Renegade Hearts (Rebels of Sandland 1)

I had no idea who this guy was, but I gave him a thumbs up and a, “Thanks,” and moved on. I made my way through the groups of people standing around smoking, drinking and dancing to the bass from the main factory floor. I soon managed to find the small set of stairs that led to the basement area. The guy was right when he’d said they’d put lights up, but it did nothing to combat the eerie, dark feeling that crept over you when you came down here. It smelt musty and metallic, like this wasn’t the first fight that’d happened down here. I shivered, but as soon as my foot hit the bottom step I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me and pull me close. A warm chest erased the chill in my bones.

“I was about to come back up and find you.” Ryan nuzzled into my neck and kissed me. I spun in his hold and wrapped my arms around him. I felt dizzy. This boy certainly had me under his spell.

“I got bored waiting.” I didn’t care who was watching. I didn’t care if it got back to my dad that I’d been here with Ryan. I buried my face in his T-shirt and inhaled him. Filling my lungs with everything that calmed me and blocking out the outside world.

“I saw you with Liv and Effy.” He bent down and kissed the top of my head. “Then with Liv and Pete, but I didn’t want to interrupt you. I don’t want to be the asshole boyfriend who takes you away from your friends.”

Boyfriend. I liked that. It made my heart swell and my stomach flip.

“You can interrupt any time. I want you to get to know my friends. Their jury is still out on you. You need to change that.”

He nodded and then pulled me to one side, away from the stairs and the crowds of people drifting into the basement.

“Fuck. What the hell are they doing here?” I turned to see where he was looking and saw Chase with his older brother, Jensen, and his friend, Brodie Yates. Jensen and Brodie had gone to the same high school as us, but they were in the year above Danny and Ryan. Jensen didn’t live in Sandland anymore. Since graduating university he’d moved to London and joined some accountancy firm that my dad had dealings with. God knows what he was doing here. I wouldn’t trust him though. He might play the part of the successful honest businessman by day, but I’d heard he was a bit of a thug after hours.

We watched them strut around like they owned the place, heads held high and chests puffed out like a trio of half-witted peacocks. Then Kian sidled up to us all flustered and flapping.

“Ry. Jensen wants in on the fight tonight. He wants to fight Brandon.” Kian was out of breath, his eyes darting around like he expected Brandon to jump out of the shadows and tackle him to the ground.

“Does Brandon know?” Ryan didn’t flinch. He wasn’t fazed at all by what Kian said.

“He’s all for it. Said he’s gonna kill him. I don’t think it’s a good idea, Ry.?

?? Kian was twitchy, wringing his hands together and fidgeting on the spot. Anyone would’ve thought he’d been asked to fight Brandon himself.

“I think it’s a great idea. Brandon needs this. He deserves it.”

Kian snapped his jaw shut, nodded like a lunatic and then spun on his heels and walked away. I always thought he was a tad weird. That’d just proved my point. The guy was a fruit loop.

“What’s going on? Why doesn’t Kian think it’d be a good idea for Brandon to fight Jensen? Is Jensen that good?”

Ryan huffed and gripped me a little tighter as he glanced their way. “Jensen thinks he’s good, and five or six years ago he might’ve been better than Brandon, but not anymore. Brandon will annihilate him.”

“So, what’s the big deal? Are you worried he’ll sue or something?”

Ryan shook his head and then sighed, pulling me further into the corner of the basement. He looked tired, his eyes telling me that tonight was about more than a show of physical strength.

“Do you remember when I told you about Brandon’s mum and how shitty his family life was? Well, the whole ‘social services taking him away covered in his own shit’ kind of made it to school somehow. Brandon was bullied for years by Jensen, Brodie and the rest of those assholes. They made his life hell. Some of the fucked-up shit they did to him in middle school was… Well, it was tough for us to come to terms with, let alone Brandon. I don’t know how he survived it. We helped him where we could, but we weren’t as strong back then.”

Ryan nodded over to where Chase and his brother stood. “That guy over there is the reason Brandon worked so hard to build himself up. They’re the reason he fights like he does. When he’s psyching himself up, it’s his face he pictures in his mind. And I know for a fact that it’s Jensen he’s punching every damn time. If Jensen wants to go against Brandon, I say let him. The fucker’s owed some payback and Brandon deserves to be the one to give it to him.”

I’d had no idea Brandon had been bullied at school. I always thought he was the bully. He’d been awful to Elliot Small and some of the other guys in the lower years. But I guess everyone has a story to tell and Brandon was carrying more baggage than I’d realised. He had a score to settle. Seems tonight was going to be the night for payback.

“Is that why you hate Chase?” I asked. Chase had been in our year, but he’d always been close to Jensen when he was living at home.

“Chase is a piece of shit. He stood by and watched his brother do what he did. He could’ve stopped it, but he didn’t. He liked seeing someone else suffer. The whole Lockwood family are twisted motherfuckers. They’ve all got it coming to them, but tonight, its Jensen’s time.”

I had a bad feeling in my gut. I didn’t like how this was playing out. I’d seen what Brandon was capable of and putting those kind of feelings into the mix would only lead to disaster. Disaster for the four boys, and even though Brandon wasn’t my favourite guy, I didn’t want to see him behind bars for something I could’ve stopped.

“I don’t think he should, Ryan. I think you need to stop this. What if Brandon goes too far?”

“He won’t. He might look like an animal, but he knows when to stop. That fear and anger, he’ll use that as a form of energy, a way to channel his victory. He needs this, Em. It’s not just about the money or the glory. He needs it for his own peace of mind. He’s spent too long being haunted by his past and feeling ashamed. He has something to prove tonight and this is the best arena for him to do that.”

Ryan pulled away but held my face in his hands. “Trust me. If it gets out of hand, I’ll step in, but I won’t need to. The ref will stop it if it gets too much. It might look barbaric, but there is an honour to this too.” He leant down to kiss me and the feel of his lips on mine made some of my tensions ease up.

What did I know about fighting? Not enough to form a decent argument against this and I trusted Ryan completely. If anyone had Brandon’s back it was Ryan.

When Brandon walked into the basement to a round of catcalls and chanting, he grinned that psychotic moronic grin that I was slowly becoming to realise was his signature look. He saw Ryan and me stood in the corner and he put two fingers up to his lips and then kissed them, throwing them back over to us in greeting. He really did believe his own hype. Trouble was, no one else was willing to step up and prove him wrong. Until tonight that is. He turned to where Jensen stood with Chase, Brodie and some other men I didn’t recognise. Brandon flared his nostrils and I could see the way his chest was moving with the panting breaths he took. He flexed his muscles and jumped on the spot. Kian handed him a water bottle, but he brushed him off. He was going the extra mile to psych himself up this time. He didn’t want any distractions.