up thing. It makes you believe there’s something better and then takes it all away.
The bathroom is empty.
I stride to Scar. “Where is she?”
She doesn’t open her eyes. “I’m meditating right now.”
I kick all the candles until they’re all out. Destruction is my thing.
Scar opens one eye and glares at me. “Scarce, arsehole.”
“Where is she?”
“I should be the one asking you.”
“Stop fucking with me and tell me where she is, psycho doll.”
“I really don’t know. I’m always kept in the dark.”
“You like being left in the dark.”
She closes her eyes and motions at the table. “She left you something.”
I stalk to the table, half expecting that perhaps Zoe is hiding in there, waiting to give me a scare. I’ll pretend to be scared. No problem.
Nope.
Not fucking close.
On the table, there’s a piece of paper. That’s it. A tiny piece of paper.
Shadow,
You’ve broken me, so I hope this breaks you, too.
Zoe.
Chapter Seventeen
Six weeks later,
I jam my fist into the man’s face over and over. Blood covers my bandage-wrapped knuckles. I don’t know if it’s his or mine, but I don’t stop or care.
His face becomes unrecognisable with every punch. His nose is broken and a few teeth fall from his gaping mouth. The crowd goes rampant asking for more. Violence excites them and makes them feel alive even though they’re only spectators.
The boxer’s coach and his team shout at me to stop.
I don’t.
I didn’t get my fix of violence yet. Unlike the crowd who are hazy by watching, my appetite is insatiable.
The man falls to his knees with a thud, gurgling on blood. He’s losing consciousness fast and hard and will probably go into shock.
Fuck this shit.
Wasn’t he supposed to be the strongest in his category? I even picked up someone who weighs more than me and who has been fighting for years. Why isn’t he punching back?
Fucking hit me.
I shake him but only groans of pain slip through the gurgling of blood.
Forceful arms shove me back. Ghost. “You’re killing him.”
I kick my unconscious opponent and he falls backwards with a loud thud. The crowd roars with deafening excitement. The fight organisers swarm towards him like bees. His coach shakes him while a medic injects him with something.
The rush of adrenaline still flows in my veins and I struggle against Ghost’s hold. For what, I don’t know. I need to hit and be hit, but an unconscious opponent won’t provide that.
A pixie-sized brunette falls to her knees near the man’s mass of limp muscles. She’s sobbing and pleading with him to open his eyes. None of the crowd around the man pay her attention, but I do.
He was a weakling, but he had a different type of strength if he can make someone sob for him like that.
Something I’ll never fucking have.
Maybe I lost this night.
I don’t come to win in these underground matches, anyway. Every night is a different type of adrenaline rush so I can forget my bloody existence.
With the fight slowly leaving my system, I let Ghost drag me out of the ring. The crowd erupts in cheers and applause as we walk down the path leading outside. Men clasp my shoulders in congrats and women in short skirts make suggestive remarks my way, but I tune them all out.
The noises hush in the background as Ghost takes me outside. A few guards wait there, Lachlan included. He must’ve been the one who called Ghost to come and stop my madness. To his credit, he and the other guards tried to stop me once, but that gained them a few broken ribs and noses. Since then, they’re smart enough to call Ghost.
My mate shoves me in the front seat of his Mercedes and takes the wheel. Lachlan and the others bow in respect as the car revs in the street.
I slump in my seat, still half naked. The blood of my opponent and some of mine coats my knuckles and my chest. My bottom lip burns from when I let him hit me at the beginning.
Omega’s withdrawal symptoms hush in the background for now, but since I’ve been actually detoxing, they’ll return.
“Do I look like a babysitter?” Ghost’s voice matches the tight grip he has on the steering wheel.
“It’s just a match.” I sound as detached as I feel.
“If I don’t stop you every time, you would kill them. The last thing we need right now is to clean up dead bodies.”
“Relax, mate. I wouldn’t kill an unconscious opponent. Where’s the fun in that?”