“We do, and West and his partner, Shane, would be here, but Shane had to work.” Madden sighed as if he felt bad for these people. “They were going to try to make it soon.”
I raised my eyebrows but didn’t say anything as the program Jayce was trying to find came on the screen. It was hard to keep my eyes off the fight that was clearly more than halfway finished. The two men in the cage were battered, blood gushing down the side of one guy’s face, while the other had a twisted nose. It was disgusting but also beautiful.
“This isn’t the fight we’re waiting for,” Jayce said. “There’s a big fight between—”
I didn’t listen to him. I had no interest in their names, but the sight of the blood was eye-catching. Brutal. Fucking awesome.
Someone knocked on the door, and Jayce jumped up to answer. The final couple we were waiting for arrived and were introduced. I didn’t care, but I smiled and shook their hands.
Shane was around my age and excited to have someone younger to talk to, and for Jules’s sake I made conversation.
“Are you going to college?” Shane asked. He had dark hair the color of black ink, and warm brown eyes, and his tan looked natural, like it came from spending time outside. He had a long face and a large smile, and if I had to likesomeone, he wasn’t too bad. Innocent, though.
“Maybe. I don’t know yet.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. I nodded toward River. “This lawyer thing seems interesting.”
“Until you realize how many long hours you do.” West laughed. I stared at him to see if he was joking, but he clearly wasn’t because River and Madden made noises of agreement. West was a handsome man, too, though less so than the others, and had more of an average appearance. With dark, medium-length hair that was lighter on top, bright eyes, and a short beard, he had nothing on my Jules.
“I feel like I’m in more of a relationship with Paxton than Madden,” Evan said, scrunching his nose.
When Jayce laughed and said, “Sounds about right, mate,” I realized JaycewasPaxton.
“Who’s fighting?” West asked, gesturing at the TV.
About five conversations started at once, and I watched them all very carefully. They were close, and it was obvious in how easily they interacted with one another. Like family. They had more of a relationship than I ever did with my parents, and as much as I didn’t understand it, I could appreciate it.
“You know there’s an illegal fight club around New Gothenburg?” Shane said loudly, and everyone’s attention turned to him. Apparently he’d hit an interesting subject, and he certainly had me intrigued.
I leaned in closer to Jules, breathing him in while I focused on Shane. “Really?”
River rolled his eyes. “It’s a badly kept secret, but when something is run by Derek Uhlig, it usually is.”
“Who’s he?” I asked.
Jayce laughed. “You haven’t been here for long, have you?” He threw his arm around River’s waist and kissed his cheek. “Uhlig is one of the biggest criminals in the city. He runs all types of underground circuits, from casinos to fight clubs. The newest rumor is that he runs some kind of survival game. Real-life stuff where people actually die.”
Evan shrugged. “As far as I’m concerned, if people want to fight, let them. They aren’t hurting anyone who isn’t willing.”
Jayce groaned. “Don’t start that argument with River.”
River pursed his lips and shoved his gold frames up his nose. “There’s a whole lot of litigation issues involved in that type of thing. You can’t agree to let yourself be murdered.”
“Says the guy who defends the Kings,” Evan argued.
Jayce held up his hand toward Evan, who laughed. “Don’t start, mate. You’ll never hear the bloody end of it.”
I smiled and looked at the TV, where a new fight was about to begin. The guys from the previous bout were being tended to and the cameras got in real close to their bruised and battered faces. Excitement stirred inside me. If I joined the fight club I could witness that torture in person, inflict the agony on someone else, and in turn, I could feel the unmistakable pain. I shivered at the thought. Someone at the homeless shelter had to know where to find this kind of illegal event.
I bit my lip to stop myself from squealing in glee like a fucking child. I had to go back to A Home for the Heart to get the rest of my belongings anyway. I could ask Tyler if he’d heard anything.
Resting my cheek on Jules’s shoulder, I whispered into his ear, “I want to join that illegal fight club, Master.”
Jules sucked in a breath but didn’t say a word.
Later he was deadly silent as we walked into the house, same as he had been in the truck on the way home, and I didn’t dare utter a word. The quietness was an anomaly I didn’t like, but I kept my mouth closed as I walked through the front door and he shut it behind me. I paused near the staircase and held my breath. I couldn’t decide what he was most mad about, but when I turned to talk to him, I was surprised by a sudden attack. The hand that wrapped around my throat threw me back against the side of the stairs, and I hit the wall hard, the breath knocked out of my lungs. Jules’s fingers pressed into my airway, and I gasped, pleasure and pain meshing together and singing through my veins, heading south straight to my cock.
“Why did you make a serial-killer joke?” he whispered, desperation in his tone. His eyes darkened and his stare promised hurt, and I wanted that. Ineededit.
I wheezed around the insistent press of his fingers to my throat and grinned. “Because it was funny.”
