asshole simply wanted to stick it to Knox, and he wanted to use her to do it.
The more time she spent in Boyd’s presence, the more seriously Nina considered letting Dani stab him, after all.
“I have a little to spare.” She had one credit stick left in her pocket that she hadn’t given the motel’s proprietor in their negotiations. She tugged it free and held it up, then jerked it back as Boyd reached for it. “One hundred. But I’m betting on Knox, not your boy.”
“Bah.” Boyd shook his head and turned to scowl at the cage. “Everyone always does, and fuck if I know why. He’s always been a sanctimonious little prig, staring down his nose at the rest of us like he wasn’t out there sucking up to the TechCorps and screwing over the little guy just like everyone else.”
It took a special kind of mental gymnastics to hate someone else because they’d done all the same terrible things you had. “What do you care what he thinks?”
“I don’t,” Boyd spat. It might even have been convincing, if his scowl hadn’t deepened. “I just don’t get why people keep falling for his righteous, noble do-gooder act. Did he tell you all of his hero stories? About how he stopped a riot with his precious diplomatic skills? Or when he parachuted into a battle zone to save some kids?” Disdain dripped from every word. “That time he delivered a damn baby during a siege? Such a fucking hero.”
Knox hadn’t mentioned any of it. Of course he wouldn’t, though Nina couldn’t quite put her finger on why she knew that. Did he not view any of it as particularly heroic? Was he simply modest? Or did he, for whatever reason, just not want her to know anything good about him?
She told Boyd the truth—such as it was. “Knox and I don’t talk much about the past.”
A roar went up from the crowd around them. Diesel had charged Knox, the momentum driving them both up against the side of the cage. Knox took a brutal hit to the jaw, but he managed to get one hand up between them. His fingers locked around Diesel’s throat, squeezing with such strength that the man’s face turned red as he broke off his attack to claw at Knox’s hand.
With a roar, Knox hoisted the huge man off the ground and threw him with enough strength to send him crashing into the opposite side of the cage.
Boyd frowned.
“Knox is going to win,” she told him. “You know it’s true. You must have known before the fight even started. But you want him to lose, even if it costs you. Why?”
“I win either way. I get rich, or I get to watch someone finally beat the smug smile off that bastard’s face. I’m having the best night of my life.” He gave her another of those skin-crawling looks of appraisal. “It could still get better, though.”
Nina’s composure cracked—just for a moment, long enough for her to grimace before she schooled her expression.
Boyd didn’t seem to mind her disgust. If anything, he enjoyed it. “Whatever Knox is giving you, believe me. I could give it to you better.”
The vague sense of unease tightened around Nina like a vise. “I’m not interested.”
“Mmm. We’ll see.” He held out a hand. “Still wanna bet on the boy?”
“Damn straight.” She dropped the credit stick on his outstretched palm and pulled her hand back before he could get any bright ideas about touching her.
His seedy laugh slithered over her as he tucked the credit stick into his pocket and resumed watching the fight.
It didn’t last long. Bloody and battered, Diesel couldn’t keep up. His reaction times slowed, and his clumsy blows failed to land entirely. By the time Knox got him on the floor, the man was swinging and kicking desperately, trying to roll away and climb to his feet.
Knox ended it by clenching his fingers in Diesel’s hair and slamming the man’s head against the rough concrete.
Diesel stilled, and a hush fell over the crowd. Then everything exploded, cheers and screams of everything from disbelief to dismay. Their champion had fallen, and to a mysterious stranger, no less.
It was the kind of shit people wrote songs about.
Boyd didn’t look like he was in the mood for a good ballad, though. He’d gone a little green, and Nina pressed her lips together firmly as he scowled and turned on her. “I guess we’re both rich tonight,” he muttered. “Come to my table