The F King: A Bad Boy Romance (Still a Bad Boy Book 3) (31 page)

A white hot supernova blinded me as I threw every single fucking thing I had into my struggle. With a metallic twang, I heard and felt the bolts on the front-right leg of the chair give way. Rocking back and forth frantically, I felt the others getting loose.

I was going to tear these motherfuckers apart and
eat
them, I was going to fucking…

Suddenly, everything went black.

W
hen I regained my senses
, I was being helped into Ross’ gym by some of the guys that trained there. Somehow I managed to deflect their questions and convince them that the gym was closed for the day without a fight breaking out or anybody calling the cops.

Once they were gone, I stumbled to the freezer to get a couple gel packs. Then I got myself to the grappling mats, which were about the softest flat surfaces in the building big enough for me to lie down on. The lumps on my head told me that I’d been pistol-whipped at least twice, and the biggest one was probably from the butt of one of those assault rifles.

When I thought of Skylar, those screams, I wanted to tear my chest open and rip my heart out so I wouldn’t have to feel it anymore. I’d been fucking and fighting my way through life for so long, I never had time to think about the possibility of something better being out there, or what it would feel like to lose it.

Well, now I knew. Skylar was it. She was
mine
and I swore silently to myself that, first and foremost, I’d save her if I could, and then I’d scorch the fucking Earth to cleanse it of every last Picolli or Bertolini.

Fucking with me was bad enough, but they made their last mistake bringing Skylar into it. I had to win this fight tomorrow, play humble, promise to fight for free, all that shit. Whatever it took to get her out of their clutches.

That was easier said than done, of course. Some people made the argument that Brenton Southgate was the greatest heavyweight fighter that ever lived. It was ten years since a then-inexperienced Southgate last lost, and even that was by split decision. Specifically
not
by KO or submission in the first fucking minute of the first round.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I couldn’t rely on my conditioning to last until the later rounds, where I had an advantage over the older fighter. That was one thing Ross and I had agreed on when it came to this fight at least.

Fuck. Ross was
dead
.

He was a bit of an asshole sometimes, but he was a coach, a friend, and the closest thing I ever had to a father figure. I’d pay them back for him too.

I shook my head and grimaced at the pain the movement brought. Holding the gel packs more firmly against my head, I forced down thoughts of Ross. There’d be a time for thinking about him, but everything I had left needed to be focused on Skylar.

What I needed was an explosive, brutal, knockout right out of the gate. That might have been easier if I hadn’t tipped my hand a little with that KO against Sanchez. Southgate would have seen it and taken some time out of his grappling training to dedicate to the striking side of things in response.

In my mind, I visualized scenario after scenario of the opening minute of my fight. Every step I could take, every counter-measure he could take, every way I could get him to expose his head for a knockout.

After a couple of hours, my mind started drifting to what I’d do
after
the fight, once I’d got her back. She might not want to see me, now that she knew a bit more about the real me, but if she was alive then at least I could have a
chance
to make her happy again.

Either way, I’d put her in my car and drive until I ran out of gas, then I’d steal somebody else’s car and drive in a different direction until
that
one ran out of gas. Then I’d put her on a bus to wherever I could, from wherever we were, and make my way back to New Ashby to burn the whole city to the ground if I had to.

One of the guys who came to the gym sometimes was ex-army. He once dropped the fact that he knew a guy still in the services who was dirty as fuck and not above supplying military-grade equipment in an unofficial capacity.

I’d get myself as much as I could afford, and put a mushroom cloud where that fucking mansion used to be. Of course, I’d make sure Gavino, his nephew and that piece of shit Renato Picolli weren’t in there when I did it. Oh no. I had some much more
invasive
plans for them.

First, I’d…

The room on the other side of my closed eyelids brightened up for a second as daylight flooded in from the door, then went dark again when I heard it slam shut on its spring. Some motherfucker had ignored the ‘closed’ sign.

Footsteps approached the mats, two sets of them. I didn’t bother to open my eyes.

“Gym’s closed, fuck off.”

“I’m not here for the gym.”

I turned my head and opened my eyes to see a big guy in a suit with some dainty little brunette chick standing next to him. He had the build of a pretty handy mafia soldier, maybe only a bit smaller than me, but his suit looked more expensive than the usual fare the low-level guys dressed themselves in.

What was this cunt doing here? Did Gavino send him to keep me in line? Make sure I was doing what I was told in the lead up to the fight? The smoldering embers of anger in my chest began to find fresh fuel.

“I don’t care what you’re here for. Fuck.
Off
.”

The guy looked from me, to the chick and back again. I could see the tats on his neck, and on his forearm and wrist. He had enough of them that I thought he
must
be some low-level guy who had a biggish payday, and blew his load on some ego-wardrobe.

What that woman was doing here I had no fucking idea. She was in the later stages of pregnancy too, by the look of things, so this was a fucking weird place for the Bertolinis to send her. Whatever, it didn’t matter.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked.

I shot to my feet and flung the gel packs, now barely below room temperature, off to the side. The woman took a half-step back, but the guy didn’t even flinch.

“The last guy who asked me that has to get his mommy to wipe his ass now. If you wanna fuckin’ join him, you’ve come to the right place, otherwise listen to me when I tell you this. Fuck.
Off
.”

If this dude didn’t leave soon, I was going to bury him on general principle. He looked unsure of himself for a second, as if this conversation had gone differently in his head. Big as he was he probably wasn’t used to any arguments. Well, I wasn’t like anybody else he ever met.

“Do you believe in fate?” he asked.

“Are you a fucking monk? Is this a motherfuckin’ mountaintop where you dish out your wisdom? You fucking cunt! Turn your ass around and walk out that door before I fuck you up in front of your bitch. You tell Gavino that Southgate’s going down. I’m doing my part and I’m coming for Skylar.”

The guy took a deep breath and sighed, a resigned expression crossing his face before he started taking off his jacket. The caged animal in me leapt for joy and fresh adrenaline started pumping through my veins.

Another big tough guy who needed to learn that being big wasn’t enough to try to fuck with me. A willing victim to beat the shit out of and let some of this pressure off. I fuckin’ welcomed it.

He handed his jacket to the woman, who looked at him with disbelief. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“He’s not going to listen until he’s tested me. I know the type, like the back of my own hand. There’s no respect except what you earn with your fist.”

A maniacal grin grew on my face and I flexed my hands, opening and closing my fists in preparation for a one-sided fight where most of it was spent with my opponent unconscious.

“Are you
serious
right now?” she said.

The guy held out his expensive watch to her, which she didn’t accept. Instead she looked back and forth between us with an expression that said “
Men!
” as clearly as any words could and threw up her hands.

“Austin. This is Jace Barlow… your
brother
. I’m Kendall Barlow. I’m your sister-in-law. This.” She patted her swollen belly. “Is your nephew.”

The monster-truck of my anger suddenly found itself in mid-air with no traction. I looked around, half expecting the host of some practical jokes TV show to step out of the shadows and point to all the hidden cameras.

“Fuck… off.”

The words came out on auto-pilot, weaker than before, the wheels of that monster-truck spinning as the engine redlined. What the fuck was going on here? I could fight a man, but how was I supposed to fight a mindfuck?

I took a few steps towards him and his eyes narrowed in concentration, muscles twitching in readiness for whatever I might do. The woman, Kendall if she wasn’t bullshitting, took a few steps backwards away from the two of us as I slowly closed the distance.

We were eye to eye, toe to toe, and he didn’t back down even an inch. He was exactly my height, probably would have been my size if he spent as much time in the gym as I did. He did look a
little
like a slightly older version of me.

What was I supposed to do? Fuck him up, or listen to this bullshit that I didn’t have time for?

“Is there somewhere we can sit down? Talk?” asked Kendall hopefully.

I
sat
in Ross’ chair behind his desk, halfway dumbfounded by the story Jace laid out for me. It was fucking insanity, but since the only person I ever told I was bought and sold as a baby was Skylar, he just seemed to know
too much
to ignore.

If it was true, then I was rescued from the womb of my dead mother after she and my father were killed in a mob hit in front of Jace, back when he was six or so. After that, I was stolen from the hospital and nobody ever heard anything more about me. Until now.

They tracked down the guy who’d been spotted on hospital security footage abducting me, some Picolli associate. He’d served fifteen years for kidnapping and manslaughter after saying he’d left me in a dumpster somewhere.

Well, through unsaid methods that were more convincing than what the city employed on him, Jace managed to get him to admit that he had, in fact, sold me to a guy here in New Ashby. When Jace tracked down
that
guy, he got the name Aquila.

“So, there weren’t too many Aquilas in the phone book, it didn’t take long to work our way through them. As soon as your name came up, I fucking knew it. How many times had I seen you on TV already? Right in front of my fucking nose the whole time. We got a hold of one of the towels they used to clean up one of your cuts, got the DNA tested. Just got the results back and it’s as close to certain as these things get. You
are
my brother,” said Jace.

I looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was only four in the afternoon. Eight more hours left in the day, and if it kept on getting crazier at this same rate, then we were all going to be in straightjackets by ten. Me first.

“So what do you do? Looks like you jumped in with the Picollis. That right?”

“You really haven’t heard of me?”

“No. That a problem?”

“No. Well, officially, I won the lottery and grew a corporate empire worth just over a billion at the last estimate.”

“And unofficially?”

“I dedicated my life to taking down the Picollis. I worked up through their ranks and then, when the opportunity came, I all but wiped them out in Port Magnus. I’ll never stop until they’re dust in the wind. The Picollis have always been close with the Bertolinis; that’s one reason their fucking human supply chain landed you here. Now they’ve come to some kind of agreement, so as far as I’m concerned the Bertolinis have to go too.”

Jace leaned forward, putting his elbow on Ross’ desk and scrutinizing me. Kendall jumped a little in her seat and then put her hand on her stomach, distracted by some kind of action in there before her husband continued.

“So, I knew ever since I saw you lose to Cannon-Fodder Coles that you were on the take. What I need to know is if you’re with
me
or
them
. Help me
end
them, Austin. There’s nobody I’d want more as my right hand man than my own brother. If you’re worried about money-”

I held up my hand and cut him off. “Forget the sales pitch. I’m in. They…” I gulped. “They’ve taken my wife. They’ve g-got Skylar because I fucked some of them up, and they’re blaming me for one of them dying. If I don’t win this fight tomorrow, first minute of the first round, they’re going to kill her.”

Kendall gasped and held her hand up to her mouth, while Jace’s expression only reflected an even greater focus.

“Fuck. Tomorrow night.” He drummed his fingers on the desk. “What time, exactly, is your fight?”

I shrugged. “It’s not set in stone. It’s the main event, the last fight of the night, but how long it takes to get there depends on how long the preliminary fights and the undercard goes. I guess at about eight thirty.”

“Fuck.”

Jace’s brow furrowed, and I could see his eyes staring right through the desk, twitching every now and then as he worked through the logistics of this problem, in a similar way to how I visualized every scenario of my fights. Kendall watched him silently, as if she knew how he worked.

“The Bertolini place still out on the east side? On Mortimer Boulevard?”

“Yeah.”

“OK. Do you know anybody working security there? Anybody that would be on your side? Or could be bought off without raising the alarm?”

I made a disgusted sound. “The closest I got is this guy named Ken Horn. He’s the one that brought me in to talk to Gavino this morning. I don’t
think
he knew what the Bertolinis had planned, but I don’t
know
. Other than that… I never got along with any of those assholes.”

Jace leaned back and laced his fingers together on top of his head as he rolled his eyes upward in thought.

“This is going to be a close one.”

“What, exactly, is going to be close?”

“Here’s what I’m going to do, in a nutshell. Tomorrow night, a small army is going to descend on the Bertolinis. Ken Horn is going to help us get in, or will mysteriously disappear before his shift starts. We’ll kill them all and we’ll get Skylar out of there.”

“Wait… what? You can’t just go in there with guns blazing. Skylar is
there
, they’ll just shoot her! Look, I’ll fucking
win
this fight, they’ll let her go,
then-
”

“No. I know how these motherfuckers operate, Austin. They aren’t going to let her go. They’ll keep on making you jump through their hoops, one after the other, until you stumble, and then they’ll kill her. They’ll
never
let her go after what you did. This guy that died, he a made-man?”

“No, but I just about took Renato Picolli’s lower jaw off with a baseball bat and turned him into an unmade-man.”

Jace shook his head. “I fucking love baseball. But they’re not letting her go after that.”

I could feel a cold sweat on my brow. This sounded a lot riskier than what I’d been planning, but what if he was right? What if they never let her go?

“So when do we go in?” I asked.

“
You
don’t go in,” said Jace.

“Fuck that, I’m-”

“Listen. You need to be at the event center, showing your face on live TV. That’s one of the things that’s going to keep your wife
safe
, you understand? There’s two things working in our favor here, and neither of them will last forever. First, they have no idea you’re
my
brother. They don’t think you have access to the kind of manpower and arsenal that I’m going to unleash on them. Second, is their penchant for theatrics. They gave you an ultimatum, and they’re going to stick with it even if they have no plans to release her. Things can go wrong, but the way you can buy me the most time to get everybody here from Port Magnus, as well as take care of Ken Horn in whatever way he needs to be taken care of, is to
win that fight in the first minute.
”

Something felt unspeakably
wrong
about a plan that put me so far away from Skylar when shit like that was happening. The world of hand-to-hand combat was
my
world, my specialty, but Jace gave every impression that whatever
this
was, it was his domain. Slowly, reluctantly, I nodded.

“You got a number for Ken? A way to get in touch with him?”

I nodded again and pulled out my phone, reading the number out loud to him, then giving my own number when he asked for that. Jace and Kendall stood to leave, and Jace pulled me close when we shook hands, speaking quietly to me.

“Win that fight, then come to the mansion. If it can be done, I’ll leave Gavino for you to deal with personally.”

Jace left Ross’ office and Kendall paused for a second, as Ken had done all those months ago when I first met Renato Picolli.

“This morning you were all by yourself, but you’re not anymore. You don’t know Jace yet, but you will. He can do anything.”

She reached out and touched my shoulder and then followed her husband. Kendall had a lot of faith in him. I wished I had as much.