Page 38 of Secret

“Yes, that would be great,”I say eventually, noticing Blake’s arms tighten around me.

She claps her hands together and starts moving her food into a bowl. “Well, see you soon, Izzy. I'm going to change.”

“Bye, and it was lovely to meet you,” I reply honestly.

“Trust me, it was lovelier for me to meet you.” She looks at me strangely for a second again before leaving the prepped food on the side for cooking and walking out.

I turn to Blake to see him looking at me strangely.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn't have said yes without asking you. I just didn't want to disappoint her,” I say quickly and look down.

He grabs my chin gently and pulls me up into a soft kiss before saying, “It's not that, I just didn't realise how lucky I am until now. It felt perfect with you in my arms and to actually be able to do normal things with you.”

“Oh, well, I think I'm the lucky one.” I grin and kiss him slowly before sucking on his bottom lip, making him groan quietly.

I pull back at his annoyance and hop away from him to keep a safe distance. One look at his darkened, bedroom eyes and I know I’ve done the right thing.

“I have to go because if I stay, I’ll be in your bed,” I say seductively to him.

“I don't see how that's a bad thing,” Blake says with a panty-dropping smile. Blake stands to reach for my hand as we walk out to my car. Once we are next to my car, he gently presses me against the door with his body and goes on to kiss me hotly, running his tongue into my mouth, and I nearly ask him if I can stay as I catch my breath.

He pulls away.“You need to go before I can't let you. I'm going for a cold shower,” he says as breathless as I feel.

I nod, not being able to make words come out of my mouth at that point, and hop into the car. I wave goodbye to him before driving back to the madness that is surely waiting for me at home.

Chapter17

IZZY

Igo to open my front door, but it's opened for me as a strong pair of arms pulls me into a tight hug. It doesn’t take me long to realise it’s Luke, and he actually sighs in relief at seeing me. He doesn't say anything, just lets go of me and gently pushes me into the house, and then the door shuts behind me with a soft groan.

“Where is everyone?” I ask as I slip off my shoes and leave my phone on top of a small table by the door.

“Living room,” he says gruffly and walks off that way, with me following.

When we walk into the living room, Sebastian’s sitting on the floor with his back against the sofa as he watches the TV. Elliot and Harley are having a deep conversation on the other sofa. There are several unopened pizza boxes and coke bottles on the coffee table. Sebastian’s eyes widen, his lips pulled into a tight smile as he sees me enter, and he turns off the TV as I walk to stand next to the sofa.

“Come and sit next to me, Izzy,” Sebastian says, patting the floor next to him. I join him and smile, but he seems as tense as the rest of them as he returns my smile.

Harley clears his throat so that I look at him. I can see the mixture of emotions on his face; worry, anger, and mainly stress, making me a little concerned for him.

“We have all agreed to tell you everything. We wanted to keep you out of this, but it seems you will find your own way there anyway,” he sayswith a huff, clearly annoyed at me.

Elliot surprises me by taking over and saying,“Our father was involved in The Cage. That's the name of the place you went, if you didn’t know. There are no rules to fighting in it, and our dad was killed by the owner of The Cage for trying to kill him. We are paying off a debt to him for not killing us, too, because we knew about it and we didn’t try to stop Father. You have to remember, we were just kids when we agreed to his messed up deal.”

Sebastian takes over now, and I turn my attention to him as I try to deal with the information they are telling me. I did not expect this.

“Our father was a power-hungry idiot, and we didn't have a good childhood with him, sis. Now, we’re stuck paying off his debt by fighting in the cage, even though we don’t want our lives to be like this.”

I sit, completely shocked, for a long time, taking in everything they are saying as a picture of my father forms in my head without me wanting it to. I guess I have to admit to myself I knew he wasn't the best person if he knew about me and didn't help my mum with looking after me. I knew she was keeping me hidden with all the moving, but did she know how bad he really was?

“This wasn’t what I was expecting,” I mutter to myself. I thought they were fighting for money, not because they have no choice. My gaze locks onto Harley as I finally look up at them.

“How much ‘debt’ do you have to pay? How many more fights?” I ask, putting a strain on the word debt.

“We have to fight three hundred fights and win every one. If we lose any, he adds twenty fights per loss. We haven't lost any by pure, damn, fucking luck, but we have come close.” Harley’s eyes flutter to Luke briefly before looking away.

“We have all been in the hospital more than once for different things, it’s lucky we have enough money left from our parents to make anyone look the other way,” Elliot adds in as he stares at me, trying to see my reaction.

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