Caged by Savage

Caged by Savage
Summary: This is not made for TV. This is the raw, brutal underground of no-holds-barred combat. Inside the cage there is nothing but me and the pain I inflict on those who dare enter. In the cage, I never had to worry about anyone but myself. When she started standing outside of it, everything changed. I was no longer fighting for the money or the glory – I had to fight for her.

http://shaysavage.blogspot.com/ Teasers on Tuesdays.

I have a hard time reading a story unless someone I know and trust recs it to me, but sometimes, just sometimes, a gem like this will pop up on The Fictionators or The Lemonade Stand and the excerpts from the story or the gushing from the reviewer will pull me in. Well, that's what happened with this WIP. Thank you, TLS!

Caged is EPOV, and I love this Edward. He is all man. He drinks, he smokes, he has a foul mouth, he lives like a pig, and he wants to beat everyone up. He is also the most protective, sweetest -- even though blunt and rude -- guy out there. By profession he is a cage fighter. By choice he protects Bella, whom he first meets when heading home. 

This is the excerpt that grabbed me, so that's what I'm going to share. 

The trip-trapping sound of women's shoes on pavement caused me to look up, and I watched a young woman come into view as she passed the dumpsters at the back of the bar. She walked quickly with her head down and a purse with a long strap over her shoulder. Her long, brown hair was tied up in a pony tail at the top of her head, and she wore a pair of short-shorts, which showed off her long legs, and a tight T-shirt with the name of the bar and grill a few block down across her chest. I figured she was maybe five-foot-four and a hundred and fifteen pounds, because I tended to size people up that way. Nice build, nice tits. She didn't look over to me at all, just kept up her quick pace down the street with her eyes on her feet.

My first thought was fucking gorgeous.

My second thought was fucking stupid.

Who walked around this area of town in the middle of the night by themselves? I mean, yeah – I did – but I wasn't a very easy target. She might as well have had a sign on her back that said "mug me". I shook my head and went back to rummaging around in my bag. When I looked up again, the sound of her shoes was beginning to fade, but that wasn't what caught my attention.
The guys who had been sitting and drinking across the street had gone quiet, and were now all standing up with their heads close to one another. The guy with greasy, shoulder length, black hair turned his head to look down the street in the direction the girl was walking, and then nodded before he and a guy with a backwards baseball cap took off down the side alley that ran perpendicular to the street they were on.

I'd lived in that area a couple of years, and I knew that alley intersected with another alley, which then met up with a walkway between two of the abandoned warehouses, and dumped out onto this street a couple blocks down. The last two guys in the group were heavy set with unkempt dirty blond hair. They looked like they might have been brothers. They quickly abandoned the bottle-in-a-bag and started walking quietly but quickly in the same direction the girl was going, pulling the hoodies up over their heads as they walked.

Their intent was obvious.

"Fuck," I mumbled. I grabbed my bag, ignoring the shirt that fell out of it and on to the ground, and heaved at the heavy gate that enclosed the area behind Feet First. For once, the damn thing was padlocked. I growled before flinging my bag up and over the fence, grabbing onto the links with my fingers, and hauling myself up and over it. I had to move pretty quick if I was going to catch up with the drunks and their would-be victim.

I was never one to play the hero, but some things you just didn't let slide.

One of the many things that I love about this Edward is that he doesn't think, he just does. He doesn't hold back either. Anytime Bella is in distress, he comes to her aid. About to be attacked? Here comes Edward. Being yelled at by an ex? Here comes Edward. About to be evicted? Here comes Edward. 

Knowing what she said was absolutely true, and also knowing how few and far between decent jobs were around here, I couldn't really argue with her. The very idea that she would have to give up on her dream so quickly was bad enough, but coupling that with knowing that if she moved back home, I'd probably never see her again was more than I could take.

I didn't think, I didn't consider. I didn't even realize what I was saying.

"Move in with me."

I was never one for impulsiveness, but the words just came out of my mouth.

This last sentence totally cracks me up because he doesn't know himself at all. The boy is all impulse, especially when it comes to Bella. He'll do anything for her. That doesn't mean he doessn't have restraint because, boy howdy, he does. He totally wants her but made the dumbest mistake ever early on in their friendship of comparing himself to an older brother, which Bella keeps bringing up. Frankly, I think it's because she wants to jump him, but whatever. 

This isn't my usal cup of tea. It's crass and brash and probably will have loads of MA material, but in the meantime it's pretty mellow on the smut front, and the plot and characters are keeping me coming back for more. 

The ironic thing is that not much has happened. Edward's life (currently) is not all that interesting. He works twice a week, does laundry once a month when he runs out of clothes, walks bella to and from work while making fun of her purse, hangs out with Crazy Alice (who is actually crazy) and smokes. That's about it, but something about the way Savage writes his POV makes all of that so unbelievably interesting. I'm infatuated with this man and dying to know what happens next. I just started it, but word from the author is weekly updates on Fridays. It's seven chapters in thus far and worth the read.

And because I'm a sucker for banter, here's one more. This isn't the best of the best, but I love that he makes fun of her bag. Cracks me up. 

"This is just about it," Bella said as I walked back in. "There are a few more things in the bathroom, but I should be able to fit them in here."

She held up the Beast Bag.

"Well, if I had known we could pack stuff in that thing," I grinned, "I wouldn't have bothered to bring those crates from the bar. Here, let me shove the fridge in there…"

I moved across the floor and wrapped my arms around the front of the refrigerator and acted like I was going to pick it up.

"Don't be ridiculous," Bella sighed, but she also smiled slightly and shook her head at me

Team Jacob Warning. According to Edward, and I believe him, Jake is a douche bag. 

Smut factor: low for now, but it definitlty hits it's M rating with language and violence.