Spyder rummaged around in his pocket and pulled out a bundle of notes, "Take this and buy yourself anything but you have to be back here in an hour. Someone is trailing Jazz as we speak and should you step out of line she'll get it."

I realised I had no choice in the matter and nodded my head agreeing, "I understand and I promise not to let you down." If I were thinking about escaping then I needed to be wise and bide my time, making him an enemy wasn't on my plan of things to do so I needed to go ahead with this.

I took the notes and stuffed them into my handbag before exiting the Range Rover. As I shut the door I looked into the rear of the vehicle and remembered that Leanne was still with us, I'd forgotten because she was so quiet. "Can Leanne come with me? She could do with some more clothes." I asked through the window praying under my breath that she'd be allowed.

"No, she's also my security that you'll come back home." Spyder gave me a wink before he pulled away leaving me standing on the pavement.

"s.h.i.t!" I hated the fact that I was leaving Leanne alone with him but I was pleased that Spyder said he was taking her home rather than to the s.h.i.t hole with the other girls. I turned to face the building and took a deep breath feeling a little scared that I was out here alone. The feeling that I was being watched washed over me again and I glanced around the busy car park hoping to see a familiar face but no one was recognisable. I slowly walked to the shopping centre clutching my handbag because of the amount of cash it held, I wasn't in the mood for shopping but I needed to prove to Spyder that I could do as I was told.

The first shop I saw was an independent coffee shop, and I longed to just sit and a.n.a.lyse today's events without any added pressure. I ordered a cup of coffee and sat at a window seat so that I could observe my surroundings, from this position I could also see the large clock on the wall and had no chance of being late. I took a sip of my hot drink and savoured the feeling as the liquid slid down my throat warming me. I hadn't realised how cold I was but I'd come out without a jacket, and held the cup between both hands to take away the chill.

I'd been surprised by Jayden's reaction, I thought he may have shunned me because of the circ.u.mstances but he was surprisingly understanding. He'd asked plenty of questions, some a little difficult to answer but I understood he needed to get everything right in his own head before he spoke to relevant people. I a.s.sumed CJ was a friend but he'd also mentioned a club, I'd been racking my brains to think what that may have meant but I was at a lost.

I was startled by a lady dropping her cup on the floor, and held my hand firmly over my chest as I tried to control my breathing. I glanced around the shop looking for possible lookouts and could justify almost everyone I saw. The lady with the pushchair would be a perfect informant because she wouldn't be expected, or the man sitting in the corner with his sungla.s.ses on so I couldn't see where he was looking or possibly the elderly couple staring at each other over a cup of coffee. I was on edge, a simple shopping trip had turned me into a nervous wreck but things were so different two years ago before I was taken. Jazz and I would spend hours walking the high street looking for bargains but without her it just wasn't the same. He had killed those special memories for his own selfish gain, and I wouldn't let him get away with it. If I was seeing Jayden again in a few days, I needed to be prepared to give him as much information as possible in order for him to bring this firm down. He'd destroyed too many lives and it would take a strong person to take him down, I just didn't know how much back up Jayden may have?

People came and went during the time I sat at my table but I wasn't prepared to move as I didn't want to be followed. Spyder may get the hump with me for not buying anything nice but I didn't want his money or gifts, I just wanted to go home.

I still had ten minutes left of the hour he'd given me for shopping but I 'd had enough of sitting on my a.r.s.e, that I stood and slowly walked from the building casually looking around to try and see who was watching me. It wasn't made obvious but I had that feeling again that sent shivers up my spine. As I made it out into the car park, I saw Spyder's white Discovery and walked briskly to the vehicle, as I was feeling cold from the night air.

He looked at me and frowned, "Where are the bags?"

"I wasn't in the mood for shopping so I went and grabbed a coffee, I hope you don't mind?"

He looked at me questioningly, "You mean to say that I've given you 400 and you only bought a coffee?" I nodded my head as he laughed, "You're one in a million babe." Spyder leaned over and planted a kiss on my forehead before making his way down my check towards my lips. I didn't want this, I couldn't allow him to kiss me like we were in a relationship and pulled away but I was instantly scared that he'd give me another beating.

"What's up?" he asked clearly p.i.s.sed off.

"I was just wondering where Leanne was!"

"She's joined a party with the other girls." The look of horror on my face made him question me further. "What's the matter with that? I've brought her here to be a working girl not a new toy for you to play with."

"I've never asked you for anything in the two years that I've been here and all I wanted you to do was to tread carefully with this one but now you've gone and thrown her to the lions on her first f.u.c.king day." I crossed my arms over my chest and stared out of the window.

"She's a f.u.c.king wh.o.r.e like you, don't forget your place Sam because I went a little soft this evening and allowed you to go shopping. I can take it away as quickly as I gave it to you." He slammed the stick into drive and floored the accelerator in rage. I held onto the door and the seat as I was tossed around as he drove at speed.

"Stop it Spyder, you're gonna get us killed." I screamed.

He ignored my pleas and continued to drive like a lunatic through the narrow streets, his driving was earning us attention from pedestrians as they shouted and cursed as he drove erratically. "Just f.u.c.king stop it, you've proved your point!"

Spyder slammed on the breaks and brought the vehicle to a standstill. I flung forward not having enough time to brace myself and the seatbelt dug tightly into my skin. My breathing was erratic from the adrenaline pumping through my body and I felt his eyes bore into my skin.

"Tell me what point I've proved Sam." I moved the hair from my face and tucked it behind my ears before turning towards him. He was annoyed, I'd spoken out of turn again and needed to apologise to smooth things over. "You've proved that you're angry with me. I was wrong to question your motives and I'm sorry." I didn't mean a f.u.c.king word of that apology but I needed him to think that I did.

"No, what I was proving is that I'm in control of every aspect of your life. If I want you to feel happy you will, if I want you to feel scared you will and if I want you dead I can make that happen. Don't ever take my kindness as weakness and don't ever question my motives again. Do you understand?"

I nodded my head, I could've ruined everything this evening for not thinking before I opened my mouth and I made a mental note of never allowing that to happen again. I had a few days, that was all and this situation would hopefully be sorted.

"Let's put this down to being a little excited at your new found freedom, and never talk of it again." He pulled away and moved his hand resting it on my thigh and gave it a light squeeze. "Let's get you home."

Chapter 7.

CJ.

"We have a lot riding on this CJ, don't let us down," Duke patted me on the back as he pa.s.sed, making his way to stand at the back of the barn.

I still had an hour before the fight officially started but I was here a little early to warm up and greet the family that were coming to support me. I heard movement behind me and turned to see Jay f.u.c.king around with various bags, "What you doing?" I asked walking over to relieve him of some of the things he was carrying.

"I've got a first aid kit, some water, bananas and a change of clothes for after the fight."

"Ah honey you do care!" I stated mockingly although I was grateful for what he was doing. He looked affronted by my comment, I placed my hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. "I'm pulling your d.i.c.k." Now he looked even more confused which made me sn.i.g.g.e.r. "Jay I'm f.u.c.king around, I'm so grateful for what you've done for me lately." I moved closer and pulled him in for a manly hug. He'd been my rock over recent weeks and although our friendship was fairly new, I knew that I'd found someone that I could trust and hopefully with time call a close friend. Jay was so easy going but had many of Locke's characteristics, which is why we probably got on so well. I only hoped that Locke was looking over me pleased that I'd found another partner in crime.

He smiled and stepped back out of my embrace with a genuine smile on his face before moving over to the corner of the room to set up his bags of c.r.a.p.

"Hi Caleb," I recognised that voice.

I turned to see Fallon, flounce through the barn towards me. She looked out of place standing here in a derelict barn and although she was only wearing jeans and a blouse, she looked like she'd stepped off a cat walk. I was immediately made aware of the eyes around the building staring at her and could feel my blood boil at the attention she was getting.

Fallon wrapped her arms tightly around my middle and rested her head on my chest. I gently kissed the top of her head, "And how are you beautiful?"

"You know I don't like you and the boys fighting." Fallon tightened her grip around me.

"I was surprised to see you here to be honest."

"I may go and wait in the car, I just wanted to come and say I'm here to support you and that I love you." She looked up at me with those gorgeous green eyes and smiled.

"I'd prefer you not to sit in the car by yourself but I understand that you don't want to watch the fight."

She sn.i.g.g.e.red, "Nothings gonna happen to me with this lot here as protection." Fallon pointed behind her as we heard the laughter from Eli, Finn and Rian. I let go of Fallon and turned my attention to the guys as they approached, "So pleased you could come."

"I wouldn't miss this for the f.u.c.king world." Eli stated glancing around the room. "Is that Jamie's lot over in the corner?" he asked puffing out his chest further.

I rolled my eyes at his actions, "Yes but don't start anything, I don't want it getting nasty."

Eli held his hand on his chest, "Me? As if I'd start anything little brother."

I looked in the direction of Rian and Finn, "Keep an eye on him."

They both sn.i.g.g.e.red, "Of course we will. Now where do I get myself a beer and place a bet on Jamie to win?"

I punched Finn in the arm, and he brought his hand to the place where I'd made contact. "Easy tiger I was only joking."

"Good, you don't want to be betting on him." I pointed to the far right of the barn, "Everything you need is over there."

Finn gave me a nod and casually walked in the direction of the make shift bar with Eli and Rian closely following behind him. They looked a force to be reckoned with, they didn't weave through the group, people actually moved out of their way as their reputations went before them.

"Always wanna be bad a.r.s.es!" Fallon said taking the p.i.s.s out of the guys, I sn.i.g.g.e.red as that's how we'd gotten where we were in life. We were from the travelling community although we had now set ourselves roots and all lived in houses. Dad still lived on the site and was one of the elders but that wasn't the life for us.

We'd adopted certain parts of our culture and were happy to carry on most traditions but we were also aware that things had to change in order for us to survive in society.

The main thing that I didn't agree with was the treatment of Rex. He'd been shunned by our community because he divorced his wife, now she was the biggest slag I knew and he'd been a patient man taking her back time after time with everyone on the site knowing what she was getting up to. After years of dealing with her infidelity, he finally saw sense and got a divorce but with that came the harsh consequences and he was asked to leave.

Now this never sat right with me and the guys, I always flipped every scenario to look at it from every perspective before I made any judgements and more times than not I used Fallon as my reasoning. If she was married and some bloke f.u.c.ked her about would I allow her to stay with him? She wouldn't have a chance to get divorced because he'd already be dead but for the sake of the argument, no one should stay with their husband or wife if it makes them unhappy. Now if you were shunned for getting a divorce, I couldn't understand why so many of the travelling community got married so young. I wasn't prepared to marry someone for the sake of it only to regret it later on in life and the guys agreed that this rule would apply to Fallon also. She found it hard to date anyway because of us, no bloke in their right mind would come near her. However, at this moment in her life Fallon wasn't too bothered as she was concentrating on the family business or so she'd informed us. Fallon had also discovered the harsh reality of not following the rules, and had been verbally abused by some of the women on the site. At twenty-four, she was considered too old to get married. I would prefer her to marry within the community but ultimately I wanted her to be happy, she was a knockout and I knew she'd have many bloke's chasing her a.r.s.e all over town if we allowed it.

"Fallon?" I glanced over her shoulder to see Rex stand behind her. She span around and jumped into his arms giving him a huge squeeze.

"How you doing Paul?" she asked excitedly.

"Different day but same old s.h.i.t you know how it works."

"What's going on?"

"Brooke and Yasmin, do I need to say anymore?" he shrugged his shoulders and I immediately felt sorry for the man. Brooke was his wayward teenage daughter who took drugs and purposely dated men outside of the community and Yasmin was just as outrageous, sleeping around with no respect for herself. She wasn't blood, in fact she was Rex's ex wife's niece but he'd taken her in when she had nowhere else to go. She repaid him by being disrespectful and basically taking the p.i.s.s out of his good nature.

"You should let me come round and have a word with them about respect." Fallon stated clearly p.i.s.sed off by the way they were treating her G.o.dfather. I moved closer and placed my arm around her shoulder, she was only small but she was a little spitfire when she got going.

"Thank you Fallon, you're such a sweetheart. Why couldn't I have had you as a daughter instead?" She moved out of my embrace and stood on her tiptoes to place a kiss on Rex's cheek. "If you need anything Paul, please just give me a call. The boys and I are here for you, I truly mean that."

Paul smiled and looked a little happier from their brief conversation, "Thank you Fallon." He turned his attention to me, "And good luck for the fight."

"Not long now CJ!" Rian patted me on the back as he joined us.

"Hi Paul, how you doing?" Eli asked shaking his hand and pulling him in for a hug.

"Not bad Eli, look I'll let you boys get on and I'll see you at the end, good luck." He nodded his head and manoeuvred himself through the crowd and over to the rest of the club members who'd congregated in a corner of the barn.

"Can I borrow CJ?" Jayden asked the group.

"Of course Jay, you get him ready for the fight of his life." Finn was right, there was a lot riding on this because there was so much history between us. Lyric had been winding me up for months and I couldn't wait to put his brother on his a.r.s.e.

"Is everything okay?" I glanced around the group and caught Lyrics eye, he tried to stare and intimidate me but I wasn't scared. I had a point to prove, and I'd be doing that this evening. I'd put 5,000 on myself winning this evening's fight courtesy of Locke's estate, and I'd be winning this fight tonight for him.

"Everything's fine, we just need to get you ready." Jayden stated pulling on my arm. I sn.i.g.g.e.red at his actions, I couldn't work out who was more nervous him or me?

"CJ, Jamie, make your way to the centre and can everyone else please leave the area and move to the sides." Patrick asked in a booming voice so all could hear. The crowd slowly dispersed, and I quickly gave Jay a manly hug.

"Good luck mate."

"Thanks," I patted him on the back before I walked towards Patrick who'd be overseeing the fight this evening.

"You know the rules, you've fought before. If you hold on I'll break you up, if you fall I'll count you out. Keep it tight, keep it entertaining." He patted me down first checking around my clothing for any weapons, once he was happy that I was clean he moved on to Jamie.

"Right guys, take your positions."

"I'm gonna f.u.c.k you up CJ and enjoy doing it in the process."

I sn.i.g.g.e.red at his comment, "So why do you look so scared?" he narrowed his eyes and took his stance.

The crowd were electric and the chants were getting louder, there was a nice mixt of supporters for both sides and a few neutrals thrown in as they enjoyed watching a match. I bounced a little on my toes and moved my neck from side to side warming up as I waited for it to all kick off. The crowd got louder as Jarred brought down his hand to ring the bell.

I knew that Jamie would surge towards me, I'd been watching his fights most evenings with Jay a.n.a.lysing what he did. This had given me a better understanding of how he moved and what to expect throughout the fight. He also went at it hard at the beginning of the fight so he wore himself out quickly. All I needed to do was bide my time and not get hurt and my fitness should be able to see me through.

I stepped to the side dodging his fists and connected with his stomach to the roar of the crowd. He took it well and quickly regained his composure to stand tall and surge towards me again. I was at a slight disadvantage because of his height, it meant I needed to get into him and probably take a few hits to land one myself. I moved backwards making him chase me and waste some of that energy he had but the guys had come here for a fight not to see us play cat and mouse.

I went in hard and missed the first shot but landed the second, I stepped back and slipped on the dusty ground. Trying to keep my footing I dropped my guard and Jamie made contact with my left cheek. It stung like a mother f.u.c.ker and I closed my eye trying to shake it off before my composure was back. Holding up my guard again, I stepped forward this time connecting a body shot and heard the cheers from my side of the room. Jamie lunged forward and wrapped his arms around my shoulders putting his body weight on me. This was a tactic used to wear an opponent out but he shouldn't be doing that this early in a match.

Patrick intervened quickly and separated us, "Don't f.u.c.king hang on lad, fight." Once Patrick was out of the way I winked at Jamie, and could see the annoyance on his face.

Jamie stepped forward and jabbed twice in quick succession and caught me on the cheek again, the sound echoed around the room and the cheering became louder from Jamie's supporters. My cheek stung from the contact but I danced around a little, buying myself some time to regain my composure. I was going to fight my own fight and not be panicked into changing anything due to him getting a few lucky shots.

"Increase the tempo," Jayden shouted from the sidelines. We'd discussed this tactic so he could let me know his evaluation of what was going on and what he wanted me to do. I stepped closer to Jamie and cracked him in the ribs before catching him on the nose with my other hand. I'd caught him well and his nose bleed causing the crowd to go wild. In quick succession he landed his fist on my cheek and I hit back catching his jaw. This momentum went on for another couple of shots neither of us putting up our guards but just using brute force to inflict pain. Jamie stepped forward and slipped on the uneven surface, he grabbed me in the process and we both went down to the roars of the crowd for us to quickly get up.

I landed on Jamie and used my elbow to take some of the weight as I fell and smiled when it met his stomach hard. He groaned at the contact but didn't have much time to think about it as we were pulled to our feet.

"Fight!" Patrick shouted indicating for us to continue.

Jamie wiped his nose with the back of his hands and I glanced at Patrick to have a word because that was filthy. I'd taken my eye off the ball and he made contact hitting me in the neck. I doubled over and gasped for air unaware of the knee coming towards me until it landed on the side of my head. I fell to the ground still gasping for air from the punch to the neck. The f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d, if he wanted to fight dirty I was fine with that he only needed to say. I struggled to my feet still trying to catch my breath to see Patrick had taken Jamie to his corner to reprimand him and get him cleaned up.

"Are you hurt?" Jayden asked quickly lifting a bottle of water to my mouth so I could take a quick swig.

"No I'm not hurt, I just didn't want his f.u.c.king blood all over me." I managed to get out in a husky voice as I breathed in air slowly.

"Okay you're doing well, you just need to increase the tempo coz he's slowing down." I nodded my head understanding and stepped forward as Patrick was about to start the fight again.

"How's your neck?" he asked trying to rattle me.

I shook my head at his immature attempt to annoy me, "I've just been warming up, now the real fighting begins." I winked before cracking him in the cheek. I now had the better of him and continued the momentum by punching him several times. Jamie lifted his hands to try and protect his face but I knocked them out of the way. I had him up against the wall but it wasn't his face that I could see any more, it was Onyx's face and he was smirking at me. Smirking and laughing at me for killing my friend but he wouldn't be doing that for much longer. I smashed him repeatedly in the face over and over again, when he lifted his hands again to protect himself I smashed them out of the way but still he laughed, Onyx needed to die.

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, pulling me back but I fought with everything I had to get free, he wasn't dead and I needed to end his life the way he ended Locke's.

"CJ that's enough, you'll f.u.c.king kill him." Duke and Eli had hold of me dragging me away from where the crowd had now congregated.

"He needs to die, he needs to die for what he did to Locke." I saw their confused glances and Jayden crouched in front of me.

"CJ, you were fighting Jamie, Lyrics brother. He didn't hurt Locke, he had nothing to do with his death." I could hear his words but they weren't registering. "Here, have some of this." Jayden lifted the bottle to my lips allowing me to take a long swig of the cool liquid.

"You did a good f.u.c.king job on him bro," Finn squatted beside me and looked me over checking for damage. "He needs an icepack on that cheek to reduce the swelling and possibly one on his knuckles.

Jayden nodded his head and rummaged around in his bag bringing out two icepacks as requested.

"I'm sorry guys, I just flipped and saw Onyx instead of Jamie. Is he gonna be okay?"

"A doctor called James is with him now, he's responsive so let's hope so." Rian knelt on the ground beside me. "That was some comeback, I thought he had you with that dirty trick."

I tried to get up from the ground, "What you trying to do?" Duke asked making sure I didn't move further by placing his hand on my shoulder.

"I need to go and see if he's okay." I tried to get up again but I was pushed back.

"No you need to sit tight and hold these icepacks on you to bring down the swelling. Diesel's over there finding out the particulars." I nodded my head and grabbed an icepack to place it on my cheek, it instantly felt better from the coldness on the burning hot area of skin. I could see the swelling as the lump was getting larger under my eye socket and groaned at what I must look like .