Page 45 of Arm Candy Warrior

“Fonz’s crew have gone into hiding,” Oscar tells me, eyes finally softening. “They don’t have enough numbers to fight against us right now. It’s business as usual.”

“Then what was the meeting about last night?”

Oscar eyes me warily. I still haven’t told him why I’m here, but he knows something is up. I’m sure the fact that I’m asking about the Crew is a red flag. “K ordered all his guys over last night, talking about business in the future. There’s talk of adding some, expanding others. It’s the usual stuff now that the underground fighting isn’t a threat anymore. There’s even talk about expanding the fighting ring with heavy emphasis on you. You better win the fight this weekend, Kyla. K doesn’t like it when people fuck with his plans, and right now, you’re number one on his assets to exploit. If you let him down, consider yourself done. Consider whatever arrangement you have with Johnny over. Consider whatever you’re trying to accomplish here in the Heights over.”

My stomach twists. I don’t have any worries over the upcoming fight, but this just adds another layer of tension over everything. This is what I wanted though. I wanted Big Daddy K to count on me. To let me in, so I’d have better access to him. For as long as I’ve been staying in Johnny’s suite, I’ve only seen him a couple of times. He’s a difficult man to get an audience with, that’s for sure. When I have seen him, he’s never alone. I will not risk my freedom to take him out. I just have to bide my time.

It’s not as if being here is a difficult task. Not as hard as I thought it was going to be, anyway, befriending the depraved members of society.

“I don’t want to fight,” Oscar says, coming closer. “You’re right. We should all be able to find peace and enjoyment wherever we can in this fucked up place. I know I’ve desperately tried to figure out a way.”

The bell rings overhead, and my phone buzzes in my pocket. I take it out to find a message from Brawler.Where are you?

I’m okay. With Oscar.

We all have to be careful about what we say in case Johnny checks my phone. Those messages shouldn’t alert anyone. Johnny wants me with Oscar at school because he’s the one tasked with protecting me here.

“Big Man upset because I’m with you?”

I laugh at his attempt to start a rift between Brawler and me. That’s not happening. “Jealous much?”

He cups my ass. “More than you would fucking believe.” He nuzzles my neck. “You know those movies where the quarterback always gets the girls? The ones where they’re always on the sidelines cheering for them in tight ass little skirts and tops where their cleavage pops out?”

“Are you saying you want me to be a cheerleader? Because that’s dead last on my list of things to do.”

“I’m saying I want something normal,” he growls.

My heart breaks a little. These guys—me—we’ve never had anything akin to normal. “TV isn’t normal, and besides, you picked the wrong girl if you wanted a cheerleader.”

“Aww,” he sighs dejectedly.

“How about this? I’ll dedicate me beating the shit out of this girl this weekend to you. You’ll just have to pretend I’m wearing a cheerleading uniform.”

He nips at my neck. “Maybe normal isn’t better. The sound of that just made me perk up.”

“You’re depraved.”

“You started it.”

I think I’m already getting a feel for how Oscar will be in bed. Flirty. Fun. Not half as serious as Brawler is, and that’s okay. Apparently, I like variety.

18

Friday rolls around. It’s the night of my fight. I attend school like normal, though half the student body is studying me like they can see through me. Those who haven’t seen me fight before are probably wondering if I’m worth all this hype. Those who have, are looking me up and down wondering if I can keep this up.

Crude posters adorn the walls at school announcing UPPERCUT PRINCESS vs. THE ROSE. Apparently, every fighter has a nickname. I’m pretty sure my name would even kick her ass, but we’ll see tonight.

Like usual, the butterflies that started this morning stay with me throughout the day. At the gym after school, we don’t do anything too heavy, just some light sparring and some core moves that I might need, mainly jabs. Jax found some amateur footage of The Rose on YouTube or something, so we watch that a little. She’s okay, but as I’ve said before, I’m not worried about her. They can put anyone in front of me, and unless I’m standing opposite a fucking titled UFC fighter, I’m not going to shit my pants over it.

At least, that’s what I tell myself to hype myself up. I don’t care who you are, the moment you get close to a fight, even if you know by all intents and purposes the fight should be one-sided, you’re scared as fuck. My stomach rolls. I’m super confident in my skills, but I need fighting to keep my spot in the Crew. With what Oscar told me the other day, I wouldn’t be surprised if Big Daddy K is holding back on Johnny and me just because he wants to make sure I’m going to continue to be an asset for him. If I end up losing, he has no use for me, and that also means, he can’t have his son with me either. They need to be strong on all fronts.

Fuck it. It doesn’t matter. I’m kicking this girl’s ass.

I’m in the back of the warehouse in the same room Brawler brought me back to that first night after Johnny claimed me in front of everyone. I still remember how he walked over Cherry’s body to get to me, which should tell me everything I need to know about Big Daddy K and his family. There’s always something shinier that might catch their attention. I have to make sure I keep being shiny to them.

The only people in the back with me are other fighters. Brawler comes by every once in a while to grab the next fighter. Each time he comes in, he watches me. If I’m feeling up for it, I glance over at the same time to reassure him I’m okay, but if I’m not, I shadowbox the air, pretending it’s Big Daddy K’s face. He’s been all my opponents since the day I started fighting. It helps to keep it consistent. It helps fuel my fire.

I’m the last fighter in the room because my fight is the most important. As the night wore on, the buzz in the main room has entered earplug worthy territory. It’s ten times what my fight with Cherry was. The warehouse is huge, but the area around the ring isn’t big at all. I can only imagine how far back the people are standing. Some of them probably can’t even see the fighting area.

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