18| Pomegranate

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Dark themes ahead. Ye be warned.

"Gage . . . what is going on?"

Her question echoed through my mind repeatedly like a mantra. It was something I've heard from my worst dreams, but now it was my reality. All of this was a complete nightmare that I couldn't escape. I couldn't close my eyes and hope that I would wake up as much as I wanted to. Instead, I had to accept that I was here, in the middle of Katy's ruined bakery, her soul, clinging to her as she sobbed uncontrollably. She came face to face with my greatest demon and he struck, hard.

My first instinct was to run after the fucker and kill him, but when I looked down at Katy, so broken and fragile, I knew I had other things to worry about. Sparrow will live for today.

But as soon as I see him, I swear I'll kill the bastard for what he's done. Debt be damned.

"Gage?" Katy's cracked bright me back from my bloodlust. "W-Why did this happen? What do they want with you?"

I could almost feel my heart split into tiny little pieces at the way she was looking at me now. Someone who I vowed to protect and trusted me, now it was ruined. I promised myself I would never see her look so sad ever again, but now look at what I've done. She was completely shattered beyond belief like the bits of glass scattered across her floor. I still remember what Lamar said to me yesterday about her going through so much in her life, and clearly, this isn't helping. I've made it worse. We were both thrown into a nightmare we couldn't escape, battling for the last bit of light that was ripped from our hands.

It only made me that more determined to destroy Sparrow the way he destroyed Katy.

Her once bright eyes pleaded for an answer that I didn't want to give. But after everything she's been through tonight, I knew I had to put my pride away because she deserved to know. Everything.

"Let's get you out of here first," I lifted her up and cringed when I heard bits of glass fall to the ground from her skin.

After checking out the area once more, just in case, I locked everything back up and paused to look at the mess wondering how we were going to explain this tomorrow. Clearly, the bakery couldn't function with the way it was now. I guess it's just something we will figure out tomorrow.

The whole ride home she was quiet. I was hoping the feeling of being on a motorcycle would cheer her up some, but when she got off she remained silent. I checked on her almost every ten seconds as we walked up the stairs although she only gave me a few tight head nods. I've never seen her look so defeated before.

There was no debate on whose place we were going to when she paused in front of my door.

"My purse is at the bakery," she explained. Although I would much rather she go to her place where it was more comfortable, and for other reasons, I guess there was no point in it if she didn't have a key. With a sigh, I unlocked my door mentally preparing myself for what was to come.

I let her go inside first so I could stay back and scan the area in case Sparrow was still lurking around. When everything looked clear I followed behind her and shut the door.

Katy stood in the middle of my living room with her arms folded in front of her looking a little awkward so I said, "You can sit down, you know. Whatever you need to do or whatever you want you can--"

"I want answers," her voice wavered a little but the determination was there.

I blinked in surprise at her straightforwardness but I guess I should have expected that.

"Okay," I sat my keys to the side. "But before we begin do you want anything?"

She paused. "Maybe some water."

"Right," I practically ran to the kitchen and threw open the fridge. I had one water bottle left thankfully. Although it wasn't the coldest I cracked the top for her and went to the living room to hand it over.

Katy was sitting on the couch finally with a blanket on top of her small frame. When she saw me walk back in she reached out for the bottle and thanked me before taking a large gulp. I sat across from her and watched as she nearly drained the whole bottle as if she was hoping it would bring her some sort of comfort.

When she was finished I asked, "Would you like another?"

But she shook her head. "No, thank you."

"Okay."

Secretly I was glad she said no because I had nothing else to give her. But if she had said yes I would have gone to the grocery store to buy more if needed. Or just let her use the faucet.

Soon after the word left my mouth, silence enveloped us like a blanket.

I knew she was waiting for answers but it was difficult to find where to begin. So instead of trying to figure it out myself, I asked, "What do you want to know?"

"Everything," she answered. "From the very beginning, whatever it may be."

"Right," I nodded and leaned back in my chair. "Are you sure you don't want anything else?"

"Just answers, Gage." And then she added a, "Please. You can trust me."

"I know."

"Then what's wrong?"

I heaved a sighed running my fingers through my hair. "It's just . . . not a good story."

She looked at me for a moment before throwing off her blanket and taking a seat next to me on my sofa. Without hesitation, she reached out to take my hands in hers and looked straight into my eyes to say, "As I've said many times before, I am here for you."

"You won't like the person I am."

"I highly doubt that."

"But you don't even know."

"So tell me, " she ran her fingers over my hands. My eyes fell down to our hands, hers so small and mine large, covered in ink. Hers soft, mine rough. This was wrong. I should be the one comforting her, not the other way around. I didn't deserve such kindness when I'm the one who caused her pain.

So instead of letting her continue I pulled my hands away and placed a throw pillow on my lap. "Here, lay down," I offered.

After a moment she placed her head on the pillow and stretched out. Once she adjusted the blanket on her I mindlessly ran my fingers through her hair knowing this once brought her comfort. And just like it did before, she began to relax a little. This is how it should be. Not the other way around.

Her bright blue eyes now outlined with her ruined makeup looked up at me expectantly. I will never be ready for this moment, I decided, so I might as well get it over with. Because if anyone deserved to know about the truth, it was her.

I took in a deep breath before beginning trying to ignore the pounding of my heart. I trusted her completely, but that doesn't mean she won't look at me differently after this.

"You see . . ." I continued running my fingers through her hair as I spoke, "I've mention him before, but I don't think I ever told you about my brother."

"Paxton?" she asked.

"Yes . . . wait, how did you know?"

"Violet."

"Ah, I guess I should have known. Then I guess you know about him taking us in after our parents passed away?" She nodded under my fingertips. "I see. Well, all of it's true. He was our guardian for several years, and although I was very thankful I knew it wasn't easy for him. He was so young when he took us in and although he had decent money, that was before he had two brats to take care of."

I thought back to our time together when the three of us stayed in his apartment. It wasn't always the best, but it was definitely better than an orphanage.

"Anyway, we had a lot of hard days where we sometimes barely ate anything. He tried as hard as he could to make ends meet, but sometimes it didn't work. It killed me to see him struggle so much, especially when I knew my brother was not meant for this sort of life. He was a very talented guy and deserved to be doing anything else but taking care of us. It was his dream to be a tattoo artist, but he had to hold off on those plans for me and Violet," I frowned. "I hated that more than anything. I later found out that he didn't like it very much either and one day he vented about it to his drinking buddy. Probably the biggest mistake he ever made."

My thoughts really started to travel down a road I haven't been on in a while. For months I vowed to never think about it, yet here I am.

"That friend apparently told Paxton that he knew a guy who could fix his problems," I continued. "He said there was an organization that offered loans to people. All he had to do was pay the group back within six years and he would be solid. Sounded simple enough. So he gave him their contact information and Paxton was off," I let out a sigh. "The organization was called the Flock and at the time I guess they seemed pretty decent, even if they did have a weird name. He made an innocent deal with them similar to what the guy at the bar said. They gave him a loan, he had six years to pay it back. No big deal. I didn't know he did this at the time, but I knew something was off when we started to have three full meals a day. He claimed it was from some sort of raise at work and for a while, I believed him.

"By the end of the first year, he opened up his own tattoo parlor that started bringing in a steady income. He continued to pay his debt effortlessly and everything seemed to be going great. By this point, I joined him to help him run the business which essentially doubled the profit. Everything was running smoothly. We had a steady amount of customers, the cash flow was great, and business was booming in Panama," Katy smiled up at me until I added, "And then it wasn't."

It took me a moment to start back up. This part was never easy, especially when talking about it out loud.

"Paxton started acting weird around June although at the time I didn't know why. He just said he was a little stressed from work but not to worry. I let it go because he asked me to, although I should have known better," I shook my head and stopped running my fingers through Katy's hair. This was the part I was truly dreading. Something that makes it difficult to sleep at night. I looked down at Katy and asked, "Are you sure you want to know everything?"

She nodded. "I do."

"Okay," I cleared my throat before starting back up. "It . . . happened in July. I remember it was just another ordinary day when Paxton and I closed up the shop. Everything was fine, we were even laughing about something stupid he had said when leaving the place, when it all changed. Right when Paxton grabbed his bike, he turned back to say something to me, but . . . he never . . ." My heart was racing again at the memory and I noticed my hands were shaking a bit. "Damn. Sorry . . . you wanted to know--"

"I don't have to if it's too much," Katy placed her hand on mine.

But I shook my head. "No. You need to know it all."

"It's okay, really."

"I want to do this, Katy."

She paused for a moment and bit her lower lip. "If it's really what you want."

"It is," I decided. "Someone needs to know. I can't . . . I just need someone to know."

"Okay. I'm here for you," she took my hand that wasn't playing with her hair and laced her small fingers in mine. It was a small gesture, but already it made me feel better. Just to touch her, that's all I needed.

I took another moment to gather my thoughts and released a heavy sigh. This wasn't going to be pretty, but it had to be done.

"Paxton . . . I never heard what he was going to say that night. I wonder about it almost every night what his last words might have been. Because right when he opened his mouth . . . sorry . . . right when be opened his mouth he suddenly went very still and without warning slumped over his bike. I didn't know why. I thought maybe he was playing a trick on me or something, but I knew it wasn't a joke when I saw the blood," I held onto Katy's hand a little tighter. "There was . . . so much. And I just couldn't fucking understand what was going on. I thought something might have accidentally hit him, but then these guys came out in nice suites looking all cocky I knew something was up."

I looked down at her now as I spoke and continued running my fingers through her hair some.

"The leader introduced himself as Sparrow," I hissed. "He was very open about being behind all of this, almost proud. He let me know about Paxton owing some sort of debt with them and didn't pay in time. Apparently, they reduced his due date in half and the three-year mark was up. I guess that's why Paxton was acting weird all those months ago, although he never told me. He didn't tell me anything about it. Sparrow was the one to fill me in on everything, and once he was finished, he ordered them to kill me and Violet," I had to pull my hand from Katy's when my fingers balled into fists by my side.

"I wasn't going to let that happen of course. I fought those bastards with everything I had. I wasn't really worried about myself. But they weren't going to lay a finger on Violet. I took care of most of them, but two got the best of me and pinned me to the ground. I still remember that moment . . . it was when everything went straight to hell. Apparently, Sparrow was very impressed with my fighting skills and decided to change the plan a little. He said, 'If you fight for me and pay off the rest of your brother's debt, I'll let you and your sister live.'"

"And . . . if you don't?" Katy asked warily.

I looked down at her when I answered. "If I don't pay the debt back . . . then I die and Violet becomes one of his whores."

Katy shuddered at that.

"I had no other choice. I agreed to his terms not for my sake, but for Violet. She's . . . all I have left now. And I can't stand thinking about what would happen to her if she became one of Sparrow's possessions. I've seen how he treats his women," I thought back to the time he came by after my match I almost lost with the woman draped across his lap. "Violet will never become that, nor will she know about it. Not if I can't help it. So that's what I've been doing. I am Sparrow's fighter. Almost every Friday night that's where I go and sometimes the days in between. The money I earn there goes straight to Sparrow to pay off my brother's debt and make sure he stays away from Violet."

Katy looked at me for a moment. "So . . . you're an underground fighter? For Sparrow?"

"I am. Until the debt is paid."

"Is that why he said you owe him money?"

I tensed up. "That . . . I uh . . . last night at my match . . . I lost."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"The guy was a worm like me--"

"A worm?"

"Err, it's something the Flock calls their little slaves basically. This guy has been with them for years and well, long story short he wanted an outing and the only way to get that was to defeat me. So he did," I frowned. "Because I lost, Sparrow didn't receive any money. He's a collector after all so he knows when something is wrong. After the match, Jason and I fled from the scene before we could face Sparrow's wrath but," I looked down at her, "I guess that backfired on me."

She frowned. "Jason is with you on this?"

"Sparrow assigned him as my coach."

"And is he a . . . worm, too?"

"He is. Jason has been in this for three years."

"That's . . . awful," her expression looked disgusted. "And what is the Flock? Like the mafia or something?"

"No, not the mafia. Just a really dirty organization owned by some millionaire. They have money to play with so they use it by luring in people to make their life hell, like Paxton. They offered him a loan making it seem like it would be easy to pay off but then suddenly halfway through they change the agreement because they can. They know it will fuck things up and that's what they want. To toy and use people. Just like they are using me."

"Why haven't you gone to the police about all of this?"

"That was the first thing I was going to do the night Paxton was killed but Sparrow said that if I did he could make everything look like I was the murderer and he would take Violet. I couldn't risk it."

"So . . . the story about the fire?"

"Was mostly true. Since I agreed to his terms and didn't go to the police they hid all evidence of what happened by putting Paxton's body in the parlor and . . . well, you know," I looked away.

"Gage," she leaned up from my lap to look at me lovely, "this is . . . so awful. Why haven't you told anybody?"

"And say what? That I'm secretly an underground fighter to pay off my brother's debt so that my sister doesn't because someone's sex slave? That's not really an easy pill to swallow."

"Well . . . no, but keeping all of this in is not good either."

"Talking about it won't change what is going on, Katy."

She bit her lower lip before trying again. "Surely there is something you can do."

"Don't you think I've tried? I've looked everywhere for some sort of solution to all of this. Unless I magically hit the lottery, I'm stuck in this debt."

"How much do you owe?"

"As of now? A little over fifty-two thousand dollars."

She blanched. "Holy--wow! When is the money due by?"

"Next year."

"Next year?! That's insane!"

"I know."

"And what if they don't get the money from you? Wouldn't that be a massive loss on their end?"

"They'll just get it from someone else easily. They have a ton of fighters and even more prostitutes. There will always be someone who needs a loan to make it through life and the Flock is always willing to help."

She shuddered. "This is so wrong and awful. I thought stuff like this only existed in movies and stuff."

"It's my reality. And it will be for a while."

She frowned looking me up and down before she let out a soft sigh and said, "Maybe not. Maybe I can help."

"Katy?" I watched her get up.

"I don't . . . have a lot. I have a good amount in savings. And it may not be enough but it's better than nothing--"

My eyes widened when I realized what she was saying and I about jumped up from the couch yelling, "No! No, that is not going to happen."

Her frown deepened.

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