“I stopped by the club. Bump told me where I could find you. I got a proposition for you.”
“Not the time or place. I’m busy, Rolo.”
The man tilts his head to the side and studies me. “You’re not even going to introduce me to this pretty lady? Come on, Legend. That’s just rude.”
Gabriel’s lips press together into a hard line. “Rolo, Scarlett Priest. Scarlett, my old fight promoter, Rolo.”
“Pleasure’s all mine,” Rolo says as he takes my hand and shakes it. “I’ve heard of you. You were all over the papers Sunday after you spent the night living it up at Gabe’s club. Something about you bringing it back to life?”
“My friends and I were out having fun. It just makes sense that we’d go to the hottest place in town.”
Rolo huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure that was it. I’m sure it didn’t have anything to do with you trying to be the lucky girl who finally catches this guy. Did you know that he hasn’t had a girlfriend in over a decade? Not in the entire time I’ve known him. I hope you know what you’re doing, getting mixed up with this guy, Ms. Priest.”
I decide then and there that I don’t like Rolo. He might be an old friend of Gabriel’s, but there’s nothing friendly about this exchange. It’s brittle, rife with sharp edges and undercurrents I don’t understand.
“That’s enough, Rolo.”
The older man swings his attention back to Gabriel like he’s forgotten I exist. “You still need money? I’m willing to bet big you do. And Bodhi Black is a solid payday—if he doesn’t kill you.”
The name catches my attention, especially considering where I just came from, and what feels like all the blood drains out of my face as my attention snaps to Gabriel. “You’re going to fight Bodhi Black?”
His brow furrows. “You know who he is?”
“He’s my self-defense instructor,” I say with horror underlying my tone. “He taught me how to kill people.”
Rolo’s booming laugh fills the gym, and several fighters stop punching to look at him.
“Fuck, that’s great. She won’t know who to cheer for. Let me know when you make up your mind, Gabe. Offer won’t stand forever. So check your pride at the door and let me make us both some money.”
Forty-Five
Legend
Rolo walks away, and all I can think isfucking hell.
Beside me, Roux’s fur stands on end, something she’s never done around Rolo. I give her a pat, trying to calm her down. She must be picking up on my irritation with the man.
I turn to Scarlett. “You’re taking self-defense with Bodhi Black?”
She points at her workout clothes. “I just came from there. And what did he mean about the money? Andif he doesn’t kill you? Because that sounds really, really bad, Gabriel.”
Hearing her call me by a name no one has really ever used feels foreign to me, but I like the sound of it. I just hate that I’m hearing it while we’re talking about her spending time with the guy who would love nothing more than to leave me broken and bleeding in the cage.
“Black and I have history. He wants a rematch. I don’t. That’s all there is to it.”
“And Rolo wants you to take the fight so you can make money to shore up the club’s finances.”
“I forget you’re a CEO.”
“Yeah, and you’ve already enlisted my help in getting customers back into the club. If you think I’m going to drop the ball on that so you have to take a fight that could end up with youdead, then you don’t know me very well. I don’t quit. Not when it matters, and certainly not when people are counting on me.”
I snap out of the pall Rolo dropped over us. “Come on, ladybug. Let’s get out of here.”
“Where are we going?”
“I don’t know yet, but first comes the fun. Then we can talk business.”
* * *