Blood
Jason
“I met a woman. Janine. I was thirty-one. I’d been fighting for three years. I knew I wasn’t getting out so I didn’t even try and leave. I knew what happened to guys who tried to escape. They wound up floating or dead in some alley. You were either released or you were ended. I was saving up money, planning for the time I would finally leave Ricci and his world in my rear view mirror. Anyway, because Ricci knew I wouldn’t try and leave, I could go out during the day. My condo was always watched, but his guys pretty much let me do what I wanted. I had a reputation and they wanted to make damn sure I was kept happy. It felt like less of a prison then. I went to the gym during the day. Not Ricci’s gym for training. A regular, public gym before I went to Ricci’s place. I just felt… like myself there. The man I used to be before I became just a fighter. A thing. A tool to make rich people richer and end men’s careers. There was a new trainer there. Janine. She was young. Vibrant. Full of life. She wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met before. She didn’t know what I was or who I was. I loved her right away.”
“I know where this story goes,” Amanda breathed. She shifted, tucking her hands in her lap, her eyes as old and pain filled as Jason’s soul.
“Yah. I loved her. We saw each other secretly. I eventually told her what I was. What I did for a living, when I knew I could trust her. She wanted me to get out. By then I’d saved over two million dollars. I was still winning, still hadn’t lost a fight. I was worth more than ever. I tried to run away one night. Stole a car and took Janine. We’d been planning our getaway for months. I had five nights a week off. Fought two nights. Of course I was training all the time, but I mean, I didn’t ditch a fight. We were going to go to Mexico and once we were there, get new ID’s, just get lost. I had the money to do it.”
“And Ricci didn’t let you get far.”
“No. His goons found us. Drove me off the road. I had to stop. They got out. I was a good fighter, but there were six. Six against one man. I was only able to last so long. The last thing I remember is getting hit in the head. Over and over again. They finally took me down. When I woke up I couldn’t move a bone in my body without it hurting. They’d taken me whole. Hadn’t broke anything so that I could still fight. I wasn’t worth anything to Ricci damaged.”
Amanda wiped away the fresh tears that were tracking down her cheeks. If Jason lived to be a thousand years old, he’d never forget the haunted look in her eyes. “And Janine?”
“She was found dead a week later. I won’t tell you how. It was… the worst thing that had ever happened to me. I knew that she had died because of me. Her beautiful, amazing soul was snuffed out because of the choices I made. After that the money didn’t mean anything. None of it meant anything. I hated Ricci. I hated him more than I hated my father, even. I knew then that he’d never let me go. I’d tipped my hand and he would never, ever give me up. The only way I was getting out was in a body bag. I started throwing fights. Gradually. I made it look like I was used up. Old. I wanted him to think he’d broken my will to fight along with my will to live.”
“And he didn’t like that?”
“No. He wanted to teach me a lesson. If I wasn’t going to fight for him, I wasn’t going to live. He put me up against a fighter one night. This guy was a monster. He’d killed men before. He had absolutely no remorse. They had him drugged all the time. He was a fucking rage machine. I beat him senseless. It was clear I wasn’t slowing down at all. That night Ricci came to see me. He came with his goons. I swear these guys are loyal only to the highest buyer. They might have worked for the guy, but they had no respect for him. I swear to this day they stepped aside. I came at him and they did what they could to fend me off, which wasn’t very much. They made a real show of it though. I landed a few good blows on that son of a bitch before they pulled me off. Ricci screamed at them to kill me. It showed how upset he was, because he left them with me. Not my normal guards. These guys were ex fighters themselves. Not in that ring but in another life. Boxers, martial arts, or military. They knew who I was and they respected me in a way they didn’t respect Ricci. They beat me half dead, stuck me in their car and drove me out to the middle of the highway. I didn’t even know where I was. They dumped me out of the car, knowing full well that if I ever showed up again it would mean their lives. They were confident that I was smart enough to keep myself hidden. They let me go.”
“And you started a new life. Came here? Changed your name and got a fake ID.”
“Yes. I found the most remote place that I could. I changed the way I looked. Grew out my hair and beard. Kept to myself. I never went to any major centers. I don’t know how Ricci found out I was still alive. I didn’t know he’d been looking for me all this time. I thought he figured I was dead. He must have done something to those guys who let me go. And then he got to Gerard, who we met at that baby store. He was the only person who knew about my new identity since he helped me getting the papers.”
“And you thought you had finally left that life behind.”
“I never, ever would have endangered you, Amanda, I need you to know that!” Jason gripped her hand firmly, trying to take some semblance of comfort at the way she didn’t withdraw when he touched her.
“I know,” she finally whispered. Her hand tightened in his. She looked up and their gazes locked. He couldn’t even begin to define how relieved he was to see that everything he’d just confessed hadn’t erased the love in her eyes. It was still there, buried beneath sorrow and fear, but it still existed. “I know you would never hurt me. I know you would never put me in danger. I know how losing Janine must have broken you inside. If I know you, you probably still feel that guilt. It lives with you like a person, walking beside you, every single day.”
“You’re right.” He hung his head. “And now I know Ricci is coming. He will be ruthless. Merciless. He won’t stop until I’m in the ground. I represent humiliation. Defeat. And men like him do not lose.”
“He might never find you. So what if he knows you were in Boulder over a year ago. Don’t you think he’s moved on?”
“The fact that Andy found me tonight shows that I’m not as invisible as I thought. If he can find me, Ricci can find me.”
“Andy? The guy on the couch?”
“Yes. He’s an ex fighter. Used to work for Ricci as well. He obviously got away. They beat him within an inch of his life so it shows that Ricci tried to stop him like he stopped me from leaving. Andy must have given those guys hell. He got away when I couldn’t. He came to warn me. God, I can’t believe he’s been fighting all these years, though he was just getting into it when I was getting out.”
“Why would he do that? Risk his life to warn you?”
“Because I probably saved his. He wanted to be a fighter. I warned him to get out before he even started. He was like me. Young. Headstrong. Incredibly angry at the world. I saw him in myself. I saw his will and determination and knew that he could be good. Great, really. Probably go undefeated. I trained him. I taught him everything I knew so that he wouldn’t end up being carried out of the ring, lifeless. He looked up to me. Respected me. Probably realized, over the years, that he needed to get out too. I’m going to hazard a guess and say that after I left, he was Ricci’s new toy. His new obsession. He got out, where I couldn’t. He succeeded and the first thing he did was come up here to warn me. He wants to thwart Ricci as badly as I did.”
“And still do?”
“I don’t give a damn about that man. I would kill him if I could, just to see you safe.”
“Jason!” Amanda reached up, her hand shaking violently. She set her palm on his cheek. He captured it in his own hand, holding it there, against his cheek. He closed his eyes and savored her touch. Praying that he’d remember what her skin felt like, smelled like, for whatever life he had left.
“I’m serious. You have to go, Amanda. You have to get your mother and our son and get the hell out of Colorado.”
“Where would I go?”
“To Canada. Ricci wants me and me alone. If you’re here, he’ll use you against me. He may have men, even now, trying to find our son, once he knows I have one. Please, you have to leave. You have to go where it’s safe until I come and find you. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.”
“And what about you? You’re just going to wait here until Ricci shows up and what? Sacrifice yourself.”
Jason slowly shook his head. “I have no plans on going down without a fight. The fight of Ricci’s life.”
“Are you going to kill him? You think that spending the rest of your life in a damn jail cell is going to make me happy?”
“No. Not happy. There is no happiness left in the world after tonight. All I care about is that you and my son are safe. Safe and away from me.”
“Until you find me. You said you would find me, Jason.”
“Yes.” He gripped her hand in his while he watched horror creep back into her eyes. It replaced the sorrow that was already there, which was so much worse. “This is what I bring into life. Pain. Grief. Regret. I should never have let you close to me. Never, Amanda. I made a mistake. I thought I could have a regular life. I thought I could love you. I took a chance and I can’t stand that you are going to pay for my mistakes. You have to promise me you’ll leave and get to safety.”
“When? When, Jason?”
“Tonight. Now. You need to go as soon as you can. Get a head start. Be long gone by the time Ricci shows up.”
“I’m not leaving,” Amanda said firmly. Her eyes never wavered. A hard, determined resolution came into them.
“You have to. For our son, if not yourself. He’s six months old, Amanda.”
Raw pain flooded her emerald eyes. They sparkled like true gemstones. Sparkled with loss and love and the hardest battle she’d ever had to enter into.
She blinked and when the tears came, he knew he had won. She would go. She would save their son.