Chains (21 page)

“He’s better,” Danny said, glancing over my arm at the target. Only one bullet missed being inside the head and torso outline.

“Let’s see how good you do,” Alex said, handing Danny his gun. “Mine won’t knock you backwards.”

When the target was set, she took aim, lining up like Alex and I had. She rocked back and forth on her feet once and bent her elbows up and back down once. Then she was ready. She only took a second to get the target in her sight before she fired.

She dropped her arm to her side and looked back at us, smiling.

“She fucking loves it,” Alex said, laughing.

I smiled back at her, crazy proud. She could be such a little badass when that side of her wasn’t cowering away. I’d do everything I could to make sure Badass Danny stuck around.

She got three head shots and two in the chest. “You’re a natural,” Alex said, ruffling her hair. “You sure you’ve never done this before?”

She swatted his arm away. “It’s hotter than hell out here. Can we go now?”

“I suppose we can. You’ve proven your worth, woman,” he said, and packed his gun away.

“That was fun,” Danny said, on the way to the car.

I put an arm around her and pulled her to my side. “You’re a pretty cool chick, you know that?”

“I know. You don’t have to flatter me to get in my pants.” She pinched my butt.

“Oh, I know I don’t,” I said, bending to her ear. “I give you the glow.”

Back at the hotel, we rode up to our rooms in a blissfully cold elevator. “What time are you meeting Mike?” Alex asked.

“An hour or so. He’s going to text me.”

“Danny and I can play some blackjack until it’s time for the fight.”

“I suck at blackjack,” she said, stepping out of the elevator on our floor. “I’ve always wanted to learn to play craps.”

“Craps it is.” Alex stopped in front of his door and stuck his card in, as I fished ours from my pocket. “Come get me when you leave,” he said.

I opened our door and let Danny in first. “I’m exhausted,” she said. “The heat is killer out there.”

“What are you stepping on?” I asked. “Looks like an envelope.”

She picked it up. “A hotel envelope. A bill maybe?”

I took it from her and opened it. Inside a piece of paper was folded in half. As I unfolded it, my palms tingled and panic zinged through my chest. The paper, another of my Sir Tyler drawings, was riddled with bullet holes.

FOURTEEN

“Oh my God!” Danny screamed, as I crumpled the picture and squeezed it in my fist.

She pressed her hands over her mouth and her eyes were enormous. “It’s okay,” I said, but even I was shaking this time. The motherfucker knew we were here. He knew which room was ours. He knew we’d been at the shooting range, and he’d put his own rounds in my fucking drawing.

Alex pounded at the door, shouting, “Ty! Open up!”

I crossed to the door and let him in. “I heard Danny scream,” he said.

I handed him the balled up picture. “He found us.”

“What the fuck?” he said, opening it and running a finger over the bullet holes.

“Still think it’s a challenge?” I asked, gearing up to break down fucking doors, rip apart the walls and trash the entire hotel to find him.

“This is a pretty clear message.” Alex wadded the paper back up and tossed it on the table by the door.

“Then the coward needs to confront me!”
I held my arms out wide.
“Come on, motherfucker! Come get me!”

Sitting on the end of the bed, Danny started sobbing. “Why can’t he leave us alone? I don’t understand. We never did anything.”

“I did,” I said. “Alex, take her back to your house. It’s me he wants. You two don’t need to be involved in this.”

“It’s not just you,” Alex said, sitting with Danny. “He’ll use her to get to you. We need to stay together.”

I lumbered over to the bed and knelt on the floor in front of her. “Jesus, I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to scare you.”

“You didn’t,” she said. “I want to scream too, but I can’t stop crying long enough to get that mad.”

I wrapped my arms around her waist and held her, my head against her chest. Her heart beat fast and strong, like a tribal drum. A rhythm to my madness.

“What do we do?” she asked.

“Wait,” I said. “What else can we do? Unless we can find him, he’s got the advantage.”

“We do nothing,” Alex said. “When he’s done yanking his dick over this and wants to get serious, he’ll let us know. For now, Ty goes to his fight and you come with me, just like we planned.”

“No,” she said, holding my head to her chest. “I’m staying with Ty.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, knowing Alex’s plan was to get her away from me. If I was the target, she’d be safer with him playing craps in a busy casino. “Alex is right. He’s playing with us. He’s not ready to make his move.”

She loosened her hands, and I sat back on my heels. “I don’t think he even has a move to make,” I said. “He’s a coward who gets off on abusing kids. Now we’re gone and he has no life, nobody to fuck with at home. That’s all this is, Danny. It’s his same old games.”

She wiped her cheeks and took a deep breath. “That makes sense. He is capable of doing something to you though. He has a gun. He’s here.” She shook her head. “Please be careful. If something happened to you, I—”

“I’ll be fine.” I took her hands and kissed her fingertips. “You can’t get rid of me.”

The three of us sat there in silence, letting the past few minutes seep in. My anger and panic subsided into total non-emotion. I was numb. I’d taken too much from this man for too many years and couldn’t absorb any more of his bullshit. He had us running scared, and it was true that he was a coward and probably had no intention of doing anything other than stalking and threatening us.

After a while, I got up to get my gear together. “You guys will sit ringside. Tell the usher your names. I’ll have you on my VIP list.”

“Ooo,” Alex said, mocking me, “the VIP list.”

“It’s at Circus Circus. Be there by quarter till seven. I want to see you in those seats before the fight starts, or I’ll lose my mind.”

“Don’t worry,” Danny said. “I’ll drag him away from the craps table to make it there in time.”

My phone buzzed with a text. “That’s Mike.” I read his brief message telling me he was on his way to the ring, to meet him in the locker room. “I’ve got to go.”

I pulled Danny to her feet and took her in my arms. “Don’t be afraid. Nothing’s going to happen to any of us. Stay with Alex.”

“I will. And don’t you worry about us. Keep your head in the fight.” She tipped her head up, and I gave her a firm kiss. One that bolstered both of our strength. One to assure her I’d stay in control.

“I’ll see you soon,” I said, giving her one last kiss. “I promise.

Soon. I promise.

The words circled the room and came back to me, hitting home in my chest. Last time I’d spoken them to her I broke my promise. This time nothing could keep me from her. Not even Striker.

Mike turned around when I came through the locker room door. “You ready to fight? Back on track? Where’s Danny?”

“She’s with my brother, Alex. They’ll be here for the fight.”

“Good.”

I sat my bag on the bench. “I know about the fight with Jose. I know why you did it.”

He pressed his lips tight, frowning, and crossed his arms. “She told you, then. It was the only way to know if you were ready.”

“Why didn’t you tell me if you had concerns?”

“You wouldn’t have believed me. I needed to see if I could break you before I confronted you with it.”

I unzipped my bag and took out a towel and tape. “Well, you broke me. Point proven. Congratulations.”

He stood in front of me and put his hands on my bag so I’d look at him. “I got you this fight. Why do you think I’d do that if I didn’t believe you could handle it?”

“I don’t fucking know, man,” I said, tired of games. Tired of being a pawn. “You tell me.”

“Because you’re good. You’re damn good, Tyler, and not just at throwing punches.” He jabbed his finger against his head. “You think in the cage. It takes you about a second to find your opponent’s weakness, and you adapt your strategy that fast. You know winning comes from more than just brute strength. That’s why I need you to get your head under control in there. You can’t lose it one more time.”

Keeping my head tonight would be the biggest challenge of my life. But if I still had a shot at going pro—and Mike still believed I could do it—I had to find a way. I wanted it too badly and worked for it for too long to let it slip away now.

“We good?” Mike asked. “You can take a swing at me if it’ll make you feel better.”

I let out a laugh. “We’re good. No swing necessary.”

“I need you one hundred percent focused tonight. Can you give me that?”

“You got it.”

I warmed up with the heavy bag, sparred with Mike, and tried to do this meditation bullshit that he’d had some yoga teacher show me when I first started at the gym. I should’ve paid more attention, because I was doing it wrong. My mind was in twenty places at once, and all I wanted to do was find out if Danny and Alex were in their seats.

“Alright,” Mike said, sitting beside me on the heavy bag mat. He had a file folder open in his hand. “Shawn Folix. Five foot ten. One ninety-three. About to turn pro any day now. His trainer knows what he’s doing, and Folix fights on the level. You should have a good fight on your hands. I doubt he’ll talk smack out there. No reason you should have trouble staying in control tonight.”

I gritted my teeth to keep from asking if Danny was out there yet. It was all I could think about.

“You got a half hour. Need anything?”

I shook my head, afraid to open my mouth.

“Alright. Stay in the zone.” He patted me on the back and got up from the mat. I watched him walk away wondering if I should even bother stepping foot in the cage tonight with my mind such a clusterfuck.

The announcer welcomed everyone to tonight’s event while my eyes scanned the seats. Danny sent me a text right before I left the locker room saying they were on their way, and they were running late because Cinda decided to come, too. They should be walking in any second now.

Mike shoved my mouth guard between my teeth and gripped my shoulders. “He wants this as bad as you. Don’t you let him have it.”

I nodded, bouncing on my toes.

Let’s get this fucking over.

My eyes travelled to the seats behind Mike for the eight millionth time. Still empty.

I turned around and walked to the center of the octagon to where the ref stood. Folix walked toward me. The ref rattled off the rules.

We were ready. Mike was shouting something I couldn’t hear from outside the cage. The bell rang. I rushed forward, luring Folix out. I wanted to see what he’d do. Like me, he eased into his fights and got a read on his opponent. But one of us had to make a move first or we’d be here all night.

We danced around a bit, dodging and darting each other’s punches. I kicked out and he dropped to the mat, avoiding contact. The entire first round went the same way and it was pretty much a draw.

The next round started the same, but Folix caught me glancing at the seats where Danny and Alex still weren’t sitting, and connected with a downward blow to the side of my head. My ears buzzed and Mike shouted. Folix came back at me with a second strike to my side, doubling me over. By the end, there was no question he’d won that round.