Page 49 of Brandishing Balance (Devil’s Psychos MC #3)

Axel

T he bass pounded heavily through the speakers, thrumming through my body as I stared out the open locker room door to the crowded warehouse beyond—and by doorway, I mean the gap in the strung-up sheets that blocked the view of the fighters from the crowd.

There were tables as barricades on the other side of the curtains, where the merch teams were pushing their wares.

Phoenix sat in a folding chair to my right, while Blaze was out there selling our t-shirts—shit he made in his basement screen printing and vinyl cutting.

It helped raise the money we needed to pay off my medical bills.

After I caught a couple slugs against a rival out of state, I was still paying on the shit.

The club had helped as much as they could, but Buckley was running shit then and didn’t give a damn.

I had thought about mentioning to it Marcos now, but he had enough on his plate with cleaning up all of Buckley’s messes, let alone all the shit with his girl. Nah, my president had enough to worry about—besides, I had this handled.

The music changed and my opener rang out, causing loud cheers to go up around the warehouse.

Phoenix patted my shoulder, nodding his head to the music as we both stood up.

We’d been through this a hundred times and we’d go through it a hundred more.

These fights were a great way for us to earn cash quickly.

After the decline in club activities, because Buckley killed most of our jobs, me and my boys had to do something quick, because the thought of having to live in the clubhouse was a living nightmare and not an option at the time.

Shit had calmed down since Marcos had taken over the club, but me and boys never felt completely comfortable at the club house to get any real sleep. It was too ingrained in us to look over our shoulders constantly.

Having a president like Buckley would do it to you.

I pushed the thoughts from my mind and prowled out of the makeshift locker room.

The crowd went wild as I walked out. The MC’s voice came over the speaker system, as the music dropped half a decibel.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for!

” the MC shouted through the microphone. “Axel ‘The Mechanic’ Jones!”

The crowd went wild.

“And in the other corner, all the way from downtown Chicago, the man, the myth, the legeeeennnd! Ronan ‘The Ringer’ Tiernan!”

I climb into the ring at the same time as my opponent. He was a large wide-chested man that had a notorious reputation. Rumor had it he was linked to the Irish Mob, but who knew if that was true. He had to be about my age though, with blond hair and sky-blue eyes that looked right through you.

I didn’t give a damn about the notoriety or the rumors.

Blaze had gotten me video footage of his previous fights and I had made sure to study them in the last couple of days.

I knew that Tiernan dropped his left should when he swung, leaving his right side open.

I knew that after a couple of hits, his anger would come out full force and he would lose all form and rhythm.

That was when I would strike.

I just had to bide my time. I could dance around him for a while. My stamina was a thing of beauty—something both Blaze and Phoenix helped me maintain, often times together. I just had to get through this fight and I could ask around for some dirt on Hillcrest.

Tiernan was an easy fight, but a steady rhythm of jabs and punches from both of us. While he kept me on my toes, he was also oddly predictable.

Blaze and Phoenix stood ringside, mostly quiet as they watched me.

I kept an eye on them out of the corner of my eye as I dragged out the fight with Tiernan.

Blaze would give me the signal when it would be time to escalate things.

Everything was all about the show, after all.

An intricate dance for the crowd, to earn us the most money.

I’d drag it out for as long as I could, unless the other fighter was overly aggressive, then I’d go for the K.O. ASAP. Tiernan seemed to be on board for dragging shit out, though.

Tiernan smirked, “You got green on this?”

“Like you don’t?” I shot back, as we circled each other.

He chuckled. “I need information.”

I almost paused, but the crowd cheered louder and I punched Tiernan in the ribs. I didn’t hit him as hard as I could have, though. “What kind of information?”

He grunted in pain and side stepped my next punch. “Who runs the coke out of here?”

I laughed. “Even if I had that info, what makes you think I’d hand it over to you?”

Tiernan landed a punch to my shoulder and I grunted in pain. “I might have information you’re looking for.”

I narrowed my gaze on him, before I hit him back. “Then start talking.”

“Make the fight worth my time,” he grunted.

I growled and advanced on him, giving him what he asked for. Blaze and Phoenix shifted and glared my way for going against the plan, but this dude was toying with me. I needed to end him.

Tiernan grunted as I hit him in the ribs on his weak side. “Hillcrest has operations in Chicago.”

I backed off, immediately. “What do you know?”

“I know locations, I know his men, I know his routes,” Tiernan said, panting.

I bounced on my feet, weighing my options here. It was everything we needed.

“FINISH HIM!” someone behind me shouted.

Tiernan lunged at me, catching me across the face with his fist. My head jerked to the side with the force I hadn’t expected.

“Fuck.” I spat blood on to the floor.

Tiernan came at me again and I got serious. I blocked and jabbed and advanced on him. Going for his weak side, I drew his punches while I jabbed with my other fist.

He laughed. “Fucking finally.”

We both settled into the zone then. I had to admit that his videos were child’s play compared to what he was doing now. Clearly, he hadn’t had a decent fight in a long time. Not that I had either, the dude was on fire, and I was getting hit as much as I was hitting back.

“After the fight,” Tiernan grunted. “I’ll tell you what I know, and you hook me up with who runs the coke.”

“Deal, but I’m kicking your ass first.” I smirked and upper cut his jaw.

He laughed and we fought harder. We gave it our best. It was clear that Tiernan hadn’t shown his full potential in all the videos I watched. Blaze and Phoenix shifted again, I knew they were getting restless. The fight wasn’t going as planned, but hopefully in the end it would pay off.

“We gonna call a draw?” Tiernan grunted, after I landed yet another hit to his ribs.

“You think the crowd’s gonna go for that?” I shot back.

“Nah, but I’m not losing this one. I’ve got more intel than you can give me.”

I bit back a retort, because he was right. If he wasn’t lying to me about the information he had on Dax Hillcrest. I needed that information more than anything else. “I need assurances that you’re not lying.”

Tiernan huffed out a breath. “Hillcrest runs everything under a shell corporation, Summit Holdings. Dig into that and you should find what you’re looking for.”

I smirked and changed up fighting styles, there were no rules after all. I swung out my leg and caught him in the head with a roundhouse kick that sent him sprawling to the ground, stunned.

Standing over him, I waited for him to get up. The MC shouted into his mike and the crowd went wild. I crouched over Tiernan and snapped my fingers in front of his face. “You with me buddy?”

He grunted, his eyes blinking.

I put my hand on his chest in a mockery of a hold and glanced at my brothers. Phoenix raised an eyebrow at me while Blaze grinned.

Tiernan wasn’t done, though. He caught me in the temple with a sucker punch that seemed to have come out of nowhere. “Fuck.” I grunted and fell back on to the mat, my head ringing and vision swimming.

He scrambled over me and it became a wrestling match on the mats. I was still stunned, my head hurting, my body aching, while we grappled on the floor like a couple high schoolers. “Gonna have to my knock my ass out if you want it that easily.”

I laughed. “Do you use the product you’re asking for?”

“Nah, I’d already have you on your ass if that were the case.”

“Doubtful.”

We switched positions several more times, the crowd going wild every time one of us got on top. I was getting winded. I needed to get back on my feet and end this shit. He was a great opponent and I wouldn’t give him the disrespect of throwing this fight. It would be a show down to the end.

Finally, I get back on my feet, leaving Tiernan to scramble after me.

He grinned with blood covered teeth and lunged at me.

I did another round house kick and catch him in the solar plexus—right below his sternum—and he stumbled backwards gasping for breath.

I didn’t give him a moment of recovery, though.

Advancing on him, I aim another punch to his face.

He lifted his arm in time to block me, but it left his left side open and I aimed my knee at his ribs, kneeing him hard on his weak side.

Tiernan grunted in pain and stumbled back breathless.

I moved in before he could catch his breath and did a spinning kick that caught him right in the temple. Tiernan went down like a bag of bricks on the mat. The MC slid into the ring and began counting. It didn’t matter. Ronan Tiernan was out cold.

I stood back panting hard, only feeling a little guilty about how thing ended.

Axel

After the fight, I cleaned up in the makeshift changing room. I toweled off as much sweat as I could with towels I brought from home and poured a bottle of water over my head to wash my face of any blood that was leaking.

Blaze bandaged my face with a butterfly bandage above my eyebrow with a grin on his face. “Great fight, brother.”

“Yeah, we gotta talk to Tiernan though. I gotta call Marcos.” I grunted as I stood up.

“What’s going on?” Phoenix asked, as he walked into the changing room.