Chapter Ten #2
She was not being mean-spirited, though, so he did not know what to do with this. It was something lighter, more familiar.
She sighed, stood and then patted his chest like he was a challenging puppy she was trying to train.
He was so agog, he simply took it.
“You need not concern yourself with me. I have no hopes for the future. From you or anyone else. I am considering this revenge plot nothing but a vacation from my real life on the way to making my father suffer for once. Trust me, Zervou, a woman in my position can’t afford foolish daydreams. And I never take risks I can’t afford. ”
He should be happy with that. Relieved. Instead he felt something like…sad.
For her.
Ari tried not to be uncomfortable when one of the guys who worked at the gym saw Zervou drop her off. They’d seen her leave with him. They’d seen him come into the gym twice now.
Besides, that was the whole ruse. Let people know they were together. God knew the men who worked here likely had more of a gossip network back to her father than the high society restaurants and resorts Zervou frequented.
So she pretended today was no different than any other.
Zervou’s…presence was about to be very common.
If she stayed at his estate for the next few weeks, working up to an engagement announcement, he might have to drive her around quite a bit or have someone else do it.
She had never had the option to learn how to drive.
She still wasn’t sure how she felt about staying at his estate. Did she insist in a separate room, call last night a one-off? Insist once was good and enough. Just the taste she needed to know what sex was like, and that was quite enough.
Or did she give in to what her body wanted? More of that. Because last night had most certainly not been enough. It seemed like seeing just a small crack of light. She wanted to throw the door open and see the whole tableau.
But she knew too much of something that amazing could be the start of an addiction. One that would hurt to break. Ruin her to break.
No, she would not be ruined.
She went to the locker room to ensure all the things she’d left behind yesterday were still in her locker. She got ready and tried to put all thoughts of what happened after her work away.
She taught her first class. It was one of her favorites. A smattering of angry teenagers as she’d once been, either happy to spend their summer mornings learning how to fight or sent here by well-meaning adults.
The boys were always trying prove some kind of dominance over her, and she enjoyed proving them wrong at every turn. Not just a personal satisfaction, but a hope it would be a lifelong lesson that might did not always get them what they wanted.
The one girl she had in the class was always trying to earn Ari’s approval, so Ari had to be careful not to give it all the time, though she wanted to. What the girl lacked in muscle and substance she made up for in determination and attitude.
After class, she had some training of her own, followed by an intense workout. After her too-large breakfast this morning, she’d need to ensure she gave her all in both.
But before she could move into her cardio plans for the morning, she was summoned into her manager’s office.
Lefteris owned the gym, and though he had been initially skeptical about her back when she’d been a teenager brought by her dedicated teacher, he’d since become her staunchest supporter. A support she believed in the most because she’d had to earn it.
She didn’t know why he would call her in today, unless there was some kind of issue with her upcoming fight.
The fact that didn’t cause her any worry had her chewing on her bottom lip as she walked toward his office.
She should be devastated at the possibility something might go wrong with the fight.
Her life was a series of fight, everything else revolving around those perfect moments of letting her body fight.
But a strange sense of relief tried to worm its way through her. Like she was…tired. Burnt out.
But that couldn’t be possible, so she shook that odd feeling away and knocked on Lefteris’s door. At the gruff “come in,” she entered.
He looked up from his laptop—old and whirring so loudly she could hear it at the doorway—and nodded. “Sit, Ari.”
She did as she was told, taking the seat across from his worn desk, folding her hands in her lap. “I hope all is well with the fight.”
“Yes. You seem ready.”
“I am,” she said firmly, because she was. She worked hard. Every day she worked hard to be ready.
“Good. That isn’t what I called you in to discuss.” He turned his ancient laptop to face her. On the screen was a picture. Ari leaned forward to study it.
Grainy and poor quality but still faces could be made out. Her face—eyes closed, chin tipped up as she leaned back into Zervou, who had his arm around her abdomen. Intimately.
So intimately, she’d somehow thought it a good idea to go home with him. Have sex with him.
She should probably have regrets, but even after his this is not real proclamation, she had none. The night had been…amazing. Truly. As an athlete, she thought she knew everything her body could do. She’d learned new things last night.
And now was not the time to consider them. She shifted, cleared her throat. “Is there a problem?”
“No,” Lefteris replied. “Problem is not the word. Opportunity, I think, is a better one.”
Confused, Ari said nothing.
“There was talk, of course, since he has now been here twice. And word is he dropped you off this morning. But I still did not believe it. Until this. You…and Zervou Kritikos.”
Ari tried not to fidget in her seat. She didn’t know why they’d be discussing this, and she could hardly tell Lefteris it was fake… Well, sort of fake. So all she could do was confirm. “Yes.”
“I do not wish to dig into your private business, Ari. But it has to be said. If you could talk to him about sponsoring you, we could go to the fight in Minsk. If you put a bug in his ear, we could host fights in his new stadium. Do you understand what a boon it would be for our gym if Zervou Kritikos was behind us?”
Ari knew he was right, but it twisted a lot of discomfort in her chest. She couldn’t blame Lefteris for such a thought, but to bring it to her… To suggest…
“Are you suggesting I prostitute myself for the gym, Lefteris?”
The older man sighed. “I have been nothing but good to you, Ari.”
Which did not answer her direct question, did it?
Still, he wasn’t wrong. Not everyone had been kind to her here.
Not everyone had been supportive. But ever since seeing her first bout, really seeing her potential, Lefteris had been both.
A manager in many senses of the word. She would not be where she was without his help.
Now he wanted her to beg for money. From Zervou. Mr. This Isn’t Real.
As if she could ever believe something so glorious was hers to have and hold. He didn’t know her at all, did he? And didn’t need to. That was the point he was making, after all. They could have fun on the side of their mission, but it didn’t change that they would part cleanly. As strangers.
And there was nothing sad about that.
But Lefteris wanted her to use her nonexistent romantic influence on Zervou and…
Real didn’t matter. Not in this instance. She would not beg for money. She’d worked too hard and come too far to owe anyone.
Even Zervou.
Everything he offered had to be his own idea, or she would not take it. It was a line she had to draw for herself to keep this whole bizarre situation from getting out of control. From turning into something it would be hard to lose.
Asking and getting could be an addiction like any other, and Ari knew when to not allow herself luxuries that might become too enticing.
Do you?
She pushed that traitorous thought away.
Yes, she was enjoying something now, but she understood it was temporary, and it was only because they were simply reaching for the same goal—the end of her father.
If Zervou was mixed up in her profession, that could lead to messy and complex situations after Erjon was taking care of.
No, she wouldn’t risk that.
But how did she explain that to her manager, who thought she really was in a relationship with Zervou?
“Lefteris, I’m sorry. I do not feel comfortable asking for money from the man I’m seeing at this time. I suppose if he offered of his own accord, I would not shut him down. I would send him to come discuss it with you. But I cannot… I have to have some integrity.”
“I could ask—”
“No,” Ari said firmly, getting to her feet. The thought of anyone going to Zervou on her behalf and asking made her feel a kind of shame she didn’t fully understand and didn’t want to. “I need you to let this be. To go on with my fights, my opportunities as we always have. It is important to me.”
He scowled. “Integrity doesn’t always pay off, Ari. In fact, it often does the opposite.”
Ari thought that over. She couldn’t argue with it.
God knew, she might be in a better position if she had a little less integrity.
She could have gotten herself involved in whatever criminal activity her father was wrapped up in that gave him money and power and influence, even if he had to scuttle behind closed doors and alleys and whatever hiding spots he currently resided in.
But she would not be her father.
“I have scrabbled. I have struggled. But I have maintained who I am at many a cost. If I lose that, I have nothing. I am nothing. So, no. I will not risk what no one can take from me.”
He grunted, acquiescing even if he wasn’t happy about it.
Relief swamped her, making her muscles feel shaky. Still, she rose. Still, she told him what she needed to. “I will be away next week. You will have to have Daphne take my classes. She’s ready, and it will be good for her to have some practice without me looking over her shoulder.”
“You have a fight in two weeks,” Lefteris said, studying her with narrowed eyes. As if, just by looking at her, he could tell whether being away would jeopardize that.
“Yes, I will maintain my own training while I’m away. You know I do not like to lose.”
Again, he made a grunting sound, then leaned forward with that same narrowed-eyed gaze. “You aren’t planning on quitting, are you? Retiring to settle down and what not?”
Ari snorted, even as something like panic bumped around in her chest. Quit? And then who would she be? “Don’t be ridiculous.”
But Lefteris only made a dismissive kind of noise and waved her away.
She left the office, tension in her shoulders. Quit? Retire? What would she do without boxing? It was almost unfathomable…
Almost.
Because if she walked away from this fake relationship with Zervou with a decent amount of money…was retiring a possibility? She’d never even considered it before now, but Lefteris had put it in her head. Did she want that possibility?
The terrible thing was…she didn’t know.