Sugar Pop (The Riot Crew #2)

27. Frankie

Chapter 27

Frankie

I could see practically everything from Troy’s personal VIP room.

I stared at the still-full ring while the douche himself poured me and Lotto whiskey into crystalline glasses.

We had spent months in preparation for tonight. Practicing, fighting, being torn apart and patched back together. I didn’t see the Perks or River in the dancing crowd. The bass of hard music thumped so long, it shook the thick glass keeping Troy’s world separate from ours. Because that was what this was: we were the entertainment, and Troy was the ringleader.

At least being the entertainment paid extremely well.

Sucked that it was at the hand of Seattle’s biggest motherfucker, though.

“Drink up, coach,” Troy joked and pushed one of the glasses my way.

He sat on the edge of his mahogany desk and took a sip of his liquor. This office was somehow even more douchey than his office in downtown Seattle. There was brown everywhere I could see, with expensive gold knick knacks lining the walls. He had a large leather sofa close to the window and based on the two girls giggling and making out in the middle, more entertainment than simply a cage match.

Goddamn, I’d rather be fighting for my life back in the ring than stuck here right now.

Lotto passed me my drink, but I didn’t take a sip just yet.

Troy eyed me. “Do you think I poisoned it or something?”

“No. Just not up to drinking.”

“You should celebrate.”

“Drinking with you, I mean. We’re busy, so get to the point.”

One of the bodyguards in the back took a step out of the shadows.

Troy held up a hand and chuckled. “We’re all friends here. Isn’t that right?” Troy eyed me then Lotto.

Lotto took a swig of his liquor and frowned. “I don’t consider us friends.”

“Business partners then. Your gym just made me a shit ton of money. Smiley’s won’t be hurting for a long time, either.”

“And our money?” I asked.

“You’ll get it soon enough. Or do you want your ten percent cut now?”

Troy clicked his fingers, and the other bodyguard strode away from the wall, picked up a duffle bag from the ground and set it on top of the desk next to my full drink. When he unzipped the zipper, he revealed stacks upon stacks that filled the bag. Way more than the original offer. I tried not to let my surprise show. Even split between the five of us, we’d be set for a long time.

“And this isn’t even your bets.” Troy chuckled and gestured at Lotto with his drink. “This guy sure knows how to get his money's worth.”

“It’s called believing in your team,” Lotto answered. “That’s all I did. Are we free to go?”

“Sure, sure. Take the bag and go.”

I stepped forward to grab the handle of the bag, but Troy leaned a hand on it, cutting me off. I frowned. I should have known it was too easy.

“Unless you’re looking to make way more than this?” he asked.

What was this asshole talking about? There was a strange tilt to his lips that spelled danger for us. Fuck it. I grabbed my offered drink and downed half of it in two gulps. I was going to need to wade through more of Troy’s shitty offers.

“Another deal?” Lotto leaned against the back of the couch.

Troy pushed around me. “Ladies, if you could?” The giggling girls parted with playful frowns, and Troy winked at them. “I’ll catch up with you soon. Why don’t you go down to the club, and I’ll meet you there? Maybe these dashing men will join me.”

The women murmured their agreement and scurried from the room. Troy barked a laugh at the annoyed look on my face.

“Lighten up, Freakshow. Isn’t that why you’re here? To enjoy my club like you did last time?”

Ugh. I did not want Troy to know what the fuck we did at his sex club last Heathens Hollow. And I certainly didn’t want to know what he did down below either.

“Can we get back to the deal?” Lotto asked.

Troy finished his drink and set his glass next to our bag of cash.

“Tonight’s event was such a success that I’m thinking about having a headlining event more often. Say, once a month? And every headlining event needs headliners.”

The douche stared at us, saying everything without saying anything.

He wanted Smiley’s to be the official headliners at Heathens Hollow.

I puffed out my cheeks and ran a hand over my jaw. This was an insane offer.

Which meant it was coming with insane strings.

“River and Ari just put huge targets on their backs.” Troy chuckled and played with his watch, an amused smile on his face. “If you even let her step back into the ring.”

“Hell no,” I said immediately.

“That’s too bad. She’s a natural. The only regret from tonight is that she didn’t rip Misty’s top completely. I’m sure that would have encouraged a few more bets to slide my way.”

I fought not to roll my eyes. “Sleazeball” was just the cherry on top of Troy Godwin’s other traits. We kept silent long enough that Troy chortled.

“Tough crowd. Are you not interested in headlining? You could be stars. Make more money than you could ever hope to use. Even if it’s just Bones as the headliner. His fight probably made eighty percent of my winnings.”

Lotto and I exchanged a look. Troy was practically handing us riches on a platter. He was right that tonight’s win meant the strongest from all over the West Coast would want a piece of Bones. We’d seen it after the first fight at Heathens Hollow. And now this headliner? If they knew they could get to this ring and maybe take down the strongest underground fighter in Seattle, Bones would have no problem getting booked. Once-a-month fights? Easy winnings.

But that wasn’t what Ari wanted.

Her smiling face flashed through my mind. Her soft whisper as soon as River tapped out. Dad would be so proud. He would. He sure fucking would. Ari had put her life on the line to uphold his legacy. She had gone through hell and back to do this for him, and Ari didn’t want to keep up this underground shit. I knew she wanted to go legit. We could use a large chunk of that money to sign new boxers. Actual boxers, not scrubs like Teo and Jace Perk.

We could advertise as legit. We wouldn’t need to be kings of the cage anymore. We could bow out here, on top of the world, no harm, no foul. Become the Smiley’s that Ari and her dad always wanted to become.

Just as I was about to decline, Lotto held up a hand to shut me up.

Bastard.

“What’s in it for us?”

“Other than fame and money? Do you really need much more?”

I snorted. “The catch, Troy. He’s asking about your catch.”

“No catch.”

Bullshit. I could smell it from a mile away. There was always a catch with Troy fucking Godwin—some kind of clause that would save him from the prosecution should they come knocking. Maybe it was paying him back the money we won should Bones ever lose. Or losing more than only a match if we failed. I wouldn’t put it past him to summon a storm to knock over another tree and fuck Smiley’s up again.

The dick always seemed to get away with murder, after all.

“You really think we want to tie ourselves to you for longer than we have to?” I finished my drink and crossed my arms over my chest. “Tonight was plenty for us.”

Troy held up his hands. “I want you to think about it. You proved your loyalty to me. I proved my loyalty to you. We’re on equal ground here now, gentlemen.”

“Equal ground where one of us makes the contracts,” Lotto challenged.

“And the other reads it, contests it, and signs it. Like I said, equal footing. Do you take me for that much of a bastard?”

Our heavy silence answered for us.

Troy chuckled. “Understandable. I’d feel the same, but I always reward those who reward me.” He snapped his fingers and gestured to his right. The bodyguard who had led us here stepped forward. “Upgrade their rooms to the penthouses. For the whole weekend. Anything they drink at the club is on my tab.”

The bodyguard bowed and disappeared out the door. Troy’s smile grew even more slick when he looked back at us.

“The least I can do for you. I reward loyalty.” His eyes grew even darker when he narrowed them at me. “So the question is: how loyal are you willing to be?”

I swallowed. I had absolutely zero loyalty to such an asshole, but my big mouth had gotten us into trouble once before. I looked at Lotto. At least he looked as pissed and annoyed as I did.

“We’ll think about it,” he said. “Ari has the ultimate authority here.”

Troy whistled. “That doesn’t surprise me. She’s a firecracker, that one. I might just have to make a visit to the club myself.”

The way his smirk grew made me sick. I clenched my hands into fists to keep myself from knocking him the fuck out.

“It’s hard to make a deal with a man who harasses his clients,” Lotto said sharply and pushed off the back of the couch.

“Not harassing. Appreciating. A whole duffle bag’s worth.” Troy stood from the desk. “I’ll deliver your money on Monday. Unless you’d rather be mugged before you can even check in?”

“Shows the clientele you welcome here,” I said.

“Money always wins. Doesn’t matter how.” He held out his hand. “Until our next chat, boys. I’ll be waiting.”

I hesitated to shake his hand, but I couldn’t deny a penthouse for the weekend. His hand was as greasy as his face when I shook it. When I let go, I wiped the remnants of Troy Godwin off of my hand and stomped out the door.

Lotto was right on my tail. “I hate that guy.”

“The feeling is mutual. I’d rather give myself a seizure than sign ourselves to him again.”

“No seizures. Not this weekend, at least.” Lotto smacked my ass as he pushed up against my side. “We have better things to do.”

My body flushed with heat. Now that the months-long tension had left my body, all I wanted to do was enjoy my time another way. But Bones and Ari were waiting for us, and I didn’t want to keep them waiting.

Instead I grabbed Lotto’s neck and pulled him into a rough kiss to give him a little appetizer for what was to come.

He moaned when I bit down and dragged his lower lip toward me. His eyes reflected his want. Smirking, I brushed my hand over his hardening cock.

“You better keep yourself together,” I whispered into his mouth and let go. “Wouldn’t want to start without the others.”

Lotto grunted and stepped back, fixing his shirt. “Isn’t that my line?”

“Maybe.” I ghosted over his cock again as I passed by. “But don’t think I’m done with you yet.”

I led us down the steps toward where the doctor had his makeshift clinic. Enough people were still lingering that I had to push through a few drunk assholes. To my surprise, Ari and Bones were already standing outside the clinic, looking much better than we’d left them an hour ago. Their cuts were cleaned and bandaged, and they wore large shirts sporting the logo of one of Troy’s companies.

As soon as I approached, Ari held out her arms with a snort. “What do you think? Am I looking fashionable?”

“Burn it,” I answered honestly. I eyed the bandage over her eyebrow. Misty, that fucker. Heathens Hollow had no rules, but rings somehow felt like cheating. “We can buy another with how much we’re getting for our cut.”

“And Troy’s offer,” Lotto said from behind me. “He wants us to continue to be headliners.”

“We must have made him a lot more than our cut,” Bones said.

I nodded. “Unless we need to buy out a sports team, we should be set.”

“And he offered this for all of us?” Ari questioned. “Even me?”

“Mostly Bones. You’re not getting back in the ring.”

“I’m more than okay with that.” Ari laughed. “Enough excitement for one day.”

“You sure about that, angel?” Lotto smirked and leaned forward. “We’ve been upgraded to penthouses all weekend.”

“All weekend, huh?” Her lips curved into a much-too-innocent smile. “So I can soak in a pool-sized jet tub all weekend? Count me in.”

“You consider that a celebration?” I snorted.

“Well, no. Our celebration starts tomorrow evening.” The look she flashed me sent heat flooding my system. The tease. Ari knew what she was doing. Sometimes, the anticipation was worth much more than the act itself.

“A bath sounds great, actually.” Bones snorted. “I smell like sweat and baby oil.”

“And I still have some of Misty’s blood on me. Ugh.”

“Do you want me to scrub it off of you?” I challenged with a smirk. “Plenty of room in that tub for two.”

Ari shook her head, her eyelashes fluttering. “Not tonight. Tonight I’m going to be spending time with myself.” Her eyes flashed between me, Lotto, and Bones, and she lowered her voice. “And tonight, all three of you are going to go back to your hotel rooms and remember all the fun we had here last time.”

I sucked in a breath as memories flashed through my mind. Hands on bodies, lips everywhere they could reach, our moans mixing as we exploded for everyone to see. My cock twitched in anticipation.

Ari passed by, waving her fingers over her shoulder. “And don’t you dare have fun by yourselves.” She blew us a kiss as she went. “See you tomorrow to celebrate .”

I watched the sway of her hips as she walked off toward the exit.

Somehow, I knew this would be even better than our win tonight.