Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
I ran numbers earlier this morning before training. The cut from Bones’ fights definitely helped, but between operating expenses, contracts, payouts, and new equipment, there still wasn’t enough to hire someone new, but we were close. Ari was right: a few more fights and Smiley’s could hold the second round of tryouts and really rule the underground.
If we wanted to stay in the underground.
Ari believed she was being sly, but I noticed the way she kept glancing at her dad’s picture whenever we talked about the gym’s future. I knew her well. She didn’t have to tell me what she was thinking ’cause I could already tell. Upholding her dad’s legacy meant the world to her, and places like Heathens Hollow were only supposed to be a steppingstone.
He’d be proud of her, regardless. Six months ago, we’d been looking at closing permanently. Now we were looking at hiring fresh blood to make this place great.
All thanks to the man in the ring, who sent a hard punch straight into Teo’s left ribs when he left himself vulnerable. Again.
I was gonna fucking kill that guy.
Before I could yell at him, someone called my name. Lotto emerged from the back office, his expression grave, and his phone cradled in his hand. I told the guys to take a small break and hopped down from the ring to meet him.
“What’s up?”
He held out his phone to me. “Watch this.”
I took the phone and hit play on the video on screen. It showed two men sparring without gear, wrestling and tackling each other in a large boxing ring. One of the guys grabbed the second, pinned him in a headlock and held him there. The video went shaky as the camera grew closer. Once it focused, I saw the man in the headlock was wearing a cutoff shirt with a huge, yellow smiley face on the front. He tapped out and the other man let him go. When he stood up, I saw he was wearing a shirt with the Perk’s Gym logo. The woman behind the camera laughed, her biting words loud and shrill.
“Watch your back.”
The video cut off, but I stared at the transparent play button for an extra second.
The fuck was that?
“It was posted to Perk’s Gym’s page earlier.” Lotto shook his head. “Definitely a threat.”
I handed his phone back with a grunt. “A lame-ass threat. Doesn’t mean shit.”
Lotto took his phone back with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
Of course I was sure. Jace Perk and I went way back. When I ruled the cage-fighting ring as Freakshow, I kicked the shit out of him plenty of times. He’d tried his hand at professional boxing and got his shit rocked there, too. Now he ran Perk’s Gym on the other side of town with his younger sister, Misty.
Jace was the very definition of a motherfucker. I’d enjoyed laying his ass out on the mat whenever we went up against each other. All ego without the skills to match. He loved to talk big shit before a match and not even make it more than two minutes. I hadn’t heard from him in a long time–probably because Smiley’s had been down in the dumps after my injury.
Can’t teach an old dog new tricks. He was up to his same bullshit and was dragging Smiley’s back into it.
“He’s as threatening as a declawed cat.” I shrugged. “Actually, the cat might pack a stronger punch. You know that.”
Lotto nodded. Before his downfall, Lotto had set up fights between Bones and Jace a few times, and from what I remembered, Bones only lost once because he passed out from food poisoning before the fight even started.
Which meant a fucking excited Subway egg sandwich packed more punch than Jace Perk.
“But did you see the second fighter’s face?” Lotto clicked around the video a few times before stopping on a still frame. “This might be a problem.”
I glanced at the video, not really caring. At least not ’til I saw those blue eyes. The Perk’s Gym shirt was tight around his stocky body, and those damn eyes pierced me even through the screen. What the fuck was River doing at Perk’s Gym? Anger made my fists clench. Had his visit to the ring last night been another stupid threat? Was Jace getting back into the cage-fighting scene through River?
Jace might have been a pussy, but River was the only one who could keep up with Freakshow when I was at my prime. He sent more than a handful of the best fighters to the hospital with merely a right hook. If he was training with Perk’s, Lotto was right to be worried. Bones and River hadn’t matched up yet, but if they did, Bones could be the next to take a ride in an ambulance.
But River hadn’t been seen in the ring in a while. Rumor had it he retired from the scene, much to the dismay of rich gamblers. Clearly, that was wrong. His appearance last night and that stupid video were all the proof I needed. Perk’s was trying to fuck with us.