“We needed to stay under the radar,” I try not to yell.
“We need food and a roof. I calculated the risk and I think we’ll be okay.”
“Okay? You thought…?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I groan in frustration.
“You kissed him,” West interjects, his voice is a low growl.
I stop and turn. I glare at him. Asshole!
“Why the hell would you kiss that fucker?” he practically snarls when I don’t say anything.
“Stop it!” I yell at him. “Just stop! This is not the place for that kind of discussion. It’s not even worth talking about.”
“West is right.” My brother looks at me with concern. “Why would you kiss some random guy?”
“Not random.” West shakes his head. “They’re not human. I’m not sure what they are exactly, but human…” He shakes his head, touching his jaw. “No human could have hit like that or taken some of those punches. The last one I landed should’ve put a hole in his head. He barely lost his footing. His friends didn’t look human either.”
“That’s why I stopped the fight,” I say. “Before things got out of hand. You were both about to out us. I’m not sure what you were thinking, West. You moved too quickly and punched too hard. Next thing, scales would have erupted, possibly even a decent set of wings…how would that have looked? I’m pretty sure that Rage guy’s eyes had started to glow. And you…” I glare at Maddox, “as his manager, you should have been the one to stop the fight. Not me!”
Maddox gets that sheepish look again, looking down at his feet.
“You’re right.” West nods once. “It was the right call, even if I didn’t like it.” His eyes narrow. “You didn’t have to kiss that fucker.” His jaw is tight. His whole body bristles. “I cannot believe you did that. What the fuck? If you were trying to make me jealous…”
Holy hell! I don’t have time for his shit. “I pecked his cheek. It was hardly a kiss,” I mutter. I shouldn’t have done it. I sometimes get a flood of emotion when I have a vision. This was weird, since my emotions didn’t match the actual vision. Not at all. Still, it was the reason for my actions. The only reason. It wasn’t because I noticed how incredible his eyes were. They had this softness to them. I got the impression that he’s a kind, really sweet guy. They were a gorgeous chocolate-brown. Chocolate happens to be a favorite of mine. And then, despite his masculine jaw, he had soft, smooth skin. Probably freshly shaven. So smooth, I wanted to run my finger down his jawline. Stupid, I know. I could scent a splash of fresh cologne and soap and toothpaste and…he smelled really good. His arms were also a thing of beauty. I thought West was a big guy. I was wrong!
“What did you say to that asshole?” West touches my arm, bringing me back from my thoughts. “You had a vision, didn’t you?” His eyes narrow further. “Tell us about it.”
“We need to get out of here. That’s all I’m saying right now.”
“You owe me an explanation.” West grabs my arm as I’m about to turn away from him.
I yank my arm free. “I don’t owe you anything. Not a damned thing…are we clear?” He lost that right six months ago. I’m still in such a bad place after everything that happened. We all are. This kind of life is hard.
My eyes must convey what I don’t say out loud because I see him drop it. West’s jaw tightens. I hear him grind his molars. He gives a curt nod because he can’t argue. He has no leg to stand on.
“You did see something though, Raven,” my brother says. “What was it? Did you read that guy? Tell us.”
“No!” I shake my head. “I didn’t,” I lie. We need to stay away from those guys. Far away from them. As long as we do, we’re A-okay. My deduction has nothing to do with what I saw. It’s pure logic. “We need to leave town. We’re packing up today.”
“I want a rematch. You heard that prick, Rage… He’s willing to put up the cash.” West smirks.
“Not happening.” I shake my head. “Back to the cameras. We can’t take that kind of risk.”
“We could use the money, Raven,” my brother argues as he uses a key to unlock the car. Yes, a key…our car is that old.
“You need to drop it, please, Maddox. I have this horrible feeling that something bad will happen if we don’t stay away from them.” Again, it’s more logic than a gut feeling, but West and my brother are more inclined to listen to my gut than common sense. So I play that card.
“We’re out of money,” Maddox says as he gets into the car, stretching over the seats to unlock each of our doors. Yes, manually. I know it’s bad. It’s worse than just plain bad.
“I needed that win,” West growls, looking like a little boy. Looking more like the man I used to know. My chest gets this ache. That man is long gone. Maybe he never really existed. We sometimes see what we want to see, rather than the truth.
We pile into the car. West in the back and me in the front. My seat is all the way forward, so that he has some legroom. That’s the one upside of driving an ancient car; they were built quite spacious back in the day. That’s literally the only benefit I can see.
“We have a hundred bucks left. Not much for the five of us,” Maddox says.
“I really needed that win,” West harps on like a broken record. “I’m calling Rage now. We can finish it tonight. I can take that prick with one hand tied behind my back.”
“No! We’ll fill the tank and head out.” I work to keep my voice even.
“Where will we go?” West glowers. “I forfeited the fight. I lost! I’m not going to get another gig anytime soon. No one wants to take on a loser. And as of right now, I’m considered to be one hell of a loser. I look like I chickened out.”
“You didn’t lose…I threw in the towel. There will be plenty of speculation as to why.” I start panicking all over again about the incident going onto media channels. This is bad! I pull in a deep breath. “You held your own in there…a little too well.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he throws back at me. “I ultimately lost. That’s what everyone will remember. I’m going to have to work my way back up, taking on small-time fights.” His eyes blaze.
It would be better if he only did smaller fights. More low-key. I don’t tell him this because I know it will fall on deaf ears. “Don’t be so pessimistic. Besides, maybe one of us can get work in the next town.”
He makes a face. “Work?” he snorts. It’s tough to get a job when you move around so much. I understand where West is coming from. “Like what? Who? You?” Then he chuckles. I know this laugh. He’s about to say something mean. I can’t believe I ever fell for the likes of him. That I wasted six years of my life. I fell for his pretty face, his charm, and yes, for all of his arrogance. Only, when I first met him, it was more along the lines of confidence. Things changed. He changed. I know he didn’t have the easiest upbringing, but that isn’t an excuse. He used to be a good guy. He went through a terrible ordeal, but we all did. It changed him.