AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rodriguez looks as shocked as Carter, but the crowd doesn’t care, they want a fight not an execution, and that’s what they’re going to get. With a tight jaw and even tighter voice, Carter addresses the crowd one last time.
“May the best man win!” he yells, then grabs my arm and pulls me from the cage and marches me towards his office, shoving me inside before I can even blink, let alone watch the fight unfold.
The moment the door slams shut behind us and Rodriguez—who has followed us both into the office like a bad fucking smell—the crowd goes insane.
“What the fuck, Carter?!” I round on him, trying and failing to disguise my fear as my gaze flicks to the window in his office and the fight unfolding in the cage. Derby wastes no time and lunges for Beast, who ducks, the crowbar missing the top of his head by mere inches.
Fuck!
“What’s the problem, Grim, afraid of a little bloodshed?”
“What’s my problem? Are you insane?! Beast could die!” I shout, snapping my head back around.
“You don’t think he’ll win?” My father questions, canting a look at Rodriguez who places the tray on the desk and smirks in that infuriating way of his.
“What the fuck do you find so amusing?” I snarl, ready to punch his fucking lights out.
He holds his hands up. “Absolutely nothing. No disrespect meant,” he replies, completely insincere, the smarmy bastard.
“Get the fuck out!” I snap, reaching for my father’s gun and pointing it at him. The feel of the cool metal in my hand is comforting.
“Don’t be hasty,” he stutters, his fucking smile dropping as he looks to Carter.
“You heard Grim. Get the fuck out.”
Rodriguez spins on his heels, not needing to be told twice. When he opens the door, I catch a glimpse of Beast receiving a blow to his upper arm, the tip of the crowbar scraping across his bicep. Blood bursts from the wound and I swear I can hear Beast’s grunt of pain over the roar of the crowd.
“Beast!” I yell, my desperate call lost behind the door slamming shut.
“It’s true then?” Carter questions.
“What’s true?”
“That you and Beast have been fucking.”
“What? No!” I exclaim, my fingers curling around the handle of the gun even as my arm hangs loosely at my side. “He’s afriend.”
“Like Hudson is?” Carter asks, looking over my shoulder. I turn to figure out what he’s looking at and see that Hudson’s on the other side of the window, being prevented entrance by Rodriguez who’s apparently guarding the fucking door now.
I whip my head around and glare at Carter. “What is this?” I question. “Hudson is a friend. Beast is a friend. That’s it, that’s all.”
Carter shakes his head, stepping towards me. “You’re a liar!”
“We haven’t been fucking, Carter!” I counter, my voice rising in distress.
It’s not a lie, we haven’t, but not from lack of trying on my part.
He laughs, and it comes out cold and distant. “Hudson is your friend. Ibelievethat. It’s one of the reasons why he’s not fucking dead already.”
“What?” I whisper, dread creeping over my skin as his gaze darkens with malice.
“You’remydaughter, Grim. You forget that I know you.”
“Carter…Dad,” I plead. “You’ve got to believe me, we’re not together. Put an end to this madness. Now!”
Gripping my arm, he twists me on my feet and pushes me towards the window, pulling up the blind so that I can see the fight more clearly. Hudson sees the movement and shouts at me through the glass.
“You alright?”
