“I was getting up.”
Reed’s smug expression turns menacing. “Prove it.”
Just when I think there’s no hope, I see Titan jogging across the parking lot toward us. Either he’ll stop the Twins from starting World War III or he’ll tip the scales in their favor. I won’t feel the least bit guilty if Reed and his friends are outnumbered.
“Everyone needs to chill,” Titan says, catching his breath. “Coach has eyes on you.”
Titan looks over at the gym. The football coach is stationed out front, arms crossed, staring directly at us.
Christian and Cam look over and see him, too. “Shit.”
“He said if any of us gets into another fight, we’re benched for three games.”
Christian raises his eyebrows. “Three games? There’s no way he’d do that.”
“Coach said he’ll lose three games before he’ll let his players disrespect him,” Titan says.
Cameron turns back to TJ. “My coach just saved your life.”
TJ laughs. “You don’t even know how funny that is, man. I could take you without breaking a sweat.”
Cameron moves to take a step forward, and Titan grabs his jacket and jerks him back. “Get your head out of your ass right now, Cameron. Coach is serious. He’s still pissed off about the cafeteria.”
“We’ve gotta go anyway,” Reed says. “I’ll call you later, Peyton.” He tosses out the comment casually, like we’re still dating and I don’t hate his guts. “And, Owen? If you want to finish what we started in the cage, I’ll be at that abandoned mill outside Black Water tonight at nine.” Reed looks at me and smiles. “You know the one I’m talking about, right? Where you partied last Friday night.”
My blood runs cold. “You were there?”
“I have to keep an eye on my girl. Even if she’s telling lies,” Reed says.
“There’s a name for that,” Grace says. “It’s called stalking.”
I ball my hands into fists at my sides. “How did you find me?”
“I was working on tracking you down when Billy said he saw you at a fight in Tennessee.”
“So what did you do? Check all the high schools in Tennessee until you found me?”
“I didn’t have to. Billy said you were wearing a hoodie with ‘Black Water Warriors’ on the back.”
Owen’s hoodie.
How could I be so stupid?
“I wouldn’t leave my girl here all alone in a town where she doesn’t know anybody—except those two.” He looks over at the Twins.
Owen balls his hands into fists at his sides.
“I’m not yours, Reed. I never was.”
Owen looks Reed in the eyes. “Peyton doesn’t belong to anyone.”
Reed pretends he isn’t listening. “Did you say something?”
“I’ll be there tonight,” Owen fires back. “Did you hear that or do I need to repeat it?”
I whip around and face Owen. “No, you won’t,” I say under my breath.
Anger is coming off Owen in waves. “He has probably been following you the whole time you’ve been here.”
A little over a month.
Reed stretches and cracks his neck. “Well, not the whole time. A guy’s gotta sleep. But I was checking in. You’ve got a nice school, by the way. I like the banner in the hallway. ‘Players go for the win. Warriors battle for it.’ It’s catchy.”
My blood pressure takes a nosedive, and suddenly I’m light-headed. I grab Owen’s arm to steady myself. Reed has been inside the school.
“You put the note and the dead rabbit in my locker, didn’t you?” I should’ve known.
Reed whips around and grabs TJ by the throat. “A dead rabbit? That’s what you put in her locker?”
TJ grabs Reed’s wrist. “You said to scare her.”
Reed shoves him away. “We’ll talk about that bullshit later.”
“You’re a sick bastard.” Owen is starting to lose it.
The Twins step in front of him. “Not here, man.”
“Peyton is right.” Reed heads for the street, with TJ and Billy trailing behind him like stray dogs. “I’ll see you tonight, Owen. Nine o’clock.”
Owen’s chest heaves, rising and falling too fast, as he watches Reed go.
“We’d better get our asses to practice,” Titan tells the Twins. Their coach is still standing out front, watching them.
The guys take off.
“I want to talk to Owen for a minute,” I tell Grace.
“I’ll wait for you by my car,” she says.
“Calm down, Owen. Please.” He looks almost as angry as he did last night.
“I’m calm. I’ll deal with him tonight.”
“You can’t meet him tonight. He’s talking about an underground fight.”
“Whatever. It’s a rematch.”
I stand in front of him and touch his face to get him to look at me. “Have you ever been to an underground fight?”
He shrugs. That’s a no.
“There are no rules, no refs, no cutman, and no paramedics if something happens. It’s last man standing, literally.”
“Then I’ll be the last man standing.”
“Did you hear what I just said?” I ask. “There are no refs. No bell. No doctors. No equipment if something happens to you. If your heart—”
“I don’t care about that.”
“You don’t care if you die? Is that what you’re saying?” I can’t stand it.
“I’ll be fine.”
“You don’t know that. Reed fights dirty. And he has clearly gone off the deep end. He’s on steroids, Owen.”
“I have to go.” Owen’s eyes lock on mine. “He hurt you.” He runs his thumb down the side of my cheek. “I can’t live with that. Whether you want to be with me or not, I can’t just suck up the fact that he pushed you down a flight of steps and pretended like it didn’t happen. He could’ve killed you.”
This isn’t just about me, even if Owen doesn’t realize it.
“I understand why this is so hard for you. You couldn’t protect your mom and we didn’t know each other when Reed pushed me, so you couldn’t protect me, either. But risking your life won’t change what happened to your mom. And she wouldn’t want you to take this kind of a chance.”
“I can’t just let him get away with hurting you.”
My frustration turns to anger. “Don’t act like you’re doing this for me.”
“I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it because of you. Because of what he did to you.”
“No, you aren’t. You’re doing this for yourself.”
That gets his attention.
Owen looks at me, his eyes full of pain. “I don’t care about myself.”
“That’s the problem. I do. And if you care about what I want and what would hurt me, you won’t go tonight. Because if something happens to you, that would hurt me more than anything Reed has ever done.”
“You can’t say that.”
“I’m saying it. I’m telling you that I don’t want you to go. And if I matter to you as much as you say I do, you won’t.”
Owen drags his hands through his hair, like he wants to yank it out. “What if you can’t play again because of him? What if you lose your spot at UNC?”
“Don’t do that. You don’t have to worry about my knee or what happens with UNC. That hasn’t changed since yesterday. What you should care about are my feelings. And I’m telling you that it will hurt me more than anything if something happens to you—especially if Reed is involved. He wouldn’t ask you to meet him if he didn’t have an ulterior motive. He’s been following me around. His friend put a dead animal in my locker. Doesn’t that show you there’s something seriously wrong with him?”
“I have to do this.”
“If you go there tonight, I won’t be waiting afterward—not as your friend or anything else.” A tear escapes and runs down the side of my face.
“Don’t say that. We’re more than just friends, and no matter what, w
e’ll always be friends.”
“Not if you do this. I can’t watch you self-destruct.” I’ve been down this road before. Owen is nothing like Reed, but the conversation feels familiar.
“It’s gonna be fine, I promise.” Owen reaches for me, but I pull away.
“It’s me or the fight, Owen. You have to choose.”
The look in his eye gives me the answer before he says it. “Don’t do this, Peyton. I can’t let him get away with what he did to you. He physically hurt you—so bad that you needed surgery.”
“You didn’t hear a word I said.” I back away, and my heart feels like it’s being ripped to pieces.
“You don’t know how much you mean to me, Peyton. I swear—”
“If you’re going tonight, I do.” I turn away and walk straight to Grace’s car without looking back. On the other side of my tears, the cars tilt and blur.
Grace is sitting on the trunk of her car and she hops off when she sees me. She gives me a huge hug. “What happened?”
“He didn’t pick me.”
CHAPTER 40
Broken and Battered
NOW THAT OWEN is gone and I’m with Grace, I burst into full-blown tears. She keeps asking me to tell her exactly what happened, but I can’t stop crying long enough to get out more than a few words.
The Twins are at football practice and Hawk is consulting with a client in Nashville, so we go back to my uncle’s house.
Once we’re in my room, I finally calm down enough to talk to her.
Grace hands me the box of tissues on the desk.
“Thanks for coming over. You’re a really good friend.”
Grace shrugs a little. “I know. But it’s easy to be a good friend when you only have one.”
I switch from ugly crying to ugly nose blowing, until I use up all the tissues. “I’m not your only friend.”
“Christian and Cameron don’t count. Guys and girls can’t be friends, remember?”
I force a tiny smile, and it makes my face hurt.
“Want to tell me what happened?” she asks.
“Owen is meeting Reed tonight. I told him what underground fights are like, but he wouldn’t listen. I literally begged him not to go.”
“What did he say?”
“That he couldn’t let Reed get away with hurting me. I told Owen that if he actually cared about me, he wouldn’t go. But nothing I said made a difference.” I’m not giving her the whole story.
“I know how he feels. Both times I’ve seen Reed, I wanted to punch him in the face. It’s hard to know that someone hurt my friend, and Owen thinks of you as a lot more than that.”
As much as I don’t want to betray Owen, I have to tell someone about his heart and the real risk he’s taking. Because I have no clue what to do next.
“Owen shared something with me in confidence, and normally I would never repeat it. But if he’s planning to meet Reed tonight, that changes everything. If I tell you, it will stay between us right?”
“Of course. I swear.”
I take a deep breath. “Owen has a heart condition.”
“Like high blood pressure?”
“No. It’s a genetic defect called Brugada syndrome. The type Owen has is super rare. It affects his heartbeat.” My voice cracks. “His heart could just stop beating.”
Grace gasps. “How do they restart it? CPR? Or does someone have to jab him in the chest with a giant needle full of adrenaline, like in the movies?”
A tear runs down my cheek.
“Those aren’t options for Owen. The only way to restart his heart is with a defibrillator. And there’s no guarantee it will work. But if his heart does stop, unless he’s near a hospital or somebody just happens to have a defibrillator in the trunk of their car, he’ll die.” The last word catches in my throat.
“I had no idea. He’s such an amazing athlete. Are people with heart defects supposed to compete in MMA?”
“Owen shouldn’t be involved in any contact sports, but he doesn’t care. He’s convinced that he’s going to die, so it doesn’t matter. It’s like he’s given up.” I wipe my face and blow my nose. My phone rings. “I don’t want to talk to him.”
Grace checks the number. “It’s not Owen. It’s Tess.”
“That’s Reed trying to be stealth.” I can’t believe he’s calling me after everything he did.
I take my phone from Grace. “Stop calling me, stop texting me, and leave me the hell alone,” I say before he has a chance to get a word in.
Someone sniffles on the other end of the line. “Peyton? It’s Tess.” Her voice sounds so small and far away.
“Tess? Is that you? Are you okay?”
She chokes back a sob. “No.”
“Where are you?”
“At a motel.” She takes a shaky breath. “I know you were telling the truth about Reed.”
“You do? Did he admit it?”
“He didn’t have to.” She coughs, half crying.
“Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.”
“We’re staying at the Howard Johnson in Bay Creek. Is that too far?”
I check the GPS on my phone. “Bay Creek is about twenty minutes from here.”
“I don’t want you to come here, in case he comes back. There’s a Circle K up the street. Want to pick me up there?” she asks.
“Wherever you want.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you there.”
I slip on Dad’s jacket. “I’m leaving in a minute.”
Tess is quiet for a moment. “I should’ve believed you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
She hangs up, and I stare at the phone, stunned.
“What happened?” Grace asks.
“I don’t know. Tess asked if I could come pick her up. She knows I was telling the truth about Reed. Maybe she caught him using. I don’t think he’d admit it.”
“After meeting him, I agree.”
An awful feeling builds inside me. There was something about Tess’ voice that sounded off.
* * *
“There she is,” I tell Grace as she pulls into the Circle K parking lot. Tess is huddled against the wall, her blond hair peeking out from beneath an oversize hoodie. It’s not her look. It’s sloppy and so not Tess.
Grace parks, and I get out. “I’ll wait here,” she says.
The moment I step under the streetlight I know something is wrong.
“Thanks for coming to get me,” Tess says. She’s staring at the ground, her hands in the front pocket of the giant hoodie.
“What happened?” I ask her. “How did you figure out I was telling the truth?”
Tess slowly raises her head and pulls down the hood. One side of her face is black and blue from the top of her cheekbone to the bottom of her jaw. I’ve had enough bruises to know those aren’t fresh. But the cut on her swollen lip is.
“Reed did that?” I almost can’t believe it. It was one thing to hurt me, but I never thought he would hurt Tess.
“Yeah. He’s done it a few times. Just not like this. He’s really bad now, Peyton. He’s taking all kinds of stuff.”
“What set him off?”
“I found some of his pills. It’s his new thing. I said something. I must have picked the wrong day of his cycle—who knows? This is what he’s like now. But that’s not why I called.”
That’s not why she called? Has she seen her face?
“Come on, get in the car.” I don’t want to run the risk of Reed seeing her.
Tess gets in the back seat. “Hi,” she says to Grace. “Thanks for picking me up.”
Grace’s eyes go wide when she sees Tess’ face, and Tess pulls up her hood again. “Are you okay?” Grace asks her.
“No. But I’m not worried about me. Reed is going to hurt your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. But—”
“Reed is going to hurt him. I heard him talking to TJ and Billy about it.”
“Are those losers doping, too?”
 
; “TJ is for sure. I don’t know about Billy. I hate them both. Reed is so pissed off about that guy Owen. He’s so paranoid now. He’s convinced that Owen is the reason you won’t get back together with him. You can’t let Owen go tonight.”
“Yeah, well, that ship has sailed.”
“No, Peyton, I’m serious. Reed is going to fight dirty. And if Owen doesn’t lose, and lose bad, Reed, TJ, and Billy are going to jump him when he leaves the fight.”
My heart plummets. Owen might be able to beat Reed, but he can’t take all three of them. Not after a fight, with a heart condition he ignores.
“Call Owen and tell him not to show up. The last few underground fights Reed has been in…” She takes a deep breath. “One of the guys ended up in the hospital. I heard another guy is all scarred up. Reed dipped his wraps.”
“What?”
“Reed told me stories about guys dipping their hand wraps in crushed glass.”
“Stop.” My stomach threatens to turn inside out. “Oh god. We have to tell Owen.”
I call his cell, and it goes straight to voice mail. Then I text him.
Nothing.
“What are we gonna do? We can’t just show up at the fight,” Grace says. “We can’t stop Reed and his jacked-up friends ourselves.” She’s right.
There’s only one way to save Owen.
It will destroy his future as a fighter, but it will save his life.
“I have to call the cops and report the fight.”
“Tell them there’s gambling,” Grace says. “This is a small town. If you mention gambling, they’ll check it out.”
I look back at Tess. “If I call, you know what’s going to happen.”
“I know.”
“What’s gonna happen?” Grace asks. “Fill me in.”
“If Owen and Reed get arrested at an underground fight, they’ll both be kicked out of the league. They won’t be able to fight anymore. I mean, not on a competitive circuit.” I look at Tess when I say, “And that means no prize money.”
Tess nods. “Someone has to stop him.”
Owen’s future as a competitive fighter will be over. Even though part of me feels like I’m saving him because he shouldn’t be fighting anyway, that’s his decision. But knowing Reed is trying to hurt him and could possibly kill him? I can’t ignore that.