“What the hell happened to you, Vix?” Chiara asked, leaning on the doorway.
“I ran into some issues. Keeping this place a secret is proving to be more difficult than I expected.” I’d dried my hair, which was now a tangled mess, so I collected it into a ponytail.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t keep it a secret.” She strolled inside and closed the door. My office was tiny, with an old wooden desk and two not so comfortable chairs, but Chiara didn’t mind as she plopped into the chair across from me, her dark brown eyes checking me up and down. “Your eyeliner smudged a little.”
“Shit.” I grabbed my bag with spare clothes that I kept here and found my box of makeup. Since I wanted to make sure not many people could recognize me and tell my father, I always wore tons of makeup. Heavy smoky eyes and dark purple lipstick made me almost unrecognizable.
It surprised me no one had figured me out already, but I supposed no one expected to see a spoiled rich girl as the owner of this place. Chiara knew the truth, though, since she’d seen me without makeup plenty of times, but she was also my best friend, and she’d never betray me. There were a few more people here who also knew the truth about me and who I trusted.
“If my father finds out about this, it’s all over,” I said, checking myself out in the mirror and pursing my lips.
“He can’t tell you what to do.” Chiara leaned back, tossing her long black hair, which was shorter on the left side, over her shoulder.
“No, but he’d send someone to destroy this place, and I can’t risk that.” My father was good at finding means to get what he wanted. “Believe me, if he finds out, we’re screwed.”
“What are you going to do then? Stop coming here?” She straightened her back, her face growing serious. “We need you here.”
“I’ll find a way. There’s a chance my bodyguard will quit after what I did to him, so maybe my father will give up on the idea.” Or he’d decide to lock me up. “If you don’t hear from me for a few days or something, call the cops and send them to find me, got it?”
“Okay, but is the situation really that serious?” Her brow furrowed, the piercing on her right eyebrow glinting in the light.
“I don’t know. My father’s crazy.” I hoped he wouldn’t do anything drastic. He might get an idea to test me for drugs, but I was clean anyway. He had no reason to keep me locked up anywhere.
“Then why don’t you just become Vix forever?” A small smile popped up on her face. “We could relocate the club, start somewhere else, or I don’t know...”
I snorted. “I wish, but I can’t. We can’t take everyone with us, and they need us. John would never forgive me if I did that.”
“He’s been dead for two years. It’s not like he can do anything.” Chiara twirled her silver ring around her finger.
“Don’t say that.” Tears prickled my eyes at the thought of John. He’d been like a father to me, and I wasn’t about to fail him, whether he knew that or not.
“I liked him too.” She reached out across the desk and placed her hand over mine. “You’ll figure something out. Maybe you can throw a huge party at your house, and your bodyguard won’t even see you disappear in the crowd... or you can pretend you got sick from all the drinking and slip through the bathroom. The one on the first floor has windows, right?” She grinned. “Or if everything else fails, smack him over the head with something.”
“Thanks. Brilliant ideas. All of them. But we’re running late.” I glanced at the fight schedule pasted to the wall. “Please go check if anyone new is here, and make sure they know the rules.” No one could enter unless they were willing to participate in at least one fight, and all the money in the world couldn’t buy them entrance if they refused. It had been John’s idea to set up that rule to determine if people deserved to be here, and it was a great way to meet and vet the potential members. We didn’t want any trouble in this club.
“Got it.” Chiara hopped to her feet, her black leather pants and red corset squeaking as she moved. “See you in five.”
“Sure.” When she closed the door, I took another look in the mirror, smacking my lips together. Everything was fine, so I ran my hands up and down my tight black pants and black top. My finger itched, and I realized what I was missing. My silver claw ring. As soon as I slipped it on my index finger, I felt complete. Vix was ready to come out and play.
I strode through the door, which closed behind me. I followed the dark, empty hallway until I emerged into a big room in dark green tones that was lit with bright lights. People were already gathered around the cage, and I could see some still in the training room.
I climbed onto a small platform where my chair was. Chiara liked to call it a throne. From there, I could oversee everything and make sure nothing went wrong and that no one broke any of the club’s rules. A few people smiled and waved at me when they saw me take a seat, and I waved back.
“I’m going to win!” Levi yelled at me as he bumped his fists together.
“We’ll see.” I flashed him a smile.
“Vix, are you serious? You want to see me lose?” He gaped at me.
“Of course not, but don’t count your wins before the fight’s even started.”
He waved his hand. “Pfft. You know I’ll win.”
“Vix,” Chiara called, and I looked at her as she climbed up. “We have a new guy. He can fight Levi. What do you say?”
“Yeah, sure, but who is h...?” My sentence was cut off when I saw the man standing right behind Chiara. No. It couldn’t be. This was not happening. My pulse sped up as I stared into his familiar blue eyes.
“He says his name’s Seth,” Chiara said, and I thought I was going to throw up. I shot to my feet and rushed past her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“What are you doing here?” I hissed as I jabbed my claw ring into Seth’s chest.
“My job,” he simply said.
“Does my father know you’re here?” I held my breath for his answer, and Chiara gasped behind me.
“No, and I won’t tell him if you don’t want me to. My only job is to keep you safe, and if you don’t run away from me ever again, I’m going to keep your secret.” His face was expressionless and I couldn’t tell if he was lying or not.
“You can’t be here. This place is for members only. For fighters.” If he told my father, this could turn into a disaster. How the fuck had he found me? I’d made sure to cover all my tracks and he hadn’t been following me. Had he planted a tracker on me? But how? I’d been naked the last time he’d seen me. Shit.
“I can fight.” He didn’t even blink.
“So you swear you won’t tell my father and that you won’t interfere with what I do here if I let you stay? And that you’ll make sure my father can’t track you down?” This was a bad, bad idea, but I didn’t have a choice.
“I do.” His eyes met mine. “I already took care of my phone. Your father won’t know I’m here.”
Could I trust him? I supposed I was about to find out. “Okay, then we have a deal.” I crossed my arms. “The cage’s right there. You need to earn your right to stay here. That’s our most important rule. You can’t tell anyone about this place without consulting with me first. And remember, almost everything’s permitted except weapons. If you or your opponent tap out, the fight’s over. I can stop the fight any time I want, just like Fitz, our referee. No killing blows. No one dies in here, got it? ”
He nodded.
“Go.” I made a shooing gesture, and climbed back to my seat. Chiara’s eyes were still bulging as she sat down on the small chair next to me.
“That hottie’s your...” she started to say.
“Yeah, my bodyguard,” I muttered as Seth made his way to the cage. The crowd parted for him, eyeing him with suspicion, and Levi encouraged them to cheer. Fitz was already collecting money for the bets, and I could see no one was too keen to bet on the newcomer, especially since everyone knew Levi was one of the best here. I didn’t even remember when the last time he’d lost a fight was, except that one time when he’d fought before he was fully recovered from the previous one.
“How did he find you here?”
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” I gripped the arms of the chair, digging my claw ring into the soft leather. If I didn’t stop, I’d make a hole in it, so I opted for tapping my foot against the floor instead.
“Maybe you weren’t careful enough. If he’s good at his job or maybe trained to track people...” Her eyes found mine. “Is he going to tip off the cops about this place?”
“I need to convince him not to do it.” If he was going to try to blackmail me, I supposed I had enough money to buy him off, but that was highly problematic. I raked my hand through my hair, nearly ripping out a few strands. What the fuck was he doing here? What did he really want? As he pulled his shirt over his head, I realized his whole back was covered in thick, dark tattoos.
“Holy shit,” Chiara whispered. “Look at that body.”
Seth stretched out his taut muscles, showing off his toned chest and the tribal tattoos on his arms. He was way too attractive, but I already knew that.
Seth and Levi entered the cage as everyone cheered them on. Fitz introduced both fighters, and then marked the start of the fight. Seth and Levi circled each other, and when Levi stepped forward, trying to lay a punch, Seth quickly evaded and kicked out his foot, sweeping Levi off his feet.
“What the hell’s Levi doing?” Chiara asked as Levi failed to block a few of Seth’s swift punches and his back collided with the cage. “Seth can’t be that good.”
“Except he is,” I said through my teeth as Seth seemed barely affected by a hit to the shoulder. He moved very quickly and agilely, and he caught Levi in the stomach, making him double over. Then he pounced on Levi with both fists.
A few moments later, Levi was lying on the floor, his chest heaving, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth while Seth circled around him like a predator ready to jump on him. And he would’ve done so if Fitz hadn’t noticed Levi was tapping out and pulled Seth away before he could do anything else.
“You won, man!” Fitz yelled, lifting Seth’s arm up. The crowd shouted, and Levi rolled over, trying to push himself up. Seth must’ve hurt him more than it was visible from here, because Levi never gave up easily, but maybe he was just saving himself for the next fight that was more important to him than this.
Fitz tried to hand him his reward, but Seth waved him off. His chest was rising and falling rapidly as he picked up his shirt and looked up straight at me. My breath got stuck in my chest, my mouth going dry.
“He’s a spy. He has to be,” I whispered, leaning toward Chiara who was still watching him open-mouthed. “Rubio must have sent him.”
“What?” She blinked at me in confusion. Rubio was a gang leader who wanted nothing more than to get his dirty hands on my club. Not only was I his competition, but he also wanted to exploit my fighters to create more profit for himself. His club was mainly visited by bloodthirsty rich guys who only wanted entertainment.
John would be disappointed if I ever let his club fall into the hands of someone like Rubio. Our club was supposed to be a haven for people, and a place where they could earn some money, have fun, settle minor disputes, or just blow off some steam. It wasn’t a gladiator arena where people lost their lives for the amusement of others. Not to mention this was one of the rare areas that wasn’t completely under the control of some gang.
“Think about it,” I said. “Rubio wants this place. I rejected his offer before, and if he wants to destroy me without compromising the whole club, he has to do it from the inside. And what better way than to send a spy?”
“But your father hired this guy. Wouldn’t he have done a deep background check on anyone he’s hiring?” Her eyes went wide. “Do you think your father knows? That Rubio told him? And that they made a deal?”
“I don’t know. Doubt it. My father hates people like Rubio.” I bit down on my lip. “But we can’t trust Seth.”
“Can’t you convince your father to fire him? Say he did something inappropriate.”
“That might not be the best idea. We don’t know what Rubio has up his sleeve. If he thinks we don’t suspect anything, then he’ll just wait for Seth to feed him information. If Seth gets fired, Rubio might act rashly and do something even worse.”
“So you think we should let his spy snoop around?”
“Yeah. At least until we find out what he really wants.” I brought my finger to my lips, biting lightly on it as two fighters were getting ready to enter the cage. Seth had put on his shirt and was lounging against one of the columns with a direct view of me.
Chiara’s eyes flitted over him. “You might be wrong. He might be just a bodyguard.”
“A bodyguard who can fight that well? You saw him. It was like he’s done this before. Countless times.”
“He might have trained in the military or something.” She shrugged. “I mean, a bodyguard should be perfectly capable of fighting their way out of every situation. Surely, they train for that too.”
“Yeah, but you saw him. The way he moved and punched Levi... The ease with which he evaded... and he didn’t even flinch when he got hit. I don’t know. It just feels...” I didn’t know how to describe it. It was a feeling deep inside me that told me Seth wasn’t just a bodyguard. Besides, he was young. When could he have had the time to learn how to fight and guard all those people he’d listed on his application?
“If you say so.”
“Chiara, I’m serious. Did you see his tattoos? He would easily pass for one of Rubio’s guys.”
“Maybe.” She lifted her hands up when I raised an eyebrow at her. “Look, we’ll be careful, but give the guy the benefit of the doubt. He’s something else, yeah, but we don’t know what. And Rubio’s guys all have a wolf tattoo on their chests. Seth doesn’t have it.”
“But he has plenty of others. Maybe he covered his gang tattoo or had it removed for this. Rubio wouldn’t be so stupid as to let him parade in front of us with his symbol. He knows we would’ve kicked Seth out in a second.” Or this was Seth’s initiation. A task he had to do for Rubio before he earned the right to get the tattoo.
“Alright. We’ll see.” Chiara rose to her feet. As I watched her climb down, I felt Seth’s piercing gaze still on me.