Page 6 of Promise of Hellfire

I tried not to, but I started laughing before I patted his shoulder. “That’s the whole point.”

I pushed my way through the thick crowd towards the metal fencing set up in the middle of the room. Women batted their eyelashes as I brushed past and adjusted their shirts while their dates grabbed their arms possessively. I ignored them. I wasn’t here looking for a piece of ass. There was only one woman I wanted. Someone who had clawed their way under my skin and into my heart. When I finished tonight, Rayne would be curled up in bed, waiting for me.

I approached Ignacio and stripped off my jacket, handing it to him. He frowned. “What’s going on, Ethan? Why are you here? I thought everything was good?”

Ignacio was one of my friends from college and worked for the Strathmore PD. We’d met at an illegal fight when we were younger and somehow stayed in touch over the years. He was always quick with a joke and had helped me through some crazy situations.

I stared at him for a moment, clenching my jaw, wondering how much to tell him. I pulled my pistol from my waistband and discretely placed it in his hand under my jacket. “A lot of shit happened this afternoon, but I need you to promise you won’t breathe a word to another soul.”

“Fuck,” he muttered. “You know me. We’re brothers, so whatever you tell me is between us. What’s bothering you tonight? Is it your dad?”

I pulled off my shirt and bounced on my heels a few times, looking around to see if anyone else was paying attention to us. I leaned close to him so that I could lower my voice. “He’s auctioning women off at the Rose. Him and Ayers. The police chief is involved, too.”

Ignacio’s eyes grew wide at my words and he stood there silently, running a hand through his hair. “Palmer? This isn’t good. Let me guess. The three of you and your girl are involved in this too?”

I nodded my head. “We still need more details, though.”

“Be careful. I’ll try to find out what I can for you, but I need you not to do anything stupid tonight.” He shifted on his feet. “Well, anything more stupid than usual. Who are you up against tonight?”

I lifted my chin in the direction of the men standing in the corner. “Them.” I wiped my hands on the front of my pants.

His mouth hung open in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Ethan. Are you just looking to get your ass kicked? Dominic is going to lose his shit on you.”

“Yeah, he is, but I’ll deal with it later.” I bit the inside of my cheek until I could taste copper on my tongue and leveled my gaze at him. “all I want to do tonight is fight, have a few drinks, and maybe fuck my girl when I get home.”

He sighed deeply and shook his head. “You were doing so good. I thought maybe Rayne had helped to cure some of your self-destructive behavior. Some nights I swear you are hellbent on getting killed.”

“She’s dealing with her own shit right now. Plus Hunter’s. She doesn’t have time to deal with mine, too.” I turned my back to him, watching the lanky guy in the ring getting absolutely demolished by a man with ruddy cheeks and a scar down his face. Blood covered his skin and dripped onto the concrete floor, but he wouldn’t stay down.

Honestly, the ref should have called it by now.

“Did you ask her?” Ignacio asked from behind me.

I turned my head to him. “Ask her what?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “If she had time to deal with your shit. I’ve met her and I doubt she would say she didn’t have time for you.”

He had a point, but I didn’t want to admit that to him. The ref finally called the fight, if you could claim that was what happened in the ring a few moments before. Two men escorted the thin man’s limp body from the space. I inhaled and handed Ignacio the shirt in my hand. “Just watch my stuff until I get back.”

I walked away from him towards the metal cage in the center of the room. “This conversation isn’t over,” he yelled. “Damn idiot.” I didn’t need to look at him to know he was muttering under his breath at me.

Glancing across the room, Maury nodded towards me and I opened the metal gate, trying to focus. Today had been a clusterfuck in every sense of the word. I slowly stretched my muscles, determined to let the two of them land at least a few punches.

“You sure about this?” the ref asked me when the two men from the corner entered the space, staring daggers in my direction.

I simply smirked and put on my mask, the one I wore around almost everyone except Rayne. “Yeah, piece of cake.” The older man lifted his eyebrows at me and raised his hands, backing away. Cold metallic adrenaline filled my throat as I bounced on my feet, trying to remember why I did this. Adrenaline helped to wash away all the unpleasant memories from the past and the endorphins would make me feel good for a little while. The pain tomorrow would remind me I was still alive. My father hadn’t won.

The two large men sauntered toward me in tandem. I eyed them warily. Both were tall and well-muscled, easily larger than me.What is their weakness? Are they slow and overconfident? Are they going to use brute force, or will they fight smart?

One of them circled me to my left while the other stayed to my right, and I tried to keep a close check on both. The one with red hair spit at me. “Hey Bones, pretty sure tonight is in the bag. Can’t believe they would pit both of us against him.” The man who was evidently Bones chuckled behind me and I darted to the side, trying to gain distance between me and the men.

“Yeah, I know, Key, but easy money is easy money, right?” I glared and moved lightly on my feet, allowing their words to roll off of me. Maybe they were hoping to distract me or piss me off, but it wasn’t working. Bone barreled in my direction and slammed into my shoulder, knocking me off balance. I staggered briefly, trying to regain my footing before the next attack. In those mere seconds, Key was behind me and grabbed my hair.

“Should have cut this before coming here tonight,” Key seethed. “You look like a bitch and fight like one, too.” Bones’ fist landed on my cheek, snapping my head to the side, and my skin stung from the blow. Key yanked my head back by my hair as his friend’s knee landed against the outside of my thigh. A few inches north and I would’ve been completely debilitated.

Maybe Ignacio was right. I hadn’t really thought out what I was doing. I’d originally wanted to let both of them land a few blows, but there needed to be a deviation from my plan.I needed to get away from both of them before they slaughtered me. A few bruises I could explain to Dominic and Rayne. Broken ribs and a concussion, not so much.

I thrust my head backward towards Key, hoping to land a solid blow to his face. I guess he thought I was going to take their beating and not retaliate because the blow landed with a satisfying crunch. If I had to guess, it was his nose because his grip on my hair loosened enough that I could move out of his grasp, spitting at him on the floor.

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