Page 88 of Gambler's Fallacy

Caleb looks like he wants to say more, but we hear people coming through the halls—including Blade Fury himself, saying something about how of course he’s disappointed, but that Díaz did a great job and he looks forward to fighting him in the future.

Havoc glares at Fury’s manager. “How’d you convince him to do it?” he hisses.

The manager shrugs. “One hundred thousand. Considering his own problems… yeah, it wasn’t hard to do.”

A hundred thousand.

Is that all it takes for someone to throw their reputation in the trash these days?

Havoc lets out a disgusted sound. “Seven’s right. Let’s go.”

Caleb and Seven walk out the door, Havoc right behind.

I glare at Trent. “Watch yourself. You aren’t as untouchable as you think you are.” I know threatening him is stupid, but I’m beyond pissed off that he’s making this trouble for Caleb.

I fight the urge to pull a Havoc and flip him off, instead turning to leave the room without another word and following the others.

We have some serious damage control to do.

NINETEEN

CALEB

I keep checking my phone,hoping to hear back from my contacts at the Calamity City Gaming Commission.

The payouts from the fight were massive. With most of the people on the betting apps going for the fan favorite, we ended up making millions of dollars on the fixed fight.

The online commentators are, of course, all sure that the fight was rigged, because it was such an obvious dive. There’s no proof, of course, and Blade Fury has done a few interviews since the match a week ago talking about how good his opponent was. Díaz denies everything as well—it would hurt his reputation too if it looked like he could only win when it’s rigged.

Seven suddenly kicks my shin under the table.

I wince and look up from my phone to glare at him. “Why did you do that?”

“You’re supposed to pay attention to me,” he points out. “Isn’t this a date?”

I swallow the mild guilt and set my phone aside—but not away. This is why my previous boyfriends broke up with me: they couldn’t handle me being a workaholic. Seven can’t break up with me, andhe’s got two other men to keep him busy when I’m not around, but it’s true that this was supposed to be an evening out for the two of us. I’d even booked us a spot at one of the nicest restaurants in Calamity City, with a rooftop terrace and a beautiful night view of the city.

“It’s a date,” I agree, reaching for my wine. “What do you want to talk about, Seven?”

Seven shrugs. “I don’t know. Date stuff. What do you talk about on dates? I always try to make Vortex and Havoc tell me about themselves.” He flashes me a smirk. “So I guess that’s what you can do. Tell me more about yourself and what you’re like when you’re not being a controlling workaholic.”

Seven makes them talk about themselves—probably so he doesn’t have to talk about himself.

“You know a lot about me already,” I say, stretching my foot out so I can rub it against his ankle. “I’m part of the Spade family. I have a sister, an infuriating brother-in-law, and a niece who is very into anime. Lori’s very happy you’re texting her, by the way. She says nobody else she knows is cool enough to know about thatMartial Lawanime.”

“Which is dumb, because it’s really good,” Seven says. “I keep trying to get you to watch it.”

When he’s not too busy getting in my lap and distracting me when I am at home.

“I’ve watched it!” I protest with a smile. “I’ve heard the ‘Objection!’and ‘Hold it!’when they get ready for their super moves. If court looked like that in real life, I might actually tune in to the court channels.”

Seven snorts. “Yeah, those are pretty boring, except for the ones where people yell at each other on stage.”

I eye him. “You’ve been watching those tabloid talk shows?”

His cheeks flush red. “I… I’ve watched a few. Reality TV is weird, Caleb,” he tells me with a shake of his head.

Sometimes I forget that things I take for granted are so new to him.

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