Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 822(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 822(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
I laughed. “Holy shit. I’m just kidding, Jenny. Calm down. I come out here all the time. I have never gotten caught. No one works this area. I’ve checked, and if they do they most likely know who I am. The men that work around the harbor, the security, they all attend the fights. They would let me off easy. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. But if something happens, make sure you run like hell, okay? Even if I happen to get locked up.” I was teasing again, but she wasn’t buying into it.
“You are terrible with joking around.” Her voice was faint.
I fought a laugh. “Stop worrying.” She side-eyed me and I looked at her fully. “Come here.”
Her head shot up. She watched me carefully, looked out of the window, and then with slight reluctance, came my way, sliding across the leather bench with a sigh.
“I can tell you’ve never done anything bad before.”
She sank beneath my arm. I wrapped it around her, gluing her to my side. “I haven’t. I have a rep to keep—plus… my parents.”
“I wouldn’t let anything ruin your rep. Trust me.”
She snuggled in some more. I shifted uncomfortably when her hand landed on my lap. “Why’d you bring me out here anyway?”
“I thought you’d like to see it.” I tried ignoring how close she was to my cock.
“It is pretty,” she admitted. Then she looked up at me. “You said you come here often?”
“Whenever I happen to be free. Neither working or fighting or training.”
“And how often is that?”
“Let’s just say tonight is my first day off in a very long time and that’s only because it’s my birthday. I’m sort of taking it easy, fulfilling a promise to my grandmother.”
“What was the promise?”
“I told her I wouldn’t work or fight on my birthday. After I leave the Smashdown I’ll be back at home with her to eat some cake.”
She smiled. “You really love your grandma, huh?”
“To death.”
“That’s sweet, Drake.”
I focused on the lighthouse, suddenly uneasy. I wanted to tell her that my grandma was sick, losing a battle to stomach cancer.
Fortunately for me, the opportunity arose because Jenny asked, “Is she why you had to drop out of school? I mean, I just remember you mentioning her medical bills and stuff at the restaurant earlier. And then that first day I saw you again at The Dark Side, you told me you had responsibilities…” She trailed off, but didn’t dare meet my eyes this time. She was probably too afraid to, and I was too damn afraid to answer.
“Maybe,” I mumbled.
She sat up, sliding out of my grasp. “I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“I know you wouldn’t.”
She looked me over quickly before her gaze averted to the radio. She then sat back against the cool leather, exhaling. Her eyes zoned in on the lake. She was quiet for a while. So quiet I felt I needed to say something.
Something important.
“That is the reason why…”
“Why what?” She met my eyes.
I looked away. “I dropped out because there was no one else to take care of her. She was in debt, about to have her house foreclosed. I couldn’t allow it, so I told her I would make a way and I did. I worked hard. I have two damn jobs and I fight at night. I’m always so damn tired but I don’t stop. I can’t stop because I owe her everything.” My rough hand ran through my hair, tugging on the roots. “I didn’t want to become a fighter, Jenny. That’s why I lied to that man earlier. Because I don’t want to be known to people as just Doomsday, some lunatic that beats people up for a living. I’m good at it, yeah, but that’s not all I am.”
“I know you’re more than that,” she whispered. “And you only do it because you have to.”
“But there are only a few people that actually know that I’m more than just a fighter.”
She moved in closer again. “I know it. Your family knows it. That’s all that matters. People that actually care.”
I didn’t respond to that, but only because I didn’t know what to say. “I only do it because it helps provide. With my two jobs and working the Dawg Pit I can pay most of her bills, I can keep the roof over her head, I can pay for some of her chemo treatment, and I’ve even set up a savings account just in case. But… it’s still not enough. Which is why I signed up to fight to begin with. It was easy, but even so it still wasn’t enough.”
I pause, focusing on the steering wheel. “My dad makes more money than me since he runs the gym at night and manages the fights. He gets money from all angles. I only get it from one. And that’s through him. He offered to pay me and in return I agreed to keep fighting for him until he saw fit. The only reason he does it is because I’m his moneymaker. I’m undefeated. I’m the reason people come out to the Dirty Dawg Pit.” I sighed. “If she didn’t need my help, I wouldn’t have joined him. I swear I wouldn’t have.”