Three Hot Wishes (Fantasy Come to Life - Magic in the Real World Novel) (32 page)

Sloane

I heard the music soar, and an instant later the spotlights that had been meandering around the crowd snapped to the start of the aisle that led to the ring, pinning Angel and Jessie in a flare of white hot light.

Every detail stood out in sharp contrast to all of the others. Angel stared straight ahead as members of the crowd reached out to touch him, to try and give him a high five or pat him on the back or maybe even, in the case of a couple of the women he passed, lean over and try and get a kiss.

He wasn't responding, though. My heart hurt for him. The crowd was on his side. Everyone I'd been eavesdropping on was certain that this was his night, that he finally had a chance to bust out of these lower level matches and make the big time. I'd heard a guy telling his date about how lucky she was that she was getting to see 'this guy before he pisses off to Vegas, or something'.

In a perfect world, Angel should have been given a chance to enjoy this. I knew that he couldn't, though.

I had no doubt in my mind that Jessie had just told him to throw the fight. Everyone in the crowd was expecting him to win, and now Angel was being told to find a way to lose, and make it convincing.

Well, not everyone was on his side. I looked away from him for a moment and scanned the crowd over across the way where Jessie had been a couple of minutes before. It didn't take me long to recognize the men I'd seen him with at the end of the last bout.

The Carellos. They were watching Angel like hawks, and as he went by them I could see in their eyes that they had it in for him. Even if he did what they wanted, the man I loved was nothing more than a pawn to them. Once they'd used him, they'd dispose of him, throw him away so that he couldn't point the finger at them later and bring down their growing empire.

I touched the gun again, feeing the shape of it in my purse. As frightened of the thing as I was, it didn't seem anywhere near powerful enough to touch men like those. They were violent, greedy, despicable characters, and I knew that I didn't stand a chance against them on my own.

Don't get yourself all spooked, now, I told myself fiercely, trying hard to bring myself under at least a little bit of control. You aren't on your own in this and you know it.

Angel was ringside now, and he gave me a wink that told me everything was going to9 go just the way it should.

I wanted so badly to believe him. I blew him a kiss and stood and cheered and watched as he climbed into the ring.

His music faded and another track started up. Mickey Davis, the guy the Carellos had decided would win this one, swaggered down the aisle, ignoring the chorus of boos that greeted him.

He was a big guy, powerfully built, and I knew at a glance that the men who'd set the fight up had known what they were doing. They weren't about to take any chances, not with the amount of money they had on the line. Davis was built to throw heavy punches, but he didn't look at all agile enough to stop a faster opponent with a strategy that would evade first and fire off damaging blows once he was inside his guard.

Davis was the perfect fighter to smash Angel into the mat, regardless of whether or not Angel was going to let him.

I couldn't help but let a little smile appear on my face. I still didn't like boxing, but I was at least able to appreciate that the new Angel, the one with footwork and speed and a mindset that let him not need to take a punch to feel like a man, this new Angel I'd help to make was very, very different from the old one.

Davis got into the ring and immediately pushed his way past the referee and the other officials, getting right into Angel's face, shoving him against the ropes.

The boos got louder, and a couple of the guys around me started shouting at Davis to back off.

Angel shoved him back, and the boos became cheers. I'd been expecting them to touch gloves, to go through the whole 'good fight, clean fight, fair fight' thing with the ref, but someone rang the bell, sending everyone except for Davis, the ref and Angel scrambling to get out of the ring.

The fight began.

Angel

The bell ran and everyone scattered.

Davis wasn't just hamming it up, either. My new training let me sidestep a sizzling right hook that I would have eaten square in the face a couple of weeks ago. I could tell by the way his eyes widened ever so slightly that he wasn't expecting me to dodge, that the little move I'd just showed him wasn't in any of the video he's seen of me. He'd been coached by his guys to simply lay into me, to come out of his corner swinging and landing as many shots as he could.

That would have worked, before Sloane got to me.

Not anymore.

Davis got mad and tried a couple of jabs, neither of which made it through my guard. I let myself look slow for a second, and when the left cross came I moved my feet in a flurry, ducking underneath and slamming my gloved fist into his midsection, following it up before he could react with an uppercut that missed hitting him flush but still bloodied his nose.

That got his attention. The crowd noticed too. I'd done my best to ignore them up until now, but the wall of noise that erupted when I danced in to damage Davis and then danced out again came crashing through my concentration, threatening to derail me. I heard cheers. People were shouting my name, and as Davis stepped up and caught my with a vicious punch to the body that came faster than I expected, I even heard them suck in air right along with me.

The dude hit like a freight train. He came after me again, clearly pissed off that things were even a little different than he'd been told they'd be. I let him back me up to the ropes, and when he rushed me for a clutch I planted my feet and socked him straight in the face. The blow split his guard and rocked his head back, and for a second I thought it was over right there.

No such luck. He regained his composure and wrapped his arms around me. "What the fuck?" he growled in my ear.

"Relax, man. I'm on board," I told him, before the ref was close enough to hear. "I hit the mat in the fourth."

"Change of plans," he said, and I could hear the smugness in his voice. It made me sick, that these guys could think they just gave the word and everyone else had to adjust to whatever the Hell they said. "We're ending it now!"

I glanced over at Jessie. He was up on the ring, clinging to the ropes so he didn't fall off. He was no fool. He knew what Davis would be telling me, and he gave me a little shrug and rubbed at the tip of his nose with his right thumb.

Right. Either they'd decided on a shorter fight then they'd wanted Jessie to tell me or, far more likely, they were worried that I was fighting pretty well already and didn't want the crowd to swell my head big enough for me to think I had a chance and go for the win.

Either way, they were about to get a surprise...

The ref dragged us apart and Davis came at me again. The smugness I'd heard in his voice was written all over his face, and I danced in and gave him a series of lightning quick, powerful punches to help wipe it off. He wasn't ready for it, and when he recoiled, backpedaling, trying to get away, I used my newfound footwork to beat him to where he was going.

Davis threw a punch, and I slid aside and countered, firing a blistering blow to his body. I felt something snap when the punch landed, and since I didn't feel a flare of pain I figured it was at least one of his ribs instead of my hand. He swung again, and again I got out of the way and then got in close, smashing his nose flat with a right cross and bringing my left fist across in an arc that leveled him.

I saw his face on the way down. He was out. Davis hit the mat like a ton of bricks, and the crowd roared its approval. Even though the fight had been over fast, I could tell they thought they were getting their money's worth.

After all, just about all of them would be hitting up the bookies for a nice boost in cash. Just about all of them, that is, except the Carello brothers. I heard Jessie howling in rage, but I kept my head down and le the ref hold my arm up in victory. People swarmed the ring, and I was glad to see that the only one that mattered was right there by my side.

"Let's get out of this mob," I yelled over the din into Sloane's ear.

She nodded, and I dragged her through the frenzy, pushing my way back to the dressing room.

Sloane

Angel cleared a path and we headed up the aisle amongst the cheering throng. It was crazy. Some people were even throwing money into the air, but eventually we made it to hallway where he'd come into the arena from.

"This way," he told me, pointing down a bit to the doors of a dressing room. We hurried in, and at last Angel turned to me, throwing his arms around me, enveloping me in the sense that we were through the worst of it. He'd beaten Davis, and with any luck the Carellos-

"How very touching," came a voice out of the corner.

Angel let me go and I whirled around to see who was speaking. It was the Carellos. One of them was tall and lean and the other looked like he may have been an ex-boxer himself. They were the same guys I'd seen with Jessie at Angel's first fight.

The tall one had spoken, and he spoke again. "Sloane, is it?" he asked, though he went on without waiting for an answer. He knew perfectly well who I was... "I don't believe my brother and I have had the pleasure of an introduction. I'm Leo, and this is my brother Vick. He's a bit angry, you see, so I thought I'd settle him down by coming back here and seeing what the fuck your boyfriend was thinking just now."

Vick reached into on pocket and fished out a gun. It was bigger than mine, but in that massive paw of his it looked tiny.

Angel stepped in front of me, and Leo laughed.

"You can't protect her. You can't even protect yourself, Angel. Why, right this moment, there are hundreds of 'fans', let's call them, talking about the exhibition you just put on for them. You're a hero! They'll be waiting at the doors to congratulate you, unless I miss my guess. All of them know you're in here getting changed, taking a shower, basking in your victory."

"And?" Angel asked. His big body was in front of me. Was he shielding enough of me from view that I could get the gun out of my purse without being seen? I wasn't sure, but I wasn't going to just stand here and do nothing. I reached into my bag as slowly as I could, careful to not draw any attention to myself.

"And a majority of them, at least those in the know, saw Vick and I head back here when our fighter was knocked out. That was a mistake, Angel. If you wanted to go legit, you picked a stupid time to try it."

Angel shrugged, stalling. "So they know you came back here. Which means you'd be idiots if you hurt either one of us. Everyone would know it was you."

Leo shrugged. "Of course they'll know. They know it was the Carello family who did a lot of things we've gotten away with though, don't they? And do you know why? Can you fathom a reason that I could have Vick here fill both of you worthless pieces of shit with holes and then stride out of here still holding the smoking gun?"

Angel didn't answer. My hand was on the gun, my finger against the trigger. I didn't trust myself to yank it out of the purse yet. If I were too slow, or if I startled Vick with a sudden movement, the gun he had already leveled at Angel would surely go off.

Leo laughed. "We'll get away with it because they don't want the same thing to happen to them. Simple fear. That's all you need to control, and you can rise above most men."

Angel tensed, and I felt that he was about to charge them. He was a big guy, fast on his feet now that he'd learned a few moves from me. I had no doubt that he could close the distance between the Carellos and us in a flash.

I also had no doubt that he wouldn't be able to get out of the way of the bullet Vick would fire into him. He wouldn't try to get out of the way either, because he'd be worrying about them hitting me.

Jessie burst into the dressing room, pushing a frail old man ahead of him without enough force to knock the guy to the ground.

I took my opportunity. Vick had been as startled as I was, and he'd swung the gun from Angel to Jessie, not knowing who was coming in.

I pulled the handgun out of the purse and stepped to the side of Angel. The safety was already off, and I knew how to work the thing well enough to put a whole through any one of the men across from us.

I pointed the gun at Vick and said, "Drop it."

Angel

All of a sudden, a lot was happening. I saw Sloane with a gun on my right, threatening to shoot Vick. I saw a man that could only be Bruceman on the ground at our feet, beaten and bruised and bloodied.

And I saw Jessie looking like he'd rather have shoved his way into any other room in the world than this one. He wasn't stunned for long though, and an instant later he was reaching for the pistol I knew he carried in a shoulder holster.

I had to intercede before Sloane could react. She'd do the right thing, the thing that made the most sense to do, which was aim her gun at Jessie when he became a threat. It would be a mistake, though Vick would take the opportunity to either shoot her or disarm her, and I didn't think he'd mind starting the gun play already.

So, I darted past Sloane and smashed my fist into Jessie's face. The little fat man, so often a critic of just how fast my punches should be coming, constantly bemoaning how much power was behind them, suddenly felt the full force of one of my attacks. His jaw snapped beneath my knuckles and he went flying, unconscious, into the wall.

"Drop it!" Sloane said again behind me, which meant that she'd been smart and kept her gun on Vick. I hunched my shoulders, expecting to feel a bullet pierce my back, but instead I heard the metallic clatter of a gun hitting the ground and being kicked over to Sloane's side of the room.

I turned around to find Leo still smiling, his grin matched only by the sullen scowl on Vick's face. They were beaten, but I wasn't getting the vibe from them that they were destroyed, not like Bruceman and I had hoped going into this.

"Alright," said Leo. "Let's call an end to this then, shall we?"

"What?" Sloane asked. "We let you walk away so we can spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders? Forget it!"

God love her, she had the right idea. Keep them talking. Keep them on the back foot. I shut up and made sure Jessie was down for the count.

He was. There was no way he was getting up from that anytime soon.

"Forgetting it is exactly what I propose, actually," Leo was saying. "Let's just all let bygones be bygones. No harm, no foul."

I made a face. "You expect us to believe that you're going to lose all that money on a fight you thought you'd fixed and be okay with that?"

At that, even sullen Vick found a smile. "We didn't bet, you stupid fuck," he growled at me. "Smelled funny. Guys at the gym been telling us you've been training like a man possessed. Leo and I thought it best to keep our wallets in our pockets, this time around."

My heart sank. I thought I could trust the boys I trained with, but, just like always, everyone had a price. Still, if the Carellos hadn't lost all of their ill-gotten gains, maybe they would be more willing to let Sloane and I go.

And Bruceman. Can't forget about him. I turned my attention to the old man, only to find that his head was hung in defeat.

So much for bringing down empires, I guess.

"So that's it?" I asked. "You go your way and we go ours?"

Leo nodded. "You and your little ballerina, yes. We have a score to settle with Mr. Bruceman though. I'm sure he'll understand, but we can't have someone like him working against us as well as he nearly did. Wouldn't make sense..."

I saw Sloane raise her gun a little, and I knew what was going on in her head. If she could only pull the trigger, she'd be thinking, she could get rid of these two scumbags. Save Bruceman. Maybe even insure a life for her and myself together, free of the sort of worry that having a family like the Carellos after you would certainly bring with it.

"I don't think you're remembering all those people that saw us come back here to your dressing room," Leo reminded Sloane, in the very same voice he'd have used to explain a problem to a small child. "You see, something tells me you won't be given the same loyalty my brother and I would. Something tells me that there'd be many people willing to tell the cops who brought down the Carellos. And then where would you be?"

He was right. The only way out of here was with the Carellos still alive, and I didn't see a way we could bring Bruceman with us, not if they were hell-bent on teaching him a lesson they couldn't teach me.