It didn’t take long for me to rush to the body’s side and roll him over to see if it was who I thought it was.
God no, please don’t let this be real.
A sob forced its way out of me when I saw his face before rushing to check his pulse. It was faint but I could feel the beat that was weakening by the second. Blood soaked the blades of grass under his head.
No, I won’t let him die on me. I promised Carla I would take care of her family. I won’t let this happen. Not after what just happened with Carla.
Preston, you bitch. Don’t you die on me now, you insensitive jerk.
A tear leaked out from the corner of my eye and it didn’t even take me a second to dial the hospital. I couldn’t even think about manners right now. Not when the brother of the dude I love was severely injured.
“Please send an ambulance to St. Andrews Graveyard as soon as possible. There’s a cut on his forehead, his heartbeat is weak and he’s unconscious. Please be quick.”
I shut the phone, looking around for a certain brunette. I tried straining my hearing to try catch any suspicious noises. All the other people who attended the funeral dispersed half an hour ago when the burial was over so there weren’t any people in sight.
Where could Adam be?
“Behind the trees,” a voice said behind me and my head whipped to the side, trying to catch sight of who was speaking, still keeping Preston’s head on my lap.
“Pardon?”
“Your boyfriend, the one with similar hair with this man. I saw him with a man behind those trees,” the elderly pointed. I smiled in gratitude towards him before laying Preston’s head on the ground.
“Here, let me. I’ll take care of him, go find your boyfriend.” I couldn’t say I wasn’t suspicious of him but it wasn’t like I had much choice so I reluctantly stood from the spot I was kneeling on and let the old man tend to Preston.
“I called the ambulance. They’re going to be here soon,” I told him, already on my feet.
While running to the trees, I stopped for a quick second and took a quick glance at Preston and the old man who was searching for other injuries.
“And sir?”
He craned his neck to look at me while propping half of Preston’s body to lean on his own. I gave him a small smile. He might be an acquaintance of the man fighting Adam or he could also be the man who was fighting Preston a minute before but if he wasn’t, that meant he was genuine.
So I focused on the possibility that he was sincere rather than worrying that he was possibly an enemy and add it to the list that I should worry about. Besides, judging from the rake he brought with him and the sack of leaves beside him, he was probably the keeper of the cemetery.
“Thank you,” I said softly, earning a simple nod and small smile.
“Go, child. Help that boy,” I turned, heeding his words and ran towards the trees. The closer I got, the louder the voices sounded. I was more than certain that one of them was Adam’s.
“You don’t know?” An unfamiliar voice asked and not a second later, Adam’s confused voice was heard. It didn’t take me long to catch up with where their conversation was possibly heading.
No, Adam shouldn’t find out like this.
With that thought, I pumped my feet faster, dashing through the trees and jumped on a log.
“Adam?” I shouted from a distance when I finally caught sight of him. His attention snapped towards me and the man he was facing followed his gaze which of course landed on me.
“Who are you?” I asked him coldly, instantly putting up my guard. I’ve never seen him before so I didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
“Just the person I was looking for; sweet innocent Pixie,” his words were practically dripping with sarcasm and I couldn’t help but look at him like he’d lost his marbles. Adam kept on looking between the two of us. My wary look, though, stayed on the uninvited guest. He was obviously from my other life since he didn’t call me by my real name.
That meant he didn’t know my personal life. Thank heavens.
But seriously, whoever ran this business should apply a new rule in the system that whatever happened in the ring, stayed in the ring. This was getting annoying.
First was my date and now Carla’s funeral? What kind of sick joke was this? I’ve had enough with this shit.
“You might not know me but you probably know my brother. Remember the man with the healing leg that you messed up?” I could feel my eyes widen by a fraction.
How could I forget. I was so stupid. What could’ve made me forget all about that poor man?
Sonia.
Son of a bitch.
“Do you know what happened to my brother, Pixie? Do you know what you have reduced him to?” I wasn’t facing a rival. I was facing an enraged older brother. That was never good. This guy wasn’t one of those assholes in the ring. He was a guy who was worried for his brother. I understood him. I was at fault.
“That night, you didn’t just mess up his leg. You messed up his mental health. He had to sit on a wheelchair from that night on and he had been acting like a psychopath. He was so humiliated by his fall that he refused to talk to anyone. He was mute because of you, you fucking bitch!”
My hand crept to my mouth to stifle the gasp and sob at hearing what happened to that poor man. I was Casey again, my barriers crumbled down at the mention of that poor man. Adam moved towards me, collecting me in his arms and shielded the man’s view of me. I forced myself to look into his eyes.
“I- Adam, I” I didn’t know what to say. The huge lump was clogging the words I wanted to get out to tell the man how sorry I was. Flashes of what happened that night came to me and I squeezed my eyes shut.
Adam shushed my silent cries as I hid my face into his chest whilst tracing patterns on my back to calm me down from the panic attack I was having. I have never felt so guilty ever since Bryant’s death. I broke someone. I broke someone and deep inside me, the guilt was drowning me. After a moment of silence with only my
quiet cries filling the eeriness of the woods, the stranger in front of us spoke up again.
“I heard you dropped out of the competition and I found that as a form of cowardice. I don’t care what your reason is but I am not going to let you drop out of the fight as quick as that. You will re-enter that competition and fight me,” he demanded.
I could feel Adam’s arms tightened around me as an incoherent sound escaped the back of his throat. I tensed up at the man’s request, untangling myself from the warmth and comfort I got from Adam.
Facing him, I steeled my expression. I understood his rage and fury. I won’t fight back if he asked for a fight right now. I would let him beat me up right there right then but to re-enter that competition? That was absurd. I dropped out. There was no more use of participating in that competition. He didn’t need to wait until the competition to beat me up or even kill me. Unless...
“Yes, the competition. I want to watch you suffer before you fight me. I want to face you when you’re all bloody and beaten by all those opponents. If you don’t survive all the way until you face me, I will kill every single one of your precious family member.” He gave me a sinister smile.
“I will make you feel how devastating it is to watch someone you love suffer trauma and physical disabilities. I will watch that guilt eat you and kill you slowly.”
I shuddered at his words but mustered enough courage to spit out the only question that matters here.
“And if I don’t re-enter?”
He looked at me with empty eyes, “That’s simple. I get to torture your loved ones; one by one. I might even start with your parents, or maybe even those little ones.”
I looked away, “How can I know you’re not bluffing?” I challenged weakly.
When you see a determined older brother trying to avenge their younger sibling, the chances of them bluffing was close to nada.
“Do I look bluffing to you?!” He yelled loudly, his eyes widening with a tinge of crazed look in it. I flinched, a small fear growing in me. That look, it was the same look Dom wore the night he confessed that he played a part in Bryant’s murder.
No, I wasn’t scared for myself. I was scared for my family. This guy wasn’t sane. He was past sanity, he was past being rational. He was bloodthirsty for revenge. Whatever man that had resided in this vessel was long gone. He was dead.
In his place was a monster. A monster that was worthy of everyone’s fear.
And that small revelation broke me inside because that meant that I didn’t only break one man. I broke two men; and one of them painfully resembles Bryant when he was protecting me.
The man, having said his part, fled the place and left me to explain everything to my very confused boyfriend.
God, what was I supposed to do?
Not only have I broken two men’s sanity, I have put my family and the family I vowed to protect in harm’s way.