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Kase held up his beer. “And Kali has the bantamweight title.” We toasted on their behalf and downed our drinks.
Thea rolled her shoulder at the mention of Kali. “Remind me never to spar with Kali ever again. My arm still hurts.”
Quinn pursed her lips at her. “I warned you. You never listen.”
Thea’s father, Cole Bennett, was a damn good fighter, only he never won the light heavyweight title; that one belonged to Paxton Emerson for the longest time.
Kase slid his empty beer bottle to the center of the table, and it clanged against the bottle of whiskey. “You know who I want to get in the ring with?”
I was pretty sure I knew the answer to that. “Who?”
Kase’s eyes lit up. “Braden Emerson. He’s a fucking beast.”
“No shit,” I laughed. “I thought for sure he broke my jaw the other day.” Braden was my cousin and had the strength of his father and the fire of my aunt Gabriella. I rubbed my chin where Braden pummeled me the last time we fought.
Quinn waved a hand in the air. “Oh, oh, oh, what about Peyton? Isn’t she filming another movie? I liked the romantic comedy she was in last year.”
“She is,” I replied. “In Charleston, South Carolina, actually. My aunt went with her.” Peyton was the spitting image of my aunt and a Hollywood starlet now. I thought for sure she’d want to be a fighter when we were younger, and I knew Gabby wanted her to, but Peyton had other aspirations. She was known far and wide, just like …
“Emma,” Quinn called out. And there it was, the name I didn’t want to hear. Quinn clutched a hand over her heart. “Talk about beautiful. She’s in every magazine on the shelf.”
Visions of Emma’s face flashed through my mind. Dammit! Why do I keep thinking about her? Emma Jameson. I’d tried to fuck around to get her out of my system, but my mind always drifted to her.
“Reynolds, you okay?” Kase asked, snapping his fingers in my face.
Laughing, I smacked his hand away. “Yeah, I’m fine. Tell me about Hunter. Isn’t he going to start competing?” We needed to get off the topic of Emma.
Kase’s smile flattened. “Not sure. He gets a lot of shit because of who his dad is. It kind of gives him a bad rap.”
I could see that. I may not know what Hunter’s dad did to my parents, but I did know that his father cheated his way to the top, even drugged someone so they’d fail the drug test before their fight. People don’t forget.
With his grin lifting, Kase tapped the table. “I do know something you don’t, Reynolds.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?” I countered.
He leaned over on his elbows. “Ripp’s going to have to fight hard to keep that light heavyweight title.”
Thea gasped excitedly. “That’s right! Andon just moved up from middleweight to light heavyweight.” Andon was her older brother and a force to be reckoned with.
“Good for him,” I said. “Guess we were all a little too busy last night to talk about fighting.”
Kase snorted under his breath while Quinn shook her head, her green eyes piercing through her brother and me. “Keep the sordid details to yourself, please,” she added quickly.
Kase and I cackled at the disgusted expression on her face. “Getting back to Andon,” I announced, “it’ll make Ethan happy to know he doesn’t have to fight any of his friends for the title.”
“You mean, like us?” Kase asked, winking slyly. “Although, it was fun smashing your face in a few times.”
Gasping, Quinn looked down at her watch. “All right, Thea, we gotta get back downstairs before our mothers fire us.”
Thea stood and sighed. “We have been gone a long time.”
Quinn grabbed her glass of water. “I think I’m going to plan a girls’ trip soon, get back together with the crew if we can all get away.” Her smile expanded. “What would be even better is to have all of us get together.” She stared at Kase and me, and all I could do was nod.
“Maybe,” I replied.
Our parents stopped planning trips about eight years ago when we started getting older and having our own lives. Out of all the vacations I’d gone on with everyone, there was one that always came to mind. It was in Oak Island, North Carolina, at my family’s beach house. Something happened there I’d never forget.
Forcing it from my mind, I stood and hugged Quinn and Thea. They walked away, leaving me alone with Kase. “What are you going to do when you get back to California?” he wondered. “Your title is safe for a while, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
Sitting back down, I smiled. “Not exactly sure yet.”
Kase poured two shots of whiskey and slid one to me. “The sky is the limit, my friend. Feel free to come to Vegas anytime you want. I’ll hook you up like I did last night.”
“I might have to take you up on that.”
The night was a blur of alcohol and sex. At the time, I enjoyed every minute of it, but every time someone mentioned Emma’s name, it took me forever to get her out of my mind. It’s a good thing I have an endless supply of whiskey to make me forget for the night.
Grabbing my whiskey, I brought the glass to my lips and let the amber liquid glide down my throat. The burn felt good, and I needed more … a lot more.
