The night was no different to every night of the past few weeks, Demi arrived home, someone helped her cook, they trained with her and then chilled in the living room until Ash's phone echoed around the room. He frowned as he spoke and told whoever it was that he'd be there shortly. He glanced at Calum and explained that they in fact needed to work tonight.
Demi sighed snuggling into Calum's side more. She attempted her best puppy dog eyes at Ash and begged him to take Luke instead, but as Ash rightly pointed out, he wasn't even home. God knows where he'd gone, again.
Calum kissed her sweetly and told her not to wait up for him even if he knew that was pointless.
She had tried everything to keep her mind occupied. She had tried reading, listening to music and working out. Nothing worked in getting her mind off of Calum's absence and the unknown whereabouts of a certain blonde.
Enough was enough. Without knocking she strode into Michael's room, arms crossed. He paused his game and lifted off his headphones.
"Can I help you?" She had never bothered to come to his room before and didn't pay much attention to the game memorabilia that filled every square inch of his box room.
Demi replied with a huff and seated herself on his bed.
"Make yourself comfortable why don't you?" The sarcasm in his voice was welcomed- something interesting to save her from utter boredom.
"There's nothing to do!" She whined, "I'm bored, I don't understand why I couldn't go to the club, and where the fuck does Luke go every night?" She propped herself on her elbows and looked to Michael who stared back at her.
"I would think he has a secret lover if he didn't come back so black and blue." She twisted the image in her head of Luke with someone else, an image she detested.
"Well you're not very chatty," she rolled her eyes. "That's it I'm going to the club!" Demi got to her feet and made a start towards the door when Michael's hand grasped her wrist.
"You can't," his eyes widened.
"You can't stop me," she glared at him, feeling like a caged animal. Michael stared at her, eyes darting between hers, his lips on the verge of telling all.
"Why can't I?"
He paused. She repeated, "Why can't I Michael?" a million things went through her head.
"They're not at the club..." he took a seat motioning for her to do the same. He had promised he wouldn't tell her, as they all had, but something in him, something in his gut told him that she needed to know. If anything went wrong, she would know what to do. Michael had grown to trust the dark haired girl even if at first he was wary.
Michael carefully explained the entire situation, monitoring her every reaction to the details he laid out before her. And when he was done, they sat in silence. He would have thought she had turned to stone if it wasn't for the deep rise and fall of her chest as she processed what she had just heard.
Piece by piece things began to click into place. Luke's late nights- surveillance, the beaten up face, the bloody knuckles, the fact Ash had wanted her to train them for boxing. It was so random at the time but now it all made complete sense.
Rage simmered underneath. Keeping this from her was a big mistake. She didn't give Michael a chance to explain Calum's or Ash's or Luke's reasoning as she left the room, door slamming behind her.
Michael gave her five minutes before following her. His mouth loosened as he took in the red dress that hung around her figure. The red was deep and rich. Around her ankle she had fastened a black simple heel and poked from the slit in her dress was her thigh knife strap. Her hair, now unbound, flowed in brushed out waves. The dark charcoal hair was a stark contrast against the pale of her skin and the blood crimson of her perfectly painted lips. All in five minutes.
Her eyes glimmered in the dim light of her room, matches being struck by the warrior inside of her. If such a thing could be possible, she would ignite into flames and bring ash upon the world. And Michael knew there was nothing going to stop her.
"Let's go get our idiotic blonde," she flashed him a smile revealing the gleam of her white teeth, so pretty yet so dangerous.
Demi took Michael's hand, "first, let's get you suited and booted," she smiled as she helped him dress in attire casino worthy. She patted down the tie that was laid down his chest and she smoothed his hair ensuring a small part covered his eye; the way he liked it.
She could tell Michael was nervous, and as she had said several times, he just needed to say the word and he could stay at home or leave. She would never make anyone do anything they didn't want to do. She handed Michael a back up gun in which he wedged into the back of his trouser waistline. He made a silent prayer that there would not be a need for that. He had never fired one and he didn't want today to be the first. If the time came where it was needed, if he needed to save his friends, he still wasn't sure if he could.
Demi drove and they parked close enough for an easy get away but out of view from prying eyes. Michael shoved the car keys into his pocket as they stalked their way in the back way. Thanks to the floorplan Michael had managed to find, they knew the exact route to take to find the hall where boxing matches could be held. From street view and public knowledge, no such thing occurred here and due to legislation, unofficial boxing matches purely for betting purposes were illegalised in 24 states.
She felt her body stiffen as the roar of the crowd filled the corridors. Michael tugged her back, fear and doubt halting his footsteps. "Are you sure this will work?" He whispered into her ear.
She flashed him a smile, "I'm like 20% sure this plan will work. The other 80% means we could die horribly and violently but honestly it's a really solid plan."
His eyes widened horrified by her awful sense of humor even if it did cause the smallest fractions of a smile.
"Watch my back," she signaled up and down the corridor as she disappeared into a room, she took the photos she needed (names of women, supplies and transport companies) and made the anonymous tip to the cops. That gave them approximately five minutes to get the others and leave.
"Time to enter the lion's den, you get Ash and Cal out, they cannot be here when the building gets raided, we cannot risk them getting their prints into the system. I'll get Luke and aim to meet you at my car. If after ten minutes there's no sign, drive them home. Understood?" She held Michael's eyes, despite his worry, he nodded. Tapping her thigh, she felt the knife there, just in case.
Pushing open the doors, the room was dark around the edges, shadowed further by the amount of bodies squashed into such a confined space. The place was two tiered. Demi, shoulders back, confidence illuminating from her, walked to get a better look at her surroundings. Up top, people lent against the railing, pointing, heckling, shouting and swearing as they watched the fight that was under full swing. She daren't look there just yet or she would explode into nothing less than unleashed fury.
She could tell the people on the upper floor were wealthy. They had top of the range watches and suits and were being served by pretty girls in barely any clothes and snorted enough white substance to kill off an entire country. The ground level was for other folk who were hooked on betting and knee deep in crippling debt from falling prey to the scam of the casino and the underground world of boxing.
Two minutes had passed by her estimations and the place would be crawling with every cop in the area. She glanced at Michael who was speaking into Ashton's ear. Calum winced as he watched the events in the ring- a sign Michael hadn't explained the plan fully yet. He needed to hurry. They needed to be gone by now.
Making her way through the sea of men, she pushed and squeezed herself through, a few taking advantage of her female body. Ordinarily they would pay, but now wasn't the time for a diversion. She needed to get Luke out of here.
Luke.
The man who was in the ring for her. Luke.
Luke.
She stuttered as she made it to the edge of the crowd and a foot or so from the ring itself.
She saw him. Blood stained his face from a nasty eyebrow gash and from his nose. His opponent was double his age and covered in tattoos that could only be a signpost to a gang she didn't know about. The guy was a literal mountain. In the sporting world of boxing, neither would fight the other due to weight class.
Luke sat slumped in the corner, unfairly he was refused water damn he wasn't even given a towel. His eyes shut as he controlled his breathing, a technique she had once taught him when neither could sleep.
Her attention turned to the giant bellend on the opposite corner as the referee signaled for both to return to the center.
It was only slight. If she had blinked she would have missed it. Her body moved before she could think it through as she leaped through the ropes of the ring. The referee stepped back as both men began the fight.
Before any of the men standing around the ring could process her movement her body blocked Luke, the red of her dress like a flash of blood. Her palm caught the brute's wrist, her nails digging deep crescent moons into his skin, halting the man's blade. The room silenced as eyes shifted from the girl in red to her fingers locked around his wrist to the second dagger now in her hand, the glimmer of her blue iridescent blade reflected around the room.
She turned her head to find Michael with the other two, "go!" She mouthed and Michael pushed and pulled Ashton away from the crowd. Calum wouldn't budge, it took Ashton's full strength and Demi's glare to force him out the door.
She returned her focus, the room entirely still. "Touch him," she motioned behind her to the bloodied up blonde, her voice a quiet death, "and you'll die," her eyes narrowed on the brute in front of her and then to her audience.
A man stepped forward, tanned skin and had a twin tattooed to the man in the ring. She still had a hold of his wrist despite his attempts to free it.
She held the man's gaze as she processed him. It was Juan, the owner, the man she had seen before, the man who Michael had explained had caused a whole load of fuckery.
Juan stepped forward and Luke stepped beside her, shoulder to shoulder. He would not stand in front of her. She didn't need a knight in shining armor, she could fight. She wasn't the girl who needed pretty dresses, crowns and thrones, she was made to wield weapons and defend- it was a bonus that her choice of outfit tonight made her otherworldly.
Too many people had tried to dampen what made Demi, Demi. Even someone as close to her as Blake was, had tried to put her into a box, had tried to protect her like she was some innocent fawn. She was not that. She was not fragile, she was not weak and she would not need a man to defend her not now and not ever. But he would stand side by side with her. He would fight with her for the rest of time. He would do whatever he could to keep her flame alight. She had risked everything tonight. She had stood between him and a knife. She had put her life before his own.
He eyed up Juan and the smirk on his face as his eyes raked up and down Demi. "Let's see what she has to offer," he rubbed his hands as Juan edged to move closer. Luke took half a step.
"Careful there, underestimate her and you'll all die," he glanced at her to see a smile on her lips. Satisfied with his statement.
She knew any minute now the doors would fly open with authority and now was her chance to disarm and flee. As if the brute sensed her decision, his free hand grabbed for her hair, his fingers locking into it. Driving her knee up, she wedged it forcefully into his groin, a groan emitting from his lips as the crowd chanted but not for them both, for Luke and Juan who were bare knuckle to bare knuckle. The top tier door flew open, men in uniform taking control. Yet the bottom floor remained oblivious thanks to the roar of the crowd.
Demi had the wind knocked out of her as he shoved her to her knees, his knife angled and pressed into the taunt skin of her throat. Luke lunged for her but met Juan's fist in perfect view of the officers who now surrounded the ring.
"Drop the weapon," they announced, silence returning to the room as the brute held tight to the blade that pressed further into her skin. Blood oozed from where the knife made contact with her skin.
Her eyes found Luke's, if she was to go now, she was thankful to be looking into his eyes, his beautiful ocean blue eyes. Demi scanned every inch of him, memorized every scar, every dimple. She gave him a smile before squeezing her eyes shut bracing herself for the inevitable.
She felt his movement, the momentum to drive the knife in when the ringing of a gun shot ricocheted and the slump of his body fell onto her, his blood pooling on her the bare skin of her chest.
Officers were quick to secure the knife and remove his body from hers. She blinked, her mind, her body quickly descending into shock. The realization that she was still in fact alive. Warm hands guided her trembling shoulders, her feet walking one foot in front of the other and up into the ambulance.
A familiar scent wrapped around her as she put her arms into Luke's jacket.
Luke.
She was with Luke. She turned to look at his face. Her mind became less hazy as she processed his sore, aching face and his blue eyes watered with pain.
Demi was checked through by one of the responders, Luke the other. Luckily for her, it was just her mind in shock. Apart from the cut from the knife against her throat, the blood was all from the other man and could easily be washed away when they got home... home a place she so desperately wanted to be.
Luke on the other hand needed stitches for his right eyebrow. He was lucky with his nose, swollen but not broken. Despite his insistence that she should go home, she insisted she would accompany him to the hospital. When she flipped the situation, he couldn't deny that he would go home and leave her alone at the hospital.
Barely a word was spoken between them as he had his brow stitched. She held his hand through it all. He didn't have the heart to tell her he couldn't feel a thing. Her fingers were so soft and warm and he cherished the moment even if that was inappropriate of him.
The cool night air wrapped around them as they lent against Luke's car. Thanks to the staff with the ambulance service, they had been given a lift back to the club so Luke could drive home. "I feel like I've got some explaining to do," he sighed, leaning against the driver's door, Demi stood less than a meter from him on the sidewalk.
"I know, Michael told me," she wrapped his jacket around her further.
Luke shook his head with a faint smile on his lips, "never was good at keeping secrets."
"Why?" She shook her head in disbelief as to why he would be so stupid as to risk his life.
Luke released a breath, gaining composure and looking her directly in the eye, her eyes gleamed in a way he had never seen, "I will do whatever I can to protect the people important to me," his throat tightened as he revolted against the blood that covered her chest.
"Next time..." she took a step forward and he recognized the look in her eyes was anger for him.
"I know, I'll tell you," he interrupted. Her lips parted, her words disappearing. Her teeth sunk lightly into her lips before she released the remaining frustration out with her breath.
Now all that was left was the blonde in front of her.
The most selfless man she had ever met.
A man that had risked his life to give her peace, to give his brother peace.
A man who thought he was worth risking.
A man who didn't think he mattered.
She took a step down onto the road, the distance between them thinning. She couldn't stop herself as her hands cupped his cheek delicately and with a painful softness. His eyes closed, his brow creasing as her touch melted into his bruised and broken body.
Her feet balanced on her tiptoes as her hands brought his head down towards her. Her lips met his, light and gentle. His skin reacted with goosebumps as his hand settled around her waist edging her body closer to his. His lips moved against hers, finally touching, finally tasting, finally.
His fingertips subtly titled her chin up, a soft sigh left her allowing him to do exactly what he had imagined time and time before.
She was exquisite. She was beautiful. She was everything he had hoped for.
But she was not his. The violent reminder repeated around and around, she is not mine, she is not mine, she is not mine.
Against his will, he detached his lips from hers and watched as she too realized what they had just done.
Pressing a quick kiss to her forehead, he braced his hands on her shoulders, her hand over her mouth, her eyes widened with every emotion all mixed into one.
What the hell had she done.
"Look at me Demi," his voice a low whisper as tears filled her eyes.
"Hey, it's okay," he cupped her cheek, "it doesn't mean anything, we've been through a lot tonight, you almost died, I almost died, it can cause people to do all kinds of things that they might not do otherwise," it was like he was stabbing himself in the stomach, every lie that fell from his mouth, every lie to make her feel better.
She blinked the tears away, "it doesn't mean anything?"
"Not unless you want it to?" He cocked his head ever so slightly, emotions unreadable from his face. She prayed he would show something, anything. What was the kiss to him? Purely trauma induced or more.
"I love Cal," she couldn't help the tears that fell, "I know, it's okay," he kissed her head again, holding her as she sobbed into his chest.
"Let's get you home, Calum will be waiting for you," he helped her with her seat belt and held her hand as he drove them home.
Sure enough, Calum was by the door as they got back. Demi collapsed into his arms, scooping her up and taking her to his room to clean her up and look after her in all the ways Luke wished he could.
Michael stared wide-eyed at Luke, his eyes fixated on his face.
"It's no different from my usual," he shrugged.
Michael frowned, "True, but the red lipstick on your lips is new."
a/n
Please I need your comments for this one, how we feeling?? 🤭