Page 103 of With Us

“He said he wanted some alone time,” Frankie lied. “I was just… I mean, I figured—”

“Wait!” the woman said, no longer having her mouth full. “You said Astaire wanted me to… you know, but only if I was good.”

Not looking back in the closet, I tilted my head toward the locker room. When Niall opened the door, I yelled in. “You ask Frankie to go get you a girl?”

Astaire stepped into the hallway as he wrapped his hands, shaking his head. “I don’t bust on fight nights.”

I glanced back in the room. “Try again, Frankie.”

“You fucking pig!” the girl screeched, launching herself at him.

“Hold on,” Luca said, hooking an arm around her waist.

I turned to Astaire again. “You attached to Frankie?”

He shook his head. “Not particularly. He ducks out early and shit.”

“Fire him.”

Shrugging, Astaire turned to Frankie. “You’re fired.”

Frankie started spewing his excuses, but Astaire returned his attention to me.

“Sammy will find you a new manager, new trainer, all that shit,” I told him. “I don’t put my hands in any of that or I’d do it myself. If he thinks you’re earning it, new payment will be arranged. In the meantime, you have issues, you go to him. Or, if you need to, you contact Mr. Ricci or myself. Understand?”

“Yes, sir,” he said with a nod, not bothering to look at Frankie again as he headed back to prepare for his match.

“I catch you at any of these fights, Frankie, you’re going to regret it,” I promised him. “You’re out of this circuit. You don’t leave one of my fighters on his own so he can get poached. Especially if it’s so you could get off using his name.”

“You can’t fucking do that!” Frankie screamed before catching himself and stepping back.

“The thing is, I can do that. I can also make sure you’re out of all the circuits in the city. Actually,” I started before pausing. Unbuttoning my suit coat, I leaned in the doorway with my hands in my pockets. I knew my gun was visible by the way Frankie’s eyes dropped down and shot back up, his face paling. “I can make sure no one sees your face around. You’ll just be a whisper of a has been, eventually forgotten.” Straightening up, I took a step closer. “We clear?”

“Yes,” he croaked out.

“Good.” Turning, I walked out of the room.

Luc let go of the stunned and embarrassed woman, following me and Niall down the hall.

“Find Larson,” I ordered.

When we reached the fight room, we split up. I made it to the other side before I found him.

“You’re a hard man to get a meeting with,” Larson said as I approached, not looking surprised to see me.

“Most people usually go through my receptionist not the fighters.”

“I’ve tried. How is the beautiful Rosa doing?”

“You better not let Luca hear you talking about his sister,” I warned.

Lifting his plastic cup of beer to his mouth, he tried to hide his grimace the same way he tried to pretend he fit in here. “Just an innocent question.” When I didn’t respond, he continued. “I’m not the bad guy here.”

“And what,exactly, are you?”

“A man with a lot of power and money.” Seeing my arched eyebrow, he added, “The legal kind. I think I can be a benefit to you and your fights.”

“Look, I don’t know what you think my business is. I’m just a spectator, here supporting some friends.”

---