Page 47

“This way,” he says as he gives a chin lift forward, and I follow close beside him.

“This isn’t the normal gig?”

“Hell no. It’s wild but contained, at least up north.”

“How so?”

“Menace and her group don’t allow glass for one thing. Shit can get thrown in the middle of a brawl and hit a fighter. Ruins revenue long-term if someone dies before the benefactors can make bets on them.” Domino pushes past an idiot who proves his point as he drops the three beers he was carrying.

We get to a roped-off stairway, and the guy guarding it stops us with a hand on Domino’s chest. Something very few are brave enough to do to any member of the Hounds. But before we can say anything, Menace appears at the top and yells down.

“They’re with me.”

It’s not often the club name doesn’t get us a pass on its own. From the smirk on Menace’s face as we make our way up, I’m thinking she had something to do with it.

“Baby,” Domino growls in warning.

“What?” She appears all wide-eyed and innocent, but an old lady is never that. She holds her own and fights openly with her man as foreplay. I’ve seen it enough times to know what it looks like.

“You’ll pay for that.”

“Looking forward to it,” she purrs a second before she seals her lips to his.

I walk around them to the railing and lean over. This must be the VIP area. Only a few people are up here, and they all seem to be watching the fight and not just hammered like most of the people who aren’t by the boxing ring screaming for blood.

The fight isn’t that impressive. Not now, anyhow. There’s a clear winner already, but she’s just playing games with the woman who staggers on her feet toward the champ. Her swings are high and wide, and the champ jabs and bounces out.

“This the one you were hoping to look at?” Domino’s voice pulls my attention away as I feel him and Menace come up beside me.

“Unfortunately. She looked good for a minute, but the second the other girl uppercut her, she lost her footing and her timing. She’s a wash.”

I nod in agreement. If you can’t take an uppercut, you’re no good in a cage fight, which is Menace’s specialty. We all know it. Domino is damn proud of his woman and shows her off often, with video links of her fighting or just boasting about her stats to the boys when we get together.

When the champ throws one last uppercut and the other girl goes sailing through the air to land on her back, the crowd cheers.

“Ready to go?” Domino asks, and I don’t mind a bit about leaving after just getting here. This isn’t my scene. I like a decent fight like the rest, but this is seedy shit, even for a Hound. I’d rather have more hits and jabs and less crowd vomit if I plan to stick around. Especially as I watch three separate people puke around the floor as the ring gets a wipe-down from a mop that seems to just paint the white floor red.

“Got one more fight to see,” Menace says, and I look over at her with an eyebrow raised.

“She any good?” Better than the last, I hope.

She shrugs. “Don’t know. She’s had a few scruff fights in back alleys before this, but this is her first no-holds-barred fight.”

“What’s that mean?” I’m new to this compared to Domino and his woman.

“Means they tried her out to see if she could take a hit and throw one a few times, but nothing too much that left markings. This will be the first time they see how far she can go on her own without someone telling them to stop till a person gets knocked out,” Domino supplies as he rests his forearms on the railing and leans down a bit to allow one of his knees to bend.

“When does she come on?”

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our main event of the night,” a loud voice booms through the place, and the crowd roars.

“Now!” Menace yells over the noise, and I nod as I look back down at the ring.

“In this corner, we have our three-time champ, no-holds-barred, weighing in at 127 pounds. It’s Biiiiiiig Bertha!”

A woman enters the ring, and I swear the only thing on her that weighs 127 is her hair. The rest of her looks huge from this angle, and I’m above her. Blonde hair spiked at the top, shaved at the back. Bulky with muscles and a spider tattoo on her left shoulder blade that seems to cover most of her back from what I can see, even with the pink sports bra on.

“And in this corner is a newcomer on the scene. She might look pure, but trust me, this one is a fighter. Welcome to the floor, Gnat!”