I lunge at him and my hands tighten around his throat. I don't give a fuck about DeLuca right now, I'm never going to stand by and let some piece of shit call my girl a whore.
He makes a choking sound, and his beady blue eyes begin popping out of his head.
Then it occurs to me. Alyssa might be able to understand and accept the first murder I committed...but I'm not so sure she'll forgive me for this one.
Begrudgingly, I let go of his throat. He collapses on the pavement and gasps for air.
“Fucking asshole,” he croaks. “I came here to offer you a deal.”
I bend down and laugh hard in his face. “A deal?” I laugh again. “Fuck your deal and fuck you. There's nothing you could offer me that I would want.” I gesture toward the window and give him a cocky smile. “Or that I don't already have.”
He stands up straight and makes a face. Looks like I'm not the only one trying to restrain myself now. And boy do I want the fucker to hit me. I want him to hit me so I can wipe the fucking pavement with him.
He fixes his tie and looks through the window again. “What about a life with Alyssa,” he whispers.
“Already have that, ” I reply.
I fight the urge to tell him certain details about our life together- like how I was the first one to ever make her come, or how great her ass looked when I took her from behind this morning after licking her sweet pussy. And most important of all; the way her face lights up when she tell me that she loves me.
He clears his throat and faces me. “I think you know what I mean.”
“Nope.”
“Then you've taken one too many hits to the fucking head,” he growls. “Do you think you can actually provide a life for her? The kind of life that she deserves?”
I'm not going to let him know how much that comment gets to me so instead I reply, “I can give Alyssa anything that she wants. And if I can't—I'll find a way to make it happen.”
“Yeah. But in how many years, Jackson?” he gripes. “If you're even still alive by the time your deal with DeLuca is up. If you even last that long in the cage.”
The fact that he knows about DeLuca's underground fight club unnerves me. It occurs to me that for all I know, he has a wire on him and I'm sure as fuck not giving DeLuca up.
I roll my shoulders back. “I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know who this DeLuca is that you're referencing and I know absolutely nothing about this cage you're referring to. Now, if you continue to talk to or question me without a lawyer present there's going to be a problem.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I'm not wearing a fucking wire. I'm just trying to help you.” He gestures toward the window. “But most of all, help her.”
“She doesn't need your help. She has me now.”
“For how long?”
“Long enough to spend a lifetime with her and grow old with her.”
He snorts. “Quite some fairytale you're living in.”
I look at him out of the corner of my eye. “I'll do whatever I need to, in order to make sure that happens. I'll make sure I'm around for her.”
He folds his hands and touches his pointer fingers to his lips. “I'm sure you will. But, I was referring to her.”
I grab his collar and shove him against the glass again. “Is that supposed to be some kind of threat? Because if you hurt her it will be the last thing you ever do.”
“I was talking about DeLuca, Jackson. You know, the man who killed her father.” He looks at me skeptically. “Unless she didn't trust you enough to tell you the truth about her past.”
“I know everything.”
I release him and he fixes his collar. “Then you know that she witnessed DeLuca do it. Now, I've done my very best to protect her. I brainwashed her and I manipulated the hell out of her...starting with forcing her to deny to everyone who her father's killer really was. I'm not proud of myself, but it needed to be done.”
He looks down at the ground. “I even went so far as to turn her into a broken girl in order to get DeLuca to forget all about her because I hoped he'd see that she was already miserable and suffering enough. That's how much I love her.”
I can't help but look at him with disgust. “Sounds like you pretty much tried to kill her yourself then. Good thing she's a hell of a lot tougher and stronger than anyone gives her credit for.”
“She is...but she's no match for him. And assuming that you know how he operates, you know that he will get his payback. It's not a matter of if...it's only a matter of when. He likes his revenge best when it’s served cold. He likes to watch his prey find happiness and flourish...before he swoops in and snaps their necks.” He blanches. “Or bashes their skulls in with a crowbar.”
He's got DeLuca pegged right, but I still can't help but wonder. “What makes you think that she's even on his radar in the first place? Trust me, if he was waiting for the perfect opportunity he's had a couple,” I say, recalling the two times she's shown up at the fight club.
“She's on his radar because of you, Jackson.”
I open my mouth to argue, but I can't.
He takes the opportunity to continue, “She showed up at his fight club on her own a few months ago. She got wind that he might be the owner and she was out for his blood, Jackson. Luckily, you saved her by denying he was the owner. I'll never be able to thank you enough for that.” He pauses.“However, If you know her well enough, you know that she can be reckless at times. She's not always mentally with it. Just look at how the sex tape came to be...she actively chose to sleep with her step-father's opponent's son. I'm not saying that it was her fault that he filmed it...but it was still her own thoughts of revenge that put her in the position in the first place. She puts herself right into the eye of the storm without thinking about the consequences.”
He looks at me, but I stay silent. I hate what he's saying but a small part of me knows it's true. She did defy me and show up at the fight club when I told her not to.
DeLuca aside, because she has no idea that he runs it ...she knew there was a chance that she could get attacked at the fight club by any guy because it happened before. And she still showed up there, all by herself. She was so determined to see me and have it out with me...she didn't care about the consequences and took that chance.
“She showed up at the fight club last night...even after I forbid her from going there. Even after she promised me that she never would.”
He points at me. “See? You know how she is. You're perfectly aware of how stubborn she can be. Now do you see where I'm going with this, Jackson?”
I nod, my heart crashing to the floor with the realization. “So what you're 'deal' really entails is me breaking up with her. And if I don't, you'll bust me for being apart of an underground fight club. And DeLuca will kill me anyway once he finds out that I led the feds to it.”
I punch the wall beside his head, hating the fact that no matter what fucking corner I go down, or how much I try...there's always something waiting in the shadows to break Alyssa and me apart.
I just want to be happy with her. I just want to wake up next to her every day of my life with her safe in my arms. I just want her to be my wife and the mother of my future child. I want to have lazy Sunday's in bed, make love to her at night, see that favorite dimple of mine every day, and spend every second of my life loving her.