3
JACE'S POV
I almost spat out the beer in my mouth.
"Seventy what?"
I stood, fists clenched, the beer I was once enjoying now forgotten.
"Come on, Jace, enjoy your beer. You'll want to sit down while you're talking to me, trust me."
I shook my head in disbelief. He even had the guts to continue talking.
"What do you mean? You're cheating us, and we both know this. I made a good amount of money tonight. Nobody believed I could defeat that man in there. But I did. I think I deserve every bit of what I've earned tonight, Mr Christopher. I, personally, wouldn't want this to escalate…"
Christopher laughed, doing absolutely nothing to hide the sneer on his face.
"So what, Jace? You're going to hit me? I'm not one of your opponents, man. I organize fights. I promote them. I put a lot of my time and money into these things. I call the shots. Without me, there is no circle of death. Without my efforts, there is no money."
I turned away, angry at my inability to do anything at that moment.
He was right, even though partially. But why didn't he say anything before the fight?
Why wait until I had won?
"Seventy thirty is a wide gap, Chris. Consider the fact that we weren't told before the fight…" Xander began, but was cut short almost immediately.
"It's not wide, Xander. Have you gone to other fight centres? Most fighters get paid peanuts. I'm basically helping your life here. Ask around, I'm a better man than most of my colleagues are. This is my offer. You refuse, and you can go fight someplace else."
I slammed my fist on the table, unable to control the anger welling up inside of me.
"I don't know how to explain it, but you're cheating us, Christopher. Everybody here knows you're a piece of shit…"
Christopher's laughter rang out, mocking me.
"Cheating? I'm telling you my terms. If they don't favour you, then you both can leave my establishment. I made you what you are today, Jace…"
I grabbed the collar of his shirt, my hand raised, aching to wipe off the smirk on his face.
"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you, Jace Wilder. Trust me, you'd regret it. Look around."
I paused midway, my entire body trembling with anger and emotion.
"Come on, Jace. Fighting won't solve anything." Xander was beside me in a flash, his hand pressuring nine to let go of Christopher's shirt.
"Jace. Stop!"
I turned at the sound of Xander's voice, suddenly aware of my surroundings. Anger did that to me. Anger made me unaware of anything else but the person or object I was annoyed with.
I finally let go of Christopher's collar, settling onto the chair I had been sitting on previously uncomfortably.
At that same moment, two hefty men came into the office, their bulging arms and unsmiling faces making the room smaller than it already was. They served as guards of the basement in case anything went wrong during fights.
"You sent for us, sir?"
"Oh, don't worry," Christopher smiled, looking down at his shirt. "We've managed to settle. It was just a little misunderstanding."
I turned to Xander, who looked as frustrated as I was.
"Boys, do we have a deal? Let's talk if you're ready to act like men and not little boys anymore."
I turned away in disgust, allowing Xander to answer the question. I couldn't bring myself to speak to him without aching to punch him.
"You're lying to us, Christopher, and you know this." Xander said in a voice that admitted defeat.
"You call it lies, I call it my terms. Do we have a deal or not?"
An uncomfortable pause ensued, a long pause that made me clench my fists once again and look around as I weighed my options, wondering how much damage I could take if I fought off the two guards in order to put the lying bastard before me in his place.
When Xander finally replied, his voice was laced with defeat and the evident frustration.
"We have a deal."
"Excellent, boys, excellent. We are going to make a lot of money together, eh? Jace is becoming a household name, I'm getting offers from colleagues in other states. We might have to expand soon."
I watched him count a few notes from the huge wad in the bag, before proceeding to push it across the table to Xander who accepted it reluctantly.
"I expect you next Friday night, boys. And remember, come early, the crowd doesn't tolerate lateness."
When we stepped out of the office, I felt slightly relieved, as though I had just been released from a jail cell.
The things I wanted to do to Christopher's face were unfathomable.
"How much is there?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Xander, who shook his head in disapproval.
"Twenty five hundred."
"You should've allowed me to slam his face when I had the chance." I spoke underneath my breath, shaking my head as we grabbed our bags and began to make our way out of the workshop.
"You do that, and we'll be out of another job. You've fought here for six years, I don't think this is the time to throw it all away."
I shook my head in anger. He was right. But the fact that he was right made me even angrier. The helplessness gnawed at my insides like a maggot burrowing its way into the mud.
"You can have the five hundred, I'll take the rest. Hopefully, this settles my mother's prescription for the week."
"If you need anything, man, I'm a call away."
I nodded tiredly, knowing I wouldn't need Xander for anything. We all had our problems to settle, and the last thing I wanted was to dump mine on his table.
I was about to hail a taxi, when the loud screech of a car made its way to where we stood. I moved away just in time to avoid getting hit by the car.
I squinted in the darkness, observing that there were actually two cars instead of one.
The front door opened, revealing a man in a suit, who went ahead to open the backseat of the car that had nearly hit us.
I gasped when I saw the man who exited the car.