Fighting to Survive (Guarded Hearts Book 3) Read online

  Fighting To Survive

  Guarded Heart Series – Book 3

  By

  Alexis Noelle

  Shawn Matthews has been living a double life for almost a year. Now that his secret is out, life is about to become even more difficult. Shawn has to learn to balance his hectic lifestyle while carrying on a relationship with the only girl who has ever made him want one. Will he be able to overcome the many obstacles standing between them?

  Jason and Nicole have had a hard time adjusting to the bombshell which was dropped on their relationship. Will they be able to move past it without hurting each other in the process?

  Carter and Madison still have a demon haunting them that won’t stop until they are ruined. Will they figure out his plans before it’s too late?

  Fighting to Survive is the final book in the Guarded Heart Series. It will test the strength, will and love of all the characters. This conclusion will have you laughing, crying and screaming for more.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2013 Ashley Piscitelli

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Beau Coup Publishing

  http://beaucoupllcpublishing.com

  Cover Model Photo © Wisky - Fotolia.com

  Cover Guitar Image © silberkorn73 - Fotolia.com

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

  Chapter One

  Christen

  As we walk down the stairs, my heart starts to beat faster. I know it’s her birthday and everything but I could kill Holly for taking us here. She still won’t even tell us where ‘here’ is which to me only means it’s something we would have never agreed to. I grab her arm as she leads us down the steps. “Where are we going, Holly?”

  She laughs and shakes off my arm. “Just chill, Chris! I promise it’ll be fun! It’s my birthday and I have been wanting to come here, so don’t go all goody-two-shoes on me now.”

  “Listen, I agree with Christen. I don’t feel right about this and we all know I’m not a goody-two-shoes,” Nicole says from behind me. “Now, just where are you taking us, chica?”

  Holly laughs. “Just trust me, girls.” She starts walking back down the steps and disappears around the corner.

  “Come on, guys. I don’t know what Carter would kill me for more, coming here or losing Holly.” Maddy walks past me and heads in the direction Holly went.

  Once we turn the corner, I finally see lights and a massive amount of people. Whatever this place is, it’s absolutely packed. I lean into Nicole, “Do you see her anywhere?”

  “No!” she yells back so I can hear her over the crowd. “I’m also five feet nothing, though, so it doesn’t really help.”

  Maddy appears out of the crowd. “Come on, guys. I found her, she’s up front.”

  We follow Maddy, and I’m still trying to figure out where the heck we are. There are no signs anywhere to give me hints, either. I see Holly through a gap in the crowd, and when we finally reach her, my jaw drops when I see what she is standing in front of. In the middle of the room is a roped off circle which looks like a makeshift boxing ring. “Holly, where the hell are we?”

  “Calm down. This is why I couldn’t tell you where we were going because I knew you would freak out. One of the girls in my class told me about this place. It’s an underground fighting circuit. It is completely secret and you have to know someone to find out when one of the matches are.”

  Maddy grabs Holly’s arm. “I’m sorry…fighting? Are you out of your damn mind? Do you know what kind of trouble we could get in if this place gets raided? Let alone if the boys found out we were here! Come on, we are all leaving now.”

  Just then, a scrawny-looking guy steps into the ring, and I hope for his sake he doesn’t plan on being the one to fight. He looks like he would get snapped in two.

  “Welcome to The Circle, ladies and gentlemen!” The crowd quiets down because even though he has a microphone, it’s not like the warehouse has any real sound system. “Tonight we have a very special match for you! Our first challenger is a man who your mothers warned you about, girls! He is the monster under your bed, the thing that makes you run home at night! Please, give a loud welcome to The Crusher!”

  Everyone around us starts yelling and booing. Whoever this guy is, they really hate him. He doesn’t seem to care, though. He paces around the ring like a lion stalking its prey and waiting to pounce.

  “Now, the one you have all been waiting for! The undefeated, undeniable king of The Circle! Knockout!”

  This time the crowd goes absolutely insane! The noise is deafening, and whoever this guy is, it’s clear he’s the person everyone came to see. The crowd seems to part as he passes, and I crane my neck to try to see who this guy is, but it’s no use. He finally enters the ring, but he has his back to me. His back alone is enough to make my heart race, though. I can see every sculpted, defined, and hard muscle contract with every breath he takes. I’ve never seen someone as in shape as he is in real life. When he turns around, though, we all release a collective gasp.

  “Oh my fucking God!” Nicole screams behind me. We all were silently thinking the same thing.

  There, standing in front of us in all of his sculpted, sexy, raw glory, is Shawn. He has on shorts which hang low and show off his defined V that dips below them. His chest looks so chiseled I swear it looks like a padded Halloween costume. His chest is rising and falling fast, like he’s high on the adrenaline of it all.

  He looks so different I almost can’t believe it’s actually him. I have never seen him with his shirt off, but I never would have imagined his body looks like that underneath it. I’ve had a crush on him since Carter first introduced us, but I doubt he has even noticed. Looking at him now, though, I’m sure it’s because he has women throwing themselves at him constantly. I mean, why would he want to waste his time dating when he could have a different girl every night?

  “Well, I think it’s time to get started, so if you all have placed your bets, let’s go! There are only a couple rules in The Circle. No biting or taking cheap shots to the nuts, and the fight only ends with a knockout or a tap out!” The crowd roars and the two fighters meet in the middle of the ring. Once the MC rings the bell, they charge at each other.

  The Crusher is bigger than Shawn, but from the start it seems he’s at a disadvantage. Shawn is fast and he’s dodging every one of the punches thrown at him. He does a little spin, ending up behind The Crusher, and throws three consecutive kidney shots to his opponent’s body. He buckles over from the force, and before he can regain his stance, Shawn grabs his head and crushes it against his knee. The giant sags to the floor, and after a few seconds it’s clear he isn’t getting up.

  The MC re-enters the ring. He grabs Shawn’s hand, raises it above his head, and declares him the winner.When I look at him, though, he seems so unenthusiastic. It’s almost as if he can’t wait to leave the ring and the admiration of everyone surrounding it.

  Maddy moves next to Holly. “Did you know about him?” She shakes her head in protest and I know from the look on her face she’s as shocked as
the rest of us.

  I lean in and tell Nicole I’m going to go to the bathroom before we leave. She tries to come with me but I refuse. I’m not going to go to the bathroom. I’m going to go find Shawn and figure out what the hell is going on. As I’m walking away, I hear the MC introduce the next fighters, but the crowd doesn’t seem half as excited as they were for Shawn’s fight.

  I walk down the dark hallway where I had seen him disappear and almost walk by the room he’s in, because there are hardly any lights on. I open the door and see him sitting on an old couch which looks like it’s way past its prime. He has his head in his hands and his shoulders are sagging. “Shawn?”

  His head snaps up and I immediately see the realization pass over his face. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  I knew he probably wouldn’t be thrilled to see me, but I didn’t think he would be pissed off. Out of everyone, I’ll probably be the one to judge him least because I haven’t known him for that long. “I wanted to see if you were okay. When you left the ring it seemed like something was wrong.”

  “Is everyone else here with you?” He’s avoiding my gaze.

  I walk into the room and sit down next to him. “The girls are. Holly had heard about this place and wanted to do something adventurous for her birthday.”

  “Well, that was a stupid fucking decision. This is not somewhere you guys should be, and if Carter and Jason knew they would flip their shit.”

  “What are you doing here?” For the first time he looks up at me. He has an expression on his face that says ‘What the fuck do you think I’m doing here?’ “I mean, obviously you were fighting, but why? And why did you look so unhappy when you won? You know, if everyone knew this is where you were going all the time they might actually come here to support you.”

  He stands up fast and begins to pace the small room. “I don’t want everyone to know, not that it matters now. I wasn’t jumping for joy when I won because I didn’t want to win.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “Because I don’t want to have to fucking be doing this! It’s not something I do for fun, it’s something I do because it is a damn necessity. I would love to be like you guys and be able to hang out, enjoy school, and not need to worry about how I was going to pay for my next semester, but I’m not!”

  I don’t know what to say. I guess I just assumed he was fighting to fulfill some masculine, testosterone-fueled need to hit something. I stand up and walk over to him. He has his back to me, but I decide to be brave and put my hand on him, hoping to comfort him in whatever way I can. “I’m sorry you are in a position like this. Maybe it would be easier on you if you weren’t hiding it, though. Everyone cares about you and they aren’t going to judge you and turn their backs on you for something like this. It may not seem like much coming from me, since we don’t know each other well, but I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to.”

  He spins around, and before I know it, he has me backed up against the wall. He slams his hands on either side of my head, trapping my hands with them, and then crushes his mouth to mine. I let out a gasp of surprise and he takes advantage, slipping his tongue into my mouth. His kiss is so frenzied and urgent, so full of need. It’s unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life. I’m not innocent—I’ve been kissed by plenty of guys—but never like this.

  He’s taking complete control over me and dominating every sense of my being. He pulls back a little, biting down on my lower lip, causing me to moan with a mix of pleasure and pain. I open my eyes to see him staring at me with such desire my insides warm. Before I know what’s happening, he releases my hands and speeds out the door.

  I stand there, pressed against the wall, panting from the most soul shattering and mind-altering kiss I have ever experienced. When I finally catch my breath, I smooth out my hair and clothes, and then make my way back to the crowd. Shawn Matthews is the kind of guy my dad had warned me to stay away from, but there is no way in hell that’s happening now.

  When I get back to the girls, Maddy comes up to me. “Thank God you’re back, we’re leaving.” I follow them out, the entire time scanning the crowd to see if Shawn is still here. We silently make our way out to Holly’s car. All of us know that we’re going to have to tell the guys about this. I’m just dreading what they’re going to do when they figure out where we went.

  Chapter Two

  Shawn

  I can’t believe all of the girls were here tonight. I mean, what the hell were they doing at the warehouse?

  This whole thing is something I never wanted anyone to find out about, that’s why I’ve been sneaking around. I know it’s probably more innocent than some of the other things they thought I’ve been doing, but either way, my secret is coming out now.

  I hate I’ve been put in the position to have to get into this in the first place. I’m pre-med, though, and the program is so expensive. My dad owns a construction company, but business has been really slow lately and my loans and financial aid barely cover half of my tuition. I know I could probably get a job with Carter at the club, but there is no way I can take on a full-time job and keep up with the program’s demands.

  At the beginning of last year, I met a kid in the financial aid office who came in and paid the whole semester’s bill in cash. He was a senior, and when I asked him where he worked to make that kind of money, he was hesitant to tell me. We ended up grabbing a bite to eat together and after I explained my situation to him, he told me about The Circle.

  As much as I hate fighting, it’s something which enables me to pay for school and still have money to live. I even sent my parents some money to help out with bills. I had to lie to my mom and tell her I got a job and I’m just working extra hard to keep up with everything. She would never understand or approve of my decision to fight.

  My mom came from an abusive home, and the one thing she instilled in us since we were little is that violence is a last resort. She can’t even watch a boxing match on TV without it upsetting her, so if she knew I was doing this I don’t know how she would react. Most guys wear their title like a badge of honor, I wear mine like a scarlet letter.

  When Holly’s friend, Christen, walked into the room tonight, I knew my secret would be out. I don’t know much about the girl, so it confuses me as to why she even cared if I had seemed upset. I’m surprised she even noticed. I’ve been trying to work on showing no emotion at all to help hide my real feelings about what I’m doing. When I looked up at her, though, I saw something there; she wasn’t judging me or making assumptions.

  When she came up behind me and put her hand on my back, I felt a jolt of electricity run through my body. It’s almost as if her touch electrified and awakened everything inside of me, and I couldn’t control myself. I had to kiss her, to know what she tasted like. The fights definitely attract girls, but I usually just brush them off unless I’m having a really rough night. When I pulled away from her and saw the desire in her eyes, I panicked.

  She doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who would ever give me the time of day, much less want me for more than just amusement. I only know what Carter has told me about her. Her father is some sort of business mogul, and her family is loaded. They’re the type who spends every free minute at the country club, never giving a second look to someone like me. That wasn’t the girl who was staring back at me tonight.

  I know I acted like an asshole when I just walked away from her, but I didn’t know what else to do. Now I’m sitting outside of my apartment, dreading having to go in and tell Carter and J about everything before the girls do. I know they aren’t going to be pissed at me for it. In fact, I’m sure Jason will want to come to the next match, but that’s the reason I didn’t want them to know. I don’t want this to become something we talk about all the time, or I get praised for. I’m not proud of it, and I need to make sure they don’t mention it when we go home for break. Once I open the door, I see them huddled next to each other on the couch, playing Call Of Duty, and screaming a
bout who to kill next.

  I stand in the doorway to the living room, unsure of how to even start the conversation.

  Carter looks up at me and nods his head. “What’s up, dude?”

  “I need to talk to you guys about what’s been going on.” Here goes nothing…

  Christen

  “Hey, girl, you okay?” I look up at Holly and she’s looking at me like I have two heads. “You have seemed distracted ever since you went to the bathroom.”

  Distracted is a serious understatement. Mind fucked would definitely be a better choice of words. I can still smell Shawn all around me, and I can’t stop thinking about the feel of his lips on mine. He was so possessive and dominant during that kiss that I still can’t put a cohesive thought together.

  “Hello, space cadet!” Nicole elbows me in the side.

  “Ow, Nic, that hurt.”

  “Sorry, girl, but you have been on a different friggin’ planet, and we still need to figure out what to tell the boys. Jason is seriously going to kill me for being at that warehouse tonight. It is going to take some serious sucking up to get me out of this, if you know what I mean.” She raises her eyebrows at me and the entire car erupts with laughter. Once Maddy pulls the car into the parking lot, all of the laughter dies. The boys are so overprotective, their heads are going to explode when we fill them in on tonight’s events.

  We walk up to the apartment like traitors who are about to walk the plank. When we open the door, all of the boys are sitting on the couch in the living room and don’t say a word when we walk in. Mads is the first one to be brave enough to go past the doorway. She walks over to Carter and goes to give him a hug when he gives her one of the looks that says ‘we need to talk’. She sits down next to him, looking like a wounded puppy dog. Nicole’s next, but her approach is definitely more forward. She saunters over to Jason, wraps her arms around his neck, and bends down to kiss him. He moves his head to the side, grabs her hips and sits her down next to him. She lets out a loud ‘hmmmph’ and pouts like a child sitting in timeout. It takes everything I have in me not to laugh at the two of them.