~ ~ ~
It was a large warehouse. It looked like the kind of place where Aldo would have fights. There was a tall chain linked fence with barbed wire across the top of it. The inside of the property had broken concrete, growth pushing through it. It had all the signs of being abandoned but it was certainly anything but that.
I circled once and then waited across the street in another parking lot, along the side of a white building with faded blue letters that read Jimmy’s Auto & Body. This was definitely a forgotten part of the town. Probably forgotten for good reason. This looked prime for crime and drugs.
Sitting for a while, there wasn’t much traffic. A few cars here and there. A couple motorcycles. And then came the big vehicles. The massive SUVs, some of them looking like they belonged in the damn military. The first one pulled up to the gate. The passenger door opened and a huge guy climbed out. He had a gun slung around his shoulder like a rockstar would have a guitar. He grabbed the gun and surveyed the area. With a nod, two more men came out. They ran to the gate and unlocked it.
They were all big guys. Thick with muscle from who the hells knows… lifting weights, beating people to death, shooting shit in their bodies to get bigger…
The convoy of five vehicles all went into the lot and around the building.
This was Skull X territory for sure. Stoney hadn’t lied about the directions. Now I just needed a plan. A way to get inside the building and find Autumn. Find Andrea. Find out what the fuck waited, what it had to do with Endo, with Aldo, and how to save everyone, including myself and Winter. Especially Winter. Hell, if anything, she deserved a chance to run away the most.
I slowly climbed out of the car.
Yeah, I was nothing more than some lowlife thug fighter. I beat up people for money when I needed it. I beat up the guy who trained me to fight. I beat up all the men my mother brought home. Yeah, that was all true. I was stuck with Aldo as his toy to earn cash. I may have had muscle, a little bit of a crooked nose, and scars on my knuckles for days.
But it didn’t make me an idiot.
There was only one way to get inside the Skull X compound.
I had to get caught.
And a group like this wasn’t just going to have one building.
That I knew.
That’s why I parked where I did.
“Put your fucking hands up,” a voice said behind me.
I grinned.
I was caught.
Which was exactly what I wanted.
30.
(Winter)
I chewed my nails until there was nothing left. I bit at my fingers until they were soggy and sore. I got dressed, changed twice, stood on the balcony four times, and paced the room three times. And it barely killed a couple hours.
Being stuck in the motel room the first time was bad enough because I couldn’t get Tripp to even look at me, let alone talk to me, touch me, fall in love with me. Now was worse. I had no idea how long to wait.
Would his boss, Aldo, call me if something happened? Or would Aldo just have me taken out then too? I had nobody to call. I had nowhere to turn. Everything I knew seemed to be a lie, except the feelings I had for Tripp. They were painfully real. And they were painfully dangerous.
I sat on the bed and outstretched my hands. The sheets, the pillows, they all lingered of his smell. My body tingled thinking about him. The way he grabbed me. The way he came at me, opening my legs, thrusting forward. Thrusting inside. Thrusting deep.
My toes curled and I put my head back. My body ached all over.
There was something I could do to kill some time.
My fingers touched the bottom of my shirt, then the top of my jeans. My fingertips slipped down, feeling the laced edges of my panties.
And my cell phone rang.
I exhaled, feeling warm and flushed.
I grabbed my phone and saw it was Stoney.
Stoney?
“Stoney,” I said as I answered it.
“Ah, fuck, Winter!” he groaned into the phone.
“Stoney! What is it? Are you okay?”
“No,” he said. “I’m… fuck, it’s so bad…”
I jumped up. “What?”
“Tripp lost his mind,” Stoney said.
“What?”
“He came here. He wanted to know how to get to Skull X. I sat him down in the clubhouse, Winter. I tried to explain what he was getting into. We all did. We tried to explain what Skull X was. We tried to help him get a better plan together than just going after them… ah, fuck, it hurts…”
“Hurts? What hurts? What did Tripp do? Is he still there?”
“Yeah, he’s right here,” Stoney said. “He got mad and started swinging. We tried to stop him. He stabbed three of us, including me.”
“Tripp stabbed you?” I asked.
“Right in the fucking arm and stomach. I think I’ll be good. Winter, you have to get here. He’s lucky he’s not dead yet.”
“Holy shit…”
“Can you get here?” Stoney asked.
“I have no car. I have no ride. Can you put him on the phone?”
“No,” Stoney said. “We have him in a room. I have two guys with guns on him. I gave orders not to kill him. For your sake. Christ, Winter, what the fuck is going on?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Something happened with Tripp’s boss. They all want Autumn. They think I’m involved. I’m… Stoney, what do I do?”
“Okay, just take a breath,” Stoney said. “Here’s what you do. I need you to tell me where you’re staying. I’ll come get you. I’ll bring you back here and we can figure this out. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said.
“Winter. You can trust me… I promise…”
I nodded as my body shook.
Then I rambled off the address to the motel and my room number.
In the process, I was making one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
31.
(Tripp)
The warehouse had started to fill up.
There was going to be a fight tonight. I had fucked up their plans, and that was fine. The set up was nothing like Aldo’s system, but it worked. A guy at a table took bets on the fights. People filtered in, but they weren’t the same clientele that Aldo would attract. These were just regular people. Throwing down five, ten bucks to see something they thought was going to be cool.
Of course, I stole the attention for a few minutes as I was escorted along a back wall, a gun to the back of my head. I moved peacefully and had no intention of doing anything stupid. I was here on business and here to find out why Skull X had Autumn, then find a way to get her to Aldo.
Then this would all end.
I could prove Winter wasn’t a liar and I could escape with her.
“Here,” the guy behind me said.
He stopped and opened a door.
We went up a set of old metal steps that rang out with echoes with each step we took. At the top of those steps, we went through another door. There was a walkway that overlooked the floor. A nice place to stand and admire the fights when they started. Along that walkway was a door where we stopped again. The guy knocked and opened it.
There was a black desk and a black chair. The chair slowly turned and a man sat with his hands folded, covering his mouth. His eyes were dark and beady, his shoulders wide. He wore a black button down shirt. He put his hands to the table and pushed up.
“Leave him,” the man ordered.
“Okay. Hey, Dmitry, should we guard the other doors? In case this asshole came with a crew?”
“No. I can smell him. He’s alone. He’s got big balls between his legs and wants to show them off.”
The guy left the office.
I stood there, waiting.
Dmitry eyed me up and down a few times. “You’re a fighter, aren’t you?”
“I’m not here to talk about me,” I said. “If you know who I am, then you know why I’m here.”
“Let’s pret
end I know nothing. And you know nothing.”
“You’re hosting a fight out there,” I said. “You run Skull X. I’ve heard that name floating around for a while now. A lot of people are afraid of you.”
“Should be. We don’t fuck around, Tripp.”
Yeah, that one took me back a couple steps. The logical question would have been how did you know my name? but I let that slide. It didn’t matter that he knew my name.
“Where’s the kid?” I asked. “That’s why I’m here. I’m taking her where she belongs. No more bullshit. I want Autumn and Andrea.”
Dmitry knocked his right hand on the table and then chuckled. “Goddamn. That’s a tall order to make.”
“I made it,” I said. “So what’s the problem?”
“Have a seat.”
“No.”
Dmitry nodded. “I will then.” He sat back down. He opened a drawer and dug through it. Then he brought out a picture. He put it on the desk and turned it around and slid it forward. “So you’re here for this?”
I stepped forward and looked down at the picture. For a second I lost my breath. The picture was of a little girl, maybe four years old. She had dark, curly hair, a big smile, but the eyes got to me. They were Winter’s eyes. It was definitely her daughter. The daughter she had been forced to give up.
“Cat got your tongue there?” Dmitry asked.
I looked at him. My right hand was in a fist. I really thought about going after him.
“Easy,” Dmitry said. He lifted his right hand and put a gun on the desk. “I know how to take care of myself. So let’s just be men and talk.”
“I’d rather fight.”
“Understandable,” Dmitry said. “This isn’t your gig. So why are you here?”
“You took something that’s not yours. That little girl doesn’t belong to you.”
“She’s taken care of, along with her mother.”
“So let me try your game,” I said. “What do you want from me to get them?”
Dmitry nodded. “That’s a tough decision. I was just going to kill them.”
“Why?”
“I have no fucking use for them now.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Dmitry grinned.
He leaned back in his chair.
I made my move.
I grabbed the gun and pointed it at him. “Where are they?”
“Don’t do this, Tripp. I want to like you.”
“Fuck you. I have no loyalty to anyone. To anything.”
“Except that little tight slit between Winter’s legs, right?”
I pulled the trigger.
My eyes went wide…
Click.
I dropped the gun and Dmitry stood up. “And I thought we could trust each other.”
The door to the office busted open and I turned just in time to have three huge guys charge in after me. My instinct was to fight, so I started throwing punches. I had no chance - and I fucking knew it - but if I didn’t fight, then what was the point of living?
32.
(Winter)
I opened the door and Stoney threw his arms around me.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “Oh, fuck, Winter. I’m just so fucking sorry for everything. For Rocky. For Endo. For everything. What a goddamn mess.”
He squeezed me tight. I felt nothing. Stoney and I never had a thing for each other. Well, maybe he eyed me after Rocky’s death, but no more. I was Tripp’s. No matter what it took.
“Is Tripp okay?”
“No,” Stoney said. “I’m just so sorry.”
I broke away from Stoney’s hug, but he kept his hands on my shoulders. He looked ready to cry.
“Stoney, what is it?”
“Everything…”
“You don’t have to be upset. It’s not like you caused any of this.”
33.
(Tripp)
I took one more punch and they let me go. It felt like someone had thrown a cinderblock into my gut. I collapsed to the ground and put my hands to the floor. Outside the door people were cheering.
“That’s enough,” Dmitry said. “You three leave now. Go run security.”
The door opened and shut.
I climbed to my feet and wiped blood off my mouth. I looked at Dmitry. He was standing there, a smug look on his face.
“That’s how you do it?” I asked.
“I take care of things. It’s not always about being fair, Tripp. It’s about winning. My father taught me that as a young kid. So, can we start over? Find some trust?”
“No,” I said. “I have no interest in trusting you. Or helping you. I’m here for Autumn. Give me the kid and I’ll leave.”
“You have no muscle here,” Dmitry said. He stepped from around the desk. “Come on, let’s walk. You need to keep moving. It’ll help blood flow and chase away the pain.”
I had no idea if that was true or not.
Dmitry opened the door and we walked out together. We went to the railing just as the first fight was about to begin. It was two scrawny guys in the middle of a square. One had his fists up. The other hand his hands down, loose, dancing around.
“This is the warmup,” Dmitry said. “We let these fools knock each other around a little. Gets the crowd excited.”
“Why the low class shit?” I asked.
“It makes money.”
“Can’t be much though.”
Dmitry looked at me. “Brings in the exact clientele I need for my real business.”
Real business.
I looked back down at the floor and realized what that was. In the corners of the warehouse were a few more tables. Sex, drugs, and fighting. That’s what Skull X did. Seeing women sitting behind the tables, in nothing but bikinis, waiting to be paid for.
“Christ,” I whispered.
“I know what your boss does,” Dmitry said. “I have my own way. We control everything. And we have a good working relationship.”
“If you want it to be kept that way, then give me Autumn. You realize who she is, right?”
Dmitry nodded. “That I do.”
“And you realize that Endo is dead?”
“I heard. What a tragedy. That’s why I put the call in.”
“For what?”
Dmitry pushed from the railing. He faced me. “To have them killed. I don’t need them anymore, Tripp. With Endo gone, they’re worthless to me.”
I stepped at Dmitry. He put a hand out and stopped me.
Below us, the crowd cheered. I looked over the railing and saw the guy who had been dangling his arms like an ass on the ground, out cold. The other guy stood over him, shaking, in shock that he had won the fight.
“They’re not worthless to me,” I said. “I’m not leaving here without what I came for.”
“What about what you didn’t realize you’ve lost?”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I bet you wish you were down there,” Dmitry said. “You want to fight. I can feel it pouring from you.”
I gripped the railing and couldn’t deny it. It was a strange feeling to be at a fight and not be the one in the middle of the square ready to unleash hell on someone.
“Look,” I said. “You don’t want Aldo and his guys to come through here.”
“If he wanted it that bad, he’d be here already.”
“Trust me, you don’t want him here,” I said. “I don’t even know if I’m supposed to be here. Name your price. You want me to get down there and throw some punches? I’ll do it.”
“What’s the kid mean to you?” Dmitry asked.
“Nothing. I’ve never met her. But those close to me… she’s everything. I won’t leave without her. Unless you just want to kill me.”
Dmitry shrugged his shoulders. He took out a gun and pointed it at my chest. He pushed at me, but I refused to move.
“Is that even loaded?” I asked.
Dmitry lifted the gun and pulled the trigger. The
gunshot rang out. My heart instantly began to race. He put the gun back to my chest.
“You don’t know what you stepped into here,” Dmitry said. “I’m only keeping you alive to see how far I could drag this out.”
“Drag what out?”
Dmitry grinned. “See, it was pretty easy for me once I figured out what Endo was doing. He was a real piece of shit, Tripp. Everything was a backdoor deal with him. He fucked everyone possible. Including Winter.”
I felt hot jealousy surge through my veins. I gritted my teeth and told myself to keep my mouth shut. Dmitry wanted to get a rise out of me. He wanted me to fuck up. He wanted to kill me. But I knew he couldn’t do it. He didn’t want to start the war with Aldo and the family.
“Endo needed help to keep everything nice and quiet. He’d been a client of mine for a long time. It was actually very interesting, you know? To have this high profile guy wanting to slum around here. Wanting to pay fifty bucks to fuck some woman. Dropping a couple hundred on some blow. I knew he must have had a way to get better stuff. But he didn’t. He liked it here. Then he fucked up and got Winter pregnant. So I helped him. In return? I got money and power, Tripp.”
“That’s why you have her?” I asked.
“Exactly,” Dmitry said. “Exactly. See, having Autumn and Andrea gave me more power than I could have imagined. If I needed something done, I called Endo. If he dared to resist…”
“You threatened to kill his kid?”
“No,” Dmitry said. “Endo wanted them dead. I refused. They were worth more alive. Bargaining chips for me. Get it?”
I was shaking now. I knew Endo was a bad guy, but this was something different. He wanted his own child murdered. And that was after he forced Winter to give that child up.
“I promise you,” Dmitry said. “I’ve taken care of Andrea and Autumn. In fact, if Andrea could have lost about ten pounds, gotten better tits, I might have made a run at her.”
“You’re an asshole,” I said. “If you’re not going to fucking shoot me, then get out of my way. I don’t care who you are. Or what you do. I’ll find Autumn and I’ll save her.”
I grabbed the gun and twisted it out of Dmitry’s hand. I tucked it behind me. I put my hand out and shoved Dmitry out of the way.
Autumn had to be close. If she wasn’t, then maybe it was time for Aldo to actually take a stand. I could only do so much right now. My mind cared about finding Autumn, yeah, but my heart and soul focused on Winter.
“Oh, Tripp?”
I stopped and looked back. “What?”
“Don’t go too far. I have a fight for you.”
“Fuck off.”
“You’re going to want to see the prize.”
“The prize?”
Dmitry grinned.
I had enough. I spun and charged at him. As I ran, I saw two more bodyguards appear. We were in a mad dash to see who could get to Dmitry first.
I won and had him by the shirt. I put him against the railing and had him dangling over it a second later. Below us, another fight had started, two thicker guys without shirts on. They had beards, beer bellies, and were throwing wild punches at each other.
“Try me,” I growled. “I’m not afraid of you. Or Skull X. I’m not even afraid of dying.”
“Your prize is Winter,” Dmitry said.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Dmitry turned his head. I looked where he was looking.
And there was Winter, wrists taped together, in front of her body.
I put Dmitry back to his feet.
Winter looked up at me.
I was too distracted to hear anything Dmitry was saying.
And I was too distracted to realize the two bodyguards each had a set of knuckles on… at least not until they swung at me…