Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“A headliner at Heathens Hollow.”
I glanced past Ari to check on Bones. He looked like a mixture of pissed and worried. His eyebrows furrowed, and his chiseled face looked even more angular with how hard he frowned. Though we tried to placate him all last night, he had reason to worry. River was a fucking brickhouse of a man. Bones had got a few good shots on him last night, and he hadn’t even winced. Bones might have been at his prime, but so was River. A one-on-one match between them would rake in the big bucks, but at what cost?
But a fucking headliner. That was a chance we couldn’t pass up. The previous headlining match we did had catapulted us to the top of the underground. A second one? We’d be certified legends of cage fighting. Smiley’s would be un-fucking-stoppable.
Which meant it was too good to be true.
Lotto clearly felt the same because his glare hadn’t let up. “When would this be?”
“Two months. Gives time to train and build hype. People from all over the West Coast would be there.”
It also gave time to pay off the cops and make sure they were looking the other way when the time came. Most underground fights were short notice and on abandoned property to sneak under the feds’ noses. Heathens Hollow was on its own damn island off the coast and the perfect place to pick your poison and get fucked up for the night.
Or hide a few skeletons in your closet.
Ari looked at me with practical question marks in her eyes, but I didn’t have an answer. Troy Godwin hadn’t earned a lick of my trust, offer or not.
“What’s in it for us if we agree?” Bones questioned.
Troy snapped his fingers, and the man in sunglasses standing to his right stepped forward with a duffle bag in hand. He threw it on Troy’s desk and opened the zipper. Inside were stacks and stacks of crisp hundreds.
“A hundred K.” Troy picked up one of the stacks and threw it into Bones’ lap. “No strings attached.”
I couldn’t contain my scoff. “I doubt that.”
“Say yes, and you walk out of here with it. Should be enough to pay for the repairs to your little gym. Insurance can be a little bitch, can’t it?”
How the fuck did he know that? This bastard had eyes and ears everywhere. Another reason we needed to deny this deal.
“And all we have to do is agree to this headliner deal?” Ari asked, her eyes on the bag. “A Bones vs. River fight for the ages?”
“It’s not what I originally had in mind,” Troy admitted and sat up in his rolling chair. He slid a jackal smile at Bones that made me sick. “Do you know how many people want to kick your ass, Bones?”
“I have an idea.” Bones grunted.
“Double that idea and you might be correct.”
“Is there a point to this?” I asked. Ari swung out her hand and clipped my upper shoulder, but I held firm. I wasn’t starting shit, I was merely playing into it. “We all know Bones is at the top of the food chain or else we wouldn’t be here.”
“My first plan was to invite you to a type of opponent’s ladder. See how many people you could take on before you were knocked out or worse.”
Or worse. I grimaced. This fucker needed to stop watching Fight Club.
“But,” Troy drawled and fixed a stray hair from his gelled-back style. “Where’s the fun in that? I won’t make any money off of you if you’re in the hospital or dead.”
“So you want him as your cash cow?” Lotto asked.
“More like a cash bull. Loosen up the look, Bones, before you stab me with your eyes.”
If anything, Bones glared harder. “I fight for Smiley’s, not you.”
“And Smiley’s will fight for me. Isn’t that the same thing?”
The room went silent. I looked between the other three, each looked as pissed off as I did. Troy didn’t just have us by the balls. He had us by the throats, arms, and legs. The chains around our bodies would be tough to remove if weighed down by 10,000 Benjamin Franklins.
Ari reached toward the bag, and Troy snatched it closed. His jackal smile grew even larger.
“I wouldn’t touch that just yet, beautiful. Not until you hear the rest of my proposal.”
A sick feeling sank in my stomach. The rest of his proposal? What the fuck else did he want?
Ari swallowed and sat back against her chair. “Then what’s your plan?”
“Bones isn’t the only one with a target on his back.” Troy stood up and rifled through some papers at the edge of his desk. After a dramatic pause he evidently found what he was looking for. He pulled out a stapled pack of papers and smirked. “You’ve got quite a hater yourself, Ari.”