I looked around. There was no one else on the street. If I resisted, I’d have to fight with a broken leg.
Heart thumping, I got in the car.
42
AEDAN
I wasn’tgood at this shit.
“I really—” I sighed and broke off. “I really like her. When I’m with her, I feel—“
I broke off again and shook my head. Maybe this had been a bad idea. I’d been hitting the bag at the gym, not long after Sylvie left, when it’d suddenly hit me that he and I needed to have this conversation. And once I thought of it, I couldn’t get it out of my head.
“Sylvie is...she really cares about other people. Even me. Christ knows why. And she makes me feel—shemakes mea better person.”Jesus, that sounded stupid.I kicked the bed, which made more noise than I’d expected. “Shit. Sorry.”
Alec didn’t respond.
I stared at his motionless body. “Why am I talking to you? You can’t even hear this.”
I sat there in silence for a few seconds, listening to the hiss and bleep of the machines.This is stupid!But at the same time, it felt right. And God knows, it was about time I did something right.
“What I wanted to say was...I want to be with her. All the time.Like, long-term, into the future. I haven’t told her that part yet. I’m crazy about her. I’ll take care of her. I promise.”
Alec lay there impassively. But I still felt better.
I stood up. “I gotta go,” I told him. “Sylvie’s going to cook.” I checked my watch and realized I’d better hurry. She’d be home by now, waiting for me.
43
SYLVIE
With every mile we traveled,my confidence drained. What the hell was going on? Whatchange of plan?Had he found some other woman for me to fight—someone I couldn’t beat? But Rick remained tight-lipped the whole journey, only telling me to wait and see. By the time we arrived, I wanted to be sick.
This time, The Pit was deserted. I didn’t get it, at first. The whole point of me meeting Jacki had been so that the crowd could see us together and get fired up about the forthcoming fight. If there was no audience to see me and this new woman, what was the point?
As Rick led me out into the pit, he saw me looking up at the empty balcony. “I didn’t want a whole crowd here,” he told me. “I’ve decided to make your fight invitation-only. We’ll move it to a different venue, too. Somewhere more private.”
I wanted to run—sprint back up the stairs and out onto the street and not stop until I saw a cop car. But, even if I got away from Rick and his guards, Alec was alone and vulnerable in the hospital. They’d take it out on him. “Why?” I asked, my voice shaking. “Why more private?”
Rick planted the end of his cane on the floor and leaned on it, glancing around at his guards. “I had a think about your little catfightwith Jacki. The crowd really liked it when she ripped your top. So I thought: how do we maximize that? How do we turn that up all the way?”
He nodded over my shoulder and I turned.
It seemed to happen in slow motion. My opponent walked out from one of the side rooms. Taller than me. Wider than me.
And male.
44
SYLVIE
He was nearly asbig as Aedan. I took in his wide, muscular shoulders and the heavy chest that pushed out the front of his gray tank top. He was at least twice my weight. Under his ripped jeans, his thighs seemed as big around as my waist. A bear of a man. His hair seemed unnaturally light blond, as if he’d dyed it, and his eyes were a cold, cold blue. A good-looking guy, but there was something deeply unsettling about the way he was looking at me. He was the sort of guy who sets your alarm bells ringing, when you see him in a bar. The sort where you’re suddenly glad you haven’t had one more drink, because then you might go home with him...and you sense something awful would happen.
“Meet Lowell,” said Rick in my ear. “He just got out of jail a few weeks ago. He was in for assault...and something else.”
Lowell smiled a smile that held no warmth at all.
“...see if you can guess what that was.” said Rick.
