UNDYING: A Bad Boy MMA Romance (Midwest Alphas) (Book 3) (8 page)

I chuckle, feeling great sympathy for her. “You’re going to be perfect, Amy. It’s your birthright, remember? Just do what you always taught me:
Dog paddle through it, but do it gracefully.
”

“Oh, who am I kidding?” she spits. “That advice was crap — I was full of shit.”

“Well, that
crap
actually made a huge difference to me,” I point out. I raise an arm and drape it around her shoulders. “You’re going to do fine. Just be like Bowie.”

“What the hell does that even mean?”

I shake my head. “Never mind.”

Her chest rises and falls with an epic breath. “Graceful dog paddle.”

“Graceful dog paddle,” I repeat.

She flicks in my direction, peeking over at me from the corner of her eye. “So, have you given anymore thought to Tobias’ proposal?”

My arm drops from her shoulders as my own heart kick starts in my chest. I lower my voice to hide it from Tobias’ ears. “It wasn’t exactly a proposal…”

“You know what I mean,” she says. “Do you want to take the next step with him?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “Moving in together is generally something you do
after
a few dates, which we
still
haven’t done, by the way…”

Amy rolls her eyes. “Oh,
please
. Would you stop dwelling on what you two
haven’t
done and appreciate what you two
have
done? I mean — look at him, Claire. You two have been through absolute hell — more hell than most couples
ever
go through.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No more
buts
,” she interrupts. “He adores you, he loves you, he would die for you — and almost
has
. If you ask me, you’re acting a little ungrateful.”

I raise an eyebrow, stabbed in the gut by her violent tone. “Okay then…”

“I’m sorry—” She winces. “Still working on that
graceful
part. I didn’t mean any of that.”

“No, you’re right.” I sigh, looking ahead at Tobias again. “The only thing holding me back is Rick and this stupid situation. Once it’s done, Tobias and I will move forward.”

“Assuming it ends well.”

Nausea strikes my gut. “Obviously.”

“Which I’m sure it will,” she adds quickly. “No worries.”

I chuckle. “You don’t sound too confident about that…”

“No?” she asks, her voice quivering again. “Yeah, well…” Her head turns back to look at Ryan. “I guess you’re not the only one with someone to lose from all of this.”

I bite my lip, my eyes falling to the Double Ex King tattoo still vibrant on the back of Ryan’s right hand at his side. Ryan gave up everything for Amy. His friends, his family, his home; Everything gone because he fell for her. If they can manage to make their relationship work despite all that, then Tobias and I can, too.

Pike and Tobias slow to a crawl. I glance around them into the food court, pushing against my fear as I lay eyes on Rick. He sits at a corner table across the court, leaning back in a chair with his feet propped up on the table. There’s three men with him, each one leaning against the wall behind him, their black eyes staring at us as we draw closer.

Amy pushes forward to take the lead with square shoulders, forcing every bit of confidence she has into her step. She takes a long breath before sitting down at the single chair across from him. “Hello, Rick,” she says.

Rick grins and throws up his hands. “Amy — it’s a pleasure.” He looks over her shoulder at me. “Hello, Claire.”

His voice drags down my back like a set of jagged fingernails. I swallow, attempting to clear my tight vocal chords, but they barely wet. “Hello, Rick,” I reply, fighting the stiff choke. Fear clenches me, but it’s a comfort to see Tobias plant himself in front of me.

Rick stares back at me with his stiff, blue eyes. “It’s nice to see you again. I really mean that.”

His face flashes in my vision, flipping back and forth between his normal skin to one caked in blood. I look over his shoulder to see a line of three men, each one more brutal looking than the next, with strong muscles and dark eyes. One I recognize as the King we faced at the gym in Waynesville; the one that warned us to get out of town a few moments before we met Ryan in the parking lot. There are two others, neither of whom I recognize; one in a bright red hat and the other in a black turtleneck sweater. I suppose we never did tell Rick to come alone, not that he would have even if we asked him to.

Rick’s eyes rise and he smirks. “Hello, Tobias. It’s been too long.”

“I beg to differ,” Tobias says.

“Hmm…” His grin spreads. “Well, you’ve certainly assembled quite the team for yourselves — what’s left of it, anyway.”

“Which is exactly why we came forward,” Amy says. She squares her shoulders a bit more and sits with perfect, professional posture, showing off the natural confidence I know she has. “I have something to discuss with you.”

“Your call was very brief, but promising,” Rick mutters. “Go ahead.”

Amy takes a quick breath. “We want to challenge you to a tournament.”

He chuckles. “A tournament?” His eyes pass between us. “What kind of tournament?”

“Pretty simple, really,” she explains. “My best versus your best. Winner takes the territory.”

“Why would we do that when we could just keep killing you all and take it that way?” he asks, his eyes full of amused darkness. It’s gotten worse now; that look of pure evil. It was always there before, ever since the day I met him. Just a glimmer now and again, nothing more. Now, I can’t stop seeing it.

Amy leans forward in her chair. “If winning by default is your idea of winning, go right ahead. It wouldn’t surprise me at all. The Double Ex Kings are pretty
well-known
for their cowardice.” The men behind Rick shift, their faces curling even more towards anger, but Amy doesn’t budge and keeps her face stiff. “Also, how long until that trail of bodies leads back to your door? You can’t run an illegal underground MMA tournament from a jail cell.”

Rick licks his lips and takes a quick glance at me. “I assure you, we’re more careful than that.”

“And I assure
you
we’ve taken the necessary precautions to ensure you die in a concrete cell if something horrible suddenly happens to any of us.”

“Fine then,” he chuckles. “What are your terms?”

“Three of your best against three of mine. I think that’s fair.”

“Best two out of three?”

“Sure,” she answers. “If we win, you drop your vendetta against the Dames and you get out of my territory.”

“And if we win?”

“Then the Midwest Alphas are done,” she says. “Disbanded and forgotten. The state is yours.”

Rick barely glances over his thick shoulder at his men. “Well, Amy, you’re right. That does sound fairly reasonable. You’re filling Lillian’s red boots quite nicely.” Amy says nothing, holding her hard stare as Rick looks over her shoulders and his eyes wander across the faces of Tobias, Ryan, and Pike. “I guess you brought your best three with you today?”

“Not necessarily,” she says, looking at Ryan. His eyes shift nervously. “I’ll choose my fighters later—”

He shakes his head and glides a finger over each of them. “No, it’s them or no deal. I insist on it. In fact, no deal at all unless I get to fight Tobias again. Our last tussle got cut a bit short…” His eyes travel to Tobias’ face and he waits for his response.

Tobias flexes his jaw. “Fine.”

Rick smiles. “Good.”

Amy avoids Ryan’s eyes. “And you choose your best three based on who you brought with you today,” she adds quickly. “It’s only fair.”

“Of course,” he agrees. “The other two will be picked from the men behind me.”

“The fight will be one week from today,” she says.

“Why wait? I say three days from now,” he counters.

“Five,”
she says, hiding her shaking fingers.

Rick rolls his eyes. “You’re delaying an inevitable outcome, but sure. Five days from now it is.”

“Location can be determined later at a secure location—”

“How about Pike’s gym?” Rick suggests, looking at his old mentor. “We’re all familiar with it and the cops haven’t patrolled that street in years. Should be a safe spot.”

Amy looks at Pike and he nods. “Okay then…” She extends her hand to make the deal.

Rick stares at her fingers. “One last thing...”

“What?” she asks, dropping her hand.

His eyes fall on me. “Claire.”

“What about her?”

“If the Kings win… she leaves with me.”

Tobias lays his protective hand on my arm.

Amy flinches. “No. That’s not an option, Rick—”

“It’s an all or nothing deal, Amy. Either she,
and
Tobias, agree to it now or we walk away and you live out the last of your days peeking over your shoulder.”

“You’ll never get away with it,” she argues, pushing her lie. “We have a safe guard in place that—”

“Safe guard or no safe guard,” he interrupts. “Save yourself, Amy. The only way you’ll survive this is if you agree to give her up now—”

“Okay,” I say.

“Claire,”
Tobias growls in my ear.

“No, I’ll do it.” I nod my head at Rick. “If you win, I will go with you.”

Tobias pulls me back, spinning me around to face him. “He and I made that bargain before,” he reminds me. “He didn’t exactly keep up his end.”

I look down at Rick. “He’s right. You sent Pike to collect me last time whether you won or lost.”

“I did, didn’t I?” He smiles. “Well, this time will be different. I promise.”

“We’re going to need something more substantial than empty words, Rick,” Amy says, taking command again. “What else can you offer?”

Rick chews on his inner cheek, flicking his eyes around as the wheel turns in his head. “Information,” he finally answers.

“What kind of information?”

“I’m sure you’re all very curious to know what’s happened to your Jefferson City Dame…” he says slowly.

“Where is she?” Pike asks.

“She’s safe,
I think
…”

“Cut the crap, Rick,” Amy bites. “Where is Veronica?”

“I’ll cut her loose,” he says, “along with any
smoking gun
evidence I have on me that leads right to Lillian’s killer.”

“So if you break the deal, we’ll have enough to turn over to the police and put you away,” Amy says.

“Not exactly…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask. “You told me you killed Lillian.”

“Oh, I did,” he confesses, drawing rage beneath Pike’s eyes. “But there are
two
blood samples on the murder weapon. One, obviously, is Lillian’s. The second, well…” His eyes bounce to Tobias. “The second belongs to
the murderer
.”

“You son-of-a-bitch—” Tobias whispers, pushing forward. Pike reaches out and grips his shoulder to hold him back.

“How?” I ask as a void fills my chest.

“It wasn’t too difficult to get a blood sample, what with him
bleeding
all over the mat during the last tournament,” Rick says. “I
was
going to hold onto it in the off chance I’d need someone else to take the fall someday, but I’m willing to part with it as a show of good faith to you.”

“You’re crazy,” I say.

“You aren’t the only one with safe guards,” he replies. “I like to plan ahead.”

I wipe a stray tear off my cheek. “Well, you’ve certainly outdone yourself this time.”

“It’s
real
simple, Claire. I agree, today,
right now
, that if the Kings happen to lose, you will walk off into the sunset with him and there’s nothing I can or will do to stop you.
Or
, I’ll just hang onto it for a rainy day and you can count the moments until he’s arrested right in front of you and you
never
see him again…”

My eyes shake with anger.

“Fine—” Amy says, her voice trembling. “Hand over Veronica
and
any evidence
you have that points to Tobias and we have a deal.”

He lets the moment linger in the air, eating up every delicious second of it. “All right,” he says, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. He extends his hand and waits for Amy.

She tries hard to keep her fingers straight and steady, but I can see the tremor rock her wrist as his fingers wrap around hers.