Page 65 of Liar & Champion
“Why did you do it?” I asked, tugging down his hand and holding it tight.
He ran his other hand through his short hair. “You’ve got to get over it, Sunshine. Violence is only a problem if the people involved don’t want it. I want it. I need it. If I can make moneyoff it, if I can entertain other people, why shouldn’t I? It’s my pain, not yours.”
“It is my pain,” I said, thumping his chest again before I chewed on my bottom lip. I was awfully close to tears. “I haven’t seen you for so long, but when I do see you, you’re here letting someone else hurt you. It does hurt me to see that.”
His mouth was in a cold, hard line. “Well, you’re going to have to get used to pain, Sugar, because what you just saw me do is nothing compared to what some other fighters put out and get off on. When it’s in your blood, it’s life, death, everything in between. Just because you’re dying doesn’t mean that you understand life or death.”
Just then the door opened and a medic came in with a kit. Beastie picked me up and set me on the counter so I wasn’t on his lap, although the med had already seen me there. When the guy came closer, he saw the work I’d done and started nodding.
“This is my cousin,” Beastie said coldly. He was always so cold to people he didn’t know. “She looks young, but under that makeup is a doctor who knows more about treating bruises than anyone else I know. She was nervous about my first fight, but I did okay. Tell her I did okay so she stops nagging me.”
I made a face at him. “Idiot,” I muttered.
“Oh, sure! He did great for his first time,” the medic said before he checked Beastie’s breathing, pressing his face against his chest and having him take deep breaths.
I made a face at Beastie and mouthed, ‘You’re still dead,’ and he rolled his disgusting eye and then the medic was upright and gave Beastie a quick run over, but I’d already done my best. Yeah, no one else knew the treating of bruises like me. I was also really good with needles and did extremely neat stitches.
“Well, I have to agree that your cousin knows what she’s doing. We’d love to have you on board if you’re looking for work,” the medic said, looking me over in a way that didn’texactly scream professional boss looking for applicants. “Have you seen the sights around Vegas? I’d love to show you around once I get off.”
Beastie snorted and then stood, bumping the guy back with his arms crossed over his massive chest. “My cousin’s married. If she wasn’t married, she’d still be married, do you understand?”
The medic gave Beastie a curious smile then shrugged and smiled. “Can you blame me for trying? Take care of yourself. If you have any sudden bleeding, cramping, stomach pain, get to the hospital, or better yet, have your cousin take you.” He gave me a wink and then headed out, leaving me alone with Beastie.
“It’s the magic bra,” I said drily.
He turned to look at me, still in his oppressive crossed-arms pose. He really was tall and brawny, a lot like Nix. “You are what men would fantasize about if they knew such a thing as your desirability was possible. And the bra doesn’t hurt.”
I rolled my eyes and hopped off the counter, only I forgot I wasn’t wearing sneakers, landed badly and broke off the right heel. “Well that’s fun,” I muttered, standing on one foot while I took off the stupid shoe. “Do you have any extra shoes I can wear?”
“Seriously? Do I look like I have extra shoes? Actually, I have a pair of shower slides, but they’re not going to fit you.”
“I’ll pad them with my magic bra.”
“You have an unhealthy obsession with breasts.”
“It’s because I was a man in my last incarnation.”
He bent down and tugged on my shoe, so I put my hands on his shoulders while I switched out the shoes. “That explains everything. You’re going to get blisters if you wear these too long. Do you want me to carry you back to your hotel? No, that won’t work because you’re a married woman. Wouldn’t want to make the lover jealous.” His eyes glimmered with something, but it was hard to see through the blood and black in his iris.
“Whatever. I was going to look good for him, but without the heels, do you think I still look okay?”
He grabbed my face and pressed his forehead against mine while he stared into my eyes with that creepy one. “No. But he doesn’t care because he’s not a superficial idiot who can’t appreciate a woman’s finer qualities such as self-sacrifice, kindness, and artistic talents. I’m lying. He’s not going to notice anything other than your breasts and how that dress makes your waist look so tiny that it’s almost impossible to resist the urge to pick you up one-handed and throw you into his car. Or closet. Or wall. This counter would be good.”
I blinked at him. “Your eye is so disgusting. We aren’t like that. Either one. We’re just together for convenience, him for six months to please his mama, and me because whenever he touches me it doesn’t hurt. He’s a really good cuddler.”
“He’s a good cuddler. You told me about all the… You lied. Of course you lied. Why are you so obnoxious?” He pulled away, sending me a cold glare that made him look like an arrogant prick.
“Why do you want me to have sex with someone else? You’re just like him. Are you really cousins? Is there some genetic defect that makes you all so incomprehensibly infuriating?”
“As a matter of fact, there is.”
I gasped and stared at him, feeling like the bottom of my world had dropped out. “You’re really cousins? You actually set me up with him? Was there no deal with his mother? Was Trevor really spying on you? Why? Did Nix get you the job here with his connections?”
He turned on a screen that took up the whole wall, and suddenly we were looking at two men in a ring, one wearing yellow shorts, the other red. “Bulldog’s not going to make Nix ugly, because your husband doesn’t want you to know what he really does, who he really is. Also, Nix is pissed because he tooksecond last season, and he never loses. He’s the champion. You were right about that.”
I grabbed his hand to keep from falling over while I watched Nix, my nice, unnaturally muscular husband walk around in those tiny shorts so everyone could see exactly how perfect he was. “He’s a fighter?”
“He’s not a fighter, he’sthefighter, number one in the circuit, any martial art you choose. At mixed martial, he’s unbeatable unless he’s feeling merciful. He’s been trained by the Crocodile of Alabama since birth to be the most brutal force in the world. No one expected him to leave the House of Beasts when he turned eighteen, but he did. Even though he’s been gone for over a decade, he’s still their prince.”
