UNBROKEN: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 2) (23 page)

I’m surrounded.

I keep my fists at my sides as I push through the crowd, slowly easing towards the cage with my face down low. My eyes drift towards Tobias, but his laser-focus won’t budge from Rick’s determined face. I see the wheels spinning in his head, wondering what move Rick will pull next. I silently urge him to look at me, to see my eyes and read my mind, but it’s not his eyes that turn my way.

The sudden shift in Rick’s gaze turns my blood cold. His eyes find mine instantly and he shoots me a clever smile before kicking off the mat and slamming his foot against Tobias’ jaw.

I gasp as he tumbles to the floor. “Tobias—!” I scream. I’m several feet away from the cage, but my voice refuses to travel to his ears. He shakes his head as he pulls himself up, no doubt dizzy and disoriented from the lightning fast kick.

Rick takes the chance to throw another fast punch, but Tobias knocks him back again, this time keeping a firm grip on his wrist to hold him close. Tobias jerks Rick off balance and lands a quick chop to Rick’s throat.

Rick’s face instantly turns red as he falls to his knees and struggles to breathe. Adrenaline pounds in my ears and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bring me great pleasure to watch Rick on the ground, coughing and gasping for air.

Tobias steps forward and draws his fist back to strike Rick while he’s down. The blow knocks Rick closer to the floor. Blood spills from his nose, crawling down his face to drip onto his pecks. Rick pushes himself up onto his knees, fighting hard to regain his balance, but Tobias spins on his heal and uses the fierce momentum to deliver a clean kick against his cheek.

My ears twitch. It’s the faintest sound, lost in the thick air of the arena, but I’ve heard it far too many times not to notice. I step closer to confirm my suspicions.

Rick is laughing.

Tobias reaches down and grabs a fistful of Rick’s hair before pulling him up onto his shaking feet. He holds him steady, forcing Rick to look at him while his chuckle intensifies. I reach the cage, pushing in as close as I can, hoping to hear the words on Tobias’ lips, but I can’t make out any of it.

Rick says something back to him and Tobias’ eyes fall on me.

I freeze, crushed by the weight of his stare. There’s an anger in his green eyes, but he sets it aside for the shortest of moments as he studies my face.

Trust. Strength. Love. I feel everything he feels, every thought he thinks.

Rick’s lips move, filling Tobias’ ears, and the anger returns to his eyes.

Tobias spins and forces Rick back down to his knees. I bite my lip to keep from screaming, knowing that there’s a voice inside of me that would beg him to stop. I keep it silent, preparing myself for what’s to come.

Tobias holds Rick by the neck, his fingers digging hard into his flesh. Rick’s cheeks turn blue. The crowd screams with jubilation, each one of them overwhelmed by the spectacle, wondering if this will end the way they think it will. They scream louder as Tobias punches Rick’s purple face. A red mist covers his hand. I honestly can’t tell if it’s all Rick’s blood or a little bit of Tobias’, too.

I gasp as the lights go black, plunging the entire arena into darkness.

Panic rolls through the audience, screams of confusion filling my ears. I grip the cage and hold myself against it while the stampeding feet charge towards the nearest exits, their paths lit up by the blue screens of their phones. I blink repeatedly, hoping to trick my eyes into adjusting to the sudden shift of darkness, but I can’t see a thing past the blurred, dim lights of touch screens.

“Tobias!” I cry out. Shadows dance behind the cage, but they’re both far too similar in height and weight for me to determine who is whom as they both continue trading blows.

Running feet fire passed me, knocking me loose. My trembling fingers let go of the cage and I stumble to the floor. I shove their bodies away as they kick and stomp on me, struggling through the pain to get back on my feet.

I look up as small sabers of light pierce the darkness. Flashlights turn on one-by-one at random in the crowd. They cast the round lights onto the faces of those rushing by them, focusing on women alone.

Keep your head down. The Kings know your face.

I duck under the panic, forcing my hair down to obscure my features. The bright lights catch my eyes and leave auras on my vision, making me more lost than ever in the surging panic.

A hand grasps my wrist. Strong fingers, damp with sweat, tug hard at me to pull me out of danger.

Tobias.

I follow his feet as he leads me towards the back, his iron grip never wavering no matter how many shoulders I blindly bump into. He kicks the black door open and pushes me inside the deserted hallway leading to the locker rooms and offices in the back.

“Tobias…” I breathe his name, happy to be able to hear my own voice behind the closed door, and fall into his thick arms.

“No, Claire…”

The rumble of his voice charges through my body, reigniting the fear in me. I push away from him, throwing myself back against the wall as he flicks his flashlight on to illuminate the small space between us.

Tears tumble down my cheeks, but I can still easily make out the face of
Pike the Punisher
.

Chapter 15

Everyone’s Got Their Demons

“Claire, we need to talk.”

I spin on my heels, determined to run away from him, but he easily catches up with me. “Let me go!” I scream, kicking my feet as he raises me off the ground.

Pike hugs me tightly against his chest from behind. “Calm down!” he shouts into my ear. “Or I’ll snap your little neck like a fucking twig—”

I brace myself for pain and slam my head back to bash his nose. His grip loosens enough for me to slide from his grasp. I rub the back of my skull, feeling the fresh lump growing, but I ignore the red in my vision to get moving again. Pike drops his flashlight as he stumbles backward, his hands covering his busted nose. I reach for the light and flick it off before bolting down the hallway, obscured in total darkness. I use my memory, recalling the locations of doors as I push them open in the dark to confuse him before rushing into the locker room.

“Claire!”

I ignore his shouts and continue my run through the room, bumping into benches and walls as I go. Pain shoots through my toes with each stub, but I hold my lips together to keep from crying out. I feel the walls, searching for another door or an exit, anything that will get me as far away from Pike as possible.

“Claire!”

His voice echoes through the locker room, startling me enough to drop the flashlight. I curse under my breath as it clatters to the floor.

“I know you’re in here!” he shouts.

I lower to the floor to grab the light and force my back into a dark corner with no idea of where I am. The walls around me offer a little comfort, but the sound of his boots stomping around keep me on edge.

“I just want to talk to you, Claire.”

I hold my breath, but the air shoots loudly out of my nostrils. I cover my face with my hands, but that just makes it worse. It’s only a matter of time until he finds me. I can’t stay in this location. I have to move. I have to think fast. I have to—

“I didn’t come here to hurt you,” Pike says, his voice echoing throughout the room. “We’re just two old friends hashing it out…”

My sense of hearing clicks, pinpointing his location nearby. I steady my breathing, forcing only smooth, deliberate breaths as I raise the flashlight above my head. I throw it hard and it sails through the darkness until it strikes a locker across the room and clatters to the floor.

Pike’s feet rush towards the sound and I move quickly in the opposite direction, keeping light on my toes.

“What are you going to do?” he asks out of frustration. “You going to go back out there? They’re looking for
you
, Claire, and they’re a heck of a lot scarier than I am. I don’t like your chances.”

I pause against a new corner, steading myself against the walls. “If you want to talk, then talk!” I shout, a charge of courage teasing my nerves. His boots click in my direction. I focus on the sound and move again to the next corner away from him.

“Okay, then…” he says, following my voice. I push on, keeping my distance from him while he speaks. “I think the two of us can come to an arrangement, Claire. There’s no reason why we both can’t come out on top here.”

“What kind of arrangement?” I ask, buying time until I can find the door again.

His heals spin to face me, but he doesn’t move from his spot. “Simply put,” he begins, “I want back in the Alphas.”

“What makes you think I have any say in that?”

“You don’t,” he replies. “But Lillian does.”

“Then why don’t you ask her?” I ask.

“I have.”

“You have your answer then.”

He sighs. “I met Lillian when I was twelve years old, Claire. She got me off the streets, gave me a purpose. A life. Loyalty like that doesn’t change overnight.”

“If you’re so loyal to the Alphas,” I say, “then why did you stab Tobias last year?”

He laughs. “See, now you’re asking the right questions.” His heels tap the floor. “What could
possibly
have happened to make me do that?”

“I know what happened,” I scoff. “Rick promised you twenty minutes alone with me.”

Pike pauses, the long silence filling the air. “Is that what you think?” He chuckles. “You’re cute, Claire — but you’re hardly worth stabbing a guy over.”

I settle into a corner, listening closely to his words. “Then why?”

“Come with me and I’ll tell you,” he says.

“Not a chance.”

“Claire—” A dull light turns on and the screen of his phone illuminates his face in the dark. With a quick flick of his thumb, he enables the camera light and I gasp at the sudden, bright beam shining into my eyes. I stand still, frozen in the corner as he walks towards me. He pauses a few feet away and turns the light away so I can see him. “If I really wanted to hurt you, you’d be dead by now.”

“What do you want?” I ask.

“I already told you,” he says, shadows moving across his face in the dark. “I want back in the Alphas.”

“Then why join the Double Ex Kings?” I ask.

“I didn’t really join the Kings,” he says. “I’d rather drop dead than do that.”

“Then why did you train Rick?”

Pike drops the light to his side. “Rick came to me after the last tournament,” he says. “His offer was
intriguing;
Train him to win the tournament and we split his winnings sixty-forty in favor of
moi
, but it smelled a little fishy. Didn’t take long for me to figure out who his father was.”

“Thomas,” I nod.

“The original King himself.” Pike clicks his tongue. “I confronted Rick myself about that and he admitted everything to me. Caved like a wimp, but he’s an Eastwood, so I wasn’t at all surprised.” I glare at him and he grins at the oh-so-clever stab at Tobias’ kin. “He thought I’d be looking for revenge after Lillian blacklisted me — and hell, I may have even thought about it a few times, but…” He shakes his head. “Lillian did what she thought she had to do to protect her Alphas and her image and I respect that.”

“Still doesn’t explain why you
stabbed
Tobias in the first place,” I point out.

“Ahh…” he nods. “That brings us to Mary Eastwood.”

“Mary?” I ask. “What about her?”

“Mary’s a mistake I’ll live with for the rest of my life. I’m not proud of it,” he says with dark eyes, “but that’s not good enough for Tobias. He wants me put away—”

“You deserve it.”

“That may be true,” he says. “However, there are certain people that think otherwise.”

“Like who?” I ask.

“Didn’t it ever seem
odd
to him that the police gave up so soon?” he asks. “Did it never occur to him that maybe someone
really powerful
went to great lengths to cover up what happened to Mary?”

“You’re lying,” I whisper.

“No, Claire. I’m not. You see… loyalty is a real bitch. In order to prove it, sometimes you have to do some real fucked up things — things you might not have even considered you were ever capable of…”

“What did she do?” I ask, the answer dangling right in front of me.

“Well…” Pike clears his throat. “It was either let her star fighter go to jail and put the entire Midwest Alpha league in jeopardy…
or—
”

“She wouldn’t have…”

“Claire, you know
nothing
about Lillian Tombs,” he says. “Yes, she would have. And she did.”

“No,” I shake my head. “Lillian would
never
do that to Charlie’s daughter. She went to him for help — he saved her life. She owes him.”