Chapter 1
Blair
The cold night air whips across my face, chilling the tears that are streaming down my cheeks. I just got off the phone with my father and I hate how he still gets to me after all of these years.
I’m going to college for photography, but apparently that’s just a silly hobby and not a suitable career path. My father is the Chief of Police and he believes that I should have a major in criminology, forensics or become a lawyer.
He just dropped a bomb on me tonight, telling me that if I don’t pick one of these major’s he’s not going to help me pay my tuition anymore. He’s not going to waste his money on something as silly as pictures.
I wipe my tears and knock on my best friends door, needing to talk to her. She opens up the door with a smile that quickly turns into a concerned frown when she sees me.
“Blaire, what’s wrong?” She softly asks, letting me into her apartment.
“My dad’s not going to continue helping me with my college payments if I decide to keep majoring in photography.” I sniffle.
“That’s not right, he can’t do that to you!” She says, beginning to get angry on my behalf.
“Yes.” I sigh. “He can do and I know my father, he will do it.”
“Oh Blaire.” She wraps me up in a hug and I take her much needed comfort.
“I don’t know what to do Katie.” I tell her, stepping away from her.
“We’ll figure something out. Dylan is making a lot of money right now…”
“No.” I cut her off, shaking my head. “I can’t let Dylan and you pay for my tuition. You both have your own bills to pay.”
I met Katie and Dylan on my first day of college, we’ve only known each other for three months but we became fast friends. I know that Dylan does underground fighting but I’ve never actually seen him fight before. Katie says that he always wins and the winner gets the most money.
“Why don’t we just wait and I’ll talk to Dylan about it later.” Katie suggests, a smile pulling at the corner of her lips.
“Fine.” I sigh, knowing that no matter how long we talk about this she’ll still end up talking to Dylan.
“Yah.” She beams.
“This doesn’t mean I’m going to take your money.”
“Okay.” She winks. I shake my head and watch as she grabs her phone, looking at the time.
“I have to go Blaire; do you want to come with me?”
“Where are you going?” I curiously ask.
“To watch Dylan fight.”
“I’ve never been to an underground fighting ring before.” I nervously say.
“Oh, you have to come then!” She beams. “It’ll be so much fun.”
“Okay.” I warily say. “I’ll come with you.”
We walk out of her apartment and get into her car. Katie begins to drive and all I can think is that it’s a good thing I never told her and Dylan who my father really is.
Katie’s in a light blue sundress, white sneakers and her long blonde hair is loose and flowing down her back.
I look myself over and wonder if I’m dressed right. I’m wearing a pair of ripped jean shorts and a v-cut dark purple t-shirt. I also have a pair of sneakers on, though mine are black and my hair is up in a ponytail.
“I’m not as dressed up as you are.” I say.
“You look cute.” Katie smiles as she pulls up outside of a packed nightclub.
“Thanks’ but I don’t feel like I’m wearing the right clothes.”
“It’s a fight.” Katie laughs. “I don’t think it matters what you wear. I’m only wearing a dress because this is what I wear most of the time.”
It’s true, I don’t think Katie even owns a pair of jeans, I’ve only ever seen her in her dresses.
“Okay.” I nod. We step out of the car and Katie grabs my hand, leading me through the nightclub doors. We weave in and out of sweaty, dancing people until we’re at a back door where a large scary man stands in front of it.
“Hey Jeff.” Katie greets him.
“Katie.” He nods. “I see you brought a friend with you.”
He smiles over at me and I duck behind Katie, not liking his attention on me. Who am I kidding though, I don’t like anyone’s attention on me. I like to stick to myself and I never go out. Being here in this club with a crowd full of people is really rising my anxiety to the surface.
“Yes, I did, Jeff and she’s off limits so stop staring at her.”
“Sorry.” He mumbles. He opens the door for us and we head down two flights of stairs.
“Don’t worry Blaire, no one’s going to bother you.”
“How do you know that?” I ask her, nervously chewing on my bottom lip.
“As long as you’re next to me, no guy will come up to us. Everyone here knows that I’m Dylan’s girl and they know that if they tried anything Dylan would fuck them up.”
Her declaration makes me feel a little bit better but as we push through another door, I feel like everyone is staring at us. We’re surrounded by another sea of people but this one is made up mostly with men. I push myself closer to Katie, wishing that I turned down her offer to join her tonight.
“It’s okay Blair.” Katie reassures me.
“Yeah, I know. I just feel like I have eyes on me. You know I hate big crowds.”
“I know, I’m sorry I forgot to warn you about the big crowds. Do you want to go home?”
I want to say yes, but I know she watches Dylan’s every fight and I don’t want to ruin that for her.
“No, I’ll be okay.”
“Okay.” She smiles. “Let’s go find Dylan.”
We make our way through the crowd and I see Dylan standing outside of the fighting ring. He smiles when he sees us and comes over, planting a kiss on Katies lips.
“I missed you Kitty.” He says to her. She giggles and I slightly step away, not wanting to interrupt their intimate moment.
“I missed you too.” She smiles. “You going to win the fight tonight?”
“You know I always do, and once I’ve won, I want you in the locker room so I can eat my prize.”
I clear my throat and Katie’s eyes widen. “Oh my God!” She blushes scarlet and hits Dylan’s bare chest.
“Dylan, Blair just heard everything you said. Blair I am so sorry.”
“It’s fine.” I giggle. “I’ve heard him say things like that to you before.”
Katie’s eyes somehow get even bigger and she presses her hands to her cheeks. “I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be.” I tell her. “I think it’s cute how you two get so lost in each other. I just don’t want to see him eating you out.”
Dylan barks out a laugh and people turn to look at us but with one glare from him they all turn away. “Don’t worry Blair, I would never let anyone but me see my Kitty like that.”
“Good to know.”
“Dylan!” A deep, commanding voice shouts. “Get your ass in the ring, fight’s about to start.”
“I’ll see you two later.” Dylan says. He runs up to the ring and hops into it.
“Wow.” I say to Katie. “That guy seemed mad.”
“Who? Scar?” She asks.
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “Whoever was just yelling at Dylan.”
“Yeah, that was Scar, he just always sounds like that.”
“Is he always mad?” I ask.
“I don’t know, I mean he’s always nice to me but he just has a gruff voice. We don’t really talk though, to be honest I find him kind of scary.”
“Why?” I curiously ask as we watch Dylan fight.
“He’s just huge, like built like a brick huge and he never looks happy, he’s always frowning. Most people are afraid of him. I mean I know I shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover but his name is Scar, it just makes you wonder how he got that name in the first place.
“Huh.” I thoughtfully say, taking in Katie’s words and becoming curiouser and curiouser about this man.
Dylan throws a punch, knocking the guy in the ring with him out and tumbling to the floor. Somewhere a bell goes off and Dylan is declared the winner. He hops out of the ring as the crowd cheers and winks at Katie. She smiles at him as he walks over to us. Katie jumps into his arms, kissing him deeply.
“Will you be okay if we go into the locker room?” Katie asks me, a slight blush tinting her cheeks.
“Yeah.” I nod. “I’ll be fine.”
“I could ask Scar to come keep an eye on you.” Dylan offers.
“No.” I quickly say, I may be curious about him but that doesn’t mean I want to meet him. I’m already shy enough as is, put a big, angry, intimidating man in front of me and I’ll probably pass out.
“I actually have to go to the bathroom, so I’ll be fine on my own.”
“Okay.” Katie says. “It’s down the hall over there, to the right.”
“Thanks.” I wave to them as they walk away, then make my way through the crowd of people so I can splash some water on my face and calm my nerves.
I’m about to walk into the bathroom but someone snags me by my wrist, stopping me.
“Where are you going pretty lady.” A slimy voice breathes into my ear. I shake with fear and turn around. A man, about 5’9 and around his twenties, stands in front of me. He sneers down at me with his greasy blonde hair in his face, sickly pale skin and a long and lanky figure. If I wasn’t frozen with fear, I could probably shove him and run away, but my limbs can’t seem to move. His fingers tighten on my wrist and he shoves me up against the wall. I scream but the roaring of the crowd drowns my pleas for help out. I have to do something or this creep is going to hurt me. I will the fear in my body to go away at least for a second so that I can take control of my body again.
The man leans in to kiss me and I knee him in his balls. He howls in pain and collapses to his knees. I bring my foot up and kick him in his face. He falls to the ground with a cry and I run. I can’t go back into the crowd of rowdy men and I have no idea where the locker rooms are. I see a marked door that says private and pray to God that it’s unlocked.
I let out a sigh as the knob turns and I close the door behind me, locking it up tight. I turn around, taking in the room, seeing that it’s an office. There’s a couch in the corner and I move over to it, falling on it in relief. I curl up into myself, dropping my head onto my knees and letting out a shaky breath. I close my eyes as I feel the adrenaline leaving my body, which makes me feel extremely tired. I lay down on my side, deciding that I’ll just wait here until the crowd leaves and then I’ll find Katie and Dylan.
