Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 90721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“Me either.” I agreed.
***
“Holy cow. This place is massive. And definitely against fire code regulations.” I surmised, as Trance led me to my seat.
He snorted. “This makes enough money in one outing to pay off any fines we receive through any ordinance violations.”
“I thought you were a cop.” I asked, taking a seat where he’d indicated.
He gave a humorless laugh before taking the seat beside her. “BPD has better things to do than bust a fight. Not to mention the twenty or so off duty cops interspersed throughout the crowd.”
I decided to keep my mouth shut. I wasn’t too sure that Trance liked me all that much. I already knew his woman didn’t like me. They proved that by leaving my presence as soon as they’d parked the truck.
Tillie had sneered and glared the entire time they were in the backseat together.
“Baylee!” A woman called from my right.
I turned and saw Shiloh’s smiling face as she dropped down into the seat next to me.
Thankfully, she didn’t hug me either. She’d obviously been appraised of the situation, since she was currently shoving a pillow behind my back and opening up an ice pack. A very large ice pack.
“Jesus, what kind of cold pack is that?” I asked, purely amazed.
Shiloh laughed. “I got the biggest one Walgreens had. Sebastian called us about twenty minutes ago asking us to stop on our way. James is fighting tonight, too. He’s not fighting my brother though. I won’t let them.”
I sighed as Shiloh put the cold pack against my stomach, and then wrapped a large ACE bandage around my middle. I refrained from pulling the paramedic card and telling her I’d do it myself. Shiloh was just trying to be nice.
“So, I hear Trance threw you down on the ground and sat on you.” Shiloh chided Trance with a disapproving look.
I nearly laughed at the thought of Shiloh getting on to a grown man that looked as bad ass as Trance did, but I refrained from commenting about that.
“He didn’t mean to.” I explained. “It was dark. The lights were out, and nobody could see me. I startled him.”
Trance and Shiloh started talking about some kid I didn’t know, which caused my mind to wander, wondering how many people were in the crowd tonight. I’d gotten to two hundred and fifty before the roar of the crowd brought my attention back to the square ring that was in the middle of the floor.
Trance had set me up in a camp chair beside the bleachers so I could see the fight, and I most definitely could. I was six feet, at most, away from the ropes that outlined the ring. I could see perfectly, even when the announcer called for the fighting to begin and the crowd went to their feet.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight you get a special treat! The one, the only, Scope!” The announcer boomed.
“Do I have to cheer for James?” I yelled over the din.
Shiloh looked at me horrified that I wouldn’t automatically do so, making me laugh. “Of course you do, you big dope!”
James’ fight went about as I expected. He won. I never had any doubt. Even when the large man with the flat face entered the ring.
He seriously looked like he’d been in way too many fights; but the man could fight, and made James work for it.
Shiloh screamed throughout the entire thing, jumping up and down on top of the bleacher seat like she was in high school cheering for her quarterback boyfriend.
Trance, on the other hand, stayed seated and watched the fight with a dispassionate eye. I’d seen more emotion out of the man when he was taking a drag of his cigarette in the truck on the way to the warehouse.
“We’ve got about fifteen minutes until the next fight. I need to pee. Do you want to go with me?” Shiloh asked as she stood.
“Sure.” I shrugged as I, too, went to stand.
Trance beat me to it though, helping me up with both hands on my elbows.
“Thanks.” I said as I brushed invisible wrinkles out of Sebastian’s sweatshirt that I was still wearing.
“Glad to see you dressed up for this.” Shiloh teased as I looped her arm around mine and led us to the bathroom.
I couldn’t help the snort that escaped my mouth. “I wasn’t intending to come to some fight night. In fact, I don’t think your brother meant for me to come, either. I was just there when he was going, and he couldn’t really go and leave me, could he?”
I didn’t mean to sound bitter, but I couldn’t help it. Sebastian and I had spoken earlier that afternoon, and not once had the subject of a fight come up. We’d spoken about what we’d be doing later that evening after we got off, where Johnny would be, and what our plans were for tomorrow morning. Hence, why I’d decided to come up to see him; it’d never occurred to me that he wouldn’t be there.
Maybe I just didn’t know him that well. Maybe he wasn’t as serious as I was. Maybe I was over thinking things.
And it wasn’t like I could ask Shiloh anything either. Not with the silent, but so very much there, Trance stalking along behind us.
“Here. We’ll use my brother’s bathroom, in his office. It’s cleaner.” Shiloh said, pulling me carefully into a side door near the end of the hallway.
“What do you mean your brother’s bathroom?” I asked.
Shiloh had entered through a door that was barely noticeable; but the inside was anything but.
It was painted navy blue. There were no windows, but the walls were lined with biker paraphernalia. Pictures. Old motorcycle handle bars. A tire. A helmet. A few framed quotes. The floor was painted gray, and in the middle of that floor was a massive desk covered in papers.
Behind that desk sat Sebastian.
With a woman sitting on his lap wrapping his hands in tape.
Sensing the emotional turmoil pouring off me, Shiloh pointed towards a door. “Bathroom’s that way.”
I went. Without saying a word to Sebastian.