21. Bones
Chapter 21
Bones
A ri slammed her phone down on the front desk and screamed, “ That asshole !”
Lotto hummed his agreement; I snorted but didn’t say anything.
I had already said plenty when Frankie didn’t show up to Smiley’s that morning.
After he’d texted us to pick her up at the hospital and had gone silent, we worried. The longer calls went unanswered, we grew pissed. Now we were so angry, we’d willingly piss on his grave when he returned.
If he returned.
I didn’t want to state that worry out loud—Ari already had enough on her mind. But Frankie’s glare last night had been full of much more than anger. It had been absolute vitriol. He wasn’t happy we were giving Ari a second chance. Like hell I even wanted to. She’d been so light in my arms when I’d dragged her out, and it had taken three hand washes to get her bloodstains off my fingers. I’d barely slept because I saw that roundhouse kick and her going down to the mat.
But I also couldn’t deny how she’d held her own for much longer than expected. That she was skilled, and with a little more training, could hold her own at Heathens Hollow. She hadn’t crumbled under the pressure of the large crowd, and she’d got a few good hits in herself. I’d seen some people piss their pants and run from their first fight, while Ari had stepped into the ring with her head held high and would willingly do it again.
Apparently, Frankie didn’t give a shit about any of that.
Fucker.
“If he doesn’t answer by sundown, I’m calling in a missing person’s report.” Ari leaned against the front of the counter. “’Cause once they find him, I’ll kick his ass.”
“He’d probably like that,” Lotto offered.
“Probably not since he’s being an asshole.”
I snorted. “Trust me. Any of us would enjoy it.”
“Want to try?” Lotto slid closer to Ari with a grin. “Consider it practice, since Frankie couldn’t be assed to train you. Just say the word, angel.”
Ari’s smile fell slightly. “As much as I would love that, I’ll take a raincheck. Right now, I’m too angry to think of much more than chopping Frankie’s throat. Or maybe?—”
The bell above the door rang. We stood up straighter and turned to the door. I expected Frankie to saunter through with his signature frown, but it wasn’t anyone from Smiley’s at all.
It was fucking River.
And he didn’t look too happy.
“What the fuck is going on?” His normally smooth face was pinched around his lips and eyes. When he saw Ari, the expression softened only slightly. “You look like shit.”
“Good to see you, too, River,” she scoffed.
“Thanks for showing up.” Lotto stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Come to ‘pummel us into the mat’? A little early for that, but we can make time.”
I snorted into my fist. River glanced at me before shifting back to Ari. “So it’s true?”
“What’s true?” she questioned.
“You have a concussion and are dropping out?”
Ari stiffened so hard I thought she might pass out. Her eyes went wide, and color rose in her face. I took a step forward, hoping to keep the lid on her anger, but she exploded before I could.
“What the fuck do you mean, dropping out?”
River pulled his phone from the pocket of his light jacket. “I got a?—”
Ari ripped the phone from his hands so she could see the screen. River grumbled about “harpy-like strength” but didn’t grab it back. Lotto and I moved forward to read over her shoulder.
Troy Godwin
Ari has a concussion. May need a new third. Have any other male fighters at your place?
Respond by end of day or you’re gone.
I read it again and again before my eyes landed on the word “male.” If Ari dropped out, who the fuck would take her place? There was no one else here at the caliber we needed.
No one except Frankie.
Goddamnit.
“What the fuck did he do?” Ari gripped the phone harder. It was like she read my mind. “I don’t have a concussion.”
“I mean, you look pretty beat up.” River reached out to touch the bruise on Ari’s temple, but I smacked his hand away before he could. He whistled, shaking out his fingers. “Damn, you’ve been training. Looking thick, Bones.”
“And so have I.” Ari handed the phone back with a frown. “Because I’m staying in. Tell Troy it’s a misunderstanding.”
“You should probably tell him that yourself.” River grabbed the phone and pointed it toward Lotto. “And the Perks. They’re already whipping up some videos calling you a pussy.”
“They need to get more creative.” Lotto shrugged and leaned against the counter. “They’ve called us pussies three times, assholes twice, and motherfuckers six times. Tell them it’s getting boring.”
“Sure. What would you like them to call you?”
“How about ‘infected flesh wounds’?” Lotto chuckled to himself. “‘Dangling ball sacks’? ‘Big dicked beefcakes’?”
River smirked. “Wanna prove that last one, Lotto? I’m game.” His gaze trailed over to me, and my body sparked like embers. “You, too, Bones. You busy after the fight?”
“Can you all stop thinking with your dicks for a second and focus?” Ari yelled and set her hands on her hips.
I held up my hands in defense. “I didn’t even say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.” She exhaled sharply through her nose and pushed River’s phone into his chest. “Go back to your gym and tell them there’s been a mistake. We’ll deal with Troy.” Her eyes narrowed into such a menacing glare it made me shudder, and she wasn’t even looking at me. “And Frankie when we see him. So get the hell out, and we’ll see you at Heathens Hollow.”
River whistled and pocketed his phone. “Okay, okay. I see where I’m not needed.” He turned and winked at me. “See you soon, Bones.” Then he sauntered out of Smiley’s, the bell ringing in his wake.
The three of us sighed in unison. The room was full of angry tension waiting to snap. Maybe it was better for Frankie to be missing. We’d need to redo construction with the fight about to take place here.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” Ari ground out through clenched teeth, her hands balled into fists at her sides. “Smack the shit out of him until he’s in the hospital like I was.”
“I don’t doubt it, angel,” Lotto murmured, “but we kind of need him.”
“Just one night in the hospital.” Ari turned to us. Tears shone in her eyes, and she blinked them back. “Like he forced me to do yesterday, and I believed him like an idiot.”
“We all did.” I stepped forward and squeezed her upper arm. “I’m sure he has a good reason.”
“Good reason or not, he just made this so much harder for us.” Lotto rubbed his forehead and pushed off of the front desk. “I need to call the Perks and tell them no changes. Arrange to meet with Troy. Fuck, I have a headache. Ari, you can hit him once. Or maybe twice for me.”
“Much more than that.” She frowned. “When I see him, I’m going to rip his balls off and serve them to him on a platter.”
My thighs clenched at the threat. I hoped Frankie liked meatball soup, ’cause based on Ari’s fury, his balls were about to be the main ingredient.
“Look, here’s what we’re going to do. Lotto, you deal with the Perks and Troy.” I fished into my back pocket and pulled out my wallet, taking out a twenty. “Ari, go buy one of those bath bombs you like, go home, and relax.”
She stared at Andrew Jackson’s face with a frown. “I might need two bath bombs.”
I put the $20 back into my wallet and pulled out a $50. “And a bottle of wine.”
“Fat chance,” she complained but took the money. “Wine’s for watching Love Island . Jack is for imagining fifty ways to make Frankie cry.”
“What about you?” Lotto asked with a smirk. “Since you’re our new leader and all. Isn’t that my job?”
“Funny,” I bit back sarcastically. “I’ll wait here for Frankie to get back and talk some sense into him.”
“Tell him he owes you fifty bucks. Since you just saved his balls and all.” Lotto wrapped an arm around Ari’s waist and tugged her toward the front door. “Come on, angel, I’ll take you home.”
“Give him hell for me, Bones,” Ari called over her shoulder. I waved at her then watched Lotto’s car peel out of the empty parking lot.
As soon as I was alone, I allowed my shoulders to slump forward. Fuck Frankie. It was hard to keep a cool demeanor when I wanted to join Ari in roasting the son of a bitch. What the fuck was he thinking? Freakshow was long gone, and for good reason. The damn clown. Was he trying to relive his glory days? Prove a point? Fuck things up? I’d know the reason if he knew how to communicate more than grunts and groans.
Just as I was about to Google “how to communicate with cavemen,” gravel crunched beneath tires and a new car pulled into the lot. Frankie’s car. He stepped out and tossed his sunglasses into the driver’s seat. His entire body was as tight as a violin string as he threw open the front door to Smiley’s.
“Where’s everyone?” he asked stiffly.
I eyed him. Nice dress shirt, pressed pants, glinting watch, slicked-back hair. Yep, definitely made a visit to Troy Godwin.
“I told them to go home since our trainer was nowhere to be found.” I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned. “What the fuck are you thinking, idiot? Pulling Ari from the match?”
Frankie’s glare narrowed. “I see Troy called.”
“River made a house call.” That made Frankie’s eyebrows lift in surprise before they settled back into annoyance. “Wanted to know why they suddenly need another guy.”
“Well?”
“What the fuck do you think?” I demanded. “Of course we don’t, because Ari is going to do this.”
“The hell she will.”
“What, over your dead body?” I took a step closer to him and puffed out my chest. “’Cause that’s what it’s going to be. Your fucking funeral.”
Frankie mirrored my pose and let out an incredulous laugh. “Funny. Someone else said the same thing to me earlier.”
“If Troy Godwin is giving you good advice, then your choice is fucked up.”
“But it’s mine to make.” He stalked forward, his thick body pressing up against mine. I heaved a breath. His expression was etched with fury, and my heart thumped at the dark look he gave me.
“Because you’re a big man, aren’t you, Freakshow?” I countered. I pushed at his chest with two of my fingers but he didn’t even budge. “Saying it’s all for Ari’s sake when you just want to relive your glory days.”
“You don’t fucking know?—”
“Yeah, I don’t!” I yelled and pushed him again. He barely moved back one step before he was right on me again. “Toddlers have better communication than you, but I guess they’re just as whiny, aren’t they?”
“Watch your fucking mouth, Bones,” he warned.
“Or what?” I pushed him with my chest and stalked him when he stumbled back. “Gonna cry to Mommy Troy? Get me taken out of the fight, too?”
“If you want to be a pussy?—”
“The only one being a pussy here is you, you fucking dick,” I spat, pure venom in my voice. “Making selfish choices on your own because you can’t give up?—”
Frankie swung back and sent his fist flying toward my face. I managed to dodge out of the way in time, and I grabbed his arm, twisting him closer. We grappled with each other, a mess of shoves, punches, and headbutts. I hadn’t had a schoolyard brawl in decades, but if Frankie needed to be taught a lesson, I wasn’t against roughing up the asshole.
“I’m keeping her safe,” Frankie growled as he shrugged me off and swung again.
I blocked his punch with my forearm and pushed him back. “The only thing you’re doing is holding her back.” I kicked at his side, managing to clip his thigh before he grabbed my foot.
“Oh, fuck off.” He tried to drag me closer, but I twisted my foot free and stepped back. Frankie’s punch landed on my shoulder, and I hissed. He still had the Freakshow power. “You were the one who dragged her out of the fucking ring.”
“And I was the first to say she should go back in.” I clipped his side with a hook again, and he doubled over with a pained grunt. Before I could smack him again, he righted himself and stepped out of range. “Because she’s good, Frankie. She can fucking win.” I stalked closer, my voice dropping into an angry hiss. “But you’re too blinded by what you call love to see how much it’s suffocating her.”
“What do you know about our love?” He took a step forward to meet me. “God, you are so fucking annoying. Shut the fuck up.”
Frankie grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me into a kiss. It was violent from the start, his teeth gnawing at my lips and tongue, biting down until I groaned with pain. I gripped his shoulders, digging my fingers into his skin until he jerked away with a curse. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him into another messy kiss, pushing him until his back collided with the wall. Our teeth knocked, tongues fighting against each other to get the upper hand.
I pulled back to breathe, tugging on his dress shirt so hard, the top button popped up and exposed his collarbones. My cock strained against my pants as Frankie gripped my chest and sides hard enough to leave bruises.
“Your nickname is fitting,” I ground out as I tugged his shirt again until another button popped off. “Roughing people up get you going? Is that why you want back in the ring, to get your knocks off?”
“You’re one to talk.” Frankie grabbed my hard dick through my pants and smirked when I grunted and jerked into his touch. “You’re hard as a fucking rock, Bones. So who’s the freak here?”
“Need a way to make you shut the fuck up,” I hissed and leaned into another kiss. I fumbled to pop the button of his dress pants and drag the zipper down. I slipped my hand into his pants, curling around his cock and squeezing as hard as I could.
Frankie jerked away with a hiss, but his dick pulsed in my hand.
“Maybe I should throat fuck you. Bruise the back of your throat so I don’t have to hear more of your bullshit.”
“I’d like to see you try.” He jerked down my sweatpants and boxers with a few tugs and wrapped a hand around my weeping cock. “I’d have you bent over the ring before you could whip your fucking cock out.”
“You already did that for me.” I smirked and tugged his pants down, letting his dick spring free. Frankie’s hot breath ghosted my lips when I gripped it and started tugging. “So who’s the desperate one?”
“Let’s make a deal,” he said and began pumping my shaft faster. “First one to come gets a punishment.”
“So you do like getting punished?” I challenged. I wasn’t going to back down from the easiest fight of my life. I tugged on his cock, running my thumb along the slit of his tip with each jerk. “What do you want your punishment to be, Frankie? Should I call everyone at Smiley’s and let them watch me fuck you raw?” His cock twitched beneath my hand, and my smirk grew. “Tape it and put it on our social media?”
“You talk big game for someone who’s about to get stuffed with my cum. Every single hole.” He grunted and stepped closer so the tips of our dicks touched. I shuddered as pleasure rippled through me. “When you come all over my hand, I’ll stuff it into your mouth and make you lick up every last drop.”
“Dare you to try. You couldn’t even win our kiss.”
He growled and dove in to prove me wrong. His teeth and tongue made a mess of my swollen lips, and he gripped my throat with his other hand to keep me close. Frankie worked my cock so quickly my thighs trembled; the mix of pain and pleasure sent my body into overdrive. I thrust against him over and over, the tops of our members crossing and touching until he ripped away from my mouth with a grunt. His head fell back against the wall, his cock throbbing violently in my hand.
“You’re going to come, aren’t you?” I smirked and leaned my weight into him, keeping him pinned against the wall as I stroked his length. “Ready to lose?”
“Fuck off,” he groaned while he ground his hips into mine. His hand grew faster, trying to keep up with mine, but I had him.
“Say my name when you come, Frankie,” I laughed and squeezed his thighs between mine. “So people know who made you their bitch.”
“Fuck you, Bones,” he groaned. “ Fuck you .”
He spilled hot and sticky all over my hand in a few spurts. His entire body shook, eyes rolling back as I milked his orgasm to the last drop. My dick pulsed angrily, and I knocked Frankie’s hand away, stroking myself a few times until I splattered cum all over his hips and flaccid cock. I fought to catch my breath, smirking at how my cum stained the bottom of his dress shirt and his pants.
When he finally came back to his senses, Frankie looked down at the mess I’d made of him and back up at me with a frown. “What do you want?”
“For what?”
“My punishment.”
“Oh, easy,” I answered and stepped back. “You’re going to take the night to get your fucking shit together then call a meeting tomorrow morning, admit what a fucking idiot you are, and apologize for going behind Ari’s back.”
Frankie looked like he’d rather me fuck him on camera and post it for the whole world to see. He clenched his jaw and tightened his fists by his sides so hard they shook. But to my surprise he pushed from the wall, used the bottom of his shirt to clean himself up, then fixed his clothes like nothing had happened.
“Family meeting tomorrow at nine,” he said. “Tell the others to take another day off.”
He eyed me one more time before he stalked out of Smiley’s, pounding the pavement with his angry stomps.
I stared until his car was gone before I shook my head and fixed my pants, turning toward the locker room. A cold shower would clear my mind.
Or else I’d be calling Frankie back for his real punishment: getting fucked by Me, Lotto, and Ari so hard, he’d be begging us to accept his apology by the end of the night.