12. Lotto
Chapter 12
Lotto
T he door slammed so hard the glass paneling cracked immediately and cascaded to the floor like a fucked-up blizzard.
“Hey, asshole!” Ari yelled as she stomped over the shards. “Could you not take your pissy tantrum out on the front door?”
Frankie turned around with a frown so large, I almost thought his lips ate his chin. “Don’t worry, Troy fucking Godwin gave us enough money to fix it thanks to his little fucking game.”
I sighed and set the duffle bag on the front counter. The same one with a hundred-fucking-K inside. As soon as Ari had dotted the “i” on her name, Troy Godwin snatched the contract from her and smiled like the Joker.
“Great choice, beautiful. Go ahead and take your spoils.”
Spoils. Ha. Like it was some reward for signing ourselves over to the devil. My head ached trying to come up with another way out of this mess, but I had nothing. A few cancellation clauses were thrown in there. Severe illness, fighter exchange, death. Stuff that would make Troy’s proposal go belly up. But they all came with the same caveat: if Smiley’s couldn’t make the fight, we’d owe the 100K back plus interest. As soon as we spent the first dollar out of Troy’s “gift,” we’d be tied to him for the next few months.
Basically, we were fucked.
And no one was taking it as hard as Frankie.
“We wouldn’t have been in this mess if you would have fucking listened to me,” Frankie ground out. His hands tightened by his sides, muscles threatening to rip out of his shirt. “You should have said no.”
“And why not?” Ari crossed her arms over her chest. “You think a bitch like Misty Perk is gonna scare me?”
“The underground isn’t a place for you,” Bones said as he shuffled into the mess we called a gym. His jaw hadn’t relaxed since we were sitting inside Troy’s office. “Cage fighting is a completely different ball game.”
“A man’s game?” Ari glared at Bones and Frankie. Thankfully, I was spared her wrath ’cause I knew how to keep my damn mouth shut. At least for now. I had plenty to say, but I wasn’t going to get through to anyone with the napalm flooding the air. One wrong strike of a match and this place would go up in flames.
“Oh, give me a fucking break, Ari!” Frankie yelled and threw his hands up. “This isn’t some sexist bullshit we’re talking about. The cages don’t fuck around.”
“My dad taught me everything he knew. I’m not some damsel in distress. With the right training?—”
“And Misty’s had years of it.” Bones kicked a stray chair and scratched at the back of his neck so hard, he could probably rub off his tattoos. “She has boxing experience. You don’t.”
“So she’s won one singular gold medal like six years ago!” Ari yelled and set her hands on her hips, her cheeks red with anger. “We have the same foundation, and I have a better trainer.” She glared at Frankie. “Unless you’re saying you won’t train me?”
“I’m saying the underground isn’t your world.” He gestured to her dad’s portrait on the wall, and my eyes drifted up to the old man’s face. Her dad smiled down at us, a reminder of where this place started. “You think he wants you to kill yourself to save this place?”
“Who said anything about dying?” I leaned on the front desk with my elbows. “You’re being dramatic, Frankie.”
He certainly didn’t like my insertion because he narrowed his eyes at me with pure malice. “Stay out of this. You didn’t even know her old man, so you don’t get a say.”
“Dad fought tooth and nail to keep this place alive, and I would rather die before I walk away from it.”
“Speaking of dramatic,” I said.
“There’s gotta be something we can do.” Bones stopped pacing long enough to look at me. “Was there something in the contract we can use?”
A few of the clauses passed through my mind, but before I could answer, Frankie cleared his throat. “There’s one thing.” The room went silent as we waited for him to voice his idea. I knew it was going to be stupid before he even said anything, but his proposal was even dumber than I thought. “I’m going to step into the ring in her place.”
“The hell you are, man,” Bones answered at the same time Ari screamed, “No, you fucking won’t!”
“I can handle Jace fucking Perk,” Frankie argued and took out his phone. “Or Misty Perk, or whoever the fuck Troy throws my way.”
“And if it’s River?” I asked quietly, pushing off of the front desk. Frankie’s body went as stiff as a board, and he watched every step I took toward him. “Troy knows about your condition. If you fuck up his headliner, he’s not going to give you Jace Perk.”
“I can?—”
“You can’t.” Bones slapped a hand on his shoulder. Frankie frowned but didn’t push him off. “You couldn’t even handle me, Frankie. I put you in the fucking hospital, and I’m not doing it again.”
“And that’s when he wasn’t at his prime,” Ari added. Tears shimmered in her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to blink them away. “I love you, Frankie, but you’d be committing suicide. And I will take on seven Misty Perks before I let you step into the ring again.”
I shuddered. Seven Misty Perks sounded like a fucking nightmare.
“You’re not doing it,” Frankie repeated quietly. Anger shook every single word. “I won’t train you to put your life on the line.”
“You don’t even know what I can do. You think you do, but you’re not even giving me a fucking chance,” Ari answered with equal heat in her icy jabs. “I’ll hire someone else if you won’t do it. You can’t stop me.”
“We could keep you off the team,” Bones argued. “If it’s three on three, majority rules. If Teo says no?—”
“Teo will say yes,” I answered. It was time to speak my damn mind, or this conversation would keep going in circles. “And so will you. Ari is going to do this.”
My words sucked the air out of the room. At least now their ire wasn’t directed at Ari, ’cause now it was directed at me. Frankie looked like he was about to turn me into a punching bag, and Bones came across absolutely betrayed, his face falling.
“What the fuck, Lotto?” Bones asked.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Frankie kicked a broken chair with his foot so that it slammed into the wall with a heavy crack. “You’re against me, too?”
I eyed the broken chair. At least it wasn’t my face. “There is no for or against here. We’re a team.”
“Teams listen to each other, and neither of you are fucking listening to me.”
“Just like you’re not listening to me, you selfish dick!” Ari yelled. “This whole time, it’s been ‘I refuse to let you do this’ and ‘Don’t go against my word.’ Get your head out of your ass long enough to wipe the shit out of your eyes and see how hypocritical you’re being.”
I whistled. When Ari was pissed, she sure didn’t hold back. Frankie eyed her but didn’t say anything. The room around us crackled with an energy that threatened to blow and take Smiley’s down with it. Frankie’s chest heaved with his heavy breaths. Bones set a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off with an annoyed grunt.
“I’m going to walk away before I say something I regret,” he ground out, “but this conversation isn’t over, Ari.”
“How nice of you,” she sneered and turned away from him. “In the meantime, I’ll look for someone who actually believes in me.”
“I—” Frankie swallowed his rebuttal and huffed. “Fine.” He stormed out of Smiley’s, his expensive shoes crunching the pile of broken glass beneath his feet.
I glanced at Bones. His eyes burned with a mixture of anger and disappointment. Maybe he was disappointed I hadn’t told Ari no, or didn’t agree with him for the first time in a long time. A small chasm had opened up between us, and it felt like he was miles away even as he stood right next to me. My heart dropped. Before I could say anything, he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his dress pants.
“I’m gonna go talk to Teo,” he said. “He should know we just sold him to Troy Godwin.”
“He won’t mind,” I answered softly. “He owes back child support. It’ll get his ex off his back. You stay here and train. I’ll talk to him.”
“No, I’m going to do it. We have other things to talk about.” His narrowed eyes landed on Ari before he left Smiley’s without even looking at me.
Goddamnit. Troy Godwin was already a thorn in my side. Who knew Bones and Frankie would be the leaves on the rose’s prickly stem?
Smiley’s was as silent as the cage before a fight. As soon as the rumbles of cars disappeared, all the fight in Ari disappeared with it. Her shoulders slumped forward, and she ran a hand through her silvery hair, worrying her bottom lip in her teeth. She stared out into the parking lot like Frankie was going to reappear any minute and apologize for his half of the fight.
We both knew that wasn’t going to happen.
“Angel,” I murmured and set a hand on her upper arm. I didn’t ask if she was okay. Clearly she fucking wasn’t. The bottom of her eyelids were red with tears she fought to hold back, and her hands were fists at her sides. When I squeezed her arm, she relaxed slightly. “What do you need from me?”
Flashes of the last time I “helped” her flashed through my mind. If she wanted, I’d take her back to the office and spank her cunt and ass until she was completely raw. Hell, I’d do it here at the front desk if she asked. I’d give her the world if it meant I didn’t have to see her cry.
She considered my question for a second, her eyes running from my lips to my fitted shirt and slacks. My blood stirred when she lingered on the bulge in my pants, but I squashed it when she shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to think with my cock. She needed a firm hug, not a firm fuck.
“Did I do the right thing, Lotto?” Ari asked quietly.
When she turned her body toward me, I immediately scooped her into my arms and held her close. She smelled and looked absolutely divine. I was one lucky bastard to call her mine.
“Depends on who you ask,” I answered honestly.
“I’m asking you. You didn’t say much.”
I tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, letting my fingers drag over her dangly earrings. “That’s what I mean, angel.” At her confused look, I smiled. “As your lover, I fucking hate it. I don’t want you out there doing something so dangerous. Thinking about Misty’s hands on you makes me want to break her fingers one by one.”
“Stop hanging out with Frankie,” Ari joked and pushed at my chest. “He’s rubbing off on you.”
“He’s rubbing off on all of us.”
We both went quiet. I had no idea where Bones had gone. He needed time to cool off before we talked. My guess was he’d be back at the house waiting for me. I trusted him enough not to pull another stunt like the Nero shit a few months back. But we also barely ever fought so, who knew where he’d end up before there.
“What about the other side?” Ari dug her nails into my pecs.
“As manager of Smiley’s, I think it’s just what we needed.” I began rubbing her arms through the sleeves of her dress. “You get to uphold your dad’s legacy, we fix this place up with Troy’s bribe, and you get to kick the shit out of Misty Perk. Two hot women wrestling in a cage match? A hundred K will be nothing to the rich fucks in the crowd. Even if you lose, we’ll get plenty with that ten percent.”
Ari frowned. “You think I’ll lose, too?”
“No. I think you’ll knock her out through sheer will. But I don’t trust Teo, unless Jace Perk dresses up like his ex-wife and asks for another bump in child support.”
My joke made her laugh, and the sound warmed me. I hadn’t realized how tense my body was until her smile calmed me.
“Think we can ask Troy to throw that in the contract?”
“He’d probably say yes.” I shrugged. “As long as it gave him more money.”
Ari’s giggles faded into a sad smile. I nipped her chin with my thumb, and she leaned into my hand. “I hate fighting with them. But…”
“You have to do this. I know.”
“What can I do to convince them?”
“Leave it to me, angel.” I knocked her chin again with my fingers. “I’ll convince them. They’ll agree by the end of next week. Trust me.”
“And how are you going to do that?”
My grin grew sly. “In our own, personal way.”