Beware The Water

Spilled Honey

Shorter's ears rang and his head buzzed. Sweat and blood dripped down his face but he saw as clear as day where his next target was. An opening right below the chin, then side step, duck and southpaw to the ribs. He watched his opponent fall to their knees and stood over them. His intense shadow made them yield. Shorter got his arm raised by the man reffing the fight and glanced over at Mr.Lee who was applauding the amount of money that Shorter had just made him. He tried his best not to grimace and pulled his arm away from the ref who still held it up by the wrist.

This was his third fight in the pit in a week. Rules were simple. No weapons and keep fighting until someone is knocked out or gives up, and succumbs to the humiliation. Shorter pushed past the crowd to make it to the back room where he changed. It was a dimly lit, small space about the size of a storage closet where he kept a fresh pair of clothes to change into after the fight. He poured a half drunk water bottle over his head and face to wash away the blood and sweat and rubbed it dry with a towel.

Sunshine hadn't made much progress at all in their investigation on getting intel of the person that ID'd Hook. The gang was working over time to do anything and everything to get their Boss out of this predicament and time wasn't on their side. From how things were looking, the case was set to go to trial in a little over a month.

Shorter had been lucky to win his past three fights but it still wasn't enough to cover the legal fees with the cut Mr.Lee was harnessing for himself. One good thing was that whatever bruising he had gotten from fighting wasn't anything out of the ordinary, so Lux thankfully hadn't caught onto what he was doing.

"Shorter!" A loud banging came from the other side of the door. Shorter threw on a new black shirt and pair of green basketball shorts before opening the door to meet up with Mr.Lee. "You've been doing great out there, son!" He laughed, giving his money horse a half hug. Shorter forced a smile. "I just talked to Wu Lie." Wu Lie was the man that put these fights together. From what Shorter had heard about this man was that he was just interested in money and had no ties to any gangs or syndicates. Just a heavy old timer with a thing for cash and violence. If you were a fighter that he took interest in however, then he was your Don King which could be great for a guy grinding for cash, but unfortunately for Shorter he had Colonel Tom Parker in his corner.

"Yeah? He got another guy lined up for me tomorrow?"

"He's got three." Mr.Lee held up his thick fingers. Shorter furrowed his brows, not understanding where this was going. "People have been impressed with your performance and he thinks you can make us a lot of money."

Us. Shorter rolled his eyes that were hidden beneath his sunglasses. Boxing was once a fun side hobby of his and now it felt so degrading how he was being used to make people around him rich, while he only got pennies for his labor.

Mr.Lee placed his hands onto the boys shoulders. "We're talking gauntlet."

"Let me guess, I'm the first guy in."

"You've got this, Wong!"

"Mr.Lee I'm sorry to say but- winning a gauntlet as the first guy in seems..." Shorter saw his bosses face stiffen. He shook the doubt out of his head and put on a confident face and spoke cheerfully. "Unfair to those guys. Imagine having to sit back and watch me knock out amateur after amateur."

"That's my boy!" Mr.Lee gave him a slap on the back. "Be here early to get some reps in. Bring your girl if you'd like. Show her what the King of Chinatown is capable of."

Shorter felt his heart spike. "No!" He blurted out and quickly stammered, "I mean uh- nah. She's not into things like this. Plus, I kinda keep her in the dark about certain things."