If I address what he said it’ll lead to me telling him to fuck off and then I’ll really have no chance of getting to Bass to hear what he has to say.

Maddoc told me not to fight, but he never said anything about going to watch other people fight.

I slip through the cut-out part of the metal fence at the farthest end of the rusted buildings and slowly make my way around, following the sound of music and shouting.

A few people recognize me from my couple fights out here and as I squeeze through the crowd, I get a few waves, couple head nods – respect, self-earned.

I find Bass toward the back, where the fighters drop their shit and collect payment at the end of their fights. He’s cashing someone out when his eyes lift and he spots me.

He motions for me to wait, so I hop up on the crate closest to me and turn to watch the next two on tonight’s card getting ready.

Looking from one to the next, the common eye leads you to believe the pick for winner is a no-brainer, but to anyone who knows a damn thing about fighting beyond a good swing would know, these two are more equal than they appear at first glance.

The ignorant choice would be the six-foot monster with roadmaps for arms, not the one warming up across from him with a lean torso and tight muscles, not to mention a good four inches shorter.

But the giant one, he’s bouncing his shoulders, ducking his head, and swinging at the air, showing me he’s betting on a solid hit to take the other guy down, while his opponent shifts on his feet, practicing bobbing and weaving around, working on combo punches.

He’s quicker, more likely has better cardio than his opponent. He’s focused, sees and hears nothing around him, while the guy he’s bound to beat the shit out of tonight is laughing and high fiving the people who are starting to form the large circle as it grows closer to go time.

Bass hops up beside me.

“Bets still open?” I keep my eyes on the fighters.

He looks at his watch. “Two minutes.”

“Put me down for five.” I glance his way and he tilts his head.

“I don’t—” He starts to deny me, but I cut him off.

“Is my money not good, here?”

He glares a minute, then asks, “On the big guy?”

I level him with a blank stare, and he laughs, bumping my shoulder, taking the money I hand over.

“Bunch of fools out tonight.” He shakes his head, looking around. “More than half these fuckers bet against your guy.”

I laugh lightly. “Figured so.”

The crowd is told to shut the fuck up by the new dude on the megaphone and the rules are laid out, but I tune him out and turn toward Bass.

“So, what’s up, what was with the secret shit earlier?”

He eyes me. “You with Maddoc?”

I rub my lips together at his question, considering what answer to give him, not that I owe him one at all. I go with the easiest answer.

“Yeah.”

He nods, having no choice but to accept my response. “All right, I can’t say for sure, because it hasn’t hit my boys’ hands yet, but word is there’s a video of you coming. And not just in the it’s almost here way, Rae.”

Confusion has my forehead wrinkling in thought. The sound of the crowd going wild pulls my attention and I glance to the center of the makeshift ring. My guy’s dominating.

“Rae.”

I shake my head and look up at Bass. “A sex tape?”

“Yup.”

“How do you know it’s me?”

“Said it was my new girl, long black hair, fucked shit up out here and disappeared.” He lifts his hands as if to say, ‘who the fuck else what they mean.’

Fuck.

A video of me is coming ... is in almost here and ... coming.

“Okay...” I trail off. “If there was one, why would anyone care to wait to show it off?”

“You’re not the only one in the video. This isn’t some random fucking scene of you handling yourself. I asked if you were with Maddoc. Supposedly, this video tells a different story. It’s you with the Brayshaws, all three of them.”

Fuuuuck.

I bury my face in my hands and Bass lets out a low whistle.

“So it could exist?”

“It’s not what it sounds like ... exactly.” That’s when it hits.

Shit!

I rush down and right when I do the crowd freaks out, my bet’s hand is raised as he’s announced winner.

I turn back to Bishop and hold out my hand.

Concern lines his brows as he slaps a grand in my palm.

“Look,” I start. “If the video’s real, it’s more than what you’re hearing. It can’t be seen.”

“Why not?” He narrows his eyes, way too fucking smart to even consider this is about embarrassment.

“There’s more to it than the obvious.”

Bass doesn’t like that answer, but he knows it’s as good as he’ll get.

“I gotta get people paid, but I’ll talk to my boy some more tonight, find out what all he knows. You gonna tell them?”

“Tell them what, Bass?” I pocket my money. “That I heard a rumor?”

“They don’t need your protection, Rae.” He eyes me a minute, and I’m surprised he’s in favor of me telling them. “If anything, maybe you need theirs.”

I brush his words off. “Thanks for telling me about this. Talk to you at school.”

He nods and walks off while I go back the way I came, stressing out on what to do.

So there’s a video of me and the guys that night at the cabins. Which means we were caught on tape breaking and entering into the fucking Graven cabin. If this gets out, it’ll cause major problems for the boys. This could ruin everything.

They’d get arrested and their dad would flip his shit. The Graven cop could maybe fuck with them in there. Captain’s visitation with Zoey will be taken away and they’ll lose their fucking season, Maddoc won’t be picked up to play in college like I have a feeling he wants to.

“Raven Carver.”

I jolt at the call of my name, spinning around to find a fist already flying.

My face hits the dirt in the next second, then a boot connects with my ribs, but it’s the blow to my head that has my eyes rolling back and darkness taking over.

There’s shouting coming from somewhere, but I can’t focus, my head’s fucking spinning.

Footsteps hit the ground in the distance, growing closer and closer as the screaming gets louder, but before they reach me, a rushed hiss hits my ear, “You don’t belong with them.”

And then they’re gone.

I’m lifted into someone’s arms in the next second.

“Shit, do we take her to the hospital?” a male asks.

“No! She’s in the system, we have to keep her off the books.” I recognize the female voice.

“Well, what do we do with her?” the guy asks, and my eyes fight to open as I’m lowered onto the seat of a car.

“I know where to take her. Just ... drive before those dudes come back.”

I squeeze my eyes closed a few times, and finally, they open a bit, but everything is a little blurry.

“Stop trying to open your eyes, Raven. You probably have a concussion.”

My forehead wrinkles. “Victoria?” I rasp and she scoffs.