Stand of Redemption (12 page)

“I have an image to maintain
. Go fix your face.” His unsympathetic look had her turning on her heel and leaving his office.

Mitchell had called over an hour ago to tell her to be here and to dress appropriately. She had chosen a purple dress that was deceptively demure
, but the way it clung to her body wasn’t. She had hoped she wouldn’t have to attend anymore of Emiliano’s parties. She was doing everything he asked and so was Nicholas.

She went into the spare bedroom she had been shown the first time she had to attend one of his get
-togethers. Thankfully, it was empty; the other women must already be at the party.

She quickly fixed her face
, adding blush then concealer to hide the dark circles under her eyes. Taking a steadying breath, she went out, going down the long hallway to a room with double doors where she felt Mitchell’s eyes go over her body critically before opening the door.

The large room had been lavishly decorated
, sparing no expense to show Emiliano’s wealth and power. It was filled with six men and eleven women. The men had paid to be here with Emiliano as their host. Sometimes, they stayed anywhere from a night to as long as a week. During that time, he kept them entertained with a private, safe place to use his drugs and the women. The guests were allowed to choose the woman they wanted, more if they were willing to pay extra. She was only forced to attend when one of the guests wanted to go to a fight. She was never expected to go upstairs .

“
Finally, Ariel.” Emiliano took her hand, pulling her down on the couch next to him. “You don’t seem so tired now,” he complimented.

“You look sexy to me,” she heard a voice say as a man approached her from behind the couch.

Ria turned, going pale as a face she would never forget sat down next to her.

“Every female that crosses your path looks sexy to you,” she smarted back to the man who had almost raped her.

“Remember me?
” He sadistically grinned at her.

Chapter 1
6

“How could I ever forget you?” she said numbly.

“I knew you would.” The smug bastard stood
, gloating down at her.

Emiliano
’s hand went to her thigh, keeping her pinned by his side. “Henry is a valued customer of mine. He stops for a visit every couple of months. Last weekend, when he was here, he saw you leaving with Rafael. He explained his difficulties with you.”

“She stole from me.”

“I gave it back! The bartender didn’t credit it to your account. Then, when you tried to rape me, I gave you the cash back!”

“Calm yourself, Ariel.
Henry explained all this to me. He wishes to make amends.” Emiliano’s voice was as cold as ice.

Ria went quiet
. She knew she had broken his rules—to always be nice to the men—but she couldn’t help herself. Henry had tried to rape her. His eyes on her body made her skin crawl.

“I have decided to give him the opportunity.
” Emiliano rose to his feet. Taking her hand, he pulled her up next to him.

H
is voice rose above the noise of the crowd. “If everyone will follow me, I have devised some entertainment for you all.”

Henry
smirked as he walked beside them out into the hallway.

Ria didn’t know where they were going
, but everyone else seemed to.

Henry
lost his smug expression, his face filling with fear.

“Perhaps I was to
o harsh, Emiliano. Allow me to apologize…” Henry stopped walking, but Mitchell appeared by his side, taking his arm and forcing him forward with the crowd.

Ria followed as a door along the hallway opened and they went down a flight of steps that le
d to a series of corridors. Emiliano stopped at one door, opening it. The excitement of the people following was palpable.

The lights came on and they quickly took their seats. Ria sat
, frightened at what she was about to witness. She was sitting in the front row seat that was elevated above a fighting pit. Mitchell forced Henry inside the pit, pulling out a gun.

Emiliano rose from his seat.
“If you take one step outside of the pit, Mitchell will kill you. Take the beating you deserve and all will be forgiven,” Emiliano said magnanimously, despite the cruelly vindictive look he was giving the man that was about to piss on himself.

Ria sat frozen
, wanting to run, screaming from the room.

“I want to introduce everyone to my newest fighter.
Nicholas Brooks.”

Ria stiffened
, leaning forward in her seat as Nicholas walked out of the shadows, walking into the pit and mercilessly facing Henry.

“He has asked to be the one to give
Henry a lesson on how to treat a lady.” The crowd laughed, filled with excitement.

When a
bell sounded in the room, Nicholas’s fist came out, striking Henry, who didn’t even try to fight back.

Ria had never seen
Nicholas fight, and she didn’t want to see him do so now. The beating he gave Henry was severe. Ria turned her eyes away.

“Watch. Never show anyone your weakness
,” Emiliano said by her side.

She turned back
toward the pit. Henry was unconscious and Nicholas was standing over him. He hadn’t even broken a sweat.

Mitchel slung Henry over his shoulder carrying him from the pit.

Nicholas turned to face Emiliano as Ria stiffened in her seat.

“Sit still. There is another fight.”

She reluctantly remained seated, dreading to see who Emiliano would make fight next.

The spotlight went to the doorway again, and Ty walked out to loud cheers.

“Many of you know the new fighter that has everyone believing he will be the next Nicholas Brooks. Ty is an employee of mine, and he betrayed my trust.”

Boo’s sounded throughout the room.

“I am giving him a chance to redeem himself in my eyes. He mistakenly thought he was protecting someone else.” Emiliano turned to Ria, brushing a tear away with his thumb before turning back to his audience.

“I am going to be generous and let him prove his loyalty to me tonight.”

Ty walked forward to the pit, stepping inside. Cheers brought her eyes back to the doorway to see Nicholas walking forward.

“
Emiliano, please… please stop this!”

“Be quiet,
Ria. Ty is going to prove to me where his loyalty lies: with me or Nicholas and Zane. Believe me, I am letting him off lightly.”

Ria
looked at his inherently cruel face, not doubting it for a second.

Nicholas stepped back into the ring and both men began circling each other after Mitchell rang the bell.
Ria wanted to scream at them to stop; instead, she sat paralyzed, waiting for one to make the first strike.

When Ty’s fist swung out, clipping Nicholas on the jaw, Nicholas returned with a swing of his own, connecting it to Ty’s cheekbone. After that, the two men didn’t try to hold back, each countering the other’s movements and returning each strike with one of their own.

Ria wanted to cry at the damage they were doing to each other on the outside and in. Emiliano was effectively placing a wedge between the two that would never be overcome, each seeing each other as opponents instead of friends.

Nicholas didn’t know how to lose. He had let Zane break his arm rather than submit. Ty was just beginning his fighting career and would not want to lose to someone he admired.

As Ty took a step forward, putting all his weight behind a punch, Nicholas effortlessly moved, using Ty’s forward momentum against him. His fist connected under Ty’s jawline, hitting the sweet spot. Ty crumpled to the ground.

Ria
screamed, jumping to her feet and wanting to run to him.

Emiliano
got to his feet, raising his hand to silence his friends. “Nicholas has proven the student is not ready to take on the master.”

Mitchell helped a
groggy Ty to his feet.

Emiliano’s
harsh features stared down at the pit. “Remember tonight, Ty. Betray my trust again, and you will have more to fear from me than the pit you’re standing in.”

“I understand,” Ty mumbled.

“Now we can have dinner. Mitchell will see that Ty is taken care of.” Emiliano led her to the door and back upstairs.

Ria resumed her seat on the
couch, trying to get her shaking under control. Emiliano appeared as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t just had two men beaten on his orders. He sat unconcernedly on a chair with Carmen sitting adoringly at his feet. Each night she had attended, he had a different woman. They all were beautiful, but with different hair colors, faces, and ethnicities. She had yet to figure out if he had a particular type, only that he liked variety.

The door opened and
Nicholas entered. He had changed from shorts to slacks and a dress shirt that highlighted the blue of his eyes.

He kneeled down in front of her. “Are you
all right?”

“Yes
,” she answered. “How could you?” she ended on a whisper.

“I’m not going to lie
; Emiliano offered me a choice with Henry. The sick bastard deserved what I gave him and more. Do you think you’re the first woman he’s attacked?”

“No
.” The violence he had inflicted on her had shown his total disregard for women. “But Ty?”

“That one he didn’t give me a choice.”

“Is he okay?”

“Mitchell is
getting someone to take him to Zane.” Nicholas’s jaw was clenched.

“It’s time for dinner.”
Emiliano stood and walked into the dining room with everyone following.

Nicholas
pulled out a chair for her, and she sat down with him next to her.

Ria barely managed to swallow any of the delicious food served to her.
Nicholas, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have a problem, nor did he mind the other women flirting with him.

She glanc
ed up from her plate of food, and Emiliano’s eyes caught hers. She read the silent message. Stiffening her shoulders and picking up her fork, she was going to take his advice and show Nicholas that his flirting with the other women didn’t bother her.

After dinner
, they returned to the living room where the women were being selected by the men for the night. Nicholas was talking to a pretty blond with breasts that were a good D cup. His type, she was familiar with—brain dead with large boobs.

“May I leave now?”
she asked Emiliano, ignoring Carmen stroking his lean thigh.

“
Yes.” He motioned to Mitchell, who went to stand by the door. “You do not want to stay?” He arched a brow in Nicholas’s direction.

“No
, thanks.” She left without a backward glance, ignoring her name being called. Her heels clicking on the tiles drowned out Nicholas following her.

“Ria, wait up.”

“Go away, Nicholas. I don’t want to interrupt your fun.” She slung open the door before Mitchell could.

B
efore she could slam the car door, Nicholas wrenched it open, getting in beside her. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

She released a volley of Spanish that she hadn’t spoke since she was young and had learned the words from her brother Matthew.
Nicholas just sat there, staring at her with a smile until she ran out of names to call him.

“Finished?”

She glared at him in the darkness of the car. “Yes.”

“Good. I was only talking to her to try to find out if she knew
who I would be fighting next. I didn’t think you would know.”

She didn’t
. She bit her lip in consternation. The women would have heard the men talking about the upcoming fights and the bets they placed.

She looked out the window.

“I’ve never been faithful to a woman.”

Ria swung
her head back to him.

“I’ve never cheated
, either. I’ve never been in a committed relationship, Ria.”

“I haven’t
, either,” she confessed.

“I doubt for the same reasons. You’ve been too busy going to school, working, and caring for your mother. The most important thing to my life is
—was—my title,” he corrected himself. “I don’t want to get serious about anyone.”

“It’s not exactly the best time in my life t
o get serious over anyone, either.”

When t
he car pulled up outside her apartment, Mitchell opened the door for them, and Ria got out while Nicholas remained inside.

“Do you want to come in?”

“I shouldn’t.” Nicholas stared back. They both knew if he came inside what would happen.

“No expectations.” She held out her hand.

He didn’t take it. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

Ria smiled at him. “
How about we just take it slow?”

“That I can do.” He got out of the car
, taking her hand.

In her apartment
, Ria was barely in the door before she found herself in Nicholas’s arms.

“I thought we were going to go slow?”
she laughed.

“Fuck slow
. Let’s speed things up.” His mouth went to her neck, brushing her hair back so he could explore the sensitive flesh.

“I can do fast
,” she moaned, feeling herself tighten in desire.

She broke away from
Nicholas, going to her bedroom door and opening it.

She was taking off her dress when he came to the doorway. She saw the indecision on his face.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

She had held back her desires because she hadn’t wanted her family embarrassed by her behavior. She wanted Nicholas, to have a part of him she would never forget. She was sure she wasn’t the only woman who thought she could take a part of Nicholas by having sex with him.

She wiggled out of her panties
, seeing his eyes darken with desire.

He started removing his own clothes. His body was perfection.

Ria licked her bottom lip.

“Don’t do that
,” Nicholas groaned, taking her down to the bed.

“Do what?”

“Lick your lip. It makes me want to give you something to suck on.”

Ria pushed him back
, going to her knees beside his hips. She deliberately licked her lip before bending down to lick the tip of his cock. “Is this what you want me to suck on?”

H
is only answer was a loud groan as her mouth covered the head of his cock.

She used the limited amount of skill she had gained from the other night to escalate his passion. His hips thrusting upward tried to get her to take him deeper
, but she lifted her head to trace his length with her lips.