Drowning

Fifty;

"Don't ever fuckin' pull a move like that again, ya hear me, Haz? Can't afford to tarnish the rep like that. Almost lost it all tonight, Haz. I'm pissed, I won't lie to ya. I'm really fuckin' pissed." Bill huffs, walking ahead of me and out of the police station.

"But he-" I begin.

"I don't give a fuck, Harry." Bill says, suddenly stopping and turning to face me as he raised his voice. He never called me 'Harry'. "I wouldn't care if he killed one of your loved ones right in front of ya! Any reaction can get a fighter like you disqualified in a heartbeat. And now we've gotta deal with all'a this press straight after the fuckin' Hunnaway and Gates shit! Just stay out of trouble for once in ya fuckin' life, Haz. Jesus. I'm too old to be this stressed," he says, his voice calming gradually the more he spoke.

Bill couldn't stay angry at me. We'd never argued properly. Sometimes he'd be annoyed with me- not like this, usually. Still, I could see the annoyance faltering.

"You wouldn't care if he killed one of my loved ones in front of me?" I gasp, though I knew what he meant.

"Ya know what I mean, Haz," he sighs, rubbing his eyes. "All I'm sayin' is, don't let anybody provoke this sorta reaction from ya. It ain't a good look for the world champion."

"Sorry, Billy." I say, cracking a cheesy smile for the poor man.

"Alright, alright. Let's just get ya home." he sighs. "You're 100k lighter than before tonight," he tells me, walking ahead again.

"Fine by me," I shrug. "Worth every little penny." I say smugly.

Bill stops again.

"What happened to bein' sorry?" Bill groans, shaking his head at me.

"Ah, you see; I'm sorry to have caused you stress. Not sorry for what I did." I correct myself, still wearing the same cheeky, smug smile.

"Lost cause." Bill sighs, turning around again until we were finally out of the artificially-lit hallways.

Truthfully, the 100k bail was a small price to pay for what I did. I would've paid millions to see the look on Mike's face again the moment he saw Luke and I. Millions.

As we walked out from the building, my phone began to ring. I took it from my pocket to see Zahara's name illuminating the screen.

"Hey, baby." I say after answering the phone. "You okay?"

"Are you okay?" she asks, panic evident in her tone.

"Yeah, yeah. Just leaving now." I say, still feeling pretty smug.

Somehow, I had managed to take full blame for the situation. Luke was a bystander with Lauren and I knew he couldn't afford bail. I could've paid but it was just easier to not throw him under the bus, too. And Zahara only spoke to Mike; she didn't do anything illegal. Besides, I wasn't about to let my girl go down for something she didn't do.

"Is Bill pissed?" she asks me.

"Oh, definitely." I chuckle.

I had text Zahara as soon as my phone had been returned to me. And, with it now being 6am, I gathered Zahara had stayed up waiting to hear from me.

"So, what's the damage?" Zahara asks me, apprehension in her tone.

"100k bail." I sigh, walking towards Bill's car since I didn't have mine with me.

"Oh god," Zahara gasps. "I'm so sorry-"

"Hey, I did it. I wanted to do it." I tell her.

"But- do you have that? Just to spare? I'm so sorry, Harry, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't have-" she panics.