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“I can pull the fire alarm before we start tonight, she might run scared.”
“Actually, how about we let her watch? Tell everyone to keep an eye out for her so she doesn’t barge in here guns blazing. She is smart and should sneak in, let her find out what we do. It might just make my father’s job a little harder keeping her on the list. And that could be slightly entertaining.”
“You sure?” he asks, and I nod.
He goes to inform the rest of the guys, and I make myself look busy but don’t actually do anything. When people start arriving, I join my father in greeting people and shaking hands. I might need to pull favours from these men one day, and them remembering me being so hospitable could make all the difference.
Once everyone has been seated, my father takes the stage. A hushed silence falls over the crowd, and he welcomes everyone before introducing me.
I step up to the podium, and I scan the crowd. I glance at Rogue, and he shrugs, letting me know that there’s no sign of her yet.
“Welcome, thank you all for being here. If it were up to me, I would have done this via video link, but my father is old school. He likes to meet in person.”
Some laughter fills the room, mainly from the fighters because I’m sure they have better places to be than here.
“Listen up because I will only say this once. If you don’t follow the rules your whole school will be disqualified. Each of your nominated captains have been given a device, all of the rules and information you need will be on there. Lose the device and there will be no replacement. This is how you will be notified of the draw. You’re no strangers to how this works, and the rules are the same as they are every year. Now that your three bids are in, the board narrowed down the selection, the girls have been ranked, and I will show you the list shortly. You will have until midnight tonight to put up a new nomination for your first fight. If you haven’t followed the rules, you will have someone selected for you.
“Every draw will be revealed before the fights. Your points are accumulated from previous years and will determine where you sit on the fight ranks. Those who win their first fights take possession of whatever girl they like. We will have numerous fights over the coming weeks and each win or loss will be accounted for. If you’re bumped down the ladder to a lower rank, someone of an equal ranking can request a fight against you and steal your nominated girl .”
Movement up on the balcony catches my attention, the curtains shifting slightly. I scan the area and see her looking under, watching on. I don’t pay her any attention; I keep addressing the crowd.
I nod at Wilder, who is in charge of the projectors, and we painfully and slowly go through each girl listed for every year level.
“Ainsley Black, daughter of rock and roll royalty, Damien Black.”
I switch quickly between the girls getting to the last few.
“Island Kelly, daughter of surfing legend, Lola Kelly. Luna Delaughter, daughter of Ziyon Olympia, Lux Lundenburg, goddaughter of Archer Langley, and last but not least, Cyrus Jamison, daughter of Mitchel Jamison.”
Gasps fill the auditorium, they know this changes everything. They will also know that she will be on the list for me. What I can guarantee will happen, ninety-nine percent will accept that. The one percent, the men who hate my father, will make their fighters challenge people to try and get them to my level of points. Which means that I will have a few sanctioned fights coming up soon. There doesn’t have to be a fight night for challengers, they just have to have both parties agree to them, which rarely happens unless egos get in the way, or blackmail. There are no rules that state blackmailing is against the rules. They can bring it on. I have been undefeated since my first fight, and I don’t plan to lose anytime soon. Winning is the only thing that matters.
I am hoping that Cyrus doesn’t run to Luna and blab about this, which is now a motivator in making her fall for me. Beyond the men in these walls, ones who had to sign NDA’s before stepping foot on the island, no one knows about Luna’s heritage. I’m sure she will find out soon enough, but I’m not sure she will forgive Wilder when she does, especially since he has known about it for a while now.
Once we have finished going over everything, I head upstairs to see if Cyrus is still in her hiding spot.
“Cousin, what brings you up here?” Sax asks, leaning against a wall looking down on everyone on the lower level.
“Just trying to hide from my father for a few minutes.”
He laughs as he pushes off against the wall. “I noticed my future wife was on the list, I look forward to facing off against you for her.”
I clench my fists and take a step towards him. “Oh my, does Diesel Briar actually have a crush on the girl?”
“Of course I don’t,” I seethe. “You know as well as I do it’s a damn game. We chew them up and spit them out broken and a little used. Leaving their fathers to wish they never trusted a Briar.”
“Good, then you won’t mind the competition. I could use her over and over and over again. How is little Luxy? I bet she will never forget her summer with me.”
I push him in the chest, making him stumble backwards. Trying to get him as far away from prying ears as I can. She doesn’t need to know any more than I want her to know.
Cuyler comes flying up the stairs. “He isn’t worth it,” he says, pulling me away.
“Yeah, Diesel, I’m not worth it,” Sax mimics. I clench my jaw and watch as he waltzes down the steps and heads straight for my father.
I don’t bother looking for Cyrus. If she was smart, she would have made a getaway right after I finished my speech.
Tonight, we will take all the fighters down to the clearing and get them wasted. The seniors anyway, the younger ones will all go back to their hotels on the island, or over at Sunset Haven if they didn’t book soon enough. Fight nights will be split, the junior year levels will be on different nights to senior year levels.
Once we round everyone up, we all head out to get messed up and forget that our lives are controlled by our parents and how messed up the whole thing really is.
