Full Contact (Redemption #3)(22)
Dad regales us with stories about the people he’s driven around in his cab. Always, I am amazed at what people will do in the back of a cab, and despite Mom’s protests, he provides graphic details, sending Jess and me into fits of hysteria. Jess shares stories from the vet clinic that turn my stomach. I don’t tell them my tattoo parlor was shot up by a street gang or that I kissed a hard-bodied underground fighter in a dirty back alley and would have f*cked him if my PTSD hadn’t chased him away. Tag doesn’t talk at all.
Jess shoots Tag surreptitious glances from beneath her lashes, but Tag seems at best indifferent to her presence. After our meal, Mom and I head to the kitchen to prepare dessert and Mom tries to smooth things over between us with a girly conversation, asking why Jess and Tag never got together.
“He doesn’t like her.” I dump a carton of whipping cream in a bowl and fish around in the drawer for the beaters. “She’s done everything she can to let him know she’s interested. I’ve asked him a gazillion times. I guess she’s just not his type.”
Mom raises an eyebrow. “He does like her. And they’re perfect for each other. She needs him in a way he needs to be needed. And he can give her the security she never had at home. He just can’t see it.”
After dessert, Tag offers to help Mom clean up in the kitchen, and Jess and I kick back and relax on the worn, beige sofa that has sat in the same place for the last twenty years. Dad turns on the TV, and we watch a few minutes of a survival show before my phone buzzes.
Priority: Confidential
Bay Area Underground Fight Club (BUFC) Fight Night
Jack London Square. 8 p.m.
Headlining: Misery vs. The Predator
Code Phrase: “Soon you’ll be wanting to leave.”
Underground fight promoters go to great lengths to keep their fights off the CSAC radar. They screen and limit attendee lists, text event announcements only two hours before the fights start, and require everyone to say the code word or phrase to get in. With so many Redemption fighters as clients, it wasn’t hard for me to get on the list of the top BUFC promoter. And after seeing Ray fight at that first event, I pulled in favors to get on the list of every underground fight promoter in the Bay Area.
Jess takes one look at my face and then leans over to check the message. “Are you going?”
“No.”
She glances over at Dad and then lowers her voice. “You’ve never missed one of his fights.”
“I’ve never felt so embarrassed.” I pick at a thread on the seat cushion. “I practically threw myself at him and he turned me down. I’ve never thrown myself at a man before. The whole panicking-because-he-pinned-my-arms thing was humiliating beyond belief, and just underscored the fact that I am not normal and never will be. My biggest fantasy is a damn trigger, and as expected, he went running in the opposite direction. Plus there’s a boxing match on TV after this. Good wholesome entertainment.”
The survival show finishes and the boxing match starts. Tag joins us in the living room, his phone in his hand. “You going out tonight?”
Jess and I share a glance. He must be on the promoter’s list as well, although I’ve never seen him at a fight except to drive me home, and he would never step into the ring. Still…
“Uh…no. We’re watching boxing with Dad.”
Tag shakes his head. “Torment wants to see us at Redemption.”
“Now?”
“You know Torment. He has a proposition for you, and he’s not a man you keep waiting.”
*
An hour later, Tag, Jess, and I are having a drink in Torment’s office at Redemption. Despite the hour, the gym is still busy and the steady whir of cardio machines is interrupted by the occasional clang of weights and the thud of flesh hitting flesh. Of course, Jess insisted on coming with us. Although she claimed it was to give me moral support, I know she just wanted to spend more time with Tag.
Torment leans back in his chair and strokes his chin. Even such an innocuous gesture is threatening when Torment does it, and I shiver and dig my nails into my palm.
“I heard about your studio.”
Is this Torment making small talk? I glance over at Tag, but he is lost in thought.
“Uh…yeah. It needs to be totally renovated. Slim’s fighting with his insurance company, but he figures we’ll be back in operation soon.”
Tapping his fingers on the desk, he says, “What are you doing for work in the meantime?”
“We’ve been looking for somewhere temporary to set up shop so we don’t lose our clients. Hasn’t been going so good. Rent is expensive and no one wants to give us a short-term lease given the kind of work we do. We’re thinking of splitting up and taking chairs with other shops until Slim has things sorted out.”
Torment sniffs. “No one will find you if you split up. You’re a team. Teams stick together. Isn’t that right, Fuzz?”
Tag’s head jerks up, and from his vacant expression, I can tell he didn’t hear what Torment said. “Yeah…sure.”
Torment scowls and Jess sucks in a sharp breath. What does Makayla do when Torment is angry with her? I’d probably run screaming in the other direction.
“Come.” Torment stands so quickly, I almost fall out of my chair in my haste to join him. He stalks out of the room, and Jess and I scurry after him, trying to keep up with his long strides.