Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

ARIES

Hearing Rory talk to Rosemary, I’m not ashamed to admit I eavesdropped on the conversation, but I’d left the two of them alone. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t hear Rory telling Rosemary about how fighting made Rosemary a survivor.

I knew what she went through still bothered her. Kevlar had confided in me plenty of times about the nightmares that still haunt her. It sucks, and I look at the woman as family. She should never have had to go through that shit. Rory’s words, though, made sense in a big way. It pisses me off that she had to survive her own nightmare.

Things could have been different in a lot of ways.

Unfortunately, nothing can change the past and the actions we’ve done. We can only move forward and face the reality of what’s to come and what will happen next.

Thanks to overhearing the conversation, I knew she now knew what the fight was. I’m surprised she hasn’t come to me yet. However, I know Rory. Some things take her time to process, and this is probably one of them.

Hopefully, she’ll understand what I’m doing and will trust that I’ve got this ‘cause I’ve damn well got it.

I left Rory to finish what she was doing with Rosemary and stuck to my brothers while we waited for Viper to return.

Now, sitting in my seat at church, having just finished sharing my plan for Roger and using Izaiah as a way to do it, I hold Viper’s gaze.

“You do realize that what you’re suggesting could come back to bite us on the ass, right?”

“If you mean in him possibly winning against me, yeah, I know.” I knew, but I wasn’t gonna let it happen. I had too much to fight for. “If he wins, we’d have to hand her over as part of the agreement.”

“If by some small chance he wins, I’ll understand. It’s why I’ll have Fox in place to take her out of there and make her disappear.”

“Brother, we’d help make her disappear,” Viper grinds out. “We wouldn’t hand her over. We would, but then we’d take him out later.”

“Why can’t we just take him out as it is?” Dutch asks.

“The blowback from those he works with,” Cyprus answers. “The smug bastard was smart enough to have done business the way he did to ensure none of them killed him.”

“But if he enters a death match against Aries, he’d be doing it willingly, and those who he’s partners with can’t and won’t retaliate against us,” Viper finishes, nodding. “It’s smart.”

“I can beat him. I know I can.”

“He’s gonna cheat any way he can,” Kevlar grumbles.

“He’s gonna try and manipulate it to give him all the advantages he can.” There’s no way he won’t.

“If you do this, then you need to be prepared. Your ass needs to be in the ring training from now until the day of the fight. No way are we gonna let the bastard beat you,” Viper declares.

“We don’t even know if he’s going to agree to it yet,” Wolf remarks.

“He will.” It’ll be too good of a deal for him not to agree to it.

“I’ll put the call into Izaiah. See if he’ll agree to setting it up. If he’s not, then we’re back to the drawing board.”

Viper’s right. But he’s also wrong. We’re not going back to the drawing board. I’ll contact Roger myself and make the offer to him. We’ll then do it old school, and no one will know where the body is when I’m done.

“Girls have dinner coming. Let’s eat, then I’ll make the call. After that, we’ll meet here to confirm,” Viper states, tapping the table with his knuckles.

“Izaiah agreed to setting up the match so long as he can host it on a night when they have a fight night,” Viper says, coming back into the room.

“I figured he would agree to it,” I grunt, leaning back in my seat, a beer in hand.

“Means that’s the last beer for you until after we know if he’s going to get Roger to agree.” Cyprus snorts.

“He’s going to agree, I’m sure of it.” I lift the beer to my lips, sipping at it. “How long did he say until one of his fight nights?”

“Four days,” Viper answers. “Said he’d give me a call with the terms of the fight tomorrow.”

Nodding, I take another sip.

“Brother, you’re gonna have to hit the gym hard. Prepare for anything.”

I glance at Kevlar, nodding.

“We’ll spar first thing in the morning,” Wolf states.

“I’ll work with you after Wolf,” Viper remarks.

“Y’all do know I’m a hellava fighter, and I know what I’m getting into.”

“We know you do, but we’re gonna make sure your ass is ready and come out alive. Last thing we need is for you to get killed.” Kevlar grunts.

“I know.” I meet his gaze and see the fire in his eyes. “I’ll be ready.” Finishing the beer, I slam the empty on the table. “Tomorrow morning, we start.”

“You should also talk to Rory. Tell her what’s happening,” Mace suggests.

“She knows.”

“She does?” Cyprus cocks a brow.

“Overheard her talking to Rosemary about the fights. Guess she asked her about what I meant.”

“Fuck,” Kevlar growls and slams his fist on the table.

“Don’t worry, man. I think Rory might have said something to Rosie that will finally help her put all of this behind her,” I tell him, hoping to calm him down. When it comes to his woman, he’s more than a little protective, and I don’t blame him. For that matter, all of my brothers are protective of their women.

“We’ll see,” he mutters, flexing his fist.

Grunting, I glance back to Viper. “We done for now?”

“Yeah, I’ll let you know what Izaiah says.”

“Sounds good.” I get to my feet and head for the door.

Tomorrow, I’ll start training to get ready with my brothers. The rest of the day and tonight, I’m gonna do another type of workout. One that involves me being inside my woman and her taking me however I want.