A Fighting Chance (43 page)

“You
’re beautiful…”

“Such a guy. Only a dude would find the time to hit on a
chick during life-threatening circumstances.
Earthquake?
‘I love when you wear your hair like that.’
Apocalypse?
‘Look at that
ass
!’” She rolls her eyes.

“Just come back to me,
Hallisay,” I say, before I give her a hug. She pushes me against the door, grabs my face, and kisses me breathless. “Damn, just gonna leave me with that good-bye kiss, huh?”

She plants
another one on me before walking away. “It was more of a don’t-fucking-get-yourself-killed-while-I’m-gone.”

****

Without Drew I’m antsy and too full of restless energy to keep lying here, so I leave the room eventually on a quest to find the training room for the fighters. The party inside the house has died down to a small group; they’re all still naked and really high, though. There’s much more noise outside. I take all the staircases down to the backyard and find some of the party guests standing around in a circle, cheering. Women have kicked off their heels and the men have loosened their ties. I push through until I’m in the innermost part of the group. There’s a fight going on between two young men. They’re both bloody, their clothes are in tatters, but they’re having the time of their lives. A crushing sensation pulses up from my gut and settles in my lungs. I’d put them around fifteen or sixteen. They’re kids. Just kids. There are several other male teenagers looking on, too, and rooting for their favorite, when they’re not gawking at the women. These must be some of Ramón’s new fighters. A wave of old feelings slams into me. I’m looking directly into my past. I bet someone has made the same promises to them that were made to me back then. They’re probably in awe of Ramón’s gigantic house, they’ve probably been told about the money, and it looks like the perfect life. No one is telling them about José and Nico and Carlos.
And me.
They don’t know yet how they’ll struggle with what they become, or worse yet, embrace it. I clench my fists and a bitter burn rises into my throat.

Angry, I shove
past the wild crowd again and head back into the house, but a familiar voice emits from one of the patios, and I trail it up. It’s Alejandra and she’s still partaking in Ramón’s debauched decadence, sniffing and eating coke from a mirrored tray at a table. There’s a stuffed envelope nearby, and I can see the stack of bills inside. She joins one of Ramón’s men at the railing that overlooks the part of the yard where the fight is happening. Alejandra and the man are speaking Spanglish, and she’s pointing down into the yard. My nosiness gets the better of me, and I inch closer to them from behind, until the tops of the boys’ heads finally come into view.

The man mimics her, pointing, too. “Him. And that one. Maybe him for half the rate.”

“Okay, half then. His skills have not yet been honed but he’s a quick learner. For those three—
cuarenta mil dólares.
” Forty grand? She’s brokering a deal. So
this
is their similar business interest. She’s supplying him with
fighters.

“Keep moving
. None of your business,” a guard comes out of nowhere and says. It’s the one who was there when Drew and I were “invited’ here. Ulysses. The butt of a high-powered rifle crashes into my chest three times, and I stumble backward.

“I was just looking for a place to work out…” I tell him as I regain my balance. He raises the gun again—it’s aimed at my forehead this time—to show he’s pretty indifferent
, despite my explanation.

“Hey! Leave him be,” Alejandra yells out.
She’s back at the table, gathering her envelope of money and shoving it into her bag. Ramón’s henchman, the one she was talking to, comes out of the house with another overweight envelope for her.

Alejandra is
blinding in a silver dress covered in tiny mirrors. It’s nightclub in the front and ball gown in the back. No wonder she parties here; she’s as gaudy as the house. She walks over and links arms with me before glaring at Ulysses. I imagine he’s upset that there’s one less concussion he will get to dole out tonight.

“Have you seen
the white tigers…and the panthers?” Alejandra asks.

“No,” I say.
Of course
Ramón has exotic animals here. Anyone with gold toilets probably thinks housing endangered species is a sensible next step.

“Then I’ll show you…it’s a lovely garden with a grotto. I’ve been
naked
in it. From there I can show you the shortcut to where his fighters train.” Her steps are unsteady down the stairs and she’s leaning against me, but I can’t tell if she’s had too much of everything or if she just wants to find more ways to touch me. “He told me once he fed people to the cats. He always teases those who won’t leave his parties that he’ll do that. Do you think he throws them in
alive
?” Alejandra giggles, while I just get unnerved.

“What were you doing up there?”

“Just a little bit of business between the grownups…” she says. She pauses to watch Ramón’s men lead three of the boys into the house. They must be the chosen ones, the ones lucky enough to one day replace Carlos. Alejandra takes my arm again and we walk until the noise fades. We stroll a paved walkway into a lush garden, and she points out the dark entrance of the grotto, with its rock ceiling that looks like teeth. Through a thicket, I can just make out black iron bars and hear a soft feline growl.

“That was Ramón’s next generation of fighters, huh?”

“I suppose…”

“Where do you get them, Alejandra?”

“Places where there aren’t any mansions,
Jesse
.” Irritation edges into her voice. “Mexico’s a poor country. Everyone deserves the chance to live well.”
You or them?
“What is the saying you have in America? Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps? They’ve never even had boots.” Then she gestures at a gray building almost completely behind the house. “You can work out right through there. If it weren’t so late, I would stay and
watch
you get sweaty because you won’t do it with me.” She pinches my ass and disappears into the flowers.

Drew and I fall into a routine over the next week. She goes to fights with Ramón at night and spends a lot of her time with him when he’s here at the house. They’re always in his
real
office or in the loft. I spend a lot of time in the gym facility or jogging the curvy roads outside the house—with Ramón’s men following me really slowly in a souped-up Escalade. Working out helps with the stress of being here, and it sure as hell passes the time quicker.

The three new fighters are staying at the house, too, for the time being, so we’re all always in the gym together. Ramón trains them into exhaustion with h
is other established fighters. But none of them is learning anything close to any kind of true fighting technique, just how to beat the shit out of people. They’re ridiculously happy to be here, too. They’re from different parts of Mexico, sought out by Alejandra while they were working low-wage jobs or living in abject poverty, and lured here with the promise of a way to make more money. They want to talk to me and find out what it’s like in the cage, but as soon as I mention what happened to Nico, they look at me like I’m one of the “cool” parents, who is trying to convince their kids that they know best because they were young once.

“Jess, you’ve tried. You can’t beat yourself up if they’re not listening,” Drew says as she tries to steady the heavy bag I’m hitting. I love how supportive she is
, but I can’t hit the damn thing as hard as I want when she’s on the other side.

“I know, but they’re being manipulated. Just like I was.” Even thinking about it makes me jab the bag with more force.
Fucking Henry Chance.

“I asked Ramón about it and he says they’re
free
to go
whenever
…” She rolls her eyes. “But they never leave. You should see his other fighters, the ones whose fights I’ve been going to. They love this life. So, it doesn’t matter what you say, babe. Someone who has been living the very opposite of all this isn’t going to reject the opportunity to live
like
this. There are a million others ready and willing to take their places, too.”

“Well, they won’t even see any of the money for a while after Ramón tells them they’re going to have to pay for this
living
out of any winnings first. And if they aren’t winning, they’ll probably get dumped right back to where they came from, and still have to pay him back. Look at José.” I stop hitting the bag, too afraid I’ll hurt Drew. Besides, I want to do some other things to her right now.

“Are we breaking already?” she asks, scrunching her face in confusion. She has her hands on her hips, her running shorts are sitting low, and her stomach is speckled with beads of sweat. I only smile before I pick her up and carry her to a wall, putting her against it. We’ve barely had any alone time, and I just miss touching her.
It’s better than hitting that bag, that’s for sure.

“Jesse!” she protests but she wraps her arms around my neck.

“
What
? No one else is in here.” As soon as my lips crush hers, I press my tongue into her mouth. She grips the back of my neck and clenches my waist tighter between her thighs. I grind my hard-on against her as desire cranks through my blood.
Jesus I hope no one comes in here right now.
“And I just wanted to kiss you…” I whisper, dipping my face to her collarbone. “Everywhere.” Drew moans as I run my tongue along her shoulder and suck on her earlobe. “So, let me kiss you everywhere…” I thread my tongue between her breasts. My thumb circles her nipple and I pull her sports bra down, exposing one of them. I flick my tongue all over it before taking the hard point into my mouth, and a square gold wrapper falls to the ground.

“Kissing is
so
overrated, baby…” she says with a smirk as I set her down to pick up the condom. She came in here with a plan. Damn, I love this woman. After I rip open the wrapper, her hand eases down the front of my shorts, and she rolls the condom onto me.

“
Five minutes?” I say with a wink.

“Just like the old days,” she teases as she giggles. We don’t even take her shorts off; when I lift her again, we just push them and her underwear to the side before I rock into her. I bury my breaths in her hair, and Drew presses her face into my shoulder, her moans
making my skin vibrate. I shudder as her hand rides down my sweaty back, and her nails poke into the base of my spine. My fingers slip between our bodies, and I match the rhythm of my thrusts with how I touch her clit. The rush from being in here, the possibility of being caught, has my skin on fire with butterflies swarming beneath. Her body jerks a few times and her teeth sink into my bicep with a soft groan. I’m spent as soon as she comes, finishing just as her climax ends.

Quickies really do get a bad rap.

“I don’t even want to pull out,” I whisper. “You got another one in that bra?”

The door to the workout facility springs open and I shield Drew as she adjusts her clothes
. I barely have time to toss the used condom somewhere. Several of Ramón’s men storm in and are screaming for us to come with them.
What now?
I take Drew’s hand as we’re led into the backyard. There are golf balls strewn all over the grass. Ramón has a golf club in his hand, and a golf bag propped against a table. All of the guards are around, but Ulysses is standing across from everyone else. The closer we get to them, the more dread bears down on me as overbearingly as the Mexican sun.

“What exactly were your instructions
during my party?” Ramón asks Ulysses once we’re within hearing range.

“To mind the grounds.”

“Yet…” Ramón hits a golf ball and it rolls to the halfway point of the house. “I was told you assaulted Mr. Chance. Is that so? You’re aware he has a fight coming up.”

“Señor Vega, he was involving himself in your affairs with Señora Bautista.”

“Jesse was overheard asking where the fighters train. Is that in fact what you were doing, Jesse?” Ramón taps another ball across the grass.

My stomach bottoms out, and
my voice comes out small. “Yes, but—”

“So, did you assault him?”
Ramón asks, turning back to Ulysses.

“I was just—”

“Nothing happened, Ramón,” I interject in weak defiance, but I suck in a deep breath, determined to appear as calm and in control as possible. My heart bounces so hard in my chest that the rest of me is quaking. This is not looking good at all.

“Shut up, Jesse,
” Ramón warns. His voice has edged away from its usual tone. It’s much more severe and matching his ruthlessness for once. Ramón flings the golf club across the lawn, lines of frustration crowding his forehead. He walks straight up to the trembling Ulysses. “Did. You. Assault. Him? I’m not going to like asking you again, but you’re
really
going to hate it.”