Lyric’s P.O.V
I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and a thin ray of bright light falling onto my face.
What the hell? Who opened the windows this early in the morning? The servants know I hate to wake up like this! Angrily, I brought my hand up to cover my face and winced as a sharp pain pierced through my chest.
“What the-?” I jerked awake at the pain and found myself in completely unfamiliar surroundings. “What the hell?”
I sat up on the couch that was hardly big enough to fit all of me in it and looked around at the tiny apartment I was currently in. My head felt heavy and as I wiped at my eyes to chase away the last few vestiges of sleep, memories from last night came to my mind as the fog cleared.
I was in Lydia’s apartment. And she had seen me at my weakest last night when I’d been beaten up during the match. Damnit! The only reason I’d lost the match in the first place had been because of her. Why did I have to think of her during such a crucial time? And what the fuck was this chick trying to prove by bringing me here in the first place? Did she take pictures of me while I was all beat up and exhausted? Was she going to use those against me to get something?
The sound of a door opening snapped me out of my thoughts and I whipped around to come face to face with the culprit. I tried hard to control my temper but the fact that even mad, I couldn’t help but drink in the sight of her tumbled hair and rumpled clothes with my eyes, made me yell out in frustration. “Why the hell did you bring me here last night?”
For an instant, I thought she looked startled but it must have been my imagination because when I looked at her closely her face had that same expressionlessness as I’d seen on her since we first met. “My bad,” she said just as expressionlessly. “I should’ve just left you on the streets so a stray dog could shit on your face.”
A little startled by her reply, I remembered her taking care of me last night without demanding anything in return and immediately my temper cooled off, leaving me feeling guilty. “I should get going.” I told her instead as I got off the couch, wincing when my chest protested. The pain was still there but it wasn’t that severe. Whatever medicine she’d given me, it had worked its magic.
“Wait,” she said and I turned to face her in confusion as she went back inside her room once again, only to return with my shirt, this time all washed and cleaned. “Here” She said as she handed me my shirt. “I’m not sure everyone will be pleased with the display.” She pointed to the bruising on my chest.
“Thanks,” I told her unwillingly. “Your meds worked their magic. I’m feeling a lot better.”
“Good.” She said and we stared awkwardly at each other for a few seconds before I pulled on my shirt and turned towards the door.
“See you a school.” I told her over my shoulder as I opened the door and then I was out of her tiny apartment and back on my way to my mansion. My mind however, stayed with her all the way as I walked home.
******
“Derek?” I frowned as I saw him sitting on his wheelchair in my living room. “Why are you here?”
“I see you got patched up,” Derek motioned towards the bandages around my knuckles. “Nice work. Very feminine. How’s the rib?”
“Bruised.” I told him and went into the kitchen to make some coffee. The maids usually keep it ready for me and save it in a flask so it’s easy to fetch. I took two cups out of the cabinet and poured the coffee and milk in them and add a cube of sugar to each. Coming back into the living room, I handed Derek one of the cups and took a seat on the couch next to him.
There wasn’t really much of a similarity between Derek and me, not in our facial features or in our personalities. Derek looks more like our mother while I have taken up after our dad. Derek had been the planned one while I had been the unplanned surprise. And given our age difference, I had never been really close to him, not until his accident and his leg amputation. He looked a lot different now too; he had grown out his short military cut hair into a ponytail and was now sprouting a beard. But one thing that hadn’t changed about him was his strict, take no prisoners attitude.
“Served you right,” Derek said now while taking a sip of his coffee. “You should never lose focus on the battle field.”
“Jesus, Derek!” I snapped. “It was a stupid match! I’m not on the battle field! I wasn’t fighting off terrorists; I was being pounded to the ground by a 500 pound asshole while you were getting turned on watching me lose.”
“Watch your language, you ungrateful son of a bitch!” Derek snapped back. “You should’ve never lost focus in the first place! I watched your eyes haze over just before you went down. Your head was nowhere near the arena!”
“My head was in the game just fine.” I drank all my coffee in one go, hissing as the hot liquid burned its way down my throat. “Stop being such a dick about it!”
“That’s it,” he slammed his coffee cup down on the table beside mine. “You’re not going back tonight.”
“Like hell I am! You’re not cancelling my match on any account.” I yelled at my brother, hands fisted by my side. “I’m going inside that ring tonight and I’m beating that shithead into the ground.”
“Fine.” Derek smirked. “It’s your funeral. Just a warning though, that ‘shithead’ has been a professional boxer for most of his life.”
With that, Derek wheeled away in his wheelchair and was out of my house, leaving me shell-shocked and frustrated at the same time. “Fuck that bitch!”
Perfect! Just perfect! Why did my brother not give me a prior warning before he let me get into that ring? Now I have to beat that shithead to the ground. It’ll be a new record for me and after last night’s match, I’m sure the cash will pour in like water.
I smirked to myself. “Just you wait, big brother. I’m going to win tonight’s match. There’s no way I’d lose now.”
Lyric’s P.O.VThe stadium was packed tonight.That’s the first thing I noticed as soon as I arrived at the abandoned warehouse at the outskirts of Rosewater that had been turned into a hotspot for all kinds of illegal trade. From drugs to alcohol to gambling and illegal fight clubs, anything you ask for, this warehouse provides it all. But the most famous activity had to be the fights that occurred three days a week.The dates were chosen randomly and they could be one right after the other or they could occur at intervals. This week the dates chosen had been Monday, Tuesday and Friday. The rotation usually kept the cops off our tail, but it’s not like anyone was going to rattle us out. If I wasn’t mistaken, some cops were regular members of the fight club as well and they even took part in any other forms of debauchery that the warehouse had to offer. Usually, everything was free for the cops so they don’t rattle u
Lyric’s P.O.V“Hey,” I leaned back from the doorjamb. “Patch me up?”She made a very tiny movement in her face and crinkled her eyebrows at me. “Why?”“Because I’m injured,” I pointed towards my knuckles and towards my busted lip. “And I don’t know how to patch up a slit lip.”“And I was the only one that came to your mind?” She crossed her hands over her chest, pushing up her breasts further. She wasn’t all big and rounded, but I could tell that she’d be a handful. Perfect for my hands.I smirked. “You intrigue me, Lydia McKenzie.” I told her as I entered her apartment uninvited. “And I hate to say it but not a lot of things intrigue me nowadays.”I brushed past her and made my way over to the couch I’d slept on last night and plopped down onto it. I noticed a bunch of different books spread ou
Lydia’s P.O.VThat was a close call, a really close call. That’s what I thought to myself as I closed and locked the door after Lyric had departed…for the night.Something told me, this wasn’t going to be the last time he’s shown up at my door uninvited. And that same something told me that he wasn’t going to give up on digging up my past this easily either. He’s like one of those hound dogs who’s gotten a scent and won’t rest until the source of that scent has been detected.It’s not like my past is a huge secret. Almost the whole of Kansas knows about it, knows who I am. And that had been one of the main reasons I had to get away from home. Some stories never get too old apparently and people always believe what they want to believe.There are several versions of my story floating around my home town and each day there would be another new invention. And then I’d once ag
Lyric’s P.O.V“Crimes in schools?” I asked my classmate, George as he vigorously nodded his head.“Yes.” George said nervously. “That’s what all of us got. The Professor said to be creative and think outside the box.”In preparation for the match and healing my wounds, I had missed out on school and thus, I’d failed to get my assignment for the month. Thankfully, little nerdy boy George was my backup plan and he was always scared shitless of me to ever complain about anything I asked him to do.And honestly, that’s all I did, just ask him if he could pick up my assignment for me. I’d never threatened or touched him in my entire life but I guess my reputation precedes me here as well. But it was a blessing in disguise if I ever missed school because I was too beat up after a match to go through all the hustle of collecting my assignments from the Professors themselves becaus
Lyric’s P.O.VThe first thing I did as soon as I got out of the library was to go in search of Lydia. It wasn’t all that difficult to spot her; she was talking to one of the psychology professors outside of her classroom when I spotted her. So I waited for her chat to be over and the professor to leave before I came up behind her and took her hand.“What the-you!” She looked at me with accusing eyes. “What do you want?”“Look, we can do this the easy way, where you come with me peacefully so we can talk,” I told her calmly. “Or I can just be a caveman and throw you over my shoulders and carry you out of the school building. The choice is yours.”“Fine.” She gritted out. “Lead the way.”“Good girl.” I told her with a smile and without letting go of her arm, started pulling her in the direction of one of the labs that I knew would be empty
Lydia’s P.O.VAfter Lyric had left me standing in that empty lab, I had simply discarded the papers in the trash and walked away from college. It had gotten too stressful to stay at that point and I was afraid of getting another migraine.I had however, informed the authorities before leaving school because they were aware of my condition and they had given me a wider time span for finishing my course than any other college was willing to offer. It was one of the reasons for choosing Rosewater University and that it was closest to home.Surprisingly, I didn’t get any further disturbance from Lyric the whole day. No snide comments, no fights, no showing up at my apartment unannounced…nothing at all. I hadn’t even gotten a single glimpse of him ever since he just up and left me in the lab, which frankly I should be grateful for but I wasn’t. I was feeling anxious and restless and I hadn’t gotten any sleep the e
Lydia’s P.O.V“You need help with that?” I nearly jumped out of my skin.“Lyric! You scared me!” I said placing a hand over my racing heart, even though I knew my face won’t show anything.I thought he would make some snide comment about yesterday, but somehow Lyric never fails to surprise me. He pulled up the sleeves of his black T-shirt and began helping me out with the weeds himself, working silently beside me without making any complaints. It was almost two thirty in the afternoon and we were currently in the college backyard, where a small strip of land had been transformed into a miniature garden.We hadn’t spoken yesterday after Lyric took me out of that crowd yesterday and to my surprise, followed me back home so no one tried anything funny while I was alone. And this morning, I’d avoided bumping into him by volunteering in the ga
Lydia’s P.O.VI watched Lyric’s face harden immediately as George told Avery’s name. I felt an unexpected pang in my chest at the look of concern on his face. Whoever this Avery was, she was special to both these men.“Please help me!” George begged, falling back on his hands and knees. “I don’t know what to do! I don’t know where to find her!”“You need to calm down first, George.” Lyric’s voice was sharp and stern but it was very much necessary. “If you continue to keep on panicking, we won’t get anywhere. So calm the fuck down before you pass out.”Crouching down beside George, I placed my hand on his shoulder to try and calm him with the physical touch. “Lyric’s right, George. Take a deep breath and calm down first. And then tell us what happened.”George did as I said and took a few deep breaths, placing his hands on the