Down for the Count

The real me lives in the shadows, the seedy underbelly, where sin is the only air we know how to breathe. My dreams of going pro are at my fingertips. But in one moment, one hit, those dreams come crashing down around me. The money, the fame, the life I wanted to give my mother. All gone. Once I was Kingston "The King" Reyes. Women and men had chanted my name, worshiped me. Now, I work as a postal worker by day… and at night, I crawl into the dark, seedy underbelly of sin. An illegal underground fight club, where I still reign with my fists, but where every fight could be my last. The "Brothers," Dutch and Dom, hold my leash while they pay for my mother's cancer treatments. I'm their puppet, their boy toy for wealthy women and power. You don't cross them unless you want to end up at the bottom of a river. Corrupt darkness coats my skin, marks my bones. I don't see any light or hope, until on my route, I meet a pint-sized, mute, little girl, who seems to look right through me. She sees past the bruises and scars, while I can hear beyond her silence. Yet it is her mother, Sawyer, I should run from. Sexy, feisty, and smart, Sawyer's darkness draws me in. Challenges me. She is everything I can't have. Everything forbidden. But everything I want. No matter the consequences…