Beautiful Fiend: Chapter 7

“Bil’s!” Emma shouts as I walk out of the gym. Some people have gathered, having drinks out of their trunks and using the parking lot’s lights to have their post-fight party. “You were unbelievable in there!” My sister takes me in her arms and gives a quick hi to Dickie.

He nods to everyone hello but doesn’t actually stop. “Get some rest, Billie,” he says before getting in his car and driving away.

“Yeah, fuck that. We’re celebrating your win.” Xi turns to me with a bright smile. He and Lik take me in their arms and hug me until I can’t breathe.

“That’s my little sister, y’all!” Lik shouts at whoever wants to hear.

“She’ll kick your asses if you fuck with us,” Xi adds before we all burst out into a laughing fit.

Feisty Cathy makes her way to us. Her face is bruised, and her left eye is swollen shut, but she beams at me. “You’re one hell of an opponent, Scott,” she says.

I nod and smile. Now that I’m not competing with her anymore, I welcome my fellow North Shore Crew girl into a hug. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

“Yeah,” she smiles awkwardly as we separate. “Not unbeatable, though.”

I shrug, not really knowing how to answer.

“Anyway,” she cuts it short. “We’re all going to the Death Cage warehouse. Someone is fighting in the smaller ring. Just a small NSC vs. Kings fight, nothing too serious. We’re gonna take bets on us if you wanna join.”

I glance at my sister and stepbrothers, about to say no, except Xi beats me to it. “Fuck yeah. I want to see more blood tonight.”

“I don’t know,” I hesitate. “I can’t get involved in shit like that too much anymore.”

“You’re not the one fighting,” Emma insists. “And if things go south, we’ll be out in no time.”

“We got you, Bil’s,” Lik smiles. He’s got the most contagious smile I’ve ever seen in my life.

He plays with his nose ring as he waits for my answer. He’s got a fashion sense that demands constant attention. It calls to everyone. Earrings, nose piercings, pearls around his neck, and a lock necklace he never takes off. I love how much effort he puts into it.

“Alright,” I give in. “But I’m leaving as soon as I feel too tired.”

“‘Course you are.” Xi winks at me. He’s a few years older than Lik and usually a little more serious than him.

Xi takes care of drugs and hiding bodies for NSC. Lik has long stopped actively participating. He has found himself a nice hitman boyfriend who takes care of him and earns money for the both of them. They’ve moved in together, and he now goes to college with me while living his best life, trying to stay away from North Shore troubles as much as he can. Only tonight, it seems he wants to have a bit of fun.

It’s only a small fight and a bit of betting. And as Emma said, if things start to heat up, I’ll just leave.

We arrive at the warehouses piled up in Xi’s car. Rockstar by Post Malone is playing so loudly inside we can hear it as soon as we open the car doors.

“I love a good Friday night fight.” Xi grabs some beers from his trunk and hands one to everyone but me and Lik. He knows I don’t drink. Taking care of my body is essential.

“Here’s a water for our future UFC champion,” Lik says as he gives me a small bottle.

I’ve had time to update them on the ride here, and now they just won’t leave me with it.

“Oh yeah,” Emma adds, doing a little dance. “My sister is going to be rich.”

“Guys, I have to start with beating Clover. And before Clover, I need to win my next fight leading up to her. So let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.” I emailed Taylor from my phone as soon as I sat down in Xi’s car. I’m not waiting for another opportunity. This is my chance. But I don’t want to hope for anything and their optimism is scaring me.

The heat of the crowd hits me as soon as we enter the warehouse. It contrasts with the cold night outside, and I’m glad I left my jacket in the car. The music is loud, Smells Like Teen Spirit now blurting out of some speakers. Everyone has started to gather around the small ring, and my siblings and I make our way through the mob to end at the front. We quickly recognize what side of the room our crew is on and don’t mix with the other guys. Even the ones I don’t know, it’s still easy to tell them apart. Everyone who is part of the North Shore Crew has a dagger tattooed on them, with the letters N.S.C. on the handle. Mine is between my breasts, dipping onto my sternum, just like my sister’s. Xi’s is on his shoulder, and Lik’s is on his forearm, below his elbow.

In contrast, all people who are part of the Kings crew have a crown tattooed somewhere on their body. People choose wherever they want to tattoo based on which crew they side with, although Caden’s is famously on his neck for everyone to see he’s part of the original Kings.

Because we don’t want stupid-ass fights to stop us from enjoying our evening, NSC comes in through one entrance and the Kings through the opposite one. We occupy one side of the ring and their crew the other side. No mixing. We all know the lightest spark starts a wildfire between us, but we also want to see our fighter beat the other one.

I can’t see Caden tonight and it keeps my spirit light. I want to have fun, to celebrate my win. What’s better than watching NSC win an underground fight after the good news I got?

We don’t do much else in this town. When people are not stealing or dealing, they hang around in parking lots, in front of the high school or local grocery store. We make bets on illegal fights and keep the war going with the Kings. Just like any other wrong side of the tracks, we’re bored and abandoned by the government. We do what we can to keep ourselves sane and occupied.

Xi opens another beer by the time we settle right in front of the ring. The warehouse is packed, but everyone lets Emma through since she’s essentially everyone’s boss.

In our corner, a guy I don’t even know is jumping on the spot and rolling his shoulders, waiting for the fight to commence. Unlike the MMA gloves I wear, this guy isn’t wearing anything.

I used to do that, but I would never risk fighting with bare hands again.

“Who’s that guy?” I ask Emma.

“That’s Titan,” she smiles.

I raise an eyebrow at her. “Titan. Who uses ridiculous names like Titan?”

“You can only wear a shit name if you earn it,” Lik agrees with me.

“Oh, he’s earned it,” Emma nods. She grabs the kid who takes the bet money by the back of his neck and gives him fifty bucks. “Place that on Titan.”

“What the fuck,” I choke. “Stop flaunting your money. You could have given that to me. I can’t even take my car to college ‘cause gas is so expensive.”

“When Titan wins, you can have those fifty dollars. I’ll take the rest.”

I shake my head and turn toward the ring again. My heart drops when I see Caden in it. He’s topless, and I have a perfect view of his defined arms. I’ve never seen him without a shirt on.

Usually, he parades around town with ripped jeans and a black t-shirt. He’s got an edgy, punk look with chains hanging from his jeans and a leather jacket. Usually, he’s wearing layers of silver necklaces around his neck and a silver moon earring with multiple thick rings on his fingers that people on the receiving end of his fists will never forget.

But not tonight.

No, tonight he has on black gym shorts that hang low on his hips and show his white boxers and perfectly carved Adonis belt. His rings are gone, as they’re not allowed even in underground fights, but mainly…mainly he’s topless, and my heart just won’t get over it.

Caden is not a big guy. No, he’s the kind of tall and perfectly defined type of man. Muscles only and nothing else. They are so prominent right now as his tattoos move over his chest and stomach as he laughs. His bestie Ethan must have said something to mock Titan because Caden throws him another look before practically bending in half from laughter.

A band tightens around my lower belly as his deep voice reaches me and he runs a hand through his hair. He’s not warming up. He’s not jumping around getting ready by throwing punches into thin air like Titan is. He is just…laughing. He’s carefree and so unaware of the danger from the beast that seems to be twice his size.

A bell rings from somewhere. There are no refs in our fights, just a random bell that starts the round and a guy falling unconscious to end it.

Caden turns to Titan and gives him his most demonic smile. The easy laugh now gone as the man I know he truly is, takes over.

They gather around each other, jogging in a circle for a few moments. Titan wastes no more time. He charges Caden, but the latter is too quick. He avoids the double punches and circles the ring.

“Might wanna try that again, big boy,” Caden taunts him.

They exchange a few punches, yet both seem entirely unreceptive to pain. I get it. Adrenaline is numbing the pain right now, but one will fall before the other, and Caden is practically avoiding everything.

Caden manages to corner Titan close to where we are standing and punches him so hard three times blood spurts all the way to my feet. He looks up as Titan wobbles, and his gaze locks with mine.

I feel the world disappear as his piercing eyes cut through mine. My soul gets agitated, and my stomach flips. There is no one else in this room except the man who has taken pleasure in hurting me. My body and brain refuse to acknowledge that they shouldn’t let him make us feel this way. He is as beautiful as a god and as dangerous as the devil himself.

Caden must be as shocked as I am because Titan manages to land a powerful punch to the side of his face and he is forced to take multiple steps back as he comes back to reality.

“What the fuck just happened?” Emma snorts. “King was winning, and he just stopped fighting.”

“He did?” I ask, completely lost.

“What were you looking at if not the fight?” Xi mocks me.

I was looking at Caden King, only not the way everyone else was.

I was looking at the way his sweaty chest was moving up and down so quickly the massive tattoo of a snake eating its own tail was trembling. I was looking at the way his abs tensed, and the skull wearing a crown was dancing with the clock set to midnight, both inked into his skin.

And now I’m letting him hypnotize me again. His fists are moving fast, his muscles flexing, and his countless tattoos rippling on his arms and shoulders.

With one last punch, he knocks out Titan. The ring shakes when our beast falls to the ground.

The Kings crowd explodes in cheers and Caden smiles proudly at them. His eyes have a dangerous glint of excitement as he turns to me, and I stumble back into Lik.

My stepbrother looks down at me, putting a hand on my shoulder. “You okay?”

I can only nod as my eyes return to Caden. He’s showing his closed right fist to the crowd. It’s bloody, but the letters on his knuckles are as clear as ever. K. I. N. G. I’m hot and bothered remembering what he did with those fingers—the way he rubbed against my jeans and made me come.

He sticks his tongue out, winking, as some of his friends take pictures of him and it shows the piercing he’s got on it. My knees almost buckle as the phantom touch of that piercing on my clit awakes a need in me. The things he did to me…

You didn’t want him to! My brain tries to fight my body. Right. I didn’t want to. Then why do I wish he’d jump out of the ring right now and kiss me in front of the entire crowd? Why do I want him to grab my ponytail and, as he does so, claim me like the violent man I know he is?

Caden must catch me fixating on him because his eyes dart to mine, and he winks at me before turning to join Ethan and Elliot.

“Let’s get out of here,” Emma huffs. “Fucking lost fifty dollars. Titan is useless.”

“Big doesn’t mean strong,” Xi says as I feel them walking away. “Look at Bil’s. Tiny fucking thing beating the shit out of everyone.”

Their voices fade, but I can’t seem to move. My gaze keeps following Caden as he jumps out of the ring and hugs his friends. Jade, that same girl who was at Elliot and Ethan’s house, jumps on him, forcing him to give her a piggyback ride.

“…llie.”

She drops a kiss on his sweaty temple as he grabs her legs, and they all head outside through their door, following the Kings crowd. My stomach twists and I want to punch myself for how I feel.

“Billie!”

“What?” I startle. Lik is right next to me, shaking his head at me. “Wake up, girl. We’re leaving.”

“Yeah. I know that,” I smile dumbly.

“You sure you’re okay?” His gaze darts to Caden and his friends as they cross the huge doors to leave, then back at me.

“I’m totally fine. Let’s go.”

As we head out, someone bumps into me. He doesn’t even apologize, and I notice the crown tattooed on his shoulder. What’s that guy doing on our side?

“Dick,” I throw back without stopping.

The moment I’m by Xi’s car, I understand what happened. “Fuck,” I mumble to myself. “The bastard took my phone.” I tap my front and back pockets then check my jacket. “I’ll be back,” I huff at them as they wait in the car.

There’s no need to start anything; I’ll just get my phone back and leave. Now is not the time to get into unnecessary drama.

I scan the parking lot but can’t find him, so I head back into the warehouse. He’s not part of the few people left in there, either. Huffing, I walk to the other exit, knowing that’s the only way for him to join the Kings’ side of the parking lot. As if I want to go through a crowd of their crew right now.

I’m not the kind of NSC girl who has the luxury of disappearing into a crowd of Kings if they don’t manage to see my tattoo. Emma is our leader, and I’m her sister. Everyone knows my face. I fought in that same ring Caden did too many times for them to forget it. I get into fights with Kings’ girls regularly.

I’ve got no choice except to pull the hood of my jacket up and zip it all the way to try and go incognito. I make my way to the parking lot they use and look for that random guy. I end up finding him on the other end, smoking with a few other men I don’t know. And what a surprise, my phone is in his hand.

Shoving past a few people and keeping my head down, I finally reach him. “Hey, asshole,” I call him out. “You know you’re the reason Kings and NSC have useless feuds? Give me my phone.”

He and his friends look down at my small frame and chuckle at each other. “Can’t hear you from up here, babe.”

“That’s fucking hilarious,” I grumble. “Just give me my phone and save yourself the humiliation of getting your ass kicked by a girl half your size.”

He lifts his hand high above his head and exhales the smoke of his cigarette in my face, causing me to cough. “Why don’t you try and grab it?”

“What the fuck. Seriously, how old are you?”

He shrugs. “Old enough to love playing games with hot babes.”

I run my tongue against my teeth, trying to rein in the anger starting to boil in my veins. “Just remember you asked for this,” I mutter as I pull down my hood. Before he can move, I knee him in the balls.

Hunching over, he drops my phone and I pick it up. “You fucking broke the screen,” I rage.

Now that his face is low enough, I’m dying to knee him in the nose, but I know this will get me nowhere. Instead, I turn around and take a step to leave.

Before I can take a second one, someone grabs me by the ponytail and pulls me back. I grunt as he drags and throws me into his friend’s arms. Said friend turns me around, forcing me to face the guy I just hit, and his arms wrap around me, constricting my arms to my body.

Not waiting for them to act further, I stomp hard on his foot. As soon as he releases me, I elbow him in the nose. “Fuckers think you can manhandle me?” I spit at them. “Stay the fuck away.”

Of course, they don’t. The one who initially had my phone charges me and then picks me up. When he sets me back down, it’s only to shove me at another guy. I lose my footing and fall into his friend’s arms. The first one uses the opportunity to slap me so hard in the face I see stars.

“Shit,” I grit.

“Fucking NSC bitches thinking they’re strong. Notice how all of them are just way too confident?” he says.

The last one of the trio grabs me by the hair before pushing me onto the first one and then back to his friend. I lose my bearings and keep tripping over as they toss me around in a circle.

“This is my new favorite game,” one snickers. I’m dizzy and not sure which one it is anymore.

Just as I’m about to land in the hold of another, someone grabs me by the upper arm and pulls me away. I glance around, taking a few deep breaths until I feel like the ground isn’t tilting anymore.

My eyes practically pop out of my head when I realize the hand on mine belongs to Caden. He’s back to wearing his ripped jeans with a chain attached from the back pocket to the front. He’s topless under his leather jacket and my heart squeezes at the sight.

“Boys,” he says with half a smile. “Three against one, that’s not exactly playing fair, is it?”

As if he knows anything about playing fair.

“The bitch kicked me in the balls,” the one who had my phone grunts.

I struggle in Caden’s hold, trying to go for the guy again. “You stole my phone, assh—”

“Tsk, tsk,” he tuts at me, reeling me back. “You let a five-foot girl kick you in the balls, man? Sounds like a you problem. Not really her fault, is it?”

The other guy comes to his rescue when the first stutters his words. “Who fucking cares, bro. She’s NSC. Let’s give her a good lesson and send her back.”

His two friends nod in approval and my stomach becomes heavy.

Not again.

Caden exchanges a knowing look with him and steps forward, still holding me. “I get the idea.” Madness is pouring out of him, making him tighten his grip as we get closer to the other men.

My heart is beating in my ears while fear wraps around me. I shake my head, trying to stop memories from two years ago from flashing into my mind.

Caden unzips my jacket, displaying my skin-tight, white tank top. “You want to play with her, don’t you?”

They all nod. One even licks his lower lip like the disgusting dog he is.

My body feels foreign as their eyes run over me. I attempt to backpedal, but Caden settles behind me.

“See, the problem is,” he pulls my top low enough that the top of my boobs is showing. Then he pushes his index fingers hard against the bruise he left on me last week, making sure to hurt me in the process. “This, boys, has Caden King written all over it. And I’m afraid if I see you touch what’s mine again, I will have to kill every single one of you in the most sadistic way you’ve ever seen. And,” he inhales through clenched teeth, “it will be fucking bloody. Believe me.”

In unison, the three men take a step back.

“Sorry, man. We didn’t know.”

“I fucking hope so.” His hand grabs one of my boobs. My eyes peek down, watching his knuckles crusted with blood squeezing hard and making me wince. “Cause I really, really hate people touching my stuff.”

“She didn’t have the…the usual, you know?”

And by the usual, he means the necklace Caden leaves on every woman he fucks. Every time I see a girl walking around with hickeys going from just below her ear to her chin, I know Caden had sex with her. Most of the women in Kings Crew wear them like a badge of pride. When we were in high school, they’d act so cool because they were another girl he marked with possessiveness before ignoring them.

“Well, that’s because I haven’t fucked her yet, Matthew,” he says with a silent ‘duh’ at the end. “Maybe I’m trying to be a gentleman here,” he concludes, his hand still on my tit and his grip bruising my arm.

The perfect gentleman.

“Okay, now run along before I fuck you up,” he tells the three. They’re gone in mere seconds.

I struggle out of his grasp, and he finally lets me go. I rapidly twist around to face him and point my index finger at him. “I didn’t need your help,” I rage at him. “Even less your hands on my body. And let me make one thing clear: You and I will never—and I mean never—have sex together. Do you underst—”

“What the fuck?” he grounds out as he wraps a hand around my jaw and tilts my head to the side.

“Cad—”

“Did they hit you?”

“What?”

“Your cheek,” he insists, his grip tightening. “It’s swollen. So, it’s a simple question.” He brings his face down and closer to mine. “Did. They. Hit. You?”

My thoughts become liquid and escape me as his warm breath caresses my face.

“I—y-yeah, but the swelling is from my fight. They didn’t hurt me.” He doesn’t react, so I add with determination, “I can take it.”

He straightens up and smiles. Why do his grins always feel so ominous? “Your fight, huh?”

“Yeah, let me go now.”

Surprisingly, he does. As he retreats, a shiver courses through my body. I zip up my jacket, but it’s no use. I don’t need more layers of clothes. I need Caden King’s skin against mine.

“You’re the toughest little cookie, aren’t you?” he mocks me.

“Fuck off, Caden,” I throw, starting to leave. He grabs me by the wrist and stops me.

“Next Friday. You’ve got a transfer to make for me. Be at the location at one a.m. Don’t forget to put the hood on when you see their car coming.”

I wrench my wrist away from him. “Sure, boss,” I smile sarcastically as I walk away.

“I could get used to you calling me boss,” he shouts at my retreating back, so I make sure to flip him off.