Unknown number showed up on the screen, but I accepted the call anyway. “Hello?”

“Hey, just checking in,” the voice on the other line said.

Checking in was not Jeff’s m.o.

“Yeah, I’m cool. You?”

He didn’t give a rat’s ass how I felt. This had to be business. Long ago we might have been thick as thieves, but the fact that this wasn’t a collect call and he hadn’t mentioned he was out of prison was telling.

“I’m good. I’m thinking about throwing a fight party.”

Where? I wanted to ask. His last address had been the state pen.

“Yeah. Should be a good rematch: MMA guy and a boxer. Well, you should come.”

That wasn’t an idle request.

“I will,” I said on autopilot.

“Good. I’ll see you then.”

He hung up.

Fuck.

The entire conversation was bullshit. The checking in meant the boss wanted to see me. The comment about the fight told me I should go to the gym spot in the industrial part of town where the underground fighting ring was held.

He hadn’t asked if I liked to box or anything like it. That was good. I’d been used as a main event one too many times until the odds weren't working for them. I’d been unbeatable. I hadn’t fought in the past few years.

I’d been busy playing prep school kid on the rowing team. At first I’d thought I’d hate it—it seemed like such a dumb sport. But damn if I didn’t love it now, and I didn’t once miss fighting for my life every night.

Still, something about the call didn’t sit right with me. I trusted my gut and I needed backup. It was too late to find someone else. Tade, though he didn’t know I knew, had lived the life I had once upon a time until his rich aunt whisked him away.

I didn’t bother to knock. I barged into his room across the hall from mine.

“Let’s go,” I announced.

“Where to?”

I arched a brow. Though I needed him, he’d be acting like a shut-in all week since he’d met Megan’s friend. “Anywhere but here. You’ve fallen, my friend.”

“Fallen for what?” he asked.

“Obviously that chick has your dick on lockdown. You’re studying on a Friday. It’s pathetic. Let’s ride.”

That got him moving; he went for a shirt. I left him knowing he’d be right behind me. When I first got the job offer to be the rich boy’s babysitter, I didn’t think I’d like him. He’d gone from rags to riches and I envied the fuck out of him. He’d gotten out, while every day it seemed I was being dragged in deeper.

We took my truck. His fancy ass car would be noticed. I thought about my Mustang. I hadn’t been home the last two weekends to work on it. Tomorrow.

It wasn’t long into our drive when two figures came into view. I slowed and spotted my angel. What the fuck was she doing? I should keep going. She was a distraction I didn’t need and couldn’t afford. I drove past then came to an abrupt stop. I closed my eyes and then backed up. I rolled the passenger side window down.

“Ladies, it’s really not safe to be walking alone. Do you need a ride?” I asked.

They laughed like they thought I was funny.

“Where are you heeaaddedd?” Megan slurred. “School’s that way.” She gestured wildly with her free hand, her tits jiggling and stirring my cock.

“Someplace fun. Hop in.”

Though it was a bad fucking idea, I couldn’t leave them to walk to school in the state they were in.

Tade herded the girls into the cab. They were talking, but I was busy trying to figure out how I was going to pull this off. I didn’t want either of them on the boss’s radar, yet I didn’t have the time to drive them back. I’d been summoned and not on my time, but the boss’s.

Megan’s friend said something I didn’t hear, but I heard Megan’s reply.

“My ass is cute,” she said while crawling over to me.

Damn, seeing her on all fours had all kinds of thoughts running through my mind. I pulled her close to my side, making room for Tade and Reagan to fit in.

“Your ass is fine,” I said.

That and her tits. They were fucking perfect, nearing spilling out her dress like an offering. I slung an arm around her as I drove to my destination. My mind was busy playing out the scenarios. I needed a reason why I hadn’t come alone, though it’d worked out perfectly. I could say I was out with Tade and we picked up a couple of chicks for the night. It was a good thing nothing happened between me and Megan. There’s nothing she could say that might make her a target.

Once we drove into the industrial district, Megan asked, “What would be here? Is there a club nearby?” Her face was scrunched up as if in concentration.

I didn’t answer her, not prepared to lie. I parallel parked against a wall in the crowded back alley. I exited and helped out Megan, who was unsteady on her feet.

Next thing I knew, she clung to me like a girlfriend. I hoped like hell her drunkenness would answer the questions that were sure to be raised by her being here. Across the alley, I knocked on a nondescript door, but it wasn’t casual the way I’d done it. There was a rhythm to it that was designed to put the guy on the other side at ease, but you couldn’t tell it by the way his gaze swept over us, quickly assessing our threat level.

When he spotted me, his first words in accented English were, “Your father know?”

Though he’d asked in English, I almost replied in Russian. At least my brain was still working despite Megan’s hand drifting toward my ass.

“I’ll vouch for them. It’s cool.”

Dad would not be happy to find out I was here. I’d deal with that later.

We stepped into a converted warehouse, which according to the storefront was a boxing gym. But that was a front for an illegal gambling ring. There were punching bags and other sparing rings, but the crowd was thick and mostly focused on the match in the center.

Fights didn’t go for rounds. No one was counting connected punches. It would end when someone was down and stayed down.

I stopped not too far inside. I didn’t plan for us to stay here long. I handed Megan off to Tade.

“You guys stay here. I have to do something really quick.”

As I started to walked away, Tade stopped me. “Gavin, wait up.”

He put a handful of bills in my palm. The fact that he had gave me a shit-eating grin. You could take the boy out of the life, but the life was still in him. He knew exactly what was going on here.

“Who are you betting on?” I asked.

“Whoever you’re not.”

Clearly he didn’t care about losing.

“Are you sure about that? I’m betting on the winner.”

He searched my eyes for answers, but I had none. It didn’t matter what he knew: the less of it, the better. The more he acted like a classic rich boy, the easier it was for them to dismiss him. I’d already gotten a whiff that someone was looking for Tate’s son or the boy that used to be around him. My job was to keep anyone from connecting those dots, which meant getting them off the scent. Bring him here tonight was risky. But the wad of cash in my hand might be a play that would keep them looking in another direction.

“Wouldn’t be fun otherwise,” he said.

I slipped into the crowd, acknowledging the few people I knew along the way. I pushed through a door, and as it closed behind me I relished the quiet that enveloped me.

The closer I got to the end of the hall, muted voices became clearer.

I knocked once and entered. The room held several people. The only one I was interested in was sitting behind the desk. His face was hidden because a woman was all but in his lap in front of him. The sound of the door closing had her swinging her head around. Her lips curled into a smile, then she stood, revealing the guy who called me here.

“Glad you made it.”

“Where’s the boss?” I asked, relaxing my posture even though I was anything but relaxed.

Jeff steepled his fingers, tapping them together in no particular order.

“College boy too good for the likes of me.”

Once, he’d been someone I could trust, but no more. He’d led me to believe the boss wanted to see me.

“Get on with it.”

He laughed and the rest of the people in the room joined him. With light-brown hair, blue eyes like my own, and a face that made women take notice, it wasn’t hard to guess he’d have followers.

“Well. I wouldn’t want to waste your time.”

I didn’t react even though he was baiting me. So I waited.

He sniffed loudly and made me wonder if he was snorting now. “He wanted me to pass on the message.”

I folded my arms across my chest. The dick thought he was in charge. I knew better and let him stew on that as I stared him down, leaving him to shift in the seat. The room grew quiet as everyone felt the tension created by his power play.

He swiped a hand across his nose, again suggesting a cocaine habit. He licked his lower lip as he waited for me to cave. That wasn’t going to happen.

“Boss wants five large by next weekend.”

I lifted my brows in questioning: Is that all? He seemed to understand. He opened his mouth to speak when someone knocked, came in, and whispered something in his ear. Then the runner left.

“There’s one other thing. Who’d you bring with you tonight?”

The pecking order had changed, because they’d taken a long time to tell him that I’d arrived with guests. I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself. That would only bring more attention to me.

“You called, I was busy. But I came anyway.”

“Yeah. Someone said they recognize the guy with you. They say he looks a lot like Tate.”

Someone needed to keep their mouth shut.

“Yeah, well, Tate doesn’t have kids, so there’s that. And he’s nobody to you. Doesn’t know shit about anything. Though I did get him to place a bet.”

The lie slipped easily from my tongue, though it was for Tade. Last thing I needed was for him to be on anyone’s radar. I moved forward and slapped the cash Tade had given me on the desk. I hadn’t counted it, but a few hundred dollars was my guess.

Jeff pursed his lips and nodded his head. “Who’s he betting on?”

“He’s betting against me. So call it a free pass for him tonight and leave him and the girls alone.”

“They mean something to you.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “Hell no. But people saw us leave together. They don’t show back up, questions will be asked.”

“Why should I care?”

Jeff glanced around the room, getting the others to laugh with him. The fact that he asked showed how ill prepared he was to lead…if that was what this was.

“Boss wants five large. If I’m inside, who’s going to get it for him?”

My deadpan response had everyone shutting the fuck up.

“Yeah, all right.”

I tipped my head up and gave him my back. He didn’t scare me, nor did any of the hangers-on and the chicks who thought it was cute to play the game.

When I made it back, Tade, who had his arms around both girls, was talking to someone. I walked over and knocked fists with the guy before tugging Megan free from Tade.

The guy took notice of my protective hold on Megan, but I held his gaze. Finally, he tipped his head and drifted back into the crowd.

Tade moved to me and whispered in my ear. “They drank something some asshole gave them.”

Fuck. That wasn’t good. “What did the asshole look like?”

Tade didn’t even take time to think about it before he rattled off stats like a trained cop. “Skinny, glasses, dark hair, and a goofy expression.”

Once again I was reminded he wasn’t all rich boy. What Tate taught him was still in there. After hearing the description, I knew exactly who’d messed with the girls.

Though I’d snapped my fingers, it was my hand in the air that would have caught the attention of the guards standing on raised platforms stationed around the room. Quickly, I lifted fingers in quick succession. The signal identified what and who I wanted—the last guy who’d been talking to the girls back here—and I wanted it done now.

Over the years, I’d earned respect here, something the pretender in the boss's chair didn’t quite get.

It didn’t take long before Jack the Ripper, or so he was called, was shoved to face me. When the hand left his shoulder, he stumbled forward and glanced around as if he could find help. His hair practically stood on end as the fear in his eyes suggested he would piss himself.

I stepped forward, leaving Megan behind. Tade would watch her for me. I cupped the guy’s cheeks before I used my right hand to not so gently pat his face a few times. He was known to drug girls and videotape them while he fucked them so he could watch later. The idea that he’d marked Megan as a target turned my blood into ice. A white-hot rage liquefied my anger.

“You fucked with my guests,” I said in perfect Russian. “Apologize and maybe I’ll let you walk away with your balls intact.”

I didn’t have to threaten him further. Speaking in his native tongue and not in English was warning enough for the fact I didn’t want witnesses.

“Sorry Gav, sorry ladies,” he said in accented English, smelling of fear and sweat.

He backed away and I let him. If I did anything to one of the boss’s customers, I would have to answer to him as to why a girl was so important to me. That I couldn’t have. Lumping them all together made it less personal, but still they’d come with me. He needed my permission to cause them harm.

Tade stepped forward. I didn’t look back at him, only tossed a comment over my shoulder as I kept watch on the guy as he tried to disappear but kept looking back at me.

“When the match is over, we’re going to have to call it a night,” I said.

Once the Ripper was gone from sight, I stepped over to Tade and wrapped my arm around Megan again. No doubt she’d be feeling the effects of the roofie soon.

“What’s going on?” Tade asked.

No point in lying to him.

“He—” I began and let my hand guide his eyes in the direction the stupid fuck had gone. “—assumed they were marks and gave them a little something extra in their drinks.”

“Fuck,” Tade said and didn’t look at all surprised. “What are you involved in?”

The crowd erupted in a roar, saving me from a lie. All attention went to the center ring, where the victor stood with his hands above his head. His competition couldn’t be seen. I wasn’t surprised. The guy on the mat could hope for his life and should stay down until no one cared he was still breathing.

I signaled to Tade to give me a minute. We needed to go and I had to tell someone I was going. It was all about respect. And although I didn’t respect Jeff, leaving without saying something was like a fuck you.

After that, I gathered Megan and headed for the door. Whatever that asshole had given her was starting to work. Her hands were headed for my dick and it knew. I felt myself swell two sizes in anticipation. Fucking her would ease the pain, only I wasn’t like most of the fuckers in this place. I wouldn’t take advantage, even as her hand cupped me through my jeans.

Outside, I brushed her off and said, “Come on, Angel, let’s get you home to bed.”