Page 160 of Heartbeats & Highways

“And each time, I’ll tell you that you made the right choice. We’re going to be okay, Evie. We’re going to get through this.”

My lips quivered. “You promise?”

“I promise.”

I reached for him in the middle of the night. Savage’s side of the bed was cold, and I wondered how long he’d been up and if the energy in his body had been too much and he’d had no choice but to go for a ride on his motorcycle.

But I heard the soft close of a cabinet and exhaled.

I got up and padded out into the living room. It was completely dark except for the oven hood light.

Savage stood at the counter, his back facing me. The glow illuminated his sculpted shoulders and beautiful ink.

“Did I wake you?” he asked, turning around.

I shook my head. “You couldn’t sleep.”

“No. I couldn’t sleep,” he admitted. “And then I got a text.”

“A text? From who?”

He didn’t say anything for a moment and then he finally replied. “The owner of the illegal fighting ring.”

“He’s asking you to come back,” I guessed.

“No. He’stellingme to. The bookies lost a fuck load of money on the fight with Toro and they need to make it back.”

“Toro,” I repeated as I went to Savage. “You’ve already beat him once, so?—”

“It’s not Toro this time. They know he can’t beat me. There’s someone else—except they won’t tell me who I’ll be fighting until the night of the fight.”

“Don’t do it. You walked away once. Nowstayaway.”

I put my hand to his heart, and he covered my fingers with his palm. “I wish I could, babe. But there’s a problem. I’ve cost them a lot of money by quitting on short notice after I beat Toro. There’s bad blood between us now, and the owner of the fighting ring is threatening to tell the club if I don’t fight one last time. If I want this wrapped up for good, then I’ve got to get in the ring again.”

Fear coasted down my spine.

I wanted to beg him not to do it. We’d just come out the other side of something so horrible . . . We were already struggling to survive the truth of my past.

But I kept my mouth shut.

“I need you there,” he said softly. “Ringside. And after I win, we’ll walk out of there hand in hand, and never look back.”

I swallowed. “Of course I’ll be there, Savage.”

Chapter 41

The warehouse smelledlike blood and adrenaline.

This was the modern-day version of the colosseum. Excited revelers looking for a distraction from their everyday lives were chanting and yelling and calling for men to battle each other with their fists.

My hands were clenched at my sides.

I was standing at a corner of the ring with Savage, Duke, and Acid, waiting for Oscar to introduce the fighters. We were surrounded by people.

Oscar stepped into the ring and picked up a microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, tonight’s fight features Savage, the winner of the match with Toro Masivo, and a mystery fighter that’s about to enter the ring and reveal himself. All bets have been placed on hold until the announcement of our challenger, and only after revealing himself will betting for tonight’s fight commence. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome tonight’s mystery fighter, Brutus, into the ring!”

Brutus appeared from the crowd and slipped through the ropes, his massive, sweaty form primed and ready to fight. The sheer size of the man caused the mob to go wild, and men rushedto the bookies in the corners of the room as fast as their feet could carry them. Money changed hands and a murmur settled over the warehouse.

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