Double Dare (Devil's Fighters MC Book 3) (4 page)

“Because after eight years of horrors, I think we deserve something good to happen in our lives,” Xavier said.

He sounded confident to his own ears, because that’s how he needed to sound in order to soothe the terror he could still see in the bottom of his friend’s hazel eyes. But the truth was, he wasn’t nearly as sure of himself as he would have liked to be.

Finally, Rick nodded. “All right,” he said. “You go in there and you do what you need to do. I’ve got your back.”

Xavier knew what that meant. It meant that if things took a turn of the worse, Rick would be by his side. It meant that if somebody had to die, it would be both of them. He gave a nod in return and squeezed Rick’s forearm one last time before letting go and sitting back in his chair.

“I’m going back to the bar now,” Rick said, “Johnnie is probably getting suspicious.”

“Good idea,” Xavier agreed. “I’ll stay here just a little longer to try and gather my thoughts, then I’m going in.”

“Please, don’t get yourself killed.”

Xavier grinned. “I’ll try.”

He watched as Rick stood up and went back to the bar, settling on one of the tall stools and asking Johnnie for another beer. The man gave them both a suspicious look, but soon he relaxed again.

On his part, Xavier felt anything
but
relaxed. No matter how confident he tried to appear, his stomach was tied up in knots and his heart was beating a mile a minute in his chest. He had spent the whole morning trying to come up with the words. He could never get anywhere past, “I want out,” which he knew would be the wrong way to start the conversation.

He hoped there would be a conversation. He hoped Bennie didn’t freak out on him immediately and gun him down on the spot. The thing with Benedict “Bennie” Lenday, one of the founders and the current president of the Devil’s Fighters, was that he was unpredictable. He had killed for way less and spared lives for way more. There was no way to guess his reaction.

Still, Xavier tried. He tried to play it all in his mind, and he came up empty-handed every time. If a reprise of the beating from six years ago were to occur, he was pretty sure he would be able to take Bennie now. The man wasn’t a fighter, at least not in the strict sense of the term; Xavier, much to his chagrin, was. But beating up the club’s president was probably the stupidest thing he could do and the fastest way to get himself a death sentence, effective immediately.

Eventually, he decided that the only way to know what would happen was to knock on the door of the meeting room.

CHAPTER FOUR

Bennie was cleaning his gun when Xavier walked in. It wasn’t a very reassuring sight. He looked up, and already his dark eyes seemed to make a hole in Xavier. Bennie knew something was up. He smiled a wolf smile, and Xavier shivered inwardly.

“Ah, my favorite fighter,” he said. He took his hand away from the barrel of his gun long enough to gesture towards the chairs aligned along the vast surface of the meeting room’s tale. “Please, have a seat.”

Xavier swallowed past the fear he could feel mounting inside of him. He hated the power that this man still possessed over him. He was a grown man now, no longer the scrawny, insecure teenager that he had been when he had begun his “career” in the Devils’ fighting rings. And yet, Bennie Lenday still terrified him. He supposed he had his reasons; there was a darkness to the man’s soul that only a fool would not be scared of. Even the gang’s oldest members feared him.

Xavier took a seat a couple of chairs away from the end of the table where Bennie was seated.

“So,” Bennie said, “what can I do for you?”

For a split second, Xavier panicked. He had absolutely no idea how to bring this up without getting himself—or worse, Alyssa—killed. And then he decided that he would just improvise; there was no other way.

“I want out.”

It was exactly what Xavier had promised himself
not
to say. It was exactly the worst thing he could have said. It was exactly the most disastrous start to this conversation he could have ever come up with.

Bennie did not miss a beat. He didn’t pause; he didn’t start; he didn’t tense up. He continued cleaning his gun and smoking the cigarette he held between his lips as if no one had spoken. It was a chilling sort of non-reaction that instantly put Xavier on guard.

“You do, huh?” His voice was calm, cool, and collected enough to freeze the blood in a man’s veins. “I suppose that’s fair enough; you’ve been in the rings for almost a decade now.”

Xavier watched him warily. All that Bennie had just said was very true, but he was also sure there was no way the man really meant it—or even if it did, it surely did not mean he was free to go.

Bennie looked up from his gun and straight into Xavier’s eyes. It was like looking into a dark pit of hell, the kind of hell that usually awaited Xavier. “I’m acknowledging your merits, Xavier.”

“You are,” Xavier admitted. “But I can’t figure out why.”

Bennie laughed. It was a humorless, cold kind of laugh. “Tell me, how do you propose to get out?”

Xavier hesitated. Astonishingly enough, it sounded like an honest question…and he had no idea how to answer it. “Honestly, I didn’t think it was possible.”

“It is,” Bennie said, surprising him even more.

Xavier stared at him. “Do you mean it?” he asked, trying to keep the hope out of his voice. He tried to sound flat, detached, all business. He wasn’t sure he was succeeding. “Or are you implying that the way out is in a body bag?”

Bennie chuckled. “How negative of you, Xavier.” He let the silence stretch out then, and Xavier’s anxious wait with it. Finally, he said, “No, there’s an actual way out. There wouldn’t be for just anyone, admittedly, but you’ve served us very well in the past eight years. I’m willing to give you a chance.”

Xavier understood immediately. Whatever Bennie was talking about, it wouldn’t come without a price. “What do I have to do?”

Bennie grinned his wolf grin. “You have to fight, of course.”

Xavier began to feel cold inside. He was not surprised, but there was a glint in Bennie’s dark eyes that he didn’t like at all. “Who?” he asked.

“Taylor Jackman.”

Xavier could actually feel the blood drain from his face. Taylor “The Jack” Jackman was a renowned fighter in the underground rings, but his fame was an ill one. No matter how brutal the fight, it was always implied that both competitors would, if at all possible, walk off the ring alive. Of course, accidents (sometimes orchestrated ones) happened, but—generally speaking—it was an understood rule that it wasn’t a good idea for the fighters to kill each other, and that the people behind the rings needed their men to remain more or less intact.

This rule did not apply to “The Jack.” The man had a reputation for killing his opponents, and it was hardly ever an accident. Taylor Jackman enjoyed killing with his bare hands, and the only reason why he had not yet been kicked out of the rings was that it was the kind of spectacle that made the most money. He had created a legend that people appreciated.

It was savagery at its worst.

“What happens if I say no?” Xavier ventured.

He wasn’t afraid to die, but he felt like he now had too much to live for to just throw away his life like that.

Bennie shrugged as he went about methodically reassembling his gun. “You never get out.”

It was that simple, and that cruel.

Bennie looked up at him, his eyes blacker than hell. “You’re doing this for her, aren’t you? Dr. Kelley’s daughter. You want to be with her.”

“Yes,” Xavier said simply. There was no point in lying.

“It’s your choice,” Bennie said. “If you accept and you win, you’ll make us enough money that we’ll be grateful to you for eternity. If you don’t fight this fight, you stay with us. Permanently.”

“So you’re blackmailing me.”

“No.” Bennie glared at him, and Xavier actually had to fight the urge to squirm. “I’m offering you a way out. You know it’s more than I would offer anyone else.”

Xavier had to admit that it was. “If I fight and I win, you’ll let me and Alyssa go? No repercussions?”

“No repercussions. You have my word.”

It may not make sense to others, but Bennie’s word was good enough for Xavier. Benedict Lenday had many flaws and was undoubtedly a horrible human being, but on the rare occasions that he did give his word, he was known for keeping it.

“You said if I win this fight against Jackman, I’d make the Devil’s Fighters a lot of money,” Xavier began.

“A shitload of money, my friend,” Bennie confirmed.

“Then, I have one more request.”

Bennie stared at him curiously. “Shoot.”

“If I win this fight, you let Rick go, too. No repercussions.”

It was a bold move, but Xavier figured it was worth a shot. After all, he didn’t have much to lose; if he lost the fight against Taylor Jackman, he was a dead man.

Bennie laughed. “You’ve got balls, Wheeler. I don’t necessarily like that in my fighters, but I like it in you.”

“So what’s it going to be?” Xavier asked. He didn’t want to play any more games.

Bennie cocked his head to the side and thought about it. “Fine,” he said at last. “If you win the fight against ‘The Jack,’ I’ll let you and O’Donnell go, and your girl, as well. No repercussions.”

They sealed their pact with a handshake.

Xavier walked out of the room on legs that he felt were shaking—although he very much hoped it didn’t show. He found Rick waiting for him at the bar. There was no sign of Johnnie.

“You’re alive,” Rick said. He said it in a sarcastic tone, but his eyes betrayed his genuine relief.

“For now,” Xavier said. “Let’s get out of here; we need to talk.”

Rick readily jumped off the bar stool and followed him outside. They each climbed in their cars—neither of them wanted anything to do with motorcycles—and Rick followed Xavier back into town and to Lynn’s diner.

Xavier ignored the looks they got as they walked inside; he was used to them by now, and he had long stopped trying to convince everyone that even though he was forced to wear the gang’s leather vest with the red Satan on the back, he was not a Devil.

Rick, on the other end, was still somehow affected by the people’s mistrust, and he made a point not to look anyone in the eye as they made their way to a secluded booth.

Lynn herself came over to take their orders, because the waitresses were all afraid of them.

“Good morning, boys,” she said. She greeted them with a bright smile that lit up her plump but pretty face. “What can I get you?”

Lynn had become significantly friendlier towards them, and Xavier had long suspected that Alyssa might have had something to do with it. The two women had reconnected after Alyssa had come back to town for her parents’ funeral and were now inseparable. Xavier wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Alyssa had confided in Lynn.

“I’ll have a cup of coffee, please,” Xavier said politely. “Black.”

“Same here,” Rick said. “And a slice of your apple pie.”

“Sure thing.” Lynn walked away, all swaying full hips and bouncy, wavy golden hair. She wore them cropped to the base of her neck, but they still flowed beautifully.

Xavier spied Rick staring after her.

“If I wasn’t gay, I’d probably be very much into her,” Rick said. “No pun intended.”

Xavier rolled his eyes.

They waited for their order to arrive, not wanting to risk being overheard if they dived into the conversation right away. Once they were both nursing two steaming mugs and Rick was digging into the apple pie, they could finally get into it.

“So,” Rick said, munching around a large bite. “What happened? What did Bennie say?”

“He offered me a way out.”

Rick’s hazel eyes widened with the same surprise Xavier had felt at the time. “He did
what
?”

Xavier nodded. “I know. I was shocked, too. I really thought he would shoot me on the spot.”

“What will you have to do?” Rick asked.

There was no question as to the fact that Bennie’s offer had not come for free.

“I’ll have to fight one last fight,” Xavier said. “If I win, I’m out. No repercussions.”

Rick watched him intently. “That’s it?” he said, skeptical. “One more fight?”

“Pretty much.”

Xavier all but buried his face in his mug of coffee.

“Bullshit,” Rick spat, and Xavier looked sharply up at him. “What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing, that’s it. One more fight.”

Rick heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Xavier, you were always an awful liar. Now tell me what it is that Bennie
really
asked of you.”

Xavier took a deep breath. “I have to fight Taylor Jackman.”

Once again, Rick had the same reaction Xavier had as he sat in the meeting room with Bennie; he went pale. “Are you shitting me?”

“Nope. He says that if I win, I’ll make the gang a ton of money, and he’ll let me and Alyssa go.” He hesitated. “He’ll let you go, too.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I told you, I’m not going to leave you here.”

“So, in order to save us all, you agreed to a fight to the death with a man who’s known for actually
liking
to kill his adversaries?”

Xavier hesitated. “When you put it like that, it sounds very stupid.”

“Because it is!” Rick snapped. “It’s the stupidest thing you could’ve done! What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I have to get out of here!” Xavier snapped back. “It’s my only chance. If I have to compete against that madman to have a possibility, so be it.”