“We aren’t making any deals with you, Shaeffer,” Andrew snaps at him.
“Cool it, buddy. Let the grown-ups talk, alright?” he says, and Andrew nearly leaps to his feet. I reach out, holding my hand in front of his chest.
“Say what you came over here to say and get lost, Shaeffer,” I say.
“Listen. I can see how fucked you are. So I’m going to throw you a bone,” he starts. I can feel the rage emanating from Andrew’s body. I’m not feeling any less hostile, but I’m better at hidingit. I’ve always prided myself on being level-headed. Outside the ring, anyways. I nod for Rafe to go on.
“Forget the bids,” he says, and my eyes narrow.
“What?” Andrew asks.
“I mean it. Listen. You and I are the only ones Golden Rule is interested in. Even the lowest bid one of us offers them will win the deal,” he says. He’s not wrong. Even if one of us lowballed him, they’d still take a bid from one of us over anyone else. It’s basically a dick-measuring contest between Rafe and me at this point.
“What are you suggesting?” I ask, and a snaky smirk crawls across his face.
After a moment of suspense, he answers. “We compete for it.”
“What?” I ask.
“In the ring.”
I blink to comprehend what this joker is alluding to. “You want to box for the Golden Rule deal?” I ask.
“Why not? I think it’s a fair approach, don’t you?” he shrugs casually.
“How is that gonna work exactly?” Andrew asks before me.
“We go head to head in the ring. Until TKO.”
Andrew spits out a disgusted laugh. “You gotta be kidding.”
“How do we make it legal?” I nod up at Rafe. “No offense, but I don’t trust a simple shake on it from you.”
“Your distrust hurts, Wolfe,” he says, pressing his hand to his chest. “I think at this point we are going to have to go with honor. If you think about it, we both have enough dirt on each other to throw each other under the bus,” he says. Unfortunately, he’s not wrong. We’ve both pulled enough stunts in the industry to blackmail each other.
Andrew looks at me with raised eyebrows, hanging on my pensiveness as Rafe waits for an answer. After a moment, Rafe clicks his tongue.
“How about I let you think about it? You know where to find me,” he says before walking out.
I sit back down and spin my stool back around to face the bar again. Andrew joins me, his attention locked on me.
“Well?” he asks. “What are you going to do?”
“I think it’s obvious,” I answer. “I’m going to knock him the fuck out.”
With that, we sip our beer in silence.
Chapter 39
Mila
“Girl, your wig isn’t straight,”Rachel walks over to me and helps me with my faux hair. “And your eyelash is falling off. Jesus, honey, you’re a hot mess today.”
“Falsies are the worst,” Amanda says as she attempts to apply hers in the locker room mirror.
It’s a fight day. A big fight day. Apparently, something is going down between Rafe and Dominic, and they’ve decided to duke it out in the ring. That means there’s a full house tonight, and we are dancing between their rounds.
Normally, I’d be excited. Dominic up there, testosterone surging through his veins, sweat glistening on his brow and chest. All his adrenaline fuels the fight against his nemesis.
