Page 29 of Stone’s Cage

"What does that mean?"

"It means if Shreve bets a thousand dollars, he'll walk away with forty K. There's no middle man at these cage fights."

She starts pacing with the kitten in her arms. "But I don’t understand. How do you throw it? How can no one see that you're doing it?"

"It's really hard to prove." I pour the shake into the glass.

"What's your cut?"

"I get a kickback. Usually ten percent, but it's all negotiable."

She shakes her head and I wish she'd just drop it.

"I still don't see how you fake it—"

Leaning on the counter, I take a deep breath. "You don't. You throw punches that don’t land hard and you make it easy for the other guy to mess you up."

I expect her to yell. To scream at me and tell me I'm a bad person. That I am unethical. That would be her word. A highbrow word for what I am: a cheater. But what she says shows she puts more faith in me than I have in myself.

"But you must have a good reason then."

You must have a good reason then. This girl is killing me.

Standing on tiptoes she wraps her arms around my neck and starts to step back but she presses forward and kisses me, her lips warm and wet on my mouth and a moan comes from someplace deep in my gut. With one arm I lift her so she doesn't have to stretch.

When she breaks the kiss, she presses her face next to mine.

Taking a deep breath, I decide to tell her what I've told no one. Not even Coach. "She has MS. It’s the least I can do."

Lily pulls back and stares at me.

"Who? Your sister?'

I nod. "Cassie."

"MS? You mean multiple sclerosis?"

A block of ice settles in my stomach. I can’t speak for a moment so Lily takes up the conversation.

"That's a good reason. That's a really good reason," she says and kisses me.

"She can’t work full time now, so I have to get her more money. Its progressive."

Now Lily is wiping my face with her hands, stroking my hair, kissing me between sentences, helping me get this all out. Finally. I tell her everything. Everything.

How I've been throwing fights for the last eight years to send money to Cassie, first for medical bills and, then, for support. How I am the reason she lost everything: we two were all that was left of our family and I screwed that up. How all I want to do is make it all up to her and I never will be able to. Lily curls herself around me and at some point Tig settles in my lap, and we three sit for a very long time saying nothing.

Chapter Fifteen

Lily

He's dozing on the sofa. Glancing at the stove top, I see the clock is broken, so I reach into my jeans and pull out my cell phone. Five ten. As I stretch to leave it on the end table, I wake Stone and he rubs his face with one hand as Tig jumps to the floor.

"Sorry," he says and clears his throat. "I've been trapped inside myself a long time. I'm not used to talking about Cassie. Or what happened. Or throwing fights."

I snuggle closer, kiss him slowly, softly and now I moan as the dynamic changes and his tongue moves with purpose, deep, and he holds me in his arms. His body is warm. My crotch is suddenly wet, hot, and I want him.

"Please, let's do this," I whisper. I gently tug at the bath towel and the tender part of his obliques quiver when I touch him along his groin. Pulling the towel back, warm and still damp, his cock is massive, slick with precum. I may have technically been a virgin, but I know what do with this. The tip throbs against the flat of my hand when I reach for it and then I lick my thumb and move it over the velvet surface. Stone gasps and tips his head towards the ceiling, his ribs moving as he breathes deeply, unevenly, inhaling through his nose, out his mouth. I kiss him again as soon as he exhales.