All Chapters of Cage Debt: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Knox’s tone was so casual, you’d think we were discussing the weather…not my rapidly deteriorating judgment.I muttered under my breath. “I’m not doomed.” Then, grabbing a heavy metal bottle opener, busying myself before I threw something at his head.Knox took another slow sip of his whiskey, his eyes dancing with amusement. “Cain got distracted during a fight because you laughed.”“He did not,” I countered, slamming a fresh coaster onto the bar top.“He absolutely did,” he insisted, tapping his glass again against the wood.I opened my mouth, then I closed it, because, in fact...he had. Around us, the cage room continued unraveling: sweat, shouting, and violence.Inside the cage, Cain moved forward again. Calm, controlled, and dangerous, like always. The more I watched him, the more I realized he stalked his opponent. The other guy came at him hard, but Cain, despite the blood spilling from his mouth, slipped the punch easily, and landed another brutal shot to the guy’s ribs.Cain

The day passed slowly, minutes dragging, and by the time the sun started dropping, the entire town smelled like salt air, gasoline, and fried food drifting from the boardwalk restaurants near the pier. Tourists crowded the sidewalks along Harbor Avenue, carrying beach towels and sunburns, while motorcycles lined the streets outside bars already filling for the night. Neon signs flickered awake one by one as daylight faded, casting pink and blue reflections across storefront windows. Breaker Point always seemed to wake up after dark. And somehow… so did I.“You’re staring at your closet like it personally offended you,” Nicole remarked, walking into my apartment carrying two iced coffees and enough attitude to qualify as a weapon.I turned from the rack of clothes with a sigh. “I don’t know what to wear.”Nicole stopped dramatically in the middle of the room, her lips curling into a grin. “Since when have you cared what you wear?”“I’ve always cared,” I argued, though my defense sounde

~Cain~Leaning against the side of the cage near Maddox, I watched another fight start under the lights, the whiskey in my hand going down slowly. The crowd around us roared, and normally, the combination would have relaxed me; the noise, the violence, the control. But not tonight.Ever since Emery had walked in a little earlier wearing a black tank top and jeans like she wasn’t about to become the biggest fucking problem of my life; nothing felt relaxing anymore.“You’re staring, brother,” Maddox muttered beside me, nudging my arm.I took another slow swig from my glass. “Mind your business.”“That stopped being possible yesterday,” he countered with a dry chuckle.That was a fair statement, but it didn’t mean I liked hearing it. Across the room, Emery laughed at something Tess said behind the bar, and my attention shifted automatically before I could stop it. Fuck me. She was becoming a serious issue for me.I’d watched Emery and Nicole grow up together, but somewhere along the way,

The rest of my shift passed in a total blur. It wasn't because the cage room got quieter; it didn't. If anything, the club only got louder as the midnight hour came and went. The undercard fights resumed under the bright spotlights, and the betting tables filled up with rowdy crowds again. Loud music pounded through the massive speakers while tourists and locals packed shoulder-to-shoulder around the chain-link as if the dangerous Devils Hollow confrontation had never happened at all. But every single time I looked up from the liquor wells, I found Cain. And every single time I found Cain, he was already staring directly back at me.By midnight, my feet hurt, my shoulders ached, and I'd opened enough beer bottles to qualify for some kind of repetitive stress injury. The crowd finally began thinning around one in the morning. The space wasn't empty, but just more manageable. The late-night crowd was entirely different from the earlier tourist rush. They were rougher, more local, and si

Vivienne knew. The problem wasn't figuring that out. The problem was calculating exactly how much she knew. I watched the heavy door close behind her and took a slow drink from my whiskey, the cold ice clinking against the glass. The heavy base of the crystal tumbler felt cold against my palm, a solid anchor while my head swirled with threats.Across the bar, Emery pretended to reorganize liquor bottles that didn’t need organizing.She was a terrible liar, always had been.Years ago, Nicole would try sneaking out of the house, and Emery could never keep a straight face. Nicole would come up with some elaborate tale, while Emery stood beside her looking guilty as fuck before anyone had even asked a single question.A rare smile threatened, but I killed the reaction immediately: dangerous territory for my restraint."You look sick," Maddox noted, his voice low as he leaned against a structural pillar.I glanced toward him, my jaw setting into a hard line. "I'm thinking.""Yeah." He look