Page 94 of Property of Legend

And I hope like hell he’s out there right now, raising it.

Because if he doesn’t come soon, I don’t think I can keep up this act much longer.

The next morning, they drag me from the barn.

I don’t know what day it is anymore, could be two since I was taken, or twenty, but the moment the sun hits my eyes, I know one thing for sure.

I’m not getting out of this without scars.

They shove me into the back of a beat-up truck, zip ties back in place, but this time no gag.Guess they want me to scream later.

“We got a show to put on,” Swagger says from the driver’s seat.“Let’s see if your boy bleeds for you.”

I don’t respond.Just stare out the window at the winding roads that smell like home.

Lexington’s rusted-out bones rattling under our tires as we pass abandoned warehouses and meatpacking plants.

They’re taking me to out of the city, to Paradise County.To Hell.To Heck’s Kitchen to be exact.Out back in the open.There’s already a crowd gathering when they yank me out, bikers with bloodlust in their eyes, girls in too-little denim with switchblades tucked in their bras.

Then I see him.

Legend.

Standing at the edge of the ring like he’s carved from shadow and rage.

He bares his teeth when they shove me forward, my knees hitting the dirt.He looks like he wants to rip someone’s throat out with those teeth.

Swagger grins like he already won.“We’re gonna do this proper.Winner takes the girl, and territory.Lexington.Kings of Anarchy step down, or she dies.Or you all die.Makes no difference to me.”

“If you hurt her, you’ll pay regardless.”

Swagger eyes Legend.“Word was she ain’t yours no more.That true?”

I speak before Legend can.

My voice cuts through like a blade.“We hate each other.Don’t we, Legend?”

He doesn’t look at me at first.His chest rises slow.

I force the words out.“Ever since I found out about Becki.About the baby you lost.About how you said you’d always love her.We haven’t been together.We never will be.Isn’t that right?”

A pause.

Then he speaks, low and cool, but there’s resolution in it.“Right.”

He finally turns to Swagger.“But I made a promise to her old man.He’s paying us to bring her back in one piece.So, let’s get to it.”

Swagger claps his hands.“Alright then, boys.Let’s have ourselves a fight.”

The crowd whoops as they shove the Sinners’ fighter into the ring, a beast of a man with prison tattoos and hands the size of lunchboxes.He grins at Legend like this’ll be easy.

It’s not.

Legend fights like he’s made of vengeance and more vengeance.His hits land like thunder.The Hound lands a few good ones, blood flying from Legend’s lip, but it only makes him more feral.

The crowd’s wild.Betting.Screaming.Booze flying.The fight is nothing like the one I saw before.It was a lot of show, almost like it wasn’t real.

And then it’s over.

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