“WHAT?”screamed Rick and slammed his cane against the pipes beside Alec. Everyone, even his two bodyguards, jumped. The soundreverberated around the room for long seconds. God, his pupils were enormous. He was really coked up. “She should kiss someone, for good luck.” He wasn’t going to let go of the idea. “Maybe she should kissme.”And his thin lips twisted into what he called a smile.
Alec was standing close enough to me that I could feel him tense up. I knew he was getting ready to fly at Rick and I knew how that would end. But the idea of kissing Rick made me sick.
Rick stepped forward. Alec squared up to him.Shit!Rick was going to wind up beating him up, before the fight had even started. I had to do something.
Before any of them could stop me, I stepped forward and grabbed Rick’s hand where it held his cane. His skin was cold and clammy, very different to Aedan’s warm touch. Rick’s eyes widened in surprise and I thought he was going to hit me. But then I gently lifted his hand, and the cane with it, towards my face, and he relaxed as he saw what I had in mind.
I brought the ugly, gaudy crystal head of the cane up to my mouth and kissed it softly, the facets sharp against my lips. When I looked up at Rick, he was grinning all over his face.
“There,” he said. “See? She’s got the idea.”
Rick planted his cane back on the floor with a hard little rap. I winced. I couldn’t imagine how painful that thing would be, against flesh and bone. “You can take this guy, right?” he asked Alec.
Alec was still having to restrain himself. “Sure,” he said tightly. “No problem. He’s a little guy. One good hit and he’ll go down.”
“Good, ‘cause I got a lot of my own money on you, tonight,” said Rick. “Make sure he goes down and stays down.” Then, with a final leer at me, he was walking out into the pit to introduce the fight, his bodyguards trailing him.
Alec turned to me and pulled me into another hug.
“You sure about this?” I said. I didn’t know why, but I was suddenly panicking. “There’s still time to pull out.”
Alec didn’t answer, but I knew what he was thinking:no, there isn’t.Even if we didn’t need the money, you don’t just walk out on one of Rick’s fights. You did what you were told or you had your legs broken.
“I got this,” said Alec. “He’s just a little guy.” He released me from the hug but I kept stubbornly holding him until the last second. Then, reluctantly, I tapped my fists against his like we always did, our good luck charm.
“I’ll see you afterward,” said Alec. “Go upstairs and watch. And stay the hell away from Aedan.”
And then he was jogging out into the pit.
6
SYLVIE
The crowd had gonequiet as I climbed the stairs back up to the balcony. I could make out Rick’s voice, telling them who they’d be watching. “From the land of tulips and dykes”—the crowd snickered—”undefeated in The Pit these last three weeks,The Dutchman!”
Alec and I had both been born right here in New York, but he had to make it sound good.
“And stepping up to take him on tonight, a challenger from Detroit—Morgan!”
I faltered on the stairs. That was weird. Normally, Rick had a whole spiel. Did that mean he didn’t know this Morgan guy? What if he was dangerous?
I raced up the rest of the stairs, slipped through the crowd and leaned over the balcony to look. To my relief, Morgan didn’t look like much at all. He was at least five years older than Alec, maybe more. And he didn’t have Alec’s muscle or his height. Maybe this would be alright after all.
The Pit didn’t go in for niceties. The bell was an air horn, blown every three minutes to give the fighters a minute to recover. There was no grinning blonde in a bikini holding up round numbers andno medics on standby for injuries. Most important of all, there was no referee. The rules were simple: you fought until one of you couldn’t get up.
The horn sounded and Alec went in fast and confident, swinging a heavy right hook. I think he meant to take out Morgan fast, before anything went wrong.
Almost immediately, it did.
Alec wasn’t slow on his feet, but Morgan made him look like he was sleepwalking. Whenever Alec swung, Morgan was somewhere else. His punches weren’t heavy, but they were lightning-fast and precise. Within a minute, Alec was sweating and off-balance, guarding his side where Morgan had hit his kidneys.
I could feel my chest tensing up with every hit my brother took.Who the hell is this guy? Who’s Rick put him up against?
By the second round, Alec was starting to tire. He wasn’t used to a small, nimble fighter. He couldn’t turn fast enough, couldn’t protect his sides when Morgan darted around him. And then a vicious kick to the back of the leg made him crumple and stagger. His hands went out for balance, leaving him exposed, and Morgan started punching him in the face.One, two, three, four—
Alec finally got his hands up, but he was reeling. He slumped back against the concrete wall, blood pouring from between his fingers.
My insides had clenched into a tight, hard knot. I could barely breathe.
