Fighting hearts

Five

What did Roth just witness? Were Evie and Carlisle going to...?

"Fucking hell!" he growled as he wrapped his hands with white ribbons of cloth. He was getting ready for a fight and couldn't deal with thinking about that. It sickened him to imagine her in the arms of their boss.

But the fact was that he'd caught them standing awfully close together. As near as one would stand to kiss another... No. He shouldn't think about it.

Why, though? Why were they standing so close?

Carlisle was a disgusting man—Evie had said that herself! She'd told Roth about his gross comments and made it clear she wasn't interested in the man. Perhaps she was now? Maybe she changed her mind?

"Earth to Roth! Can you hear me, man?" Shura asked, throwing a chunk of sandwich at Roth's face.

"Cut it out—fuck," Roth growled, wiping the crumbs from his chest and face. He hadn't even heard the fellow fighter walk into the dressing room.

A fresh bandage covered a wound on Shura's eyebrow. "What is up with you?" he asked. "First Evie and now you. Did something happen that I don't know about?"

Now that drew Roth's attention. "Evie? What about her?"

"She was acting weird. She was distracted." Shura stuffed the remaining piece of sandwich in his mouth and spoke with his mouth full, "Maybe it has something to do with that new rumor."

"Rumor?"

"Man, where are you with your head lately? Haven't you heard about Carlisle's plans to reward us?"

"Nope, but do enlighten me on this reward," Roth replied.

Some extra cash would be welcome. It would make his mother stop worrying, and she could work less in the factory.

"They say that women are the reward," Shura answered. "Win a match, get a cunt."

Roth furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"The winners get a woman at the end of the night. To blow off some steam, you know? Empty that sack. And get motivated to perform better during the next match."

"That's the reward?" Roth chalked his hands. "A prostitute for every win?"

"Now, don't sound so negative... It's actually pretty smart, and I can see why it might be true," Shura answered. "There are a lot of benefits to a warm woman's body. Think about getting all that sexual tension out of your system after the game while the blood is still pumping inside." He growled loudly, smiling at the thought. "Makes me excited."

Roth wasn't too keen on the idea himself. Sure, it had been a while since he'd had the pleasure of laying with a woman, but doing it as a reward wasn't exactly thrilling to him. Where was the girl's enthusiasm if she was forced to bed him just because he'd won a game?

Shura pointed at his friend. "And you, my man, never lose a match. You'll be bathing in pussy soon!" He grinned.

"Let's wait and see if this whole reward thing is even true," Roth said. And if it was, he wasn't interested, anyway. Because there was only one woman's pussy he wanted to bathe in.

***

The rest of the week, Evie called in sick.

Roth went to pick her up and found a note taped to her front door that stated she was sorry for not being home and that she was sleeping at her brother's place because she was not feeling good. She wasn't going to work for the rest of the week.

Her condition worried Roth, but he was happy that she had people in her life who could care for her.

A substitute replaced Evie those few days: an older woman so skinny that Roth wondered how she didn't break by just walking. Grimelda was her name, and she wasn't warm and caring like Evie was, but she seemed to do her job well.