Betrothed to the Gloxinias

Chapter 4: Taken

From the outside, the mottled, munted remains of the warehouse appeared downright haunted. At night, it's broken windows gaped like the deep, dark sockets of a skull. Rose was fully expecting to set foot inside, find the stench unbearable, and run at full speed to Jizelle's car whether James was her type or not. To Rose's relief, however, the inside of the warehouse not only smelled better, but it was a literal world of difference. She hadn't realized her mouth was hanging open until the man next to her rumbled with laughter. The music was loud, so James had to lean close to her ear so she could hear him.

"Impressed, already? We've only just started."

"I can't believe this..."

Rose gestured to the building's innards, the toothy windows were hidden behind plush drapery, the floors, minus the cage area, were covered in wine colored carpets, and the building was bright with strobing lights somewhere in the high ceilings. There were people standing on the ground level, around the cage, and up the industrial sets of stairs, the balustrade was adorned with additional velvet that made what should've been a dank, piss pot of a building pose as high end night club.

A few feet behind her, Jizelle, Lynx, and Melonica were getting neon yellow necklaces snapped around their necks. Jizelle stuck her tongue out at Rose, and Rose returned the silly gesture.

"What're those for?"

"Green is for everyone," James answered. "Yellow is VIP. No one will touch your friends with those on."

"That's a shame," Rose laughed. "Some of them came here wanting to be touched." Rose then turned to him and blinked at the two beaded necklaces around his neck. They were red, and glowed beneath the dim lighting like the others.

"And the red?"

"Danger. My men have them. The fighters have them, along with their-"

"Now that can't be right. Mine is yellow, and I'm plenty dangerous."

"You don't need one," James said. "You have me."

Rose rolled her eyes. "You're cocky, aren't you?"

"It's only the truth."

Rose threw one last playful glance at her friends, and waved before James led her away.

Be good, girls.

Rose wasn't worried. They knew the code word if shit hit the fan. One word, or one text would be all it took, and they'd high tail it out of there, no questions asked. The lighting became darker the deeper they went, with the exception of the bright spotlights aimed at the cage. Rose gasped when she discovered another pleasant surprise.

"You have a bar here?"

"Of course," James bragged. "And functioning restrooms, which I promise, are very clean."

"But how? Just... how?"

James grinned ear to ear at her genuine surprise, and rubbed the tips of his fingers together.

Ah. Money. Of course. I didn't think the Baxters were this well off. This is what I get for paying too much attention to racing instead of business prospects elsewhere. God, I hate when my father's right.

"How have I been in Lazuli almost a year now, and have never heard of this?"

"Mmm, 'cause Lazuli's neutral grounds. We're on the outskirts, on Baxter turf. I usually throw two or three of these kinds of parties whenever it's not bout season."

"The annual bout, you mean. To determine the underground's strongest martial artists, bruisers, and hitmen for the year."

"Yeah. I've never thrown a party in Silva so maybe that's why you've never heard. The Gloxinias are in Silva, right? What is that? Few hours away?"