Page 12 of Dewpoint
“I would talk to one of the other club managers and make it clear you are. You have the hottest ticket any of us have seen—even the assholes admit that when they’re honest with themselves. And make it clear it’s because the manager is underhanded.”
She smirked at me. “Let the rats eat themselves for her. Interesting. Yeah, I was already considering that when this fight was only a few million more for an extra fighter. They’re—the disrespect because she’s asheis fucking unreal.”
“It wasn’t always this bad, but we seem to be backsliding instead of progressing,” I grumbled. “Part of me wants to tell you to lay low or go somewhere else, but you’ll make less money and clearly your fighter needs money.”
“Smart man,” she purred.
I snorted. “She’s good enough to go pro, but she wouldn’t make the money she does. She could shake upmen’scompetitive fighting, but she wants to keep a lower profile. She needs money.”
She studied me a moment. “Not in the way you’re thinking and would make her desperate. She’s already paid the debt her family owed and left her with. Now, it’s a nest egg and never feeling…”
I flinched. “Yeah, I know that feeling well. Really well. She has my sympathy. It’s—I don’t mean any disrespect, but people like you can’t ever understand how hard that is.”
“What do you mean?” she hedged, sighing when I didn’t respond. “I’m not getting personal here, Avior. I’m trying to understand her better. I want to…”
“You want to take better care of your fighter and you realized you missed something big.” I nodded when she did. “Decent of you, really. Hope she appreciates you.”
“Always.”
“Good, because a lot of times the talent gets too arrogant. It’s why I switched from agent to bookie.” I gave her a look clearly saying that wasn’t to be repeated. “Being left a burden by the ones who were supposed to love and take care of you is a wound that won’t ever heal. I don’t think even if they get their shit together and apologize.
“For me, it was my parents. They basically said I owed them for giving me life and told the creditors to get it from me even if meant taking me in pieces. You never heal from that. Ever. That betrayal they didn’t love you enough to do right by you and protect you. That they only saw you as a way to fix their mistakes.”
She flinched. It was subtle, but she flinched.
“Just make sure she knows their mistakes aren’t hers. She did nothing wrong and it was them. It’s like—you ever been cheated on?”
“No, but she has been too,” she worried.
I snorted. “She’s never going to trust anyone ever. Not completely. Her family fucked her over and then a lover? She’s an island if she closed her heart. It won’t ever reopen.” I turned to leave, unable to keep talking about it.
“You deserve the love others can give you, Avior,” she said softly as I reached the end of the ally.
Myriam Metcalf was a smart one all right. She absolutely knew I wasn’t just talking about her fighter.
Yeah, but I didn’t want to fix what was broken with me. Keeping it from ever happening again was way more important.
4
Sagan
“Boringgggggggggggg,”Eloise, my mystic dragon, complained in my mind as she messed with one of the fighters.“Sagan is a liar.”
“You do keep making promises to her that you never keep,”my fire dragon, Iris, lectured.
Yes, but it’s not like I’m doing it intentionally. We’ve had just afewissues to deal with.
“No one can deny that, but even I’m annoyed and neglected,”Iris replied.
“And I’m making all the money to help,”Eloise added with pride.
Well, that was more complicated. People had seen Iris, even if not for years. People were now learning how I could fight, and all it would take was a few randomly connected dots with the wrong people and I was in major trouble.
Not legally, but the headaches would be unreal.
Eloise’s next point wasn’t a bad one but complicated.“Darren will help. Stop trying to do it all alone.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t immediately reply and that upset her. She took down one fighter and he wasn’t getting back up. That was way too fast and that would upset people.
