Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“You didn’t really push to stop us,” Ari snapped. “If I would have known—”
“Would it have changed your mind?”
She inhaled through her nose, and when she exhaled, she gave a small shake of her head. “Probably not.”
“It’s not like we had much choice. We already knew it was sketchy.” Frankie kicked at his downed chair so that the metal clang rang in the gym. “Fuck that guy.”
“So, like…” Teo rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Sorry, sorry. Anyway, what are we going to do?”
“What can we do?” I crossed my arms over my chest and drew a deep breath. I needed to keep calm, but part of me really wanted to kick Frankie’s chair, too. “Nothing official has happened. He’s still our sponsor.”
Ari hummed. “And the backup sponsors?”
“There are six backups, two per state that was invited to the Circuit. Half have already been used.”
“So basically, he has to fuck up now or fuck us over later.” River ran a hand over his clean-shaven jaw. “I’d prefer he fucked up now, personally.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s got that covered for us.” Frankie set his foot on one of the flipped legs of his chair. “Are we really messing with dirty money again?”
“I fucking hope not.” All traces of River’s happy-go-lucky demeanor were gone. “Or I’m out the door.”
“We know, River.” Ari sighed. If she scratched at her scalp any harder, I thought she might draw blood. “Look, we don’t want that either. Promise. We’re in this for the right reasons, even if Lucien isn’t.”
“So, our options are… what?” Teo drawled. “Ask for another sponsor or wait and keep going?”
“And keep winning,” I confirmed.
River’s shoulders relaxed. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”
“If we have a backup fighter.” For the first time since we started talking, Bones lifted his head. Hard eyes dragged along every single person before landing on me. “Have you found anyone?”
I nodded reluctantly. I hated the way Bones’ face twisted and fell. He’d been down in the dumps since coming clean to the rest about the tweak in his hand. I kept my hunting to a minimum and kept him out of the loop as much as possible. He didn’t need to know how hard the search had been to find someone on such short notice.
“Pinstripe.”
“Really?” Frankie sighed in frustration. “That’s the only guy willing to join us?”
“Yep.”
“He’s three to thirteen in his matches in the last three months.”
“Yep.”
“You’re sure that’s it? Even with River on the team?” Ari’s question was reluctant. When she saw Bones’ expression darken, she held up her hands. “I don’t mean it like that, Bones. Really. I just mean—”
“That we’re near the top of the Circuit, even with all the shit in our way, so it’s suspicious as fuck that no one wants to squad up.” River’s eyes flicked over to me. “Which means something is up.”
More like someone. Every person I reached out to as possible backups had some excuse to say no. Sick animals, familial and work obligations. Those were understandable. But even the scrubs had some wild reason to deny a spot. An all-inclusive cruise around Mexico. Plastic surgery. My personal favorite: a boil on their ass that needed extensive treatment. When I asked who was paying for all this shit, the lines went dead.
Silence said a whole fucking lot, and this time, it was screaming Troy Godwin’s name.
No one was going to go against the owner of Heathens Hollow—not with the number ones out of the way.
Fucker.
“If Pinstripe’s all we got, then book him.” Bones clenched his jaw. “He’s better than nothing.”
“But—” Ari shifted in her chair. “I don’t know. It feels like bad vibes to sign someone else before we need them. Like asking for trouble.”
“Ari, everything we do is asking for trouble.” Frankie rubbed at his eyebrows so hard, I thought they might burn off. “Has been since we started.”
“How you feeling, my man?” Teo leaned forward to look around me and tip his chin at Bones. “Doing stretches and all that?”
Bones nodded. “Following what the doctor says. Icing it after matches and resting as much as I can.”
“Then we probably won’t even need him.” River slapped his hands on his knees. “I could probably get us a discount on Pinstripe, too. He owes me for some car work I did for him during my days in the suit.”
“Do you know everyone?” Ari questioned, her brows high.
“Not my fault I’m so likable.” When Frankie scoffed, River grinned at him. “Ain’t that right, Frankie?”
“You don’t have to be likable to be a winner.” His glare passed over all of us. “That’s what we do. Keep winning. That’s it. I should have already had a backup in place, but I believe in us.” His eyes landed on Bones. “In you.”
I set a hand on Bones’ shoulder and squeezed. He set his hand over mine, but his downtrodden expression didn’t change.