Page 1

Chapter

One

LOTTO

S miley’s Gym had never been quieter.

We’d been through a lot in this place—contracts, training, trees that had a mind of their own, losing, rebuilding, and winning.

But none of those had rendered us as speechless as Beau “River” Fitzpatrick’s offer for the big leagues.

Only a few weeks had passed since we finished renovations to Smiley’s after a storm nearly wiped us out. Even more recently since River and Perk’s Gym tried to do the same in the ring at Heathens Hollow. Now River had dropped something even heavier than a 203-year-old oak right in our laps.

He wanted us to tell Troy Godwin to shove his headliner offer where the sun didn’t shine.

He wanted Smiley’s to go legit and join the West Coast Circuit.

And even better, he wanted to join us and get it done.

If someone had told me we’d be in this position not even a week ago, I’d tell them to book a consultation with a psychotherapist.

I scrolled through my phone, reading and re-reading posts on social media. River wasn’t the only one talking about the circuit. Tons of other gyms and contacts were discussing the “return of the phoenix.” The previous time they’d tried the circuit, it had been a goddamn disaster. Lack of sponsors, fights in dingy high school gyms and people’s fucking driveways, barely a blip on the radar. It had come and gone without fanfare or anyone really giving a shit.

But this time, they promised bigger. Better. More action, more money, more primetime spots. A few huge companies around the West Coast were offering sponsorships for an “up-and-coming boxing league” that could rival the big dogs. “This isn’t your mom’s backyard brawl” one guy wrote in his recruitment post. I’d sure hope not. My mom would lay out anyone who tried to bleed on the prized petunias in her backyard garden, Bones and me included, and not blink a damn eye while doing it.

The thought made me smirk.

“Find something funny?”

I blinked back into reality. Bones leaned over in his plastic chair to check out my phone. I let him, while I admired his thick build and cropped hair. He looked much better than a few weeks ago. Hell, even a few days ago. Heathens Hollow had fucked all of us in one way or another. Bones had just gotten his right hook back to full power and stopped walking with a slight limp in his right leg. Ari’s bruises faded back to that beautiful body I loved, while Frankie stopped looking like someone had shoved a stick up his ass and forgotten to pull it out. The Perks siblings had finally quit their bullshit and let me scroll my usual online haunts for fights in goddamn peace.

There was nothing better than a little room to breathe after everything we had gone through.

Well, except for all the fun we’d had in the club beneath Heathens Hollow.

I highly doubted repeats of that night could happen if we chose to fight for the West Coast Circuit.

“People talking about the same thing River did.” I handed over my phone and leaned back in my plastic chair. “Have you thought about it, Ari?”

“It’s been a day.” She sighed. Playing with the ends of her high ponytail, she muttered, “I don’t even know if we can trust him.”

“We can’t.” Frankie sat next to Ari, eyes closed and arms crossed over his chest. That “stick-in-his-ass” frown was back. I had half a mind to crawl over to him and make it disappear. He couldn’t frown when I was sucking the life out of him, could he? “I never knew River to be a fairweather fighter.”

“We don’t really know much about him at all. He disappeared for a while. I thought he retired.” Bones turned my phone off and handed it back. “What do you think, Lotto?”

“It’s a gamble.” I palmed my phone but didn’t look at it again. “He was our enemy barely a few weeks ago.”

And an insane enemy at that. River was a top fighter, and Smiley’s would be better with him as our ally. With River and Bones on the team, we’d become kings of any circuit we entered. But the circuit wasn’t the only offer we had.

Headliners . After two wins at Heathens Hollow, we were sitting pretty and had enough money in our pockets to last a while. If we promised to fight exclusively for Troy Godwin, we wouldn’t have to worry about much ever again.

But that meant tying ourselves to that bastard for more than just one simple contract.

Goddamn, I needed a drink.

“I don’t think we should do it.” Frankie sat up in his chair, his thin T-shirt flexing against his muscles. “It’s a liability.”

“So is fighting at Heathens Hollow,” Ari argued. “We all know Troy would have us on marionette strings.”

Bones sighed and flopped back in his chair. “And put you back in the ring, Ari.”

Someone must have added another stick to Frankie’s ass because his frown deepened. “That’s not happening.”

I raised a brow. “You think you can control that?”

“Yes.”

“I fucking doubt that.”

“Why? Because you’re too?—”

“Knock it off, asshole.” Ari leaned over and tapped her knuckles against Frankie’s forehead. Frankie grumbled but kept quiet. “Lotto has a point. Troy doesn’t play by the rules. We can’t trust him.”

“So we can’t trust Troy, and we can’t trust River.” Bones sighed and glanced at me. “Who can we even trust?”

“Ourselves.” I shrugged and set my hands on my knees. “The way I see it, we have three options. One, become headliners but be at Troy’s mercy until he grows bored of us. Two, let River join us and try out for the circuit. Which, by the way, we might not even make the final roster. Three, say no to both and continue the way we were before.”

“What, broke from lack of talent and relying on underground fights to skirt by?” Frankie rolled his eyes. “If we want to go legit, we need to bring in fresh blood.”

“So sign River to a contract,” Ari said.

“But we need money to pay his contract,” Bones argued, “and where are we going to get that, if not Troy or more fights in the underground?”

“Which would require us to sign River. Again.” Ari glanced at me, fluttering her eyelashes in thought. “Do we even want him on the team?”

Fuck yes we did. That was a no-brainer. He was one of the best and wanted a place to thrive. We could give him that and more. It definitely helped that he was also sexy as fuck. He had muscles in all the right places, and his blue eyes were as haunting as the deep sea. His little smirks spiked heat in my body whenever he shot one my way. I wasn’t going to say no to more chances to see him slick with oil or sweat.

But as much as I was admittedly a horny bastard, I was also a fucking realist. And realistically, River was our best bet, no matter which way we decided to go.

“He’s better as a friend than a foe,” I said.

“So you’re all going to walk all over me again?” Frankie’s glare pierced each one of us. “First the shit with Troy, now this. My opinion matters, too, in case you fucking forgot.”

“We never said it didn’t.” Bones frowned. “We’re listening.”

“And talking in circles.”

“Why don’t we take a break?” Ari pushed from her chair. “Frankie, come with me to the office and run some numbers. Maybe it’ll help. Or clear your mind.”

“Tell me one situation when math ever cleared someone’s mind.” Frankie snorted and stood up next to her. “Bones, get back on the bags. You haven’t done shit today.”

“Ari’s the one that called this meeting before I could.” Bones unzipped his hoodie and threw it off to the side. I had to fight not to lick my lips. His white undershirt clung to his abs and showed off every ripple of muscle. “Is Teo coming today?”

“I’ll call him.” I picked up my phone. After Heathens Hollow, you’d think Teo would want to up his game, but he was still as content to skirt through fights as ever. “I’ll talk to some people. Get a feel for what they’re thinking.” If others thought it was a legit offer, maybe tryouts wouldn’t be so bad.

“All right, let’s meet here in an hour.” Ari’s smile slid into a little playful grin. “Or two, if you want to go pick us up some tacos from Waco’s down the street. They reopened last week. My treat.”

“Look at you, Miss Moneybags.” Bones barked a laugh. “Guess I need to work up enough sweat for Senor’s Beefy Burrito.”

“And watermelon margarita. So get to the bags.” I grinned. “I’ll order for us.”

“That’s why I love you.” Ari blew me a kiss before she sauntered off to the back office, Frankie hot on her tail. My eyes were glued to their asses as they went. Hopefully, we could figure this out soon and revisit the more fun parts of our after-victory.

Bones elbowed me. “You gonna stay here and watch before that?”

I shook my head. “I need to talk to some people I know. Find out what’s going on.”

Not just about Troy or the Circuit, but with River, too. Bones was right. Something was up with his “retirement” and sudden return to glory. There had to be a reason he wanted to be on a “legit” winning team. If we ultimately decided to go with Troy, it wouldn’t be with River on our side.

The question was: why?

Someone was bound to know, and before we decided, I needed to find out why.

Based on the answer, I might need more than one watermelon margarita before the night was over.