Page 85 of The Fighter

“What about Tav?”

A shoulder bumped into mine. Hard. I stumbled at the head of an alley, Into the phone, I said, “I’m going to tell him. He should know.”

I turned, prepared to tell off whoever had nearly taken me off my feet. “Know what?” Nik asked in my ear.

I opened my mouth to answer just as two hands grabbed me and roughly pulled me into the alley. A hand covered my mouth, and another batted my phone and the bakery bag out of my hands. I could hear Nik’s voice, but not his words, and I struggled, lashing out at the hands holding me, but there were too many. Four, six, eight, I couldn’t be sure. The crowd on the sidewalk was so close and yet so far away, unaware of my battle in the darkened alley.

Something sharp pricked my neck. I kicked. I punched out. I tried to scream. But my limbs were so very heavy. My brain wouldn’t connect to my body as my brain vowed to fight, but my muscles weren’t working. My vision went dark at the edges, and I clung to consciousness as long as I could until I lost it all.

TWENTY-NINE

Conrad

I came to with a shivering gasp, my body on fire until I realized it was the opposite. Cold. Icy water dripped from my chin, spilled down my bare chest.

My shoulders ached as they were tied behind my back around a chair. My ankles tied to the chair legs. I wore nothing but my jeans. My thumb immediately went to my finger, but the ring wasn’t there.The ring wasn’t there. Beside my chair sat a bucket, likely the source of my current icy cold wet state.

I tried not to panic at the absence of the ring. Maybe the ring was somewhere here in this building with the rest of my clothes. I’d been mid-conversation with Nik, so he’d know I was taken.

I was in a large windowless room, more like an entire below-ground floor of a building, lit by a few bare bulbs in the ceiling. A row of cages lined one wall, and I was in the middle in a big wooden chair with a high back. And sitting across from me, his legs crossed casually, was Devlin. I couldn’t see anyone else in the basement, but there were a lot of dark shadows where men could be lurking. I tensed and fought my way through the hazeof whatever drug they’d given me to focus. This had been the end game all along, to give myself to Devlin so we’d be able to pin down his location. But we hadn’t planned on it yet, and I loathed being caught off guard.

I studied Devlin as he brought a lit cigarette to his lips, inhaled, and then rose from his chair. He leaned down and exhaled right in my face. He knew how I hated cigarettes, and I refused to cough. Instead, I inhaled his second-hand smoke like I’d been doing it all my life.

He grinned. And then he reared back and slapped me in the face.

My head whipped to the side to absorb the blow, although it hadn’t been too hard. This was a warning. A warmup. Still, my skin stung

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Devlin pulled his chair closer and perched at the edge of the seat, so our knees touched. He didn’t look well. His skin was sallow, and his eyes bloodshot. He couldn’t hide a tremor in his hand, and he wore jeans, boots, and a thin T-shirt. All of it dirty. I had him running scared.Sotohad him running scared.

He gripped my chin, and his fingers dug into my cheeks. “I’ve known you were Soto for a while, and that was fine. I liked the competition. It was fun. I wasn’t going to hurt you for that, Conrad. Not at all.”

This time when he pulled back his elbow, it was with a closed fist, and he slammed it into my temple so hard that I saw stars. It’d been a long time since I had to take a hit. I’d been in plenty fights, but when I was much younger, and Devlin was strong despite his obvious distress.

“But what I can’t forgive,” he seethed, his cigarette breath making my stomach roll. “What I can’t forgive is you fucking the man who killed my brother. For putting him under yourprotection.” He inhaled sharply and his voice boomed in the enclosed space. “For moving him into your fucking home!”

He punched me again, in the stomach this time, and at least I saw it coming and had time to brace. Still, the hit was right at my kidneys and left me gasping for breath as pain seared through my side. How the fuck did Tav do this all the time?

Devlin gripped my chin again, forcing me to look at him. “That could have been me. I would have been so much better for you than that dumb Husk.”

I inhaled through my nostrils. My head throbbed, and my side ached, and this was only the beginning, I was sure. I had to focus, and I couldn’t let him bait me with insults about Tav.

Devlin leaned closer and brushed his cheek along mine. He’d used to do that when we were young, before we hit puberty, back when he was touch-starved for affection. But now it was a mimic of a caress, devoid of all the innocence it had meant back then, and I wanted to hurl. “I know you’re only with him to make me jealous. To hurt me. I forgive you, baby. Just kick him out, and we’ll be okay. No more hitting, okay? I won’t hit you again.”

I closed my eyes as Devlin’s stubble rasped along my skin. I hated the feel of it. The smell of him, cigarette smoke with the pungent tang of liquor. He’d been drinking. His fingers slid down my chest to palm my very soft cock through my jeans, and bile rose in my throat. I would have rather him hit me. Rip out a tooth. Snip off a finger. Anything but touch me when I could still smell Tav’s cum on my skin.

“No,” I whispered. “No, Devlin.”

He pulled back and cupped my face. “No what, baby?”

“I love Tav, and that has nothing to do with you.”

His stared at me for a moment, and then his eyes shuttered. He slowly dropped his hands from me and stood to his full height. With the thumb on each hand, he cracked the knuckle of each finger one at a time. Each sound was a warning bell, and Ipaid attention. I inhaled. Exhaled. Inhaled. Exhaled. I thought of Tav.

When the first punch came, I was ready, but that still didn’t prepare me for the strength of the blow. Blood filled my mouth as Devlin unleashed on me. My head. My body. Thighs. Everywhere he could touch, Devlin inflicted pain. His spit sprayed me as he cursed. As I felt a tooth loosen in my mouth. My nose crunched. Pain became my friend and enemy as my brain sloshed in my skull until I lost the battle.

I opened my eyes. Well, one eye. One didn’t open, and I didn’t need to touch it to know it was swollen all to hell, as was likely my entire face. But my hands were no longer tied behind my back. In fact, I was no longer in that damn chair either. I lay on my side on the concrete floor, in one of those cages I’d seen earlier. Blood pooled below my head, which certainly wasn’t good. A bucket in the corner was my only friend, along with a single bottle of water. I reached for it, and my shoulders screamed. Heaving myself to a sitting position took gargantuan effort, but I managed to settle myself on my hip as I tipped some water into my bloody mouth. I didn’t want to waste any water, so I didn’t spit out the blood in my mouth, just swallowed it along with the water. I prodded at a loose molar with my tongue.

I was alone in this basement, as far as I could see. A set of stairs led up to a closed door, but they’d left on a few lights for me. How considerate.