Page 25 of Medusa

Chloe chuckled. “It’ll be easier for makeup sex after your chat,” she said, shrugging.

“I suppose,” Maddie said dubiously. She rolled up her leggings and tucked them into her purse.

After saying their goodbyes to Chloe and Arachne at the door—Lucifer had disappeared and Atlanta was asleep so Arachne and Chloe were taking the rare opportunity to catch up on a little girl time—Maddie and Hera walked down the street toward Valhalla’s Throne.

“Do you know what you’re going to say?” Hera asked after they’d walked in silence for a few minutes.

“Something like, ‘Why did you leave?’ I guess,” Maddie replied.

“Oh honey, no.” Hera shook her head. “You need to be assertive.”

Maddie bit her lip as she thought. “I can do that. I hope.”

“I have no doubts,” Hera said, giving her a hug. “This is me.Youhave fun tonight.” She winked.

Blushing, Maddie wished her well and turned down the street where she would find the underground fight club. She’d never been there before, and swallowed her nerves as the businesses on either side of the street became dingier the closer she got to the club, their neon lights illuminating the street in a mix of reds, blues, and yellows that did it no favors.

She spotted the metal door at the bottom of a set of stairs and slowly descended them. She was just about to knock the rhythm that Chloe had taught her when a group of large men crowded behind her.

The man at the front knocked on the door beside her raised fist, getting uncomfortably into her space. He sniffed her hair. “Ain’t you a pretty thing,” he drawled in her ear. “I’ve got the perfect seat for that little ass of yours.” He ran his hand over the body part in question, making the other men behind her whoop and cheer.

Before Maddie could say a word, the sliding grate at eye level opened. It closed just as quickly, before she could even say the password she’d been given, and the door opened, the creak as loud as her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She was swept into the hallway beyond the door by the men, not even getting a chance to see the bouncer.

How am I going to get away from these guys?.

“I’m looking forward to feeling what you’ve got underneath that sexy skirt of yours,” the man immediately behind her said, his hand getting lower on her leg.

“I need to freshen up,” Maddie said suddenly, spying the sign for the bathrooms off the main corridor.

“Don’t be too long, little Ruby,” the man said. “Else I’ll have to come looking for you.”

A security guard passed by them, nodding at the men and completely ignoring her.

A sinking feeling hit her belly. She’d have no help there.

“I’ll be just fine,” she whispered to herself. Maddie walked quickly down the new hallway, relieved that she heard no footsteps following her. This new hallway continued past the bathrooms, and several closed doors. She followed the passage to a set of stairs that went down. She took them, eager to explore and discover where she’d end up.

The cheering and sounds of bodies hitting each other started to get louder, and she wondered whether she was going to come out inside the fighting ring when she came to the end of journey. The stairs ended in another hallway, this one wider and shorter than the last with several more closed doors sparsely interspersed down its path. There were men and women in fighting gear stretching on the floor or against the walls between the doors. Through an open space at the end, she could see the fight going on in the ring. She backed up into the hallway, not wanting to be seen. In doing so, she noticed a door on her right. She opened it a crack, peering through, and saw that it led to the lowest ring of bleachers. Sticking to the shadows, she slipped through the door and found a seat, wishing she could cover her hair.

The auditorium was rounded, with seats rising like the ancient amphitheaters of Greece, so that everyone could see what happened in the central fighting ring. This close to the action, Maddie was worried that the men who had come in with her might catch a glimpse of her while looking at the ring. Unfortunately, she hadn’t seen them, only heard the one man’s voice and felt his hand on her, so she couldn’t watch out for them. As it was, a spectator looking at the audience instead of the fight would be remarkable, so she had to maintain appearances.

Maddie finally focused on the fighters, her heart still thundering unpleasantly hard from her uncomfortable experience.

And then it beat quicker for an entirely different reason, for Jaden was one of the fighters.

He seemed to be winning, from her inexperienced opinion. At least, the other guy looked pretty bruised and didn’t seem like he’d last much longer. Jaden ducked under a wild punch, following up with a grapple that brought the other guy to his knees.

After a bit of a struggle, the other guy tapped the sand with an open palm and a third man entered the ring with a microphone. “Jaden ‘J-Star’ McKellen is the winner!” he declared to raucous applause.

Jaden helped the other man to his feet before shaking his hand and they headed out of the ring.

Maddie quickly climbed to her feet, relieved that she didn’t have to stay there any longer, and exited by the same door she’d entered. Jaden was helping his opponent limp across the ready room, both men waving away assistance from the other fighters.

A fresh round of applause filtered through the space, indicating a new fighter was being introduced.

Watching for her chance to follow Jaden, she waited until they’d gone down another hallway to the right and the other fighters weren’t paying attention to anything but the new fight before she slipped from her hallway into the new one.

She hurried down it, hoping they hadn’t gone far, when she saw Jaden ahead of her, leaning against the open door of a room.

---