Before Page 3

  The rules were always clear—fighters undressed and readied in front of the crowd to prevent any underhanded business happening. Like someone trying to bring a weapon into the ring. It wasn’t always the perfect fail-safe, but it certainly helped to keep the fights cleaner.

  If there was such a thing in underground fights.

  Since Lev typically just walked right into the ring off the floor, without someone in his corner, it was unusual for him to find a pair of big green eyes staring at him from the outside of the ropes. Gigi, that was.

  Seemed the woman was going to stick around. She didn’t look sure if that was a good idea or not. Settling on keeping his worn jeans on, Lev ignored the calls from the crowd when he pulled his shirt off and tossed it into the corner where the rest of his items lay forgotten in a pile. Shoes, socks; even his wallet.

  Over the ropes, Gigi leaned closer to him with her pink lips pursed as a nervous smile started to flit over her mouth. He suddenly had the strangest regret—that he hadn’t tried to get a kiss from her when he approached her at the bar. He didn’t really know why he went up to her in the first place when he was only supposed to be worried about making sure Andino Marcello’s—and his guest’s—glass never emptied.

  That was a lie.

  He did know.

  Her face.

  She was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen in his life and by no conscious choice of his own, he found himself standing in front of her with the lamest line right on the tip of his tongue. He’d not been able to appreciate her height, or the way her legs looked in heels and how her romper stretched over the curves and dips of her body until they walked up to the ring and damn ... it was a shame. But shit, if all went well, maybe later he would get a little more time to properly appreciate the woman. Those vibrant green eyes of hers made the freckles stand out even more on the bridge of her nose and across her cheeks. When she smiled, dark lashes fanned over her cheeks and her imperfect smile made her look heaven-sent.

  How could he not approach?

  Take a shot?

  “Do you do this often?” she asked him over the loud crowd.

  By the sounds of it, his opponent had finally stepped into the ring behind him. Lev didn’t even bother checking over his shoulder. Instead, he put all his attention on the gorgeous face of a woman who was clearly trying to hide her worry.

  “All the time,” he lied.

  Sort of.

  He did fight often enough—still not a regular thing, though. He wasn’t concerned either way.

  Gigi’s stare traveled over Lev’s shoulder at whatever was waiting for him at the other side. “At least you’re taller than him, I guess? I have no idea how any of this works.”

  That made him laugh.

  Height?

  She was worried about size? Clearly, no, she didn’t know how any of this kind of thing worked, and he seriously doubted she expected her night to end up like this with a man she had just met. A man who, despite being behind the bar, hadn’t even offered her a drink. But if there was anything Lev had learned in his lifetime it was that when shit just worked and it felt right, it was better to go with it.

  What would it hurt?

  This chick felt the same.

  Not even considering his choice, because all he wanted to do was wipe that worry from her pretty face, Lev leaned over the ropes and pressed a bruising kiss against those plush, silken lips of hers. He didn’t even think about it—just did it. His tongue swept out to take a taste, and she answered it back with a shuddering breath that stuttered with her surprise. The sweet heat of her mouth only made him want more.

  It was a good incentive. After all, he wouldn’t be tasting that again tonight if he didn’t walk out of this ring with a clear head. Everything he did had a purpose.

  As fast as it had happened, he pulled back.

  Still wide-eyed, she let out a soft laugh.

  “Guess I’m sticking around,” she said.

  Lev winked. “Hope so, woman. I might want to do that again.”

  “You better.”

  Well, then ...

  Lev turned to finally face his opponent.

  Like he thought, he didn’t recognize the bull of a man stripping down to boxer-briefs on the other side of the makeshift ring. Three minutes. That’s what Andino wanted, huh? The whys didn’t really matter—cash in his hand at the end of the night did.

  Lev sized up the guy.

  He could make Andino’s demand happen in two.

  • • •

  Lev got that knockout with ten seconds to spare.

  Yeah.

  He’d been counting.

  It was easy, all things considered. Southpaws like him were rare in a ring, and a lot of fighters who stepped up against him didn’t even know he was one until it was too damn late. One of the few benefits of fighting occasionally instead of making it a regular thing like some of these guys did. The second his opponent’s head hit the floor and the guy’s eyes remained closed, Lev’s bruised fists raised high. He stepped back from the prone body. Keep it clean. He never liked a win to be questioned.

  It cut into his money.

  Simple as that.

  As the ropes of the makeshift ring bit into his tense back muscles, he felt the small hands that wrapped around his arms and slid down to the crook of his elbows. As though with her strength and touch alone, she might be able to hold him right there, and he wouldn’t go forward into the middle of the ring again as men started to climb into the space with the fighters.

  Except those men didn’t come near him.

  They all went for the one on the floor.

  “Are you okay?” he heard Gigi ask in his ear.

  Her breath tickled the back of his neck. The distinct scent of her perfume—a burnt pineapple and vanilla mixture—soaked into his lungs with every heavy heave of his chest. Shit, yeah, he’d put a hell of a lot of his power into two minutes to get the knockout done. More than he usually would. Had he let the guy play with him for any longer than a few minutes and then tried to get the fight finished, it might not have been as easy to end.

  “Yeah, I’m good,” he assured, still watching the men check the guy and attempt to wake him up. It wasn’t working, and Lev had to consider if that last punch he landed to the guy’s temple had unfortunately finished the job for good.

  In these fights, that shit happened. It was always cleaned up—no hard feelings when it went down. Still, it didn’t feel great all the same.

  What was his name again?

  The announcer said it.

  Then, the ref.

  Didn’t matter, Lev decided.

  What was done was done.

  Those soft hands of Gigi’s traveled around the large bands of muscles in Lev’s arms that jumped at every single one of her touches. She didn’t seem to mind the sweat dotting his spine when her fingertips made silky lines down to the dimples in his lower back, and despite the roar of the bar and the chaos all around him, the only thing he found himself thinking about all of the sudden was how those hands of hers might feel wrapped around his cock.

  Fucking hell.

  “Lev!”

  His head snapped to the left until his gaze nailed into the familiar man approaching the side of the ring. The strands of Gigi’s wavy dark blonde hair fell over his shoulder when she flattened her chest against his back and leaned over a bit to see who was calling for him. She seemed content to be there and frankly, he also didn’t want to move.

  Andino Marcello pointed a finger at him from outside of the ring, a pleased smile curving the man’s usually stone-cold features. It was almost unsettling to see him grin but at the same time, it felt true. “I knew I was right—a pleasure doing business with you tonight. Thank you for saving me a lot of money. Nickie will have your bonus ready in the back before you leave. Take care of me, I take care of you. You get me?”

  What?

  He didn’t get the chance to ask. As fast as Andino had left his seat, and the companion he broug
ht along, the man turned on his shined Italian loafers and headed back into the crowd.

  “Who is that?” he heard Gigi ask behind him.

  “Winner—Lev Arsov!”

  The man who acted as the ref for the fights stopped him from answering—not that he particularly knew how exactly he would answer her question. He didn’t know anything at all about Andino Marcello except the most important thing.

  Don’t fuck with him.

  Lev’s wrist found its way into the ref’s hand before being lifted high to a still-roaring crowd inside the bar. It looked like the guys in black were finally beginning to get his opponent to come around where he rested on the floor. He, however, was too busy watching Andino retreat into the crowd.

  And the man waiting for him.

  His companion from earlier.

  Except now, the guy didn’t look pleased. He certainly wasn’t as friendly as he had been earlier with Andino when the one man offered a hand to shake, but it was left hanging between them. The two men eyed one another before Andino’s companion’s gaze traveled to the ring, stopping on Lev for only a second before drifting to the man being helped up from the mat.

  His lips moved. The words silent to Lev from his position, yet clear all the same. He didn’t have to hear them to know what the guy said.

  “You said fair, Andino.”

  In response, Andino only shrugged.

  Then, he walked away.

  Men in suits, situated in different spots within the bar, moved to follow Andino. Probably the same people who had come in with him. Lev’s attention was still on the guy Andino had left behind, and the growing rage that darkened his features as the fighter who had lost against Lev was pulled from the ring, clearly dazed, confused, and not in a very good state.

  The guy tipped his head to the side, taking in the scene. Then, he lifted two fingers and placed them at the bottom of his throat. Who the order had been given to, Lev didn’t know. He knew what it meant, though, and the way the guy turned to leave in the opposite direction of Andino, well, he thought the intention was clear.

  Lev could have left it alone. Maybe he should have. Gigi’s hands were still soft. His cock was still hard. Soon, he could celebrate the win, possibly even buried in a new, tight pussy.

  Wouldn’t that be fucking pure?

  Words lingered in the back of his mind.

  Take care of me, I take care of you.

  The ref had barely released Lev’s wrist before he pushed away from Gigi behind the ropes. Slipping under the designated wall of the ring, he didn’t care about the shouts behind him as he headed in the direction Andino had gone earlier.

  Already, the warning came from his mouth.

  “Marcello!”

  There were certain things people who occasionally dabbled in the criminal world didn’t do. Ever, if they could help it. One was draw unneeded attention to themselves. Another was draw any sort of attention to a man like Andino, but especially when he might have been doing business that he didn’t want on anyone else’s radar.

  Lev smashed both of those unspoken rules with one call of Andino’s name.

  Near the side exit of the bar where Andino was taking a coat being held out to him by a man waiting in a black suit, he turned at the call of his name. He must have recognized Lev’s voice because he looked his way, that same cold gaze nailing into him with an intensity that hadn’t diminished at all.

  He put his fingers up to his throat and cocked his head to the side. A clear indication of the trouble that might be waiting to follow him.

  Apparently, it didn’t matter. Or Lev’s warning just came too late.

  Gunfire exploded in the bar.

  The last thing Lev saw before he turned to run for the woman he’d left behind at the makeshift ring was the splatter of blood and brain matter of Andino’s man that painted the exit door.

  Well ...

  That was unfortunate.

  Four

  “WELL?”

  Lev did his very best to keep the chuckle forming to himself. He didn’t think the woman standing across from him on the quiet sidewalk would appreciate his humor at her current state. Even in her distress, hugging her arms tight to her middle to keep the leather jacket closed to the cool wind sweeping through the city’s streets, Gigi looked like something that had just walked out of a fucking magazine. She truly was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life, and he wouldn’t even try to deny that fact.

  Ever.

  “Go ahead,” he said with a wave of his hands.

  If she heard the lingering amusement at her anxious glare, she didn’t show it. Instead, she let out a laugh, colored with her tension, as she watched the cab that had just dropped them off in front of an unfamiliar apartment building—to him; the place was apparently hers—only thirty seconds before.

  He expected the questions, or shit, even her anger, to burst out of her at racing speed. Considering the way she’d barely managed to hold it in on the drive to the address she gave to cab driver, it wouldn’t be a surprise. She only stopped asking questions in the cab because every time she opened her mouth, he made a sharp noise to quiet her, and the cabbie watched them in the rearview mirror.

  Lev knew how a night like tonight worked—or rather, how he should react to it if he wanted to keep his job and paycheck. You saw nothing, know nothing, and got fucking nothing to say. It wouldn’t be the first, or last, time he was told those words. Frankly, he found that was the easiest way to deal with shit like the mob making a scene.

  Especially at Nickie’s.

  Thankfully, Gigi got the hint quickly enough to stop talking about the bar shooting until they were finally alone. Although, he had to give her credit where it was due. She hadn’t questioned him at the bar right after the shooting started. His hands found her small waist, and she didn’t fight him at all when he shoved her toward the doors.

  Yep.

  He didn’t wait for the guns to stop firing before he got them both the hell out of there. He certainly didn’t wait around for the fucking cops to get called, either. Despite how shitty his life could be at times, he did actually like being alive. He found to stay that way, it was good policy to get as far away from people shooting guns as quickly as he could.

  Chances were, Lev was also out his winnings for the fight. Not that it really mattered in the grander scheme of things. What did was the fact he’d gotten Gigi out of the place safe and sound, didn’t have a mark on himself but for the bruised mouth from the fight, and they managed to make it a block away from the bar before he heard any sirens.

  Then, he hailed a cab.

  Gigi followed, and here they now stood. All it took was him opening the cab’s back door and saying, “Give him your address—least I can do is get you home safely.”

  He hadn’t given her the chance to argue or ask questions. The shock of the entire evening and the way it so quickly changed from one violent scene to a far worse one in seconds was enough to quiet even him. He didn’t wonder why she moved on autopilot when he took control.

  Now, though?

  Girl was ready to blow.

  Finally, Gigi let out a breath of air and with it came a high-pitch noise he couldn’t quite place. “Thanks, I guess?”

  It took Lev a second.

  Then, he laughed deeply.

  “Not exactly what I expected,” he returned, “but okay.”

  One of her hands flicked a wave in his direction when she muttered, “I’m not sure I should ask what happened back there. I don’t think I want to know.”

  “Good policy because you don’t, right?”

  Gigi’s gaze darted from the darkness of the street and straight into Lev’s stare in an instant. “What?”

  “Know,” he clarified. “You don’t know what happened—or why, for that matter. Wrong place, wrong time that’s all.”

  “My friend and her boyfriend were—”

  “Chances are, they got out of there the same way we did. Best thing you can do in a pl
ace like Nickie’s when bad shit goes down. Stay gone until the dust clears, and otherwise, make sure everybody knows you don’t know anything.”

  Gigi hadn’t looked away from him. Lev hoped she got the point he was trying to make without outright saying it. The way her shoulders dropped a bit said she did, but the audible swallow and sniff she made before glancing away from him had that thing in his chest twisting a bit.

  Forgot you were there, he thought.

  His heart, he meant.

  “But do you?” she asked.

  The ground had become more interesting than him, apparently.

  “Do I, what?”

  “Know what all that was about?”

  “No,” he answered honestly. “And I’ve learned it’s better not to.”

  “You were talking to that guy—um, the mafia guy, right?”

  That had Lev stepping forward before his brain had even caught up to what his body decided to do. Not because he didn’t like that Gigi knew something about Andino Marcello, but rather, he was concerned that she did. It was better she didn’t.

  “How do you even know how who he is?”

  Gigi’s stare swung back up to meet his, and she lifted one black, leather-clad shoulder. “My friend’s boyfriend ... shady as fuck, but he says he knows people, you know? He was just running off at the mouth, probably.”

  Probably.

  It would be best if the guy never spoke of Andino again but especially not in a way that suggested he knew who the man was on any personal level. That was the fastest way to find an early grave on these streets.

  Gigi raised a brow, giving Lev a curious look from where she stood under the stream of light from the streetlamp overhead. “But you did talk to him. I saw. And then that guy got shot and—”

  “But I don’t know why, and I plan to keep it that way. Bad enough the cops will probably be knocking on my door tomorrow for a statement considering I work at the damn bar, and Nickie will have to hand out names of employees. It’s a double-edged sword. You don’t want a problem with the cops, but you don’t want to make a problem with the people who started shit tonight, either. You know what I mean?”

  It took Gigi a second to reply.