Page 44 of Golden Eagle

“Dude’s a beast!”

He suppressed a smile and kept going.

Alexei and Jamie were already here; Alexei sitting on the bench, one foot bouncing, working on the last nub of a cigarette. Jamie stood with his hands in his pockets, shoulders slumped, looking caught between anger and anxiety.

Lanny really didn’t want to deal with whatever was causing that.

“Fellas,” he greeted, tossing his bag down. “What kinda money are we looking at tonight?”

Behind him, Jamie muttered something too low for even Lanny’s new vampire ears to pick up. He wanted to sulk? Fine. Screw him.

Alexei stubbed his cigarette out on the sole of his boot and said, voice laced with excitement, “A good bit. See that guy over there?” He nodded and Lanny turned to follow his gaze.

To the far end of the bench, where a fighter sat pitched forward, flexing his already-wrapped hands, a heavyset guy massaging his shoulders from behind.

“Supposed to be going pro,” Alexei explained. “Everyone’s betting he’ll wipe the floor with you tonight.”

“Pro?” Lanny said with a snort. “Then what’s he doing here?”

Alexei grinned, a fast wedge of bright teeth in the dark. “Likes easy pickings, maybe? Wants an ego boost?”

“Broke, most likely,” Jamie chimed in. He flopped down on the bench beside Alexei with a deep sigh.

“What’s your problem?” Lanny asked, hackles lifting. He shouldn’t have asked, had planned to ignore him, but the guy’s attitude was worrying at already-keyed-up fight night nerves.

Alexei nudged Jamie’s shoulder with his own. “Our sweet Jamie is having an attack of the conscience, one might say.”

“Having awhat?”

Jamie lifted his face, gaze almost pleading. “I’m starting to feel really shady for this.”

“Yeah, you looked real shady last time stuffing your pockets with cash,” Lanny said.

He shrugged, like his jacket was uncomfortable, but met Lanny’s gaze without wavering. “What happens when Trina finds out?”

“You’re really gonna do this?” Lanny pulled his shirt off over his head and Alexei took it from him, to fold it away into his bag. He swapped it for the tape, and Lanny held his hands out to be wrapped. “Really?”

Jamie winced. “I’ve been thinking–”

“AfterI won you all that money, huh?”

“I don’t care about the money,” he said, his hesitance giving way to true frustration. His jaw set. “I thought you were doing this a time or two. Just to see if you could. But now…Lanny….” He stood, and leaned in close, voice quiet. “This isn’t fair. None of these guys stand a chance against you. You know every time that you’re gonna win.”

“Fair,” he said with a snort. “You’re worried about fair.”

“You’re not?”

Fair.

“Don’t pick on your brother,”Mom used to tell Pauly.“He’s smaller than you and it’s not fair.”

But Lanny had been able to take it. He’d been big for his age, and strong, and he’d put his brother on his back. It was picking on the truly scrawny that wasn’t fair. Bullies at school breaking kids’ glasses, spitting in their lunches. It wasn’t fair what he did for a living, standing over bodies that had been raped, and stabbed, and shot, and mauled to death. It wasn’t fair that wars happened, and babies got cancer.

And it wasn’t fair that one stupid night in a bar ended his boxing dreams. And that illness had almost killed him.

“Life’s not fair,” he said to Jamie, staring him down. “You drink blood. You could pick that bench up if you wanted and chuck it clear across this courtyard. Is that fair? We’re stronger than other people. Why shouldn’t we get to use that?”

Jamie’s eyes widened, brows leaping.

---