DS Fight Club Box Set (Volumes 0-3)

by Josie Kerr

  “You’re sure it was one of Gene’s friends?”

  Nanda looked at the men sitting across from her and shrugged. “I wouldn’t call him one of Gene’s friends, necessarily, but the guy was always around, especially when Gene was running Sharkey’s stupid errands. Grillo—that’s the guy’s name.”

  Ryan leaned into Nanda’s space. “Sharkey?”

  “Yeah, Nick Sharkey. That’s the jackass that Gene works for.”

  Ryan looked at Darren, who had whipped his phone out, and after frantically searching for something, stuck the phone in Nanda’s face.

  “This Grillo?”

  “Yes.” Nanda felt her face heat and then grow cold, leaving a clammy sheen of sweat on her skin. “What the hell is going on?”

  Darren wiped his hands over his face and took his seat again. Leaning over with his hands on his knees, he broke the news to Nanda and Junior that it looked like Nick Sharkey had taken over the underground fighting circuit in Atlanta.

  “Before you start to flip out, Nanda, know that you had absolutely nothing to do with this. Sharkey had apparently been moving into the area a long time before you came here. It’s a complete coincidence that you had the book of Fiore’s that he wants.”

  “Maybe it’s not such a coincidence.”

  “What are you thinking, Junior?” Nanda reached over and stopped Junior’s incessant tapping on his lip. “You’re driving me nuts, okay?”

  “Jett Raptor was in New York for a long time, even after the MMA ban. You can’t tell me that he just got involved with illegal fights only when he moved down here.”

  “Raptor found Pierce through an illegal fight, and that was in Chicago,” Ryan added.

  “And that was how long ago? Ten years?”

  “Probably. Pierce said he’d known Raptor since he was twenty-five, and I know he’s about my age.”

  “Raptor teamed up with Pryde eight years ago,” Junior continued. “Only reason I know that is because Pryde approached C when he was contemplating a move to the Midwest, and C almost took him up on his offer. But Pryde said he’d gotten a new partner and Colin would be training under him. When he found out it was Raptor, he told Pryde no.”

  “Is that where the problem between you guys started?” Nanda asked. “I could never figure out why you hated each other, other than the fact that Raptor’s a giant asshole.”

  “Raptor’s said some things that don’t sit well with any of us. The major MMA organizations are finally not looking the other way regarding some of the stuff that people say. Hell, Pryde’s a good guy, and I’d hate to see him and his team ruined because of some of the stuff that comes out of that idiot’s mouth.” Junior scrubbed his face with his hands. “Enough of the history lesson. What’s next, Darren?”

  The undercover cop exhaled loudly. “I think you need to go into protective custody, Nanda. You, too, Junior. We’d been thinking that Fiore’s people were the ones that trashed your apartments, both in New Jersey and here.”

  “But you don’t anymore, do you?” Nanda groaned. “Goddammit, Gene—always dragging me into shit that I have no business being involved in.”

  Darren looked at her with sympathy in his eyes. “Sorry, Nanda. I do think it’s for the best, though. We’ll get you set up in a safe house and then plan our next move. You on board, Junior?”

  “Like hell I am! In case you’ve forgotten, Darren, we’ve got a fight tomorrow night. There’s no way that I’m not going to corner for Dig. And people that are watching, especially ones that know you from the underground circuit, will think something’s up if his brand-new grappling coach isn’t on hand.”

  The two men began to argue, talking over each other, trying to get their point across by being louder than the other one.

  Nanda interrupted the two men. “Both of you shut up for a minute. We need to behave like everything is business as usual for Dig’s sake. I think we all know that this is probably going to be his last shot at a title, and he’s been working his ass off and actually following the rules for once. You’re going to throw him off if his corner isn’t what it needs to be. Dios. Fucking men.”

  “That’s what I said,” Junior added, and Nanda shot him a poisonous look. “Well, I did.”

  Darren looked between the two Maldonado siblings. “Fine, Dig’s corner is going to be intact, on two conditions. The first is that information about this little situation and what we’ve discussed tonight does not leave this room. The fewer people that know about it, the better.”

  Nanda, Junior, and Ryan all nodded. “What’s the second,” Nanda asked, knowing that she probably wasn’t going to like it.

  “Nanda, you’re not going to the fight. Before you throw a shit fit, hear me out. There are too many people and the environment is too uncontrolled for me to keep an eye on you and keep you safe. You’re going into protective custody tonight.”

  Before she could protest, Darren was calling his contacts and had stepped out of the room to talk to them.

  “Nanda, it is for the best. I’ll be there after the fight, okay?”

  Nanda knew protective custody was the best place for her, but she still didn’t want to go. When Darren walked back into the room, his face grim, and told her that he couldn’t arrange anything for at least thirty-six hours, Nanda cheered a bit in her head because she had figured out a possible compromise.

  “What if I go to Colin and Bailey’s and you put a car on the house? Bailey wanted me to come over anyway and stay the night so I wouldn’t have to drive back so late. It’ll be like there’s nothing going on. She said Maude was going to spend the night at Mick and Em’s in case we ended up going to the after-party.”

  She looked expectantly at Darren, who exhaled loudly but nodded. “Fine, but we’re going to hammer out the details of your schedule tonight. Any deviation, and most likely you’ll end up sitting with Johnny and Dolly in the bull pen.”

  “That wouldn’t be bad. I like Dolly.”

  Darren snorted. “You would. She’s as mouthy as you are.”

  Nanda made a mocking face and blew out a breath. “Fine. Let’s get this schedule knocked out because I, for one, am sick of looking at all you men.”

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Dig hung around downstairs after the official weigh-in, hoping to see Nanda. She had disappeared for an errand during her lunch break the day before and hadn’t returned. When Junior bugged out early as well, Dig became suspicious and worried, even more so when Nanda didn’t answer her phone and returned his texts with only a few words.

  He knew that he hadn’t been paying much attention to her, but after a long discussion late one evening and deciding it was really for the best, he thought that she was fine with their newly restrained relationship, even if he really wasn’t.

  “Junior, I will be fine. You just need to chill and take care of your fighter, mano. There’s a plan in place, and it’s probably for the best that I’m not at the fight anyway.”

  Dig couldn’t hold his tongue any longer. “You’re not going to be at the fight? Why the hell not?”

  He saw Nanda glare at her brother before she turned to Dig.

  “I’m just going to go over to C’s and watch it on pay-per-view with Bailey, keep her company.”

  Dig’s sixth sense tingled with the feeling that Nanda wasn’t telling the entire truth. He narrowed his eyes at her. She, in turn, rolled her eyes at him, cocked her hip, and got in his face. Damn, he loved it when she got all fired up and sassy.

  “You know that Bailey doesn’t come to the fights. Em’s out of town and C didn’t want to leave her home alone, so I’m going to go over there to watch the fight. Jesus, happy now? Do I need a LoJack or something?”

  “Whoa, calm down, Nanda. Sheesh.”

  “Not once in the history of calming down has anyone ever actually calmed down after being told to calm down!” Nanda practically shrieked the last two words, causing Junior’s eyes to bug and Dig to back away with h
is hands up. “Jesus fucking Christ! All you bossy men are going to be the death of me.”

  “Seriously, Nanda, are you okay?”

  “I. Am. Fine.”

  “She’s fine, Dig.” Junior’s voice was low. “I’d extract yourself from this conversation or you may find yourself in a choke hold before you even get to the coliseum.”

  Nanda had her arms crossed over her chest with her chin jutted defiantly out.

  Dig cleared his throat. “Um, do you think you might make it to the after-party? Bailey usually comes to the after-parties.”

  Her face softened. “I’ll try. We’ll see how it goes.”

  Dig tried to lose himself in the music that thundered through his headphones and the pressure of Ryan’s steady hands wrapping his own, but thoughts of Nanda kept invading. With his eyes closed, he sucked in air through his nose and blew air out his mouth, concentrating on making his breathing slow and easy.

  He felt Ryan grasp his knuckles, signaling the end of the wrapping session, and he opened his eyes.

  “I wanna call her.”

  “You can’t.”

  “I know. I still want to.”

  “She’s fine.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Ryan huffed a laugh and scratched his head. “She’s fine. She’s with Bailey, having snacks and guessing what the fighters are like in bed.”

  “Really? You think that’s what they talk about?”

  “Sure. All those women talk about is sex. You’ve never even imagined horror until you’ve seen your sister demonstrate deep-throating.”

  “Jesus.”

  “You aren’t kidding.” Ryan grinned.

  “You know, that didn’t help things at all, Goody.”

  “Sorry.” Ryan grew serious. “You need to get your head in the game, Dig. Take care of business quick, and then you can tell your trainer that you’re giving his little sister the business.”

  “I haven’t been giving Nanda the business, not for ten weeks.”

  “Good for you for actually sticking to the rules.”

  Dig grinned. “It’s actually been . . . good to follow the rules.”

  Ryan laid his hand on Dig’s forehead. “You feeling okay? I thought I actually heard you say that you liked following the rules.”

  “I did say that,” Dig said with a laugh. “Ain’t that some shit?”

  “That is some shit,” Ryan said with a grin. “Our little Dom is growing up.” He wiped a nonexistent tear away, and Dig shoved him.

  “They’re calling for you, Dig. You ready?” Colin hung his head in the door, wearing the same tight expression that he always did before a fight.

  Dig pounded his fists together. “Yep. I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  An official came into the room and checked Dig’s wraps and signed off on them. Ryan helped Dig into his gloves, and Dom and his DS Fight Club corner crew made their way down the long corridor to the floor of the coliseum.

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  The promoter stopped Dig and the DS Fight Club crew on their way out to the floor. He told them that because of the issues at the weigh-in, officials were going to line up between Dig and the other fighter, separating them and not really allowing them to interact after they got into the cage before the fight started. Colin agreed with a curt nod of his head and stepped back to let Dig lead the way down the path to the octagon.

  As his walkout song thundered through the speakers, Dig jogged down the aisle, intent on the octagonal cage in front of him. He went through the obligatory ministrations of ear, fingernail, and cup check, and the cutman put petroleum jelly on his face. Then Dig ran up the stairs of the octagon.

  As promised, the blazer-clad officials formed a human barrier between the fighters, though none of them were tall enough to impede Dig’s view of his opponent. Dig and Elliot faced off while the ring announcer introduced the two of them. While normally after, they touch hands and begin the fight, they didn’t do that at all—the officials just exited the cage, and then Dig and Elliot started to fight.

  The fight was long and ugly, lasting four and a half bloody rounds until Dig got pissed off enough to hammer Elliot with a devastating right hook that sent the other man to the mat. After the ringside doctor managed to rouse the fallen fighter, the announcer pronounced Dig the winner by knockout.

  Elliot made some general, noncommittal statements about a good fight, but Dig could tell the guy still wasn’t all there. He felt bad for, about three seconds, until he heard Raptor’s voice over the crowd, insinuating that the fight was fixed.

  Then everything happened in both slow motion and at double speed.

  Dig couldn’t believe the audacity of a guy who was rumored to fix fights accusing DS Fight Club of the same, but as he stepped up to Raptor to tell him just that, Colin came out of nowhere to plant his huge fist in the middle of Raptor’s cheek, dropping the other owner like a sack of potatoes. The cage erupted in chaotic activity as fighters and cornermen jumped into the fray, with smaller officials attempting to break up the brawling men.

  As it was a huge, well-publicized fight at a major arena, the Atlanta Police Department had officers on site, and they quickly broke up the brawl. Raptor made some noise about wanting to press charges against Colin, but the owner of DS Fight Club shut him down quickly.

  “Dude, do you really want to push this? Do you really want an in-depth investigation about where you find your major fighters?”

  Raptor snapped his mouth shut, and Colin smirked at him.

  “I would say sorry about your face, but I’m not. I’ve wanted to punch you in your loud mouth for years.”

  Raptor broke away from the doctor that was examining him, obviously intending to treat Colin to a taste of his own medicine, when Johnny Richards stepped between the two much larger men and pushed Colin back against the wire wall of the cage.

  “Let it go, C. Just let it go.” Johnny patted Colin on the chest. “Walk it off, buddy.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Fucking faggot.” Raptor spit on the floor of the cage.

  Johnny whipped around. “That’s enough out of you, Raptor. You instigated this whole thing with the insinuation that the fight was fixed. That, my friend, is slander. And combined with hate speech? I suggest you dial it way the fuck back. Got it?”

  Raptor’s jaw ticked. “This isn’t over, Carmichael. Not nearly.”

  The DS Fight Club team watched Raptor stomp out of the cage, only to be met by an obviously furious Bruce Pryde, who got in his partner’s face and commenced screaming at him. Raptor shoved Pryde hard enough that the smaller man lost his footing and fell backward into the seating by the cage. Raptor ignored him and kept on walking down the hall.

  Junior whistled low. “Damn. C, I think you might consider Pryde ripe for poaching.”

  “I think you’re right, Junior.”

  “Okay, guys, let’s wrap this shit up. We got a win to celebrate, right, Dig?” Johnny herded the fighters out of the cage. “I honestly can’t believe I’m encouraging fighters to go to a bar after a brawl in the octagon, but I am, so y’all better scoot before I change my mind.”

  Colin barked a laugh and slapped Johnny on the back. “You heard the officer, boys. Let’s get out of here.”

  Once they were in the DS Fight Club van and Ryan had cut off his wraps, Dig dug his phone from his bag, hoping that a message from Nanda awaited him.

  There was no message.

  “Damn.”

  Colin was on the phone with Bailey, and Dig couldn’t help but eavesdrop.

  “Hey, baby doll, yeah, we’re on our way. We got . . . a little sidetracked after the match. Yeah, I’ll tell you all about it when we get to Foley’s. Yeah, love you, too, babe.”

  Colin cracked his neck but grinned like an idiot.

  Junior scoffed at him. “You know she’s going to be pissed when she finds out what went down.”

  “Yeah. Don’t care. Still probably goi
ng to get me some action tonight.” Colin continued grinning even as his ears flared red, and the rest of the men laughed with him—even Dig, who was hoping to get some action of his own even if he had to punch another big, disapproving fighter.

  Chapter Forty

  The fighters walked into Foley’s Pub with the usual acclaim, with Sully, the tattooed owner of the bar, ringing a victory bell and leading a spirited chant. Tonight, though, Dig barely noticed the congratulations and offers of shots because he was too intent on locating a certain sassy gym manager. His eyes roamed over the crowd, looking for either Nanda or Bailey, knowing that they would most likely be together.

  A loud whistle cut through the noise, and Dig could see Bailey standing on a chair, waving frantically, a huge smile on her face. Colin crossed the crowded bar in a few strides, caught her in his arms and swung her around before planting a big kiss on her mouth. Bailey twined her fingers in his hair and let him pull her off the chair while still maintaining a lip-lock.

  “Dang. Gordo’s definitely getting some action tonight.” Junior slapped Dig on the back. “I’m going to see if I can track down my sister.”

  “Please do.” The words came out of Dig’s mouth before he thought about it. Junior gave him a funny look but pushed his way through the crowded pub up to the bar with Dig trailing behind him.

  “Dig! Great job putting that guy down!” Colin’s wife gave Dig a peck on the cheek. “Congratulations, honey.” She gave him a pat on the arm before turning to Junior. “Tell Nanda I hope she’s feeling better.”

  The three men froze. Bailey’s smile faltered as she looked from one fighter’s face to the other. “What’s going on, guys?”

  “Nanda’s not with you?” Junior frowned at this information.

  “No, she texted to say that she was running late, and then when she still hadn’t shown up, I called her. She said that she was just going to stay at your apartment because she was feeling ill. Why? What’s going on?”