Chapter 2
TWO
TASH
Hunter sent us over to the bleachers to sit to watch the first match. Thank goodness I wasn't playing first.
Bruno smiling on one side of me, Logan not smiling on the other, they sat. Sanun shuffled over to sit behind us and scowl at the world.
"Do you guys know each other?" I asked, making casual conversation while the first two players warmed up.
"We've known each other for exactly an hour," Bruno said. "Thrown together by circumstance. But we came together as brothers."
Logan snorted. "What a load of bullshit. What you are is my opponent. Get in my way and I'll clobber you." He nodded as though the matter was decided.
Bruno laughed. "You can try, but I'm harder to clobber than I look. Trust me."
"As far as I can spit you," Logan told him.
"Why spit when you can swallow?" Bruno gave me a sly look. "You know part of the game is to…" Bruno was interrupted by the first match-up.
A man named Henry faced a man with the unlikely name of Ink. Or likely, since he was covered in it everywhere except for his face. Ink was half a head taller than Henry, but Henry was more slender.
"My money is on Ink," Bruno said.
"Of course you'd make a bet you won't have to pay when you lose," Logan told him.
"I'm not going to lose," Bruno said. "Any of this. I'd bet my life on it."
Logan led a glance his way. "That's exactly what you're doing."
The reminder didn't seem to faze Bruno in the slightest.
I wish I had his confidence. Right now I was shaking in my stilettos and wishing I'd worn more comfortable shoes.
Henry served the tiny white ball, bouncing it over the net to Ink, who raised his paddle just in time to hit it back. Back and forth they went, pinging and ponging, both concentrating everything they had on that tiny ball and out-manoeuvring their opponent.
Henry won the first point and Ink the second before they fell into a rhythm and a long rally, which almost ended several times with a let, the ball touching the net before dropping over onto the other side.
As the rally went on and on, both opponents became more desperate, both puffing loudly. Ink won the third point when Henry went to volley, hitting the ball before it bounced on his side of the table.
"Ink is winning," Bruno pointed out.
"By two points to one." Logan gave him a smirk. "It's far from over. Might as well settle in and get comfortable."
I looked over my shoulder to Sanun, who was slumped on his seat, arms crossed, elbows in his lap.
His face was turned towards the match, but his eyes were glazed like he wasn't seeing it.
He was lost in his head. He gave me a quick glance, the only indication he was aware of anything going on in The Arena. He looked away just as quickly.
Why is he here? I wondered.
Like me, an air about him suggested he had more to prove than men the size of Logan. When a hint of sympathy crept into my mind, I realised he was also playing dirty. The minute I let my guard down, he'd take full advantage of it.
What then was Logan's angle? He was big enough that he should be able to pound us all into dirt, with or without a paddle in his hand. I could speculate, but I'd only be guessing. The only thing I knew for sure was that he had an angle. We all did.
As the match wore on, the smell of desperation grew stronger. Eclipsing the hint of donuts until I started to think I imagined it.
The desperation came from Henry, from Ink and from everyone gathered here.
Everyone except for Hunter and Parker. They were the only ones guaranteed to walk away from this unscathed. They'd come back next year and do it all again. How many times had they hosted this event? How many people had they sent to their death?
I doubted either had any trouble sleeping at night. They were cold-blooded, or they'd been doing this for so long, it didn't register anymore.
I wished that was the most fucked up thought I had today.
Ink won two points in a row, making the game four to one.
Henry took out the next five games.
Ink fought desperately, but Henry took out the next game and Hunter called for them to have a water break.
"This is why the tournament takes hours." Logan rubbed a hand over his head. The games were quick, but it was going to take time to play all of them.
"I heard one year it took three days," Bruno said. "So they put beds in a room off to the side, so everyone could get some rest, or have some fun." He waggled his eyebrows at me.
I knew I'd be here for a while, but I hadn't considered it might be as long as three days.
Honestly, I hadn't put much thought past walking through the front doors. Would anyone mind if I slipped off my boots and went barefoot for the rest of The Tournament?
"Sometimes it only lasts a day or so," Sanun said, his voice soft, as if he didn't want to contribute to the conversation.
"With any luck, we'll be done by midnight," Logan said.
"That's cute," Bruno told him. "You're relying on luck. The rest of us have skill. Right, Tash?"
I wasn't sure about that, but I nodded in agreement.
"I'm out of practice, but I'm sure I'll remember my skills when I get going," I said, playing up the part of 'clueless mostly-non-ping-pong player.'
"Word of advice," Logan said. "No one's going to go easy on you because you have tits."
"Not even you?" I asked sweetly.
I followed that with a dramatic sigh and added, "I'm sure I'll figure things out somehow. I mean, I'm only hitting a little ball over a net, right? How hard can it be?"
Logan didn't look convinced. Once again, he couldn't decide if I was completely clueless or faking the hell out of it.
It occurred to me he might be faking it too. He looked like a man who knew how to use a paddle, but could he hit a ping pong ball? Maybe it was best I didn't think too much about him using a paddle.
Was it possible that was his angle? He was trying to distract us with his size, and quietly confident demeanour.
Hunter called the men back. "Ink's turn to serve the ball in the second game."
Henry would want to win this one, partly to rattle Ink's confidence and partly because he'd be that much closer to winning the best of three games. Otherwise they'd risk going to five, which would exhaust both of them. Not to mention the nerves of those of us who sat and watched.
Did I have the stamina if all my matches took five games? I'd have to. If that was what happened. I'd have to fight until there was no fight left in me.
I glanced over to the two other women sitting in the bleachers. Both seemed to be thinking the same thing as me. We might have a better chance against each other than we would against the men, but this was what we signed up for, all or nothing. We'd have to be the badasses we knew we could be.
Henry took out the first game. And in spite of Ink fighting as hard as he could, took out the third as well, ending the match after about forty minutes.
"What happens now?" I whispered.
Ink was standing beside the table, tall but devastated.
"They're not just going to…"
Before I could finish that sentence, Hunter pulled out a gun from his pocket and put a bullet straight between Ink's eyes. They widened in surprise before he slumped to the floor with a bone jarring thud.
"Fuck," I whispered.
They weren't messing around, were they?
Hunter and Parker both hurried forward to grab Ink's arms and drag him away, leaving a trail of blood on the concrete floor.
The room was in silence for several heartbeats before people started to whisper amongst themselves. The anxiety levels spiking higher than ever.
"Well, that was fun," Bruno remarked. When I turned to frown at him, he shrugged with his eyebrows. "In a fucked up way."
"In a very fucked up way," I agreed.
Was that going to be me in an hour or two? Dead and discarded? My blood staining the floor? The reality of what I'd put my hand up for sank in deeper than ever.
I wasn't going to end up like Ink. I was going to win through this, and walk out on the other side, still breathing.