Page 12 of Pink

They all went for the one on the floor.

“Are you okay?” he heard Gigi ask in his ear.

Her breath tickled the back of his neck. The distinct scent of her perfume—a burnt pineapple and vanilla mixture—soaked into his lungs with every heavy heave of his chest. Shit, yeah, he’d put a hell of a lot of his power into two minutes to get the knockout done. More than he usually would. Had he let the guy play with him for any longer than a few minutes and then tried to get the fight finished, it might not have been as easy to end.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he assured, still watching the men check the guy and attempt to wake him up. It wasn’t working, and Lev had to consider if that last punch he landed to the guy’s temple had unfortunately finished the job for good.

In these fights, that shit happened. It was always cleaned up—no hard feelings when it went down. Still, it didn’t feel great all the same.

What was his name again?

The announcer said it.

Then, the ref.

Didn’t matter, Lev decided.

What was done was done.

Those soft hands of Gigi’s traveled around the large bands of muscles in Lev’s arms that jumped at every single one of her touches. She didn’t seem to mind the sweat dotting his spine when her fingertips made silky lines down to the dimples in his lower back, and despite the roar of the bar and the chaos all around him, the only thing he found himself thinking about all of the sudden was how those hands of hers might feel wrapped around his cock.

Fucking hell.

“Lev!”

His head snapped to the left until his gaze nailed into the familiar man approaching the side of the ring. The strands of Gigi’s wavy dark blonde hair fell over his shoulder when she flattened her chest against his back and leaned over a bit to see who was calling for him. She seemed content to be there and frankly, he also didn’t want to move.

Andino Marcello pointed a finger at him from outside of the ring, a pleased smile curving the man’s usually stone-cold features. It was almost unsettling to see him grin but at the same time, it felt true. “I knew I was right—a pleasure doing business with you tonight. Thank you for saving me a lot of money. Nickie will have your bonus ready in the back before you leave. Take care of me, I take care of you. You get me?”

What?

He didn’t get the chance to ask. As fast as Andino had left his seat, and the companion he brought along, the man turned on his shined Italian loafers and headed back into the crowd.

“Who is that?” he heard Gigi ask behind him.

“Winner—Lev Arsov!”

The man who acted as the ref for the fights stopped him from answering—not that he particularly knew how exactly he would answer her question. He didn’t know anything at all about Andino Marcello except the most important thing.

Don’t fuck with him.

Lev’s wrist found its way into the ref’s hand before being lifted high to a still-roaring crowd inside the bar. It looked like the guys in black were finally beginning to get his opponent to come around where he rested on the floor. He, however, was too busy watching Andino retreat into the crowd.

And the man waiting for him.

His companion from earlier.

Except now, the guy didn’t look pleased. He certainly wasn’t as friendly as he had been earlier with Andino when the one man offered a hand to shake, but it was left hanging between them. The two men eyed one another before Andino’s companion’s gaze traveled to the ring, stopping on Lev for only a second before drifting to the man being helped up from the mat.

His lips moved. The words silent to Lev from his position, yet clear all the same. He didn’t have to hear them to know what the guy said.

“You said fair, Andino.”

In response, Andino only shrugged.

Then, he walked away.

Men in suits, situated in different spots within the bar, moved to follow Andino. Probably the same people who had come in with him. Lev’s attention was still on the guy Andino had left behind, and the growing rage that darkened his features as the fighter who had lost against Lev was pulled from the ring, clearly dazed, confused, and not in a very good state.