.

"You’ll see. You can’t always win." He laughs, and they all look at each other.

I crack my knuckles as I wait for the countdown to hit one. I think they expected me to run at them, and it seems to confuse them when I don’t move.

"Come on, then," I say as I wave my hand at them, and they look between each other before one of the big guys runs forward, with the pretty guy following. I catch the man in a headlock, surprised how stupid he was to lower his head, and then lift my knee, slamming it into his chest. I spin away from the guy as he falls to his knees, and the blond man comes toward me. I have to give it to him, he is a good fighter, but it only takes me a few moments to punch him in the face as hard as I can, and he is out cold. The blood from his broken nose squirts all over my face.

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