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Dustin

“I s it just me,” Anderson asks, witnessing the tail end of the fangirl spectacle, “or is it like he’s a piece of meat?”

I slap my chest. “Prime choice, right here, baby.” He tries to smack the back of my head, but I dodge out of the way. There was a time when I wasn’t fast enough. He smiles like he’s thinking the same thing.

In the beginning, when the wins started rolling in, so did the female attention. I was a cocky little shit. Okay, I still am, but back in the day, it was all an act. Sure, I had chicks digging me in high school—everyone wanted to say they had a piece of the Case twins—but the newfound popularity I didn’t have to share with my brother was too crazy and, if I’m honest, intimidating. Frankly, I had no clue what to do with all of it. My experience with girls had been a complete failure. Lucky for me, I had Tucker and Raul to show me the ropes. Being from the rougher part of town, and way more experienced than I was, my new buddies told me exactly what to do.

“You pick from the litter, man,” Tucker said with an arm slung over my shoulder.

“As many or as few as you want,” Raul added with his signature smirk. “It’s that simple.”

And just like that, a horny teenage boy had been given the keys to the candy shop. And I gorged on the sweets, developing somewhat of a reputation. So these women who line up now know the drill. Before, I would’ve gladly taken one of them for a ride—worked off the post-fight adrenaline—but not anymore. I steal another peek at Tina in the stands. She’s easy to spot since she’s the only one here without some form of Chip spirit. It makes me want her even more.

Christian rolls his eyes. “You are the most arrogant.”

“Is it arrogance if it’s true?” I ask. “I’m going to win this fight like all the rest and collect the spoils.”

“Not in our locker room, you’re not,” Lucius and Christian say at the same time, singing the same old song and dance they do every fight even though I’ve never once fucked a chick at the gym. The honor is reserved for someone serious, not a hookup. More words of wisdom explained to me by Tucker and Raul.

It’s been a few hours since I’ve been inside Tina, so yeah, I am most definitely using the locker room tonight. “It’s a rite of passage,” I say matter-of-factly. “Besides, there’s no way I’m waiting until I get home to unleash the beast.”

Colin groans. “I can’t believe we shared a womb.”

Remembering all those nights I listened to him and Stacy going at it, I say, “Dude, we’ve shared way more than a womb now. Thanks to you, I know what your wife sounds like when she comes.”

Colin’s smile is smug.

My competitor enters the gym flanked by his entourage and Tucker nudges my shoulder. “Talk about arrogance,” he says. “I mean, come on, the guy’s got a tattoo of bull horns on his forehead.”

“What a douche,” Colin and I say at the same time.

“He walks like he’s got a stick up his ass,” I say.

“He’s nowhere near as loose as you,” Bryce says, giving me his vote of confidence. “You got this in the bag.”

I ignore the curious murmurs from the crowd, keeping my focus on the newcomers. The longer I look the more I get an odd sense of recognition. It’s not uncommon to run into the same guys over and over, so I chalk it up to just that. Their boy is just another loss waiting to happen anyway. Even still, I can’t seem to shake this sense I know some of them from somewhere else. As my attention shifts to Lucius, I notice I’m not the only one who suddenly seems uneasy. “What’s wrong?” I ask him.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” he says with his focus still on our guests.

In my experience, when someone says there’s nothing to worry about, it usually means the opposite. Lucius wishes me luck and heads towards the door where the group still lingers.

I turn to Christian. “What am I missing here?”

“Hell if I know, kid.”