“Thanks,” I grumble, taking the money and stuffing it into the pocket of my zipped hoodie.
“When’s his next fight?” Those grey, too-interested eyes narrow at me as he asks.
“Two days.”
“I’ll give him a four percent cut if he TKO within the first round.”
My eyebrows shoot up. That’s quite the offer.
“And if it takes him a few rounds?” I ask, not because I think it will take him long, but because it’s always good to get all the stipulations before agreeing to anything.
“Then it drops. Each round, it drops a percent.”
“Understood. I’ll discuss it with Phoenix and let you know.”
“You do that,” he scoffs and turns away to count the money for the next winner. It’s a good deal, but ultimately, it’s Asher’s decision.
I quickly make my way back through the crowd and get to where Asher’s being screamed at by someone’s hype man.
“You’re just a fucking kid! You don’t get to walk away from this!” A greying older guy stands in Asher’s face, pointing at his chest aggressively. I step in between them and shove him off.
“Back off, asshole! He won fair and square. Your guy is still laying on the ground, maybe you should make sure he can fight when he wakes up,” I growl, tossing Asher his shirt before turning and forcing Asher to leave. We don’t need to be here anymore.
“The guy’s not moving, Ty,” Asher says, looking back as we push through to get to the entrance. A set of rickety stairs that lead up to a hallway before getting to the bunker door.
“He’s fine,” I say, hoping that I’m not lying.
“He’snotmoving.”
“He’ll be fine, Asher. We have to get out of here.”
“Did I kill him?” Asher slows, but I force him to keep climbing. Pushing him forward with both hands on his back, he’s sweaty and a big fucker, but slowing down to make sure his opponent is okay is not in the cards tonight. Not when I can see the crowd getting restless from here.
“No, you didn’t,” I snap, and sneak a look under my arm, gulping. Hoping and praying to whatever deity there is watching us that Asher did not kill anyone. He wouldn’t be able to handle that. I don’t think I would eithter. “Keep fucking going,” I snap.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I see his opponent roll to his side and hold his head, but stand up with the help of his friend.
“Thank fuck. Oh god,” I mutter.
“What?” Asher says, looking back. “That was too fucking close, man.”
“You didn’t know that he couldn’t handle it.”
Asher doesn’t respond, just pushes open the bunker door. He looks at me with wide eyes that tell me he’s fucking terrified.
And we run.
“I can’t do this anymore, man.” Asher’s losing it. He’s stressing out and letting me see him break down for the first time since his mom left. “Every single thing is stacked against me. My entire upbringing, mom walking out, Hunter hating my fucking guts.” He pulls at his long hair as if pulling his hair out could help. “Working so fucking much that I get maybe three hours of sleep a night, and now… I thought I killed that guy, Ty.What if I had killed that guy?I can’t, I can’t—” he mutters over and over.
I take his arms that he’s holding in front of his face as if he’s blocking a punch and shake him slightly.
“You didn’t, Ashe. You didn’t. This isn’t going to be forever. It won’t.”
“My life… It's on fire. Everything is burning to the ground and there’s not one thing I can save,” he says, shaking his head. He’s not crying, but I wouldn’t judge him for a millisecond if he did. He deserves to be able to break down.
“Asher,” I start, taking a deep breath, “De las cenizas.”From the ashes.
“What does that mean?” He shrugs, shaking his head at the same time, well and fully done.
