Chapter Twenty One

*Not edited*Not proofread*

Chapter 21– I really fucked up, didn't I?

"Kody?"

His eyes are trained solely on me as he looks at me in confusion, but thankfully that's all. He has yet to see the dead body behind me, or my bleeding arm, so he's most likely just wondering why I'm standing in the middle of a park on my own.

He goes to come closer but I beat him to it by moving forward. If he gets any nearer than he is, he'll see the lifeless guard that's currently being obstructed by the darkness of the park.

"What are you doing here?" He peers down at me with his questioning blue eyes, his blonde mop of hair on his forehead. He goes to look over my shoulder at where I was standing before, but I pull his head to me with my good arm, keeping the other one behind me, knowing my fingers are dripping with blood.

"I was just on my way back," I answer casually, despite being anything but casual. My heart is pounding in my chest as I find myself in one of the most uncomfortable situations I've been in in a while— and that's including a meeting with Mac, a car ride with Ricky, and a bedroom with a crying Lilah.

Yes, this definitely takes the muffin.

"Is everything okay?" He frowns down at me with what I can only describe as concern on his bruised face. I nod my head, trying to keep his focus on me. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. What are you doing here?" I ask, already knowing the answer. I just need to keep him distracted without looking suspicious.

"I actually came to look for you," he admits. "I went to your place first, but Jace told me you was still at work. It's a bit late for that, though, isn't it?"

"Uh yeah, I stayed a bit later to get a car finished," I tell the half-truth.

Dakota says nothing for a few agonising seconds as his eyes stare into my own. I have a good mind to look away but I can't risk having him look elsewhere and discovering the not-so-alive body behind me. "Are you sure everything's okay? You seem... nervous."

"I'm not," I suddenly snap at him, causing him to raise an eyebrow at me. "I'm not," I say again, calmer this time. "Park's just weird me out, we should go." I grab his arm and pull him around so now his back is facing the sight I don't want him to see. As I try to tug him along to start walking, he stays grounded to his spot.

"You're acting really weird right now," he mumbles, scanning me from head to toe, his eyes lingering on the arm behind my back. "What are you hiding?"

I grit my teeth. Why does he choose now to be stubborn? "Nothing. Can we go?"

"Not until you show me what's behind your back," he refuses, crossing his strong arms over his muscled chest. I wedge my tongue in between my back teeth in annoyance. Fuck this guy. "Well?"

"I'm not hiding anything, Kota, you're just being stupid," I deny, shaking my head at him. "Let's go."

"Kody," he warns, the same look of anger coating his features again. "What's going on? What don't you want me to see?"

A dead body.

"Nothing," I grit out instead, getting really fucking angry, really fucking quickly. "What do you even want, anyway? Aren't you meant to be sulking?" I refrain from folding my arms over my chest, opting to put my hands into my back pockets. My arm throbs like something chronic, but I ignore it for the moment, focusing on keeping Dakota distracted.

His face falls, almost like he's only now just realising that he had actually come looking for me for a reason. His expression takes on a darker look and my shoulders raise in defence. "I saw you."

"What?" My heart misses a beat, my mind thinking back to everything I've done in the past few days. My first thought is he saw me kill the guard, but I immediately dismiss it as soon as it crosses my mind. If he saw me kill the guard, he wouldn't just be bringing it up now. I'm sure he would've led with, 'hey, I just saw you shoot that guy, what's up with that?' the minute he saw me do it. So then—.

"At The Ring," he grumbles, seeing the look of confusion in my expression. "I saw you there, with Jace."

"Yeah? What of it?" I furrow my eyebrows, my stormy grey eyes staring into his sky blue ones, his left one rimmed black. A muscle in his swollen jaw ticks as he clenches it, obviously annoyed by my casual dismissal of his accusation. I've been to The Ring before, he took me there, so what's the problem?

"Wanna know how I saw you?" He asks, something in his tone telling me it's rhetorical. I bite my tongue in order to stop myself from answering back. "One of the fighters pointed you out. He thought you looked 'sexy'," Dakota scoffs, and while he doesn't use his fingers to air quote, I know he's repeating exactly what the fighter had told him. "He said you had a nice ass. Then he continued to tell me how he thought you might look in his bed." He finishes off, his teeth now grinding together, the muscle in the side of his face tensing as it runs up to his temple. "Do you know how fucking much I wanted to smash his fucking face in?"

My eyes stay on his as he steps closer to me, his chest almost pressing up against my own. He has a good few inches on me, so I have to look up to see his face, but I'm not intimidated in the slightest. I'm not scared of him.

I've seen him fight.

"I'm guessing a lot, if not you wouldn't be telling me this," I reply, even though I'm aware that, that question was rhetorical, too.

He nods his head slowly. "And I would've done it, had I not looked up to find you following Ricky through the doors that lead to the balcony," he states matter-of-factly. "Want to tell me what you were doing?"

I lick my lips before biting down on the bottom one, shaking my head. "Not really," I tell him honestly. "Seeing as it's none of your business what I do."

Dakota snorts loudly, but he doesn't sound amused in the slightest. "When is the hypocrisy going to stop, Kody?" He turns his head to the side for a couple of seconds as his jaw clenches again. "Seriously," he looks back at me. "You don't get to fucking choose when you do and don't care. You don't get to fucking choose when you want to look out for us and when you don't. You don't get to fucking keep pushing us away when you don't want us, but keeping us hanging around when you do."

"What are you on about?" I make a face, my eyebrows creasing. "What's that got to do with—."

"I heard you, Kody!" He snaps, his voice rising to a shout. "What the fuck were you even thinking when you had a meeting with Mac? Or were you not thinking at all?"

As a reaction to his loud yells, I push at his chest to make him take a step back. He does so, but I don't think it's my doing. "Are we really going to stand here and point fingers because I didn't think twice before doing something?" I ask him, equally as angry. "Because what the fuck were you thinking when you decided to sign the fucking contract Mac gave you in the first place?"

"That's none of your business," he counters back. "Nothing to do with The Ring is your business, Kody. Stay out of it!"

"Well then it's not your fucking business who I talk to."

"It is if you're trying to buy me out of my fucking contract!" He exclaims, causing me to freeze.

A part of me knew he must've known what the topic of the meeting was about, seeing as he just admitted to overhearing it. But it didn't really process in my mind until just now when he shouted it for everyone to hear. Although there are only small boutiques and little coffee shops down this road, I wouldn't be surprised if the houses on the next street over were to have heard him.

"Nothing to say?" He asks, slightly calmer than he was seconds ago. I realise I haven't given him any form of response; just been standing here staring at him in silence. I shake my head, a twitch in the muscle below my eye. Dakota scoffs. "Why am I not surprised?"

"What!" I exasperate. "You're always moaning about how I'm too rude, but the one time I do something nice and you're fucking moaning about that, too? I can't fucking win!"

"Nice? Nice! You ruined everything, Kody. Do you know how much this has fucked everything up?" He shakes his head. "Of course you don't. Because you don't think, you just act."

"Do you not think I thought about this, Kota?" I snap at him, my tone incredulous. "Because I did. I thought about it for days. Fucking weeks, even. I went over everything. Every approach, every worst case scenario, every tiny detail, every possible outcome. Everything. And it drove me fucking crazy. Because do you think I want to involve myself in all your shit? In your problems?"

"So why did you?" He retorts, his shouts once again matching mine as my voice gets louder. He's too angry to see sense, and honestly, I am too. "Do you know how much worse you've made this? Mac hates you, Kody. He can't fucking stand you for some reason and now you've just made yourself the focus point of his attention."

"Yeah, well, I can handle myself. I don't need you to look out for me," I roll my eyes, looking away from him as he gives me another one of his looks.

He runs his tattooed fingers through his hair, messing up the blonde strands as he does so. "When are you going to understand that I care about you, Kody? So fucking much." He walks forward from where we had distanced ourselves in the screaming match, resuming his place awfully close to me. "You're temperamental and violent; you have the dirtiest fucking mouth and you're unnecessarily rude. You care about nobody and couldn't give a fuck whose feelings you hurt or who you screw over. You're distant and introverted; so weirdly secretive and closed off that it's quite alarming. But I'm crazy about you."

"What?"

It's not the most well-structured sentence, and I know I'm smart enough to come up with something better than that, but right now it's the only thing that leaves my mouth.

"I know I've not known you long, and you're not normally the type of girl I go for... no offence." And there's none taken seeing as I've seen Zoe— I'm fucking glad I'm nothing like her. "But there's just something about you..." he trails off, his eyes darting around my face to catch my reaction, though I don't give him one. "You don't care for no one but yourself, and I get that. But it's the little things you do that I like."

There's a thin layer of silence that settles between us before I decide to break it.

"Well," I clear my throat, running my tongue along my top teeth. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Unless it's not okay... then yeah."

He shakes his head, a look of something passing across his face making him look like he's just been hurt. "We're getting off topic," he mutters out, looking away from my eyes momentarily. "Just do me a favour and stay away from The Ring, okay? I don't want you getting involved with that shit."

"Why not?" I challenge, clearly not knowing when to leave things the fuck alone. At least not when it comes to Dakota Black.

His face hardens once again and he looks at me sternly. "I just told you why."

"I don't—."

"Look, Kody, I need this, okay? I need the money and this is the only way I can get it."

"But you said you were going to leave," I furrow my eyebrows. "And now all of the sudden you're changing your mind?" Dakota looks away, avoiding my eyes completely. I study his reaction to my assumption and scan his bruised features. The bruises are now in their prime seeing as they've had a few days to develop. "What changed?"

"Nothing," he denies, shaking his head briefly. "Just leave it alone."

My own jaw starts to tick in annoyance as I frown. "I can't."

"Why not?"

I bite my tongue. "I just can't."

He lets out an aggravated sigh and it peaks my frustration. "But why? You don't need to get involved, Kody. You've said it many times that I mean nothing to you, so why do you care what my business is at The Ring? You've known for a while that I fight there, so why now?"

"Because I care now!" I snap without really thinking. My mind just knows that I want him to stop fucking talking so it makes me blurt out the first thing that comes to mind.

"What?"

I stay silent, looking down at the ground a few feet away from where we stand. There must be some sort of coin on the floor because the moonlight reflects off of it and it glistens in the darkness of the night.

"Kody?"

I release a harsh breath through my nose. "Well I don't care as such," I backtrack, trying to undo the damage. "I just..." I trail off once I realise there is no undoing the damage.

"You care?"

"No, that was just a speech typo," I deny.

"Really?" He raises an eyebrow, tilting his head. "So you don't care about me? At all?"

He waits patiently for my response, his eyes not leaving mine. It makes my stomach churn uncomfortably but I don't pull my stare from his. As the seconds pass with no word from either of us, Dakota's face begins to fall and a forlorn look casts over his features.

"Whatever, Kodes. I'm done with this conversation. Just stay out of my business."

My heart races as I watch him turn away again, my palms turning sweaty. A million and one scenarios cross my mind as I think about what would happen if Dakota was to see the dead body and none of them end well.

"Kota, wait," I grab at his arm, yet he's quick to rip it from me. He turns his head but not his body, so he's sideways as he looks at me.

He looks pissed off but there's something else in his stony expression. "Don't, Kody. I don't want to hear it."

"Dakota stop!" I grab him again as he tries to make a move to leave. I can see him beginning to get pissed off with me, but that's the least of my concern.

"No, Kody, I'm really sick of your shit. I get that I'm not perfect and I can be a little pushy at times, but I thought you at least gave a fuck," he once again pulls his arm back from me. "I thought you just needed a little help to open up. You just look so fucking sad and angry all the time and I just wanted to help you get rid of that like people helped me. I understand I come across a little strong, but I'm not the only one who's in the wrong here. At least I don't pretend to care when it suits me."

"That's not what happens," I growl back, irked at his accusation.

"Isn't it?" He challenges, his expression still dark and angry. When I don't offer a response, he shakes his head. "Whatever. Come on, I'm walking you back and then I'm leaving."

Well that's not going to happen because I need to wait for Jace to get here so we can bury a body.

"You don't need to walk me home, I'm not a fucking invalid," I reply with a scoff.

"Don't be a brat, Kody, and come on. I just want to get home, I'm tired and my fucking muscles ache."

I try to ignore the way my chest constricts at the exhaustion in his voice and the grimace on his face. I didn't realise how worn out Dakota actually looks and it tugs at something in my body. "What's changed?"

He heaves a tired sigh. "What?"

"You was missing your fights on purpose because you didn't want to work for Mac anymore, but now you're saying that you need this and the money? That doesn't make sense."

"Why doesn't it?"

"Because the money was always a variable. You've always needed it, that's why you got into fighting in the first place. But the money clearly didn't matter to you once you stopped turning up to the fights. Something has changed your mind now and has made you want to go. So what is it?"

Dakota throws his head back slightly as he rubs at his eyes, genuinely worn down from the days— or probably the whole weeks— events. "If I tell you can we leave?" He looks over at me.

No. "Sure."

He sighs again before dropping his head in defeat. "It's because of you." He says it so quietly I barely catch it. Luckily though, my hearing has always been slightly better than everyone else's.

"Me?" I parrot for confirmation.

"Yeah, you," he nods, kicking at the ground. "I only went to the fight this weekend because I had to. I obviously can't ditch them all because important betters go to certain ones and if I were to miss them, who knows what the fuck Mac would do. Not only that, but if I miss too many in a row, Mac gets pissed off, so I usually just turn up to appease him." I don't know what appease means, but I'll worry about that later. "But when you turned up and offered to buy me out of my contract, Mac thought I was important to you and so he figured that you must be important to me, too." He lifts his head so he's staring at me, his face showing the honesty in his words. "And you are... so when he threatened me with you—." he shakes his head. "Well, he can just about make me do anything."

For a few minutes I don't know what to say as I stand here in silence, my mind processing his words.

I really fucked up, didn't I?

"That's why I was mad at you, Kody," he explains. "Well, to be honest, I wasn't even mad at you, just at the situation. I've tried so hard to keep the people that mattered to me away from Mac, and then you show up," he blows out a breath. "I appreciate you trying to help, Kodes, honestly; you don't know how much it means to me. But you've put me in a real tough spot," he chuckles weakly, the sound not one I'm used to.

As I continue to mull over the new information, Dakota straightens himself up. His shoulders are sagged and his posture slouched. He looks way too exhausted. "Now come on, I really do want to get home at some point."

It's at this moment I realise that I've been too in my head to notice how close he was to turning his back to me fully and there's nothing much I can do to pull his attention back to me by just simply calling his name.

So, as I catch sight of the back of his leather jacket, I rush forward and jump in front of him, putting my hands to his solid chest. He looks down at me in deep confusion before his eyes flicker upwards and look behind me.

But that's only for a split second before I grab his head, pulling him down so my lips meet his.

I really fucked up, didn't I?

___

Author's Note

I've been sitting on a spoon (that was in my bed) while I wrote this whole entire chapter but I didn't realise and it's left a dent in my buttcheek.

Hehehe.

Anyway... hope you enjoyed this chapter! I thought it was about time Dakota admitted his feelings, but that doesn't mean anything has changed for Kody (or does it?). We all knew how Dakota felt anyway, so it shouldn't come as a surprise. Besides, we're like 75 chapters in or whatever, so it's been a long time coming, I couldn't keep putting it off.

I'm not sure if I'm 100% about the way it worked out, but I couldn't just have Kody do a 180 on us and be a changed man now— Chris Brown— (Sorry, i do that all the time and I don't know how to stop) could I? So I figured it had to be done in a way she doesn't mean it, you know? But also in a way it can develop, you know?

Yeah, you know.

Anyway, I still hope you enjoyed it!

What do you think will happen next?

Thoughts on Dakota this chapter? Was he right in what he was saying?

Also, I think I want to change Dakota's character? Should I, or not? Who has everybody else been picturing him as?