To the Ends of the Earth (Stripped 5)

Maybe Candy told him that I was afraid of him. I don’t think she would do that to hurt me, but she might have been trying to help. “You seem different. Angry.”

Dark eyes study me. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Oh. Then why—”

“We’ll stop by the hotel. I’ll get you checked in and you can rest in the room while I’m gone.”

Alone.

Maybe that would be a relief to some people. You’re never alone in Harmony Hills, not even in sleep. And definitely not in those private prayer sessions I still experience in my nightmares. When I escaped, I was with Candy for a little while. Then Delilah. I don’t know how to be alone. The silence cracks me like a hammer to glass.

“Where are you going?”

“To the gym. I need to check in with some of my team. And I need to start training.”

For the fight. Because that’s what he does—he hits people. And he gets hit. “Can I come with you?”

It will be even worse now that I’m missing Delilah. Candy will take good care of her, but that knowledge does nothing for the hole in my heart.

His eyes narrow. “It’s a rough place.”

“I worked at the Last Stop.”

He quirks a smile. “Yeah. I guess you can handle yourself.”

Until the end. I desperately needed Luca’s help then. But I don’t think anyone will attack me when they know he’s in the vicinity. I may not trust him completely. I have a lifetime of experience telling me that men are dangerous, that violence breeds violence. But I know he won’t let anyone else touch me.

In that way he has something in common with Leader Allen.

He had been possessive, too.

Even though Luca warned me about the gym, I’m still surprised when the limo glides to a stop in front of a warehouse. If it weren’t for the faint light pressing through grime-coated windows, I would have thought the place abandoned.

It doesn’t look much better on the inside, the walls sprayed with something that looks like cotton from far away, a large expanse of concrete broken by squares of thin, fraying mats. Colored duct tape creates divisions in the massive room, making it clear that the practice isn’t haphazard even if it is low budget.

I expected rough men like Luca, but in a gentile setting. Something with granite and leather. This is a stark contrast to the luxury with which he travels.

Luca gives a low laugh beside me. “Thinking of backing out? I can have the driver take you to the hotel.”

And sit in a cold room by myself. “No, thank you.”

“MMA is only barely legal in Chicago. And there are a lot of restrictions. To keep fighting the way we do, with this kind of money on the line, they’ve kept it underground.”

“Oh, so that’s why it’s so…”

“Jacked up?” he offers.

“I was going to say stark.”

He snorts. “I’ll be here a couple hours. You can sit on the bleachers over there. If anyone tries to talk to you, just tell them you’re with me. Any questions?”

“One. If this fight is underground, how are you sure that my brother will hear about it?”

Appreciation flashes through his eyes. “Because the purse is the biggest. The prize. And that means the best fighters come out for this. Whether you’re in the fight scene or not, people come to the after party. It’s a free-for-all. We’ll set a trap for him there.”

“Oh.” An underground fight and a party seem so far removed from our old life at Harmony Hills. My brother, Alex, and I had never been close. He’d been a true believer long before I had been forced to be Leader Allen’s personal attendant.

“He’ll be there,” Luca says, sounding certain. “If you’re a dirty motherfucker—sorry. If you’re mixed up with a bad crowd, you’ll hear about it.”