Smoke

I’d finally made it, I had finished high school, passed college and now was due to begin in the world of work. I didn’t want to go to university, nor could I afford it, so while talking with my family we had decided that I would find a job.

I had lived with my uncle for years after my parents had died in a car crash and he’d taken care of me as if I was his own. My brothers were older and had had no idea of how to take care of a kid. I was ten when they died and my brothers were 18, 16 and 20…Big age gap I know, but I got on with them so well. They were loving but so protective of me.

I’m 18 now and they were more protective of me than ever, and yet at the ages of 24, 26 and 28, they still didn’t know everything I was up to, thanks to my uncle.

They had control of my dating, sure, they threatened every guy at school, little did they realise I wasn’t into just guys. I’d had plenty of girlfriends and they just thought they were friends. Of course, my uncle knew everything, we were so close.

“Kat, you’ve got a fight tonight. You ready?” My uncle asked as he came into my bedroom this morning.

Ever since I was fifteen I had been fighting in an underground ring, earning money for every win. I always split it with my uncle as I knew how much he had helped me and my brothers over the years. My Dad had taught me how to box when I was younger, but there was no way he would have approved me fighting illegally and neither would my brothers. So, I wore a disguise and no one but my uncle knew.

I went by the name of Smoke, people recognised me by the smoky make-up I put on heavily so no one would recognise me easily as I wore my hair in a pigtail under a peaked beanie. My signature look of a fire red sports bra and leggings with images of fire and smoke creeping up the leg seemed to drive everyone crazy as I would turn up to fights again and again.

“Of course I’m ready Uncle Benji, I’m always ready” I smirk.

“Your brothers will be watching the fight tonight. They still keep beating on me to tell me who Smoke really is. Are you ever going to tell them?” He leans against the doorway. My uncle is a huge guy, and I mean muscle, not fat. At six foot eight and covered in tattoos everyone was intimidated by him at the ring. He was well known in the underground and he’d told me that my father had been too, my brothers had been working with our dad when he died and took over his business. Fighting, they made thousands a night on their fighters. But my uncle, he just wanted the one fighter, the strongest, me. There was only one other fighter I had met that had never been beaten and I had yet to beat him too. The King.

“If they find out that I’m fighting, I will never get to fight again. They are protective of me enough without them being worried about me in the ring” I huff getting up from the bed.

“They couldn’t tell you no, seeing as we have all been a part in this for years. You are family, you are entitled to be a part of it. They’ve watched your fights and they crave to have you as part of their team, they want me to join them fully. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be in the game anymore kid. I can’t do this forever” He sighs.

I knew fighting was taking its toll on my uncle, his body was aching from all the fights he fought when he was younger, he grew stiffer by the year, his joints aching with arthritis.

“I can work for you and train with you talking. I don’t need you to keep training with me uncle. I’ve got this” I said hugging him and kissing his cheek before heading downstairs.

“You still have a lot to learn Katrina, your brothers could help you” he calls out following me into the kitchen.

“I’ll think about it. Ok?” I say and he nods with a sigh before I begin cooking us a breakfast for kings.

“Anybody home?!” My brother’s voice calls out from the front door.

“In here Toby!” I call out to the eldest brother, my favourite. He’d calmed down a lot on the protective side as he had his own family to deal with now, his wife and him had a little two-year-old boy called Mason, who was the cutest kid I had ever known.

“How’s my nephew?” I smile as Toby hugs me and kisses my head in greeting.

“So I come to see you and you want to know how Mason is? That’s nice Kat” He smirks.
“I see you all the time, my nephew not so much” I shove him playfully.

“He’s fine, full of beans as usual. He’s gone with Jasmine to her parents for a week while I’m busy with meetings this week” He answers. Meetings, that was code for fights that I wasn’t supposed to know about, as I see Benji smirk behind his mug with a wink to me.

“Meetings? You’re always so busy with meetings. You need to have some fun Toby” I laugh as I continue to cook.

“I will be having fun, Nathan and Bobby are coming with me” He smirks.

“So our brothers get to join you on some meeting and yet I’m not allowed anywhere near? I don’t get it… Dad left you a business that I’m not allowed to know anything about, and I’m just supposed to ignore that! I’m eighteen now! Are you going to tell me?” The rage inside me built as Uncle Benji gave me a warning glance to calm down. He knew I hated that they kept the underground business away from me, he knew how passionate of a fighter I was.

“Don’t start Katrina. It’s nothing you need to worry about. Dad didn’t want you to be a part of it, neither did Mum, so you aren’t. You’re my little sister, you don’t need to worry about it” He ruffles my hair and I push his arm away with force and storm out the kitchen.

“I’m going out” I huff in anger.

“What about breakfast?!” Uncle shouts.

“You’re forty-eight! Cook it yourself!” I shout as I grab my keys, phone and jacket as I slam the door behind me.

“What’s up little sister?” Nathan spins me as he approaches me on the driveway.

“Fucking leave me alone Nathan. I’m not in the mood” I shove off him as he and Bobby look at me in shock as I walk away. They knew I had a short fuse…

“Kat?! What happened?!” Bobby shouts worriedly as I take off into a run.

I ran to my best friends’ house as I let myself in like I usually did, her family didn’t care, they were like a second family to me.

“Lucy!” I call out, the house was quiet.

I’d been friends with Lucy for years and she was the girl that had made me realise that not only did I like guys but girls too. We messed around a few times when we felt like it but never let it get in the way of our friendship.

“Lucy!” I shout, frowning as I went upstairs.

“Help!” She screams suddenly as I bolt into her room to find a guy on top of her, pinning her down.

“Get the fuck off my girl!” I growl as he smacks her hard around the face, knocking her out cold before spinning to me.

“Want to join in?” He smirks as his eyes drift across my body.

“Come get me then asshole” I put up my fists ready for a fight as he just laughs.

“Aww how cute” He smirks as he lunges for me, but I duck under his arms and hit him in the stomach as he groans and the rage in his eyes grows. He manages to get a single shot in at my face, that was certainly going to bruise…Great…

“You touched my girl” I snarl as he goes for me again and I wipe his legs out from beneath him before kicking him hard in the face.

“Bitch!” He shouts holding his nose as I straddle his body and pummel him until he’s out cold.

“Lucy” I get up and try and wake her.

“Kat…” She cries as she grabs hold of my shirt and cuddles into my arms.

“I’m going to call the police ok.” I kiss her head and get out my phone, calling the police as they send out a car.

“Police!” The cops shout from downstairs as Lucy sobs in my arms.

“Up here!” I shout, keeping an eye on the guy on the ground as they rush up the stairs and take in the scene.

“Is she ok?” one of the officers comes over to check on us as a paramedic follows behind.

“She’s a little banged up, I think I got here before he did anything sexually” I said as she tightened her grip on me.

“You did that to him?” One of the officers points to the guy that they now had cuffed as he began to wake up, struggling against their hold.

“Yep” I answer. They begin taking my account of what had happened and seemed content with what they heard, short and sweet.

“Nice work. Do you guys need anyone? We can make a call for you if you like?” The paramedic says as she finishes checking on Lucy’s wounds, nothing major, just a scratch across her cheek and a huge bruise, but she would be ok, physically at least.

“No. Kat has me” Lucy murmurs as I smile and nod to the officers and paramedic.

“Ok. We’ll be in touch” The officer nods as I had already given a statement.

“Lucy? You ok babe?” I ask as she cuddles into my side.

“Lucy! Oh my god! What happened?!” Her mother rushes up the stairs as she runs to kneel in front of us.

“We saw the police leave the house! What happened baby girl?” Her dad says from the door as he spots the blood on the floor.

“You’d gone out, there was a knock on the door, so I answered it, thinking maybe someone forgot their keys or something, next thing I know this guy bursts in, grabs me and drags me up here… He…he…he was going to rape me Mum” She cries as her mother gasps in shock and takes Lucy in her arms.

“Did he?” Her dad asks.

“No. Kat came in and saved me. She beat him to the ground and called the cops” Lucy answered as her Dad rushes up to me and takes me in his arms.

“Thank you” He whispers

“No one touches our girl” I smile as his eyes notice the beginnings of a bruise on my own cheek.

“That’s going to be a shiner” He touched it as I winced.

“You should have seen the other guy” I smirk as he laughs.

“Mum, Dad, can you give us a minute” Lucy says as her parents nod and leave the room, shutting the door behind them.

“I’ve got a fight tonight” I say to stop the silence between us.

“Be careful, please. I hate you fighting, I worry about you every time” She says taking my hand in hers.

“I’ll be fine Lucy, I always am” I smile.

“Thank you Kat, for saving me.” She blushes and looks up towards me.

“No one touches my girl like that” I smile as she moves over to me and straddles my lap.

“Your girl huh?” She smirks, kissing my cheek, down to my neck.

“You’ve always been my girl Lucy” I smirk as she giggles and takes my lips in hers as I moan against her.

She begins kissing down my body as her hands massage my breasts, I moan against her, kissing her hard until she winces as I accidently catch her cheek.

“Sorry baby, I think we should stop for today. You’ve had a lot happen today Lucy” I sigh, taking her hands and pecking her lips once more as she sighs and nods, but stays on my lap and cuddles into me, her head resting on my breasts.

“Thank you Kat” She says as I stroke her head lovingly before my phone rings.

“What do you want Bobby?” I groan as I answer the phone.

“Toby told us why you left. I wanted to make sure you were ok. Where are you?” He replies.

“I’m at Lucy’s” I answer as I hear him telling the others.

“I’m coming to get you. We need to talk” He says.

“Not right now Bobby” I said.

“Why?” He sighs.

“Because Lucy just got attacked in her own home, I let myself in and some guy was on top of her! I’m fucking busy bro!” I growl out as Lucy grips my hand.

“Oh shit! She ok?” Bobby exclaims, I knew he had a soft spot for Lucy too, but he didn’t know how close we were.

“She’ll be ok. Just, I can’t deal with this family shit today, ok? I’ll be home later” I answer.

“I’m coming over, I don’t care what you say. But I’ll leave the others here” He says before hanging up.

“Well, looks like Bobby’s coming over” I groan and lean back on the bed as me and Lucy go down with a thud and laugh.

“I’m sure Dad will love that, they have a bromance going on I’m sure of it” she laughs, it was true, Bobby got on with her Dad so well. If it wasn’t for him knowing about mine and Lucy’s ‘arrangement’ I think he would be begging Lucy to get with my youngest brother.

“How about you go shower while I go keep your parents company?” I ask as she nods, taking her towel with her.

“How is she?” Travis, her dad asks as I come down the stairs.

“She’ll be ok. Little shaken, but I’m glad I got to her when I did” I sit beside him in the lounge.

“Me too. My poor baby. I will never understand how you took a grown man down though Katrina but thank you” Her mum whimpers as I give her a soft smile before I hear the knock on the door.

“That would be my brother” I sigh.

“Which one?” Travis smirks.

“Your favourite” I smile as he jumps up from the sofa and opens the door.

“Travis! How are you my man?” Bobby slaps his back with a bro hug as I laugh at the pair of them.

“Bobby looks so much like your dad” Lila smiles as she looks at my brother talking with her husband.

“He does doesn’t he” I smile softly as I look at my brother. She was right, he was the spitting image of our father, the older he got the more he looked just like him.

“Did that guy hurt you?!” Bobby rushes in and takes my cheek in his hand looking at the bruise.

“I’m fine Bobby” I said shaking from his grip.

“Calm down Bobby, Kat saved the day” Lucy walks down the stairs as she gives him a soft smile, his faces drops further as he sees her face.

“How the hell did you stop him? There’s nothing of you Kat, your skin and bone. What if he hurt you and Lucy even worse? Why didn’t you call the police sooner?” He says looking at me.

“Bobby, that’s enough. The girls are safe and that’s all we need to worry about.” Travis says as I smile and nod at him as Lucy sits next to me, her legs laid across mine as we would normally do.

“I just worry. I promised to keep Kat safe the day our parents died. and I can’t stand these two getting hurt” He sighs and takes a seat next to me. Bobby was always the emotional one.

“We’re ok Bobby, Kat knows how to defend herself” Lucy says.

“Neither of you should have to know that” He sighs.

“What because I’m a girl?” I sneer.

“Kat” Travis said in warning, he knew I had a temper, Lucy told her Dad about my fights and he’s been keeping my secret ever since. He argued with my Uncle for months until he finally gave up and let me continue fighting, he was like another father to me. He even came and watched a few times.

“We should be protecting you like we promised Dad, you should be having fun, going out, having a life!” Bobby argued.

“A life doing what? You guys never like me doing anything! You don’t like it if I date, you don’t let me go to a club, you don’t let me drink. What fun should I be having then?” I drop my head back against the sofa as I feel Lucy’s hand rub up and down my thigh in support.

“You don’t need boys clouding your judgement. You don’t need alcohol to have fun. Do you really want to go to a club? All the sweaty, gyrating bodies on the dance floor, guys trying to pick you up and take you home. Is that what you want? We wanted the best for you. A good life.” He says as a tear runs down my cheek.

“What like you guys have in Dad’s secret business…” I say glaring at him.

“Don’t start Kat. You don’t need anything to do with it” he warns.

“I think that’s quite enough you two” Travis says sternly as I frown, removing Lucy’s legs before kissing her on the cheek.

“I’ll talk to you later. I’ve got to go anyway” I sigh.

“Call me tonight” Lucy says as I nod, knowing after every fight I called her to tell her I was safe.

“Where are you going?” Bobby grabs my arm tightly as I yank it back.

“None of your business” I growl.

“Bobby, leave her be. Kat stay safe” Travis says with a knowing look as I wave goodbye and walk out.