CHAPTER 7
Landon Lane
I-90 INTO MISSOULA WAS BOTTLENECKED with cars. Must’ve been an accident.
Cora Chapman.
Her name played over and over again in my mind. The kiss on the cheek. I’d wanted to kiss her full on the lips. Push her back inside her house. Rip her clothes off. I hadn’t realized just how attracted to her I was. Or maybe I’d lied to myself again.
I’d seen it in her eyes. Fully dilated. Brushing her palms. Elevated heart rate. She wanted it as bad as I did.
The kiss on the cheek was as intentional as anything I’d ever done. I was trained to hunt. Nothing was a stronger lure than the unknown. Leave her guessing. Wondering what would happen next. Part of it was just pure restraint on my part. This was the best way. Kind of like a test run. Ease her into my life and see if it could possibly work.
Logan wouldn’t be in her class forever. We had time, well, some anyway. I’d find out when I met with Gus later.
Cora Chapman.
Fuck, her name. It did things to me when I thought about it. It was a bad idea, though. The idea of letting her into our world. I thought about Gus and then what he’d shown me the other day in his office. The main reason I’d asked her out. My demons were coming back to haunt me. If anyone from my past showed up, I needed to know immediately. Cora was a very observant person. The hint at romantic entanglement would make her even more vigilant. Make her watch that much harder. It bought me some time. Time to decide if a relationship with her would be possible. If it was, great. If it wasn’t, I’d still get what I needed up until that point.
Cora Chapman.
The thought that I might possibly use her feelings for my own needs left a sour taste in my mouth, but it was for Logan’s safety. Any other rationalization would be unacceptable. But for him, I’d do whatever I needed to do. I told myself I’d hurt her if I had to in order to keep him safe. I’d hurt anyone.
I looked up and the cars had already moved up a few hundred feet. Cora had my thoughts jumbled into a giant bundle of misfiring neurons. I hit the accelerator to catch up to them.
If there was one thing I knew, it was being raised in a prison against your will. We had that in common, obviously to different degrees. The other thing I knew was that you missed the chains. I still heard the waves crashing on the black shore all the time. I still saw the faces. Heard the volcano gurgling in the middle of the island. Smelled the sulfur. Missed the heat on my legs.
I finally made it past the bottleneck. Eighteen-wheeler overturned.
I sped through town and into the parking lot of the gym. The sound of a speedbag caught my ear when I walked through the door. A few guys worked out and trained on the bags in the corner. I kept walking.
Gus sat in his office, slouched back in his chair. “He has another fight. Couple weeks.”
“Why is he fighting? Where did he even come from?”
Gus stood. “I don’t know. It’s going to cause me problems though. They’ll want a title fight soon.”
It made sense. He’d want a fight with Sam Wright. Fighters traveled from around the globe to train with Gus. I walked over to his monitor. He was watching the highlights on YouTube. They played over and over on a loop.
The man was an animal. No, he was a machine. Almost completely unhuman. My entire childhood roiled through my chest and landed in my stomach. I could never forget the time spent on the island. The memories were seared into my skull. But seeing it in front of me sharpened the dull images in my mind. Brought them from fuzzy black and white to high definition color.
There he was in front of me, a fully-grown beast.
Sidious Kayzo. Live in the flesh.
None of Gus’s fighters stood a chance.
Sidious or Sid was what they were calling him anyway. Sam would want to fight him. I knew it. Gus knew it too. He’d die or end up in a wheelchair within seconds.
I watched Sid destroy the other guy in slow motion.
“Did he live?”
“Barely.”
The worst part was that his fights were broadcast all over the country. It was all anyone was talking about. I purposefully avoided them. But, I was sure Logan had seen them by then. If not, he’d heard about it from kids at school. There was no telling what people allowed their kids to watch. Desire loved MMA fighting. Probably because Gus’s gym was known for turning out world champions and it was only thirty minutes away.
I only let Logan watch because he knew I worked with Sam. Logan loved Sam. We would analyze the fights, and it was a way for me to bond with Logan. It also gave me a fun way to teach him to defend himself. I didn’t have many skills that were appropriate to share with a seven-year-old but I needed him prepared if we ever faced a threat, even if Logan thought it was just for fun.
“He’ll kill Sam.”
“I know.” Gus stood and put a hand on my shoulder. “You see who’s managing him?”
“No. Edmon?” I looked down. Hadn’t even thought about him being here.
Gus nodded.
It got worse by the minute. I sighed. “Can’t be a coincidence. That they’re fighting him.”
“I know.”
“Any theories?”
“Not yet.”
I turned toward the door. Worrying about something never solved a problem. “Going to work then. Let me know if you find out anything new.”
I BOUNCED AROUND IN THE ring. That was my job. Keep my head moving. Human punching bag for the world’s most elite fighters. Mainly Sam. I had to purposely slow everything down to let him hit me. Gus was the only person who knew what I could do.
Sam hit me with a combo. Quick jab then a hard right cross. Hard for him, anyway. It would’ve knocked most guys out. I kept bouncing around. Kept the session going. He needed to be in optimum condition.
“Jesus, you’re like hitting a wall of steel.” Sam’s words sputtered.
I threw an obvious and slow punch. Sam dodged it and hammered me with a few more blows. He hissed controlled breaths with each strike. Gus goaded him on from the corner.
These guys were as close to a social life as I had outside of Logan. We’d grown to be good friends over the past few years, even though I never saw Sam outside of work. But I’d met Janet through Gus and she’d been a godsend.
Sam finally collapsed, and I gave the back of his head a pat. “Nice workout, Champ.”
“Blow me.”
We all laughed.
“I mean, you pretty much beat me. Look at this shit.” Sam motioned to himself, laid out on the mat. “You didn’t even land a punch and I feel defeated.”
“You ladies done jerking off in there?” Gus grinned and turned to Sam. “Hit the trainer. Get yourself taken care of.”
Sam hopped to his feet. “You see this new guy, Lane? The new fighter? Sid?” Sam’s head angled down to the mat. Part fatigue, part fear.
My job was keeping Sam confident. Had to show no weakness. No matter what. Attitude was the most important attribute in competition, and in life.
“Yeah.” I shrugged off his questions.
“And?” He stood there, bug-eyed. “Guy is a fucking animal. You kiddin’ me?”
I walked off toward Gus with my back to Sam. “So?”
He was a great champion. People loved him, and rightfully so. Logan adored him. Watched every fight. But Sam could get in his own head a lot too. It was justified in this instance, but freaking him out wouldn’t accomplish anything.
“He’s going to want a fight soon.”
I turned around and grinned. “That’s what usually happens.”
Sam’s head shot back and forth between Gus and me. I could tell this conversation had been in the back of his mind for some time. “So, what the fuck are we gonna do?”
I glanced to Gus.
Gus shrugged.
I turned back and narrowed my eyes at Sam. “Same shit as always. Have a plan. Train. If it fails, we look back and see what we did wrong.”
Sam shook his head. He was scared. I would be too. I’d fought Sid on the island. He’d caved my face in and put me in the infirmary for three months.
Only I was eight and he was six.