This is a double update as per usual- Chapter 9 was updated before this so please make sure you read them in the correct order :)

♛Cameron Dawson♛

I decide to cover the tattoo with a rose. It's easy and simple and yet still holds enough meaning to me to get it permanently drawn onto my skin. Along with that, there are already roses below the Jaguar so to have a big one in the centre will make it seem like it was like that from the start.

Harley sits silently beside me, watching as the tattoo artist does his thing, not once caring enough to question why I was covering the tattoo that clearly shows I was a part of something. I stick to black and white and it takes nearly two hours for him to do his thing. When he's done, I admire it, happy that the rose has covered the jaguar and writing and that it's beautiful.

"I love it." Harley says when I ask her what she thinks. I grin at that before pulling my shirt over. I never wanted to cover the tattoo that tied me to the cartel- it reminded me of where I was, what I'd done, who I was. And even though I don't always want to remember, sometimes I need the reminder. But the thought that the rose symbolizes Carla, and she's cheering me on and encouraging me to keep pushing, comforts me.

Before I can say anything, Harley is sliding into the chair after me even causing the tattoo artist to raise a brow. Harley already has a tattoo- and a stunning one at that. It's a Phoenix on her right shoulder blade, it's wings spread open and tail reaching the waistband of her jeans.

"I want to be like a Phoenix and rise from the ashes. I need a reminder that I can pick myself up and still go on." She had said when I asked her why she decided to get that one. And I loved it. I often traced it when we were in bed.

She pulls out her phone and holds it up to the bald artist. "I want this."

He studies it for a while before nodding and handing back her phone.

"Where do ya wan' it?" He asks and she lifts up her shirt, revealing just the bra-line.

"Here." She points to the spot underneath her right bra cup. It's an intimate place and somewhere she can't really show it off. The man nods and gets to work, Harley's face twisting up in pain every now and then. I laugh at her and she scowls before the artist steps back a while later and puts the needle down. It's then that I read the beautiful and elegant cursive writing:

indissolubili sociavit

It takes me a while to translate the Latin in my head but when I do, I look up to see Harley watching me. I smile at her.

"Unbreakable." I say and she nods before dropping her shirt. She comes over to me, leaning up on her tippy-toes so that she can whisper in my ear:

"And you're the only person who will ever get to see it, touch it, kiss it..."

Her words make me want to kiss her breathlessly right here, right now but not with this artist behind us. After paying him, we leave the parlour and head back to the apartment.

"I like the Latin twist." I remark as I toss the keys onto the counter. She grins.

"Well I am dating a Latino after all." She muses and I chuckle before she eyes me carefully. "Do you like it?"

I stride over to her and trap her against the counter. "I do. But... let me see it again, maybe?"

I hoist her up onto the counter, standing between her legs before she pulls her shirt off, revealing her bra. She turns slightly to show the side of her torso and I really study it. I think it's a perfect way to describe Harley- unbreakable. She was abused by her father, neglected by her mother and then abandoned by her brother. She has to deal with a mental disorder every day of her life and a phobia that triggers it while having to deal with the guilt of killing someone. She might have unhealthy ways of coping but at least she's alive, here. She's breathing. She's unbreakable.

My unbreakable beloved.

I can feel her staring at me and I meet her gaze from staring at the tattoo. My thumb moves to trace over it and she takes in a sharp breath before I lean over to kiss it.

"Only me?" I ask, looking up at her and she smiles softly.

"Only you."

****

I'm at the gym at five the next morning, Xavier already waiting for me in the ring. The first thing he makes me do is run the treadmill for twenty minutes which is bit of a strain for me since running is not something I've ever really focused on. After that, he send me to the weights and makes me do that before doing a few other workouts. By seven o'clock, I'm already tired and sweating but I know the day has only just begun. The gym seems to fill up with time and soon enough, the grunts of numerous guys working out can be heard. A few girls come in but not too many and it seems that most of the guys don't care for them and simply focus on the task at hand.

"I don't know how you have muscle when you work out like a woman." Xavier mutters to me and I scowl.

"There's nothing wrong with the way women work out." I respond tersely, not appreciating his sexist remark. It's a sad thing, really, that women seem to always be made inferior to men in this line of business. That's just one logic I could never adopt- I see women as equal. What is so hard to understand about that?

"We'll see if you say that in the ring."

My response is a grunt as I pull myself into the ring. I keep my feet at a fair distance apart and bring my hands up to my face just as Xavier does the same. We go on to do the same thing as yesterday before he lays a deadly punch to my gut and I fall to the floor in a spluttering mess. He laughs as he looks down at me, shaking his head.

"At this rate, you'll lose." Xavier muses.

My frustration becomes harder to keep under wraps, the more times he lands a punch on my body and gets me on the floor. I notice, however, that most of his punches are not meant to hurt me- as it's obvious he isn't pressing as hard as he could be- and is instead focusing on throwing my guard off.

It seems like we do this forever before I'm able to start picking up on a few of his tactics. One thing I notice is that his defense is always weaker before he punches- alerting me of what he's going to do and giving me an opening to harm him. I lay a few hits on him, too and I even manage to knock him to the ground.

I look down at him, his breathing heavy and I extend a hand. The look of impressiveness is replaced with one of arrogance as he stands up on his own. I let out a breath of laugh at that and Xavier nods, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

"You've got a lot of potential Cameron." He says as he punches my chest playfully, leaving the ring as he mutters something about a break. It's when he's gone that I wince from pain, lifting my shirt up to examine my tattoo. It's red and looks a little swollen and I sigh. At the moment, it's the most painful spot to hit simply because it's had no time to heal.

"I'm assuming you got a tattoo at an awfully bad time." A voice says and I turn around to see a guy practicing on the punching bag. I sigh as I nod.

"You've got that right."

He chuckles at that before nodding his head. "Ramiro."

I narrow my eyes. "Cameron." Is all I introduce myself with. Ramiro steps forward, leaning against the ropes of the ring and I finally get a good look at him. The first thing I notice is that he's definitely Latino and by his Spanish accent, it's only confirmed. He's an interesting looking guy. His black hair is sticking to his forehead but even then you can see how curly it is and his hazel eyes seem to be quite observant.

I decide to test the waters.

"Tu hablas español?" I ask in Spanish and he seems to be a little surprised before he nods.

"Si."

"You from Spain? South America?"

He shakes his head. "No. Mexico."

Ah, Mexican.

I nod in understanding as I pull the bandages off of my hands. He flexes his arm and I catch sight of his left arm that's a completed sleeve.

"Nice thing you got going there." I jut my chin out to his arm and he glances at it.

"Obrigado. It hurt like a hijo de puta, though."

I chuckle.

"You seem very American for a guy who looks Spanish and can speak the language." Ramiro voices with a raised brow and I shrug.

"Born here, raised in a Spanish home." I lie. The last thing I need is the gang knowing who I am. "But since we're asking questions here- you got a sister in the gang?"

Harley told me about meeting a girl named Katalina and how down to earth she seemed. I told Harley not to trust her since people here always know the right thing to say but even I became curious when she mentioned the girl had a brother who was also a fighter.

Ramiro nods. "Yeah. Katalina. Why? You know her?" His tone is protective and I smile at the big brother act.

Shaking my head I say: "No, but my girl does."

"Ah," he sings. "Your girl, huh? Hailey?"

"Harley." I correct.

"I see. Anyway," Ramiro says, hitting the ropes so that I can see the tattoos on his fingers that read: D R A G L I F E, "I'll see you around."

With that, he's heading to the showers and I'm left with Xavier who wants to go for another round.

****

My body is aching when I finish practicing later in the evening and even the hot shower I take at the gym can't help. I rub a cream to help speed up the process of the tattoo healing and I hope that it doesn't get infected.

The other fighters were talking tonight and I heard that Ling is fighting which is exactly why I want to check out where exactly this underground fighting ring is. Scoping out how it works, the opponents and the general way it is would probably do me a lot of good. But I need to get Harley home first.

As I pull up into the parking lot, I spot Harley sitting on the hood of a black Mercedes with a girl who has a lot of curly black hair next to her. Harley notices my car immediately and she perks up when I step out and into the clear. The girl- who I take as Katalina since she looks the exact way Harley described her to be- says something and Harley smiles.

She hops off of the car and comes over to me, pecking my lips in greeting.

"Hey."

"Hey," I smile before looking back at her company. "This Katalina?" Harley glances at her and nods.

"Olá Katalina." I greet and the girl smiles- wide and friendly before hopping off of her car and coming to me.

"Olá Cameron. Com estã?"

"I'm fine." I respond before asking: "Taking it that your brother fights, do you mind showing me where exactly this ring is?"

She nods, before pulling a lollipop out of her pocket, unwrapping it and slipping it into her mouth.

"Wait, you're fighting tonight?" Harley asks, concern already etched deep into her features and I shake me head.

"No, but I want to check it out. Get an idea of what's going on. But I'll drop you off at the apartment first."

"Why I can't come with?" She asks with a frown and I shrug with one shoulder.

"Because you probably won't want to see it." I respond. "And I don't want you to, either. It's going to be bloody." I tell her and Harley purses her lips.

"Okay. But I will come watch when you fight." She tells me although I can see the hesitation in her words.

"When you're not racing." Katalina pitches in. "Because Chances are that Cameron will finish before you."

Harley glances at her. "Yeah, whatever. Either way, at some point I'll see the fights. I just... I don't want to see it tonight."

Katalina pulls the lollipop out of her mouth before smiling. "Can we get a move on then?"

I nod.

"Any chance I can get a lift with you and I can come back with my brother?" She asks and I narrow my eyes. Her friendly and casual attitude doesn't fit too well with me and I find my eyes narrowing and walls going up. Why is she being nice? I don't understand. Is Jack asking her to watch us and report back on us? Or get us to let our walls down so that she knows where to hit?

I shake my head to myself. Now is not the time to think of this.

"Sure." I respond before we all climb into my car. Katalina briefly compliments my choice of Latin music but is silent the rest of the drive and so is Harley until I pull up outside of the apartment and she kisses me deeply, asking me to be safe and careful before I tell her to make sure everything is locked and that she should keep her phone with her for in case she needs to call me. Then she hops out and is disappearing into the building and I'm pulling out.

"Mind telling me where it is now?" I ask Katalina, the Spanish coming naturally to me. It's something I've missed- speaking my native tongue. Harley has begun learning and so I can speak more to her with her being able to understand but even then I cannot venture into a full blown conversation with her.

"It's underneath quite a popular club." She responds, her Spanish much more effortless due to obviously speaking it more.

"It's under a club?" I muse and she nods.

"Yeah. That way you can't really hear all that's going on."

It's quiet for a little while before I finally asks what's being on my mind: "So what's your deal?"

"My deal?" She asks, looking at me with a raised eyebrow in the review mirror.

"You're too nice for your intentions to be genuine. And at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Jack is asking you to do something for him. I don't care, all I'm saying is that don't you dare hurt Harley."

Katalina tsks from the backseat, playing with a ring on her finger. "It's a pity you think that just because I'm in a gang, I'm incapable of being kind. If I wanted to hurt Harley, I wouldn't sugarcoat it Cameron. I'm not ashamed to do what I have to and I would have made it clear from the start. But if Jack was asking me to do something for him, you wouldn't have a say in the matter at all." Her voice is hard, sassy almost, and I am silenced by her words.

We don't say anything else to each other other than her instructing me where to go so that I arrive at the club, which I do about twenty minutes later. The parking lot is full and I struggle to find a spot before Katalina waves a signal outside and a group of guys move out of one of the spots they were chilling in.

"Fucking dropouts." She mutters as we climb out. It's while we're walking to the entrance that has a steady flow of people going in that Katalina says: "You know that trying to protect Harley from all that goes on here isn't going to do her any good right?"

I grunt. "I can't let anyone hurt her."

Katalina grips my arm then, forcing me to face her and I see her looking at me in a deadpan manner.

"You're both part of a gang now. That's inevitable." She tells me, her eyebrows drawn together, before she lets go of my arm and continues walking. My mind mills over her words as I watch her enter and I'm left outside in the cool breeze. A shiver wracks up my spine as I realize she's right.

I can't protect Harley from this.

But I'll rather go down trying than not giving it a go at all.

•••
I hope you're all having a relaxing self-isolation <3

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