Something Fierce [The Underground 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

Tristan knew now that Kylie had invited her to Rachel’s bachelorette party. The other four women Tristan knew, but she certainly wouldn’t call them close friends. They were more of Kylie’s friends, and that fact alone made Tristan want to run the other way. She knew this night was going to be painfully awkward, especially since she promised herself she wouldn’t be drinking anything. Alcohol had always helped to loosen up her inhibitions, but since the incident with Max, she had only allowed herself one or two drinks, more social than anything else and certainly not enough to help to shed her worries.

  The six of them weaved their way through the overly crowded club and up a short platform. A rather massively built man stood in front of a short red velvet rope and upon their approach unhooked it and stepped aside for them. Instantly Tristan let out a breath as they stepped onto their very own private VIP pad. The space was small, only big enough to hold them with a little bit of elbow room, but she didn’t feel crammed like she did on the main floor. Before they could even sit down, a petite and scantily clad waitress was jotting down their drink orders.

  “What do you want, Tristan?” Kylie had to bring her mouth to her ear and shout in order to be heard.

  Tristan leaned back and shook her head once before mimicking Kylie and shouting back, “A bottle of water.” The look on Kylie’s face was one of disgust. Kylie shook her head once, yelled something to the waitress that couldn’t be heard over the thump of music, and turned back around smiling.

  “I got you a beer, in a bottle and unopened. We will open it when it gets here.”

  God bless her fiery little heart. Water hadn’t been her first choice, but Tristan was much more cautious now. Tristan smiled, and even though she said she wouldn’t drink, that had mainly been because she had been too frightened. Over and over she imagined drinking the beer Max gave her, and over and over she thought of what could have happened if a certain someone hadn’t shown up.

  The club was warm and Tristan slipped off her jacket and flung it over one of the plush chairs. This isn’t too bad. She turned back to the bachelorette party and rolled her eyes as a tray of shots was set on the table. After the women tried and failed to get Tristan to join in the festivities, they huddled around and started slamming back the shots. After each shot was downed they would lift their arms in the air and yell like a pack of Amazonian princesses. Tristan found herself smiling. Kylie handed her the beer and a bottle opener. Tristan popped the cap and took a step toward the other women. They all raised their second round of shots, shouting something in the air that Tristan couldn’t make out but knew was most likely raunchy before they threw the drinks back. She tipped the bottle to her mouth and let the cool liquid slide down her throat.

  As the night progressed and the drinks kept flowing, Tristan found herself leaning over the railing that kept out any non-VIPers. The club below them was like nothing she had seen before. The dancing looked like a scene out of Dirty Dancing. Despite the increasingly frigid air outside, the interior was stifling hot. All those gyrating bodies, grinding and pressing against one another, drummed up so much body heat it was like a damn sauna.

  She let her eyes pass over the crowd once. On the second sweep a man sitting at the bar caught her eye. He was dressed in a suit, attire that seemed grossly inappropriate for the atmosphere yet made him stand out like a sore thumb. He threw back a shot, yet his focus was directly on her. Even from the distance she could see him watching her, grinning at her. He cocked his head to the side, indicating the dance floor, and grinned wider. Tristan felt her face heat.

  “He’s cute. Why not take him up on his offer and show him what you got?” Kylie spoke into her ear and Tristan gently nudged her at the same time she shook her head.

  “No, I don’t really feel like it.” Kylie had a grip on her shoulders and had her turned around the next instant.

  “Listen, things will get better. You can’t keep living that night over and over again. I know it takes time to forget. I know, but you are letting that prick ruin your life.” At Tristan’s silence Kylie spoke again. “Don’t let him ruin you.”

  They stared at each other for a suspended moment and then Tristan looked back at the man at the bar. He was still watching her, a smile still on his face. He indicated the dance floor once more, and she let a smile play across her face. She looked back at Kylie.

  “You’re right.” She watched Kylie smile brightly.

  “No one will hurt you, I promise. We are all right here to watch your back.” Kylie pointed behind her to the other women, and Tristan smiled again.

  She took a calm breath and made her way past the bouncer, down the stairs, and through the crushing bodies packed on the dance floor. He hadn’t moved. In fact, his gaze was on her right as she parted the crowd. He was very attractive, yet the image of someone else played in her mind. Shaking her head, she knew this might be just what she needed to get over her silly crush on Kash.

  “Hi.”

  She couldn’t hear him through all the noise, but she had read his lips and understood what he had said. She smiled back and shyly looked down. The heels she wore were two years old and the toes were slightly scuffed. She brought her eyes up to meet his and saw the warm, sweet smile on his face. He held his hand out and she tentatively took it. They made their way to the center of the dance floor and Tristan couldn’t help but glance back to see if Kylie was watching. Sure enough her best friend stood at the railing, a wide smile on her face.

  Tristan didn’t even know this man’s name, yet he had his arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her body close to his. His warm breath skated across her ear, and she couldn’t help but shiver, despite the intense heat. It was far hotter on the ground floor than it was in the VIP section.

  “Hi. I’m Thad.”

  His voice held a slight accent, British perhaps? It was hard to tell with the deafening music surrounding them. She turned her head toward his ear and said her name. When he leaned back and looked down at her, a grin covered his face. He was classically handsome, with chiseled cheekbones, a strong, narrow nose, and a cleft chin. He was nothing like Kash, nothing like the hard, raw, testosterone-filled man her roommate was.

  Stop it.

  Thad wasn’t too much taller than her or heavily muscled. He was lean, like a swimmer. She couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. His face came to mind, one that was devilishly handsome and all male. If Kash was before her she would have had to crane her neck back just to meet his eyes, and her arms surely wouldn’t have fit around his neck.

  The song that played overhead turned slow and sultry. Tristan felt her cheeks heat as he expertly moved them around. She had to give him credit. His hands stayed above the equator. She found her mouth close to his ear again.

  “Your outfit is a little bit—” How could she put it without offending him?

  “Out of place? Overdone? Ridiculous for a club setting?” He chuckled at the look she must have given him.

  Her face heated with embarrassment.

  “Yeah, I just came from work. I’m supposed to meet some buddies here for a drink.” At her questioning look he smirked and continued. “I told them to meet me at the bar down the street from my office, but they wanted to come here.” He shrugged and pulled her closer again.

  They stayed silent as the song finished, and when he pulled away and opened his mouth to say something she took a step back. “Thanks for the dance.” She turned but his hand lightly grabbing her wrist stopped her. Instantly her heart sped up. She looked over her shoulder at him with what she knew were wide, startled eyes. He must have seen something in her gaze, because he immediately let go and held his hands up.

  “Will you let me buy you a drink?”

  The smile she conjured was forced and she shook her head. She had taken that baby step, felt pretty good about it, too, but now it was time to go back to her friends. He started to say something again but she just kept her smile plastered and lifted her hand to wave good-bye. He had been sweet, but she just wasn’t interested.
Kylie still stood by the railing, God bless her heart, and Tristan pointed to the ladies’ room. Kylie nodded in acknowledgment and Tristan made her way toward the back. Thankfully Thad wasn’t persistent.

  When she was finished using the facilities she stared at herself in the mirror. A light sheen of perspiration dotted her forehead and she grabbed some paper towels to blot it. Resting on the counter was an array of perfumes, lotions, mouthwash, and anything else a woman would need to ensure she attracted the opposite sex. The deep breath she inhaled was meant to calm her, but all she felt were nerves. Throwing the paper towel away, she exited the bathroom. The heat from the main floor slammed into her like a wall and she wiped her forehead again. It took her a moment to take that first step toward the packed dance floor. She made her way forward and just as she passed an adjoining hallway a flash of white against the black backdrop caught her attention.

  She stopped midstride and peeked around the corner. The hallway was empty aside from a massive man with coal-black hair disappearing behind a door. It couldn’t be him, could it? It sure as hell looked like Kash, but what in the hell was he doing here, of all places? The smart thing to do would have been to turn around and go back to the bachelorette party, but curiosity had Tristan walking toward that door. She kept telling herself it couldn’t be him, but another part of her swore it was. The door she now stood in front of, the same one the Kash lookalike had gone through, was tattered and scarred steel. She pulled open the heavy metal and stepped through. It was another long hallway, this one several degrees cooler than the one she just left. There were people down this one, couples that were sporadically placed and dry humping the fuck out of each other.

  There were only two doors down this hallway and one of them was an exit. He could have gone through that one, but she had a sneaking suspicion that he had slipped behind the door that housed a mean-looking bouncer in front of it. There was no way she would be able to get by that bouncer. Hell, he looked like he was itching to beat someone’s ass, and she wasn’t going to be that someone. Just as she turned around to go back out the door she came through, a female voice stopped her.

  “You here for the show? Come on, we don’t want to miss it.” Tristan turned around and looked into a pair of big brown eyes. Where the hell had she come from? The woman couldn’t be more than twenty, but she had to be older since she didn’t have the massive X on her hand indicating that she was of non-drinking age. Before she could tell her no, the young woman had her by the hand and was leading her toward the door guarded by the behemoth.

  “I’m glad I don’t have to go in there alone. I always feel like they are watching me.” The girl smiled brightly. Tristan could practically feel her excitement, yet she couldn’t bring herself to ask her where they were going.

  “My boyfriend is going to be there tonight, part of the main event.” She all but jumped up and down.

  “The main event?”

  The girl nodded vigorously. “Yeah, I’m just glad I didn’t miss it. Oh boy, would he have been pissed.” She smiled again and stopped in front of the door. The beast of a man stared down at the two of them and Tristan felt herself shrink from his gaze. His skin was as dark as night, yet his eyes were an eerie blue color. Tristan listened to the girl ramble off something, never once taking her eyes off the man. She was too confused by what was going on to even understand what the pixie of a woman had said. Whatever it had been pleased the bouncer, because he nodded once and opened the door for them. A set of stairs was revealed and Tristan was all but dragged down them by the woman.

  “Oh my God. I can practically feel the rush. Can you feel it?” She turned big eyes toward Tristan. All she could do was nod. “Yeah, this is making me so wet.” It was clear the woman didn’t have a filter. The farther they descended the louder a noise became. Tristan couldn’t pinpoint it, but it was like a bass. When they reached the bottom, the girl turned to her once more.

  “Ready?”

  The bass and thumping noise was right behind that door. She should just run back up the stairs. Whatever was behind that door was buried in the bowels of this building and required security so only a select few could enter. Saying no would have been wise, but Tristan found herself nodding instead. The woman smiled brightly and pushed the door open.

  Chapter Twelve

  Tristan’s eyes widened at the mass of people on the other side of the door. The girl still had a hold of her hand and started making her way through the thick sea of bodies. That loud bass-like noise had been the shouting and cheering of everyone in this room. It was lit brightly, and the closer they got to the center, realization set in. A crude caged ring was constructed in the center of the basement. The people surrounded it, beers and liquor in their hands, and drunk, excited expressions covering their faces. Off to the side was an equally crude bar where the fans were buying their liquor and getting drunker by the second.

  The girl stopped a few feet from the cage and shouted loudly. “Woo-hoo, come on Jackson, kick some ass.” She grinned at Tristan. “Pretty exciting, huh?”

  Tristan didn’t know much about fighting, but she knew one thing. This was a freaking illegal cage fight.

  “Any minute now, my baby will come walking out those doors.” She pointed to a door in the far corner. “He’s been training day and night. This fight will make his career.”

  “Career?” These people made careers out of beating the shit out of each other?

  The girl gave her an incredulous look. “Um, yeah, hello. If he wins tonight, he’ll be set for life.” She bit her lip and looked slightly nervous. “The guy he is fighting is pretty hard-core, though. A real badass if you know what I mean.”

  No, Tristan didn’t know what she meant.

  “Are you motherfuckers ready for the fight of the year?”

  Tristan winced at the loud voice. She looked around the room but couldn’t pinpoint where the voice came from. The crowd went wild, deafeningly wild. Tristan’s ears rang and she forced herself not to cover her ears. She would definitely look out of place then. This was why these people came here, to be shocked. The noise, the atmosphere, all of it got their juices flowing, got them hard and aroused. Hell, the girl still holding on to her hand had confirmed as much.

  Tristan looked around the packed room, wondering if she would see Kash. She had sworn it had been him, but she knew the odds of it being him were pretty slim. There was no way she could have found him in this place even if it had been him.

  “We have a contender with the hopes of winning the title tonight. Do you think this underdog can succeed?” The crowd booed. The girl holding Tristan’s hand shouted hollered and screamed. “Let’s give some love to Jackson, the pretty boy.”

  Finally the girl released her hand and started jumping up and down, waving her hands in the hair. “Come on, baby, show them you ain’t no pussy.”

  Common sense told Tristan now would be a good time to leave, but curiosity and a twisted desire to see what would happen next had her feet rooted to the spot. A tall, athletically built man stepped out of the door. He was shirtless, and Tristan was impressed with his lean, muscled abdomen. He lifted his hands in the air, grinning at the booing crowd, and made his way to the ring. He climbed a set of steps and a woman clad in what Tristan supposed was meant to be a bikini opened the cage door for him. Once inside he started jumping up and down on the balls of his feet.

  “That’s my man. That’s my Jackson.” The girl looked over at Tristan and beamed. Tristan couldn’t help but smile at the adoration and pride reflected on the girl’s face. “Come on, baby!”

  “His reputation precedes him from the East, and if you haven’t heard of how legendary he is, you’ve been living under a fucking rock. You know him as the unbeatable, but will pretty boy be able to take away his title?” The crowd went bat-shit crazy and Tristan did cover her ears then. “Let’s welcome the one, the only, the motha’ fuckin’ Champion!”

  Roars, cheers, and curses rang throughout the room. All at once, people star
ted pushing and shoving, trying to get closer to the cage. Tristan was pushed farther back, and with her hand now free from the bouncy girl, she had nothing to keep her rooted to her spot. The roar of the crowd got louder, if possible, and she knew whoever the Champion was, he had just made his appearance.

  Standing on her toes, which proved a harder task than she thought given the heels she wore, Tristan looked over the heads of the men and women in front of her. It was no use. Her position, coupled with her short stature, even with the damn heels on, made it impossible to see a damn thing until he entered the raised cage. She felt the tendrils of excitement and anticipation weave through her. Sweat bloomed between her breasts and her heart raced. Was this the thrill everyone in this room had, or was it just the oppressive heat in the room?

  Looking around at the people surrounding her, seeing their flushed faces, hearing their rude phrases, and smelling the scent of arousal and sweat, Tristan knew they felt it, too. She tried to see over the heads in front of her, but her current position made it near to impossible. An opening off to the side, much closer to the front, caught her eye and she hastily pushed her way through the people to get to it. She had no clue why she wanted such a close seat to the violence that was sure to transpire, but as her heart beat in time with the shouting and the adrenaline now pumping through her veins, Tristan couldn’t help herself.

  When she reached the opening, a few people had already clambered in front of her. The gap between their bodies gave her a prime shot of Jackson, but she had yet to see this Champion that the announcer kept praising. A flash of dark hair off to the side caught her eye and she craned her neck to try and make him out. It was still no use. When she went to the left, so did the people in front of her, and when she shuffled to the right, they followed suit.

  Tristan had since gotten accustomed to the noise, but as the people stomped their feet in unison, the room seemed to vibrate and pulse around her. That was when he finally climbed the steps to the cage and came into her view. When the shirtless, dark-haired contender stepped into the cage, Tristan’s mouth hung open. No fucking way.