Page 49 of New Girl in the City
Chapter Twelve
It was after work and I was sitting across from Liam at a small hole in the wall place. A little taco shop I’d passed by on my way running errands but had never stopped at. I’d always wanted to but had never taken the time. We had left work and come straight here. Liam told me the food was out of this world, and from the smell of it he wasn’t kidding. I almost groaned out loud at the sight of the tacos in front of us.
“This is what life should be,” I told him, reaching out and snagging a taco from one of the five plates that had just been dropped off. We had gone a little wild with the ordering. Liam had said it was all good, so I’d practically ordered it all. I was glad I had then, even if he hadn’t let me pay.
Now we had chicken, carnitas, pastor, spinach tacos and even a plate of chilaquiles. The man was definitely winning points for knowing where to take me when I was hungry. He sipped his beer and watched me take that first bite. My eyes drifted closed and I moaned, taking another quick bite. He grinned at me and set his beer down.
“You’re telling me.”
I had an inkling his enthusiasm and mine were motivated by entirely different things, but I shrugged and continued to eat. I put my taco down and sipped from my Michelada, regarding him across the table carefully. As much as I loved the food in front of me and was happy to be with him, there was still the thing we needed to talk about.
The stuff I didn’t know about him.
I was beginning to wonder if he was trying to distract me with food when he nudged the chilaquiles towards me, making no move to take a taco for himself.
“Are you going to make good on telling me what I don’t know about you? Or is this a ploy to play for more time with great food and awesome drinks?”
“You really just go all in with it, Princess.”
“I’ve learned not to waste time. Things get messy that way.” I leaned forward, bracing my elbows on the table and moved my plate aside. I pulled my drink closer as I waited and watched him.
When he was ready he put a hand on the table palm down, like he was grounding himself. He took in a deep breath before he looked at me and spoke. “I fight.”
My eyebrows knit together. “Sorry?”
“I fight,” he said again, as if that answered anything. I frowned at him. What the hell did he mean by he fought? Fought who, for crying out loud?
“What do you mean ‘fight’?” I asked.
“I fight for money.”
I picked up my Michelada and took a healthy pull. This was going to require a drink alright. Maybe even two. When I was done with another sip, I put the mug down and then nodded at him. “Alright, let’s hear it.”
He looked amused at me. “Bring it on?”
I nodded and tapped a finger against the gold glass of my drink. “Yup, I’m here and ready to listen.”
His hand moved from where it was resting to cover one of mine, he ran his fingers over my knuckles. “You’re all class, like I said.”
“I don’t see what that has to do with me getting a little drunk so I can hear about this fighting for money thing from a man I’m wanting to date, but I’ll take it,” I said.
His lips turned up in a grin and he sighed, shaking his head at me. “It’s not as bad as it sounds, so don’t think you’ll need too many more drinks. It’s just what it is. I fight, get paid if I lose, paid more if I win. So I try to win a lot more than I lose. That’s it.”
“That’s it?” I parroted back with a look of disbelief. “Excuse me, sir but no one says they fight for money and follow it up with a basic explanation and then ‘that’s it.’”
“Why not? That’s all there is to it.” He looked confused. When I saw that he truly and really was I sighed and leaned over the table towards him.
“Okay, but why? How did you get into it? Where does this even happen?” I paused and looked to the side, and then over my shoulder. “Is this even legal?”
“Legal is kind of fuzzy, you know?”
I gaped at him. “No, I don’t know.”
“Look, no one asks, and we don’t tell. Only people who know about it are people that can keep their mouths shut. It’s all quiet, so it's fine. And I got into it because I needed the extra cash raising my kid sister. Girls aren’t cheap.”
That stopped me dead and I froze, my glass halfway to my lips. “You raised your sister?”
He nodded and reached for a taco. “Yeah, been just us since she was eight.”
