Page 20 of Dmitri

“Now who’s lying?” I step back and look away from my reflection. “I won’t go back to the cage again.”

“Maybe you should.”

I tense, shocked by what he’s said. “What?”

Ryker shrugs. “Look, I’m not a fan of you cage fighting the way you do, but I also know you’ve always been this way.”

My hackles raise. “What way?”

“You need an outlet. Everyone does, D.”

“Sex works, too.”

Ryker shakes his head. “Not for you.”

“I don’t appreciate getting called out like this.”

“No offense, man, but we both know sex only worksafteryou’ve released tension in other ways.” Ryker’s tone softens before he adds, “I see you, D. You’ve been hurting for a while. I just wish there was a way I could help.”

Shame heats my back and slides around my neck like a noose. “I lost time in the ring.” My confession lands like a boulder between us. “I put down seven men. Only counted three. I blacked out in the middle of the fight and can’t remember most of it.”

“Jesus.”

Now he understands what my real problem is. I’ve turned into the deadliest combo of my parents. “Silas and a few others pulled me back.”

“I can’t believe that old man’s still running the ring.”

I can. Those cage fights make him a lot of money. What happens at the Scrapyard, stays at the Scrapyard. He’s got all the right people on payroll and can wipe evidence faster than mostbusinessmen can wipe their asses after a morning shit. Silas is also on no one’s side but his own. He’ll do anything for anyone at the right price and never say a word about it ever again.

It makes him equal parts an ally and enemy for most. To me, he was a second father.

Ryker crosses his arms. “What happened after Silas pulled you off?”

“I went up to my old room and fucked my prize.” Again, that’s not a new mode of operation for me. Ryker knows I get off on my pain. He’s been to plenty of cage fights back in the day too, so he’s seen my set up there.

“Silas had someone waiting for you?”

“Yeah.” And now he knows that I didn’t just happen to show up on the night of a fight. My arrival was prearranged. What kills me most right now is the concern in Ryker’s gaze. It’s not because I’d made arrangements to fight, either. I know this look on him too well. He’s worried I went too far with the prize chained up for me. “I didn’t hurt her. I was right enough in my head by the time I got there.”

I can’t read his next expression, but there’s definitely relief in there somewhere. It makes me feel like an unpredictable animal Ryker can’t decide if he should train or put down.

“She was beautiful,” I ramble for no good reason. “Fierce and feisty. Like a black alley cat.”

“Does the alley cat have a name?”

I’m ashamed to admit I don’t remember. Some of that night is still hazy and I think it’s because I’m concussed. “Dae… something. Maybe.”

Wow, I’m an asshole. Shouldn’t I remember the name of the woman who I’ve thought about non-stop for the past two weeks? I don’t even know why I keep thinking about her, honestly. She was just a prize. I’ve had plenty before her that didn’t stick with me.

Still, every night, as I lay on my cot in the dark cold room in the basement of the Monarch Club, I jack off to the memory of that woman. Her scent. Her sounds. Her sopping wet pussy.

My cell goes off and the number on the screen drains the blood from my head. It’s Silas. “I gotta take this,” I say quietly. Ryker leaves without saying another word, but I sense his disapproval. My hands shake when I answer because I know better than to take this call. “Yeah?”

Part of me hopes the old man has a new fight set up. Another part of me is annoyed I don’t have the strength to block his number.

“We got a slight problem, Dmitri.”

My protective instincts kick in. He might be the devil who rules my Hell, but he was also the angel who saved me when no one else could. I owe him. “Are you okay?”

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