Page 4 of Shattered Dreams
“Yeah, it’s okay. The cut is actually cuter on you than me,” I admitted, brushing the bangs out of my eyes.
One of the stylists at work had suggested three months ago that a modern pixie would look good on me, so I went for it. While the style was cute, the cut wasn’t for me, and I decided to grow my hair back out to shoulder length. For now, I’d just have to deal with the fact that we looked almost identical.
“Thank, God. I thought you’d be mad.” Then she circled her fingers around my wrist like an iron manacle and dragged me further down a surprisingly desolate corridor, deeper into the bowels of the building until we entered another hallway, partially filled with people.
With the crumbling cement walls, holes in the floors and ceiling, and rebars protruding out here and there, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone who wasn’t paying attention got hurt, or worse. As Maya yanked me up the stairs, I stumbled and proved myself right.
“I think I see Jess.” Maya released me and called out his name. She took off toward her boyfriend. He was what Maya called a gym bear—or was it a muscled bear—whatever the term was, Jess was certainly tall. And muscled.
As I neared a large, rectangular doorway, echoes of cheers and jeers bounced off the walls. From the volume of noise, there had to be hundreds of spectators down on the main floor, surrounding the cage. I wanted to cover my ears, but I was too stunned at what we’d stepped onto.
We were on a walkway—made of steel. One side hugged the outside perimeter of this gargantuan space. The other side—except for the metal handrail, was open to the center of the building. Fear skated along my spine at all the ways I could get hurt up here.
No sooner had Maya left my side, then a sea of human bodies pushed their way forward and I was mashed up against the metal railing, my body bowing slightly forward into the open space. One skinny railing determined my ultimate safety or demise.
An overwhelming queasiness swamped my stomach as I precariously stared down at the lower half of the warehouse. People milled around the outer periphery of the large, octagonal cage in the center of the floor. Some had their faces right up against the galvanized chain links, screaming their heads off.
Between the bloody fighters in cage and the rising shouts from the bloodthirsty people crowding the arena, my head spun and it was a real possibility that I was going to lose my dinner of chicken and potatoes all over those people below us.
I needed to get away from the railing, but I was wedged in tightly, with no room for escape. Falling from the second floor of this building wasn’t how I wanted to die, so when the crowd of watchers disbursed down the spiral gangplank that led to the lower level, I squeezed past the few enthralled spectators that remained.
Once free, I plastered myself to the cement outer wall, taking deep breaths until my heart stopped thrashing against my ribcage, and contemplated if I should just leave.
“Regi!” Maya shouted my name over the roaring screams of the spectators.
I glared at her, silently conveying This is far from fun.
She gave me one of her smirks, then her eyes shifted to the left. I followed her gaze and my annoyance grew into utter frustration. The last person I wanted to see was standing next to Jess.
Kane Maxwell. He was one of Jess’s closest friends. Three weeks ago, Maya dragged me to his penthouse, where he was hosting a lavish party. Want to talk about pretentious?
Kane obviously thought highly of himself, because he’d made it extremely clear that night that all he wanted out of me was a fuck, and I could be one of the lucky ones to have his dick down my throat and in my pussy—his exact words.
By the look on his face, Kane was surprised when I had told him to drop his dick in the piranha tank that was displayed in his living room, and then I left the party.
When Maya came home the next morning, she said Kane thought I was being coy and he refused to believe I wasn’t interested in him or his offer of sex. Apparently, given the wide, evil grin currently pasted on his somewhat handsome face, Kane Maxwell still didn’t believe I had been disgusted by his advances.
If I were a desperate woman, I might have taken him up on his proposition to ride him like a champion bull—his words again, not mine. But I wasn’t that kind of girl.
Besides, he set off my creeper alert. And I learned a long time ago to follow my instincts with guys like him. Or any man.
“Regina, I’m so glad you came,” Kane said as he approached me like we were the best of friends. Gah. I was going to kill Maya for using my real name in front of Kane. Besides, how hard was it to say Regi. Two simple syllables.
“That’s not my name.”
Maya and I needed to have another chat about her loose tongue. If I wanted people to know who I really was, I wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of making up a fake past and started calling myself Regi Martin.
“Regi,” he said, as he began to reach for me. I halted, just out of range of his long arms. The man had a body—I’d give him that. Thicker than a runner’s build and quite tone. But that was all I’d give him. His personality left much to be desired.
“Kane,” I replied evenly while keeping my narrowed eyes on my best friend, who was fake smiling at me like there was nothing wrong—even though she knew better.
I gave her the You’re in trouble glare. She gave back her I didn’t know he was going to be here eyes. I returned her stare with You’re a liar.
“Since we’re all here, how about we head down to the main floor and take our seats. The next fight will start in ten minutes,” Jess suggested, before he wrapped a brawny arm around Maya and planted a hard, quick kiss to her mouth.
“Great idea. Can we get a drink first, baby?” Maya bounced with exuberance.
“You ladies can have whatever you want at the bar. It’s on the house,” Kane said and winked at me.
