“Jesus Christ. You’re not broken, Pen. You are perfect, just the way you are.” I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight. I don’t care that Damien is watching from the doorway or that the workers are taking pictures with their phones. She’s hurting, and she needs me, and there is nothing I want more than to take away her pain. “You got an address for that bastard?”

    “Yeah.” She looks up, a smile ghosting her lips. “But I’m not giving it to you because I have a feeling I won’t like what you’re planning to do.”

    No matter. Ray is the best PI in the city. Once I tell him the bastard who hurt Penny is in the country, he’ll track him down. Then we can pay a visit to him together.

    “Jack?” She pulls me back to the moment, and I study her sweet face. If I were a better man, I would let her go, find someone who won’t hurt her in any way, and continue as I was before she walked into my club and showed me her pain.

    But I am not that man.

    I am a selfish man. I have found a woman who lights my life, and I cannot let her go.

    “What happened to my muscle?” Damien shouts.

    “Is that why you’re here?” Hope flares in her eyes. “Because of the contractors? Not because you were going inside?”

    “Damien called and asked for my help. And no, I didn’t go in. Not after I made you a promise last night.”

    “But you want to,” she says quietly, catching my gaze as it flicks to the door. “You need to hurt someone. Hurt me, Jack. Let me try to give you what you need.”

    I cup her face between my hands, studying her intently, trying to figure out what’s going on behind her overly bright eyes. “I told you last night, you’re enough for me the way you are. This is not something you have to do.”

    She closes her eyes, takes a breath. When she looks up again, the fervor has gone from her face. “I want to do it. And before you say anything, I’ll tell you I’m not being totally altruistic. When you hurt me, I don’t need to hurt myself. Maybe it’s unconventional and not something a therapist would approve, but it works for me. I want to be with you the way you need me. You can embrace your darkness, and I can embrace mine.”

    I can refuse her nothing.

    “If you’re free tonight, we could go in now.”

    “No.” She gives an almost violent shake of her head. “Not here. It’s…um…unnerving. Especially since there are women there who you…you know.”

    “You’re jealous?”

    “Yes! I’m jealous.” She sounds almost relieved to reveal this fact to me, so much that her admission doesn’t ring true. But she is offering so much, I can’t ask for more.

    “Wednesday. After the charity fight.” I kiss her softly. “I’ll set something up outside the club. And I will give you pain.”

20

    I suffer. You suffer.

    PENNY

    Wednesday night, Team Redemption is out in force for Jack��s charity match at the Kezar Pavilion. As with most of the fights I’ve attended, the crowd is crazy loud. Every punch, every kick, and every submission throws them into a frenzy. Although the match isn’t being broadcast, the organizers have set up giant screens, and with Torment on my left, Blade Saw on my right, and a grinning Cora beside him, there is no chance I’ll miss a single detail.

    “Christ,” Torment mutters. “What the hell kind of fighters is Duke’s Promotions pulling in these days? Did you see all that flailing around? If Rampage fights like that when it’s his turn in the cage, I’m gonna go in there and shake things up.”

    Blade Saw barks a laugh and points at the cage. “Fuck. Lookit that dude. I think he’s going for a gogoplata, but all he’s doing is spinning his opponent.”

    “Aren’t they just starting out in the pros?” Cora asks. “Maybe they’re just nervous.”

    Blade Saw whispers in her ear, and she blushes. I’m happy things worked out after the bar brawl, although I would have been happier if Cora hadn’t texted me details of just how good Blade Saw is in bed while I had to endure two days of abstinence. Jack needed to focus while he prepared for his fight, and that meant I had to sleep alone.

    “Who has a fight card?”

    Doctor Death leans across Torment and taps my arm. “He’s up next.”

    Bam. Torment knocks Doctor Death’s hand away. “There was a reason I switched seats with you,” Torment says. “And that reason is to make sure you stay out of touching distance of Rampage’s girl.”

    “He didn’t do the walk-around.” Doctor Death lifts an eyebrow. “Until he does the walk-around, introducing her as his girl at Redemption, she’s free game.”

    “Game?” I narrow my eyes. “I’m not a wild animal.”

    “Oh, you’re wild. I’ve seen the wildness in you. It’s why I can’t stay away.” Doctor Death leans behind Torment and pets my hair.

    “Break his arm,” Torment mutters to Blade Saw. “Or I’m going to rip it off.”

    Doctor Death’s arm is saved by the timely arrival of Jack, a.k.a. Rampage, and his opponent, Razzor. I remember the tall, blond Swede from Redemption. He and Shilla used to train together but he moved to another gym last year. Physically, he doesn’t appear to be any match for Jack, who is broader and more muscular despite being about two inches shorter.

    They enter the cage, and I jump on my seat and scream.

    Doctor Death looks up and grins. “Wild. Just like I said.”

    The referee blows his whistle, and Razzor shoots in and scores a quick takedown. He positions himself on top of Jack and plants big shots and elbows. Jack throws his own vertical elbows to the top of Razzor’s head.