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CASH

“Cash!”

I spun around and ducked just as Guy whipped his fist at my face. I surged forward, tackling him around the waist to the ground. His knee thrust up between us, catching me in the ribs. Gasping for air, I didn’t have time to react before his fist slammed into my jaw, knocking me off him.

I rolled with the hit, narrowly avoiding the kick he sent to my stomach. Jumping to my feet, I motioned for him to come at me, grinning at the maniacal look in his eyes. He might be only fifteen, but he already had all the hallmarks of a true fighter. I knew if I didn’t want to be left behind, I had to be just as ruthless as him.

Over and over, he attacked, not pulling his punches in the least. I was on the defensive and that was a horrible position to be in. With the next hit, I caught his arm, slamming my elbow down on his, snapping the bone. His face contorted in pain, but he didn’t make a sound. As his knees buckled, I thought I had won, but then my legs were swiped out from under me and I was flat on my back, staring up at that crazy face as he hovered over me.

He swayed slightly in the sunlight, his injury making him just a tad slower than normal. I saw the glint in his eyes, the move he was about to make, and didn’t waste a second springing into action. As his boot came down, I grabbed his foot and twisted hard, taking him off his feet.

I jumped up, ready to attack, when excruciating pain radiated through my leg and I collapsed, falling to the ground hard. I rolled over as nausea churned through my stomach. I vomited hard as white light flashed in my eyes.

I saw his boots approach and knew what was coming. Guy didn’t start a fight he didn’t intend on finishing. Hell, at this point, I couldn’t even remember what we were arguing about. But whatever it was, he was out for blood.

I rolled to my back, knowing that I was done. Even if I wanted to continue fighting, I was pretty sure my bone had snapped and was now piercing the skin of my leg. Getting up would be stupid.

He strolled over into my line of vision, his arm hanging limply at his side. “You broke my fucking arm.”

“You broke my leg,” I retorted.

“Your enemies won’t give a fuck if you need two legs to walk.”

I hated to point out that I was in high school and my enemies were not likely to break my leg, but this was Guy I was talking to. In his head, the enemy deserved nothing less than a swift execution. He got that from Dad. And no matter how much I tried to be just as merciless as they were, I had to believe that not everyone deserved a “swift death”. Weren’t there still good people in this world who deserved a second chance?

He knelt down beside me, resting his good arm on his knee. “One of these days, I’m not going to be there to protect you.”

“You’re the same age as me, and I hardly need protection,” I muttered.

“I just broke your leg. What’s your next move?”

“Christ,” I muttered under my breath, really not in the mood for a lesson right now.

“Think!” he snapped at me. “They’ve got you trapped. There’s nowhere for you to go. What do you do?”

“I go to the fucking hospital because I have a fucking piece of bone piercing my leg!” I shouted.

“Wrong fucking answer,” he snapped. “There’s always a way out, Cash. Everyone has a weakness. Even when you’re cornered, there’s always a way out.”

“Not always.”

“Always. And if there isn’t, it’s because you were too fucking stupid to get out while you still could. You fucked up, and you’re going to die for it.”

I chuckled at him, shaking my head. “You know, all I said was that I wanted to eat lunch.”

“And I told you it was time to fight,” he shrugged. “I guess next time you’ll listen to me.”

“Next time, I’ll just bring a gun and shoot you.”

He leaned in close and lowered his voice. “You’d better make sure you’re fast enough to pull the trigger.”

He rose and held out his hand to me. I knew it was a trap. Since when had Guy ever willingly helped me after a fight? Not a single damn time. But hell, my leg was throbbing and I was pretty sure blood was coating the ground beneath me.

“If you’re going to push me down as soon as you help me up, I’ll just stay down here.”

He rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand, hauling me to my feet. “We fight, Cash. It’s our thing, but you’re my brother. I’ll always make sure you don’t bleed out.”

“Gee, that’s so kind of you,” I grunted as I hobbled beside him.

He stopped moving and turned to face me. “I won’t always be the one fighting you. One day, it’ll be someone worse than me.”

I snorted at that. “Worse than you? Is there such a thing?”

His face turned hard as if he was going to impart some hard-earned wisdom. “There’s always someone worse out there. Remember what I said. If you can’t find a weakness, you’re dead.”

My head jerked as I was hauled off my feet by the chains around my wrists. I was well and truly fucked, and the worst part was I couldn’t see a single fucking way out of my current predicament. I had gotten sloppy and complacent at my headquarters, assuming everyone would fall in line.

As I stared at Fox, I realized there was always a loose canon in the group, ready to do whatever was necessary to change the status quo.

Find a weakness.

Those words reverberated through my head as I stared at the man I had once considered a friend. Clearly, we weren’t on the same page any longer.

“It’s nice of you to join me in my sanctuary,” he said, glancing around the dank room. “You didn’t know I had this place, and now that you do, you’re either going to come around to my way of thinking or you won’t be leaving in one piece.”

I snorted in amusement, not because I didn’t believe him, but because I never thought I would end up chained in a locked room with the very man I took a chance on when no one else would. He was my secret weapon that I always knew would one day become a liability. But I thought he was coming around after finding Anna. He became a little more tame—a little less feral. Well, it seemed the two halves of Fox were battling each other, and it was clear who the winner was in this situation.

“Are you sure this is the way you want to play things, Fox?”

“It’s not me who wants to play,” he taunted. “I told you once a long time ago that Eva wasn’t guilty. I took my time with her, drawing out the answers that you wanted to ignore. And now I’m back to do it again.”

“If you sing me show tunes, I really will fucking murder you,” I snarled.

“Show tunes have always been our thing,” he retorted. I watched as he strolled over to a table and slowly withdrew a KA-BAR, grinning at me as he turned back to me.

“Really?” I rolled my eyes. “You’re going to threaten me with that thing?”

“This?” he asked in that quirky Fox way. “Nah, this is just because I love knives so much. I’ve actually been thinking about stepping up my game. I’ve mastered throwing knives. I’m pretty sure no one would question my abilities with them. But this bad boy has always been part of my arsenal in other ways.”

I rattled the chains, getting angrier by the second that he was dragging this out so much. “Is there a point to all this, or were you going to talk me to death?”

“Talking isn’t something I had in mind,” he said thoughtfully. “No, there’s only one way either of us is walking out of here, and that’s if one of us kills the other.”

I was about to make some smartass retort when I saw the gleam in his eyes. He was fucking serious. “So, that’s your play? You want to kill me?”

“Want to?” he chuffed. “No, I don’t want to do that. In fact, I’m not sure I’ll even be the one holding the knife. We’ll leave that honor for you.”

“It’s no fun if you don’t fight back.”

He grinned at me like the psycho he was. “Trust me, I’ll be fighting back.”

“If you intend for us to fight, why the hell am I in chains?” I snarled, rattling the.. The clanking metal echoed around the room, bringing a smile to his face.

“For effect. I couldn’t have you waking up thinking this would be a cakewalk. But now that you know the rules?—”

“What rules? You haven’t said a fucking thing!”

His brows creased as he cocked his head at me. “Didn’t you hear me say we were going to fight until one of us killed the other? I thought I was clear on that,” he chuckled. “Do you need a diagram? I’m not great at drawings, but?—”

“Then get me the fuck out of these chains and I’ll show you just how fucking much I hate you right now.”

“Ah, but you can’t hate me forever. See, I know you love me. You can’t help it. You’re just like The Kamau. You don’t want to admit how much you need me. It’s a thing. Most people don’t get it until they get it.”

“Get what?”

“That they need me,” he repeated, shaking his head. “I really thought I was clear that time. Anyway, back to the rules. I’m going to release you and we’re going to fight. Either you’re going to kill me and walk out of here, or you’re going to concede that you’re being an ass and you need a reality check.”

I knew exactly what I was doing. No reality check needed. Everything from the moment I pulled the trigger on my brother moving forward was necessary. Including this. They wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone, so if Fox wanted a fight, that’s what he would get.

“Release me, then.”

A wide grin split his face. I was going to enjoy this more than I should. For years, I’d held back from hitting Fox. He had that personality that got under your skin and grated on your nerves, and right now, I wanted nothing more than to fuck him up.

“My pleasure, moi capitaine.”

He strode forward and jangled the keys in front of my face, then unlocked my left wrist. As soon as I was free, I slammed my fist into the side of his head. He stumbled back a step, snickering.

“Alright, alright. I can see you’re ready for this. Let me at least get you unlocked. Otherwise, it’s just not a fair fight.”

“Unlock me and I’ll ground your face into the floor.”

Like the psycho he was, he fucking laughed. If it were anyone else, they’d think I’d gone off the deep end, but not this guy.The cuff came off and I was on him before my wrist was fully released. The metal scraped my skin as I jerked my hand free. The next second, my fist slammed into his face and blood flew from his mouth. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, pushing the drugs from my system. Rage unlike anything I’d felt since just after Rafe died pulsed through me.

I waited for him to get to his feet. There was no joy in beating a man who was already down. He chuckled, wiping the blood from his face. He thought this was a fucking joke, to chain me up and keep me here. He didn’t get it. He got his revenge. He murdered the man who killed his mother.

“Where’s my revenge?” I snarled.

“What?”

We circled each other, but while he was grinning, having the time of his life, I was burning inside. “How did it feel to watch the life leave the man who attacked your mother?”

Something flickered in his eyes. “Like resetting something inside me.”

“And now you’re denying me that.”

“You have a family.”

“Fuck you,” I spat. “You don’t get to tell me when I get to seek revenge.”

“I do when you’re abandoning everything that you are.”

“You should be on my fucking side,” I snarled. “If anyone should understand, it’s you. And instead of letting me take what I need, you want to chain me up like the rest of them. Get my head shrunk. Maybe breathe a little.”

“Breathing does help,” he taunted.

I charged, unleashing the rage inside me. Every time my fist met his body, I felt another piece of myself clicking into place. When I felt a rib crack under the weight of my fist, I bounced from one foot to the other, letting my mind clear from all the bullshit in my life.

I didn’t know how much time passed. I didn’t stop fighting, not as my own ribs cracked or my eyebrow split open. Not when I felt my nose crack or when it became hard to breathe. Nothing dulled the need to fight, and no matter how hard Fox pushed me, I didn’t give in. There was no stopping, not until every last mother fucker who caused Rafe’s death was dead and buried.

“You should know that I can taste the Funyuns I had at lunch,” Fox panted, bending over slightly, gripping his side where I knew I’d just punctured his lung. “They may make a reappearance.”

“Open the fucking door.”

He shook his head, wheezing as he held his side. I knew he was in worse shape than me. He’d been letting me win, and even when he had the upper hand, he didn’t use the full force of his strength to take me down. And I fucking hated him for that. I was a skilled fighter, but Fox…he was more like Rafe. Ruthless, determined, and unyielding to the pain.

And that just pissed me off.

I shot forward, thrusting my bloody knuckles through the air, distracting Fox as I spun and slammed my elbow back into his face. Bone snapped and then he flopped to the ground, his eyes open, but barely seeing.

Breathing hard, I knelt down beside him, grabbing him by the hair and lifting his head. “What is the code to get out of this fucking place?”

His eyes rolled slightly and a chuckle left his lips. “You have…to do…it.”

Kill him. That was the only way out. I stood and strode over to the table, grabbing the knife and clutching it tight in my hand. His eyes tracked me as I stalked over to him. Just a single strike to the chest would end it all. And then I would be free to get the justice I so desperately craved.

But no matter how much I wanted to leave this fucking cell, killing Fox wasn’t the answer. I knew what he was doing. I knew he was trying to draw out my humanity. It was the only way he could be sure how far I’d fallen. But all this proved to me was that I no longer belonged here. These people were no longer the men I needed around me. They didn’t have the ruthlessness I craved to get the job done.

Not even Jack, Johnny, and Jason could give me that. They’d gone too soft.

The knife clattered to the floor as I released it from my grip. Everyone has a weakness. I got down on my knee and kept my voice low as I spoke to Fox.

“Do you really want me to kill you?”

“Is that what you want?”

“I want my revenge, and if the only way out of here is to kill you, so be it.”

“Do…what you have to do,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

“You’re forcing my hand, Fox.” I grabbed the knife, trailing it over his stomach, up to his neck. “You’re making me be the bad guy.”

“You’re doing that…all on your own.”

I nodded. “Just know, this doesn’t end with you. I can’t just kill you. I have to kill everyone you care about. Because they will come after me, and that would get in the way of my revenge. I will take out everyone at OPS, and when that’s done, I’ll take out that pretty wife of yours. If you think she has scars now, just wait until I’m done carving her up. You won’t even recognize her.”

“Liar,” he muttered.

Maybe he was right. “Are you willing to stake Anna’s life on it?”

His eyes flicked to mine and rage replaced the humor that was there before. “You’re a bastard.”

“The code, Fox.”

“If you touch her?—”

“Give me the code and she’ll be safe. You have my word.”

“Is that even worth anything anymore?”

He might have a point, but he was the one who wanted to go down this road.

“The code.”

His lips twitched in amusement again. “You already know it.”

I already fucking knew it. Leave it to Fox to play games with me even when he was teetering on the brink of death.

I stormed over to the door and entered every code I could possibly think of. Frustration welled inside me as I pulled at my hair, trying to think of all the possible codes. I could hear the rattling in Fox’s lungs. He didn’t have long before he would drown in his own blood if he didn’t get help.

I had entered every fucking code from OPS, thought of every date that meant anything to him. Nothing had worked. Nothing related to him?—

Nothing related to him worked because none of this was about him. I entered the date Rafe died and metal clinked as the door unlocked and slowly opened. I glanced back at Fox one last time. His eyes were closed now, but that wasn’t my problem. If he didn’t want to play the game, he shouldn’t have locked me in a fucking room with him.

It was clear my time at OPS was up.