“Fucking right,” he spat. “You and Graham are running that place into the ground.”
“That’s bullshit,” I hissed.
“Stay out this, Rebel,” Max said, holding his hand out to silence me. “This is between us.”
“Not with a gun pointed at my woman’s head, it isn’t.” Turning my attention onto Charlie, she shook her head. I could read her thoughts and they said, don’t try anything stupid.
“Simon, you know you’re fucked,” Max said. “You kill a cop and you’ll bring everything down. Everything.”
Simon’s eyes flashed, and he pressed the gun against Charlie’s temple. “Not if they don’t find her…or you.”
I tensed, my muscles coiling, and I readied myself to lunge for her. Push her outta the way and take the bullet for her. I didn’t give a shit about her motives for being at The Underground. I didn’t give two fucking shits because I saw something between us that was worth saving. Worth taking a bullet for. She saw through my bullshit, through my past, and she saw the real me. That was worth risking my life.
She pulled her hands free and her blue eyes fixed onto Simon. With one swift movement, she was up out of the chair and going for his gun.
Fuck, no!
I let out a roar as Simon tensed, his finger squeezing against the trigger. The rest happened like a slow motion sequence in a movie. Her right hand shot up and grasped his wrist, shoving the gun upward. There was a deafening bang as it went off, the roof shattering as the bullet passed through the plaster. For a sickening moment, I thought she’d been hit, but Charlie was in full flight, her left hand slamming down onto the ditch of Simon’s elbow. As he buckled forward, her knee slammed into his groin, and his grip dislodged from around the gun.
It clattered to the ground, and Max scooped it up as Charlie brought her knee down…then back up into Simon’s face.
Holy fucking shit. She hadn’t needed me at all.
Simon fell to the ground in surprise, blood streaming from his nose, and Max stepped forward, aiming the gun directly at the guy’s head.
“Get out of here,” Max snapped at us. “This is between us.”
Charlie glanced at me, then to Max. “But—”
“This is your free pass,” he snapped at her. “We will have a little chat later, you and I. For now, get out of here, and be thankful you have your life.”
I held out my hand for Charlie, and she stumbled backward, obviously torn considering her job. She wanted to call it in.
“Charlie,” I urged. “You have to forget about it.”
When she still hesitated, I grabbed her hand and hauled her from the room, and it wasn’t until we were out in the hall that she seemed to snap out of it. She walked easier, following me out of the house and onto the footpath. Without a word, I led her down the street, unlocking the car and easing her inside. Rounding the front, I climbed into the driver’s seat, and as soon as my door closed, I reached out, desperate to touch.
“Fuck, Charlie.” I held her in my arms, my heart pounding.
“I’m okay, Rebel,” she murmured. “I’m okay.”
Pulling away, I settled back into the driver’s seat, unsure as to where this was going next. There were so many things we hadn’t said yet and even more that we both had to explain.
We sat in the car in complete silence. A part of me was listening for a gunshot that would signal the end of Simon, but it never came. We never saw Max, either, but it was none of our business. I didn’t want my hands in that argument—those stains would never come out.
“Rebel…”
I glanced at Charlie in the passenger seat. Her shoulders were stiff, her hair hanging forward over her face. Reaching over, I threaded my fingers through it and tucked it behind her ear. That was better, I could see her blue eyes this way.
“Charlie about—”
Her eyes widened. “Don’t—”
“Don’t what?” I asked. “Let my balls drop off because my girl could get out of a dicey situation on her own?”
“Guys don’t usually like that,” she said with a shrug.
“What, blokes have dropped you because you’re too tough for them?”
“Something like that.”
I rolled my eyes. “Pussies.”
“Kane—”
“They think they’re tough for dropping you? Shit, all that does is make them insecure pussies. Those men weren’t good enough for you.”
“Kane.”
I glanced at her, frowning at the forceful tone in her voice. “What?”
“You’re not mad at me?”
“For what?” I asked, knowing exactly what she was getting at.
She cast her gaze away, obviously ashamed. “I lied to you.”
“You wanted to crack The Underground,” I said straight up. “That’s why you were there in the first place.”
She glanced at me, her blue eyes betraying her worry. “It would’ve made my career.”
“Would’ve?”
She shrugged. “Simon was going to kill me. Max let me go.”
I still didn’t get it. “And what does that mean?”
“It means that I was in over my head to begin with. It means I still am. It means I’m in it until you get out.”
I held her tightly. “You—”
“Will let it fly… For now.”
“Charlie—”
“I’m sorry I lied to you,” she interrupted. “Everything else I said to you was the truth. All of it.” She sighed, her fingers beginning to worry the hem of her T-shirt. “I didn’t expect to find you there.”
Neither did I.
I began to mull over the last few days and all the things that had happened in such a short amount of time. It only took a split second to turn someone’s world upside down.
All the stuff she’d said to me about my family, about it not being my fault, about wanting me…she’d meant it all? I could be mad at her, and fuck, was I ever, but not for the reason she was probably thinking. She sat there, looking all teary eyed, waiting for me to get up and leave. I’d had a lot of shit in my life, a lot more than most people deserved, but she’d never been able to find happiness in the chaos that was her job. People held it against her for being a cop and being a strong as fuck woman. I could kinda understand how that felt, even though it was from a different perspective.
“You’d drop your investigation?” I asked, reaching for her hand.
Her fingers curled around mine, her thumb stroking my skin. “Until you get what you want. It’s illegal, and I’ve sworn an oath, but you and every other fighter in that place know exactly what you’re in for. Until you’re there under duress…” She shrugged. “It’s a fine line.”
I smiled. Until I got what I came for, she’d put up with it.
“And when I win the Championship?”
She shoved me hard, her tiny hands hardly making a dent. “Then you better get out, Kane Sturgess, because I want to start a new life with you. An honest life.”
A grin split my face nearly in two. “Fuck, yeah.”
Chapter 14
Charlotte
I’d made a mistake, and I’d almost lost my life because of it.
I was lucky Rebel and Max had shown up when they did because even though I got the gun from Simon, there were no guarantees I would’ve been able to escape. What got me was the fact that even though I’d blatantly gone against my gut and put Rebel in danger by association, he didn’t seem to give a toss.
And two weeks later, he still wasn’t done with me.
The only people at The Underground who knew my real identity were Rebel and Max, and Max had made it clear that if I was found meddling again, there would be consequences. As long as I played the game, the game I should’ve been playing from the moment I fell for Rebel, they’d leave me alone.