“Anything special you two like?”
“I like Pad Thai and those sticks with the meat on them,” Isaac volunteered.
“And what about you, Miss?” Every time he said that I went all tingly. Why was that?
“I wouldn’t mind some of those fish cakes and coconut rice is right up there on my favourites list.”
“Well, I think I can manage all of those. Anything else?”
I shook my head no.
“Okay, I’m going to head out now. I’ll be back in an hour.” Then he moved in a little closer to me and whispered. “Lock the door, Ari and if you notice him drive by again, call Mark then me.”
“Can I go with you?” Isaac asked. That shocked me. Isaac had never asked to go with anyone before other than me. I was about to put together a reason why, when Dane helped me out.
“Not this time, mate. I need to do a few things real quick and make a couple of calls. How about you build that new Minecraft universe you were talking about? I’d love to have a look at it after dinner.” Then he whispered into my ear. “I hope that was okay?”
I nodded and he was already making a move to go. Before he went too far across the room, he did that kiss the fingers and touch them to my mouth thing and with a wink he was gone. I locked the door behind him and turned around to let out the breath I didn’t realise I’d been holding.
Isaac had already settled into his iPad. As much as I hated those things they were also a blessing at times like these.
Now I just needed to compose myself and get a few things sorted out quickly while Dane was gone. And one of those things was a firm grip on reality and my heart.
Dane
Five minutes after leaving Arianne’s, I was home. The first thing I did was call the Thai joint and place our order to be picked up in forty minutes. Then I threw a few clothes in a bag, packed up my laptop and grabbed my phone charger.
Now I had to place a call that was going to be a little weird, regardless it needed to be done. I dialled and two rings later my call was answered.
“Hello.” It was my dad’s deep voice that greeted me and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hey Dad, it’s me.”
“Hey Son. Whatcha up to?”
“I need to ask a favour, well sort of.” I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d need just yet.
“Sure you know that.” And that was the great thing about my family. They were only too happy to jump in and help.
Now was the tricky bit. “You know that little Mazda 3 hatch that had the electrical problem the other day?”
“Yeah.” I could hear the curiosity in his tone.
“Well I kind of need to help out the woman that owns it.”
“Oh Arianne you mean?”
“Yeah, Arianne. She’s being threatened by her ex-husband Dad, and I don’t like the idea of her being alone. I’m going to hang at her place a bit.”
“Have you spoken to the cops about this?” My dad was a stickler for doing things by the book.
“Yeah, we went in and spoke with Mark. You know Mark who trains at Onigashima, the one that’s the detective.”
“Yeah, I know who you’re taking about.”
“Well he’s handling the case and after the note she got this afternoon Mark suggested Arianne and Isaac go and stay with friends or family. But she has neither here, Dad. So I’m going to stay at her place.”
“This sounds serious. Are they in real danger?” This time there was concern in his tone.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Okay what do you need?”
“Can you keep an eye on the servo? Ross is opening in the morning but I won’t be there until I know Isaac’s at school and Ari’s safe for the day. I’ll probably just need you to make sure things are going okay over there.”
“We can do that Son, no worries at all. Do you need anything else?” Then I heard mum yelling in the background something about dinner.
“I’m good for the moment, but I just wanted to let you know what was happening.”
“Well make sure you keep them safe. And I don’t need to tell you to be careful.” It was dad’s way of saying take care, but not really doing that!
“Always.”
“Let us know if you need anything else. We’re always here, you know that.”
“Thanks Dad.”
“Not a problem…oh and I’ll fill your mother in, too.”
“You’re a lifesaver.” This got me an amused chuckle. We all knew what mum was like. She’d be fussing over everything in no time, given the opportunity.
“Don’t I know it. But I make no promises that she won’t be blowing up your phone—your mother likes that girl.”
“Fair enough.”
“I’ll leave you to it then.”
“See ya, Dad.”
“Bye Dane.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. I loved my mum dearly but it was much easier to do that with dad rather than with mum. I grabbed my bags and tech gear, locked up my apartment and headed over to the Thai joint.
To my surprise I was a few minutes early. So I shot off a text to Maddie to see if she wanted to earn a few dollars this week by packing up my martial arts orders. That would relieve the pressure on me plus it meant a bit of extra wardrobe money for her.
Now to make the call I was still in two minds about. I needed to call Reed and let him know what I was going to do with the fight. With everything that was going, on did I want to even do it?
Probably not.
I was still on the fence and I knew I needed to be definite.
“Fuck it!” I thought as I dialled the number.
“Hey man. I thought you might call tonight.”
“Yeah, I didn’t want you hanging in the breeze.” I had no idea what I was going to say next.
“Have you spoken to Xander today?” That made my ears pick up a little.
“No. Should I have?” Now I was curious.
“He’s taking the fight.”
“What?” I all but screamed.
“Yep, shocked the shit out of me, too. I wasn’t expecting it at all to be honest.”
I laughed. “Well, fuck me. That’s a news flash.”
“You’re not wrong…So you going to be his training partner?”
Before I even thought it through I answered. “Of course. If Xan’s fighting, you train him and I’ll be his partner. That’s the way it always works.” And it did. We’d done that since the beginning. I was thinking about that when Reed spoke again.
“If you’re serious about taking that fight, then there’s no better time. I can train you both at the same time. Plus, you’ll have Xander as your training partner.”
It was the perfect set up. I couldn’t have asked for a better set of circumstances for a fight prep. We’d be in full fight mode and fully focused on winning.
This was one of those planets aligning things.
I truly never thought Xander would take another fight. That was a hell of a surprise for me. All I had to do was say yes.
This opportunity might never arise again.
It was now or never.
“Yep, I’m up for it.” I tried to sound confident.
I was, wasn’t I?
I really did want this.
Reed chuckled. “Well, my day is just full of surprises. I haven’t even told you what you’re fighting for.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m doing it because I need to know if I’m good enough. I want to be good enough.” And in that moment I knew it was true.
“Oh, you’re good enough.” It was probably the first time that Reed had said something like that to me. “But now I’ve got to make sure you’re hungry to win.”
“Oh I’ll be hungry,” I assured him. Now, the decision had been made I would do my damnedest to make sure I carried it out.
“Okay. Then let’s get a few things straight, right up front. First off, you make sure you turn up to all sessions and you do exactly as I tell you to. You train how I tell you to
, you eat how I tell you to, and you God damned well think how I tell you to.”
There was nothing there that I didn’t expect. That was all stock standard Reed. Xander had been through it all many times. “Okay, done. But I have one request of my own.”
“Let’s hear it…” There was a hint of annoyance in Reed’s voice. Almost a Here we go. “We keep it really low key with Xander until after his fight. Like we talked about. I don’t want him to worry about me fighting. Ideally, he won’t even know, I just doubt we’ll be able to pull that off. He’ll get distracted or he’ll try to talk me out of it. I don’t want him worried about me and not himself.”
My request was met with initial silence as Reed thought it over. Finally, when I was starting to get really worried, he answered. “Yeah, I think you’re right. That will be for the best.”
“Okay then, we start tomorrow right?”
“Yep. I’ll see you at Onigashima at nine am. I want you to start on the normal training diet. You know what I’m talking about?”
“Yep. You mean the same one Xan does?”
“Yeah. I’ll make adjustments as we go. You’re a bigger guy. Plus, you’re going to need more nutrition. Besides, I don’t want you to drop too much weight yet. I want as much hard lean muscle on you as possible. Have you been running?”
“Yeah, about three or four times a week.”
“Well, now you’re running six days. Tomorrow morning run five kilometres before you get there. Keep the pace even. Around five or five and half minute kilometres. We’ll alternate with some faster sprints later on.
“Okay, I can do that,” I told him.
“No, not can. Will. There is a big difference. You’re a professional fighter now. You need to act like one.”
“Gotcha.”
“Okay, go home and enjoy your last night of freedom. Tomorrow your arse is mine. I’ll email the paperwork to you that you need to sign.”
“Okay, I’ll look out for it.”
“Aren’t you even the least bit curious what the purse is for your first fight?”
This was a trick question. I could feel it. “I’m curious. I’m just not stupid enough to ask you.” There was a deep chuckle on the other end of the line. “I figure it will be on the contract and I trust you to make sure it’s all correct and done right. You’ve always looked after Xander, so I trust you to look after me.”
“Good answer. The number’s a hundred thousand for the win. Fifty for showing up. You’re not there to show up right?”
“Right!” I never expected it to be that much but I wasn’t going to complain. Reed had always looked after us.
“I’ll see you in the morning, nine sharp.”
“Looking forward to it.”
There was more chuckling on the other end of the line. “You say that now. I’ll ask you again after the fight. See you in the morning, man.”
“Yeah, mate.”
The call ended and I sat back in the seat of my truck. What the hell had I just agreed to do?
My simple life was becoming more and more complex by the minute.
Chapter 10
Arianne
By Friday morning I was about ready to scream. Having Dane living in my house was driving me to distraction! The very female type of distraction. The casual touches, brushes against me in the kitchen or the hall were subtle but that’s all they’d been.
I was warring with myself for wanting more when common sense told me to leave it be and it was safer to leave it at glances and longing looks. The problem was I wanted him in the worst sort of way.
Why couldn’t he be an arsehole or a slob?
Weren’t all men like that?
I was still waiting for him to screw up but he looked to be far from it so far.
In fact, he’d seemed to slip into our lives almost as if he’d always been there. So far, he was the perfect house guest, which was hardly what I expected.
I don’t know why, I just hadn’t expected a man to be conscientious and helpful around the house. God knows, Marcel had never been. He’d been little better than a chauvinistic pig when it came to household duties. Woman’s work, he’d called it.
Dane cleaned, shopped, and cooked tasty meals even if they were ridiculously healthy. He made his bed in the spare room and kept the bathroom tidy after he used it.
I’d even caught him reminding Isaac to put the toilet seat down, or as Dane had put it, “Women like that kind of thing, mate. Keeps them happy and it’s easy to do.” My son had been nodding solemnly, taking it all in as if Dane was the sole holder of the male holly grail on life.
His routine was to rise at six, go for a run and be back showered before seven. Then he’d taken it upon himself to help me get Isaac ready for school or whatever his schedule was whether I had to get ready to teach or go to my other job.
This week, I’d only managed to snare one day of teaching. I guess that was the problem with relief teaching. If people weren’t sick, they weren’t sick. Simple as that. I needed a big day at the casino today.
My plan was to get a start midmorning. I needed to have a very good day. To do that, I needed to start early so I avoided putting too much pressure on myself to win big quickly. It was much easier to win steadily over a few hours to avoid detection or too much scrutiny.
Arnie had picked me up and handed me ten thousand in cash in the car, which I placed in my handbag in bundles of one thousand dollars. Our fishing ground today was the Gold Coast Casino. As soon as I walked in, I scoped the place out. I was disappointed to see there weren’t many people around yet. Arnie dropped me off and went and did whatever it was he did.
Rather than head straight to the tables, I detoured into the coffee shop just off the entrance to the main gaming floor. I ordered a coffee and pulled out my iPad and began to randomly flick through stuff.
Just as I was debating whether to order another coffee or make a start, lady luck smiled on me. A couple of bus loads of Asian tourists filed in. I
It was exactly what I needed.
Asians tended to be big spenders, plus this added another hundred plus players to the floor.
It was much easier to get lost in that. I gathered my things together and strolled through to the gaming floor with the large group. Today I was dressed in smart casual clothes. I had a knee length skirt, a pretty top with a heart shape neckline and I’d worn a light cardigan to not only ward off the chill from the air-conditioning when sitting at tables for hours on end, but also to tone down the outfit.
My goal was to be as invisible as possible. I was trying to avoid drawing attention to myself. I wanted to look like a housewife that was out to lunch, rather than what I really was.
There was a short line at the cashier and I decided to start there. I walked up and waited my turn to cash two thousand dollars into chips. I’d placed some very good costume jewellery on my hands. A large, but tasteful looking engagement and wedding band set screamed class and quality, although they were only cubic zirconia. I also wore a heavy gold bracelet and carried a genuine Louis Vuitton handbag and wallet combination today.
It just made handing over large amounts of cash seem more likely if other aspects fit.
There were a large group of Chinese people grouped around the roulette tables and I decided to go and start my work there. Roulette was my very favourite game. There was something about the red and black and the little white ball.
I glanced quickly at the digital readout that showed the results of the last ten games for that table. I quickly calculated the probabilities in my head and decided on picking a group of numbers first.
My first bet was on 1-12 and I placed two one hundred dollar chips in the box. Another bet of a similar amount was placed by a middle-aged Asian man. Just before the croupier called no more bets, I decided to place another two chips on black.
The last three spins had been black. Good chance it was going to be red but something told me it was going to be black again. It almost felt as if I was testing to
see if lady luck was riding with me today. Mathematical ability was one thing; lady luck still went a damned long way to making sure of a sweet outcome. I didn’t mind having her on my side.
The little white ball zoomed around the wheel and bounced over the numbers, finally coming to rest on the black eleven. I cheered silently and collected the chips the croupier laid down beside my bets. The Asian man beside me gave me a smile that I could only read as suggestive. I reached forward with my left hand and let my eyes fall to the rock on my ring finger. Then looked back at him. I didn’t need some guy coming on to me today, not now that I knew lady luck was sitting on my shoulder today. Besides, there was only one man on my mind of late, all six feet plus of hard muscled warrior. Every other man seemed to pale in comparison.
A couple of hours passed quickly and I’d long since moved to the blackjack table. This was where my mathematical ability really came into its own. It was also the game that presented the most risk. Counting cards was illegal. I was up by exactly five thousand six hundred when my mobile kept buzzing. I hated to walk away from the table, but whoever wanted me was being insistent.
I quickly checked my messages and my heart leapt to my throat.
Isaac.
I dialled the school’s number and got put through to his program coordinator, Mrs Peterson. A couple of minutes later I got off that call and immediately dialled Dane. I had a big favour to ask.
He picked up on the second ring. “Hey Ari, what’s up?” His voice sounded cheery, but I could tell there was concern there.
“The school just called. Isaac’s had an incident in the playground. He’s really upset and I can’t get there for an hour or so.”
“Where are you?”
I hated to even answer. It sounded so neglectful as a parent. “I’m at the Gold Coast Casino.”
“Right. You want me to go get him?”
“Could you?”
“Yeah, I can swing by and get him but I’m going to need to drop him at Loretta’s. I’ve got stuff on this afternoon.” He didn’t exactly sound happy about it but he didn’t seem annoyed either.
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