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“Who the hell is responsible for this?” Troy added.
“I… I am,” I answered with a shake in my voice. “Smiley’s needed someone worthy to fight, and after a little research and a successful tryout session, we felt like Bones Vega would be the best addition to the gym. We see potential in him to become the best and to be the headliner of all fights to come.”
“So, you decided to bring someone in who is infamous for throwing a huge fight and making a fiasco of our Heathens Hollow event? Again. Who is unreliable, and now far too old to really have a shot?”
“Well, if you look at his statistics.” I was shaking, all my speech flowing from my mind. I had it so well-written out, so perfectly constructed, and now he had completely thrown me by asking all the difficult questions from the outset. “He was undefeated before?—”
“Over a year ago,” Troy said, scathingly. “Old stats don’t mean anything anymore. He’s been out of action. After his scandal, no one even knew where he went.” He paused, scanned my body from head to toe. “Maybe I should have bought your father’s gym when I had the chance.” He smirked. “Maybe I should simply take it now.”
“He won his last fight,” Frankie completely shocked me by saying. I spun around to look at both Frankie and Lotto, unable to believe that he was sticking up for Bones. He was the one who had been dead set against the idea of Bones joining in the first place, and I’d assumed he would love the chance to say I told you so. “He’s been fighting with a renewed power, working hard, and showing that he may have what it takes.”
“Plus, he’s a showman. People like watching what he brings to the cage,” Lotto cut in. “No denying that.”
“But there is so much bad press surrounding him,” one of the cross-looking promoters I didn’t know interjected. “How are we supposed to just ignore that? He could turn our event into a damn circus.”
“He cost me a lot of fucking money,” Troy added. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“We have no doubt that if you bet on him at Heathens Hollow, he’ll make it all back,” Frankie added. “I sure as hell plan on making bank on the man. He’ll be the under in the betting. No one will think he’ll win. And I’m telling you. He will.”
I felt more confident now that Frankie had spoken out. It made me feel like I was not on my own here. These old-school men would respect the notorious Freakshow’s opinion more than mine—as much as that pissed me off—so having his support was paramount.
“All the negative coverage and trolls could actually bring in more revenue, and you all know it,” I shot back, sending Frankie a self-satisfied smile. “There might be shit talk, people arguing over our decision to have Bones Vega fighting, but at least they’re talking about us. His supporters will be there. People who want to see him succeed and fail will be buying tickets. Whether that’s to hurl abuse at him or to support him, it really doesn’t matter. The money is lining your pockets.”
Of course, I didn’t truly feel that way. I didn’t want people to yell nasty things at Bones as he entered the cage. But I needed to speak this group’s language, and the only thing that they fully understood or cared about was money.
“But what if he throws the fight again? This time, for even more money than before?” Troy stared intimidatingly at me. It was as if he thought that he’d be able to get me to back down just by looking at me. “What then?”
“He won’t,” I said confidently, staring right back at him. “He’s made his mistakes, but this second chance means a lot to him. He has more people relying on him than the public realizes. He’ll earn back everyone’s trust over time. I can be sure of that. And while he’s winning everyone else over, we will all be benefitting from a string of wins like nothing we’ve seen in a very long time.”
“Freakshow,” Troy snapped, completely looking away from me. “I expect you to keep a strict eye on that asshole. I don’t trust him, and I need someone to ensure that he doesn’t fuck up. In fact, if you suspect that he might be up to anything unsavory, then I pull his ass.” He shot me a dirty look, before continuing. “We can’t do anything about him being on the lineup now, unless we want to deal with the shit storm that would cause with the people who have already bought tickets and flying from all over the world to Heathens Hollow to attend. So we’re just going to have to be careful to protect our asses. I don’t want this short-term financial gain to have negative long-term effects.” He then looked back at Frankie. “And tell that fucker if he cheats me again, I’ll have him killed. I’ll have all of you killed.”
