GUNNER: The Underground Romance series Read online

  “I don’t know.” I mumble. Looking back to the fight, Tori has bloodied her opponent’s nose and the crowd goes wild. A shiver covers me. I want to experience this, but should I?

  Cheering fills the warehouse as Tori wins her fight. She’s actually a pretty good fighter. Not that I was prejudging her, because with being a fighter myself I’ve learnt not to. The two women walk off, Michaela just walks right off but Tori takes her time, waving and celebrating.

  The music returns and we grab ourselves some more drinks, dancing and genially having a great night. We block off some unwanted male attention and return to our girly night. The next fight is announced over the speakers and the girls start to get excited. I turn to the ring, watching the MC walk in to the fighting ring. This man is different, he’s a big guy, all muscles and very handsome. Oddly familiar.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen!” He shouts. “Next is a fight we’ve all been looking forward to! Welcome to the ring, Max the Madman!” Cheering welcomes Max to the ring, he’s a big guy and whoever is fighting him better be good. “And my brother!” The MC continues. “Gunner!”

  That’s it, everyone usually has a fighting name but this dude has just the one title, Gunner. However everyone is going wild, jumping all over and shouting at the top of their lungs. Whoever Max’s opponent is, he’s a popular man. Max is already parading the ring when I see the shadow of Gunner approaching. When he steps out in to the centre, the level of noise turns up even more and my whole body is covered in goose bumps. Gunner raises his hands to acknowledge his audience, and they are his because by the reaction he’s getting from this crowd, they are here to see Gunner. All the others are a bonus but I have a gut feeling they are only interested in him. The girls go crazy as Gunner faces our direction and shock hits me. It’s Kane Murphy! The fighter known as Gunner is Kane fucking Murphy! And the MC inside the ring, high fiving Kane is his brother, Kai Murphy.

  Shaking my head, I look to my sister and her own amazed eyes turn to me. “No way!” She yells.

  I nod, because I’m feeling stunned too. I have a fucking interview at their workplace in a matter of days! Two of the three men standing in the ring will be my bosses of I get the job. This makes keeping a secret a little more awkward. I have to make sure I don’t breathe a word of this even more so.

  “He’s amazing, right!” Emma jumps around. “Do you know the Murphy brothers? They’re famous and mega fucking rich. They actually run this you know, organise these events and the four of them even fight themselves.” She shakes her head in amazement. “Kai is actually my favourite, but Kane aka ‘Gunner,” she finger quotes, “is the best fighter.”

  The fight starts and Gunner jumps right in, throwing mean punches and high, strong kicks. I can’t take my eyes off him. His body is insane! Muscles stretching and popping. I just can’t remove my eyes from him. Gunner has me trapped. Right now he’s not Kane, the playboy businessman, he’s Gunner. The fighter.

  Emma is correct. He is a great fighter and it’s no surprise that in the first round Gunner wins. He hits Max with a hard hit to the face and Gunner follows him to the floor, continuing his punches until the referee calls it off.

  Knockout.

  The place goes insane. Yelling and cheering becomes one single noise. Everyone celebrates but Charlotte and I hold back. Just clapping his win and still remaining in the shock of it all. This has turned into one crazy night.

  Later on in the night Kane enters the crowds, but approaches a sectioned off area with seating areas and its own private bar. It seems the warehouse has its own VIP area. I make sure to stay away because I don’t want to be noticed when I show up for my interview. I want to remain anonymous and not attract attention. So I stay on the opposite side of the party and enjoy myself with my own group of friends.

  Chapter Three

  Kayla

  My body shakes as I lay in bed, it wakes me from my deep sleep and as I start to become aware of my surroundings, I begin to hear my alarm ringing.

  “Kay!” My sister yells. “You’re going to be late!”

  My eyes spring open in shock and I realise that I set that alarm for a reason. My interview!

  Jumping from my bed, I push pass Charlotte and run into the bathroom. I freshen myself up and with my toothbrush still in my mouth, I begin pulling out my interview outfit that I had bought just last week and start to get changed. With Charlotte still in my room, she silences the alarm and shakes her head. “You’re lucky I didn’t start so early this morning otherwise I wouldn’t have been here to wake you up.”

  I shoot my sister an angry look and with a smirk she disappears from my room. Leaving me to it. I finish my teeth and dress in a hurry. I can’t believe I’ve done this! How can I be so stupid? There’s no time to do anything special with my hair and make up, so I pull my long, brown locks into a sleek ponytail, quickly running the straighteners through to make my ponytail even straighter. Basic make up will have to do because I have no time to do anything else.

  Charlotte arrives at my bedroom door, jingling her car keys with a huge smile. “Do you want a lift?”

  “Stupid question.” I snap, grabbing my handbag and slipping on my heels. “Let’s go.”

  “How long have we got?” She asks as I almost run down to the elevator.

  “Twenty minutes!” I shout, dragging her with me so her ass moves faster.

  I tap my foot impatiently as we ride the elevator down to the car park in the basement. We run to the car and as Charlotte drives, my leg bounces in agitation and I bite down on my lip. Fucking morning traffic!

  The road to the Murphy Enterprise comes to view and with five minutes to spare my heart beats fast.

  “It’s too busy Kay, I’m not going to be able to park.”

  “I’ll jump out, it’s fine.” I assure her.

  As we get closer to the building, Charlotte comes to a stop in the traffic and quickly leans over to kiss my cheek. “Good luck, you’ll smash it!” I panic slightly and my sister must notice. She places a caring hand on my knee. “You’ll be great, when I get home we’ll have a takeaway and a glass of wine.”

  Smiling, I thank her and get out the car. “Thanks, love you.”

  “Love you” She shouts back, following the line of traffic as soon as I close the car door.

  I rush to the Murphy Enterprise building, looking up as I near the doors and I have to catch my breath. The building is fucking huge, so tall that I feel dizzy as I look up. Workers rush in and out the doors, so I quickly enter to not be in their way but as I step inside I’m amazed yet again. It’s so bright from all the glass walls and white marble flooring. Everyone rushes around, minding their own business while I stand awkwardly, just staring at everything. I take out my phone and open my emails, finding the one I received to tell me I had successfully got this interview. It has all the information that I need and where I need to go. Noting that I need to be on the tenth floor, I rush towards the elevators and press the button on the closest one to me. There’s a long line of them too, probably because there’s so many people working here. As soon as the doors open I step inside, pressing the button that has the number ten and it lights up as I press. I note that there’s twenty seven floors. Wow.

  As I ride the elevator up to the tenth floor, I look through the email once again and breathe deeply. I need to calm my nerves but I can’t stop worrying. None of the Murphy brothers should recognise me, I haven’t seen them for around fifteen plus years! That was when we were children. I’m not using my legal surname, Franklin because they will make the connection to my dad’s side of the family. I will be using my mother’s maiden name, and be known as Kayla Henderson from this point onwards. Besides, my interview is with one of the Kai Murphy, one of the famous four brothers and my future boss, if I get the job of course. They do also have a sister, Brianna Murphy but she keeps out of the way and has more of a private life and I admire her for that. She’s living in their family’s private estate with her husband and baby, which has been owned
by the Murphy family since their great grandparents purchased it way back. It’s now split in to two sectors. One for the Murphy’s, full of grand houses for members of the Murphy family and a separate gated community. From top notch modern apartments for the rich, houses that home glamorous families and the mansions of course. Obviously my grandparents chose to live in the private, gated community. In one of the grand properties that the Murphy family built. It’s lucky for me that I don’t see them often.

  The elevator dings, alerting that it’s reached the tenth floor and I put my phone away, wanting to look professional. As I step outside, a smiley young woman approaches me. Her blonde hair pulled into a very neat bun and her outfit very office like. Black straight trousers, white fitted blouse and black heels. Very high heels I might add.

  “Hi.” She greets me with a very friendly smile. You know those women who smile, but don’t mean it. They want to appear nice but really they’re just a bitch. This lady doesn’t seem like that though. I feel as though her smile is genuine. “Are you Kayla Henderson?”

  “Yes.” I answer, returning her smile and hoping to god I seem as friendly as her.

  “Great!” She claps. “I’m Claire.” She holds out her hand for me to shake. “If you follow me, I’ll take you to Mr Murphy’s, office where you’ll begin your interview. He’s not here yet though, but he should be right up soon.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief that Kai isn’t sat in his office waiting for me. I want to make a good impression because I need this job. Even if it is for the Murphy brothers.

  Claire leads me down the corridor and by an office separated from us by a glass wall, still continuing the ‘open’ feel that the ground floor did but unlike the white marble flooring downstairs, up here has a black laminate floor. Which adds a very different feel. Very manly.

  I’m lead to the end of the hall, to a black door with the name, Kai Murphy nailed on. There’s just one pane of glass in this office, however I can’t see into it as the blinds are closed. Giving the occupant planet of privacy. I wonder what Kai could need to shut the blinds for I wonder?

  There’s a couple of seats outside Kai’s office and Claire indicates for me to take one. “Mr Murphy will be here soon.” She smiles. “And good luck.” She whispers before retreating back and taking a right, entering the office we walked by with the glass walls. I sit and wait, but not for long as the dinging of the elevator alerts me to someone arriving and Kai Murphy himself steps into the hallway. Dressed in a grey suit, Kai looks very handsome as he walks down to me. He smiles as he approaches and offers his hand for me to shake as I stand to greet him.

  “Miss Henderson?” He asks.

  “Yes.” I nod. “Nice to meet you Mr Murphy.”

  He then smirks. “If you get the job, call me Kai. I hate all that Mr Murphy stuff.”

  Nodding, I follow him in to his office. “Ok.”

  “Take a seat.” He offers me the chair positioned opposite the large desk that takes over the left side of his office. Although Kai’s office is shut off from his staff, it’s not from the outside world. The whole wall opposite the door is glass, a huge window bringing so much sunshine into the room. Kai opens the blinds that were originally blocking my view and then takes his place at his desk, sitting on his masculine oversized leather chair. He flashes me a smile. “Welcome to Murphy Enterprise.”

  I grin back. “Thank you for having me.”

  Kai is very cute but he’s just not my type. I don’t know why, it’s not like he’s bad looking. I can appreciate his good looks, but I prefer the rough and ready type. Although Kai has a dark stubble running along his strong jaw, he just doesn’t do it for me. His kind attitude settles my nerves though and we dive right in to the interview. He begins with the basics, asking for some information about me, thing that he won’t find on my job application. I tell him what he needs to know, minus the part where our grandparents are practically best friends and that our families have ran side by side for generations.

  As I’m telling Kai why I want this job and why I would fit perfectly into his company, there’s a loud knock on the door before someone barges in. Kai looks annoyed at first, but then he relaxes back in to his seat and sighs. “What do you want?”

  I turn to see Kane. Oh my god! Kane fucking Murphy is here and I feel real awkward after seeing him in a lot less clothing than he’s wearing now and fighting in the ring. My cheeks burn and I try to cool them down with my cold hands as the brothers talk.

  “Why can’t you handle this?” Kai asks. “Can’t you see I’m doing an interview?”

  “It’s your department, so it’s your problem.” Kane growls and I keep my eyes faced forward to Kai.

  “Fuck.” Kai grumbles, looking at me and I know he feels bad. “I’m sorry Kayla.” Kai stands from his seat. “I have to see to this. Can we rearrange?”

  “Sure.” I stand also, trying not to look back at Kane as he stands by the doorway.

  “I can do it.” Kane offers and I look between Kane and Kai, a little confused and petrified.

  “Erm,” Kai thinks, looking to me and then back to his brother. “Ok.” Kai quickly grabs some things, rushing around his office and then leaving as fast as he can.

  There’s a little awkward silence. Kane walks around his brothers office, picking up things and putting them back. “Shall we start?” He asks, not bothering to sit down as I return to mine. Which makes me feel real nervous. Oh shit, does he know who I really am?

  “Ok, well I was answering Mr Murphy’s question about why I should work here.”

  “Why should you?” Kane asks, slowly walking over to me. He’s dressed in black trousers and a white shirt. It’s fitted so I can see everything he had on show at the fight. His sleeves are rolled up, showcasing his many tattoos.

  “Well,” I begin, becoming out of sorts as Kane leans against Kai’s desk, facing me with his arms folded across his chest. I feel very intimidated as I try to answer as best as I can. “I love the job, advertising is my passion and I know that sounds weird, but it’s true. I’ve always wanted to work in the marketing industry.”

  “Your passion?” He asks and I can feel his eyes burning into me. “Do you feel passion for anything else Miss,” Kane leans over to look at the paper work on Kai’s desk, reading my application. “Henderson.”

  Any other passions? Is he flirting?

  “I go to the gym in my free time and other than that, I enjoy reading.” I answer simply, trying not to let his question bother me.

  “The gym?” He asks, looking me over. “I can tell you work out.”

  I can tell he’s trying to intimidate me but I won’t let him. I want this job! He’s not an ass. He likes the ladies for sure, but he doesn’t hassle them. I know that much about him. Kane is just trying to see what I’m made of. His two other brothers, Rocko and Zander are the most flirtatious.

  “Thank you.” I plant a fake smile on. “Same for you.”

  Kane flashes me a cheeky smile and I can’t help it, my fake smile turns into a genuine one.

  “So, why do you want this job?” Kane asks me. “Why would you want to work under me and my brothers?”

  There we go again, another innuendo. Kane’s full of them and as the interview continues, he doesn’t stop. I don’t let it bother me though and I fire my answers right back at him.

  Kane then holds out his hand to me and I take it, as he helps me stand from my seat, he delivers his result. “Well then, congratulations. You’re part of the Murphy family.”

  “Really?” I’m shocked, I didn’t think he would let me know right here and now.

  “Of course.” Kane shrugs. “You seem a great fit for us, so why not. Welcome to the team.”

  I can’t help the huge grin that keeps spreading across my face. I really wanted this job and I’ve only gone and got it!

  “Thank you.” I pick up my bag and go the leave the office. “Monday morning?”

  “So eager.” Kane chuckles. “Yes, we’ll see you Monday.�
�

  I leave the office and make my way to the elevator that I rode up here in. I hear a whisper behind me and turn to see Claire poking her head around the glass door. She’s still smiling and waves me over.

  “How did it go?” She asks.

  “Well, I’ll be here on Monday.” I answer and she claps in joy.

  “Oh really?” Claire congratulates me. “I’ll look forward to seeing you 8 am Monday morning then.”

  “You will.” I nod and take a sneaky look over to see Kane watching from the office. He winks over at me and I look back to Claire, she saw it but she doesn’t comment.

  Chapter Four

  Kayla

  Thankfully, the morning of my first day working for the Murphy’s goes a lot smoother than waking for my interview. I made three alarms for this morning, just in case but it turns out that I didn’t need any of them, not even the first because I hardly slept at all. I always get a little nervous and anxious when it’s something new. The butterflies in my stomach kept me in a restless sleep. So as soon as I saw it was 6am, I decided to get up and make a cup of tea.

  Now, I’m almost ready and drinking my second cup whilst sat on the sofa.

  “Shouldn’t you be getting ready?” Charlotte asks, walking into the room and sitting on the other sofa.

  I look up from my phone, shrugging “I just need to get dressed.”

  My hair is down, in loose curls and I’m wearing some make up. Not too much that it’s inappropriate but enough to looks nice at least. You know, mascara, a little eyeliner, plus some concealer and foundation so I look more awake.

  “Well, if you get off your backside I can drop you off.” Charlotte offers. “I am proud of you, yah know. Getting this job, but are you worried?”

  “About what?” I ask, looking back down at my phone.

  “That you’re working for the Murphy’s.” She points out. “You haven’t been around, Papa and Gigi’s recently so they might not recognise you, but will you be able to keep it up? Taking mums name and lying about who you’re not?”