He finally leaves, and I get back to work.
We have one more fight tonight, then I can head home and relax. Tomorrow is my day off and I’m looking forward to just chilling.
By midnight, the final fight starts. Eliana versus some massive bitch named Tonya from Southside Brimstone.
The crowd goes feral while I lean against the cage collecting bets. Eliana absolutely dismantles the chick in under four rounds. Blood sprays across the mat and someone throws a chair.
I laugh when some chick flashes her tits, but tonight the Dungeon makes a killing and so do I.
By the time the crowd starts clearing out, my pockets are heavier than they’ve been in years.
Enough for rent, food, and maybe I can finally buy the truck I’ve been eyeing online. A beat up black chevy pickup sitting in some old mechanic’s lot across Daggerspoint.
Nothing fancy.
Rust around the edges with an engine that’s loud as hell.
Perfect.
The thought unexpectedly drags me backward in time.
My fifteenth birthday, laying in a stolen pick up with Ophelia curled against my chest beneath a blanket while stars stretched endlessly above us. Her soft laugh. Her fingers tracing tattoos I didn’t have yet across my skin.
“You ever wanna leave Brimstone?” she asked me once.
“All the time.”
“Where would we go?”
“Anywhere you are,” I tell her as I kiss the top of her head.
Jesus Christ.
The memory hits so hard I actually press a hand against my ribs.
I miss her.
Not just physically. I miss talking to her. Hearing her laugh. Feeling like maybe the world isn’t completely rotten when she looked at me.
A month without Ophelia feels worse than prison some days. At least prison gave me something to fight.
This?
This is just emptiness.
I finally leave the Dungeon around three in the morning exhausted and smelling like smoke, blood, and sweat.
The streets of Daggerspoint are mostly dead this late. Neon lights flicker across the cracked pavement while my bike growls beneath me through empty intersections.
I barely notice the black SUVs until they box me in. Two matte black G-Wagons swing out from side streets suddenly, trapping me between them hard enough to force me to slam on the brakes.
“What the fuck?” I yell as my pulse spikes.
My hands flex while I calculate exits.Weapons. Distance.
The SUVs stop around me silently.
Expensive.
