Page 62 of Shifting Gears

I sighed, and he chuckled at my exasperation.

“Always with the overconfidence. Remember the sumo fight? Thought you would win that one too. This time, you’re going up against a fighter who knows a little more about illegal fighting. And he’s an MMA fighter. He’s pretty good, so make sure you watch his attacks carefully. But that’s all I’m going to tell you,” I said as I settled down on the chair in my room.

“Sounds like a good challenge. And the sumo didn’t count. He was like fighting a slab of frozen meat. Someone who’s light on his feet and hits like me? That’s something I can handle.”

I heard some noise in the background.

“Are you at a pachinko parlor?” I asked.

“Just enjoying the benefits of some extra cash I earned,” he said as I heard the winning sound of a machine.

“By gambling it all away? That’s a bad habit to break, and you’ll never win more than you lose in a place like that. You should find something better to do with your free time,” I said as I tugged a blanket up on my lap and leaned over, opening the window a crack.

The evening air was cool against my skin. It felt nice.

“I can think of something else that I like to do, but …” His voice became clearer as the noise in the background faded away.

“But?” I asked, curious now.

“But I don’t have a woman to do those kinds of things with right now. Unless you’re offering?” he said, and I could already hear him chuckling.

“In your dreams. God, do you ever stop flirting? Do you know how wrong it would be for us to get together after you were with my sister?” As I said the words, I could feel my clit throb and my body get hotter. As much as I denied his suggestions, I had to say that the thought of fucking it out of our systems had crossed my mind a time or two.

But I could never do that to Raven’s memory.

“Or maybe it would be so wrong that it’d feel right,” he said with a chuckle.

I sat there for a second, my thoughts rushing around. As I was about to reply, he cut me off.

“Gotta go. There’s money to be made. If you change your mind, call me.”

And with that, he hung up the call, and I was left sitting there, picturing doing things with my dead sister’s ex-lover.

I’m going to hell for thinking of him in ways I shouldn’t. But I’m probably going to hell anyway for what I plan on doing to Kaito.

CHAPTER 22

SYDNEY

Two days had passedin a blur, and it was the night of the fight where we needed to capture Kaito’s attention.

There was no more time to waste. It was now or never because we were so close to the end of the forty-nine days Kaito had originally mentioned. I had no other way to buy time, except the hope of a match challenge from Kaito.

We parked in the parking garage used for the fights, and I handed AJ his mask and waited for him to slip it on.

“Now, remember. Don’t talk to anyone before the match. I don’t want to take a chance that people will recognize your voice.” I took a deep breath.

My heart was racing in my chest. So much was at stake with this match.

He has to win. I need him to get the opportunity for me to get my revenge.

I felt a warm hand rub against my cheek, and I glanced into the eyes of my demon.

“Chill, baby. It’s gonna be fine. I’m not losing. You’ll get what you want,” AJ said as his finger reassuringly stroked my cheek.

I closed my eyes for a moment, taking one more deep breath to steel my nerves enough to get inside the fight club. I nodded in response to him, and he let his fingers slowly trail off my jawline.

“Thanks. I was really letting my nerves get to me. And I need to have a clear head when we go in. Neither of us can mess up a single step tonight,” I said as I opened the car door and stepped out.

---