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Chapter 5
Astrid
“I don’t know why you didn’t let nature take its course.” Nova laughs on the other side of the partition in the changing room. “Survival of the fittest and all that shit.”
I balance my purse on top of my shoes while we try on dresses in a trendy mall shop calledDesire’s Closet.Alternative blasts through the speakers in a store we would rarely enter, but now, we can afford it. I know it seems silly to dress up for a fight club that’s bare concrete and lousy lighting—a place we have to hose down nightly while wearing rubber gloves and boots.
The point is we want people to know that we’re not like the Pit. We aren’t going to cheat people or make them do degrading things with their bodies for a few dollars. You want to fight fair and get paid fair, then you come to the Monarchs. We aim for classy treatment of all involved.
“You are too kind,” continues Nova, “I would have left that white boy’s ass on the ground to be stomped.”
“I couldn’t do that,” I reply, “Pierce is a jerk, but it would’ve been too cruel, and what if they had killed him? I couldn’t say sorry later and take it all back. Besides, we don’t need that kind of trouble.”
“It would’ve sent a message to let them punch him around a few times,” replies Nova, stepping out of the changing room. She smooths down the front of a short black dress with a ruffled hem that shows off her legs. “They’ll only come back harder the next time,” she states as I step out into the room to look in the large mirror on the far wall.
I smile and stand beside her in a dress that’s not as short but has a ruffled neck. I like it when we match but don’t match. Nova smiles and spins, sending the ruffles up in the air when I give her a thumbs-up.
“It’s not right,” I tell her. “By the way, you look cute. At any rate, I really couldn’t stand by and watch them kick Pierce while he was on the ground.”
She stares at me like I just redefined crazy. “After what Pierce did to you at Halloween? You’re getting soft, Astrid.”
“No, I’m not,” I reply firmly, “I get it now. It’s a power thing. By doing what I did, I proved to them that I also have power. The power to stop him from getting his ass kicked by my people.”
Nova shakes her head as she checks her back view. “Did he thank you for it, at least?”
I don’t meet her gaze in the large mirror. “Pierce has too much ego for that. That’s what I like about him.”
Nova presses her hand to her chest. “Did you just use the word like?”
“Not like,” I explain quickly, “I guess I mean admire? I mean, I wish I could think I was right all the time, no matter what stupid shit I said or did.”
“It might be his superpower.” She steps back into her changing room. “But I would’ve taught him a tough lesson in humility. So we better be ready if they show up again.”
“They won’t do anything if Wyatt is there,” I offer as I step back into my room to change.
“I wouldn’t count on them being decent,” she replies flatly, “not even to their own.”
