Page 8 of The Billionaire’s Fake Fiancée
In the boxing ring, Eric throws a final punch and Damian hits the floor with a thud. Stays still.
Too still.
Eric strips off his gloves and his head guard, dropping down to check on his friend.
At the same time, Karina breaks out in a run toward the ring, followed closely by Jace.
Ahead, Arpad has already reached the ring, leaping up. He and Eric turn Damian over.
Silence.
"Fuck, is he okay?" Eric asks, worry lacing his voice.
"Dammit, he's bleeding," Karina snarls.
The worry in her voice pushes Jace to clamber up into the raised platform of the ring, hauling Karina up after him. By that time Damian's shoulders are shaking.
"What the fuck—?" Jace exclaims, wondering if Damian is going into cardiac arrest.
Eyes springing open, Damian sits up. "Just checking what you guys would have done if I'd actually been really hurt." He grins, the lazy Texas drawl evident in his laughing voice.
"What the—"
"Bastard."
Eric and Arpad leap on Damian, the three going down in a tangle of arms and legs. Jace folds his hands over his chest, his gaze meeting Karina's in a shared look of amusement. She raises her eyebrows, taps her finger to her forehead, an indication of exactly how ridiculous she thought the men on the ground were.
Skirting the men still play-fighting, she walks over to Jace. "How is the start-up investment business these days?" She asks.
Jace stays silent, his expression non-committal. While he's close to all four of the group, Karina and he had bonded almost instantly. She regards him as a sibling, a younger brother. She's the only one of the group to whom he's hinted a little about his financial setbacks.
"Have you and Eric agreed to a plan on what to do next?" Karina asks.
4
Jace
* * *
Jace looks to the boxing-ring in the little gym. To where Eric is sprawled on the floor. His body almost hidden under the combined bulk of Arpad and a still-bleeding Damian. All three are locked in a tangle of arms and legs.
"No, I haven't mentioned my plan to Eric yet," he finally replies to Karina's question.
Guilt threads through Jace.
As his business partner, Eric deserves to know the plan he's put into place to rescue their business.
Jace comes from one of the most moneyed families in the UK, a fact he neither hides nor flaunts.
Unlike Eric, who came from a humble background, his father an immigrant from Mexico. But that only makes Eric more determined to succeed.
Jace had made a series of risky investments in the past year. Eric had protested each decision, but given in at Jace's vehement belief that they would succeed.
After all, Jace had a track record of being able to pull off long shots. Besides, Jace had invested his money in the business. Eric had invested his time. And Jace had paid him for it. Technically that made Eric his employee, but they'd always functioned as business partners.
Eric was right, though. This time he'd overstretched. Not one of the start-ups had broken even.
Now they stand to lose all they had invested.
