Page 63

Hot breath hit the shell of my ear. “Have you watched him fight before?” Scar’s question took me by surprise, so I didn’t answer right away, and she pushed on. “Zabit. He’s the top dog here. And the fucker is good. Really good. You probably have a better chance if you keep the fight on your feet. The guy’s been doing combative sambo since the fuckin’ womb.”

Now I was really taken aback. I knew that shit because tonight had been planned for months. Scar was the only new addition. We assumed bringing her along wouldn’t cause too much of an issue since all she had to do was sit in the corner and look pretty. But here she was with intel and suggestions on their number one fighter. The question popped out before I could stop it.

“How do you know that?” I asked with more hostility than I intended.

She bristled at my tone, her shoulders stiffening and indecision clouding her face. But it cleared as quickly. “There’s a lot of shit I know, Kenji. I’m a fucking asset if we can learn to trust each other.”

I opened my mouth to ask what the hell she meant, but she stopped me with a raised hand. “We aren’t there yet, so don’t ask, but I’ll give you this as a sign of good faith. Zabit has a bum left leg. Injured it a few fights ago and needs surgery, but the fucker is stubborn and doesn’t want to take the time off. Some well-placed leg kicks are going to have him hurt. And for the love of God, don’t give the man your back. He’ll choke you out before you know what the hell is happening.”

I didn’t know about the knee, and I’d been watching the dude for months, so how the fuck did she know? As if she could see the indecision, she called one of the dudes taking fight bets over.

“Hey, twenty grand on the new guy.” She indicated to me with her head.

I was taken aback by her confidence in me since there was no way she knew whether I could fight. “Caleb isn’t going to appreciate you betting his money without asking,” I teased.

She whipped her head toward me, anger licking at her irises. “I have my own fucking money, asshole. I don’t need him spending money on me.”

God, I loved her temper and willingness to throw down. It made my dick hard, which was less than ideal right before I stripped down into some tight-ass shorts.

I stepped into her space, bending low to speak into her ear. “No, but you’re going to let us fucking spend whatever the fuck we want on you, little one.”

The fight announcer broke the tension between us with his announcement of the next fight.

My fight.

“You stay here and look sexy cheering me on,” I said, pulling off my sweats. Her eyes zeroed in on my cock, and she subconsciously licked her lips. “You can suck me off after, Scar. But right now, I need you to sit your hot ass down in that chair and don’t fucking move. And if someone bothers you, stab them. Run it right through their fucking heart. Don’t even ask questions,” I said, pushing my katana into her hands.

I didn’t wait for a response as I grabbed the back of my collar and pulled off my shirt. The hitch of her breath when she saw my body was the best fucking prefight pump-up I could have asked for, and without thinking, I grabbed the back of her head and slammed our lips together. I wanted to make out like we were horny teenagers, but the crowd was chanting new blood.

“We’re fucking after the fight, Scar.”

CHAPTER 29

SCAR

HEAD KICKS MAKE ME WET. SO DOES PUNCHING MEN IN THE FACE…

The oni on his back moved like it was alive as he gracefully stepped into the cage. A ripple of nerves shot through me the moment the gate closed. These fights were bare knuckles and brutal. Zabit was a bad motherfucker too. There was a reason he’d been at the top for as long as he had been.

Kenji was playing this visit off like it was random and sporadic, but I’d bet my damn life those three had this all planned. Hopefully that meant Kenji had been practicing stuffing takedowns because he would need it against his opponent. The bum knee bit wasn’t common knowledge, and I’d have to make it up to Zabit later, but honestly, it was the fucker’s fault for not going and having that shit taken care of.

No one said shit to me as I moved closer to the cage and leaned against the perimeter of the mat to corner for Kenji. He hadn’t asked me, but he didn’t know I’d trained for years, either. The roar of the crowd faded into the background as my focus homed in on him.

He was gorgeous and covered in ink. Both legs were fully sleeved in tattoos. It was an interesting dichotomy between the two. One leg was fully done in the traditional Japanese style. Two koi fish took up the majority of the real estate on his toned left thigh, and then the other was a patchwork of American tradition. His art was the story of his two halves.

The perfection and tradition versus the chaos and passion.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a change in tonight’s main card. New meat is entering the cage to take on…the champ, Zabit Mayhem.”

The announcer’s voice carried over the crowd, echoing off the cement walls of this inner chamber of a room. The air was hazy with all the smoke from blunts and cigarettes. I always thought it was a major fire hazard since we were underground without a window or door in sight, but criminals and degenerates didn’t give a shit about fire safety.

Kenji bounced on his toes, looking loose and relaxed. Like he’d done this before. And I hoped to God he had because he was going to need every advantage he could get against the current champ. It was one thing to practice a combat sport. It was another thing entirely to have experience in the cage in a full-fledged fight. Even sparring wasn’t a true example of what it was like to be in the throes of a brawl with another person who wanted to fucking break you.

From the corner of my eye, I caught movement in the crowd. The champ was making his way toward the cage. The corners of my mouth turned up when I saw Zabit. He’d cut his hair recently, but it hadn’t done much to make him look less boyish. He hated when I told him it was fine that he looked like a baby since he was one at only twenty-two. I was tempted to tell Kenji to call him a baby, but it probably wouldn’t garner the same reaction as when I said it to Zabit during training.

I gnawed at my lip, watching the stare-down between the two fighters in the center of the mat. How mad was Kenji going to be when he found out I knew everyone here? There hadn’t been a lot of time to play twenty questions when we showed up here. And I might like the guy, but that didn’t mean I trusted the guy. The more I thought about it, the more comfortable I was with my decision to keep Kenji in the dark. He should know by now that you survive in this life by keeping secrets close to the chest.

I’d share shit with the guys. But on my time.