Sugar Pop (The Riot Crew #2)

5. Ari

Chapter 5

Ari

O range wasn’t exactly my color, but if this pompous asshole clicked his pen one more time, I’d learn to rock a nice prison jumpsuit.

Thanks to Bones’ phone calls, the tree was no longer in the middle of our crushed ring, but in huge pieces all around the parking lot. There was debris everywhere, and the guys were clearing it the best they could, and all this dick of an assessment specialist did was take pictures, write notes, and shake his head.

Clearly, the insurance policy wasn’t going to give us jack shit.

That was bad fucking news, because the city’s surveyor had visited early this morning and offered less than nothing. Debris cleanup for free. What the hell was that going to help with? Bones’ guys had already done half their job, and even if the debris was gone, we’d be left with three punching bags, a rack of weights, and two functional and open showers.

I hovered over the specialist all morning, trying to get a feel for how much this was going to cost us. I got my answer before he opened his fat mouth.

“We can cover about twenty percent of the damages.”

“Twenty percent.” The number sank into my stomach and made me want to vomit up twenty percent of my lunch. “Are you serious right now?”

“The building has structural damage near the back office, which, as you can see, wasn’t touched by the tree. You’ll need to fix that from your own pocket.”

“Excuse me?”

His lips curled up into a smirk like I didn’t understand a word he was saying. “The foundation around the showers is sinking in. Bad construction. Did you do it yourself?”

Okay, I might not have been a fighter like Bones or Frankie, but I was about to clock this guy so hard, he’d go crying back to mommy. I clenched my fists by my sides and forced myself to draw a breath.

“My father owned this place before me, so I’m not sure.”

“Well, you’ll need to knock down the showers completely, check the pipes, and rebuild.” He clicked the pen again. It was a nice black ink pen, engraved with the name Adam Bryant on the silver. I thought it might look even better through the middle of his throat. “Since you’re only on liability, we can cover the cost of tree removal and twenty percent of the repairs. The rest is on you.”

I took in the broken building I’d once called Smiley’s and gritted my teeth. “What am I supposed to do about the rest?”

“It would be cheaper to knock it down and start fresh.” Pen Douche gave me a pity-filled look. “Or sell the lot. It would be worth a lot more.”

No way. I couldn’t do that. Smiley’s was my everything. I couldn’t get rid of the only piece of my dad I had left. This was his legacy. His future. Our future. I hadn’t worked so hard over the past year to be brought down by a rotting tree, of all things.

“Go back to your stuffy office and get working on my claim,” I ordered the douchebag with a glare. “Because we obviously have a shit ton to do here. If you’ll excuse me.”

I left Pen Douche behind to step into the chaos of Smiley’s. Now that the tree was gone, I could see just how fucked we were.

This was going to take a lot of money to fix.

More than we had even saved up from Bones’ fights.

I blinked a few times to ward off the sting of tears threatening my eyes. Of all the bullshit I’d dealt with over the years, this one took the cake. There were only a few options I could think of, and all of them absolutely sucked. Best-case scenario? I sold a kidney on the black market. Someone would probably pay good money for a good kidney, right? And we already did some shady stuff. What was another black market deal?

“Ari.”

I snapped out of my black market bargaining and blinked at Bones. His ripped body gleamed in the afternoon sunlight, sweat tracing its way down his tats. He and Frankie had been working since the morning to clean this place up for me.

He set his glove-covered hands on his hips. “I’ve been thinking.”

“I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” I teased. “Are you going to have me guess?”

His lips quirked slightly before he grew serious again. “I’ll take on more fights. Win us some more money. I’m sure Lotto can find me something.”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair in frustration. Bones was our only solid fighter. The rest of the trainees needed much more polishing. Taking on more fights meant more strain on his body. I didn’t want to put them through that.

“We’ll figure something else out, Bones. Don’t push yourself for us.”

“People want to fight me,” he said. “It’s big money to take me down right now. There’s always some young prick looking to make bank.”

“But the more you’re out there, the more your value goes down.” It sounded harsh, but it was true. If Bones kept winning fight after fight, people would bet on him to win, and our cut would grow smaller. People were starting to expect Bones to be the winner, and more fights would make that divide even worse. I sighed. “So we need to book something big. Something like…”

Heathens Hollow. The reason Bones was infamous in the first place.

I looked over to where Frankie and Lotto were bagging up tree branches. We needed something big like Heathens Hollow to get our money back. But that meant we’d have to sell out to Troy Godwin, and after he threatened us before the match last time, I was hesitant to call up a favor.

But he did say he’d help us out if we could make him mad cash.

Frankie was going to absolutely fucking hate this idea, but it was our best shot.

“Frankie, Lotto,” I called, waving them over.

They set down the bag and hopped over some debris to join me and Bones.

I drew a deep breath and stared Frankie directly in the eyes. “I want to meet with Troy Godwin.”

“Hell no,” Frankie immediately answered. He crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles flexing against his tight black shirt. “I’m not letting you tie yourself to that bastard.”

“What other choice do we have?” I gestured to Bones. “Let him fight ’til he can’t anymore? We both know how that ends up.”

Frankie’s expression twisted like I’d just slapped him. Shit. I hadn’t meant it like that, but his injury was a sore subject. Foot meet mouth.

“I’m sorry,” I immediately said. “It’s not your fault, I just don’t want?—”

“Me to turn into a vegetable? Yeah, I don’t want to fucking die either.” He ran a hand over his clean-shaven jaw, and there was a tightness in his hand like he was trying to contain his anger. “If I could get into the ring and help, I would.”

“Freakshow’s just as menacing out of the ring as in,” Lotto commented. “Go with Ari to meet Troy and fuck him up another way.

“You don’t fuck Troy Godwin up. He fucks you up.” His sharp stare pierced Bones. “Have you heard from Nero lately?”

Bones shook his head. Of course he hadn’t. After Nero had tried to fuck over Bones’ fight at Heathens Hollow, Troy had dealt with him as a “courtesy” for winning. If Nero’s “disappearance” was a courtesy, I didn’t want to know what would happen if we got on Troy’s bad side.

“It’s an option,” I emphasized. “We can meet with him and make a deal.”

“A deal.” Frankie grunted and clenched his hand into a fist. “Troy doesn’t do deals.”

“He might for us if we offer something in return. Something that will keep the money rolling in, like another Heathens Hollow fight.”

“That something is Bones.” Lotto took off his gloves so he could take out his phone. “He’s the talk of the town. The Perk’s posted another video.”

I groaned. What the hell was their beef with us? Misty Perk and I had met once after my father died at a WBA Boxing Convention. That bitch had the audacity to shake my hand and immediately turn around and tell her brother I’d never make it. I had no idea what her problem with me was. Maybe she wanted to be the only female boxing gym owner in Seattle. Or maybe she was jealous Perk’s Gym was barely a blip in the radar, both legit and underground. But, apparently, she still had that chip on her shoulder and wore it like some kind of weirdo badge of honor.

“Let ’em talk shit. We have bigger problems,” Frankie said. “What did the specialist say?”

“Twenty percent.” The numbers felt like acid on my tongue. “And we’ll probably have to fight for that.”

“Shit,” Lotto breathed. “That means our funds are gone.”

“More than gone. Apparently, there’s structural damage on top of it. The specialist suggested I knock the place down and sell the land. Probably back to the insurance company, since they want to keep fucking us over.”

The group went silent. None of us could look each other in the eye. Even our relationship felt as broken as our boxing ring. Smiley’s was everything to not just me, but the three men standing with me.

If Smiley’s was gone, what would happen to us?

Frankie stared at the clear blue sky for a few minutes. Only yesterday it had brought chaos and destruction. Today? Absolutely gorgeous. Fuck the Pacific Northwest.

When he eventually sighed, it was more resigned than relaxing. “I don’t want to agree to this.”

“But you have to,” I finished for him. I already knew what he meant without him saying it.

“But I’m going with you. I don’t trust that bastard to offer a fair deal otherwise. Lotto, can you make it happen?”

Lotto clicked around on his phone. “On it.”

“Find me more fights while you’re at it,” Bones said.

“Bones—”

“Unless you have a better idea, I’m doing it.” Bones’ chiseled jaw grew even sharper when he frowned. Clearly, his mind was made up.

“I could hop in the ring myself,” I joked to break the ice. “You know I have a mean roundhouse kick. I could probably take someone down.”

“I don’t fucking think so,” Frankie immediately answered. The intensity of his eyes on me made me shiver. “You’re an owner, not a fighter. You’re not stepping into the ring.”

“Sheesh, calm down, Frankie.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “It was a joke. Do you know what those are?”

“I don’t joke around with your safety, Ari. Don’t even think about it.”

Bones reached out to tap my chin with his fingers. I hadn’t realized how tightly I’d clenched my jaw until his touch relaxed my muscles. “Ease up on the frown, Ari. You’re doing what you can for us. Let me do the same for you.”

“We’re not letting Smiley’s go down without a fight.” Lotto looked up from his phone with a slight grin. “Or a few extra fights. Bones is a wanted man.”

“Then let them fucking come. I’m ready.”

“We’ll handle Troy.” Frankie clapped a hand on Bones’ shoulder. “You handle the ring.”

My heart swelled at how each of them loved and protected Smiley’s in their own way. Not just Smiley’s—me, too. There was no one else in this world I could trust with my life. Even if the circumstances were absolute shit, if we all worked together, Smiley’s would make it. I was sure of it.

“Set it up, Lotto.” I stared at the remains of Smiley’s behind Frankie. “Let’s hope Troy is feeling as generous as he was at Heathens Hollow.”