Chapter 4

A thin, busty blonde rolled out of the large canopy bed, naked and scrambling to find her clothes from the night before. She dressed quickly, and was just about to slip out the door when Xander Delgado rolled over and opened his eyes.

“You leavin’ babe?”

He smiled at her, eyeing her head to toe. She giggled.

“I have an early class. But, uh, I totally get why they call you ‘the beast’ and all,” she said with a mischievous grin. “Call me later!” she added as she winked and headed out the door.

Xander rolled back over and looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand. Six-thirty in the morning seemed like a good time to wake up for a workout. In fact, it was about an hour later than he usually woke up for his morning routine. Ignoring the throbbing in his head from the hangover from the night before, he got up and put on his sweats. Flexing in front of the mirror, he admired the tattoos that painted the canvas that was his chest and arms. Almost time for a new one, he thought to himself.

He opened the bedroom door and went down to the basement where his home gym was located. As he went down the stairs, his cell phone started blasting from his pants pocket. He checked the text that came in and saw that it was from Johnny.

Dude, you gotta get here. Spitzer’s guys are here makin’ havoc.

Marco Spitzer owned a rival gym that housed other competitive street fighters. He was as slimy as they come, and was known to cheat, extort and do other criminal things to have his fighters win. Naturally, he hated Tommy Dimitri for scooping Xander up before he could. Especially since he was notorious for putting Marco’s guys in the hospital.

Xander grinned fiercely to himself, excited for the chance to go head to head with anyone from that gym. He bolted back upstairs, threw on a white muscle shirt and ran out to his car. The sun was warm, making his black Camaro sweltering hot. As he practically jumped in his car and sped off, he made sure to roll the windows down so he wouldn’t die from the heat before getting there.

Kill Zone Gymnasium was founded about fifteen years earlier by Tommy and Jimmy Dimitri—brothers, and the sons of a high profile Italian mobster currently serving a life sentence for his crimes. While their father was a crime lord, both Tommy and Jimmy were good, honest men who strived to leave behind their father’s legacy and become legitimate businessmen in a field that they loved—street fighting. About a year after they opened their doors, they began training some of the best fighters in the United States. After some high-profile victories, it appeared they had become a thorn in the side of Marco Spitzer, owner of the Grinder Gym. Marco met with Jimmy behind Tommy’s back and offered him a pretty nice nest egg if their gym were to meet an untimely demise. Unfortunately for Marco, Jimmy refused to sell out and betray his brother. Some might say that was a dumb move, but Jimmy was a man of honor—a trait he inherited from his mother. Needless to say, Jimmy’s body was found in the harbor a week later in the with a gunshot wound to the head and the letter ’S’ carved into his chest. Tommy knew instantly who was responsible and so the war between the two gyms began.

When Xander began fighting for Tommy, he was a natural. Of course, Xander would laugh and brag about how fighting must be in his blood, because that’s essentially what landed his father in prison.

The Camaro sped through the city streets and came to a screeching halt just outside the Kill Zone, almost hitting one of Spitzer’s guys.

“Yo man, are you loco? You almost ran me down, bro!” the guy said, holding his middle finger up at Xander.

“Heard you boys are causin’ some trouble? What’d I say to you last time? Stay off my turf!” Xander stepped forward as if sending a warning.

A few guys circled Xander, laughing.

“Man, you don’t know who you dealing with,” a large Latino said as he came forward. “They call me Monster. Spitz says you undefeated,” he said, “til now anyway.”

The circle of guys backed off allowing Monster to come forward. Johnny Hernandez, Xander’s right-hand man, was standing back with the rest of Tommy’s fighters. The looks on their faces assured Xander he’d have backup if required—but he knew he wouldn’t need it.

“The Monster? Did your mama name you that after seeing you for the first time?” Xander said as he laughed in his face.

“You know why they call me the Beast? Three guesses.”

Scowling, Monster looked him up and down.

“I’m guessing it’s cuz you look like one, or your pappy was a bear and your mama was a dog? You certainly seem like a little bitch to me.”

Monster and the rest of Spitzer’s guys laughed hysterically. Xander, who had remained cool and calm the whole time, smiled a devious grin.

“Wrong.”

All of a sudden, Xander lunged at Monster, knocking him off of his feet. One of the things that made him the best was his incredible speed and ability to catch his opponents off guard. Both men landed on the ground and began beating on each other brutally. Xander was thrashing Monster fiercely in the side of the face preventing him from getting in any punches of his own.

The small group from Spitzer’s rushed over to release Monster from Xander’s grasp, but before they could, he kneed Xander in the gut, knocking the wind out of him just long enough for Monster to get back on his feet. Xander was only getting more furious, so when his opponent was gloating, he dove on top and started smashing his head into the ground. At that moment, the other guys intervened and pulled Xander away. Johnny pushed him back and began trying to talk him down.

Even though Johnny had heard the rumors of why Xander had been called ‘The Beast,’ he was never afraid of standing up to him. If he didn’t stop Xander from pounding this guy, his friend could easily kill the man.

“Xander, this guy isn’t worth your energy. You have bigger fish to fry, yeah? Come on, man, Tommy has something he wants to talk to you about in the gym.”

Johnny could see the change in Xander’s eyes as he snapped out of his anger and began to take in the situation around him. He decided he’d given Monster a clear message, and with that he turned around to walk with Johnny into the gym. A few steps in, Xander turned back to look at Monster who was still rolling on the ground. Kneeling down to make sure he was looking straight into his eyes, Xander lowered his voice. “Don’t show your ugly face here again, Chico. I might not be so generous next time. Oh, and tell Spitzer I said hello.”