Punching and Kissing (16 page)

It was obvious as soon as we neared the balcony around the pit. Heads turned, as if they could smell my feminine scent. A sort of rumble went through the crowd, expanding outward from where Aedan and I stood.

He put an arm around my waist and pulled me closer.

I could see their eyes eating me up. Wondering if I would be the victim or the victor...and, from their sneers, the answer seemed obvious. Had they already seen the other woman? Or did I just look so weak that I’d crumble before
any
opponent?

There was another look, too. The one I’d been aware of before, but that held new fear for me after last time. That hungry, male look, so different to the looks Aedan gave me, even when he was fucking me. It was a look with no warmth at all, no interest in my happiness or my pleasure. It was a look that stripped off my clothes and spread me open.

Legs shaking, I let Aedan lead me downstairs.

Rick was there with Al and Carl, his two bodyguards. He looked to be in a good mood, his cane shining extra-bright as if he’d polished it specially.

And behind him, leaning against a wall, was a woman.

I don’t know what I’d expected. A six foot Amazonian, maybe, like some barbarian queen minus the broadsword and armor. Or maybe an Asian kung fu expert all dressed in black. But she was nothing like either of those.

She was about the same height as me. In places, she looked thinner. In others, she was carrying more muscle. She had long brown hair in dreadlocks and skin as pale as mine. I frowned, trying to figure it out. Rick would have wanted to find someone to destroy me. Had he gone to the semi-pro circuit? She looked ripped, but not in an athletic, glowing-with-health way. Or was she the girlfriend or even sister of someone else who owed him a debt—my counterpart? What if she had some powerful reason to win, too? What if one of
her
loved ones’ lives depended on it?

“Sylvie,” said Rick with a cat-like grin. “Meet Jacki.”

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. Shake her hand? I gave her a tentative smile. She scowled at me.

I looked down at what I was wearing—sweatpants, sneakers and a tank top. I looked as if I was ready to get in the ring. Jacki wore jeans and a t-shirt. She didn’t look like a trained fighter. What was going on?

“I had some trouble, finding someone for you to fight,” said Rick, as if he’d done us a huge favor. “Had to really dig around. But then someone suggested Jacki and all my problems were solved. Jacki was happy to come down here and hand your ass to you for cash, and a shot at the winner’s bonus. Weren’t you, Jacki?”

Jacki spat on the floor. “Bitch, you better not start crying the first time that pretty face hits the floor. We gotta give people a show.”

And then I saw the gang tattoos on her neck and I understood.

Aedan stepped forward out of the shadows. “This is supposed to be boxing,” he growled. “Bare knuckle boxing. Not feckin’ street fighting.”

Rick turned.
“Aedan?”
His face went through a complex series of emotions. Fear. Anger. Suspicion. It was the first time I’d ever seen him really shaken. His bodyguards stepped forward protectively.
What the hell’s going on?
I knew that Aedan used to be a fighter and I’d figured out that Rick used to manage him, just like he managed Alec. But this was something else—the relationship between them was a lot more complex.

And then Aedan said something that made me forget everything else.

“I’ll fight,” he said. “I’ll fight instead of Sylvie.”

Sylvie

For once, Rick and I both had the same reaction. “
What?!”
we both said at the same time.

“I’ll fight.” Aedan pointed at me. “Instead of her. Call off the girl fight. It’ll be me against whatever guy Alec was going to fight.”

Rick seemed to relax a little. He’d looked scared, before, but the balance of power had subtly shifted, now. “You’re fucking her,” he muttered, glancing at me. “Interesting.”

I saw Aedan tense up. I realized Rick now had leverage over him. But why was Rick so scared of him in the first place? What had happened between these two?

“I’ll fight!” Aedan snapped. “Me instead of her!”

Rick glanced between us, considering it. My heart jumped into my mouth. Had Aedan been planning this, without telling me? Was it possible Rick would accept? The idea of Aedan in the pit, with some thug pounding at his face, made me sick. This was my problem—I couldn’t let someone else take it on for me. But I’d be lying if I said that there wasn’t a small part of me that prayed for Rick to say
yes.
This whole nightmare could be over for me in a heartbeat.

“No,” said Rick. “Tempting, but I don’t have anyone I could put up against you. You’d beat the hell out of anyone I could get.” Then he grinned. All his usual confidence had returned. “Besides, it’s good to try new things. You’ve had your day. It’s time to try women. The crowd seems pretty excited.”

Aedan glared at him. “You
fecker!
It’s not right!”

Rick shrugged. “Wasn’t my idea. It was Sylvie’s. Anyway, times change. Women are always saying they want equality. Well, here it is.” He grinned a crocodile’s grin at Jacki and me. From her sneer, I suspected she felt much the same way about him that I did.

He stalked out into the pit, brandishing his cane, and the crowd roared. Aedan pulled me away from Jacki and into a corner. His whole body was rigid with tension.

“What was
that?”
I demanded. “You were going to take my place? When were you going to tell me?”

He stared at me angrily. “I don’t want to see you get hurt!”

We glared at each other for a moment and then I softened, seeing the worry in his eyes. His plan hadn’t worked, anyway, so it was irrelevant. And I loved him for trying. I put my arms around him and hugged him close.

He squeezed me back. Then I felt the tension return to his body and he whispered in my ear. “This is bad,” he said. “I’ve been teaching you boxing. She’s used to handing out beat downs in the street. It’s going to be dirty.”

He sounded worried and that scared the crap out of me. “OK, so...what do I do?” I looked up into his eyes, ready to absorb as much as I could as fast as I could.

“...I have no idea,” he said at last.

“
What?”

“I never fought a woman!” he snapped. “If it was
boxing
then it doesn’t make any feckin’ difference—a woman’s just like a smaller man. But she’ll fight like she fights on the street. That’s completely different.”

My heart was suddenly pounding. This was much, much worse than anything I’d prepared myself for.
I might as well not have trained at all.
Out in the pit, Rick seemed to be coming to the end of his speech. We had seconds. I started to panic-breathe.

Aedan grabbed my shoulders. “OK, look. If it was a man, he’d try to bite and gouge. So keep clear of her teeth and be ready to block her when she scratches at you. And a man would try to knock you down and pin you so he could finish you off, so stay on your feet.”

“Okay,” I said breathlessly.

“It’s not all bad,” he said. “She probably hasn’t been trained. She’ll be undisciplined. Unbalanced. Keep your guard up and look for a weakness. Remember you’re an out-boxer—keep your distance.”

“Okay,” I said again.

In the pit, we could hear Rick giving it everything he had.
“From the mean streets of New York City!”
he bellowed.
“Raised by a junkie mom and a deadbeat dad, she started selling her body at fourteen. She beat up girls who tried to steal her turf and now she lays down the law in a gang.
Jacki!
”

I saw Jacki roll her eyes and wondered how much of that story Rick had made up. But she stalked out into the pit to huge cheers.

“Just stay focused,” said Aedan, rubbing my shoulders. “Don’t panic. Don’t drop your guard.”

“
And from the Upper West Side!
” Rick yelled.

What?
I wasn’t from the Upper West Side. Even when Dad was alive, even when
Mom
was alive, we were still poor.

“She was society’s
it girl,
” Rick told the crowd. “Pampered and privileged. Sent to a Swiss finishing school to learn manners, where rumor has it she fucked half her male teachers. Then to Harvard, where she studied law...
”

The crowd growled. Everybody hated lawyers.

“
But then she fell from grace!”

The crowd roared their approval.

“Unable to resist the bad boy charm of her very first criminal client, she eloped with him...only to be dumped by the roadside. Disowned by her wealthy family, desperate for money...
now she’s here!”

The crowd went wild. I exchanged disbelieving looks with Aedan, feeling sick. Not only had he made up a ridiculous story for me—and probably for Jacki, too—but he’d set her up as the underdog and me as the wealthy, snobby girl who needed teaching a lesson.

It was clear who the crowd would want to win.

“Sylvie!”
yelled Rick.

Aedan grabbed me and kissed me hard. Then he lifted his fists towards mine. I realized he wanted me to tap fists with him. The same good luck ritual I used to do with Alec. I stared at his huge, scarred hands and at my own much smaller ones, and then I tapped.

And ran out into the pit before I could change my mind.

Sylvie

I’d watched plenty of fights from the balcony. And I’d been down in the side room, where Aedan now was, when Alec fought. So I thought I knew what to expect.

I was wrong.

The crowd above became a hooting, screaming hurricane, their voices surrounding me and leaving my ears ringing. The harsh overhead lights blinded me whenever I looked up, turning the people above into faceless silhouettes. I could just see the white of their teeth and the gleam of their spit as they yelled.

The pit itself was a merciless prison. Smooth concrete walls much higher than my head. A bare concrete floor. The doors into the side rooms looked pathetically small.

There was nowhere to run.

Jacki was already standing directly across from me, glaring at me. Rick slapped me enthusiastically on the shoulder and ran back to the side room to wait with Aedan.

And the fight began.

Jacki started to circle around to the side and I did the same, walking like a crab, hands raised to guard myself in case she suddenly came at me.
I’m not ready!
My heart was thumping in my chest and I could actually see my hands shaking as I held them in front of me. This wasn’t like the ring I’d trained in—
at all!
There was no bounce in the floor, no give. If I even slipped and went down, it was going to hurt. If I was knocked down and hit my head...it didn’t bear thinking about.

Jacki suddenly came at me in a zig-zagging, erratic run. Her hands weren’t up in fists. They were more like hooked claws, ready to grab and pull and tear.

I backed up, trying to keep my distance. Immediately, she moved faster. It was obvious which of us had the upper hand, right from the start. I was scared of her but she wasn’t scared of me.