The Bet

8) Prying

I saw the moment she realized she'd been hustled set in on her face.

  Sorry, Babe.

We're about twenty seconds into the fight and my opponent's nose is gushing blood. Her eyes, that used to be filled with confidence, are now filled with reflex tears and rage, and it's all directed at me because of my small omission of the full truth.

  I didn't lie.

  I just confided in my friend about being in pain and she just happened to overhear and, because she's a rookie, underestimate my abilities. . .

  It's exactly what I wanted to happen, but still not a lie.

  I won quickly, not wanting to draw out this encounter any more than I need to.

  After the rookie tapped out begrudgingly and the reff declared me the winner, I practically sprinted to the betting table. I'm not looking forward to our inevitable confrontation once she gets her bearings.

Calvin handed me my winnings, and I frantically stuffed it into my bra where it would be easy to defend.

Immediately after, I was distracted by the MILF herself walking towards me.

The mafia MILF, not the one I just beat.

There are a surprising amount of MILFs in the underground fighting scene. It's kind of awesome.

"You did great out there, Dear," Miss Camila smiled easily.

  It made my heart palpitate in a weird way.

  "Oh, thank you," I responded in my waitress voice because that's my default when I'm flustered. I cleared my throat. "So um, that deal we made. . ." I tried to quickly get the elephant in the room out if the way.

  "So, Cal told me this was your last fight of the night —"

  "What the fuck is wrong with you, you bitch!"

  "Give me two seconds, please," I nervously smiled at the goddess so I could turn my attention to the very angry redhead storming through the crowd towards me.

She came up and shoved me. My lower back clashed with the betting table, making it jostle and Cal grimace, but I am determined to deescalate the situation, not make it worse by fighting back.

I hustled her. She's pissed. Now I'm going to hear about it. That's just how things go.

"You cheated!" The woman hissed, her fists balled up at her sides.

"I did what I needed to do." I spoke as firmly as I could. I usually have trouble getting my words to land as hard as my fists, and I'm worried this time is going to be no different.

"How the fuck do you sleep at night knowing you're cheating people that need it out of their money?!" She barked, trying to get in my face, but Miss Camila putting herself between us stalled her.

My jaw clenched at her insinuation that I do this for fun or some shit. And the prospect of someone like Miss Camila getting hurt because of something I did, gave me the kick in the ass I needed to try and put an end to this.

"I sleep at night knowing I can keep a roof over me and my little brother's head!" I bit back, trying to get around my ethereal defender. Before I could tell Red about how nearly everyone at 'The Cave' is here because we need the money, she flipped out on Cal.

"And YOU!" She screeched at him, trying to jump past me and the goddess. "You helped her cheat!" She tried to claw at him as we held her back.

The betting manager stood up so fast his metal folding chair slammed to the ground behind him.