Page 69 of Kings & Corruption

He pulled me toward the stairs. “The fight.”

Chapter31

Willa

Ididn’t have time to ask questions. We were down the stairs and back in the hall leading to the theater with a crowd that had tripled in size since we’d made out way upstairs to fix the movie.

The music was still loud,Casinoback onscreen as we stepped into the dark theater. We couldn’t have been gone for more than half an hour, but the mood in the room had changed. Before, it had felt like a party, everyone dancing and drinking and making eyes at each other.

Now, the room felt tense in spite of the music and lights, and everyone was moving toward the front of the theater while leaving an empty space between the crowd and the screen.

Oscar held on to my hand and led me to the front where Rock was talking to a skinny guy with a mohawk and more hardware in his face than a Home Depot.

Rock leaned in and said something to him and the guy looked nervously around before slipping into the crowd.

Rock turned to face us, took one look at me, and shook his head. “I fucking knew it,” he shouted over the movie.

I slapped Oscar’s arm. “Jesus! Did you text him on the way down the stairs?”

He looked wounded. “I don’t kiss and tell, tiger.”

“I know a post-orgasm face when I see it,” Rock shouted over the music.

I looked around, but no one was paying attention and it was doubtful anyone would have been able to hear the exchange over the music anyway.

Rock lifted his hand in the air and Oscar slapped it with a grin.

“Are youhigh-fivingbecause Oscar just made me come in the projector room?” I shouted.

They didn’t have a chance to answer. A second later, Neo appeared next to Rock in nothing but shorts and sneakers, the angel on his god-like chest already glistening with sweat. I had to force myself to yank my eyes away from the trail of dark hair that led under the waistband of his shorts.

“You ready?” Rock asked him.

Neo bounced on his feet a little. “Ready.”

“Remember, Marvin wears those fucking boots when he fights,” Rock said. “Watch his legs and feet.”

“Fucking dumbass,” Neo said. “The boots make him slow.”

“Yeah, well, they’ll also make your ears ring if he lands a kick to the head,” Rock said, looking at something past Oscar’s head. “Here he comes.”

I followed Rock’s gaze and saw a giant barreling through the crowd, parting it like the Red Sea as he came toward the front of the theater.

“Who is that?” I asked Oscar. I’d gotten used to shouting over the music.

“That’s Marvin,” Oscar said. “But he fights under the name Mayhem.”

I looked back at Neo, who suddenly seemed vulnerable in nothing but shorts when the monster lumbering toward him was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with some savage-looking combat boots.

“Here?” I asked. “Where are the gloves? Where’s the ring?”

“Street fight,” Oscar said simply.

Oh my god… these dumb assholes were going to get killed. Or more accurately, Neo, the original dumb asshole, was going to get killed.

I should have enjoyed the thought of Neo being chewed up and spit out like prime ground beef, but I was suddenly nervous for him. Marvin’s body wasn’t the only thing that was enormous — his feet looked to be the size of Neo’s head.

Rock was right: one blow with those boots and Neo might never remember his name again. Don’t get me wrong, I was all for a Neo Alinari personality adjustment, but strangely, I didn’t want to see him drooling out of the side of his mouth.

---