by H. T. Night
Tommy nodded.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked. This time I was asking him a question as his friend, not someone who had been guilted into helping him.
“Sure, I’ll be dandy,” Tommy said, as he lay on his wooden floor.
“All right, then. I’m taking off.”
I turned around to leave the room and Tommy yelled out, “Josiah!”
I stopped and looked at Tommy. “What is it?”
“How did everything become so jacked up?”
“I don’t know, Tommy. It just did.”
Chapter Sixteen
I left Tommy’s place, hoping and praying that he would be okay.
I felt bad that he had put himself in such a bad predicament. I felt a bit responsible for my part in his little dilemma. So many things were happening so fast. It was hard to know which decisions were the correct ones. My gut was telling me to be there for him. I just didn’t know how.
I couldn’t fight his battles for him. Or could I?
Romero had offered me a lot more to fight. Maybe if I fought a couple of fights, it could clear his name. The problem with Tommy was that even if I did this for him and paid off his debts, it didn’t mean he wouldn’t be in more economic trouble down the road. Maybe the best way to teach him a lesson was by making him do it himself. I just didn’t want him to get killed. I was pretty sure Romero wouldn’t let that happen. I’d go up and see him this weekend. I’d check out Tommy, too. I’d see what he’s up against.
When I arrived back to the house, Lena was swimming in the pool alone. I went into the backyard and watched her as she swam. She looked cute in her white, two-piece bathing suit. “Hey, baby-girl,” I said, walking up to the pool. Lena had stopped swimming and moved her way to the shallow end.
“I was getting a workout in,” she said, sliding to the side of the pool.
“I never knew you were one to work out.”
“I don’t work out all manic like you, but I do some things here and there.”
“Well, you look great,” I said, giving her a sincere smile.
“Why don’t you come in the water with me?”
“I don’t have swimming shorts.”
“You must have a pair of shorts somewhere.”
“Just basketball shorts.”
“Go put those on. You don’t need swimming trunks.”
I looked at Lena in the pool and she seemed to be relaxing and enjoying herself. So I figured, why not? “Okay, I’ll get in. Hold on.” I ran upstairs and changed out of my clothes and put on a pair of red basketball shorts and grabbed a towel. I came down the stairs and everyone was watching a movie in the living room.
“Josiah is going swimming,” Yari laughed. “That boy must be whipped.”
“Yeah, don’t you wish,” I said, back to her.
“A whipped Josiah is a happy Josiah,” she grinned.
“Yeah, bro,” Cyrus said. “You were pretty depressed there for a while.” Cyrus was sitting in a recliner and Yari was on his lap. The others were all sitting on the other two couches watching the movie.
“I wasn’t depressed,” I said, to Cyrus. “I was just being introspective.”
“No, you were a lost puppy, Josiah,” Hector chimed in. He was on the couch closest to the kitchen with his arm around his girlfriend.
“I liked you better, Hector, when you didn’t talk. So, is everyone going to bust my balls?”
“If we didn’t bust your balls,” Yari said, “you wouldn’t know how much we all love you.”
I smiled. I never thought about the word ‘love’ when it came to all of us. I thought about words like trust, honor, and loyalty. Never ‘love.’ But, in the end, we all did love each other.
“I love all you guys, too,” I said, then walked into the backyard. It felt good saying it to a room full of people who have proven to have my back. In my entire life, I’ve only had one person that was always by my side, and that was Tommy. These guys have proven a lot to me in such a short amount of time.
I walked out and Lena was wading in the shallow end. “Is the water cold?” I asked.
“No, it’s heated.”
“It is?”
“You’ve never been in the pool before?”
“Nope, first time.”
“Oh, Josiah. You really need to start having a little bit more fun.”
“I guess I can start right now.” I dove into the deep end. Wow, the water was warm. I swam underneath the water all the way up to Lena and grabbed her and she squealed.
I pressed her up against the side wall of the pool. I turned her body around and held her tight as if I was going to do a wrestling move on her.
“Don’t be rough,” she said.
“Rough? This is me being romantic,” I said, as I softly leaned into her.
“Aren’t I the lucky girl?” she said teasingly.
I turned Lena around and loosened my grip around her waist. “Well, aren’t you?”
Lena looked me in the eyes. “I’m very lucky, Josiah.”
“I’m glad you feel that way.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know, sometimes it’s hard for me to trust what’s going on here.”
“Why is that?”
“It just is. You can’t blame me for having doubts.”
Lena looked up at me and I could tell she was hurt. “Haven’t I proven myself?” she asked.
“Proven yourself?” I didn’t like that choice of words at all. “What does that mean?” I asked. “To say you’ve proven yourself? Are you trying to earn a promotion at a job or are you someone who wants to be my girlfriend?”
“I didn’t mean it like that. Josiah, I have given you 150 percent of my heart, time and love. I would hope at some point that you realize that I can’t change the past. I can only be here in the present and hopefully, that will prove our future.”
I looked at Lena and felt bad that I made her defend her words, but I couldn’t help but be a tad insecure when it came to us. I hated feeling that way, but I had never cared for anyone as deeply as I did her. It made me a little crazy. “I know you love me,” I said. “Sometimes I just get a little scared.”
“Scared?” Lena asked. “What are you scared of?”
I looked away from the pool to gather my thoughts. I knew if I opened up in this way, it would lead to a kind of vulnerability that I wasn’t sure I was ready to show.
Lena repeated her question. “What are you afraid of, Josiah?”
I sighed deeply and I knew if I exposed what was truly in my heart, it could be catastrophic in the long run if it backfired. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put myself out there, even to her. Still, I figured she needed to know what was stirring up inside me, so I said, “Sometimes I think that the reason you’re here with me is because I’m the Chosen. I feel like you’re afraid of being ostracized by others if you reject me or, worse yet, cursed by the Triat.”
Lena smiled at me and just shook her head and said, “Let me ask you a question. When have you ever seen me do anything that I didn’t want to do?”
I thought about it and she was right. She always did what she wanted to. “Never,” I said.
“Think about it, Josiah. I stubbornly was going to allow Atticai to drain all my human blood because I was sure I’d live forever with him. Do you think for one second if I wanted Tommy or anyone else over you, I’d be here right now? Do you think I would give a shit about being ostracized or cursed? Josiah, you are the most beautiful person inside and out that I have ever known. I choose you, Josiah. I choose this moment. I choose to be in the pool and to love you till the end of my days. The Tommys, Yaris, Atticais… they were all stumbling blocks for us to make it to where we are tonight, for us to have this moment we’re having right now.”
That was exactly what I needed to hear. I was afraid of exposing my heart, but Lena flipped it and exposed her innermost feelings. I stared across the pool at Lena and wanted her in a manner that I hadn’t quite ever felt.
I wanted to consume her with every inch of me. “Why don’t we go upstairs?” I said, taking her hand.
“Good idea,” she said. Then the two of us dried off. We went to my room and shared a closeness that was pretty out of this world, to say the least.
Chapter Seventeen
That weekend, I headed down to Tijuana. I wasn’t planning on staying long. I wanted to see Tommy fight a match and I also needed to have a serious talk with Romero.
I made an excuse to Lena about where I was going. I didn’t like lying to her, but in this case, it didn’t serve her any good to know what I was up to.
I told her I was going out for some air. I wasn’t necessarily lying. I made my way down to Romero’s fight ranch. I transitioned into the great white eagle midflight. When I reached Romero’s compound, I decided to land past the security and transitioned back to my Mani form. I was pretty discreet as I landed and I wanted to see if I could sneak in past his security. I did pretty easily. I guess a million-dollar security detail doesn’t account for a freaking eagle. The problem with sneaking past the first set of guards was no one knew I had shown up. I decided to go to the front and request a sit down with Romero.
I walked out to a couple of his security detail. “Excuse me,” I said. “I’m here to see Romero.”
“Who the hell are you?” the security guard asked in a thick accent. He looked at me, frowning and perplexed at how I had obviously made it past their checkpoint without being stopped. I looked at the little shit in his full army gear. He looked like he had just been dropped into the jungle of Vietnam by a freaking helicopter.
“Tell him that Josiah Reign is here to see him,” I said calmly.
Another security guy walked over to us and scolded the man in Spanish who had originally addressed me. He obviously knew who I was and was making sure this guy would show me a little more respect. Whatever he said to him put the little shit in his place, because he changed his tune fast.
“Hold on,” the original guard said to me. He radioed in to the front and spoke Spanish into his walkie-talkie. After a moment the guard said, “Follow me.” He led me through the back entrance Romero had brought me through weeks earlier. I looked up into the sky and the moon was as full as it was ever was going to be. I wondered if Tommy had the night off because the other wolves would be available.
I was led back up into Romero’s private suite. As I entered the room, Romero was sitting at a table in a slick gray suit. He looked like a hit man. His hair was slicked back and he was smoking a cigar. Damn, he could look intimidating when he wanted to. “Josiah! Have you come to see your friend?”
“Actually... yeah,” I answered.
“I hope you’re not upset that I had him work for me.” Romero tried to sound like he cared about what I thought, but I knew better.
“He’s a big boy and he has big boy problems. Sometimes we all need to be reminded that there are consequences to all of our actions.”
“Well said.” Romero gave me a long stare to see if I truly meant what I told him. After a moment, he smiled and said, “I’m glad we’re on the same page.” It almost appeared that Romero was disappointed that I wasn’t pissed off. “So, what can I do you for, Josiah?”
“Well,” I said, “I want to talk to you about the deal you gave Tommy.”
“Oh, you came here to talk business? I do wish you would have called ahead. The only business I like to do in this room is signing new talent.”
“Who knows?” I said. “That might be on the table.”
Romero’s eyes brightened. “Now you have my attention.” Romero cleared the room with a shrieking whistle from his lips. “Wanna drink?” he asked.
“Not tonight. I’m driving.”
“Seriously?”
“Not unless you call my twelve-foot wingspan gliding across the sky driving. Plus, the last time you got me intoxicated, I offered up some pretty private info.”
“It was lucky that you did. Once I realized who your friend was, it was the only thing that saved his life. And luckily, for him and me, you did let me know. He’s my biggest attraction. He’s the new fan favorite around this place. He has changed the face of the crowd. A lot more women have been showing up.”
“That’s Tommy for you,” I said. “The kid has more sex appeal in his pinky that most men have in a lifetime.”
Romero looked at me and smiled. “You’re telling me! Also, this used to be a-three-days-out-of-the-month operation. Now we do this every Thursday through Sunday.”
“And that’s why I’m here. I need to talk to you about your new product, which happens to be a dear friend of mine.”
“You want to renegotiate on behalf of your friend?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly are we negotiating here?”
“Money, what else?”
“Money?” Romero’s eyes were glaring through me. “I’m sorry, Josiah. I think we’re done here!”
“Done? We haven’t even started talking.”
“Let me guess where this is going,” Romero said to me. “You want me to raise his per-fight fee to at least double of what it is. Then you want him to have some kind of ‘super fight’ where he can make at least $100,000 a fight.”
Romero did know business because that was the exact direction I was going in. “I was thinking more like a quarter of a million for the ‘super fight,’” I said, correcting Romero.
I could see that such a bold statement didn’t sit well with Romero. He wasn’t used to dealing with someone like me who wasn’t the least bit intimidated by him. “Do you know who you’re talking to, young man?” Romero stood up.
I was surprised at his tone. I came here to have a mellow conversation, not be bullied by a billionaire. So, I stood up, too. “No, the question is, do you have any fucking idea who you are talking to?” I stated, as clearly as I could. “I’m sorry, I think you have mistaken me for someone who gives a shit about what you’re worth.” Now I was pissed.
Suddenly, the door flew open. Romero raised his hand at his bodyguards to stop them before they reached me. I backed up and cleared a table out of the way. If they wanted to come for me, by all means, they could write their own death sentences.
“Calm down, Josiah. I’m not going to allow them to attack you,” Romero said to me.
“I’m supposed to be impressed that you stopped your thugs from coming at me?” I said. “The only lives you saved were theirs.”
“You’re pretty damn confident, aren’t you, Josiah?”
“It’s not confidence; It’s fact. The fact of the matter is, I’m being cordial with you and I don’t have to be. If I wanted to, I could take Tommy out of here at any point and there is very little you could do to stop me.”
Romero smiled at me. “You truly believe even if I called on all my soldiers, you would still walk out of here alive?”
“I do,” I said, as sure as I ever said anything in my life.
Romero seemed shocked. Then he switched gears abruptly and mellowed out. “That is great.” Romero sat down. “Please sit, Josiah. Let’s continue this discussion in a more civil manner.”
“It would be more civil if we were alone,” I said, referring to his room full of guards who had their hands on their automatic weapons, just itching to pull them out and use them on me.
Romero snapped his fingers and his bodyguards all once again left the suite.
“Okay, let’s talk numbers,” Romero said.
“It’s pretty basic math, Romero. Tommy isn’t being paid enough per fight. “
“I can bump it to $33,000.”
“That’s not good enough. I want $60,000.”
“You and I both know that’s a ridiculous number, Josiah.”
“Why? You offered me a million,” I said, reminding Romero of the number he spouted to me weeks ago.
“Tommy is about volume,” Romero said plainly. “Although he’s a fan favorite, he fights all the time and he’s a tad overdone. People are rooting for him because he has
never lost. The second that happens, it will decrease his value in half.”
Romero was bringing up pretty good business counters, but I had one more trick left up my sleeve. “Okay, let’s say as long as he never loses, you go up two grand a fight until it’s paid off.”
“Two grand? That’s it?” Romero asked.
“Yeah.”
I did the math in my head. That was about 40 more fights. I at least cut his fights in half.
Romero thought about my proposal and then said, “Okay, as long as he stays undefeated, I’ll do it on one other condition.”
“What condition is that?” I asked.
“You owe me one ‘super fight,’” Romero stated.
“Just one?”
“Just one.” Romero smiled. “That’s it.”
“When?”
“Well, it needs to be good, so I’ll keep you posted.”
“If we make this super fight in the next couple of months,” I said, “I’ll do it.”
“It’s a deal, Josiah.” Romero and I stood up and shook hands.
“Where’s Tommy at?” I asked.
“He fights first and last tonight.”
“Two fights?”
“We started giving him a Twinkie in the opening fight of the night and the crowd has responded to it. Tommy’s a great opening act. He seriously gets the crowd going.”
“When does this thing start?”
“Any second now. You might want to sit down. Tommy’s entrance puts pro wrestling entrances to shame. It’s pretty fucking cool.” Romero almost sounded like a ten-year-old kid with his enthusiasm.
Suddenly, all the lights went out in the arena. Then a bright spotlight hit the middle ring in a giant blaze of light. The two black double doors opened and a black raven flew into the arena over the crowd and circled it. The crowd booed and screamed as the raven passed each section of the crowd.
Damn, these crowds hate vampires!
The raven landed in the middle of the ring and transitioned into a bulky, six-foot-two, semi-overweight, doughy-looking young vampire. Romero was right. That kid out there was the definition of a Twinkie fighter. Tommy was going to rip this poor kid’s head off. He looked not a day older than sixteen years old.